Sweeping Darkness (IC) - Open

[Azlan]

Aire gazed out over the grass and flowers, all the way to the trees as she spoke, "I haven't really done much adventuring, mostly just duty in service to the people.  I imagine you are very right though."

The elf swallowed hard and shifted her eyes to the ground in front of her, "About what you said just earlier... it was a very strong emotion, about your arm..."

Aire let the words drop, she could not continue, "Forgive me, I should not ask such things... I have spoken out of turn."

[e_voyager]

Enigma Followed listening and learning. There wasn't really much to learn at the moment beyond the opinions and mannerisms of his companions but still that was something. this way if one of them began to fall to some manipulation he would be alerted to it. but then the others two Tank and 28 would probably pick it up faster if they were looking for it. 

[Lushin]

Tarson sighs heavily.
"No if we're gonna be working together it's not a big deal. I used to be a normal person. I guess you can say I loved the wrong woman. Because of her father my parents are dead, I'm like this *raises right arm* and I'll more than likely never see her again. I'd rather her not see me like this. It's just what Armita said hit a raw nerve. Reminded me of someone I used to work with. Didn't sit well with me. I know he was talking to Tank and DFX but it still got to me. I feel like I have more in common with them now than anyone"

[Azlan]

Aire's eyes went wide, she brought her hand up to her chest and clenched her fist tightly, "t... that is horrible.  How could he do such a thing??!!  I... I am not familiar with your people, but to love transcends race, class and all boundaries... to disapprove of a suitor is common, but murder to resolve it is unforgivable.  Everyone should have their chance at true love's embrace... everyone..."

The elf's voice trailed off, her hand and lip trembled.  She cast her eyes downward as she continued to walk, a bit of clear liquid ran from the top of her armored boot to mix with the dirt of the road.  She paused and inhaled, the breath quivering slightly before she stopped and released it back out.

"I am truly sorry, his deeds should be punished... justice and love should prevail."

[techmaster-glitch]

   DFX absorbed all of Aeo's input impassively, but intently. Tank, on the other hand, kept rumbling along next to DFX, trying his best to ignore the intellectual talk as it irritated him greatly, though it was near-impossible for him, being what he was.
   The undead fleshling, Alcir, then chimed in with an interesting philosophy, which DFX also listened to intently. "Communicative verbalizations and 'joking'..." DFX said, "While the exchange of information is a very important, necessary, and natural activity, 'joking' and 'humor' are things that I have never been able to fathom...Our father attempted to induce such actions among our numbers on several occasions, but none met with success. I believe this was one of the few things that disappointed him, though he constantly assured us it was through no fault of our own."
   DFX also was able to hear Aire and Tarson's conversation ahead of them, especially Tarson's comment on how he thought that he had the most in common with him and Tank! DFX was beginning to feel...strange, at this point. One of his two goals has been to find fleshlings who were open and understanding, or at least had no aversions to the thought of a living construct, like his father. Had this goal actually been met with this ragtag, motley, misshapen band of fleshlings? DFX didn't know how much stock to put in it, but the odds were fairly good, considering that several of them seemed to have suffered tragedies similar to his own.

[familyghost]

As he walked Aeo tried to understand 28's lack of ability to understand humor.  The way the construct had said the words made Aeo think that at first 28 simply had a hard time deciphering humor.  Then slowly as he ran the response through his head he found that 28 meant that humor was completely alien to the construct's kind.  He looked up at the construct, he considered jokes, humor and stories to be a high point of life and the fact that 28 and Tank could not comprehend humor made him a little angry at the world. 

"So..." Aeo said trying to find a way to explain humor.  "What did your father do; did he define it, give examples, or what?  I mean there's not much to get with humor, and everyone finds something different funny.  Like me for example, I like irony, guess it's my heritage but irony just cracks me up." 

[Lushin]

Tarson just did he's usual shrug.
"I've come to terms with my past. I haven't been in my homeland for many years now. I've traveled long and far to try and start a new life. Find a village that needs a blacksmith and setup shop. Or just travel for as long as I can and see what I can find"

[techmaster-glitch]

   "He did not try often, but it was always varied." DFX explained. "Sometime he vocalized these 'jokes' himself, sometimes he gave definitions. It was largely futile for me and other models that possesed higher-capacity mental function. We simply could not grasp the concepts. It seemed that most humor in the form of 'jokes' relied on paradoxes, contradictions, it simply false statements. None of it made any functional sense. These are things that I personally dislike, as they never in any way seemed to significantly aid in the completion of whatever practical task we were performing. However..." DFX then glanced to Tank. "On some rare occasions, some of us have noted things that we have found...for lack of more accurate terms, 'humerous' or 'amusing', though of course none of us ever engaged in an audible expression of such merriment, an activity informally known as 'laughter'. The personal notaion of amusement was more frequently observed with earlier models that lacked more advanced mental capacities."

[Azlan]

"What about your love...?  Isn't what you are doing just running away?  To allow the murderer to not face his crimes and to let love true fade away seems... so very wrong.  It is ultimately your choice, but what you have chosen feels wrong to me."

The elf's eyes were wide and glittered with lingering moisture, hand her a dollie and a lolly and she would look as worldly as she sounded.

[e_voyager]

Enigma could not take much more of this. "some times if we wish to protect something or some one we must leave it.  Tell me elf if you know your homeland was under threat because you were there and that staying there to fight would give you a war with an uncertain outcome but that by leaving you could spare those left behind anymore hardship and rick would you stay and fight and risk loosing that which can be saved my letter it go and heal? think about it. if you stay win or lose you could still lose that which your were fighting to protect but if it survives then at least it can heal and grow to blossom again one day. "

The cloaked figure shook his head. " When does a fight cease to be about protecting that which you hold dear and become about  being unable to let go even if holding one will bring only destruction?"

[Azlan]

Aire's complexion shifted from fresh snow to a shade a tad closer to her cherry blossom hair and she turned to face Enigma, "y... you cannot turn away from what is in your heart.  You must face it, not tuck your tail between your legs and run!  You do not endanger others, but neither can you turn a blind eye to such things in hopes that it 'will all just get better'.  You need to face it, alone, away from others as not to involve them.  It is wrong to ignore the heart, it is a true calling... it is what makes us who we are."

There was a definite twinkle in her eye as she stared down the cloaked one.

[e_voyager]

Enigma shrugged and Raised his hands in a a gesture of submission. the Elf was too emotional to listen and he did not feel like fighting pointless battle. "we all have to pick and choose our battles miss.  you may feel that you understand his pain indeed you might but for all that i can see your conversation has only accomplished three things . "

Enigma holds up a finger for each  item.  "one it's brought up memories that re probably painful to Tarson throwing his mental equilibrium of meaning that if we have to fight ore need a leader's decision Tason might not be able to respond as quickly ore as fully and he needs to try and keep us alive."
Enigma paused for a moment hoping that this  reason how ever selfish  would start to sink in.

"two it has brought you close to tears and ready to lash out. not the best frame of mid fora paladin mind you."

Enigma smiled and now for the last and most selfish reason. "And finally  and to me most importantly to me at least you've distracted me for trying to figure out the puzzle of what's going on with the goblins  on other attack forces in this land"

He watched the elf for any change. if she was going to attack him in some emotional outburst this would probably be it. he tried to look calm but he knew that he should have at least cast some kine of illusion or distortion spell before bring this up. now she would probably be to alert for any such spell to work.

[familyghost]

Aeo was trying to think about how to try and present something like a joke to 28 when the shopkeep spoke up.  He was talking to Aire, seemingly reprimanding her for caring about Tarson's past or something.  He was about to tell the shopkeep to back off, but he seemed to do that on his own, which let Aeo get back to his previous curiosity. 

"I guess for now we're both stuck on humor in our own ways, but even finding something amusing, even when it's only you is a good thing in my opinion.  If you don't mind me asking, have you ever had one of those situations?" Aeo looked up.  "You never know it might lead to you finally understanding our crazy fleshling humor."  Aeo gave a scincire and friendly smile.

[Omega]

A large crow snatched a half-eaten jerky from Armita's hand and took off. "Hey! I wasn't finished with that yet!! Tsk, damn bird." Looked like The shopkeeper and the elf girl were arguing about something. "Feh. that's the problem of adventuring in large groups. Everybody has to tolerate each other. No matter your beliefs." he thought in side his mind and gave a long sigh. "Looked like it was gonna be a nice day, though".

[Lushin]

Tarson let out a low growl when Engima started talking to Aire.
"Will you two be quiet"
He then turned to look at Engima.
"I don't remember you even being a part of this conversation. Don't go thinking if we get into a fight I'm gonna lead you. I've already told you people I AM NO LEADER! If you wanna follow me fine, but don't expect me to lead"
He then looked back to Aire
"The reason I left is because the woman I loved was getting married and she thought I was dead. I choose to leave because my old life was over. Once this was done to me *shows right hand* I had to start a new life, mainly as an attack dog"

[techmaster-glitch]

   DFX turned to Aeo and his metal jaw opened to say something, but then froze. DFX stopped walking, and so did Tank. They looked at each other, and knew that each other had seen and felt the same phenomena.
   "We have just observed an unusual distortion. Did anyone else experienced this disturbance?"
   Both of Tank's large metal hands increased their grip on his massive greathammer.

[Lushin]

Tarson stopped as well and planted his feet in a defensive stance. He slowly looked over his left shoulder at DFX and Tank.
"You guys noticed that too?"
Tarson scanned the local area for any sign of movement. For anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

[e_voyager]

Enigma not sure what was going of seemed to shimmer as he stood as if casting a protection spell on himself. In reality he was casting a cloaking spell that would temporally distort where he was and where appeared to be and illusion would be left as he moved to where he hoped was safer ground. The illusion would stand their and react as he would but only for a few moments as it was not a particularly long lived spell. Those with skill would probably see through it before too long but by the it's purpose would be served and he would be hiding in the shadows nearby ready to take stock of what need to be done.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

A cry of "ee eeek!", and a hefty thwack preceded a high fly ball from the cricket team, which sailed out towards Eric, bounced on the ground between him and the Mime, and rolled up to his foot.

Attached to the ball was a note. One of the monkeys came barrelling out of the gathering shadows, grabbed the ball, removed the note and stuck it to the side of Eric's crossbow, and raced off again, before he could react.

When he grabs the note, he reads:

Please don't impale our mime, we might need her later to defend your cattle from the rustlers.

P.S. Please don't impale us, either. We'd regret it in the morning.

On the back of the note is a well-drawn heart and a couple of lipstick smudges, just for effect.

[familyghost]

Aeo stopped with 28 and Tank when they mentioned a disturbance.  Then Tarson mentioned it as well.  Aeo didn't know what was going on and was rather confused when Tarson and Tank took a somewhat defensive gesture.

"What are you guys talking about?" Aeo asked.

[Pagan]

Alcir had noticed something as well. A strange sensation, but he was not alone in feeling it, so it was not a hallucination. The undead began looking around, who knew what the sensation could mean? Another attack, perhaps?
He turned to Aeo and said, "Something odd's happened. Be cautious."

[familyghost]

"Odd?" Aeo blinked.  "Describe odd in context to this group, because odd doesn't always mean dangerous."  Aeo laughed as he said it.  "I mean look at us; two constructs, a tiefling, a necromancer, a... I guess you're a zombie..."  Aeo thought on it a second.  "An elf, a necromancer, and Tarson and the shopkeep are our two humans.  What could possibly be odd when compared to this group?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   "You are speaking of the formation of our mutual crew. We are speaking of a sensory anomaly." DFX explained in his usual sophisticated speech. "We detected some sort of irregular visual distortion, accompanied by a stimulation of our somatosensory systems. It could possibly be described as abnormally low temperature and mild paresthesia. A sensation of this sort is only ever associated with some form of magical discharge or residue, for us at the least. I am unsure if any of our other companions experienced it in an identical form."
   Tank started scanning around, his red light-eyes scrutinizing the environment for anything that so much as twitched at him the wrong way.

[Azlan]

Aire noticed nothing out of the ordinary, but paused as the others tensed, one did not have to be a seasoned campaigner to know that something was amiss.  She was slightly relieved to be distracted from the discussion that had emerged between her, Tarson and this Enigma.

"I did not notice anything I am afraid, the gods seem to find me laughable today... letting my emotions get the best of me.  What is it that you have sensed?"

The elf also was relieved that the situation could distract from her emotional outbursts.

[Omega]

Armita noticed that he was the only one still walking. Everyone else had halted their travel few meters behind him."Oh geeez. What now?" he said and turned around. "Are we being attacked? Did someone offended somebody again? Personally I believe that you people haven't just spend enough time in the wilderness" There was a slight tone of impatience in Armita's voice, of which he blamed his sore feet and certain fat crow for.

[Lushin]

Tarson looked around ignoreing Armita. He didn't say anything as he looked. Then he looked back the way they had came. Then he started walking back the way they had come.
"Everyone stay here I'm gonna try something. Don't worry I'll be back"
Tarson jogged back up the trail a ways to see if he gets the same feeling.


Added:
Tarson looks at the trail where he is standing. While looking in the direction they had come he raises his left hand  and starts gestureing to the group.
"Hey DFX, can you come over here for a second?"

[Azlan]

Aire realizes that the others likely do not know what it is that has given them an odd sense.  She whispers a few words in the flowing language of the elves and enables her eyes to perceive magic, she searches for any incongruent flows or other unusual things against the normal background.   

[techmaster-glitch]

   DFX turned towards Tarson when he spoke. DFX had an idea of what Tarson was trying to do. He walked over to Tarson just as he asked. Tank momentarily hesitated, then followed DFX with, not so much a slower, but a more cautious and pondering gait. He may not have been called, but wherever DFX goes, he goes.

[e_voyager]

Enigma having found a decent hiding place in the shadows watched Tarson and the two constructs with a interested eye. eye not his illusion was fading away and would not serve as a decoy much longer if at all. still as much as it had take to weave that spell it was on of his favorites. it was good for escaping surprise attackers mobs if they were not wary two the double illusion being cast.

[Omega]

"It's probably just two squirrels." Armita said and started walking towards the others.  The crow on her shoulder was not makeing any objections regarding his turning turning and walking. They all usually complained when Armita didn't advance in his travels. They were all about moving and going.