Furrae Chronicles: Webs of Destiny (IC) [M] {2}

[RJ]

Blaze's eyes side-glanced as he picked out the voices of the group sitting nearby.

Kidnappings? No wonder I'm getting all those weird emotions in here. The anger is definitely coming from those guys, no doubt about that. He ordered another drink from the bar, this time a cider. There's quite a few creatures in here as well... especially 'cubi. I don't recognise any though, thank gods. If I run into another moron from Sanctuary, I'll burn them alive.

Blaze's hands tightened around the glass he held. He didn't want to think about those memories anymore...

[Nikki]

Xzeliea lifts her head up to Gareeku and Smiles. "'Ey...what ya doin' 'ere?" she asks drunkenly before noticing all the others. "Aye...are we off on another adventure, mate?" she asks, smiling. cuz if ya are, there's no way yer gonna stop me from comin with ya... she thinks inwardly

[lucas marcone]

marco didnt like being brushed off but he delt with it, for he had a mission much larger than dealing with drunks disturbing the peace. marco walked over to a white wolf. "Mr.Monoko i presume? the police cheif sent me to help out with this recent suspicious activity." and sat next to him.

[Gareeku]

Listening to Jakob, Gareeku nodded his head in agreement as the wolf incubus stated what the possible reasons for the recent "turn of events" were.
"Jakob is right. Whoever sent these letters wants our help, or our lives." Gareeku stated flatly, his arms crossed as his eyes scanned the tavern once again.
"What do you think we should do then?" Li asked, still perched on the wolf's shoulder as she looked at him, cocking her head slightly.
"We need to find out if anybody else has received one of these letters. The letters haven't said anything about anywhere to go after the tavern, but i think it would be best if we stayed a little while longer. We'll need to see if any clues are around here anywhere. Besides, i could do with another drink." Gareeku said with a smirk, before taking another swig of his ale.

[Tapewolf]

Jakob gave Gareeku a look of disapproval.  In his youth he'd been blessed with a supply of fresh water from the farm well, so he'd never really developed a taste for alcohol.  A city lad from that era would have been brought up on watered-down wine or beer, as the water by itself generally wasn't fit to drink.
"Don't overdo it, Gareeku," he said nervously.  "If these letters really are from the kidnapper, getting drunk is not going to aid our chances against them."

[Gareeku]

Noticing Jakob's disapproval of his drinking, Gareeku grinned.
"Hey now, I can handle my drink, unlike some..." Gareeku said jokingly, teasing Xzeliea as he spoke. Plus it eases the pains... Gareeku thought inwardly, forgetting the fact that there were people present who could read minds.

[Nikki]

Xzeliea looks at the others, not really recognising them. She then turns to her old friend and grins. "Don't be thinkin' 'bout me now mate. I'll 'ave you know ah've been drinkin 'ere for 3 days straight..." she mumbles drunkenly. "now ah've 'eard that members of yer families 'ave been taken away, eh?" she says, a twinkle in her slightly glazed eyes.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Watching the small group form Paladin smiled, So the old group is forming. As Gareeku's unshielded thoughts hit him, Pal winced wanting nothing more than to say to blazes with his orders and comfort his friend. It never lasts long my friend.

[Suwako]

Alex looked behind him seeing a group gather around a table talking to each other. Catching a few words of what was sai. Letters, Just like this one interesting.... Maybe I'll get some money if I help. If not well My family is dead to me anyways He got up and approached the group. "You people all got a letter like this one?" He threw the letter onto the table. But the letter didn't land in the middle of it because of a small gust.

[Hilary]

Anzimani set her half empty cider glass down on the table and thought. "Whoever it was left this letter in my room no longer than two hours ago. Unless whoever it is can teleport, which is likely, they might still be in the area." She lifted the drink and sipped it. "It's a pity this place is so busy. Tracking will much harder in all these people." She sniffed the letter carefully. She didn't catch anything out of the ordinary, but she hadnt really expected anything helpful.

[RJ]

Stranger and stranger... Blaze thought to himself with a touch of amusement, staring into the bottom of his mug. And curious too. Kidnappings, with only a letter left behind as evidence. Someone is going to an awful lot of trouble to do this; and if they're not careful, they'll be in an awful lot of trouble too. These people are hiding a lot of anger deep down...

He had a thoughtful look on his face as he took a sip of cider and set the glass mug back down.

[Paladin Sheppard]

I better find out what Blaze is doing here Pal thought. Grabbing one of the napkins on the table, Paladin writes a small note. Finishing he sends a mental call to Rex, as the small creature warps silently in next to him Pal hands it the note. 'To Blaze thanks Rex' Pal thinks at the warp-aci 'as quiet as you can'. Pal orders another drink again tipping generously.

[RJ]

Blaze's hands nearly slipped from his mug as something landed atop his head. He stared up cross-eyed as a Warp-Aci poked its face down from above. A little grumpy at the sudden appearance, he picked it up by the scruff of the neck and placed it on the table top before him.

The Warp-Aci pushed a letter into his hands. Blaze raised an eyebrow at it as he unfolded it.

Blaze: red fox, at your 5 o'clock. How's your sister? - Pal

The squirrel slowly scanned across the tavern until his eyes landed on the described red fox sitting nearby. Blaze turned back, flipping the paper over and grabbing a pen out of his saddlebag. He scribbled a new note on it and handed it to the Warp-Aci.

[Supercheese]

*Hm... big crowd over there.* Chris looked towards the growing group. *There seem to be a lot of adventurers...*

While still wary, Chris was reasonably sure that they weren't looking for him. The action seemed to be centered around a certain wolf, who looked like he had a headache, among other problems. And there was the matter of that greenish something that moved around him...

Chris caught another glimpse of green and black. *No... it can't be...* The panther tilted his head to the side, trying to get a good viewing angle through the others surrounding the wolf. *It is! I never thought I'd see one!* Chris continued to lead over, staring at the creature on the wolf's lap.

Thump! Chris fell off the stool he was sitting on and smacked the floor loudly and painfully. "Oww..." He said, getting up while rubbing his sore cheek. He noticed everybody staring at him.

"Uh... hey." He said weakly. "I saw your... what was the name... ah, right, warp-aci. I've never seen one before; I've heard of them and always dreamed of seeing one someday." Li seemed pleased at this comment. "Uh..." The panther nervously scratched behind his ears. "What were y'all talking about? I heard bits and pieces, and it wouldn't have to do with strange letters, would it?" He asked, not really expecting much of an answer.

"Actually, yes. You see..." Gareeku began. The conversation resumed.

[Tapewolf]

Jakob sat with a drink of iced water in his hand, contemplating what the group's next move should be.  Realistically there were two possibilities, he reasoned.  Most of the people at this table had been gathered by the mystery letter-writer, and that almost certainly meant that he or she would eventually turn up at the tavern.  But what would happen then?

If the letter-writer was friendly, all they had to do was sit and wait, which was more-or-less what was going on right now.  But if they aren't, perhaps we should be preparing to defend ourselves, he mused, and then gave a snort of amusement.  Like what?  Barricade the door?  The Landlord would go mental!  And if the kidnapper is that strong, barricades aren't going to help.  They can probably teleport anyway, he thought.

On the other hand, perhaps the tavern was safe, at least for now.  There were a lot of patrons, many of them Creatures, and a kidnap attempt would not go down well amongst them.

Unable to decide, Jakob stood up.  "I'm just going to stretch my legs for a bit," he said, and wandered out of the tavern.  Strolling around, something caught his eye in the car park, and after staring at it for a few moments, he strode briskly back inside.

"Paladin is here," he whispered to Gabi, looking around the room.  "Are you sure?" the vixen asked.  "Yeah.  I've just seen his bike.  I can't see him, though.  He's probably shapeshifted.  I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one."

[Paladin Sheppard]

After Rex had returned Pal read the note with a grin.

She's fine, though I haven't been able to check up on her in a week or so because of my business trip. No doubt she's annoying Headmistress Fa'lina though and missing you. Anyway, nice disguise- hiding from me, or somebody else?

Picking up his drink Paladin wandered over to where Blaze was sitting. "Hello Blaze." The wolf incubus said with a smile. "See that small group over there?" Getting a nod in return he continued. "The slightly drunk white wolf over there had his mother and two relatives snatched, and several others have had their family members go missing aswell. The guard has sent me here to investigate, the biggest problem for me is that I know the wolf and his family so I need to maintain some distance."

[RJ]

The squirrel shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Quite a situation then," he mused quietly. "I heard them over-talking about something to do with kidnappings. Can't say I've heard too much about it myself before now- I've been on a business trip for the bakery. We've been having a small wheat shortage."

He cast a gaze back over at the gathering group.

"So I guess that you can't directly 'interfere' with him and the others then and whatever they've got planned? That's got to be hard."

[Gareeku]

"...and so currently we're figuring out what exactly we should do." Gareeku said the Chris as he finished explaining the situation to the pather. It was then that something suddenly caught his eye. Looking over to the winged squirrel sitting at the bar, a small creature suddenly appeared on top of his head. It was strange...it was like he'd seen the warp-aci who had suddenly appeared before...Then it hit him. He had seen it before, as it was Rex; Paladin Sheppard's warp-aci. Reconfirming his suspicions, Gareeku observed Jakob return from outside and whispering something to Gabi, the word "bike" being audible to Gareeku's ears.
Heh...so he IS here...but i wonder where... Gareeku thought to himself with a slight smirk, before he noticed Rex was now by a fox who was sat near the winged squirrel. ...Gotcha...
Choosing not to say anything, for the time being at least, the white wolf turned back to the bartender. "Say...you haven't seen anyody dropping off letters around, have you? Maybe someone who went upstairs before coming back down a few moments later?" Gareeku asked.
"Nope, can't say i have, Gareeku." the bartender replied apologetically. Frowning once again, Gareeku has lost nearly all hope of finding some sort of clue, when something suddenly occured that suprised Gareeku greatly. Glancing at the letter in front of him, the wolf's eyes widened as the letter suddenly began to morph, the ink beginning to ooze around the paper, though in a way that suggested it was about to depict something else...

[Suwako]

Alex looked over Gareeku's shoulder he observed the letters mysterious morphing. Why would someone take the time to make such a thing? Alex scratched behind his ears. slow morphing &*() that thing is "This is the first time I've seen someone actually use morphing letters.."

[Tapewolf]

Jakob had picked out a few potential candidates for Paladin when he heard slight a gasp of surprise.  Turning around, he looked at Gareeku's letter, which was reconfiguring itself.  When it had finished, the paper contained a few random-looking lines and the odd word here and there.

Jakob pulled out his own letter and noticed that it too had changed, but was different to Gareeku's.  "What the hell is it?" he murmured.  Staring at them for a few moments, something clicked.  He placed his paper below Gareeku's, and the lines continued from one to the other.

"It's a map," he said.  "But it seems to have been split up.  We'll have to have all the letters in order to get the complete picture.  This could be tricky, as we don't know how many letters there are in total."

[Suwako]

Alex grabs his letter from the other table and puts in beside the other letter. It too ws morphing, altough quite slowly. "Morhping letters....Well here you go." Alex sighted, How did he get involved into this bull%^& ? He just stared at the others.

[Gabi]

Upon hearing about the morphing letters, Gabi stopped looking around for Paladin, the tavern being filled with too many smells to pinpoint his exact location. She fixed her eyes on her own letter for a few seconds, then put it on the table. It began to change.

"It looks like someone's playing with us," she said. "If the sender wanted our help, why send morphing letters instead of regular ones with the map pieces clearly visible, or even full maps? Unless they wanted to make sure we were all together before we found the map, but that would mean he or she has a reason for wanting all of us."

She contemplated the map pieces and tried to think of a way to make them fit, or to recognize some landmarks, but her thoughts kept interfering. This person knows about us and we don't know about him. Or her. We could be being watched at this moment. She gave one more look around before she decided it would be useless. She didn't even know what to look for. I guess all I can do for now is help solve the puzzle, she thought, and gave the map pieces another look.

"We must be prepared for anything," she warned the group. "But for now I don't think there's much we can do before we get this puzzle sorted out. Who else has a piece?"

[Hilary]

   "Here."
   Anzimani picked up her letter from the table, where she had dropped it in surprise as it began to change. She fitted it in next to Alex's, trying to look at the map and figure out which ones were edges. That way they could get some idea of how large the map would be when finished, and thus how many pieces it would take.
   If some of them had borders, that would be helpful, she thought to herself. She looked over the map, trying to puzzle out exactly what area was pictured.

[Supercheese]

Chris fervently wiped his hands on his jeans. He had been holding his letter when it began morphing. Though he quickly dropped it on the table, the sensation he received while it was in his hand was... weird. It carried the obvious tingle of magic, and the more subtle but familiar feel of an ordinary item given magical properties.

*Not that it really matters...* He thought as he picked up the letter again. *I wonder where my piece fits...*

[Gareeku]

After everybody had handed their letters in, the pieces of paper were put next to each other. Gareeku was contemplating which piece went where, when suddenly the pieces fused together, creating one big piece. The ink began morphing again, oozing and flowing into the correct places where the pieces of the map where supposed to join up.
"Well, that made it easier..." Gareeku commented, an eyebrow raised as he spoke. Turning the large piece of paper over, his eyes widened in slight surprise as a note appeared on the other side to the map.

You will need this map is you wish to find your loved ones.  This a confusing time, i know, but i am someone you know, Gareeku. You can either trust what I have provided, or you don't. The choice is entirely up to you, my friends. It is adivsed that you all, even the cubi, rest for the night before beginning your search, for you will have a long day ahead of you all tomorrow. Good luck.

Well, the way the note was written sounded friendly enough... Gareeku thought to himself after reading the note. Still, all they had was a map which had no directions, but only displayed a layout of the surrounding area, including the nearby towns and villages.
"Well, I say we trust this letter," Gareeku stated flatly, taking a swig of his ale before continuing, "It's either going with what we've been given, or looking around blindly. Personally, i'd like a bit of help with this, even if the mysterious stranger is exactly that."

[Hilary]

   "I agree." Anzimani finished off her cider. "This is the only lead you have to your lost ones, and I think you should follow it." She set the glass down. "I'll help, of course. That is, if you want me to. This is the greatest chance for adventure I've come across so far."

[Gabi]

"I will help too," Gabi added. "It's not the first time I've embarked myself in a dangerous mission... with some of you, even. Those I've traveled with, I know I can trust, and if any of you needs help, I won't turn my back on you."

Besides, she thought, I want to know what this mystery's all about. But the fact that we know so little makes it all the more dangerous. Still, mystery or not, the kidnapped need to be rescued and I won't stand with my arms crossed if there's any kind of help I can provide.

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Like you wouldn't believe" Pal said to Blaze sighing, noticing increased activity by the group Pal pointed it out to Blaze. "Hey somethings up over there."

[Nikki]

Xzeliea scratches her ear gently. "Weel, mate, i may be a bit tipsy at teh moment, but i do be live ah'll be joinin you again.." she says to her old friend before hiccuping a bit.

[RJ]

Blaze's golden eyes flickered over towards the group Pal had pointed out to him before. "Huh, yeah. What's with the pieces of paper?"

He watched as the members of the group all handed pieces of paper in to Gareeku. They stared intently at the pieces as they seemed to merge.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday," muttered Blaze, "Whoever this person is, they're definitely being tricky about this."