March of the undead

I peered down through the canopy. I'd been following these strangers for about 2 hours. Now they had set up camp in my old home!

It was getting dark, but due to my unique physiology, I could see amost as well in the dark than I could in the light.

I was curious.

I silently jumped through the canopy, until I had flanked them. They had all gone to bed now, but there was still one man sitting near the entrance, looking for all the world to be in some sort of trance. I laid my ears back and took my magick dagger from it's sheath - just in case.

Quickly and silently I climbed down from the trees. I could hear and smell the group quite clearly even from this distance due to my feline senses. They were an odd assortment of people. There were old as well as young, and they had the smell of death on them. I'd never really seen very many people, due to the same fate that gave me my senses and instincts and I was frightened.

Frightened, but curious.

As I drew nearer I stopped. Something told me that the man near the doorway wasn't in as deep a trance as he appeared. I trust my instincts and sixth sense inplicitly. They were never wrong.

Knowing this I approached quickly, dagger ready. Suddenly, the man must have realised I was there, for he turned. But not quick enough though. Like lightning I was behind him with my dagger at his throat.

I growled softly. "Why have you come to my house?" I asked quietly.

"You're house?" he replied, surprised. "But it's just a shell! And we needed rest. Whoever you are, we mean you no harm!"

I somehow knew he was speaking the truth (sixth sense again). Suddenly shy, I blushed, stopped growling, released my dagger and mieuwed my apology to him quietly.

Slowly he turned round. My blush deepened. Having been out on my own in the wild for so long I had lost most of my clothing. All that remained was a dirty white rag around my waist. He stared curiously at the leopard markings on the skin of the outer sides of my breasts, then at my tail and ears and the bracelets of leopard-spotted fur around my wrists. I took a step back and again I mieuwed my embarrassment and wrapped my tail around my body protectively, covering my nipples with it's fluffy gold and black fur.

I sensed someone behind me and I turned sideways to see them. Behind me was an old lady, with a kind face. I looked at the man and then back again at the old lady. She smiled a kindly smile. "Don't worry child, I won't harm you. I heard your mieuws - at my age you don't get much sleep. Come here dear."

I could tell she was sincere, and I took an immediate liking to her. I looked once more at the man and then moved quickly into the womans arms. She immediately started stroking my hair and I nuzzled into her affectionatley and started purring. "Oh, aren't you gorgeous" She said softly and in a kind voice. "My name is Aries, what's yours child?"

I looked up at her and smiled shyly. "Marie" I said quietly, and gave her another affectionate cuddle.

[OOC]
OK, hope this introduces me nicely?!

Also, Maniac, why is it always you that see me naked?!? :roll:
[/OOC]

 

[ooc] VERY NICE!!! Ferret... I like your idea about the affection between Aries and Marie... Ok Maniac (and others who didn't know it yet) you know our location now right???? OK... good thing we are all at the same place in our minds [/ooc]

 

[OOC]Probably because you let him, Ferret.[/OOC]

A cat-person. How unusual. I'd never seen anything like that before, but then again, I don't think anyone had. I'd never even heard of it before. The old lady seemed equipped to handle it though, so I didn't bother interfering. I wrapped myself back up in my cloak, and went back to sleep...I kept a small dagger handy though, and my bow and arrows next to me. I didn't move when I slept, so I knew I could lay my hands to them if I had to. I'm a very light sleeper, so the slightest noise nearby was enough to wake me...

 

A noise in the forest i heard . We were about to sleep , but i noticed a dark figure jump from tree to tree , here right now and gone the next second . It was extremely quick and agile , making it hard to follow with my eyes .

I whispered to the men near me ,:"Psst , what's that over there ?"

"Hmm..? A ferret maybe ?" , some half-asleep idiot next to me replied .

"No!... keep quiet , and lets see ."

 

{Date: 17 March 1776}

After some struggle I managed to fall asleep. But after a while I heard my brother mumbling something. I opened my eyes and noticed Leangs eyes were open and that he seemed to be concentrating on something outside.

I put my hand to my hilt and got outside.
I put up a smile as I saw my aunt holding a cross breed of a human and what appeared to be a feline.
I whishpered to Leang that is was alright and I sat besides my aunt.
The kitten/human looked at me with distrust but my aunt whispered to her that it was safe.
"This is Marie" my aunt said introducing the girl. "She's a little shy and this used to be her home" my aunt said pointing to the burned out shack.
Marie purred and cuddled Aries even more.
"Hello," she finally said, "are you also a nice person?"
I looked her in the eye, "Yes my girl, I'm a friendly person filled with sorrow" I said softly, not letting anyone besides my Aries and Marie hear it.
I didn't want to let the rest of the party look at me that way, I wanted them to look at me as I was... a leader and a warrior.
I patted Marie, said goodnight and went back to sleep....


{Date: 18 March 1776}

The next morning I noticed that I had slept long. Most of the party was already up and had been introduced with Marie who was starting to get a little less shy.
I smiled at my aunt who was constantly busy with getting Marie introduced and patting her.

When everyone was up and introduced I assembled them and we set off once more.
It was a little hard for Marie to leave the shack, but as long as Aries was near she didn't feel scared.
I took Fenrir apart from the rest and asked him if he had any suggestions on how to get to Tulla.
He smiled and showed me the teleportation scroll in his bag.
"That's how," he replied, but we'll have to move further in the woods so that the undead won't notice that we teleported. If drift-aways are close and they see us leave, Erlin might be in grave danger."
I nodded at him and thought about my son who was still in Erlin. More and more did I miss him and fear for his life, but Ternol was strong... he would make it through without me, I was sure of that.

{Date: 23 March 1776, 11 in the morning}

We had been walking for 5 days now and once again I asked Fenrir if we far enough.
Finally he agreed that we were far enough... "the undead most have lost trace of us, since we moved as carefully as we could." He said.
I told everyone to stop and stand together as Fenrir took the scroll.

Once again Fenrir and me looked around to see if no undead were watching and when we knew for sure no undead were there Fenrir concentrated his mind while reading the scroll silently.

A tremendous force surrounded us and for a second I couldn't tell where I was. But after two more seconds I opened my eyes and observed my surroundings.
I looked to the north and saw a man standing in front of a wall and two pillars.
The man wore a blue robe and greeted Fenrir: "welcome back." were his sole words.
Fenrir greeted him back and asked if we were allowed to pass. He explained the situation and soon after the mage granted us access.

Everyone was allowed to pass through the walls but only a few were allowed to pass on inside the main building where the counsil was.
Me, Aries, Fenrir, kilgen and Weralin entered........

[ooc] ok Maniac... care to do the speech??? [/ooc]

 

[OOC]
OK, I'm going to wander around a bit whilst I'm on my own in Tulla. Hope you don't mind - I'll meet up with you when you leave. Just wait for me by the fountain and I'll see you.
[/OOC]


Fairly soon, a man came up to Aries and myself. "This is Marie" Aries said. "She's a little shy and this used to be her home". I liked her and gave her a quick nuzzle again and a little purr.

"Hello" I said to the man "are you also a nice person?" He seemed nice, but there was something wrong with him. Something I thought I recognised.

He looked me in the eye and replied softly "Yes my girl, I'm a friendly person filled with sorrow". Now I understood. I too was sad - I missed my aunt. That is what I felt in him. He seemed a bit distant and gave me a pat on the head like a dog. I put my ears back but he didn't seem to notice and left. That perturbed me a bit. I may be feline, but I'm also a fully grown 17 year old girl - not a pet. I hoped the others wouldn't treat me like that.

Aries guided me gently over to her bed and I cuddled up beside her and went to sleep, purring softly.


The next morning Aries introduced me to everyone. I still didn't have much in the way of clothing on, so I was understandably shy. Why did everybody assume that being part feline meant I was some sort of wild animal. did they not think I need clothes? My tail never left my chest throughout the morning. Aries finally seemed to notice my embarrasment and gave me a smock from the young girl in the group. It fitted reasonably and was certainly better than the rag around my waist.

Everyone still seemed to want to pat me though. Stroking I don't mind, but I'm not a pet!

We soon set off again. I kept close to Aries and the young girl seemed quite friendly too, if a little tentative. We soon got on well and I was becoming less and less shy arounf the group. They appeared to accept we well enough.

We spent the next few days walking through dense forest. Having spent the last 7 years of my life running around in the trees I was perfectly at home. I was the only one though. The others just didn't have my agility, but we still seemed to make good time - to where-ever we were going!

The two men I'd met the first night seemed to talk constantly. They weren't aware of it, but I could here them quite clearly. They were running from undead. That explained the smell of death on them. And they were heading for somewhere called Tulla. I've never heard of it before, so it must be far away. I wonder how we were supposed to get there.

My question was answered soon enough. Aries called me over and one of the men used some sort of parchment to take us to this Tulla place. It was quite fun really and it made my skin tingle in a nice sort of way. I purred contentedly. I liked this 'magick'.

Unfortunately, when we got there we weren't all allowed in the big house, so I decided to have a look around. I told the other people left behind to wait by the fountain - I would keep an eye on it and join them again.

I wandered off towards the other buildings.

[OOC]
BTW, if you didn't pick it up - please do not treat me like a pet or wild animal! I'm a normal girl of 17 (and fully mature/developed - if you didn't notice! :roll, but it's just that I'm very affectionate and cuddly - and exceptionally cute, and with feline abilities and physical characteristics.
[/OOC]

 

[ooc] oops... forgot about that... I orriginally wanted to type stroking instead of patting, but for some mysterious reason I put in patting... but it looks kind of amusing.... nooo Ferret... I WILL treat you normal next time I write. [/ooc]

 

Tulla. The famed city of mages. I'd had a poke around the Vendigroth Wastes from time to time, to see if I could find it, but I hadn't. Kind of like the famed Vendigroth Ruins, except everyone knew Tulla existed. It was just...secluded...in the most hostile environment in the world.

The dwarf didn't look like he enjoyed the place too much...the constant grimace on his face brought a smile to mine. It wasn't that I hated dwarfs, it was just that some things are funny. I might have no tongue, but I have one hell of a sense of humour, and can find something funny in almost anything; except, of course, losing my tongue. There's nothing funny about having bits of your body chopped off.

The cat person also looked a little uncomfortable, though I couldn't be sure about that - I guessed that fur really held the heat in well, which might be good for a forest, but wasn't for a desert. I smiled at that - I quite like being a half-elf. I can adapt to pretty much anything, and have few advantages, that the others have. I live longer than humans, but I don't some of the nasty attributes of my elven ancestors.

I continued to smile when I was allowed to follow the others into what appeared to be a big council hall. I initially thought this was only because I couldn't repeat anything I heard, but surely they realised that I could still write? Then again, maybe it was my elven heritage coming through for me again.

 

[ooc] ok Jarinor... if you don't agree I'll change it... *edited once [/ooc]

We were walking through the corridors. A mage lead us to a room, where 15 terribly strong mages stood in a semi-cirkel.

Their eyes all turned to us as we approuched the middle of them.

The mage in the middle of them (the 8th mage) took a step forwards.
"Greetings" he said, "my name is Aleon Tor and I welcome you all to Tulla"
we nodded back. "Now to get to the point, there was an issue which you had to discuss?"
"Yes" Fenrir started, "the matter is about the undead. You might have heard about the rumors going by, but the reality is much worse. Swarms of undead warriors and necromancers are flooding the peacefull lands of arcanum. Now I know you try not to interfere too much, but we are in dire need of your assistance. The odds are against us in 1000 to 1 if no-one helps us. Maybe even worse. I know of much worse creatures that have teamed up with the enemy..."
"Hold on" Aleon interupted Fenrir, "how come you know so much without losing your life?!"
Fenrir answered "I am an expert on undead because this is what I've been studying for all my life..., but to continue:
There is a way to stop them once and for good. But we'll have to take out the main source behind all of this. A dark necromancer has found an ancient artifact and is using it to create his army of undead and sustain it without trouble."
Aleon spoke up again: "but why should we help you with this, it is mainly your own fault that you put them all up against you, if you would've given dark necromancers space, they wouldn't be so against you."
suddenly Werelin stepped forward. I had whispered my plan in his ear in the corridors and he glady offered his help.
I asked the mages to give Werelin a sheet of papyrus and a inkt feather.
Werelin started writing:
My tongue was cut off by an undead minion. He said I was somesort of chosen one, who fitted nicely in their plan. It was a foul happening and they don't threaten us out of a feeling of neglection, but they attack us to absorb us. Leaving no-one alive in their path. Many horrors have overcome us and it's time someone acted. So we'll need your help if we want to stand a chance.

I saw Aleon's face change to a face of horror and than he made a face which showed compassion. He was about to speak when I heard a loud scream.
On of the mages had taken a step forward and summoned an undead shadow fighter. I was too lat to act bu Werelin pierced the undead with 5 arrows directed at fatal spots, before it could attack. The undead crumbled to dust as the rest of the mages pinned down the mage who had attacked us.
"We will handle this one" Aleon said pointing towards the mage.

I smiled towards Werelin saying "thank you once more."

After the happening the mages were eager to help as Fenrir further explained the situation...

[ooc] ok Maniac... your turn... since you suggested we should visit Tulla I leave the task of how the mages will help us to you. Jarinor... what do you think... is it ok that I made you tell your past???[/ooc]

 

Great , an elf and allowed inside Tulla . Must'v been my strange affinity with technology .

Or did they just not trust me ?

I wandered outside the main building , looking and drooling at the items unguarded . What a price they'd fetch on the market ! But i knew that if i so much as touched one of them , i'd probably be so fried my mother wouldn't recognise me .

 

17 March

Some half-breed talked with my IMAGE (damn it's good being a master of illusions), if that would have been the real me the kitty would have been crisped (her luck).

23 March

We finally traveled far enough to teleport. I took out a scroll we all held each others hands and I started chanting "Ditus imanus trivus." A purple light surrounded us and when it disappeared we were at the Tulla entrance.
Some of us were allowed to meet the council. I stated the situation and some STUPID spy revealed himself. I would have dispatched it myself but I saw the tulians and the half-elf archer were enough. Others waited as I and the other council members were discussing the matter.
"Alright Fenrir you're one of the wisest of our council but we think your group is large enough. We think it should be even smaller. Some of your members might leave here. We'll set out scouts and small groups for some work. Also you might choose weapons and items to take. We'll be monitoring your actions and send help if need by." the leader handed me an amulet. "This will help monitor you."
"I hope you don't have more spies" I smiled.
"Don't worry. Only the council members will monitor you"
"Alright." we walked outside

"And you call that help?!" Ando seemed angry.
"Believe me my friend it is more than I hoped and it's the best help we might get in all Arcanum."

 

[OOC]
Another note on my character - to Jar especially!

My character is NOT covered in fur! As I said, she is a normal-looking young lady in most respects, except that she has a cute, fluffy, leopard-spotted tail, leopard-spotted cat's ears nestled in her long golden hair, bracelets of short leopard-spotted fur around her wrists, leopard-spotted marking on her skin along the outside of each breast and a soft, fluffy triangle of leopard-spotted pubic fur (not that you'll see that mind you - well, much anyway :razz. Maybe I ought to draw a picture and scan it in?! :roll:
[/OOC]


This Tulla place sure is big. I've spent the last half an hour wandering around the huge buildings, looking in the windows. I've seen things now I would never have thought possible - but then again, I'm rather unique myself, so amazing things do happen. There wasn't really much going on in those building though and I'm itching to know what's in that big central building the others went into. I've always been curious - my aunt told me it was the cat in me.

I sneak over to the large building and jumping up to one of the high windows I peer in. There was no-one around, so I snuck in through the window. This place was MASSIVE! I wandered aimlessly around the corridors for what seemed like hours. Finally I rounded a corner and....

"Who's there?"

I ducked back round the corner, but it was too late. Not even my feline reflexes could save me from this one. Guiltily I slunk around the corner to see who had spotted me. The woman in front of me was wearing a robe of deepest lavender and I got a pleasant tingling sensation in my skin when I approached her.

She looked at me curiously and then smiled. She extended her hand and and she stroked me I received a warm, fuzzy feeling in my ears. She withdrew her hand and said "come with me". With that, she walked off briskly down the corridor and I scampered after her.

After several lefts and rights, during which I had a hard time keeping my bearings, she entered a room and beckoned me in. As I entered, she shut the door gently behind me and offered me a seat by the desk. "I'll make this short" she said. "I don't know who you are and I must say, I've never seen anything like you before, but I can tell you are like you are due to powerful magick. This has given you a powerful natural magickal aura..." She trailed off at my blank look. "You don'y know anything of magick do you?" she asked kindly.

I shook my head and mieowed with embarrassment. She smiled at me again. "Well, let me enlighten you child" she said. "First, tell me your name".

After introducing myself, the woman spent the next half and hour telling me about the nature of magick, and about how technology interferes with magick. At this, she also told me not to mention technology much in Tulla - most Tullan mages didn't want to acknowledge the importance or even existance of such a thing.

She then proceeded to teach me two basic methods of defending myself with magick - by strengthening and concentrating my aura as a shield of protection and by allowing my aura to flow through my body to heal myself. She was extremely pleased with my fast progress and amazed at my ability to utilise magick just through strength of will alone.

When she finished I felt all fuzzy and warm inside and I began to understand how to manipulate my aura through willpower to focus the magickal power residing within me. I've never felt anything like it and I rather enjoyed the sensation.

She then stood up. "Come with me Marie, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine". She went to a side door, knocked and passed through. I followed her. In the next room was a man surrounded by animals. THe woman started to talk to the man.

There was a movement in the corner and a large mountain lioness moved out of the shadows and into the light of a fire burning in the hearth. I stopped listening to the two people and I meiowed my hello to the lioness, who nuzzled me affectionately. I instinctively knew how to speak feline. In fact, I had known it since my birth and my aunt had had a difficult job trying to get me to learn the common tongue as my first language.

The man and the woman finished talking and the man beckoned me over. he asked a few questions about me - about what I remembered about my childhood and what my aunt had told me. I told him what my aunt had told me about my father being killed and my mother being turned into a feline whilst pregnant with me. He listened intently and wrote down what I said. Appently he was a Nature mage and a student of morph magick and the woman thought I would be interesting for a study.

The Nature mage explained to me about how I was feline and why. Most of it was too complex for me to understand, but he didn't seem to notice. By now I had no idea how much time had passed and I was getting bored. Looking out of the window I saw a group of people standing by the fountain. I remembered that the others were going to wait for me.

I made my excuses and said goodbye to the lioness and the woman. The nature mage was too busy making notes, so I slipped out of the room and made my way quickly down the corridors to the window I had originally entered. I slipped through and ran to the fountain.

When I got there, I ran into Aries' arms and started to purr.

 

[OOC]
Ferret. I see you consider learning spells is easy. To learn a basic spell it takes at least a week for a talented one to learn and months to master (and that's just basic spells). I think it's unlogical you can learn TWO spells in an hours time.
[OOC]

"Well I suggest our next move would be retrieving some powerful artifacts to help us. Our dwarf friend or anyone else who wants a technological marvel might find one in the "nearby" Vendigroth ruins. I also know of a powerful magickal sword deep in the Black Mountains. Both places are dangeriuos but take heed of the council's advice...it might be useful to split up. What do you think? And where is that feline one?"


[OOC]
Might leave some more family members here Noth.
[OOC]

 

[OOC]
I disagree Maniac. I think the simple spells would be picked up fairly easily, especially by an intelligent character. The higher level ones would also not take ages to learn, but would takes lots and practice before you could master them or lots of practice of other spells in that college before you would figure them out. So, you could learn them easily enough, but they would be clumsy and not very powerful until you had mastered them. THAT would take the time.

If it took weeks, months or years to learn spells then humans would be too old and weak to use them and besides, Arcanum isn't set over a period of 3 or 4 decades is it? It's set over a period of months. That means that spells can be learned fairly easily.

I'm also of the opinion that different people use spells differently. Witches use words and incantations, mages use gestures and sorceresses, being the most powerful type of magick user (like Kitty) would be able to do them through will alone.
[/OOC]

 

[OOC]
Your char has learned a few spells and you call her a sorcerer?! HAH! Alright I agree it might be possible to learn them quickly but think...then why don't mages learn ALL the spells. I think if you learn a spell so easily it should be very weak and would work only hal of the time OR less.
And have you seen a human powerful mage that is young? I don't think so.
[OOC]

 

The mage of our group spoke. "Well I suggest our next move would be retrieving some powerful artifacts to help us. Our dwarf friend or anyone else who wants a technological marvel might find one in the "nearby" Vendigroth ruins. I also know of a powerful magickal sword deep in the Black Mountains. Both places are dangeriuos but take heed of the council's advice...it might be useful to split up. What do you think? And where is that feline one?"

I shrugged my shoulders. I had pretty much everything I needed, except maybe my tongue. But you can't grow them back, so there was no use worrying about it. If they wanted to go get some powerful items, I was all for that. I might even be able to persuade them along the way to accompany me to a castle which I'd heard contained the legendary Bow of Ecclesiastes, or whatever it was called. I'd love to get my hands on that, but I'd also like to retrieve it myself. If I couldn't get it myself, then I wasn't worthy.

[OOC]The bow I'm talking about is the bow you get from the Master Bow quest. Also, Notharah, 30 arrows is a little too much. I was thinking more like a single arrow which killed it. Maniac and Ferret, stop bitching about how magick works and get on with the story![/OOC]

 

[ooc] Ok Maniac and Ferret... cut the crap, like Jarinor said... it does not make the story interesting too read debates about how people learn magic. Maniac... you're the senior magick user in the group and you have other ways of learning magic and perfecting it, Ferret is an apprentice on this area, but is very agile with exelent reflexes. I read that those were your characters so that's what they'll be, no need to debate over all this.
btw, Ferret, nice lenght of your post there. And Maniac, you're sure the artifact is all we need??? :wink: . ahh well, I'll see wat I'll do next.
Oh Jarinor, I've changed the 30 arrows into 5 (it's a tough undead you shot.
Now for more important matters, if we will split up then we'll have to decide who goes with who. Here's my suggestion.... Jarinor, your character will request permission to go and find this master bow. Leang, the warrior, my unnamed uncle, Durok and my sister will search NEAR the vendigroth ruins, I'll Pm both of you (Slagger and deathmage) about some things......... Fenrir, Aries, Kilgen, Marie, my brother and myself will go to the BMC mines (filled with undead ofcourse :wink: ) and maybe to some other places. I'll await reactions on either PM or ooc on what the ideas are on your behalf.[/ooc]

 

The group had split up . Mine went to scout near the Vendigroth ruins , and i decided to try and clear any traps in case we had to go in some other time .

They told us to be careful of any undead , but there were none in sight . It just felt strange though , as though it was a play , where the audience were just waiting for something to happen .

Then it did .

The undead just popped out of the ground . I yelled for the others , and prepared for the oncoming battle .

" Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum ."

 

The group had split up . Mine went to scout near the Vendigroth ruins , and i decided to try and clear any traps in case we had to go in some other time .

They told us to be careful of any undead , but there were none in sight . It just felt strange though , as though it was a play , where the audience were just waiting for something to happen .

Then it did .

The undead just popped out of the ground . I yelled for the others , and prepared for the oncoming battle .

" Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum ."

[/ooc] lets just believe chewing gum was invented okay ?[ooc]

 

[OOC]
Is it just me or is the whole board screwing up???
[OOC]