<div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">I'm still working on that expository "Elsewhere in Armel" piece, it's just taking a lot longer than I had hoped. |3  My muse is being fickle.</div></div></div><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Sashi wrote:</cite>After waiting and taking in any requests, Sashi walks towards the door snatching one of Yuki's eggs and swallowing it. "I'll owe ya" she said before exiting.</div></blockquote><br/>"! ! !" Yuki's first instinct is to grab Sashi and wrest the stolen egg back from her. Not so much out of desire for the item (it's easily replaced and she paid nothing for it) but out of pride.<br/>She prudently decides not act on this instinct, choosing instead just to give Sashi a dirty look.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Sashi makes a puzzling discovery when she reaches the foyer: there is no sign whatsoever of the suite's entrance. Where before there was a door, there is now only blank and seamless wall that does not respond to touch. It is as if the door never existed.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Alyssa wrote:</cite>There is a loud *CLACK of cermic on stone as Alyssa plants her mug on the hearth with considerably more force than necessary before addressing Yuki.<br/><br/>"Most certainly not," she insists. "I was human until the night of the Massacre..."</div></blockquote><br/>Alyssa's vehemence (with its implication that fiendish ancestry is something to be ashamed of) might have insulted Yuki, were she not already so numbed to the idea.<br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Alyssa wrote:</cite>"...My apologies," she says to Yuki, her voice returning to a more reasonable tone. "My demonic blood is a subject I prefer to avoid. I meant no offense to you by my remarks."</div></blockquote><br/>"Uh-huh." she says flatly, her eyes not meeting Alyssa's.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Minndrillia wrote:</cite>"Miss Yuki, it's exactly beacuse they're 'Violent Wackos', as you put it, that they would be have profane patronage. They're a group of people trying to find something to believe in, while at the same time, still allowing them to follow pursuits of violence, power and depravity. That's just the kind of thing Demons look for in followers and puppets.Grant them a few clerical powers, which wouldn't be hard for an archfiend or one of the evil gods, and you have very devout cultists."<br/><br/>"Mortal supporters can be the easiest way to bring outsiders to the prime material plane, so granting them such powers works in their favor. And once their 'indoctrinated', they'll use any powers given exactly as you tell them."</div></blockquote><br/>"Ugh." She crosses her arms over her mailed chest. "So the crazy man-eaters get juiced-up abilities, and in return the Pit gets a conduit to this world. Talk about a match made in Hell..."<br/>"It's kind of genius, actually. In a twisted way. Shit, even I'm a little tempted to sign up now..." she laughs--then abruptly wipes the smile from her face.<br/><span style="font-style: italic">"...wrong audience for that kind of joke..."</span>she warns herself.<br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Minndrillia wrote:</cite>"By the way, do you know where Miss Ananda and Miss Jess have gone? I haven't seen them this morning."</div></blockquote><br/>"Still sleeping, the lazy blobs." she answers disdainfully. "They're useless in the morning."<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Rihyan wrote:</cite>"This Xels, what does she look like?"</div></blockquote><br/>"Huh?" Yuki looks back to the centaur.<br/>"Uh, she's a white dragonkin. So...scales. Wings. Sharp teeth. Breath that turns you into an icicle. You know."<br/><br/>She gestures at the dragonkin in the room. "A bit like a white, girl version of Geno, only a whole<span style="font-style: italic">whole</span>lot prettier."<br/><br/><br/><br/>"... ... no offense." she says as an afterthought. "Not that you're ugly...but you can't compete with a half-succubus."<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Chrrou wrote:</cite>"There is a powerful charm-- an artifact, it's said-- named the 'Winter Talisman', once protected in secret, that fell from its keeper's care into the clutches of a shape-changing fiend and a monstrous white dragon. When this disastrous season fell over the Valley, we thought that the cause."</div></blockquote><br/>"!?" Yuki blinks in surprise; she's never heard any mention of this charm, not even in passing.<br/><span style="font-style: italic">"What other secrets do these druids keep from the rest of us?"</span>she wonders.<br/><blockquote><div><cite>Chrrou wrote:</cite>"...We parted ways months ago; the others went to safeguard the remaining Talismans, and I came here, but if the dragon or his allies hold more than winter's power..."</div></blockquote><br/>"--then we're all food." Yuki finishes Chrrou's sentence for him.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>"So, let's review..." she says acerbically. "Orev has been taken over by a dragon who<span style="font-style: italic">alone</span>is capable of swallowing an entire army...and he is in league with a cult that is a front for the ravenous hordes of the netherworld...<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">and</span></span>he's in possession of Elder magic that can reshape nature itself."<br/><br/><br/>"I gotta say, Palassa* is sounding better and better every day..."<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>"Talking about running away again?" comes a familiar teasing voice from the direction of the bed chambers. "Honestly Yuki..."<br/><br/>Soma strides through the archway into the central room. She has exchanged the comfortable sweater-and-skirt outfit of the previous day for a top of form-fitting leather, a many-pocketed belt, and a pair of practical shorts.<br/><br/>"Morning, all!" she says cheerfully to her recently-acquired comrades.<br/><br/>Then, turning to Yuki, whom she overheard: "And I wasn't sleeping, for your information, I was<span style="font-style: italic">meditating</span>."<br/><br/>She plunks herself down on one of the overstuffed couches, and snaps her fingers. "Jeeves! A suva, and make it hot!"<br/><br/><br/>"Yes, m'lady." says a servant.<br/><br/><br/><br/>"So." Soma surveys those present: the blue-haired tiefling on the hearth, the thoughtful rodent leaning on his staff, the centaur (her eyes linger a moment on his empty belly), the nude (yet somehow not naked) angel, the elven refugees and their<span style="font-style: italic">de facto</span>leader (who is more than she lets on...), and the dragonkin, who looks more fearsome than she remembers. She doesn't see Sashi (who has stepped into the foyer) or Kahmori (who is gods-know where), but she figures that they'll show up eventually.<br/><br/>"So, down to business, yeah? I've been giving this a lot of thought..."<br/>"This town is run gangsters, slavers, and cultists. They enjoy this position because they're the biggest and baddest preds around, right?"<br/>"The common wisdom on the street is that nobody contradicts or makes trouble with the 'leaders' of Armel, at least nobody who enjoys living; if you want to survive your visit here, you play by the rules and keep your head low."<br/><br/><br/>Yuki interrupts: "--and now you're going to suggest we do<span style="font-style: italic">the exact opposite</span>?" she says cynically. "What, you<span style="font-style: italic">don't</span>enjoy living?"<br/><br/><br/>"<span style="font-style: italic">Pfft</span>..." Soma rolls her eyes. "I'm a lot of things, but suicidal ain't one of them."<br/>"No. Look, the fact is, the common wisdom is<span style="font-weight: bold">wrong.</span>Or, at least, it's outdated. It's based on the old status quo, where the Sogluyem, Pyyrn and Nezibolge<span style="font-style: italic">were</span>the biggest and baddest preds around. But the arrival of you guys...it changes things. All bets are off."<br/>"And..." unbridled ambition gleams in Soma's amber eyes, as saliva unconsciously gathers on her tongue. She pauses to swallow before continuing. "If we can make a meal out of some of these self-styled 'leaders'...then we'd become the new leaders!"<br/><br/><br/>Yuki shakes her head in a show of dismay. Yet secretly, on the inside, she can't help but feel a little thrill from the idea.<br/><br/><br/>"I mean, how do you think they obtained their power to begin with? By filling out paperwork, passing an exam and being promoted? No! They got the job<span style="font-style: italic">by eating the last person to have it</span>. That's how it works!"<br/><br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">*-Palassa is the name of the continent that lies far across the ocean to the east, on the other side of the planet. There is not much contact between the continents; the Palassans speak a strange language and worship strange gods, and they feature in bard's tales as the quintessential "foreigners".</div></div></div>