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"Well. . ." Feoras panted for breath. "At least we found the ghost."

"It didn't kill us either!" Anonymous now seemed to be in a good mood. "Anybody have any ideas how we should approach it next time?"

For a moment, no one said anything; they were all still trying to understand what they had just seen. Zak seemed particularly shaken, but he spoke first, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

"Stop that!" Alon shouted, covering his ears. "If the ghost didn't have reason to kill us before, it certainly does now!"

When Zak had finished screaming, there was again silence. "Any other ideas?" Anonymous asked.

"What do you suppose it was saying to us?" Feoras wondered.

"I don't know, may it was some kind of curse. . . " Pirro examined his hands and his face to make sure that nothing had happened to him. "I feel fine, though."

"Maybe it wanted to communicate with us?" Erica suggested.

Anonymous nodded, "That's a good possibility. If only we could find a way to respond to it."

"We don't even know that it was trying to communicate with us, let alone what language it was speaking. . . " Alon pointed out. "Although, I must admit that I favor the idea of trying to talk to it rather than trying to fight it."

"I have an idea." Zak looked much calmer now. "Let's do neither. Can't we leave now that we've seen the ghost and say that there's no way to move it? They'll have to move their mine."

Erica sighed, "You don't want to give up now, do you?"

Zak didn't answer, but his expression was a definite "yes."

"We're not giving up that easily! Either the ghost goes or we go!" Anonymous attempted to rally the group. "Wait, that's not quite right. Either we go or the ghost. . . no, let me see. . ."

"I think we should try to answer it." Feoras spoke over Anonymous' ramblings.

Pirro agreed, "I'd like to as well, but how?"

"What if we just repeat what it tells us? That way, it will know that we understand it's trying to talk with us, but we just don't know what it's saying."

"Or we'll be insulting it in it's own language. I don't know that it's a good idea to repeat a phrase from a language we know nothing about." Alon leaned back.

"Does anyone have any better ideas?" Feoras asked, looking around at the others. It was easily apparent that Zak was still in favor of leaving.

"Maybe it's not even a real ghost?" suggested Pirro, "I mean, aren't ghosts supposed to be ethereal? But that being seemed more solid than insubstantial."

There was a long pause before someone spoke up, "Does anyone here remember what Timon said about it in his speech?"

But before anyone could mount a response Rasmus interjected himself into the conversation, "So I see our resident heroes were not so successful in clearing the mines of a particular ghost!". He turned around to the worn out faces of the group in satisfaction.

Pirro stopped his pondering (and was a little but irritated for being interrupted so rudely), "Come off it, Bard. As great as an effort we made there were naturally complications."

Rasmus continued, "Then maybe you'll let me help you now? Unless one among you has an idea of how to accomplish your task?" Again Rasmus turned to those around him; no one answered.

Feoras stepped forward, "Alright then, we'll let you help us on our quest!" A few of the other party members looked at her with a questioning glance, "It does no good for us to have to put up with your insistent badgering all the time, but if you must say, then do as you promised." he took a step closer to Rasmus, "Tell us, what is your brilliant solution?"

Rasmus's stoic expression turned to a wide smile. He stepped right next to Feoras and began to shake his hand, "Oh thank you! You won't regret this decision!"

After a brief pause for loss in tension Rasmus finally conveyed his idea, "It's simple you know, this ghost, he's obviously lost!"

Alon sighed, "Lost?" to which Rasmus replied, "Of course! There's no other explanation! Think, where do you always find a lost child or pet? It's always some cave or cabinet."

"A closed of section of mountain is hardly a cabinet." Anonymous added.

"But for a ghost?" Rasmus questioned. The group grew faces of skepticism.

"Listen," Rasmus explained, "I've been hanging about here longer than you all. I've heard things, strange things, rumors, stories about an abandoned village, a village full of ghosts." Rasmus had successfully captured the groups attention, "And then we have our little spirit, all alone in a cave, with no other ghosts around to keep him company or fill his empty heart."

"But how does that help anything?" Erica questioned Rasmus

It's everything don't you see. All the others that have come before have been going about this the completely wrong way, just like all of you. The problem isn't at the mines, it's at the home for all the ghosts." Rasmus began to point to the exit of the encampment, "I'm sure that if we go to the ghost village and tell them about their missing brother, they would be more than happy to help bring him back."

Anonymous spoke up, “Well it’s not like the ghost down, it’s called Abydos by the way, is any new information. Hm. But I suppose it is an option worth considering.”

The group pondered his words for some time. The whole idea of a village of the dead did seem a little fantastic. Anonymous put forth that the group should have a vote on which direction they should take next, with the two main choices being either to take Rasmus's advice and head to the village of the dead or to stay at the camp and try to think up a better way to relocate the ghost inside. Regardless, Rasmus was happy to finally have a way out of the unexciting and uninteresting mining site.

This post has been edited by Two Jacks: 24 September 2009 - 12:11 AM

"I say we try communicating with old luminescent again before going back through the mining camp." voted Pirro, "Who knows, maybe he'll go away if Razzy here plays a song for him."

Rasmus grew stiff at the thought of playing. His new companions did not yet know that he was a bard with no musical talent whatsoever.

"Perhaps it might work," Rasmus stuttered, "but music is a one sided conversation. I don't see how it could work."

Pirro patted Rasmus on the back to which Rasmus jumped, "Whoa now. Only joking of course, Rasmus, about the music anyway."

"I still it's too early to leave now, only after one attempt at communicating." Pirro announced.

This post has been edited by Two Jacks: 25 September 2009 - 11:00 PM

"I'm inclined to agree," Anonymous announced. "Besides, I have a brilliant idea!"

Everyone groaned in unison.

"We should try to communicate with the creature again. If that doesn't work, we can tell it that Rasmus here is a famous ghostbuster and that he will be forced to drive the ghost out if doesn't leave of it's own free will! We'll bluff it into submission!"

"Now, wait a minute—" Rasmus tried to interrupt.

"I don't think that will turn out well," Alon said before Rasmus could finish.

Anonymous drew himself up and glared. He replied, "Have you ever tried it before? Do you have any past results—"

"It could result in us all getting gruesomely killed," Feoras put in.

"Without a doubt," Rasmus agreed, seeming relieved no one wanted to accept the mage's suggestion.

"Fine, we'll keep it as a last resort to be used first in case of trouble," Anonymous stated, looking quite disgruntled.

While everyone tried to untangle that last statement, Pirro turned to the others.

"Any other opinions? Only three people have said anything so far," he noted.

Everyone looked around at everyone else, but no one seemed to have any strong opinion. Zak had been looking worried, as usual, "Rasmus? Did you say that there was a whole village full of ghosts?"

"Yes, Abydos, as it is apparently called."

Zak gasped at the thought, "More ghosts??? I don't want to go there." He closed his eyes, trying to think of places he'd rather be.

"Don't you ever want to do anything adventurous?" Erica asked. "I, for one, am willing to go to Abydos, unless anybody else has a strong preference."

Pirro grabbed a torch, "No one seems to care very much either way, so you may go if you like. I'm going to go back down there and try to communicate with that thing one more time."

"Hear! hear!" Anonymous stood to join Pirro. "This is just the sort of bravery that we need to accomplish our quest. I'm going with you. Should we fail, we can always consider going to Abydos next, or we may all die a horrible, gruesome death! Time will tell."

Zak whimpered as he got up to follow them. "I don't like either option, but at least there's only one ghost here."

Slowly the others joined Pirro until only Rasmus and Erica remained. "Hmm," Erica thought, "Your offer is very tempting, but I don't want to miss this. Why don't you come along?" With that she stood and trailed behind the rest of the group.

This post has been edited by The Wizard: 26 September 2009 - 11:49 PM

The group steadily made their way back to the location where the ghost resided, with the only difference this time being a past encounter and that Rasmus was with them. They paused right before the entrance to the haunted chamber, the faint blue glow could be seen emanating once more.

"Well," Anonymous announced with a tremble, "this is it."

The somewhat reluctant adventurers looked to Pirro, appointing him temporary leader, after all he was holding the torch.

"Well," Pirro cleared his throat, "now the plan!"

Everyone was silent. Erica grew a little impatient, "What plan?".

"I believe we were trying to establish a line of communication." Alon answered, but still no one went near the glowing hole.

"At this rate I'll never get out of here!" Rasmus thought to himself. He pushed ahead to the opening in the ground and paused, "I-I'll see what I can do!" he announced not looking back to the group as he hopped down the dark crevice.


Inside the chamber the pale blue figure was facing towards the wall opposite to Rasmus leaving only his back exposed, Rasmus swore he could almost see a set of eyes through the glowing head. "Just plain eerie." Rasmus thought.

A voice came from above, "We're here if you need us!" followed by another, "Here you might need this!". An unlit torch dropped to Rasmus's feet. "Thank you." Rasmus replied quietly trying to go unnoticed by the nearby ghoul.

Rasmus pocketed the unlit torch but as he did he noticed something odd about his harp, it was glowing.


Above, Zak grew worried, "Oh, I'm sure he's been killed by now, if not by the ghost then by gas! You know mines like these are always full of toxic gas." Alon sighed at Zak's worrying. Zak cupped his hands around his mouth as he projected his voice towards the hole, "Rasmus, has the gas gotten you?".


As Rasmus started to investigate his harp when a loud voice filled the cavern from above, "Rasmus, has the gas gotten you?!" Rasmus ducked from the shock and as he looked up to see what had happened he was met with the faded eyes of the azure specter sitting in-front of him, "An Aue gernek ers.".

"Indeed!" Rasmus said as he jumped to an upright position. Rule one, be able to play everything off as if it's nothing. Now to try and connect to the subject. "Swell um, cave you have here. My, don't see this breed of moss most places."

"An Aue gernek ers." the ghost replied.

"Ah, yes." Rasmus laughed lightly. He took a deep breath as he spoke his next words, "Listen, sure this is a swell cave but I know where you can have an actual house, maybe even fall in love. However to do all this there's one small problem, you have to vacate this mine."

"An Aue gernek ers!" the ghost's tone changed. Rasmus began to panic.

"Listen listen, no need to get upset now. Here let me cheer you up with a trick." he reached into his pouch for his juggling balls, "Oh!" he exclaimed in shock, all three were gone! He turned around realizing he must have dropped them when he hoped down. Looking down he noticed two ratlizzards tossing the balls back and forth to each other. Quickly dismissing his astonishment, Rasmus made for the ratlizzards who quickly finished their act before bolting into their respective holes with Rasmus's method of entertainment.

This changed things for Rasmus, he only had juggling and music as forms of entertainment, and he only knew how to juggle. He swung his harp around from his back, briefly remembering what he had discovered earlier.

"An Aue gernek ers."

"Alright forget the trick, I have something better!" He moved his fingers to the strings slowly he began to strum them. The sound was a bit flat but eventually Rasmus settled on a cord sounding well enough to silence his company. Rasmus continued to hit the sorrowful note humming slightly along as his pale friend turned around and returned to face the opposite wall. Rasmus's harp glowed slightly every-time he hit the cord; it's glow was quite entrancing and soon Rasmus began zoning out until a even darker sound entered his ears. What he heard made his heart sink with sorrow. "Jinrai." the ghost spoke. Rasmus stopped playing and looked up to the glowing figure. "Jinrai." it said again and then returned to its dead silence.

Rasmus pulled himself off the ground and made his way back to the hole. He took one last look at the ghostly creature and felt a sense of grief as he made his way back up to his companions.


"Well, what happened Rasmus?" Feoras inquired at his arrival. Rasmus wasn't smiling, he hadn't really accomplished anything except getting depressed, the details on his harp had even slipped his mind.

"Jinrai." Rasmus said. "What's that?" Feoras asked again. "It's what he said." Rasmus answered.

"Jinrai?" Anonymous mused. "Maybe it's a code! We figure out what it means and then we can figure out how to get rid of the ghost! It'll be easy!"

The others glanced at one another nervously. By now, they had all begun to guess that the mage had delusions of grandeur.

"If we remove an 'i' and replace the 'r' with a 'j,' it says 'ninja.' Maybe we need a ninja! I'll go ask!"

Before anyone could stop him, he got up and scrambled down the hole. He returned a minute later, looking perturbed.

"Well?" Erica dared to ask after a moment's silence.

"He kind of looked at me like I was crazy before repeating his catchphrase," Anonymous sighed, too busy to notice that Alon was looking at the mage with the same expression on his face.

"Maybe we should take a lunchbreak and theorize more over lunch," Zak volunteered, eager to be out of the mine. "After all, we've done more than anyone but Bellerophon."

Nodding unhappily, Anonymous rose and headed out of the mine, followed by the others. Zak would have passed him and run out of the mine, but Pirro caught him and held him back, not wanting to the miners to get the impression that the ghost had defeated them.

Eurybates wearily ladled out soup for the adventurers, hoping for some hint that they were able to find a way to evict the ghost. Alas, they did not appear to have any ideas, only vague notions. At least they were staying around long enough to dine before heading out.

Pirro thought that the best idea might be to build a wall over the hole, whitewash it with something luminescent, & tell the miners that it would keep the ghost contained. But since they didn't have any luminescent paint on hand, he promoted going to Abydos to find clues first.

Rasmus barely touched his rations. He had been eating the stuff for the past week, driving his gut to go on strike.

When Pirro notioned that they should head to Abydos, Rasmus couldn't help but feel a little smug. At least he was able to restrain himself from saying, "I told you so."

Now that the plan was to set out, Rasmus's only concern was finding a more suitable area for his talents, that and perhaps a way to transport his three sacks of luggage.

"Well, let's get going then!" proposed Pirro as they rose from their late supper, "I'm guessing night's the best time to meet ghosts!"

Alon leaned comfortably against one of the supports of the awning over the tables and smiled in amusement as several of his companions reacted to Pirro's idea.

"Wait! We can't leave now! Not after dark!" ejaculated Anonymouse, "There are Harpies out there at night! We'll all be struck stark raving mad for the remainder of our lives if we attempt to journey beyond the walls of this compound at night! And the Ruffians will kill us all! We'll be blundering along through the jungle, and not see them, but they'll see us with their eyes, and stab us through the hearts like so many kabobs! I'd rather spend the night in the chamber of the being that haunts this accursed mine!"

"And who knows what sorts of pathogenic bugs may infest the night air!" Zak appended in his characteristic wail.

Of the party-members not giving the miners reason to question their sanity, Erica was the first to speak: "I think we can safely say that it isn't as bad as any of these believe, but I'm still not sure I want to discover how off they are before I'm a bit more experienced at this adventuring thing."

Alon casually pushed himself away from his pillar, "Oh, it's no problem for the keen eyed warrior to make it through the forest at night. The harpies rarely go far to hunt, and we're well north of them. But I agree that it would be best to spend the night here." He winked conspiratorially at Pirro who promptly pulled several torches out of his pack and tossed them -lit- to Alon...

"I'm still not sure there's a point in going to Abydos," Anonymous sighed.

"Do you have another suggestion?" Zak asked him, eager to avoid the trip.

"Hmm..." the mage looked thoughtful for a moment, impressing everyone. (By now, everyone had started assuming that Anonymous was completely incapable of sitting and thinking.) "Didn't Timon say something about some firespirit that knew about things?"

"I recall hearing something like that," Alon agreed.

"Maybe he can help us," Anonymous suggested. "I think he was near Eioneus..."

Before anyone could pass out because Anonymous had actually made a suggestion that might have been halfway sane or helpful, Zak gasped in horror.

"Eioneus?! Isn't he in another cave?" he asked, looking ready to pass out.

"It's just a suggestion, Zak," Erica replied, with a sigh.

"Indeed," Anonymous said. "I'm willing to do what the group prefers to do, although I admit that making a dangerous life or death trek over the mountains, battling ooze, and getting lost in caves is what probably awaits us with my way. But we'll get mauled by the ghosts if we do the other. Of course, we're doomed if we stay here. Avalanche will get us for sure."

While the mage continued to discourse on how they were all going to die, the other group members continued to prepare for the next day and to debate whether to go to Abydos or to visit the mysterious spirit that Timon had mentioned in passing.

The adventures spent a while discussing which direction to head next - to Eioneus's cave on the other side of the mountain, or to Abydos on the Western shore. Feoras got bored with this discussion and snuck off to bug Eurybates.

Feoras had met Eurybates when he was dropping rations off at the mine, and found him to be a pleasant person to converse with. As expected, Eurybates was in the kitchen, cleaning up.

"Hey, Bates," said Feoras.

"Hey there," Eury responded. "I see you've gathered a group to take care of our ghost?"

"Oh yes, you know, I see a problem and I think, 'I could fix that!' Getting helpers was easy, people see me and they know I've got great adventures ahead of me. I guess I must have some kind of confident aura that draws people in - maybe it's in the way I walk. Well, of course these guys wanted in on my adventures..." Feoras trailed off, trying to think of more impressive things to say about himself.

Eurybates seized Feoras's pause, "all I can say is I'm glad someone's dealing with the problem. I think the mine may be closed down soon otherwise."

"That wouldn't be good," Feoras agreed.

"So... what's the plan?"

"There's been two different proposals, and we're still trying to hack out what, er, what's the best course of action," Feoras stated knowledgeably.

"Ah," Eurybates nodded. "What are the ideas?"

"Either persuading a group of ghosts to take him to their city, or to seek out this fire demon who may know the ways of ghosts."

Eury tried not to appear alarmed at how far-out both of these ideas sounded. "Oh, that's... um..."

"I'm not sure what I think," Feoras continued. "We don't even know if we can communicate with the demon or any of the ghosts. I suppose there's a better chance that at least one of the Abydos ghosts speaks our language, but what if they're as hostile as this ghost?"

"It's hostile?" Eury asked.

"Let me tell you, that miner who found it is lucky to be alive."

"Huh," Eury considered, "Bellerophon and his followers all seemed hunky-dory, and they came to talk to it three times."

"Yeah, it's hard to tell for sure just how violent this thing is..." Feoras amended. "Say," he added, "what all do you know about it?"

"Not much, Bellerophon didn't really say anything. I just know they visited it three times, and always left as clean and unscathed as they came. The last time he came, he didn't even look nervous at all, just strolled right into the mine without so much as greeting us."

"If only we could figure out why it wants to haunt the mine," sighed Feoras.

"Y'all will be staying here tonight, right?"

"I suppose so."

"We've got two extra beds in the barracks," Eury offered, "though that Rasmus guy has been using one of them. And you're all welcome to as much food as you need, Least we can do..."

"Yeah, Rasmus, what's his deal?"

"Apparently he's some kind of celebrity in the city, but out here he's just a bored bard. His lyrics are often somewhat disturbing. He says he was conned into coming here. He's quite lively though, which is nice. This place sure can use livening up. That's me talking, mind, not the miners."

"Heh," Feoras chuckled. "I suppose I better go and see if my fellow adventurers are any closer to a decision."

They said good night, and Feoras wandered back over to where Anonymous, Erica, Alon, Pirro, Zak, and Rasmus were still arguing. He wondered to himself what the wisest thing to do would be. What was more dangerous, a city-full of ghosts, or a fire demon? Abydos had the convenience factor of being closer, but a demon should be able to speak their language, shouldn't it? Then again, why couldn't the ghost? Had he been dead so long that he forgot? And then there was Pirro's suggestion that the thing wasn't even a real ghost. Perhaps it was some sort of demon too...

All Feoras knew for sure was that he was beginning to have nagging doubts about their whole adventure.

This post has been edited by BreadWorldMercy453: 25 November 2009 - 04:26 PM

Pirro suddenly yelled, "Have you registered?"

Anony shouted, "We're all going to die!" followed swiftly by, "we shall be famous throughout the land!"

"I'm already famous with the girls," replied Rasmus.

After debating for a time and still not reaching a decision, Rasmus suggested the group sleep for the night and make a decision in the morning, pointing out it was now too late to travel safely. This was agreed to and everyone retired for the night.

The morning, however, still brought no resolution to the debate.

After breakfast, Anonymous suddenly stood up with a determined expression.

"I'm going to go see the creature Timon mentioned," he announced. "If it spoke to Bellerophon and the others, surely it'll speak to us! We're great heroes after all. Of course, most great heroes end up dying tragically..."

With that, he began to walk toward the camp's exit, pausing only to tell the foreman that they'd return soon.

Glad to be leaving the germ-infested camp, Zak hurried after him. Slowly, everyone else began to follow them.

Leaving the camp, they turned south and hurried along their way. They stayed close to the mountains, hoping to avoid any trouble (such as ruffians or harpies).

Day had passed on many hours ago, but the mountain path they had chosen gave no area stable enough for rest. Carefully, the adventurers crawled along the side of the mountain; their only light from torches the more nimble members were holding.

Rasmus was not the most well-balanced person, the necessity of three full sacks of luggage had also pulled him to the back of the line. In between heaves he could see the last torch-bearer slowly slipping farther and farther away.

Rasmus was anxious to catch up, he wouldn't be left in the dark, on a mountain waste deep in monsters and whatever other foul beings might roam the night. "Wait for your bard!" he echoed into the mountain.

"Come now, wait!" He shouted again, and in desperation attempted to sprint towards his companions, sacks in hand, only to clumsily loose his footing on the treacherous terrain.

With many a 'oof' and 'ugh' the would be bard tumbled downward into the blackness of the night.


His body hurt all over, he felt like he had, well, fallen down a mountain. Though the pain was agonizing, a few cuts and many bruises were the worst he could account for in the darkness. Pulling him self out of the dirt, he cleared the dust from his lungs.

"Wait!" he gasped in fright. "Is my face still beautiful?" After careful examination with his hands, he grew relieved that his head was completely unscathed.

Sadly, his relief was short lived, as he quickly remembered he was alone, on a mountain side, at night, not to mention lost. He couldn't think of what to do, there was no way to reach his friends without light, and did they even know he was missing?

He calmed his panic with deep breaths. "Come now Rasmus, there's always an answer. You just.. have to find it."

Behind him he could hear something, the sound of objects clunking against stone. "Footsteps!" He announced to the night.

Briskly he turned to meet his rescue and cried out, "Here! I'm here!"

Strangely enough Rasmus was met with no reply, yet the steps grew closer. The gigilo stared hard into the blackness to make out his arriving company, but before he could obtain his answer, it hit him in the face.

One of his luggage sacks had been tumbling down after him. "Aghast! My prized asset!"

In anger he kicked the nick-nack stuffed container away, only, he didn't hear it hit the ground. Pondering this, Rasmus searched the ground for his belongings, "Funny, I seem to have lost the ground as well..."

Rasmus froze at his dawning discovery, he was on a cliff. It was nothing short of a miracle he hadn't fallen off already.

Jumping back in terror, he planted himself against the stony side of the mountain. In the distance he heard the same familiar clunking sound.

"Oh no, not more of my things!" In reflex, he stood and readied himself to catch the sack.

*clunk clunk clunk* the sound grew closer.

Rasmus began to have second thoughts about his plan, "I wonder, could the weight of the sack carry me over the cliff?"

*clunk clunk clunk* the sound grew nearer still.

"Well, who really needs material possessions anyways, right?" not sparing a moment, he ducked, and as he did he heard the sack swoosh by over head, with no trace of a landing. As much as he was relieved for making the right decision, his heart was still heavy from the severing of his material attachments.

But once again clunking noises could be heard, he could not bear to lose all his belongings. Again he turned around and while screaming, eyes closed, ran towards the last remaining sack.

"I won't loose you!" he said strongly, tackling the sack to the ground, which screamed out to let him go, "Get off me you foul be beast!" The torch that had been dropped near by had revealed the identity of the third sack, it was in fact Pirro.

"Anonymous! I'm so glad to see you've found me!" Rasmus cried out, bringing his disgruntled friend off the crag.

Pirro wasn't very pleased, "Anonymous? I've told you a hundred times, my name's Pirro!" Dusting himself off, he went to retrieve his fallen torch.

"Yes, I'll remember that, but first let us rejoin the others. Not all that pleasant here, as I'm sure you can tell." Rasmus argued.

Perro sighed, "Should have just left you. Nothing but trouble." And with that he began the march back up to the mountain trail.


Not a word was uttered on the journey back. Eventually, the two rejoined the other torch lights, which were now formed in a circle on somewhat of a clearing. Quickly the torches were being thrown into what was becoming a stable camp fire.

"Where have you two been? Seems like half the night has passed away!" Erica said as she went to greet the two.

Rasmus naturally weakened his voice, "It was terrible. I was walking along, when this beast of the mountain attempted to bite or lunge at me, but with my quick reflexes I was able to jump back in time; however, as you can see, I seem to have miscalculated a bit." pathetically he grabbed his arm in pain.

Erica grew distressed at the sight of his wounds and moved him over to the fire.

"You're welcome for bringing him back. I'd bet ten oboli he'd still be lost out there if it wasn't for me." Pirro ranted in dissatisfaction. Shrugging off the ordeal, he took a seat and grabbed a piece of cheese from a nearby sack.


The group had found a bit of a rough spot to set up camp, but no one could really be blamed for the situation except for Rasmus, who had caused them to stop in the first place.

Rasmus was rather relieved that everyone didn't seem to mind too much that he had temporarily halted their journey to the fire being. He thought they would have definitely kicked him out of the group for being such an inconvenience, but he wasn't going to complain. He had lost two of three sacks of luggage, but was more or less safe and still good looking.

"Wait." he thought, "One fell, two fell... what happened to the.."

Quickly Rasmus surveyed just what his companions were doing: they were all eating, eating what definitely appeared to be Rasmus's food.

He stood in protest, seemingly shedding the previous pain of his wounds, "My food, stop! Stop! That's not meant for you!"

"Oh?" Anon replied, bread in hand, "And what do you suppose Perro just did for you?"

Anon tossed his remaining bread to the somewhat confused gigolo, "We all agreed to do this, understand? We're each different parts of a whole now. You should try getting used to it."

Rasmus sighed and took a bite of the already half-eaten bread, "I don't understand these ideals, but I suppose I have to comply at the moment, and.." Rasmus looked away for a moment,"I guess you all are looking after me."

Taking a seat by the fire, Rasmus spent a few more hours of the night talking with his companions.

This post has been edited by Two Jacks: 12 January 2010 - 10:13 PM

Zak sat outside the ring of adventurers gathered around the fire, staring at the ground. He was so busy contemplating what he'd gotten himself into that he didn't look up until Pirro tapped his shoulder. Startled, Zak pulled away with a gasp, a gesture that Pirro took as an insult. "I'm not going to hurt you. . . I'm offering you food. You haven't eaten."

Quite true. Zak hadn't eaten, and he was hoping to avoid it as long as he could. Yet, the pain in his stomach told him that he couldn't ignore it much longer. He glanced at the portion of bread extended before him. He cringed at the thought of where it might have come from or how many people had carelessly handled it. But. . . it looked so tasty. He sighed forlornly. "Thank you," he muttered as he tried to tear a morsel off an untouched edge. Pirro rolled his eyes but continued to hold the bread steady as Zak struggled with it.

Erica watched with a puzzled look on her face. Originally, she had figured Zak was just shy, but he seemed afraid to do anything. Eventually, he had managed to tear off some food that looked untouched; at least, it had. He ate it slowly, carefully scrutinizing each bite. He was starving, but it was too dangerous to eat this food without taking care. He wondered to himself if he would be able to make it to Eioneus' cave without sleep as well.

Pirro stared into the fire as sleep began to claim his companions. Rasmus had been the first to succumb to the night's embrace, muttering something like 'beauty rest'. Pirro himself was supposed to have the first watch, else he would have lain back on his bedroll some time before. He looked over at Zak, sitting bolt upright, as if he'd be swallowed by polyps if he allowed himself to sleep.

"It seems like most of my companions are a bit deranged" Pirro muttered under his breath, & then glanced at his own pack filled to the brim with explosives, torches, & Smith's Friend potions, "I wonder if maybe I am too?"

Pirro quickly shook off his pondering & turned to Zak, "Staying up awhile longer?" he asked hopefully.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'll be up awhile. You can go ahead & get some sleep if you want to risk bedbugs."

Pirro thanked him, & drifted off to sleep.

This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 28 February 2010 - 04:16 PM

The night passed uneventfully. The adventurers nibbled on more rations as they made their way around the other side of the mountains.

"This bread is dry," Anonymous mumbled.

"You know, it really is too bad we haven't seen any wild beasts around," Feoras commented, "I'm a natural at hunting and we could be eating freshly cooked steak for breakfast." (In actuality, Feoras had never been hunting.)

"Dry bread... bad omen," said Anonymous. "Ignae won't hear us out, he'll burn us to a crisp! Oh, if only I had known today would be my last day! How much farther until we meet our doom?"

There was silence for a couple of minutes. Finally- "are you asking me?" asked Feoras.

"Yes!"

"I've never taken this route before, I've always taken the western side of the mountains," Feoras explained, hoping it sounded like he was a seasoned traveler despite knowing nothing about where they were.

The adventures were now having a little trouble because the path between the mountains and the southern swamp was rather narrow, and overgrown with trees and shrubs. They singled their file. As they walked along next to the swamp, their ears were filled with the sounds of countless bugs and asps buzzing about.

Second-to-last in the line, Erica looked back at Zak, who was behind her. Zak was making his way along very slowly, staying as far away as he could from the cliff leading down into the swamp. He seemed to be unable to tear his eyes away from the swamp and looked quite ill. Indeed, as he took a hesitant step forward his body swayed dangerously as though he was about to faint. "Whoa!" Erica called, hoping she was loud enough to be heard over the bugs, "are you okay?" Zak didn't answer, but attempted another step; then fell forward as his legs collapsed.

Erica managed to catch Zak and get him into a sitting position on the ground. "Just sit down for a couple of minutes," Erica told him. The other adventurers had continued on, not noticing anything over the ruckus of the swamp; but Erica was sure they'd wait for them. Once Zak had recovered enough to stand up, he backed as far away from the swamp as he could, and tried to brush the dirt off his pants with a leaf.

"Thanks for catching me," Zak said. "I could have fallen into..." he shuddered and left his sentence hanging.

Erica was feeling very concerned about the health of this young man. "Um, have you had anything to eat this morning?" she asked.

"Ah, well, no, but I did eat so much last night."

Erica blinked at him.

"Please, let's move on," begged Zak, "the sooner we get away from this death-trap, the better." Erica reluctantly continued on and Zak followed. They caught up with their friends, but before the group had gotten away from the swamp, they noticed a small gated settlement nestled in the mountains.

The adventures stopped to discuss it, wondering what it was for a few minutes before realizing it was the ruffian encampment Bellerophon had cleared out during his adventures. Ruffians working for House Comana had camped there, traveling regularly to the harpy caves to collects eggs with which to make kesh. Luckily Bellerophon had put a stop to the whole scheme and the encampment was now unoccupied.

Or was it? The adventures fell silent when they thought they heard something, and sure enough footsteps could be heard as well as a door opening a closing.

"The ruffians are back!" Feoras whispered.

"What do we do?" Asked Erica in whisper.

"Get out of here, fast," voted Zak, "before they hear us and kill us for our possessions."

"No!" protested Anonymous, "we're on this journey to save the citizens of Cythera from danger! This is a perfect opportunity better the world! We need to put a stop to these ruffians before they get out of hand again! We'll be famous, like Bellerophon!"

Only a short discussion was needed for the group on a whole to agree to invade the settlement and stop the evil ruffians.

The late morning sunlight poured through his window as Arimi gazed proudly out at the parade-grounds of his compound before turning back to his majordomo, "You understand Jeeves? I don't want to die hoping that my sons will one day be recognized as leaders among the Houses of Cythera. I must not, cannot, allow this opportunity to slip through my fingers. Cythera will recognize House Arimi as the foremost House before I die!"

"Your progress in that direction has certainly been astronomical sir."

"Yes! Only a few months ago I merely owned the four most productive copper mines on the island, but I did not resign myself to mediocrity. No! I kept my eyes open, watching for an opportunity, and thus was able to seize the wealth of Comana before Kosha sunk beneath the waves even as I took control of this fortress with the other hand!"

"But you still don't have the Iron Mine and your spies report that Madame Thuria has hired a band of mercenaries to rid the mine of its haunt, and you fear that they will succeed. Don't worry, even if they do succeed the miners will still be too scared to do anything, especially since you already sent someone to ensure that the tales keep circulating. Right now I'm more worried that these pseudo-Ruffians you've hired to serve you will decide an assassination is in their best interests."

"And then my fortress will once again be crawling with ruffians set on the destruction of all Cythera. I know, I know. But I don't want opportunity to escape me because I'm too busy watching my back. As my Uncle always said, 'If you spend too much time watching your back you won't see the guy with a knife standing in front of you.' I'll always remember him as a wise man."

*CRASH*

Startled, Arimi looked back out the window. In the billowing dust that was the remains of the gate stood a motley party of seven persons. One who had the fanatical appearance of an expelled mage stood forward, "AVAST! Ruffians shall never have a place in Cythera as long as Heroes such as myself remain! We shall grind your bones to dust, (or more likely run away like a whipped puppy,) before Noon today!"

One of his companions pulled the nutcase back & stepped forward with another who looked mysteriously familiar. The sun glinted off his weapon menacingly, causing some of the guards to stumble back a step.

There was much epic combat which ranged all over the compound, but in the end the invaders reached Arimi's chambers.

Arimi was sitting at his desk hastily scribbling his last thoughts as the menacing young man burst through the door. He glanced around quickly before turning & yelling out the door, "Battle's over! There's only a non-combatant in here."

Four of his companions quickly piled in the door, the last of which was the familiar one, "Arimi? Change your mind about working with rogues have you? This is really too much, you should have invited me back first!"

"No! They arn-weren't ruffians, they were disenchanted farm-boys. I offered them an opportunity to work for House Arimi to keep them off the streets. But how did you kno-wait! You're Alon! So bad to see you again! How have you been?"

"Fine, of course. How's Uncle?"

"Stabbed dead."

"In the back?"

"Of course not, you know how he was. I got to the office in time to hear his last words..."

Erica commented out the door to Rasmus that apparently the fighters hadn't been ruffians, to which he replied so that those inside could hear, "Then why do they all have daggers in their boots?"

Alon raised an eyebrow at Arimi who nervously responded, "I didn't realize they were pseudo-ruffians when I hired them. Thanks for helping me with that problem, I'll check references next time." He tossed a small sack to Alon, "Your usual fee, plus enough to keep peace with your companions. What were you doing in this forsaken corner of Cythera anyway? I can't imagine that you're the one Madame Thuria hired to clear the Iron Mine?"

Anonymous replied, "Yes we are. While those cowardly fighters stayed outside to flirt, I went in & arranged with the esteemed leader of House Attis for the clearing of the Iron Mine. When we succeed we shall be as famous as Bellerophen! Heroes of Cythera born & raised on her breast, we shall be acclaimed with twice the honour of that foreigner Bellerophen! Nay ten times the honour! If we don't get our spleens ripped out by the very dangerous spirits of fallen warriors first."

"Oh. I see?" commented Arimi, "Would you like to accept a quest from me? I'll pay well."

"Let's go out into the fresh air to continue this discussion," suggested Erica, "I think your servant has finished discarding the bodies already. And a couple of our party don't want to come in."

"This is ridiculous!" Rasmus announced, making sure everyone could hear. "Ruffians? Killing? What kind of quest are all of you on anyways?"

Pirro approached the bard, wiping away the proof of apoplexy from his blade as he did. "It might not be as pretty as you like, but there's no avoiding it." Pirro motioned to Arimi's assistant pulling the fallen ruffians into the bed area. "Look, most of them are only wounded anyways. A good lesson not to do bad deeds again."

The gigolo looked at the one unfortunate soul who wounds were severe enough to be lethal. The motionless flesh being dragged away forced his eyes to turn away. "Tch." It's always senseless killing in the end.


Rasmus found it hard to stomach that his temporary companions were so ready to kill someone. However, they're willingness to invade an encampment packed full of blood-thirsty ruffians was almost more startling. Were these seemingly inexperienced simpletons really skilled warriors? Rasmus didn't have to wait long for an answer.


"I hope you all know that I'll be homeless now!" Arimis cried out.

Alon sighed, "We have no intention of taking the fort from you," but after considering how much further they had to go, "for the night at least."

"Ha! You'll all be dead before morning!"

Zak jumped at Arimi's vague threat, "W-what do you mean, dead? Oh! Not worms! Anything but those... wrigglers..." Frantically, the healing mage began pat himself, attempting to locate any creepers that may have hitched a ride.

"Not worms!" Arimi's face grew a foreboding expression, "Ratlizzards!" After a moment he stopped waving his hands mysteriously in the air.

Erica couldn't help but let out some muffled laughter.

Shaking the blood off his hands, Arimi's assistant began to explain his master's warning, "Indeed. Before you all arrived the primary job of the, shall we say 'guards', was to fight off an invading species of ratlizzard. Indeed, most of the men you fought today were already suffering from the pests' poison."

"Poison!" Zak stood in panic, "We're all going to die of poison!"

Anonymous grabbed his chin in ponderment, "Hm, yes. Poison from ratlizzards is a big problem in Cademia too, if I recall."

Zak began to wheeze and produce cold sweat, "Oh... no..po-po-po-" but he couldn't bring himself to finish the statement.

Arimis laughed, "Not so tough now! But fear not, I have a job for you all. Clear this area of ratlizzards so that this place may once again be.. uhh..." Arimis quickly turned to his assistant,

"Shall we say an 'orphanage for lost youth' sir?"

"Ah, yes-whatever! Just get it done before nightfall (that's when they get vicious) and you'll be paid quite well!"

As Arimis began to pack his belongings (by ordering his assistant to do so), the group decided whether or not they should stay the night, or flee the cursed fortress.

Rasmus felt strange, "We should..." The group turned to the bard, skeptical of any advice he might have, "...stay and fight. Those men inside are all sick, and even if they are just ruffians, they still need our help."

Feoras almost began a slow clap, but then decided just to say, "Here-here! After all, what heroes would we be if we didn't help the weak!"

"And the money's a good reason too!" Alon said only just finishing the count of his recent earnings.

Turning around to hide the fact that he was blushing, the bard scoffed at his companions' amusement. "So easy to please simpletons isn't it?"


Nearby... Zak tried to fight the sick feeling in his stomach as thoughts of puss filled bite wounds raced through his head. "Rats... Green rats...."

Arimi laughed grimly to himself, these hero wannabes would get in real trouble if they didn't become more observant soon, but at least the two opposite stories he'd given in the course of their conversation were both technically true. The adventurers had only injured four of the guards & the only one of them to die had been the primary promoter of ruffianly behavior. A full seven were entirely unscathed (excepting the pre-existing condition of poisoning.)

~*~*~*~*~

Pirro sighed heavily wondering why Rasmus had ever left the safety of his mother's roof, & turned to him. "Look here Rasmus, I'm a highly trained ex-militia man. I know how to tell a ruffian from an innocent. Fools are a bit harder, though a little pain tends to tell. I'll admit I wasn't expecting any upstanding citizens to try living way out here. Next time I'll attempt a longer parley & risk losing the element of surprise. Now, go off & practice your harping & maybe you can Charm Foe or something to get the rat's to leave peacefully. I'm going to see if I can make some unguent."

Rasmus "humphed" as he turned & left.

Poison! Zak felt nauseous. "I've been poiiiissssooonnneeed. . . " he languished. "I'm going to die," his vision blurred.

"Don't be silly! You haven't been poisoned," Erica patted Zak on the back, which did quiet him about complaining of poison, but he quickly moved away as though he were trying to dodge an attack. Puzzled, Erica shrugged and rejoined the others as they discussed their next move.

I know I've been poisoned. . . I just know it. They'll believe it too, when I fall over dead Rather than dwelling on anger at the others for dismissing him, Zak moved to self-pity again. I'm too young to die. Why'd I agree to travel with these people? Why didn't I just beg Headmaster Selinus to take me back at Pnyx? Grrr! Zak felt itchy all over, so he began to scratch himself wildly to try to overcome the feeling. This is a symptom of ratilizard poison, I just know it is!

"Ooooohhhh," someone moaned as though they were dying.

What? What is that? Zak froze, his eyes darting back and forth. But he saw no one aside from his compatriots. His arm started itching again, and he went back to scratching madly when another moan reached his ears. What could be so important that someone feels the need to complain about it? I'm the one who's been poisoned! Zak looked around, actually taking note of his surroundings for the first time since he entered the encampment. He had hidden outside, covering his ears while the others went in and attacked. Even when he was forced to come in, when the battle was supposedly over, he had not examined anything around him, too caught up worrying about his own safety until he heard the words "poison."

His eyes rested on a building in one corner of the compound just as another loud cry emanated from within. "Who's in there?" he wondered aloud. He noticed blood on the ground around him; he nearly fainted. Then he saw a trail of blood leading into the building where the moans were coming from. He didn't put any thought into his next action, as he would have stopped himself given the chance. He began to move in the direction of the cries.

He'd never seen so much blood in his life. . . Zak fought the urge to faint. As he reached the open door, his eyes widened in horror. "Undead," he hoarsely whispered to himself. Wait. Maybe they weren't undead. "Are they alive?" he cowered at the edge of the doorway. No one else seemed to be around, as they were apparently busy planning. Zak watched for a moment, unsure of what to do or even think. He knew that healers existed for a reason: to heal wounds and illnesses obviously. But only splinters and a common cough, surely. He didn't realize there was anything like this. And yet, before his eyes, five bodies lay spread across the beds in the room, beaten and bloodied. He didn't realize this was the outcome of the battle. He didn't realize these ruffians were people.

For the first time in Zak's life, he actually opened his eyes, however brief. He realized at this point that other people had the capacity to experience pain, like him. Furthermore, he realized that he wasn't in any pain himself, nothing that these poor souls must have been experiencing. He had to help them if he could, although he knew he would hate himself for it. Zak didn't really make a decision about it, he just started to move towards the bed of the most injured one. He turned his face away, trying to wipe from his mind the images before him. This man was certainly going to die, his wounds were too numerous. Yet, Zak was a healer. He bent over and began to examine the wounds, his face having turned a sickly green.

Over the next few minutes, Zak began to painstakingly work on healing each wound. He made himself to believe that he could save this man's life, having forcefully removed the truth that he knew only a few moments before: there was nothing he could do. He worked furiously, draining more energy for healing that he had ever used before. He was impressed by the progress he was making with healing some of the wounds. Suddenly the man opened his eyes and stared at Zak. A chill went down Zak's spine. Is he trying to thank me for helping or scare me away? Zak wondered. The gaze was cold and unwavering, almost dead. It took Zak another few moments to realize that the body had stopped breathing.

"No." Zak worked harder to seal up the wounds, covering himself in blood in the process. "No, I can - I can save you. . ."

Pirro watched from the doorway. Zak grew more and more frantic in his efforts to heal the dead man. He made his way over to the bed. "Zak, there's nothing more you can do short of a good resurrection spell," he explained, his tone was gentle, hoping to soothe Zak's frenzied mind. Zak didn't seem to hear him. Pirro took a step closer, placing a hand on Zak's shoulder, "Zak, there's nothing more you can do for him."

Zak stopped with the hand on his shoulder, he almost jerked away, but for some reason, he didn't. He paused, his head hanging low. Pirro began to speak again, although his tone indicated he was just thinking aloud, "It's never easy. . . killing. It is the worst job that a hero must do, but no matter how difficult, it is sometimes necessary." He paused. "Maybe it wasn't entirely necessary this time; I don't know. We can't go back and change things to be as we would like them to be, as though we were all some part of an elaborate story. We have to focus on the present and help those who we can save." Pirro gestured around at the four other injured men in the room.

Zak looked at his hands and clothes. He was covered in blood. Somehow, he felt wholly responsible for this man's death. His blood was on Zak's hands in more than just a literal sense, but he knew that he had done the best he could. "They will survive without my help, if it can be called 'help'," Zak stood and scurried away. He couldn't stand to be in this room anymore, it was filled with death. He wasn't afraid; he was very confused. Why should the life of someone he never knew matter even in the slightest to him?

Pirro sighed. He knew that Zak had just learned a very important life lesson, one that came at the cost of a life itself. He reached down and closed the eyes of the dead man before turning and leaving the room as well.

Meanwhile, the other members of the group had congregated and were discussing the situation. There was some debate about whether to remain and attempt to solve the mystery of the encampment or to continue on their original quest.

"I think we should continue on our way to visit the firespirit," Anonymous announced. "It is a prior obligation, and we, as good heroes, must keep our word. Besides, Arimi is doubtless plotting to stab us the in back."

"But they need help," Rasmus replied.

"I'm not so sure," Alon mused. "Arimi is hardly the most trustworthy individual in Cythera."

"They also seem to have a large supply of unguent," Pirro added, as he joined them. "I would say they should be fine for awhile."

"Yes, we can return later," Anonymous said. "I for one say we should proceed on our way." Turning to the others, the mage asked, "Well, what does everyone think?"