[ We find Our Heroes going up, up, and away! ] [ Rising slowly at first, Patrick and Seylin pick up the pace after Kardos joins them carrying Alcinoe, Anastasia, and Kenji, and Tia lands (roughly) with Will and Istvan. Kenji is unconscious; Will is probably dead, judging from the concavity of his skull. ] ( Not to mention the two massive holes through his chest. ) [ Patrick, who's shaking slightly as he holds the pick, turns it a bit to the left, and the platform of stone responds, moving that way. At no apparent bidding, the earth above you opens up, and then you slide sideways into a large open area near a smallish underground river or aquaduct. ] [ At this point, you come to a rest. Session Start! ] ... fuck. No wonder everyone wants this thing. * Istvan is, for the record, bleeding rather profusely from one gaping wound in his side and numerous smaller puncture wounds to his shoulders, flanks and legs. * Patrick is still shaking a bit. "Yeah. Damn this thing's powerful. I mean, like, vibrating with power-powerful." But... mission accomplished. * Patrick grins. * Istvan looks over at Alci. "Can you raise Will? We got ambushed by flying cavalry... didn't even know drow HAD flying cavalry... and they took out Will before we even saw them." You didn't? I didn't. Oh, well. * Alcinoe looks up at Istvan. She's obviously tired and more than a little bruised; blood and dirt mats her hair and is all over her armor and face, but it doesn't look like anything's broken. "Uh." She looks down at Will, then winces. "Naw, not ready ta do that." Least not ones this good. They were loaded down with enough magic to choke a lich. *blinks* Didn't get the spell for today? Shit. Anyone have a scroll? * Tia is fussing over Will, whimpering and fidgeting uneasily. "Will, why'd ya hafta die!" [ Kardos frowns at the others. "I can revive Will, more or less." ] Oh, good! * Tia glances over. "You can?" * Tia jumps up and down gleefully, her gloomy expression evaporated. * Patrick nods. "Why don't you give it a go, then?" * Tia wags her tail violently. * Anastasia is sitting, using her sword to keep her upright. She's intact, if rather drained and bloody. She watches on, cause she's Ana. * HKenji lays there, unmoving. X_X [ Kardos walks over to Will, holding his left hand over Will's head. He reverses the grip on his sword's handle, takes a deep breath, and cuts off the hand. ] Kard! Wh-what are you doing?! * Seylin gapes. "What in the world...?" He's bleeding! He's bleeding! Help! * Arwen is now known as Alcinoe * Istvan winces. * Tia runs around frantically as if her hair is on fire. [ Kardos mutters something in a strange tongue under his breath while he puts his good hand on the severed hand; the muttering rises to a steady chant as the blood rushing out of his left arm flows over Will's head and chest and begins to form an odd, crystalline covering. There is a glow of bright, radiant positive energy, and then Kardos sits back, panting and a bit paler than when he started, and holding his right hand over the stump of his left wrist. I'm kinda glad Kenji's not awake to see this. * Tia whines, hunches on the ground, and covers her eyes. * Anastasia blinks at Kardos. "I don't think it would end particularly well, no." * Alcinoe watches intently. [ Kardos manages to say, "Will will be fine in a moment. And yes, Kenji would not bother to think about the end to which the blood was used. I wonder if he ever considered that jade is... but nevermind." ] * Istvan looks at Alci. "Can you do something about Kardos' hand?" [ He takes his hand off the stump, which has scabbed over already. With his good hand, he gives the covering on Will's head a solid *thwack*, and it cracks, and you all hear Will gasp underneath it. ] * Alcinoe watches silently for a moment before looking at Istvan. She shakes her head. ... shit. That's a permanent thing? Best ta ask 'im. Anastasia, come over here? * Tia peeks out from between her fingers. "Is it over?" * Istvan walks over to check on Will. "Kardos... the hand ain't permanent, is it?" * Patrick nods to Tia. Yes, Tia, it's over. [ “Er? No.”] (Dude, the GM's talking to you! UBER!) * Anastasia levers herself to her feet, totters for a moment, and then heads over to Alci. * WillS coughs as he pulls himself to a sitting position. He blinks as he looks around. "Huh? What...where....?" * Tia hops to her feet and bounds over to Will. "Will! You're alive!!!" [ "I will have a new one in a month or so." ] Welcome back to the land of the living, Will. * Tia crushes Will in a strong hug. Oh. good. *looks down at Will* Welcome back. *helps Will up to a sitting position, just in time to be glomped* * WillS oofs. "I'm alive? What? What happened?" * Alcinoe gets up with a bit of difficulty. When Ana reaches her, she lays a hand on her forehead. "Just a sec," she says quietly before muttering a prayer under her breath. A healing glow which spreads from her fingertips and through Ana, mending her wounds in an instant. [ Kardos tries to get back to his feet. "If anyone needs healing, I can--" and he falls over sideways, before continuing, "...I can lie here and if you'll take ahold of my hand, I may be able to alleviate your injuries." ] You will stay there, and I'll help. [ "Splendid plan. You are brilliant, Seylin; I tell you so." ] * Anastasia shivers, then shakes herself, blinking a few times. "Thanks, Alci." She takes a step back, looking a great deal more spry. We got ambushed. Drow air cavalry. You got hit... really, really bad. We managed to beat them... *looks down at self* ... with a helluva lotta trouble. Then we grabbed you and got the hell outta there. Patrick and Seylin got the pick. * Patrick is still holding the pick. "I don't think that'll be totally necessary, Kardos." His hands are visibly burned where he was holding the pick. "We should head to Brightenhome asap." * Alcinoe smiles a little, back at Ana. "Sure." She looks at Kardos. "Ya all right there?" [ Kardos lies there humming, his wings hanging out. ] [ "No, but I will be. Also, I am heartened to know that you were able to complete the mission. This calls for celebration. Sometime." ] * WillS nods. "Wow. I didn't even notice 'em coming. Thanks for erm...getting my corpse by the way." * Istvan frowns. "It was dicey. If Tia had gone down, I wouldn't have been able to carry either of you out. We got lucky that we both survived." (It was Dicey, wasn't it? ;p) ( Extremely ) * WillS takes a look around. "We all made it out?" * Alcinoe looks faintly amused. "Yup." * Anastasia sits herself back down, pulling out a cloth with which she begins cleaning her sword! As much as you can say make it out. * WillS gives off a breath of relief. "That's good to hear!" * Alcinoe sits down again, too. She rubs at her hair and makes an ugly little grimace at the blood she finds there. How'd things go on your ends? We blew things up. * HKenji groans. Oh yeah. * Alcinoe looks down at Kenji. We, um... Well, those clerics never knew what hit them. * Istvan eyes Kenji's movement, and curses under his breath. * Anastasia looks over to Kenji. * Alcinoe then glares at Istvan. * HKenji opens his eyes and looks around, without moving otherwise. * Alcinoe is busy glaring at Istvan! ...I must be in hell. * Istvan tilts his head at Alci and shrugs, then goes back to checking on Will. * Alcinoe looks back to Kenji. "Why's that?" Yup, welcome to hell. It's a bit cooler than you'd think, though. because this sure isn't Yomi. * Patrick grins and holds out a hand to Kenji. * Alcinoe chuckles. "He ain't ready ta sit up yet, Patrick." [ Kardos chuckles and winces. "Actually, Hell is much more interesting, and much less pleasant. And has no clean water." ] * Kenji reaches out and grabs Pat's hand anyway, pulling himself up into sitting position. Not to mention it sticks something fierce. * Anastasia rubs at a sticky blotch of minotaur fur. "Good to know you can take a real beating, Kenji," she says with an expressionless face. Kard, are you okay? Ah need a bath. Two baths. I think we all do. If you don't mind, Ana, I would prefer NOT to take a real beating. * Alcinoe tries to pick clumps of dirt and blood out of her hair. She's not very successful at this. [ "No, thank you, Tia. However, I'll be fine in ...a while." ] * Tia whimpers. "Why did you cut off your hand, Kard? Doesn't it hurt? Do you need anything?" * Anastasia smiles, still looking at her sword. [ Kardos grimaces as Tia asks that. ] * HKenji pushes himself up off the floor, bracing against the wall to stay upright * Tia looks extremely fretful. * HKenji frowns. "Something's not right." Hm? * Istvan limps over to Tia. "I'll explain it when we get back, Tia. But he'll be okay in a few weeks." [ "No, thanks you. I appreciate your concern, but I will be well momentarily." ] * Tia glances at Istvan, but she looks unsure. "You sure? Okay..." * HKenji lowers his left hand down slowly to his two empty saya. * HKenji twitches. * Alcinoe turns her gaze to Kenji. She tenses up in case he does something stupid. * Istvan ruffles Tia's hair. "He told me himself a minute ago. He's just a bit... loopy from the pain." [ Kenji distinctly lacks his swords. Well, most of them. A bit of one of them seems to have just fallen out of his left arm. ] * Tia smiles a little and seems just the slightest bit reassured. "Okay, Isty." * HKenji calmly pulls both saya from his obi and slides them carefully up his sleeves, then leans down, picks up the bit of blade and cleans it off, and stows it, too. * Alcinoe relaxes. A little. * Tia finally notices Kenji and runs over to give him a hug. "Kenji!" * HKenji goes unconscious from the squeezing. Aw, Tia! Stop it! * Tia abruptly lets go out of shock. "What happened?" What did I do? I'm sorry! * Alcinoe gets up and catches Kenji before he hits the ground. "'Sokay. He'll be okay." Ya just squeezed at a bad time. Is he hurt? * HKenji takes a long, deep breath. * Anastasia frowns. "More or less." * Alcinoe nods, still holding Kenji up. "He'll get better, but yer gonna need ta lay off for a little while, okay?" * Tia whimpers and nods. "I'm sorry, Kenji." Nnnngh. * HKenji sits up slowly again. Kenji! [ Kardos drags himself into a sitting position. "Splendid battle." ] * Tia resists the urge to hug Kenji again. It seems to take considerable effort. * Alcinoe lets go of Kenji once she's sure he can prop himself. It was a pretty good fight, wasn't it? You guys did a great job at distracting them while Sey and I got the pick. * Tia nods. "Uh huh!" If the only casualties were my swords... it was a small price to pay. I imagine I'll be tasting stone for a month. What happened to your swords, Kenji? [ Kardos nods. "Yes. I'm sure you can be reimbursed somehow." ] * HKenji snorts. * Patrick nods to Kenji. "If necessary we can see about some sort of reimbursement until you can have another pair of weapons forged." * HKenji finally loses control and breaks down into helpless laughter. * Alcinoe blinks at Kenji's laughter. She looks a bit bemused, herself. [ Kardos smirks weakly. ] * Patrick glances at the others and makes a discrete coo-coo motion with the hand Kenji can't see. * Seylin smiles nervously. * Tia looks confused, but she laughs along. * Alcinoe rolls her eyes. Patrick is so full of shit. [ Kardos shakes his head. "No. A samurai's swords are... sacred?" ] [ "Integral? I'm not sure how to say it best." ] Those swords were four hundred and fifty seven years old, passed down from Matsu Yukari herself. Who's that? I could say someone who's dead, but that's kind of obvious. One of your ancestors? One of the most notable of my many honored ancestors, yes. * Patrick nods. Losing a truly great sword is like losing a brother. It can't be replaced, really. [ Kardos nods. ] She fought bravely in the Battle of Sleeping River. She was the one who discovered how to quickly and easily kill the zombie army of the first Bloodspeaker. What's that, Kenji? * Alcinoe removes her pack and shield, setting them heavily on the ground. She follows this with her sword, unbuckling it and setting it carefully next to her. * HKenji raises one hand and makes a chopping motion at his neck. Off with the head. No more head, no more zombie. Funny thing. Most things die when you cut off their head. No... there is no "reimbursement" for those blades. There can be none. The remnants will be returned to Lion lands and enshrined with her ashes. * Tia nods with some understanding. "I couldn't replace Mr. Axe either." ... hey, Patrick. Yeah. ? [ Kardos nods. "I refered to a hope that someone would gift you with a new daisho." He frowns. "I do not know quite enough to guess at the possibility, however." ] * Alcinoe starts digging through her pack. * HKenji waves the matter aside. ... can I see the pick for a second? My family will provide a new daisho. It died an honorable death, that is all that matters. [ Kardos nods. ] * Patrick swings the pick around and hands it off to Istvan. "Careful, it's still hot." * Istvan stows his pick, and takes hold of the Titan's Pick, staring into the fist-sized obsidion in its head. * Alcinoe pauses for a moment, looking at something, before pulling out a large rag. She gets up and heads to the river, where she starts to wash the blood off of herself and her armor. Oh, Kenji, you might want this back. * Patrick pulls out the orb of controlling earth elementals and hands it back to the samurai. * Anastasia starts to slip the newly cleaned sword into the sheath, but notices the sheath is also coated in blood and viscera. She sighs, and unbuckles it. * HKenji gingerly takes the stone and looks at it carefully. Useful? * Istvan slumps down into a sitting position against a rock, holding the pick out in front of him and rotating it in his hands. Great distraction. [ The river's water is very, very cold. Possibly something to do with being underground all the time. ] * Alcinoe shivers. But she doesn't get sick. Paladin powers rock! * HKenji nods. ... talk about fucking irony. * HKenji slips the stone into his sleeve, where he keeps everything. * Tia settles down on her haunches and begins licking her wounds clean. * HKenji pushes himself back to his feet, walks over to the riverbank next to Alcinoe, and steps in. * HKenji stiffens at the shock of cold. * Alcinoe laughs. * Istvan continues staring into the chunk of obsidian, speaking to nobody in particular. "My folks died trying to keep this thing out of the drow's hands. And I spent 12 years doing anything I could to keep from ending up like them." * HKenji snorts. You got your wish. And now... here I am. Holding the damned pick in my hands. *snorts* Who says the gods don't have a sense of humor? * Anastasia redips her cloth in the river. * HKenji lets the flow carry him down the river a bit and reaches out to Ana. * Istvan glances at Kenji. "You're right. I ain't nothing like them." *pauses* "They were drunkards, leches, greedy as they came... but when push came to shove, they damn well dropped all that and willingly took on an entire drow war party, knowing it was hopeless, just to stall them long enough for reinforcements to arrive." * Anastasia grabs Kenji with her other hand and hauls him in to shore. * HKenji laughs and braces himself to pull Ana in. * Alcinoe seems quite content to be left out of this tug of war. She wrings her cloth out and looks at Istvan. "They did the right thing." * Istvan smirks. "I ain't a drunkard, a lech, or greedy..." *eyes the pick* "... but maybe I can pull off a reasonable facsimile of that second part." * Patrick glances at Sey then back at the two soon-to-be-wet people and grins. * HKenji pulls Ana into the nice icy water. * Anastasia blinks, and topples forward into the river. On top of Kenji. * Istvan looks up, and mutters. "I think I kinda get it now. Sorry." * Tia looks up. "Get what, Isty?" * HKenji is buried under a bunch of armored woman. 'Salright, Istvan. * Alcinoe is splashed. Big time. * Alcinoe sputters a little and whirls to look at the pair. * Anastasia surfaces. "Blast you, Kenji, that's COLD!" * WillS chuckles at the antics of Ana and Kenji. * Patrick laughs. * Istvan pauses... then GRINS. "Tia, go jump in and help them out!" Oh no. [ Run, Alci! ] * Alcinoe gets to her feet and scrambles away from the river. "Ah ain't playin' that game!" * HKenji surfaces too late to hear the outburst and laughs uproariously. * Tia finally notices the wrestling match in the water. "Help? Okay!" * Patrick is GRINNING. * Tia takes a flying leap into the cold water and dives in after the two. * Anastasia coughs and sputters, then pales as she notices Tia. I'm coming, Kenji! Don't drown! [ Time seems to slow down as Tia sails through the air towards the river. ] * Anastasia makes a good faith effort to get out of the way. Sucks to be armored. [ Kenji and Ana are distinctly aware of their heartbeats as she soars towards the spot five feet from them. And then she hits the water dragonchest-first, sending a tidal wave of cold, cold (but very clear!) cave water towards the two betrothed warriors. ] * Patrick quickly pulls his (waterproof) cloak up in front of him to keep the water off. ...meep * HKenji gets swamped. [ Kenji and Ana come up a few seconds later, soaked to the bone. ] Kenji! Kenji! Are you okay? Don't drown! * HKenji floats backwards. * Anastasia sucks for air and only finds water. Oops. * Tia takes both Kenji and Anastasia in her arms and drags them toward shore. GWAH [ Tia, of course, is an excellent swimmer. And can breathe water. Go, dragongirls! ] Gotcha! Hurk! * Istvan leans back against the rock, idly rocking the Titan's Pick back and forth, a big smirk on his face. "By Moradin's tankard, I think I've got it..." * Tia paddles quickly toward shore and sets both warriors gently on the beach, then sits down next to them, tail wagging furiously. * HKenji pounds Ana on the back until she starts breathing air again. * Anastasia coughs a grey sludge, lying there like a beaten horseshoe crab. * Tia beams. "I helped!" Tia, who told you to help us? * Alcinoe looks amused, then she turns to Istvan. "You got what?" Isty did! ( 'Cause they 'bout ta DIE! ) * Tia beams more, tail wagging harder than ever. Tia, I think Istvan needs help getting clean. Isty needs a bath? He's covered in blood. * Tia nods. "Okay! I can do that!" * Tia trots over back to Istvan and, tail still wagging, sweeps him off his feet. C'mon, Isty! You need a bath! * Istvan blinks as Tia approaches, then just grins and tightens his grip on the pick as Tia grabs him. * Tia carries Istvan dutifully into the river. * Istvan holds his nose. * Istvan also takes a deep breath. That'd help. * Tia dunks Istvan a few times, then scrubs him methodically with her butterfly-embroidered handkerchief. Clean yet, Isty? * Istvan sputters. "Much better. Thanks." [ And so, Our Heroes bathed, ate, and recuperated, then went on their way! Session End! ]