Deathtrap Dungeon: Meat and Greet (IC)

[Drayco84]

   Dee was just about to begin the tale of the pudding golem, when her head began feeling strange, like a weird, psychic 'noise' was filling her head. She looked over and saw that chuul looking like he was about to face off against the mudman she and Kittrick were discussing. When she saw him pick up a rock and break it with his pincers, she became somewhat alarmed.
  "Zyrais! That chuul is about to face off against the mudman!" She urgently relayed to him. Since she was within fifty feet, telepathic communication wasn't a problem. "Please advise! Do I use my telepathy to start something or hold off?"



  Zyrais just listened to Baseel and Nethalzar converse, almost seeming like old friends or more accurately, new business associates. Taking another drink of his cider, Zyrais began to get the feeling that he was intentionally being ignored. This didn't surprise him much, as the relations between demons and angels could best be described as "Inferno-level ceasefires." He was just about to say something when he got Dee's message.
 "Do NOT under any circumstances instigate anything!" He informed her, then made several quick glances around the room. "Advise Kittrick to get behind Xephelon as a defensive measure, just in case things get out of hand. Remember Section 1, Paragraph 1 of the Angelic Re-Revised Code."



  Dee received the instructions and puzzled a bit about the last part until realization set in.
  "This document protects the beliefs and values of the Angelic Ones, and also establishes their rights when dealing with other races, both from Furrae and other realms." She replied, looking around and noticing a few cubi here and there. "Come on, Kittrick..." She began, addressing the gryphon. "It looks like that lobster-thing is going to try and take on the mudman. I'd like to watch, but I'd prefer to do so from behind Xephelon. He's that big, mechanical thing over there in case you forgot. Besides, this might get ugly."

Those grammer (And punctuation) errors weren't there when I typed it, dangit!

[Mechanisto]

Nadhiya had finished her question-and-answer session regarding the portal chamber, and most of the onlookers were now wandering off in pairs or small groups, having very complex and technical discussions. Nadhiya returned to watching the crowd, making herself approachable and congenial.

She turned to Nethalzar as he spoke. "There's no reason you can't do some business of your own, I think...and if I do hire you, then you can always keep her on as your staff, I imagine."

At this point a tiny kobold, dressed in the tattered uniform of a town guard, rushed up to her side. She leaned down and listened as it whispered into her ear. She rose, looking calm but urgent. "Then again, Nethalzar, perhaps we should discuss this with the prospective employee directly. I wouldn't want to leave her anxious."

She quickly slithered off, gesturing for him to follow. She waved at the kobold, speaking without turning her gaze. "I have some urgent business to attend, and am not to be interrupted. You handle things here." The Kobold's tiny eyes widened. His nightstick was little more than a club, and his 'uniform' was a few shreds of cloth, that had been cobbled together. It was hard to imagine a less authoritative figure.

It was around this time that the confrontation between the gigantic crustacean and the amorphous mud elemental had begun to attract some attention from the crowd. Several guests had circled around to watch, and a several were making snide comments. A few were even talking about taking bets.

The kobold clenched his teeth, summoned what little resolve he had, and rushed over to oversee things.

-----

Nadhiya was silent as she moved through the crowd. As soon as she and Nethalzar reached the corridor, she spoke with an urgent tone. ""My guardsman tells me that one of our undead  guests... fell ill, and that you treated her. If this is the case, I owe you my thanks; the loss of a guest would be a major blow to my credibility. However, something else concerns me more. The Kobold said that the guest 'fell ill.' From my own experience with the undead, they can contract and spread diseases normally... but they are generally not affected by the harmful symptoms."

"If this were a disease, I could cure it. But if it is something else, as is quite likely, I may need to call upon your particular expertise."

[Drayco84]

   Zyrais watched the crowd forming around the unknown mudman and Glup with interest. Depending on how things went, perhaps that chuul would learn to stop showing off his strength and try to be a bit more diplomatic. Or at least, stop trying to fling around threats that he couldn't enforce.
   Zyrais positioned himself a bit closer to the mudman. Not close enough to potentially be stuck in the possible crossfire, but to perhaps slide a pair of oversized nut-crackers towards it... Quickly, Zyrais reached into his coat and began rooting around inside it, taking only a few moments to find the weapon in question.

To those wondering why Zyrais has a pair of those, there's two reasons. One, it's a very unusual weapon to try and place by a forensics team. Two, they're incredibly useful at extracting information from any male creature or being...

[Liatai]

Kittrick had begun backing up slowly when Glup had broken the rock, to avoid any potential shrapnel. "A sound plan... but really now, if a fight truly were about to happen, I would believe that Lady Nadhiya would have a vested interest in..."

When she twisted her head to look at the pseudodragon, she noticed Nadhiya slithering off with the undead giraffe she had seen earlier.

Well. There went that idea.

Oh, no, wait... someone was coming over. A kobold in rags, carrying a small club and looking for all the world like some sad parody of a patrolman. This was all the force that the lady of the complex had mustered? Truly?

"Perhaps not." The gryphon broke into a light trot, skirting the crowd and keeping her eyes locked on the kobold. She kept a healthy distance between herself and the little creature, but continued to weave through the assembled guests, keeping it within her sights. The pathetic figure would doubtless need some backup if the situation grew more heated, and she was certain that she could bring slightly more force to bear than he could.

What better way to impress an employer than to prove that you were willing to not only follow, but help enforce their rules, after all?

[Chairtastic]

Barbarus had hardly noticed the fight brewing between the angry chuul and the mudman.  Afterall, he was not employed in the Dungeon yet, it was not his duty to notice such things, or to interfere with them.  He instead, turned to the main room, and proceeded, intending to find the group of Weres he was conversing with earlier, and resume talking to them.  

Instead, he found a cluster of gaudily dressed succubi in their place.  They were kind enough to point him in the direction the growing ring of spectators, when they weren't stage whispering to each other about how old he looked, or wondering if he was a Being.  Luckily, one of them had been a Taun cubi, so he did not expect them to try anything overly offensive.  Taun had taught her children not to irritate people who could pass for lawyers.  Thank you, three piece suits.

He found his distant kin in the ring, exchanging coins for wagers.  They visibly wilted when they saw the disapproving frown, but did not return the money to its various owners.   That simply would not do.

"We are not barbarians," he hissed to his juniors.  "You know half of these people here?  They will think of you are ignorant, and unworthy of their respect.  Do not presume Mistress Nadhiya cares enough to act differently.  Do you want respect?"  The now semi-stunned younger Weres nodded.  "Then do not act like animals.  Show some civility; do not partake of pointless displays of violence.  Not when you have a potential employer to woo."  The younger Weres, feeling slightly patronized and defensive barred their teeth to Barbarus, some going so far as to actively growl and make aggressive moves toward their weapons.  Then the young were mongoose from earlier noticed something, and drew the group's attention to it.

A demon, thoroughly pompous looking in a fancy suit of armor was sneering at them, and their heightened senses barely picked up the whisper of "Mongrels."  Now the group's desire to separate the demon's head from his body overwhelmed their outrage at Barbarus.

"Don't," Barbarus warned them.  "Don't prove him right."  The group of younger Were struggled with the repressing of their tempers, but a combination of Barbarus' stern look and the nudging of the more cool-headed youths kept them in line.  "Very good."  Barbarus then pointed at the young mongoose with his coffee mug.  "I believe you left off with telling the Chief where to stick his marriage ceremony?"

He did not mention they had yet to return the money they'd exchanged.  One step at a time.

(Since I'm going to be rolling around in agony for the next few days, I tried to give y'all something to chew on.  Took a few liberties, and I might come back to clean this up a bit.  Hope its all good, though.)(Edit the first: Corrected a logical flaw in the upper half of the post.)

[WhiteFox]

   Nethalzar cocked his head at the serpent woman. "Indeed, if you will be employing me, my services would of course be at your disposal." He said. "Until that time, I am simply a guest at your fine event." He sipped his wine, deliberately inserting a tense pause to the conversation.
   "But a gracious guest, to be certain."
   "The problem with poisons, diseases, viruses and such is that they depend on a living host. Diseases and viruses generally do not survive in an undead body long enough to propagate and transmit."
   "There are biological agents that target the undead and are benign to the living, but you would be able to sense these in your living guests as you would any other disease or virus."
   "Another alternative is that she was victim of some kind of attack, most likely magical or mystical in nature. This would have disastrous consequences for your gathering here, so I would of course refute any suggestions of such a thing immediately."
   "More plausibly, she was simply nearing the end of her after-lifespan." He swirled his wineglass, and regarded it. "All I did was provide some additional vital energies to sustain the girl for another decade or so... Nothing more then a routine medical procedure, and nothing to be concerned about."
   Nethalzar took his little vial of smoke out of his jacket, and released the wil-o'-wisp once more. "Fade? Tell Thessaly, discreetly, to look over our patient for signs of any disease or viruses." The ephemeral entity flickered in acknowledgement, and sped off.  Nethalzar then glanced back up Nadihya.
   "Now... if there were some sort of magical attacker involved, what will be done to resolve the matter?"

Nethalzar and Thessaly both checked Roxanne out, magically and medically. Was there any indication as to what put Roxanne into the state that she was in? (Skill check!)

[Tipod]

Mnogo scoffed at Glup's behavior at first. What was this, a playground? He wasn't about to fight with some brainless gastropod, much less one with speech he could barely understand.

Then Glup easily sheared and crushed part of the floor. And Nadhiya, the only authority figure he could make out in the entire area, slithered off to discuss something with another guest. To make things even worse, several of the others had circled the mudman and chuul, eager to see some kind of scuffle between them. It felt like all eyes were on him, a sensation that left him extremely nervous. Anywhere else, he'd be glad to fight, but here? He was trying to get a position as head of labor and security. If he fought with the other guests he'd be thrown out in a heartbeat.

Zyrais trying to sneak in from the side certainly didn't help Mnogo calm down either. His right arm lengthened into a sturdy tentacle, lashing and slamming into the ground just a foot shy of smacking down the draconic angel. "Back off!!" He was hardly in the mood for any tricks.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Xephelon felt much more secure near Nadihya and away from the tense situation. However, that was not to last...as Nadihya slithered off, and a tattered kobold stepped up, moving to the brewing trouble.
  Oh dear.
  For lack of anything better, Xephelon moved closer to the kobold, and noticed Kittrick doing the same as well. It seemed that not being involved was no longer an option. This had to be put to an end now, before it escalated any further. Noticing the kobold's pitiful 'weapon', Xephelon began pre-emptively funneling some magic to be stored in one of the small channeling crystal in the hand of one of his arms. He then repositioned himself to be nearer to Glup while remaining close to Kittrick and the kobold, and realigned the speech/noise -emitting enchantment on his exoshell so that it was focused towards a single person.
  "Chuul, Glup, what are you doing? How could you make an unprokoved threat against the newcomer? If you can't control yourself better, maybe I should rethink my offer to make something for you. You should apologize."
  There was a sudden outburst as the mud-creature made a move to lash out against Zyrais of all people, who had been getting close to it.
  "Sir kobold, you must put a stop to this immediately before it gets out of control." Xephelon addressed the kobold (who might not have been used to the honorific). He then uncovered the small channeling crystal in his exoshell's hand, reached down, and touched the kobold's nightstick, transferring the magic to it with a small glow. As this was a rushed job, it wouldn't last long. "I have just imbued a small spell into your weapon that will cause a bright flash and a loud snap when it strikes something, but it will only work once. Use that to silence this situation and gain everyone's attention. Tell the crowd to disperse, and remind everyone of that banner." He gestured towards the the one hanging by the portals, the one everyone sees as they enter, the one that spelled out the basic rules of the gathering. The kobold didn't seem particularly confident in himself (for a probable good reason), which is why he gave it the instructions in case it didn't know what else to do. He glanced at Kittrick, and continued, "We will support you in any way we can, if you need, but you must assert yourself and the Dungeon's soverignty."
  To Kittrick, he said, "Miss, if you have any diplomatic words or any skills to aid in enforcement that you can bring to bear, now would be an excellent time to utilize them."


Xephelon the peacemaker!

[Liatai]

"Unfortunately, my diplomatic skills are somewhat... lacking," Kittrick replied in an undertone to Xephelon, "but I can certainly provide support and look intimidating."

She traced an arcane pattern with a foreclaw, and then approached the little creature with a calm smile, bending her head down to his level. "Sir, if I may, once you have garnered attention, I will use my magic to grant your voice more power so that you may be heard. I shall be behind you with Sir Xephelon, as well, should you need greater assistance."

With that, she gave the kobold's back a reassuring nudge with the knuckle of one of her foreclaws (both as a way to urge him forward and as a way to transfer the voice-amplification spell to its recipient) and took her place behind him, drawing herself up and opening her wings the smallest bit to make herself look more impressive. While the attention of the crowd should hopefully be on the kobold, she could at least act as a sort of regal backdrop for him.

[Mechanisto]

As Xephelon cast the temporary enchantment upon the kobold's nightstick, he noticed there was already some kind of magical effect on it. Not a proper enchantment, but a symbol; a rune was engraved on it, marking the stick like a word of power. This stick, pitiful as it was, embodied something magical. No telling what it did, though.

Hmm... how convincing can Xephelon be to the poor kobold? His social skills were listed as "fairly adequate," which might not be enough... but his talent for calm and rational discourse will make a difference. Kittrick's sheet also makes no particular mention of persuasiveness... but the extra encouragement certainly doesn't hurt.

The Kobold stared back at Xephelon and Kittrik with a bit of confusion. These huge, powerful creatures were depending on him? Kobolds were usualy the sort to hide behind other larger creatures. Like Gryphons. And battle-constructs. As Xephelon pointed to the banners hanging from the portal entrance, a different look seemed to come over him. He glanced back at the scrap of cloth that hung from his back, like a short cloak; it was emblazoned with the same heraldry. Kittrick's gentle headbutt sent him scampering forward, but he caught his footing and continued marching ahead. He looked simultaneously terrified and determined.

He clacked his stick against the floor; a bright flash and a peal of high-pitched thunder caught everyone's attention. "You there! All! No... brawling!"

The entire crowd focused on the diminutive lizardfolk. "You... you promise! By coming here, you promise! No trouble for guests, or... or else!" He waved his stick in the air.

For a moment, the room was silent. Then, the giant quadrupedal Hynea from before broke the silence with a sudden, barking laugh. "Ooh, not that! Anything but a noise-stick!" The very sound of his voice was irritating.

One of the demon warlods, a black equine clad in gray and red armor, took a half step forward; his voice was strong and resonant. "Be still, rabble... he carries an authority we all agreed to respect. Merely by passing through the portal, we entered into an accord of peace. You did read the contract, did you not? Or... can you read?"

The hyena's voice grew louder. "You fear words instead of action? Where's your demon pride, coward!?" His laugh became even more repulsive and deranged than before. The demon immediately tensed, clenching his jaws and fists. He looked ready to spring... or snap. At this point, the entire crowd was becoming unruly.

-----

Roxanne's body was simple enough for Thessaly to analyze. Her body was in a death-like trance; no signs of breathing or heartbeat, of course. There was some evidence of disease on her skin, but minor. Undead sometimes collected plagues and blights like some people collected rare coins or sports cards. A few plagues were even useful as weapons, or to deter enemies... a nice case of bubonic plague would send almost anyone running.

Not long after Nethalzar left the area, Roxanne began to awaken. Her head tossed and turned slightly, as if she was emerging from a bad dream. Her eyes fluttered slightly, and she let out a cough... and then another. She curled up slightly, coughing uncontrollably, and hugging herself tightly.

"So... cold... freezing in here..."

The girl obviously had some kind of illness... and it was actually affecting her. Negatively.

Thessaly will know that diseases generally don't hurt the undead. This one definitely is. It's either spiritual, or magical... which means it was either created by a celestial entity, or a mortal magic user. In either case, this disease is artificial.

[Lisky]

Approaching the other demon, as the start of a brawl unfolded before his eyes, Baseel rather calmly grasped the other's shoulder and said in a soft, and almost teasing tone, "Calm yourself, brother.  He's not worth the effort, nor the clean-up.  Let him break the rules, and when the hierarchy is established, get the last laugh by making him your underling."

Partially unfurling his wings, Baseel took a few paces away from the equine. He snapped around and leveled a hand at the Hyena.  His gaze narrowed, brow furrowed slightly, holding his intentionally dramatic pose, he spoke in a flat, icy and slightly detached tone, "If you wish to goad something into a fight, go look elsewhere.  In the time it took for me to turn, i could have delivered one of several spells that would have left you not but a mess on the floors, ceiling and crowd.  I -did not-, for it is explicitly stated -in the contract we agreed to when entering the portal- that brawling of any kind is forbidden.  Now... if you so need to try and prove yourself as 'alpha male', do well to remember that we are -all- guests here, and nothing more.  So, i am asking you politely to stand down...  Before you hurt yourself."

Keeping his eyes level with the large canine, Bas was careful to keep his right hand hidden, while his left was standing, pointing at the offending beast.  His right hand was silently misting, a concussion spell wrapped around his fist.  It's design was simple, amplify the already powerful punch demon was prepared to deliver, should the hyena be foolish enough to actually try and charge him.  His muscles tensed, and he slowly hardened his skin in preparation for combat.

Time for an intimidation check... and if that fails, Bas isn't going to attack unless forced to defend himself

[WhiteFox]

   When Fade arrived to deliver his message, Thessaly cut him off before the wisp could get out a flicker.
  "The patient has been infected with some kind of disease that's detrimental to the Undead. It is unknown at this time whether it is contagious, whether it can be transmitted to living or incorporeal entities, or if it is benign to living creatures. " She said, in a low voice. "Inform our master immediately."
   The wisp hesitated briefly, then flickered in ascent and sped off.
   Thessaly first used her aura sight to check over the crowd for any signs of the disease.
   Then she checked herself and Carter.



  Nethalzar frowned when herd the news. "Lady Nadihya," he said, "this may be of more concern then I had originally assumed." He glanced himself over for any signs of infection. "If you would excuse me, I need to attend to this matter forthwith."

Premature post. The remainder is pending.
Post complete. Waiting for GM response.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Xephelon watched with approval as the kobold sucessfully gained the attention and silence of the crowd...and then felt dread as a hyena scoffed at the kobold, and antagonized a Demon. At this point, whe whole crowd started getting riled up again.
  This was exactly what Xephelon hoped wouldn't happen. The simple scrape between Glup and the mudman set off something much bigger.
  "Noisestick..."
  He walked forward to get behind the kobold and next to Kittrick again. "It would seem that greater assistance is indeed required." As surruptitiously as was possible for him, he reached down again and grabbed hold of one end of the nightstick, but did not take it out of the kobold's hand. He began weaving a new infusion into the stick, a proper infusion that was more powerful and would last longer than a single shot.
  "Stall them, if you can." Xephelon whispered to Kittrick, gesturing to the most unruly parts of the crowd who looked closest to starting a fight. "I just need a minute."
  Another Demon stepped up and confronted the hyena, the same Demon that spoke of military matters earlier. The display of intimidation was impessive, hopefully enough to make the hyena back down, and Xephelon didn't doubt that the Demon could easily subdue the hyena otherwise. But unfortunately, while that would win the smaller battle, it would lose the bigger war...it would prove that the Dungeon was not capable of even keeping its own rules. As first impressions go, that would be about the worst disaster possible, as it would set bad precedent that would be nigh-impossible to overturn...
  Xephelon focused his voice-emitting enchantment in the same way he did with Glup, and spoke to the Demon. "Hopefully the troublemaker will back down. If it does not, do what you must if he attacks you, but please, try to stall it from getting to that point. Just for a minute."
  As Xephelon continued trying to weave the infusion, he also tried to identify what was already in the stick. In fact...it was entirely possible his infusion wasn't necessary (although that was unlikely if the kobold hadn't actually used it already), so he asked the kobold. "There is a rune in your nightstick. What does it do?"

By the way, the focusing of his speech enchantment is not a telepathic effect, nor is it only percievable by one person--it really is just directionally-focused sound. If anyone's standing right next to Baseel, or in line with him, they might pick up scraps of Xephelon's speech.

[Drayco84]

   Zyrais merely looked down at the spot a foot away from him that the mudman had struck as a warning, and almost, almost mind you, lost it. While part of him felt that he could understand the mudman's apprehension, the rest of him felt angry as if not only was his "assistance" open and forthright, but that it had been openly shot down. He was just about to begin casting a spell that would blast the pathetic blob of mud back into dust when a familiar voice came through...
   "Wow, one creature almost strikes you and already you want to make an example of them." Dee mocked. "The chuul I can understand, but have you forgotten why you came here already?"
   Zyrais stood still for a moment, taken by surprise as he realized what he was about to do and why is was a horribly bad idea...
   "I always hate admitting this, but once again, you're right..." He then audibly sighed, calming himself and looking around the room. It seemed like the hostilities between the mudman and chuul were now just the tip of the problem. Now, just one spark of open aggression would send the whole assembly of creatures into a brawl that would make some wars look like a tea party. Glancing around, he noticed that not only was Nadhiya NOT present, but the only one with any kind of authority was a mere kobold...
   Most of these creatures ATE kobolds for a mid-aftenoon/midnight snack!
   Sighing heavily, he guessed that now was as good a time as any to make himself known. After all, it wasn't like most of these creatures weren't going to figure it out sooner or later...
   Calling forth enough of his magical powers that anyone with the slightest bit of talent could sense, Zyrais spread his wings as he knelt to the ground with both palms toughing the floor, calling forth Barrier of Light, a series of walls made of flame-like light that sprang up between the most openly aggressive groups. Straining not from the drain on his magic, but from the amount that his coat was limiting him to, the flames quickly died out but they had served their purpose in getting everyone in the room to spontaneously shut up.
   "Impressive!" He exclaimed aloud, partially wondering if he was going to get brutally murdered by everyone else in the room for this stunt. "At the rate this place is going, we won't even need the adventurers to start knocking on our doors before we have to worry about our own survival! Hell, by the time they show up, I'll bet they'll only find a bunch of creatures that have managed to kill each other off before the dungeon was even established! This is why we're getting our asses kicked by adventurers all the time! INsteading of banding together for a common goal of survival, the pursuit of happiness, and maybe a small harem, we spend so much time fighting and trying to protect ourselves from each other that we fail to take heed that all it takes is one lucky idiot running around with a sword to end everything we've worked for!"

Holy crap... My first major action and diplomacy/persuasion skill check... Did I do well? Did I bork things up? Lemme know OOC.

[Chairtastic]

Barbarus was familiarizing himself with the group.  They didn't quite trust him enough to give him their names yet; but that was to be expected.  Names were precious things to most Were tribes, serving as a definition of the individual as a person, professional, and sometimes parent.  Names were to the Weres what resumes and personal histories were to the more civilized world.  The ultimate shame for a Were in many tribes would be to have their name taken away; which by the envious looks two of the younger Were-including the mongoose whom he was growing fond of-gave him when he shared his name, had befallen them.  He speculated that this may have been in response to, or the cause of their intention to leave their tribes.

Which was another odd thing about this group.  No two individuals, Barbarus himself included, came from the same tribe.  A large bovine fellow didn't even come from the same region, hailing from the distant south.  Most young Weres that chose to leave usually did so with an older sibling or childhood friend.  There were only five of them, the nameless mongoose, a rabbit, the bovine from down south,  and two canines of mixed breeding.  Were tribes were normally species-specific, with the odd exception such as the Were Amazon tribe; the only female among them was the rabbit, another oddity.  They were just beginning to inquire into how Dungeons typically worked, when a new spectacle emerged.

One of the group, the canid, bumped into Barbarus when some Angel ponce decided to make a point with a Barrier of Light spell.  The bump caused the elderly Were to drop his mug of coffee, which shattered, and spread its contents on the floor.  The incident was soon forgotten, while the Angel spoke.  At the conclusion, the elderly feline bent down to pick up the shards of his mug.  "He's right you know," he murmured to the little group. "If you would be so kind as to return that gold to its rightful owners, I will be searching out a wastebasket for this.  We can resume our discussion after that, if you still wish to that is."

"But-" the bovine fellow began to protest.  He stopped when Barbarus finished gathering the mug shards, and simply walked off.

'Just keep walking, Barbarus.  Don't give them any middle ground, because their future employers won't.' The old chap thought to himself, while forcing his knee to bend smoothly despite the searing pain of bone chaffing against bone.  He'd have to actually take his medicine soon, or start limping.

(Majorly edited, because well...what I had here before was simply crap.  For all I know, it still is.  But this is less so than before...I hope.  Sorry that you all had to see that.)

[Mechanisto]

Thessaly didn't exactly know what the disease was, exactly, nor how it was working. She did, however, know what to look for. Surely enough, both she and carter had contracted the disease. It must have been incredibly contagious to have caught after so brief a time. The actual symptoms seemed to be taking a while to form.

Numerous members of the crowd seemed to have contracted the disease as well... including several who were still living. None of the living victims showed any harmful symptoms at all.

-----

Nethalzar's quick check revealed something odd; his body seemed to have contracted the disease, but showed no symptoms whatsoever. It wasn't harming him in the slightest.

Nadhiya nodded curtly, which suggested she was taking this seriously. "If you have need of a priestess, let me know."

-----

Baseel and Zyrais have largely succeeded at their intimidation attempts, mostly because they were 'telling it like it is.' If they had lied or threatened, things would have gone very badly.

Though most of the crowd was busy watching the potential fight unfold, a few seemed to notice Xephelon as he advanced towards the kobold. Most seemed to be the sort to understand magical power, and had taken note of his temporary enchanting.

The Kobold flinched slightly as he spoke. "It... just a guard rune. Symbol of guard. That all!"

Just then, Zyrais' barriers of light filled the chamber with a brightness it had never seen before. Those contained seemed deeply insulted by the gesture... these were powerfull people, and they obviously didn't like the idea of being caged in any way. Zyrais' speech, however, resonated with them even moreso. Most of them were here because adventurers had stripped them of freedom and safety.

The red and gray Equine waited only until Zyrais had finished speaking, and then gestured with a back-handed fist; a portion of the nearby Barrier of Light seemed to crumple like a sheet of cloth. After that, though, he merely crossed his arms and looked stoic.

Just as it seemed like the crowd might calm down a bit, the giant Hyena interjected. "A home? Here? How do I know I will not be chained to a rock somewhere, begging for scraps?"

He turned to the crowd, having gained their full attention. "I have served masters before... powerful creatures, like many of you. They can be just as harsh as any hero. You know what you are all capable of! None of you will trust each other at all! At least adventurers are honest about their murdering and plundering. No excuses or lies!"

The crowd seemed to respond to the hyena's speech. As much as he might have seemed like a childish rabble rouser, Zyrais and Baseel could tell he was being very precise about his words. This disgusting beast was clearly much more skilled at speechcraft than anyone here was giving him credit for. Was he some sort of Agent Provocateur, or merely passionate about the subject at hand...?

[Tipod]

Mnogo had to focus himself very carefully to stay calm. And to think this entire situation began with that... that shelled thing challenging him. While he was hardly surprised at how petty the other Creatures could be, all gathering and summarily arguing with each other, the thought of an altercation breaking out still made him uneasy. All it would take to ruin the Dungeon's prospects were enough big, powerful monsters getting into a heated debate with each other.

And that damned hyena wasn't helping things at all, bringing many of the patron's concerns out into the open. Mnogo already hated scavengers and pack-animals, and here was a particularly obnoxious one. And that voice, that tone; it took every fluid ounce of his being to keep from gluing the pest's mouth shut with a well-placed shot of tar.

"You seem awfully outspoken for an occasion like this," he groused and gurgled. "Is there something you know that we don't, my very annoying friend?" Mnogo glared at the hyena, slimy brow furrowed and dripping.

[VAE]

Hmm, i must address a lot of stuff chronologically as  i didn't post for a longer time...

Noticing the mudman lash out at, and nearly injure Zyrais left Glup somewhat annoyed.
::Great job! There goes an potential ally down the drain .... Ah well, can't back off now - that would earn you about as much respect as otyughs give to hygiene... and to think, he might have been sneering at someo... No, don't be deluded, of course he was sneering at you! This... lump of soil even thinks he is higher up than a chuul... just because most of specieses of our class end up steamed on some mammal's platt...::
Busy with thinking , he did not notice the first Xephelon's shout towards him, and snapped off only  when a surprisingly  strong shout came from below
Glancing down, he noticed the kobold speaking about "No Brawling", the arrogant and inflated hyena responding, and argument brewing through, and then, suddenly, before he could respond, a flame-like thing appeared in front of him.
Dazzled for a short time, he then heard a familiar voice speaking... And what this bastard suggested this time actually made a lot of sense.... ALMOST making him calm down.
Then the hyena spoke again, displaying a particular kind of whiny attitude Glup didn't exactly like. After all, despite some of the others being somewhat nice, Nadhiya was the only member of the dungeon so far he actually liked, and the hyena's speech accused her of something unpleasant.
He turned somewhat, still keeping the mudman in full view , and spoke to the Hyena.
"If you 'ave shpenth mosht of you' thime at the lasht job chained to a glock eathing glubbish, you pglobably aglen'th woglth much. I shpent 30 yeaglsh being lead of guagld-animalsh in an illithid colony. What you deshcglibe ish what we did with otyughsh, and being one ish lithle to bglag abouth *gargle* *glurp* . Now, ith would be nishe if you closhed yougl maw and wenth to bothegl shomeone elshe. Thish ish between me and thish... mudman hegle! "

[WhiteFox]

   Nethalzar nodded. "This would proceed more quickly if I had some space to preform lab testing, though there may not be time." He said. "This contagion, whatever it is, shows a number of... unique properties. "
   "It seems to be carried and transmitted by living hosts, but to harm undead hosts only. Since most diseases require a living metabolism, it's strange enough that it can be carried by undead at all."
   "Moreover, disease usually harms a host by impairing said metabolism. The fact that undead, who do not depend on a metabolism, are negatively affected is... unnatural." He sipped his wine, then checked to see if the liquid also carried the contagion.
   "And I use that term in the strictest sense. I think this disease is spiritual or magical in nature... and artificial."

[Lisky]

Drawing a claw across the light-barrier, Bas dispelled the wall containing himself, along with several other party-goers, while what the angel had said was true, it seemed a bit hypocritical coming from one of them.  However, the hyena was at it again... and he'd now earned the ire of a demon lord.  Not something to be taken lightly.

"Perhaps the reason you were fed mere table scraps, rather than earning your keep, is that you yourself were unable to do more than b**** and moan about how terrible the conditions were, rather than trying to improve them.  Perhaps you lacked the ability to raid near-by being settlements to earn the extra income that would have been better.  A leader can only be as cruel as his or her abilities allow her to cow the herds into complacency.  You don't cow a demon lord, a battle mage, or skilled fighter.  If you're going to leave your own incompetence on display, be my guest.  You try and establish yourself as an alpha, and yet, you clearly have the heart of a coward.  If conditions you've been through were as bad as you described, what forced you to stay?"

Scratching his chin as if to ponder something, the large demon took a step towards the canine.  "Or, perhaps your goal in this rabble rousing, is that you're looking for the weaker minds for your own dungeon?  Would that be the case? Looking for a couple of meek, individuals to sink your claws into for your own little project?  Why else would you come, and stir up trouble?  Either you're attempting to assert yourself as an alpha position, when it is clearly not deserved, or you're trying to hijack these interviews for your own purposes... either way, i will not allow such childishness. "

Cocking his head at an angle, Baseel continued to use his body to hide his right hand.   His left hung loosely in front of him, waiting for the hyena to do something foolish.  Bas figured he'd left the fool with 3 options, open violence, submission, or leaving.  Any would be preferable to his ruining the efforts of the dungeon as a whole.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Shortly after Xephelon had asked for Kittrick to stall the crowd, Zyrais beat her to it with walls of light and a speech.
  "I suppose that is no longer necessary..." He whispered to Kittrick. While he was sure Zyrais' plan should work, it was still a small loss in that it was not the Dungeon's own authority to take care of it.
  The kobold spoke up, saying that the run was only a symbol, nothing more. If the -was- anything more to it, Xephelon would have to examine it much closer.
  Unfortunately, that damnable hyena spoke up again, and this time-
  Oh no. The hyena was at it again, but this time, his talk seemed to...directly strike the hidden nerves of everyone present. It was more and more unlikely that he was a genuinely concerned citizen, but a subversive with an ulterior motive. The mud-thing, Glup, and the military Demon all confronted him directly, tearing down his points.
  Yet, somehow...Xephelon seriously doubted the hyena would just give in after talk. He was far too focused for one who had a reasonable concern. It was time to end this, authoritatively and decisively. A small, brief glow suffused the nightstick Xephelon was holding the end of.
  Excellent.
  He spoke to the kobold again. "Tell him that if he does not think he will like it here, then he should leave immediately. If refuses, strike him, and have him thrown through a portal. You will be protected, but brace yourself. The reaction will be...strong. You can also strike again if you must."

[Drayco84]

   Zyrais immediately took note of the hyena and its careful choice of words, wondering just what it was trying to accomplish. He then waited and listened as the mudman questioned the creatures, while Glup and then the demon Baseel berated the creature. Zyrais only sighed to himself and wondered if he was the only creature present that understood the concept of subtlety. Spreading his arms in a gesture of openness, and part of a Charm Being spell, Zyrais began questioning the creature while waiting for the spell to take effect...
   "Last I checked, adventurers called their murdering 'justice' and their plundering 'a reward for a good deed done well'." He began, carefully poking holes in the creature's argument. "And yes, many of us don't trust each other. One would be stupid or naive to completely and immediately trust anyone in a place like this under these circumstances. Trust is something to be earned, bit by bit and piece by piece. Obviously, those of us with services to offer each other will gain trust more quickly than others, but there's always at least some risk involved." He stated, wondering how much damage this was going to do with his business prospects with Xephelon...
   Meanwhile, Zyrais expected one of several outcomes from the spell... One, the hyena was really a creature in disguise and would shrug off his spell easily. Two, the hyena would be able to resist the effects of the spell, but it would be hard for it to do so and possibly throw it mentally off-balance. Three, the hyena would succumb to the effects of the spell, and Zyrais could openly ask it what the heck it was trying to do and maybe who it was working for.

Will check on hyena in aisle three, please! And for the record, I'm going to state the following DnD to Furrae spell translations: Charm Person -> Charm Being, Charm Monster -> Charm Creature. Oh, and waiting for Mechanisto to take a fourth option in 3... 2... 1...

[Mechanisto]

Whooo boy... A major event like this requires a big post, I think.


Nadhiya nodded quickly to Nethalzar. "We shall make all our meager resources available to you at once; spiritual and scientific. I can conjure some basic tools if you need them... a shame we can't risk bringing proper tools through the portal. We can't let the contagion leave this..."

She paused, her expression frozen for a moment. She spun around then, shouting at the nearest Kobold. "The portals! Close the portals! Quarantine the dungeon immediately" She spun around with an acrobatic contortion, shooting out the door and heading for the main hall.

-----

The hyena glowered at the Mudman; his entire face seemed to twist into an unpleasant leer. "Do I know anything all of you don't? There is a hole with no bottom."

He turned to face Glup, and then Bas, listening to both fully before responding.  "I am no alpha. I was born into my slavery; the son of slaves, kept like pets. But I broke free... destroyed my master. Not for the pain and suffering... only for the lies."

His snarl turned into a wide grin that seemed to take up all of his face. As disgusting as the russet-red hyena may have been, he had magnificently pearly teeth. "I am no leader. I am a scavenger. I was not meant to beg for scraps... I was meant to feast on the fallen. The blood-soaked battlefield... the plague-stricken village. These are my meals. Everything dies... and when they do, I am there. Even I... a disgusting scavenger... take pride in my task."

"You do not fool me, demons. Angels. Creatures. You care nothing for us. Any of us. Or each other. Why should we serve you?" He spit on the ground then. "You will die. You will all die. And I will be there when it happens."

The Hyena's ears pricked immediately, and his head snapped towards Zyrais. It's muzzle twisted into a phenomenally vicious snarl. For just a moment, Zyrais knew his spell had failed... by how much, he could not know. But apparently, the Hyena had noticed.

The Hyena's body tensed, rippling with incredibly large muscles as it let out a grating roar and lunged towards Zyrais. At just that moment, though the kobold seemed to snap into action. The diminutive lizard jumped in front of the huge, raging beast, letting out a high-pitched yipping sound. The stick connected squarely on the Hyena's nose.

What happened next astonished everybody (including Xephelon, though for very different reasons). As the stick connected, a snap of lightning seemed to break the air, followed by a deafening crack. The Hyena was sent sprawling aside, as if a battering ram had struck him. His entire body glowed brightly, surrounded by a thick layer of black lightning. He thrashed violently, screaming in pain. Eventually, the Hyena's body was a pitch-black silhouette, surrounding by dark, magical energy

The silhouette shattered like glass, leaving only the smell of ozone and a slight crackling noise. The had been utterly... well... disintegrated.

A booming voice broke the dumbfounded silence that followed; Nadhiya had amplified her voice tremendously to address the entire crowd. "CLOSE THE PORTALS IMMEDIATELY! NOBODY COMES OR GOES UNTIL THIS IS RESOLVED TO MY SATISFACTION!"

She sounded very displeased. "I WOULD ALSO STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT NOBODY ELSE TEST OUR GUARDS FURTHER."

-----

As shocking as the preceding events were, Only Xephelon was in a position to appreciate what had happened. When the Kobold's baton had struck the Hyena, the creature's body seemed to have been wracked with black lightning... but when the Hyena had actually vanished, there had been an even bigger stream of energy. This stream had come from the portal chamber, connecting the hyena to the portals like a thread... and that thread had just been cut.

Now it made sense! He hadn't been disintegrated... he had been banished!

[Drayco84]

   Zyrais looked at the hyena and mostly ignored his speech until it had said "You will die. You will all die. And I will be there when it happens." At that point, Zyrais revised his opinion of the hyena and upgraded it to "threat".
   Unfortunately for him, the hyena noticed his spell, successfully resisted it, and lunged for him with killing intent. While this wasn't entirely unexpected, the kobold jumping into it's path was, and the results of the kobold's staff striking the hyena most certainly were. Zyrais made a mental note to never, ever, anger the guards via his own actions.
   "Dammit!" He loudly cursed. "I wanted to know who that bastard worked for!" Calming himself down, he turned towards the kobold. "Erm... I guess I owe you my thanks..." He stated, obviously not used to seeing others put themselves in harm's way for his sake and seeming somewhat embarrassed about it. Nadhiya's booming voice stunned him further with the order to shut down the portals and not let anyone enter or leave...
   Sounds like they're trying to setup a quarantine... He thought to himself. Then, realization hit him... Aw hell... We're soooo freaking screwed...



   Dee, however, was seething with rage at this turn of events. YET AGAIN had fate denied her the chance of witnessing the gruesome demise of her "master". She growled quite loudly, and flicked her tail around in the air as if seeking the first half-chance she could get at stinging someone...

[WhiteFox]

See response in OOC thread, here.

[Lisky]

As the fight turned away from him, Bas was going to try and intervene, when the Kobold struck first.  At that point there was no point in holding onto the spell.  The Creature was lashed with arcane energies, and apparently destroyed... utterly.  With no more threat, Bas quickly pulled the spell back into his hand, and spread the energy back through his body, effectively dissipating the ability to cast.  He flicked away the shadowy residue of his prepared spell, and clamped his hands together as Nadhiya appeared... and she seemed... unhappy.

Rather than offend, Bas took a proper, respectful stance, hands clamped behind his back, wings folded and pulled back, a stance that was both respectful, yet commanded a bit of attention as well.  The large canine had no doubts he could kill any individual in the room, but that was not the issue.  He was here for a job, a place to stay and call his own, and for that to happen, he needed to be selected, and approved.

With everyone else seemingly stunned into silence, Bas raised a hand to his muzzle, and faked a cough to clear his throat, and get his thoughts in order.

"The problem has been dealt with, M'lady.  The hyena was attempting to stir trouble, and from what he said, it sounded like it was merely for his own gain.  I believe the rest of us are in agreement that we can continue peaceful talks now that the rabble rouser has been... *ahem* dealt with..."

Averting his attention from the spot where he'd witnessed the thing's death.

"If you have any questions, Madam Nadhiya, i am at your service"

Taking a small, formal bow, Bas stepped forwards to await what she or the others had to say.

[Chairtastic]

Once a wastebasket had been found, Barbarus began to wander around.  While looking for someone interesting to start up a conversation with, he drew out a small orange plastic bottle, undid the cap, and popped a white capsule from within; then returning it to his pocket.  He'd done it so often, he needed only a few full seconds to complete the whole ritual.

Something was happening.  The Dungeon Mistress had made a rather loud announcement, startling many.  He was not one of those, instead making his way toward the epicenter of it all.  Not much seemed to have changed, except one of the demons, a rather decorative looking canine demon was engaging Nadhiya in conversation.  The Weres he had conversed with earlier were also gone.  As was the rather rude hyena.  Something wasn't quite right. 

Nadhiya looked immensely displeased.  And he really did not want to add to her displeasure, at all.  But...nothing ventured nothing gained. 

Striding forward, Barbarus internally debated whether he should remain as he was, or shift to his magically resistant human shape.  While he couldn't exactly rely on his magic, in case he inadvertently angered Nadhiya to the point of violence, having it as an option was desirable.  But then years of experience took over, telling him to not even risk loosing control when he needed this job.  So, as he walked, his fur withdrew into reddish skin, and his face crushed itself into a flatter surface.  In one quarter of a second, he was a human. 

A part of him felt relief, no longer having to worry about his own power getting away from him, and he used that to better fuel his social interaction.  Barbarus bowed formally, once he'd gotten out of the crowd, both to Nadhiya, and to the Demon standing closer to her than the rest of the crowd. 

"Madame, I would like to inquire as to why you have closed down the portals.  Has something happened?"  Well of course something had happened, but decorum demanded addressing the elephant in the room first and foremost.  "If something has, I would very much like to help in whatever way I can."

(This post is blargh.  Pure, one hundred-percent angus blargh. )

[VAE]

Noticing what seemed to be an untimely demise of the hyena surprised Glup.
As of his rather long life up to now, he never saw a kobold cast anything more substantial than tremors. Now, he just saw one disintegrate an opponent in one hit, which left him wondering whether the kobold had such powerful enchantments on him , or whether it was just the hyena being such a weakling - as much as he inclined to the second, he decided to remain careful.
Suddenly, something clever occured to him  - after all, he was a "senior creature" if only by several hours.
He turned to Mnogo and said:
"And thish ish why you should behave youglshelf in thish placse - i am noth  by fa' the only one who can fiksh you up!"

Bluff check perhaps? Glup is not an expert in those, but he does have a poker face. and against a mudman it just *might* work

[Tipod]

The hyena's warning gave Mnogo some pause. You will die. You will all die. He was no expert on Creature society, but he knew enough to realize you never make empty threats or prophecies when monsters are involved. Did that hideous scavenger really know something?

Not that it mattered as the kobold vaporized him, causing the mudman to stand straight up in alarm. He quickly turned to face the portals as Nadhiya's voice projected across the entire Dungeon. Not only was he trapped and surrounded by meatcreatures, but the chief admin was stalking through to get to the bottom of it. Would she blame him, despite Glup starting the whole debacle?

It certainly didn't help that the crabthing was being mouthy. "Me?! You're the one who started making threats! This whole thing is your fault!" Mnogo grew another foot as he pointed an accusing finger at Glup, body tensing like a rubber band.

[Mechanisto]

The Kobold who had "rescued" Zyrais was a bit busy staring at his own nightstick to fully appreciate his word of thanks. he looked like he wasn't sure if he'd done a very bad thing or not.

Nadhiya's booming announcement seemed to snap him out of it, though. He quickly yipped and waved at other nearby kobolds, leading them over to the entrance in a disorganized group. Quite a few of the larger, more powerful guests flinched away from them. In moments, there was a semi-circle of tiny kobolds standing guard over the portal chamber.

Nadhiya looked like she was steeling herself, desperately trying to figure out what to say. When she heard both Baseel and Barbarus offer their assistance, she gave them a deep look, and pointed a finger at each of them approvingly. She then addressed the crowd again. Her voice was still quite loud, but not deafeningly so.

"Though the immediate issue has been dealt with, I must unfortunately announce that a potential threat remains. I have reason to believe that the hostile guest may have attempted to unleash a pseudo-mystical contagion throughout the dungeon. The portal chamber will be closed to prevent the plague from spreading to your home territories."

The crowd immediately started shouting, but Nadhiya quieted them with a gesture. "I'm afraid information is limited. We know the contagion's mystical nature allows it to affect all manner of creatures; living, magical, elemental... even undead, who are normally immune to such things. This makes it a potential threat to each and every one of us. For this reason, I will ask everyone to contribute in any way they can. We must discover the nature of the plague, and find a cure. We must also determine if the Hyena acted alone, or if his allies remain among us."

"I shall be setting up a relief facility to deal with the disaster. If anyone is willing or able to provide assistance, resources, or information, please see me in a moment." With that, she turned towards one of the hallways.

She spoke to Baseel and Barbarus before she left. "I need to go set some things up. You may come with if you like, to help deal with this... and if you have any ideas about how to proceed, you'll have my appreciation."

The real game begins! This is officially everybody's first opportunity to jump on the main plot. Anyone willing to help Nadhiya with finding a cure, or investigating the attack, may approach her.