<span style="font-size: 120%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">&lt;&lt;Jolly Barbazu suite&gt;&gt;</span></span></span><br/><br/>{{Sorry for the delay hippie. |3 I didn't forget about you.}}<br/><blockquote><div><cite>Takal wrote:</cite>"mm?" Takal breaks his meditation. He turns to address Soma. "I don't think of it as something I have to do. A wizard doesn't need to study; only if he wishes to cast spells. I don't need to meditate, only if i wish to be of service in this mission, this quest. How effective would a calm barbarian be?"</div></blockquote><br/>Soma appears skeptical of this analogy. "So, what, you help by being all calm?"<br/>She giggles. Still lying sideways across the chair with her head upside-down, she questions him: "What're you, like, the group therapist? The others come to you with their spiritual worries and you tell them zen koans? That don't seem all too useful--no offense."<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Takal wrote:</cite>He stands up. "I do thoroughly enjoy relaxing." The monk says as he awkwardly tries to sit on a chair in a position similar to Somas. His face cannot hide that he clearly finds it distasteful. After changing positions a few times, he takes his seat on the floor again. "Not that it's not comfortable or anything, but I still prefer the floor, its just a life I'm not used to."</div></blockquote><br/>This draws more giggles from the tiefling. Takal isn't sure what to make of this spade-tailed girl; she's rather cute and friendly in her demeanour. Yet there's also something about her amused responses that is almost condescending, as if she is laughing<span style="font-style: italic">at</span>the monk and his ways.<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Takal wrote:</cite> Takal hesitates for a moment. "I don't mean to sound intruding or anything, but would you mind telling me a bit about yourself? Call it friendly curiosity."</div></blockquote><br/>"Me?" says Soma innocently, as though she were a mere village girl and there were nothing to tell. "Oh, I dunno...I'm just me. A girl surviving in the world, ya know?"<br/><br/>Observing that he's not quite satisfied with this, she relents: "Well, I suppose if I'm gonna tell you anything, I oughta tell you the whole story.<br/>She wiggles back into a normal sitting position, brushes violet hair from her eyes, then tucks her legs up into a lotus-position on the overstuffed satin seat.<br/>"See, my grandmother was a nun of Pelor in the Ilhan<span style="font-size: 80%; line-height: 116%;">(medium-sized Pact city, south of Boryg)</span>coven.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">Was</span></span>a nun, until she met grandaddy. He was an incubus, you see." she rolls her eyes. "Grandad only stuck around long enough to seduce her into breaking her vows. Then he vanished into the night, of course." she snorts derisively.<br/><br/>"So there's my poor grandmum, kicked out of her coven for being pregnant. No skills, no family that will take her in... Lotta women woulda just given up then, become a beggar or a prostitute, you know?" she catches herself with a giggle. "--oh, I suppose<span style="font-style: italic">you</span>wouldn't know about that kind of thing."<br/><br/>"--anyway, no, grandmum was a survivor. She wasn't going to let the world count her out, no way. She struggled and fought and cheated her way into a decent life for her half-fiend children. She got pretty good at it, the last one. Cheating." Soma grins perversely. "It helps when you're a pretty maiden and you know what the guy wants to hear..."<br/><br/>"So ever since then, the Ananda family's been in the business of surviving. My mom and uncle Elro--that's Yuki's dad--learned the family trade when they came of age. From the stories I've heard, they were naturals, they were."<br/>She doesn't elaborate on what 'the family trade' is exactly, but Takal can gather that anything that half-incubi are good at probably involves the wrong side of the law.<br/>"Then when I was born, my mom passed all her secrets on to me. They've served me well so far. Especially in this ass-crazy world the valley's become in the last year, yeah? What with all this snow and chaos and all."<br/><br/>"I dunno 'bought Yuki...we didn't grow up together. Erlo died young and she was on her own as a girl."<br/>Soma leans forward and drops to a quieter voice, as if her cousin could be in the next room listening. "It left her a bit...hard around the edges, you know? She's got a lot of nasty-looking scars that she don't like talking about."<br/><br/><br/>"But 'nough about that, you're probably bored to tears." the tiefling chuckles. "How 'bout you, monk? What in the nine hells compelled you to leave the safety of your monastery and go wandering up the most dangerous mountain on the continent? With no weapons or armor or even a potion belt? Are you under contract to these guys," she says, gesturing to indicate the rest of the PCs. "...or something? Or you just looking to die young?"<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Alyssa wrote:</cite>"I understand what happened, and I forgive you. My own behavior was equally inappropriate and provocative, and I apologize for my actions. I have no intention of telling Miss Auralia of this incident, provided you can control your urges from now on- after all, a single lapse of self control is hardly cause for divine judgment."</div></blockquote><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"She's alright, this girl..."</span>Jess blinks innocently as she experiences a hint of remorse. There is part of her, of course, which still thinks of nothing but slurping this meal down and relaxing in the tub with sated, kicking belly. But now, after the adrenaline-fueled fear of angelic wrath has come and gone, other more rational and empathetic voices are making themselves heard in her tipsy head.<span style="font-style: italic">"I almost made a big mistake..."</span><br/><br/>"I'm sorry, Alyssa...I didn't..." Jess's ears fold completely down and she whimpers again, this time very embarrassed. "....I didn't... sometimes the hunger just gets so strong I can barely think straight...sorry."<br/><br/><span style="color: green">[Alyssa: +500 xp (avoided becoming food)]</span><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Alyssa wrote:</cite>"Besides, under different circumstances, I might have... ...I might have accepted your advances."</div></blockquote><br/><br/>Jess's ears prick up. "..." She grins, slightly at first but quickly growing into a full ear-to-ear beam. "...:3"<br/>"Oh<span style="font-style: italic">hh</span>?" she swims forward and rests her chin on the pool's rim, smiling impishly at the blushing tiefling.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 120%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">&lt;&lt;Gamol Camp&gt;&gt;</span></span></span><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Geno wrote:</cite>The dragonkin gives the green taur a firm kick in the gut before speaking.</div></blockquote><br/>Nurkisi cringes beneath the impact, but doesn't cry out.<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Geno wrote:</cite>"Nurkisi! Looks like you're not holding up so well, are you? Serves you right..."</div></blockquote><br/>She glares at him with boundless contempt. "<span style="font-style: italic">Thra kasck'th!</span>"* she spits.<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Geno wrote:</cite>"I trusted you and saw you as a friend, yet your only intention was to make a meal of me! I'm thinking of doing the same to you, but perhaps you'd like to convince me otherwise. I'd hate to see you go down as nothing more than an embarrassing stomach bulge without at least giving you some last words..."</div></blockquote><br/>"...you want...me to beg?" she strains, her voice low and grave. "Don't hold your breath."<br/><br/>"I<span style="font-weight: bold">had</span>you,<span style="font-style: italic">darastrix pothoc.</span>**. You were<span style="font-weight: bold">mine...</span>" The frustrated taur closes her eyes and squirms amorously against the floorboards as she recalls the blissful feeling of being stuffed with dragon. "If you hadn't...fled like a coward into the arms of your protectors...<span style="font-weight: bold">*Rrrr*</span>I'd have you still..."<br/><br/>"Nevermind." she says at last. She falls limp and laughs morbidly. "Doesn't matter. You got lucky this night. The spoils are yours." She wiggles her rump and flicks her saliva-coated tail at him.<br/>"But...a word of advice, Geno?<span style="font-weight: bold">Enjoy them quickly, <span style="font-style: italic">while you still can.</span></span>"<br/><br/>"Because as soon as word of what happened here spreads to my compatriots..." with extraordinary effort she lifts her torso upright and bares her fangs menacingly. "...you will be hunted, Geno. Hunted by predators from whom no amount of<span style="font-style: italic">luck</span>will save you. You and your..." she pauses to scowl at the fat centaur, and the ragtag bunch of bipeds who are looting her tent--including, she notes with a grimace, a certain alabaster pain-in-the-ass. "...you and your<span style="font-style: italic">friends</span>will all be slithering through intestines before the sun sets tomorrow, that's a<span style="font-weight: bold">promise</span>."<br/><br/>The vixentaur collapses and simply watches Geno with silent contempt, this last outburst appearing to have drained what remained of her strength. Unlike her cousin's pathetic display in Kahmori's maw moments earlier, she makes no effort to talk or bargain her way out of the inevitable.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 80%; line-height: 116%;">{{*-Draconic: "piss off!"}}<br/>{{**-Draconic: "stupid dragon."}}</span><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>When Chrrou happens to glance upwards (not an uncommon event for a hawk-wary mouse), he spots two noteworthy things. The first is that the dark haze above appears to be punctuated with hundreds of tiny points of light, like stationary will o' wisp.<br/>It takes a moment for the realization to click:<span style="font-style: italic">they are stars</span>! It has been many months since the druid has seen stars. Ever since arriving in Orev from his home forest to the south, the sky has always been a uniform gray blanket, day and night. But here in Armel, high above the stormy floor of the valley,the sky is clear (save for the ground-clinging fog).<br/><br/>The second thing Chrrou notices above him is the presense of dark shadows moving against the background of stars. The haze obscures the details, but Chrrou can tell that they have feathery wings and number at least a dozen. They appear to be circling at a safe distance and watching.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Chrrou and Kahmori spot a hulking leopardfolk (the same one the kitsune spanked minutes earlier as he ran by) advancing slowly up the dirt road from the south (the direction the party arrived from), trailing behind him a posse of five similarly muscle-bound mercenary-types: a leopard female of similar build, a pierced lizardfolk male wrapped in chains, a well-armored skunkfolk female, and an ogre male carrying what looks like a small tree with a metal spike driven through it). They're the sort of gang--one can tell at a glance from their weapons and matching spiky attire--who knock out teeth and break limbs for fun, just because they can. And, knowing the society of the Free Kingdom, they probably subsist on a steady diet of beer, slaves, and anyone weaker than them.<br/><br/>"Kahmori!" shouts the male leopardfolk as soon as he spots the white fox from afar (100 ft). "Come on over here! We got some business to settle!" This draws dark chuckles from the others.<br/><br/><br/>Lastly, Chrrou spots an armored human standing behind the entrance flap of a tents on the opposite side of the road from the Gamol tents. Evidently drawn by the sounds of combat, he stands clutching a heavy mace firmly in both of his thick hands--his recourse if these strangers decide to loot<span style="font-style: italic">his</span>tent as well. He does not approach or make any attempt to draw attention to himself; Chrrou only noticed him because he leaned into the light to get a better look.