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Post by Noven on Mar 17, 2011 16:23:49 GMT -5
-"There are none out there that can be fully sure of such matters... but we can believe in what we feel, and both Luke and I feel the boy is being honest. He can tell us what we need to know, then we send him on his way." Talfen stood uneasily, fearing for the young, innocent boy. "I also... feel that to fight together, travel as companions, you must have trust for us, as we need to know if we can trust you..." Talfen trailed off, looking expectantly to Undine, feeling that she would need to hold that trust in them, yet unsure of anything right now.
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Post by FinlandiaWhiteEyes on Mar 17, 2011 17:43:15 GMT -5
-As Undine trailed her watery fingers over the blackened tree, the bough began to burn with a bright white light. She backed away, surprised.
-The fire formed the shape of a tall man with a long, fine-bladed spear. He turned his head to look at Undine. A voice, male, harsh and strong echoed from the fire man, though the image of his mouth did not move.
-"You tarry needlessly, my sister." The crackling of the white flames changed. When his voice grew silent, so did the fire, but when that voice spoke, the fire spoke with him, embelishing every word with the song of burning. It did not muffle his speech, however, but made it clearer, stronger. It was a strange thing to listen to.
-"You must cross the ice and meet with the wingless one. Time is the only element not taking up our side in this fight. You must hurry, complete this task, and come to us as soon as you may. If the humans must run their feet from their bodies, so be it.
-Raising one hand, the tall fire spirit pointed at the child, who had drawn himself away from the group."And he, t'was not he that laid steel against me, Undine"
-"Now, leave the woods and go! Go, my sister!"
-Undine nodded. "Yes, my brother. We shall go now."
-She turned around, and looked at the boy. His wide fearful eyes locked onto her oceanic, alien ones. She reached out, and touched one finger to his head. To him, she communed with her mind. 'Stay as long as you must. You will be safe here. The lake will protect you, sustain you.'
-She lifted her fingers from his forehead and walked a little way away. Then she threw over her shoulder;
-"But I would rather you not be here when I return." The words were said firmly, but without malice. The fire spirit's affirmation of the child's innocence had settled her anger.
-She motioned to the cluster of men.
-"You heard. We must go."
-As the elemental walked away, the white fire upon the tree began to die down. As it did so, for the briefest of moments, a different face could be seen in flames, gentler, more angled, with large pointed ears. A familiar voice whispered, as the fire died away;
-"Hail, Olympus...it is good...that you are here..."
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Post by lukuz13 on Mar 17, 2011 17:55:40 GMT -5
Luke sighed a bit, before looking over to the flame as it slowly disapated, a smile formed as he nodded a small
"Thanks..Arioch."
Luke stood now just as Undine walked past, turning to follow her, speaking much more calmly and relaxed now.
"You are right, an hour or two of sleep should be plenty anyway." Luke chuckled a bit, looking to the others who he assumed thoroughly disagreed, before approaching Undine and nodding a swift *thank you* with his azure eyes before turning back to the group.
"Come on, I'm sure you guys aren't worn out just from that fight earlier right?" Luke proceeded to taunt the men into following, as he turned his red coat waving to them all, seemingly full of energy.
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Post by Noven on Mar 17, 2011 18:09:29 GMT -5
-Talfen was used to getting little sleep himself, someone who had been a mercenary for trade most of his life, in service of the Union back in the war. He had a short time ago shrugged off any remaining drowsiness, ready for the day ahead. He was glad to be able to head off again, and satisfied that he could be silent again, being able to head off with the group again, reserved to himself and relaxed as they would go on.
-As Undine headed off, Talfen settled into a peaceful stride, right behind her and Luke, about in the middle of the company. The others seemed to be a bit tired still from the sudden awakening, but were coming around.
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Post by graybeardhalt on Mar 17, 2011 18:49:41 GMT -5
-"Aw, we can't just go back to sleep?" Butch whined as he fell into step behind the others. His mind continued to wander back to that clearing with that metal creature who loved muffins. He felt as if he should know the creature, but whenever he brought the image up, the name would escape him. During the entire time he was walking with the group he had his arms cross, looking down and thinking hard, using every ounce of brain power he had to try and figure out the name of the creature.
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Post by Noven on Mar 17, 2011 18:56:24 GMT -5
-Talfen devised a plan to keep speed up, so they wouldn't have to slow down. He whispered to Luke "I have a plan... set the pace you want to go at, I shall match it." He knew they were going as fast as Luke was, for Undine would have them at a full on sprint if she had her way.
-He slowed his pace until he fell behind both Matt and Butch, then pulled out both of his rapiers. He held them to their asses, and if they slowed they would receive an... unpleasant poke if they slowed too much and let Talfen walk into them. This way they could keep up a decent speed. Talfen was already smirking about this.
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Post by chimermaniac on Mar 18, 2011 14:20:40 GMT -5
*Matt still leaning on the tree and witnessed what had gone on and was glad that the child was unharmed.* "Good now we can move on without any bloodshed of a child." *We walked on and Matt looked back to see Talfen pointing his rapier at me and Butches' ass.* "You better lower that weapon if you know whats good for you..." *He then placed a hand on the handle of his blade.*
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Post by Noven on Mar 18, 2011 14:49:28 GMT -5
-"It shall be no problem if you maintain your pace to match Undine and Luke." Talfen smirked, he would not lower the blade. He was actually having a rather good time.
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Post by graybeardhalt on Mar 18, 2011 17:23:50 GMT -5
-Thankfully, Butch had kept his armor activated and decided to walk at his own leisure. He still kept up with the group, but it needn't worry if he fell behind.
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Post by FinlandiaWhiteEyes on Mar 18, 2011 17:46:58 GMT -5
-Undine turned, to see the mecenary Talfen prodding Matt in the behind with a rapier. While she admired the sentiment, she was confident that they could all keep up without the need for a sharp, albeit elegant, cattleprod.
-Changing to her blue orb of light form, for the first time since her return to the world, she flew swiftly back to them, dancing in the air to get their attention. When they largely ignored her, she flew rapidly around their heads, shouting with her mind
-"HEY! LISTEN! HEY!"
-Having caught their attention, she urged them on. There were a few small squabbles, but largely the need for swift travel quelled them.
-For two days they travelled over sparsely populated land. The only creatures to be found were wild ones. This provided a steady supply of venison for the campfire, in those brief hours of darkness that Undine would allow them to rest.
-Finally, they reached something rather different to scrubland and moors.
-They had been travelling in the mountains for a few hours. Climbing over a ridge, the company stopped and stared in awe.
-The bend of a huge glacier, the one they had glimpsed in the distance, lay before them. The river of ice was so immense, it would take them the entire day to get to the other side. Boulders and large chunks of mountain that had been gouged out by the glacier were carried in the ice. The only sound that disturbed the silence was the groaning and grinding of the ice as it moved slowly through the valley.
-Undine, still in orb form, danced through the air, writing with crystals of ice; 'Welcome to the Hella Ice River.'
-Then she changed back into her humanoid form, so she could speak with them better.
-"We must cross it, carefully. I know this place well, every crack and splinter in the ice is familiar to me. But it is not without its dangers. Considerable ones at that. I would rather not have to take you to Arioch in a jam jar. So please, be careful."
-They walked out onto the ice, slowly and spread far apart. Listening to Undine's warnings and instructions, they were able to avoid the crevasses and chasms.
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Post by lukuz13 on Mar 18, 2011 17:57:02 GMT -5
Luke shivered slightly at the presence of a glacier. Back home he had never encountered a larger form of ice then perhaps some tainted hail, nothing more. Taking his first step he could feel the ice crack softly and how slick it was, turning back for a quick moment.
"I would just like to say...would all of you kindly keep your weapons down and step lightly... I would rather not become a flavor of snow cone." Luke shivered again at the cold before turning back, making his way slowly, if carefully through the valley.
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Post by Noven on Mar 18, 2011 18:06:56 GMT -5
-Talfen had been around many areas in his lifetime, stemming from his being a mercenary. One thing he wasn't very used to was snowy areas with much ice. He knew to go about his affairs carefully though.
-Talfen waited for Luke to step ahead, following after him at a slow pace, trying to keep his steps even.
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Post by graybeardhalt on Mar 18, 2011 18:14:03 GMT -5
-Butch tried to take a step onto the ice, but with his armor he immediately slipped. "Okay, I know a better way for me to do this." He activated his flight, but only one boot activated, sending him flying backwards and slamming to the ground a couple feet away. "Ow..." was all Butch said as he picked himself up. "Okay, guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way." He deactivated his armor and carefully followed Talfen and Luke.
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Post by FinlandiaWhiteEyes on Mar 18, 2011 20:42:07 GMT -5
-The overhanging cliffs gave a sudden, ominous rumble. A huge, rugged block of stone fell, dislodged by the grinding ice. It fell towards the company, gathering speed by the second.
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Post by lukuz13 on Mar 18, 2011 20:46:08 GMT -5
Luke heard the sudden crack, looking upwards he cursed, turning about face.
"Run for your fucking lives!" As he shouted he was already 4 steps ahead of them, running as fast as his legs would carry him down the icy corridor towards the end.
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