Ryudo Lee's Legacy

[Cogidubnus]

Cog turned and faced Sebastian. He had some idea of what was happening...and knew that this was not good.
He was already in wolf form, normally the state in which Lychanthropes went mad. If the fool knocked him out psychically, but left the wolf awake, he would likely go mad and start trying to kill everything, until he passed out. As his vision dimmed, he tried in vain to focus and transform at least into his anthro form, but it was to late. He could barely even keep his eyes open. Transforming was out of the question.
He had not even the energy to snarl at the shade.

[Stygian]

Stygian made a very faint, and not at all evil smile, somehow. He casually slipped out a small matte silvery cylinder like the one that Clarissa had found, the one with Angel's blood in it, out of his sleeve. It looked almost like a pencil as he spun it between his fingers.
   "An alchemized synthetic neuroreagent. An incapacitor, if you will. Harmless, really, unless you use a huge amount, but very effective. It seeps in through the skin and goes straight in through the blood and into the central nervous system. It works best if you put it close to a large, central nerve. On the neck, for example," he said, and held up his large, clawed hand, the left one that he had scratched the wolf with. He began slowly walking against the wolf.
   "Already you should find it nearly impossible to use magic, and how it relaxes the muscles. It's a matter of seconds before you'll start to feel drowzy and fall unconscious. Don't worry though; it's fast-working, but it goes away quickly too."
   Stygian stepped up to the wolf, and then kneeled down, slipping the cylinder up his sleeve again and placing his right hand on the wolf's back and gently but firmly pushing him down. Cogidubnus' knees gave way, and he could do nothing but lay down, his head wobbling just a bit as the tired drowziness came over him and it got harder and harder to keep his eyes open.
   "There's nothing to worry about. Sleep..." The "bat's" voice was low and gentle. Finally, the wolf's head settled a bit on the side between his forepaws, and his eyes closed.
   Stygian watched him for a second. Then, he turned, and assumed his shadowy form from before.

   There was a knock on the door from outside the room, and then Gareeku and Aisha heard Stygian's voice.
   "Hey! I think the wolf here needs help! And the others downstairs are getting jumpy."
   With a soft click, the door opened. Outside in the hallway there was a table, a stand-lamp, and then a large wolf laying asleep on the floor, and nothing else.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had scoffed slightly at Stygian, shaking her head while he spoke.  The panther wondered if the right thing was being done here, keeping this shapeshifter a secret from the group.  If he had plans for the angel, no doubt it was the party's right to know.  Then again though...it would only cause a bit more discord.

"Cover for you...?" she started to say when he asked the question, but was interrupted when Sebastian excused himself.  Her head shook.  "How in the heck are we gonna do that?" she muttered, glancing back at Gareeku.  "At least I don't think he'll try Rynkura again."

Her gaze only looked back up for a second when Sebastian looked back in, and she spotted the wolf beyond the door.  There looked something familiar about the creature...but she shrugged and let the business be, though she was suspicious when it took a few minutes just to take care of a dog.

"Well, now what...?" Aisha started, only to jump slightly as the door opened again.  She blinked.  "They are...?  Crap...we'd better get back down and check on everyone," the panther suggested to Gareeku and quickly pushed on past, looking down over the banister at the tavern below...

[Gareeku]

Staying quiet, Gareeku watched as Stygian excused himself. Hearing what Aisha said, the wolf nodded his head in agreement.
"Personally I have no idea as of yet." he replied, scratching his muzzle slightly. "And he had better not, either. That was disrespectful and downright rude, to say the very least."

Looking at the wolf, Gareeku raised his eyebrow.
"How in the hell..." he began, before following Aisha and looking over the banister to take a took at the tavern below.

[Azlan]

The bartender hefted the axe over his shoulder and looked gruffly at Mel, "now see here, its not like that... its... well..."  The bear trailed off in flustered mutterings as he stowed his axe behind the bar. 

"Bloody hell, I was hoping for a fight..." the chef complained as he headed back into the kitchen.

Carran and the sorceress sipped their tea.  He chuckled a bit at the bartender who had decided that now would be a good time to polish the bar counter. 

He regarded Alia and ventured a question, "you are a sorceress, what magic do you practice?"

"Mostly alchemy and artificing."  She offered matter-of-factly. 

"Indeed, alchemy, how does that work?"  Carran inquired intrigued.

"Well you see..."  Alia went about a basic explanation of alchemy with one small oddity.  Utilizing colored wax sticks, she sketched the entire explanation in a very cartoonish fashion, the drawings though done fast were not too much better then a young girl's doodles.  she finished with a simple, "understand?"

Carran laughed a little nervously, "uh, nice... drawings..."

[Ryudo Lee]

(This is as good a place to come in as any...)

Somewhere down the road, a single ray of light came down from the sky.  It seemed quite insignificant, and anyone who saw it would easily mistake it for a firefly.  The light came down and stopped a little ways above the ground.  The light grew larger and brighter, and soon the entire area around it was bathed in a bright white light that could be seen for miles.  There was a loud sound like an explosion that shook the trees and sent birds flying.  The sound stopped and the light died down.  On the ground below where the light was, Ryudo and Koji stood, seemingly in the middle of a conversation.  Both were dressed much like pirates.  They were both in slightly ragged sea-faring clothes and both wore backpacks.  They were armed with what appeared to be a pistol attached to a saber.
"...and we wouldn't be in this mess if you wouldn't have blown up..." Ryudo started, but Koji interrupted him.
"Um daddy, what just happened?" Koji asked.
Ryudo looked around.
"Huh?  We're... not with the crew anymore.  Where did everybody go?" Ryudo said. "Rei!  Eddy!  Yoshi!  Anybody out there?"
Koji started sniffling.
"We're lost!" Koji cried out.
"We're not lost, we just don't know where we are right now.  I think we got teleported again." Ryudo said as he looked around.  "Look, there's a town over there, let's go over there and see where we ended up."
Ryudo picked up Koji and headed towards the town.  Ryudo had a nagging feeling of de ja vu, as if he had been in this place before.  Everything seemed so... familiar.

[Cheese Foxlee]

Winger got to his feet, not sure what the fuss was all about and prepared to draw weapon when he felt the ground shift beneath him. "Whoa!" he said quickly returning to his seat. "I must be more tired than I thought. It feels like the the floor is shaking."

Winger shook his head.  "what ever it is; it can wait. One quest is enough." He said before ordering a second drink, and preparing himself to settle into a drunken stupor.

[Gareeku]

Watching Winger, Gareeku frowned worringly. The avain seemed somewhat down. The wolf was about to go downstairs and join him when he suddenly remembered something. Looking back behind him, he say the unconscious feral wolf. It was then that Gareeku realised he had seen Cogi for a little while.

Not being able to see him downstairs, Gareeku looked back at the wolf again.
"Could it be..?" he muttered in thought.

[topher chee]

    Topher was about to sip the pint of water he had in his hand when most of it splashed into his face.  "Earthquake?"  he asked to the bartender.   "Do much of those happen here?"
     The bartender shrugged and slumped away.  With nobody left to talk to in the poorly lit bar, Topher walked over to where a group of beings were.  "Did you guys feel that?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Staring over the banister, Aisha relaxed a little after noticing that the bar had gone quiet again.  The bartender in particular seemed a little tense, as was Carran.  But nobody was getting up to go searching.  Not just yet.  That just left all of the usual problems...how to start the quest...and most baffling, what to do about Sebastian.  As far as the panther was concerned, that was still up in the air.

Hearing Gareeku muttering, the pantheress turned to him questioningly, and then followed his gaze to where the canid was lying unconscious still.  Oh yes, we have to do something about him, too... Her eyes narrowed.  Still looks familiar.  Wasn't Cogi...?

And that's when there was another slight tremor beneath her paws, and a bright flash had appeared from one of the windows, surpassing even the light of the sun.  Aisha wanted to groan.  "That can't be another one...?"  But she stopped herself in mid-sentence.  A fallen angel had sounded more like a meteorite, with an explosion.  This was a little less noisy, and moreover bright.

The panther sighed, almost drooping tiredly on the banister.  One thing at a time.  She glanced towards Gareeku and the wolf, questioning in her eyes, before taking one step towards the stairs.  "I think I'll go see what's going on."

[Snuggles]

Rei looked around finding that no one is doing anything. She looked out the door as if something had caught her eye. "... I will be back again." She blinks to the edge of town.  Looking around to see if her feeling was right.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel had put her map away and was back to writing and eating when the tremor hit. She immediately perked up, another celestial object would be most interesting, despite the fact that another hit in the same location on the same day would mess up her calculations. She looked around and no one else seemed to find the tremor of interest. The squirrel began riffling through her books to look up if this was an earthquake zone when she noticed Miss deCabre on the stairs. She was as much of an angel expert as anyone here so Mel would see if the feline thought it was another angel.

[Ryudo Lee]

Ryudo put Koji up on his shoulders, carrying the boy piggy-back as he walked down the road.  He looked around as he walked, and couldn't shake the feeling of de ja vu.  Perhaps Koji had some insight on this?  He decided to ask.
"Koji, is it just me, or does this place seem very familiar?" Ryudo asked.
Koji was looking around too.  He couldn't put his finger on it, but everything felt familiar to him too.
"Um... I dunno..." Koji replied.
But then Koji did a doubletake.  He recognized these trees!
"Daddy!  We're home!" Koji said excitedly.
"Home?  Are you sure?" Ryudo asked.
That would explain why everything seemed so familiar.
"Yeah, looka!" Koji said, pointing towards the town "I can see the inn from here!"
Ryudo peered at the silhouette of the town, and sure enough, the outline of the town appeared to be their home.
"Well whaddya know?  We are home.  C'mon, let's get to the inn, and see if we can't scare up some food.  I know you must be starving." Ryudo said.
Koji nodded furiously.  He was hungry.  He was always hungry.  Ryudo picked up the pace as he headed straight to his inn.

[topher chee]

    Topher looked up as he heard a jingle at the doorway.  Aisha was heading outside to see what  was going on.  Topher decided it be best he go along for the company, seeing as the place was dead.  "Aisha wait up!"

[Aisha deCabre]

After a little pause, Aisha quickly padded downstairs, giving a momentary nod of greeting to everyone and checking on the overall mood.  Things seemed to calm down, bar any remaining tension that had sparked from before.  Winger looked like he was falling asleep, and the panther felt like it too.

Shrugging, she walked towards the door, pausing patiently for Topher to follow after she heard him call.  She wasn't going far at all, only really looking outside.  The flash was brief, and there was no trail of smoke...it wasn't another fallen.  It reminded her more of a teleportation flash than anything.

Curiously, Aisha started to pull open the door, only to catch sight of someone heading towards the inn.  The look of the two individuals approaching, after the last adventure, she could never forget.  Her jaw dropped.  "Ryudo?!"

[Cheese Foxlee]

Winger had to admit to himself that he was now completely lost.  He had no clue where to go from here; and  the groups trip to the crash site did little more than make the group hungry, thirsty, and tired. He slumped over onto the counter and tucked his head under his wings in an attempt to shut out the world.  Winger had to lift his head though, when he heard Ashia call out.  He stood up, stretched and walked over to the door to make sure his ears weren't playing tricks on him. Sure enough, There was the the Tiger carrying his half-breed looking son on his back up to the inn.

"So the bastard finally showed up... Maybe now we can get some Real answers."  Winger chuckled.  He couldn't hide the fact that he  was glad to the Dragon.

[topher chee]

   Topher was running up just behind Aisha when he saw a winged silhouette approaching the doorstep.  His first instinct was to enter his tapped state and blast the hell out of whoever it was.  But at second glance the stranger seemed quite kind with a rugged look.
   Topher lowered his fists and approached the stranger, "Hello, name's Chee, Topher Chee."

[Azlan]

Carran looked up from his tea, someone had mentioned the name Ryudo.  Leaving Alia to stare at her drawings, he moved towards the door to see if he had heard that correctly.

The white tiger beyond the threshold was indeed Ryudo, looking quite the pirate, with him was his son Koji.

"So what did he do with Sasha I wonder," Carran mumbled as he returned to his table.  He waved and smiled at Ryudo, but said nothing, there was no need after all.

The bartender was truly surprised, having been hired on afterwards, he had never met the owner of the inn.

[Joat]

“Roodo? Who’s Roodo?” Leon asks.

“I think they said ‘Ryudo’,” Sylva says.

“Yeah, they did. Let’s go meet the guy. He sounds important,” Pan says.

The three of them walk over to Ryudo and Koji.

“Hello, Roodo,” Leon says.

“Ryudo,” Pan corrects.

“Ryudo. I’m Leon. This is Pan, my partner, and Sylver, a recent friend of ours,” Leon continues.

“Hi,” Sylva says.

[Gareeku]

In the quiet of the tavern, Gareeku sighed. It seemed his tiredness had finally caught up with him.
"I'm gonna fall asleep on my feet if I'm not careful..." the wolf muttered to himself with a slight smirk on his face. He wanted to go see what the flash in the distance had been like the others had, but he couldn't leave what he assumed to be Cogi on his own.

[Cogidubnus]

From deep within some dreamless sleep, Cog felt the insistent stirrings of conciousness tug at his mind. He opened his eyes and winced at the glare from the low light. He felt as though he'd just drank another one of those 10,000 year old Irish Scotches. He tried to raise his head, and immediately cursed - of course, being in lupine form, it came out as more of a whimper. He fell to the floor again and tried to sort out what had just happened.
The priest had tricked him, obviously. He had trusted him, and the priest had bitten him, although perhaps not hard. Still, a breach of his trust. Cog felt the anger bubbling again, and if it would not cause extreme pain, he would have been looking for him already. A verse bubbled to Cog's mind:
Of cerberus and blackest midnight born, In Stygian cave forlorn, 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sight unholy, Find out some uncouth cell, Where brooding darkness spreads his jealous wings, and the night raven sings...
Cog limped to his feet, and trying to avoid the gazes of the others, slinked back into the washroom. He returned a few minutes later, his hat and glasses hiding any sign that he had been drugged, and sat heavily into a chair. He could no longer smell the smell of ink and smoke, although he was looking for it.

[Stygian]

"Of linked sweetness long drawn out, With wanton heed, and giddy cunning, The melting voice through mazes running, Untwisting all the chains that tie..."
   Cogidubnus heard that cruel voice again, though from where he could not tell. It spoke as soon as he had sat down, its crawling, slithering tone sending shivers up his spine.
   "Had to think a while, before I remembered my Milton. Though jealosy does not fetter me, you should know. It is you who are chained now. I am sorry for violating your trust, but the opportunity was a given. And looking for me will do no good. I do not intend to fall out with this group again, so I will always be behind you."

[Snuggles]

Rei blinks back to the tavern. "Wasn't what i wanted... What is everyone looking at?" She then turns to see Ryudo coming to the tavern and people running up to him. "ohhh... this must be Ryudo that winger kept talking about." She keeps with the group. She was always better at talking with new people with friends around.

[Ryudo Lee]

Ryudo carried Koji into the bar, amidst all the greetings from familiar faces and the new (albeit overly-friendly) ones.  They greeted each one in turn.
"Aisha!  It's good to see you again, and Winger, and um what was his name again?" Ryudo said.
"Carran." Koji whispered into Ryudo's ear.
"Carran!  Great to see you guys again.  And it looks like we've got new people here too.  Well that's great, I'm glad to see new people around here.  I'm Ryudo, and this is my son Koji."
Ryudo said as he put Koji on a stool in front of the bar.  They certainly must have been getting odd looks, since they appeared to have just come off of a pirate ship.
"Hey, feed Koji for me will you?" Ryudo said to the tender.
The tender, knowing that he had finally met his boss, complied.  Koji was soon feasting, as Ryudo returned his attention to the group.
"I know I've been away for awhile, and man do I have a story to tell you guys.  But before I get to that, why don't you guys tell me what you've been up to?  It's been awhile, and we need to get caught up." Ryudo said.

[Aisha deCabre]

With a polite bow, Aisha moved out of the way to allow Ryudo and Koji to enter.  She had to smirk a little at the outfits they had on, as she moved to stand on the side near the others, leaning on the wall beneath the banister.  Oh, I just bet he has a story to tell us, she thought with a humorous roll of her eyes.

That was when she spotted Cogi coming down to sit among the others, and she regarded him with curiosity.  There he is.  But then I wonder if...  She briefly glanced back up across the banister, where Gareeku was, with a questioning look.

At Ryudo's inquiry, she glanced back with a slight smirk.  "Oh, you didn't miss much..."  She interrupted herself with a long yawn.  "...Sorry.  Most of us were up late last night.  It seems another crater has been made up in the woods.  Care to guess what it was caused by?"  She stole a quick glance at Winger and Carran, everyone who had been on the previous adventure.  "Another fallen angel."

[Joat]

“Well, I got chased out of my own dimension, which is why I’m here. Pan, one of the officers that was after me, snuck in this dimension through my purse…” Sylva begins.

“Hey, I get around,” Pan brags.

“…and, once he realized that my body was taken over when I murdered all those people and that it wasn’t truly me, he changed his mind about me. Slevrani, the one who possessed me to do all that evil stuff, found me in this dimension, which is when Pan and the others helped me out in defeating her. Leon wasn’t there at the time, though,” Sylva continues. “Does anyone want to take over or should I continue?”

[Azlan]

"Aisha speaks true, another Angel has fallen.  I have all of the significant pieces, but this one has lost its heart... the core.  It was filled with darkness when we found it and its presence drew other creatures that dwell in those same shadows.  I am not sure what caused it to fall, but this event does not bode well."

Carran placed a pair of oval spectacles on the bridge of his muzzle and make a quick examination of Ryudo, checking for a pattern match of his aura.  He did the same with Koji and shivered a slight bit after looking at him.

[Cogidubnus]

Cogidubnus cursed when he heard the voice, and then sat back. What, so now you can hear me? He thought, somewhat nonplussed. If I be fettered with chains sir, all the better: I can use them to choke you, He thought, somewhat gritting his teeth, and if these pleasures melancholy give, 'tis with her I choose to live. For surely, does not the Nightingale speak of the Sovran Shrine of Melancholy, in the very temple of delight? He took a deep breath and leaned his head against his hand, a little tired from his nap, and tried to remember the verse. Ay, in the very temple of delight, Veil'd melancholy has her sovran shrine, Through seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue, Can burst joy's grape against his palate fine; Despite his anger, he grinned and finished the stanza, albeit somewhat paraphrased: Your soul shall taste the sadness of her might, And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
   Despite his anger, Cog sat back and thought for a moment. The shade's words did ring true, although his actions were... distasteful, to be kind. But what worried him more was that last phrase: was he about to become yet another puppet of the Shadow? He grimaced and fumbled around in his jacket, tying his silver charm about him again – once more, the air around him crawled for a moment, and then faded. Behind me, shade? You hide for no good reason – surely, you do not think they would tolerate a necromancer, but not a shadow?
   Pausing for a moment from his internal arguments, Cog was startled to see yet another person in the Tavern. He was in quite colorful dress, and everybody seemed to know him quite well...he stood up stiffly and offered his hand to the stranger. "Cogidubnus Mithlome, good sir. You are?"
   

[Stygian]

"Hmph. Wouldst they not tolerate anyone, for so long as their cause was fulfilled to end? I tell you; my goal and theirs are not thesame. They are alike, but at the very heart they differ. And though I consider none the more noble, i would yet rather see mine own fulfilled. Not to mention that the fox seems like the one to throw fire at the shadows just because he thinks that he is right, and the wolf I remember to be a bit too eager to fight darkness as well."
   The shadow made a cruel laugh as it spoke, just after the last word, and then continued on Cogidubnus' trail.
   "She dwells with Beauty - Beauty that must die... And die she shall indeed, my friend! And so shall I, with her. That is my goal with all this. And there is no purpouse to charms and magic trinkets, my friend. They cannot stop me, and there is no need."
   Then, the shadows seemed to turn their attention to the newcomers as well. Cognidubnus did not know how he got that feeling, it just came to him. They played in the light when the white tigers came in, studying them. And yet, there was the impression that it was not actually the shadows of the room that moved.
   "They are the owners of this inn. Ryudo Lee and his son. They have been gone from here for quite a while, and I have had much trouble finding out anything about them."

[Snuggles]

Rei is in the middle of everything but staying quite as everyone else explains everything to Ryudo and his son.