<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Status</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>Wiped out, sporting showy "microbreastplate", collared, temporarily between cages</strong><br/>AC 19  (touch 14, flat-footed 15, -2 against improvised weapons), HP 12/105 (max 94 due to CON damage)<br/>(armor check penalty -3, 25% spell failure chance, dex bonus only +4)<br/><br/>Profane Gift (Telepathic link to Ishtar, +2 Dex)<br/>CON damage: -2 (now 11)<br/><br/>Spells remaining: 7 of 7 1st, 5 of 6 2nd, 4 of 4 3rd, 1 of 1 from bonded object.  Uses of bow left: 3 of 3.<br/>Quiver: 7 common arrows, 10 silvered, 9 cold iron, 2 Tangleshot, 5 adamantine arrows, 2 greater hushing arrows, 8 +1 Dragon Bane, 1 Rayne's Resumption, 5 Holy, 3 Merciful<br/>     (pack: 25 common, 5 silvered, 9 cold iron, 1 tangleshot, 5 adamantine, 8 +1 Dragon Bane, 8 Holy arrows)<br/></div></div><br/>Rayne wasn't too sure about the intelligence of harpies, nor of how their perspective of the world might differ.  But the short of it was that her cell-neighbour probably wouldn't be helping Rayne and Sylvia find their way through the dwarven stronghold.  She might still provide the key to their escape, however...<br/><br/>... for a price, which at first Rayne didn't understand.  She watched the winged woman press forward... and try to press even more forward, with a gesture that was both lewdly suggestive, and pitiful in how unsatisfying it was for the obviously, highly aroused creature.  "I don't.. oh... oh!  I see!"  Rayne stared, nostrils flaring involuntarily, and she felt a sympathetic twitch in her own body, a tingle that was more arousal than pity.  Yet to serve a mere... NPC that way seemed vaguely topsy-turvy.  Even with the Change ... and even with her experience with Ishtar, who seemed a special case ... Rayne still felt that NPCs were mainly objects, obstacles or aids to players.  She could easily imagine paying one for the service the harpy wanted, though generally that wasn't Rayne's style... but to be the one "serving" seemed demeaning, as well as embarrassing here in the privacy-free block of cages.  And yet, the shafts of feathers were thin, and stiff... she bit her lip, still staring...<br/><br/>...but retreated at the approach of the dwarf, no decision communicated to the harpy.  Hopefully she would still be in the same cage when she was returned... assuming she was to be returned!  She assumed so - she couldn't imagine the dwarves would be doing something different with their newest arrival.  She managed a parting glance to the harpy, and to Sylvia, before trudging out to an unknown fate.<br/><br/>Rayne refused to cover herself under the dwarf-guide's lecherous gaze - she was to fight, and couldn't let her embarrassment at this exposure interfere.  Shouldn't, that is... it might not be possible to entirely forget just how little of her flesh was covered by the minuscule armour.  At least he was just looking - until the swat, which made her jump forward with an undignified squeal.<br/><br/>She went where directed - and quickly, not giving him any excuse to repeat the smack that, gentle-for-a-dwarf it might have been, still had a sting that lingered for a few seconds as she scurried to the elevator.  She didn't thank him for his wish of good luck - maybe it would be smart to ingratiate herself with this handler, but... she wasn't ready to be nice.<br/><br/>She had some time to examine the weapons, and to be impressed.  Excellent work, though she thought it to be only mundane.  Her ability to enhance arrows, of course, remained with her ... but Rayne reasoned that it would be a mistake to reveal it, perhaps ever, but especially in her first fight.  For it sounded like there were to be others, and the non-lethal arrows supported that.  Hopefully those fights would come after a victory, here.  One must be possible - they wouldn't put her in a hopeless match.  Would they?<br/><br/>In any event... she would not enhance the arrows for additional magical damage.  However, there seemed no reason not to take advantage of the simple +1 enhancement she had first learned, on becoming an arcane archer.  That would not be apparent - there was no visible effect, though presumably someone actively searching for magic might notice.  She felt the arrows, their heft, their balance, and practiced drawing the bow.  If nothing else, she was confident in her archery.<br/><br/>Previous encounter notwithstanding.<br/><br/>Other confidence was in short supply... and by the noise coming from above, the arena was<em>big</em>... and crowded.  Not all dwarves either, as she soon learned.  She turned, as soon as she could see anything, taking in all sights... this was no recent, makeshift establishment, and she guessed the dwarves had been holding matches here since EHO began.  She could even imagine that players might once have come here, to bet - or perhaps to participate, there were probably even quests associated with it.  But she didn't have the impression that any of the other prisoners, besides Sylvia of course, were PCs.  Some she hadn't seen well, however, and some had seemed not very alert... it was impossible to be sure.<br/><br/>At first she thought the two dwarves in the arena might be guards or handlers for the prisoners.  Once she realized they must be her opponents she looked at them more closely.  They looked awfully tough - of course her tactics would be to stay at range, and plug away.  They didn't seem armed, not that she noticed at least - that helped a little, no attacks of opportunity from them.  Presumably.  So if she kept moving, and shooting - she was certainly faster than them, nearly twice as fast, probably.  If she dared use her<em>Haste</em>, even more so... but she didn't.  Let them all think she was just a bow-using fighter.<br/><br/>She actually laughed aloud - covering her mouth a little belatedly - as the twins' names, and titles, were announced.  Rae-lynne appreciated wordplay, and that... Rayne was still smiling, though self-consciously, when the voluptuous flying Announcer approached.  Yet when she was close enough, Rayne gasped at the realization that she was a PC  - a free PC seemingly.  So the arcane archer gaped, at a loss for words, while the question hung in the air, echoes of the amplified voice still bouncing around the stone arena.<br/><br/>Finally Rayne found her voice.  "I'm... I'm Rayne." she explained, looking piercingly at the Announcer.  Rayne wanted to ask for help then and there, but was afraid that would be picked up and carried around the arena by the microphone.  So she pointed to the Announcer, then to herself... 'player' she mouthed, then 'PC'.  Surely her fellow PC would come to her rescue, once the opportunity presented itself, though Rayne understood that in the midst of a crowd expecting battle, now might not be that opportunity.<br/><br/>But afterwards... Rayne set an arrow in her bow, watching the Announcer, but ready to let fly as soon as this match was underway.