Castaways of Fate (the RP-thread)

(OOC: Let's agree that we keep all OOC-only posts for the other thread.

Those who want to join in, be most welcome! But before you jump in, ring a bell at the OOC thread, and read through it, so we're all on the same wavelength)

Imagine an island somewhere. A tropical one. With sandy beaches, palm trees, dense jungles, occasionally interrupted by small clearings, some mountains, one of them an active volcano. A river has its source somewhere under one of the other mountains, having riddled the stone with as its course changed over the centuries. It'd take days to walk around over the beaches and cliffs. On the island animals wander around, eating, mating, birthing sleeping, dying. Some secrets might be hidden, but they've been untouched for a long, loong time, forgotten.

Yeah... an island just like that.

A bit boring isn't it? Doesn't look like anything is happening.

Don't worry.

That'll change.

...

"Eat THAT!, goblinturd!" Talek's sword dug deep in the other fighter's neck. He grinned as the man went down, feeling the usual rush of the kill wash over his body. He looked around, seeing how his companions were doing.

Korgan was duelling with another warrior, his axe pounding on the man's shield, battering away at him with his considerate strength until exhaustion and pain would cause his defence to slip. The berzerker seemed to notice Talek's look.

"Nay think 'bout it, ye long limbed killstealer. This one be mine! Find yer own walking corpses!" The dwarf sent him a vicious grin. His enemy's face showed he understood how his chances were.

"Bah, scrooge!" Talek replied jokinglyTalek's gaze went to the other standing warrior, caught between Haer'Dalis and Yoshimo. The man was desperately looking around, simultaneously trying to fend off the six tieflings pointing twelve swords at it and keeping an eye on the patient bounty-hunter, who had his katana ready to take advantadge of any opening. Talek sighed. Didn't look like he would get that kill either.

"Hey, Edwin, Viconia. We take the wizard?" He asked his two remaining companions. Viconia just finished up healing the arrow-wound Edwin had taken. The conjurer looked a bit pale, but had already regained his usual air.

"By all means, feel free to perform your usual services. If the wizard is as challenging as his pathetic would-be protectors he shouldn't be much of a bother, we should be able to count his coins and scrolls in the comfort of our inn."

Viconia gave Talek a warning glare. "As long as there's no foolishness, that is!"

Talek gave her a wide grin , then ran toward the door the men were guarding, grabbing the door knob.

Edwin sneered. "Bah, no lock shall keep the great Edwin Odeisseron from his rightful reward. Observe as my knock spell..."

"KNOCK, KNOCK!" Talek said, his sword going through the wood, sperating the lock from the door. A kick later, the door was wide open, revealing a frightened wizard that was busy with some kind of preparations on symbols chalked on the floor. Blue light seemed to come form the white lines.

"Y... you're not Cowled Enforcers? What do you want?"

Talek rested his sword on his shoulder. The adrenalin in his blood, not to mention Bhaal's blood, urged him to press forward immediately, but Viconia HAD said he had to learn to control himself a bit. He grinned broadly. "Your gold for Imoen!"

"It's in the cabinet there! ALl of it, take it!"

Talek rolled his eyes. The coward! "Your spell components and scrolls for Edwin, here." He pointed at the conjurer.

"They're with the gold. Please just... leave me alone."

"And your life... for me..." He aimed the sword at the wizard.

"No, NO! I just need a little more time!"

Talek didn't reply, storming forward, a hand extended to grab, his sword raised to strike. Behind him he heard Edwin cast a spell, and footsteps announcing his other three companions arrival. The chalk's blue glow intensified. He ignored it. If the wizard wanted to spend his last second with some kind of spell, that was his business. It didn't look dangerous and he wasn't going to let it stop him.

"Talek, NO!" He heard Viconia call out.

Then he stepped on one of the lines. His body stiffened in agony and he cried out. Through the haze he saw his whole body now looked ablaze with the blue flamed.

"The spell! What have you done?" He vaguely heard the wizard cry. It sounded like it came from far away. Behind him his friends were saying something as well, but he couldn't make out the words.

He gritted his teeth. He couldn't die yet! He still had Imoen to save, Irenicus to kill. He had to see a lot more bastards die! The haze thickened and he couldn't see at all anymore. He put his foot forward, but instead of finding the floor, it found only emptiness.

Talek fell forward. The last thought he had ebfore he lost consciousness was that the floor seemed really far away.

...

Some kind of background noise. Something cold and wet at his calves. And the stinging of sunlight on his face and through his eyelids. His mouth felt parched and his tongue was stuck to his palate. Talek woke up and groaned.

"Ugh... what the..." His mind, never that fast, was sluggish as it tried to recall what had happened before he lost consciousness. He opened his eyes and quickly squeezed them shut. The sun had been straight above him.

Wait, that couldn't be right. He had been inside, and it had been near dusk when he had stepped on the...

"The chalk thingies!" He camlled out, sitting up and opening his eyes, then stared in front of him. Blue waves, unlike the grey, stormy Sea of Swords were softly washing up the beach, moistening his boots and trousers. Talek blinked, his thought process slowly trying to come to terms with this.

He vaguely noticed it was warmer than in Athkatla, and his face was sweaty.

His muscles ached a bit. It seemed like he had been laying there for a while. He was hungry and thirsty.

He felt rather light. Probably because he was not wearing any weapon or armour.

Wait... What? He looked down. He was wearing nothing but leather boots, black trousers held up by a belt and a blood-red tunic. There wasn't even a belt-knife. He was unarmed!

He quickly got to his feet, ignoring his protesting muscles as he looked around for his weapons to lay around somewhere. What he saw was a beach as far as the eye went on his left and right, and when he turned away from the ocean, a dense forest of trees of a kind he hadn't seen before, but didn't interest him.

Talek began to worry. "What in Malar's name...? What did that wizard...? GUYS!" He called out. "Guys! Where are you?" His cries were answered with the washing of the waves.

The swordsman ran his hand through his long black hair, sending sand to the ground. "What in the Nine Hells is going on?" He cried to the blue skies. The blue skies didn't answer.

Zeyani looked at the warrior from the cliff where he stood. "Seems like he survived the trip too." the tiefling thought. "And he only became sore." In Zeyani's case it had taken a week to recover.They hadn't made the situation any easier. "And he is a twisted one too, how interesting." He decided to keep an eye on the warrior. But he had learned enough for now. He had to go back to the shadows where he belonged. And then he started to fade away and within seconds he was gone.

OOC: (Wow, hold the phone a sec there Maneyan. Might wanna check in at the OOC thread first. I was under the assumption everyone'd arrive equally clueless and confused and at the same time. My fault for not posting that here.

Yes, I am aware of the irony that my second post broke the no OOC-posts rule )

As the darkness surrounding him faded, Kane Theaza groaned, still only half conscious. As he lay there on his front with his eyes still closed, his energy slowly coming back to him, the warrior started to notice odd things.

It was very warm…much warmer than he was used too. He could feel something gritty beneath his hands. There were noises…noises that he thought he recognised, but couldn’t quite place. At least he felt more or less okay. His left shoulder was aching a little and his ribs and his mouth and throat felt very dry, but he was used to that.

Cautiously Kane opened his eyes, flinching a little as the brightness suddenly hit him. The first thing he saw was yellow grains. Alarmed, he lifted his head and the sight that greeted him was enough to take his breath away. "Oh crap..."

The yellow sand beneath him, running as far as his eyes could see. The bright blue sea, waves washing onto the beach. The odd trees, unlike any that he had ever seen before. Kane was completely speechless and incredibly confused.

What…what is going on here? How did I get here?

There had been the battle…they had been fighting those blasted wizards. It had been difficult, but they had just been getting the upper hand when…

He frowned and shook his head, shaking sand out of his long, black hair. He had been fighting when Benny, his friend and mentor, had suddenly called out his name. And…a flash of light and then just blackness. A spell? A spell brought me here, to some island in the middle of nowhere? Well, Theaza, isn’t this just your lucky day?

Still a little dazed, it took him a moment to realise what was wrong. He looked down at himself and saw that it wasn’t just his cloak he was missing. He was wearing nothing more than a black shirt, black leather trousers and a pair of soft leather boots. The amulet around his neck, his rings, his black leather armour were all gone. A quick inspection of himself revealed that the two daggers he carried hidden on his person had also disappeared, along with his two long swords.

His eyes narrowed dangerously at this finding, as a wave of anger built up inside him and if there had been anyone nearby at that precise moment, he would have killed them with his bare hands. One of the swords had been crafted just for him, for his hand only. It had been a present for his mentor and he couldn’t bear the thought that it might be lost to him forever.

“When I find the filthy bastard who stole my sword, I swear I’ll rip him apart limb by limb!”

But the anger quickly faded as Kane realised that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it just then. He had to stay calm and control himself. He rose to his feet and looked around him, wiping away a trickle of sweat from his face. The first thing to do was find out exactly where he was.

Elshana moved slowly. It seemed like everything hurt. And there was water lapping at -- water?

She sat up, blinked, and ran her hand through her short black hair, feeling the grains of sand fall from it. Sand?

By all the hells, where am I? She climbed slowly to her feet. "Jaheira?" She called out tentatively, not really expecting to see her old companion come out from beyond these odd trees . . . "What's going on?" The half-elf said with a frown. She had been speaking with one of the wizards . . . and then . . . Her memory felt like there were great holes ripped in it. But at least she was alive . . . wherever this was . . . She abesently reached for one of the short swords at her waist as she crossed the beach. Better to be prepared -- Her hand closed on air.

Her blades were gone. So was her bow. And her spellbook. Even the lockpicks she had kept up her sleeve. "Damn it!" she muttered. All she had was her blue dress, the hem of it salt-stained, her boots, and a dark cloak. This was not good. Absently, one hand rubbed the white scar across her cheek. Well, that's still there. I'm not dreaming, then . . .

Running her fingers through her hair again, she winced. Wherever this was, it was far warmer then Athkatla. She would need to find shelter and water soon, already, her mouth felt dry. With a wary eye for the line of trees, she started trecking along the beach.

"Oow, my head." Anni rubbed the her poor aching head as she sat up. "What was in that last potion Edwin?" She continued to rub her head waiting for an answer but didn't hear one. She opened her and a just blinked. She was no longer in their room at the Copper Cornet, she wasn't laying on their bed next to her lover, in fact she didn't have a clue where she was. She was on a beach. A beach with yellow sand, palm trees and a beautiful blue ocean. "Oh this isn't good..." She mumbled as she looked around. She cautiously looked down at herself and breathed a sigh of relief, thankful at however she got here at least she was clothed. The robe she was wearing was a deep purple lined with red, not unlike her own, but this robe had no enchantments sewn into it. It was an just ordinary robe.

She looked around and through her pockets but she couldn't find anything of hers, her spell book, her rings and even her hair ties were missing. She realized with sickening horror that she was without any type of resources, she hadn't taken the time to memorize any new spells before going to bed, she had been distracted. -Distracted by a certain Red Wizard.- She smiled for a moment as the memory warmed her, then started to scowl as she remembered where she was.

She didn't know what was going on, the last thing she remember was drinking one of Edwin's potions, the ones he had made for her in hopes it would stop her nightmares. So far not one of his creations had worked, so far the worst side affect had been her throwing up in the morning for a week, causing her to have a very very embarrassing talk with Jaheira.

She stood and wondered what she should do first. She decided to walk along the beach maybe she would find someone who could tell her were she was. Her first step in this new place did not bode well for her as she tripped over her own long hair and fell face first into the sand. She raised her head and spit out a mouthful of sand. -Oow.-

Talek trudged around the beach. It hadn't really been a plan, but more something to do while waiting for a plan to follow. He advanced slowly, the sand shifting under the muscled warrior's weight. His eyes blindly stared at the expanse of sand in front of him, his mind trying to make sense of what had happened.

He couldn't have died could he? This wasn't exactly what he imagined the Abyss was like. Besides, he COULDN'T die yet! Someone had put him here and he as gonna find them and stick a sword through his or her guts!

Trudge, trduge

Of course, he'd need to find a sword first

trudge, trudge

And maybe he'd get a way back to Athkathla first

trudge, trudge

Or at least find out where he was.

trudge trudge

He hoped there was a map though. He neve rHAD paid any attention to geography.

The swordsman's soft boots left their trace of footsteps on the unmarred sand. Now that the initial shock and confusion had worn off, the thirst was making itself more known. Even Talek knew better than to try seawater though. And whatever things Talek might lack, he knew his endurance would keep him going for a while. Even with this heat. He felt his tunic absorbing the sweat on his body.

And then Talek saw something moving at the beach in front of him. Someone else was walking along the beach, towards him. Talek shook his head, getting out of his reverie. He clenched his fists and loosened his muscles a bit. He didn't know who it was, but Talek was confused and angry. And not at all frightened, no. He wasn't. And if that person had answers, he intended to get them! One way or the other.

He sped up his pace.

Elshana glanced around. Her boots had left no trace in the sand of the beach, and walking wasn't easy in the shifting sand. I've got to get out of here soon . . . Imoen's still waiting, and I'm not leaving her to those cowled bastards one moment longer then I need to.

*Excellent thinking, Mistress* A black bird swooped down from the sky above her.

"Numel!" She called aloud, as the bird landed on her shoulder. A smile brightened her face. Whatever the situation, having one friend around always made things look brighter.

*Yes, I am here.* There was a note of extreme displeasure. *Wherever 'here' is.

*Don't ask me . . .*

*What have I told you about angering wild mages?* There was a note of sarcastic humour in the raven's mental voice.

Elshana didn't answer, she simply froze. There was someone comming over the sand dunes. Someone who might have answers. Or someone who might be checking out a potential victim. She set her jaw, her blue eyes cold.

*I see him too. Be careful.*

Elshana nodded, and picked up the pace towards the newcomer. If he had a way out of here, she wanted to know.
And may the gods protect him if he tries to keep me here. . .

Talek noticed the other person was speeding up to him too, and he felt the adrenalin course through his body, pushing all thoughts of thirst on the background. If it was a fight, he'd be ready. Weapon or not, he had killed with his bare hands before! Despite his situation, a slight grin crept on his face. Part of him hoped the person would attack him. A kill would definately make him feel better.

As the two drew close, he could make out more of the person. A woman, and a rather small one at that. Oh, and a half elf... and is that a ... bird on her shoulder? He shook his head, feeling his aggresion fade. She didn't look like a fighter. He should be able to take her.

Eventually, they were within speaking distance.

"Hey..." Talek started, the word sounding not so much as a greeting as telling her to stop, his voice rather menacing. He'd have followed it up with a question in the same tone.

Except he hadn't acually spend a lot of thought on what his first question would be.

"You... euh... tell me... I mean... tell me... You do speak common here, right? Ah... tell me..."

What was the first thing on his mind? Oh yeah!

"This... isn't the Abyss by any chance, is it?"

He scracthed his hair. Vaguely, Talek was aware that that wasn't the most efficient way to get information.

Ow, ow....and ow.


Where in Nine Hells am I?

It was warm. I could see mountains, possibly volcanoes in the distance. I was on an island, I knew that for sure. Where was I though?

Imoen!

I remembered fighting Irenicus. I remembered scaring Bodhi away with my Slayer attack. We had arrived in the Underdark after we had escaped that maze and fought Irenicus-

Maze? Bodhi? Slayer?

Nalia!

I had to find her. I had to make sure she was safe. I felt a hole open in me and suddenly I felt empty. I felt empty being what had to be so far away from the one I was sure I loved.

As I stood up, I noticed how blue and beautiful the ocean looked. Then I scolded myself for admiring the ocean when I realized that I had been taken out of Amn, away from my friends, stripped of everything but my clothes and dumped on some deserted, miserable island. The light ocean breeze made some of my dark hair get in my face and I pushed it away from my gray eyes.

I froze when I saw a figure kneeling several yards away from me on the sand. I could tell with my acute elven eyes that she was female. She appeared to be spitting out sand. I almost laughed when once again, I remembered where I was.

"Hey!" SHe halted at the shout. tensing her body. The man approaching her was easily a head taller then her, and looked ready to take her apart with his bare hands, if need be. She eyed him warily. His next words, however . . .

"You... euh... tell me... I mean... tell me... You do speak common here, right? Ah... tell me..."

Elshana frowned. That didn't sound as threatening as she had thought. . . it sounded like he was as confused as she was . . .

"This... isn't the Abyss by any chance, is it?" He asked.

Elshana blinked. "I -- I should hope not!" She said quite abruptly. Then she sighed. "Guess you're as confused as I am." She dared to walk a little closer to the red-and-black garbed man, though still on her guard. He seemed like a coiled spring, and she didn't want to set him off. "Who are you, anyway?"

(Heehee... time to introduce AU fun to ToD...)


-------------------

"YOU - WILL - LET - HER - GO!"

Harrian's hands settled on the shoulders of Lord Felden Duchinov and, with a force none would have thought the rather average thief could marshall, physically hurled him across the room, this room full of strange and impressive splendours of the illegal magical and artistic collection of one of Athkatla's more affluent nobles.

Duchinov flew across a table, knocking over papers and candlesticks, and landed on the ground with a solid thump. The rest of the party - Jaheira, by the wall, still looking tremendous in her dress despite the uncharacteristically speechless expression on her face, and the others all pouring in through the windowed doors leading to the back gardens - was all too stunned to truly react. Harrian had gone from calm observer to raging attacker in moments, tearing through into the room and accosting the noble once he had seized Jaheira.

The lord struggled to stand, still also rather surprised, grabbing on to the side of the table to try and haul himself to his feet. "I... who in the Hells are you?" Then his eyes fixed on Anomen, who was mostly blocking the door with his muscular frame, stopping Haer'Dalis and Yoshimo from slipping by him. "Wait... Delryn? What do you have to do with this upstart footman here accosting me?"

"A footman?" Harrian seemed only more incensed by this, and he could feel his vision feeling with the red rage of blood once again. It was rare for such a blood-driven fury to hit him outside of battle, and only did so in the most extreme of circumstances. In certain ways... these were extreme. "Why, I should..."

"I don't care." Duchinov waved a hand dismissively, finally on his feet. "I'm having you all arrested. Gua -"

Duchinov, at this point, was mercifully felled by another punch from Harrian, which sent the noble reeling backwards and into the corner of a shelf, this knocking him out solidly. He slumped to the floor and didn't move, clearly out cold.

Harrian swore quietly as he felt himself calm down, and waved his hand about quickly, massaging the knuckles rather anxiously. "Ouch. Damn. Damn. Forgot, never hit jaws, just breaks fingers... ouch..."

"Ouch? Ouch?" Jaheira stepped forwards irately. "You cause this scene and all you have to say for yourself is 'ouch'?" She looked as if she would follow his example and hit him in that moment, but after a few seconds of a struggle to regain control drew herself up to her full height, looking rather regal in her attire. "Find the Nether Scroll. It should be in one of his drawers. I shall meet you all back at the Five Flagons."

"Jaheira, wait... hang on..." Harrian moved to stop her as she started for the door, but stumbled on Duchinov's prone form and by the time he had regained his balance she had pushed past Anomen and disappeared into the night.

Yoshimo glanced at their leader's rather distraught expression, then back at the direction Jaheira had disappeared in. "Find the Nether Scrolls. I will follow her to ensure nothing happens to her in the state she is currently in."

"Ha. I'd like to see any muggers try it." But Harrian's voice was devoid of much enthusiasm as he spoke, and he glanced around the room in a dejected manner. "Come on, guys. Let's get this scroll and get out of here, before a guard decides to intrude."

Haer'Dalis stepped delicately across the threshold, now Anomen had moved out of the way, and began to glance around him, Minsc in his wake. "Fear not, my Raven. The Lord Duchinov entered this room with a lady friend. Few guards would be foolish enough to enter without a sincerely valid reason."

"Regardless, we should hunt and then depart as soon as possible." Anomen moved over to the desk and opened up the drawers, rifling through papers rapidly. Minsc, similarly, moved Duchinov's body off the papers he had scattered to the floor on his fall, and Haer'Dalis searched through them.

Harrian focused on the bookshelves, eyeing the volumes with both the eyes of the thief hunting for his prize, and the youth who had spent years growing up in a library. Still, with the occasional glances he threw at the door, it was obvious his attention was elsewhere.

Finally, Anomen broke the silence, once he ran out of drawers to hunt, and turned to Harrian irritably. "How, exactly, are we supposed to know what this Nether Scroll looks like when we find it?" Behind him, Minsc had moved over to start searching Duchinov's body.

"I don't know. I guess we'll know when we do find it." Harrian's answer was not particularly helpful, but his distraction became quite clear as he reached for one of the dusty volumes on the shelf and pulled it out, brushing the cover off slightly. "See? 'Powers of the Nether Scrolls'. Might give us a hand."

Haer'Dalis glanced up... and stared for a moment, before lunging forwards, more intent than the others had ever seen him. "My Raven! Don't..."

But, too late, Harrian flipped open the book... and then disappeared. There was no flash of light, no sparkling affect, no shimmering of magic. He was just there one moment, and then gone the next.

The dusty volume fell to the floor, and closed itself with an innocent air.

Anomen blinked, and stepped over. "I... that is to say... I..." Silence reigned for a few moments, until he straightened up. "Why did Harrian look for answers in 'Jothan's Guide to Chivalry', and why did that make him disappear?"

Haer'Dalis was staring in a sort of desperate way, serious for perhaps the first time ever. "I know not, my eagle. Especially not as the volume I see before me would be a copy of 'The Lady of Shiervan', one of the finest plays ever written."

Another silence met this, until Minsc straightened up from his search of Duchinov, brandishing a scroll. "Ah-ha! Boo has found what he says is the Nether Scroll! The little lord was holding it all along! Now we shall... euh..." The big man looked over, his expression one of honest confusion. "Where is Harrian?"

Anomen sighed. "Jaheira," he stated slowly, "is going to kill us when she finds out we lost Harrian in a book."



-----------------------------------------


Being woken up by water is rarely pleasant. But it was something Harrian was quite used to, being a rather deep sleeper and having Imoen often placed on wakeup duty, when the little rogue's favoured method of rousing him included a bucket and a nearby stream. Still, fresh water of a river was not quite as intrusive as stinging salt-water, and it was that which brought Harrian out of this new reverie and into reality.

The first thing that he noticed - after the salt water, clearly - was the bright sunshine, even warmer than Amn, and it made the fact that he was sopping wet a little easier to bear. As he sat up slowly, the next thing he realised was that the reason he wasn't as uncomfortable as he would have thought was the fact that he had been resting on sand, not stone.

The next things to come into his consciousness all appeared at once, so the order was harder to discern. The sea. The complete unfamiliarity of his surroundings. The fact that, when he looked out, his armour was gone and the comfortable weight of his longsword was gone. Again, the sea.

He didn't know where he was. And he hoped it was a dream. A dream for which, he noted with displeasure, he was horribly equipped for. His sturdy boots remained, as did his worn pair of leather trousers, but from there, no armour. His white shirt, looking a little worse for wear, and the black jerkin he usually wore over that. No bracers, which left his arms feeling rather isolated, and no trace of the pleasant weight of weapons. Oh, well - at least he wasn't in the stupid dress he'd been in at Duchinov's party. The hat with a feather in it was nowhere in sight.

Harrian stood slowly, his limbs co-operating rather surprisingly, and let of a long, and rather loud - for, alone, he could swear all he wanted - string of curses regarding Felden Duchinov and what he would do to the man when he got back to Athkatla.

Then he reached for the knife in his boot, Gorion's knife, and noticed it was gone.

The next curse-word to leave his mouth was very loud, and very angry, and something which would have made Jaheira glare at him until he vowed to never utter another word unless he asked her for permission first.

Fortunately, Jaheira wasn't there to make him feel quite so small. But as he glanced around, further down the beach, behind him so he had not seen them when he'd first woken up, others were, and from their body stances they seemed to have heard him.

With a faint groan, Harrian pushed back any of the hair threatening to get in his eyes with a happy sea-breeze, and began to troop over to them, rather angry about the entire matter. He didn't know if these others over here would know any more than he, but he'd ask questions anyway.

"Hello there!" he called out, in his most hopeful and what he considered to be winning voice as he approached, waving in an amiable and unthreatening manner. He really didn't want to get into a fight without a weapon; brawling was not his forte, and if one part of him did hurt it was his knuckles from the blow on Duchinov. "I don't suppose you'd all be reasonable and help a chap out in trying to reach some conclusion in where in the Nine Hells he is?"

Harrian pondered this question for a moment. "Or somewhere in the Abyss, or a different plane? Not necessarily the Hells? Oh, damn it, I'm not dead, am I?"

He was confused as to how he sounded more peeved than distressed or angry at this notion. Oddly enough, it wasn't at the top of his priority list for considerations,

There were spiders everywhere; spiders the size of large cats, literally dozens of them, swarming about like a vile carpet animated and given purpose by fell forces.

Brynn knew that she was in for a rough time when she saw the massive strands of webbing creeping into the crypt corridors below Athkatla's necroplolis. She kept slapping at imagined arachnids as she and the Blades padded across the spongey surface. She sank her blades into the real thing -these the size of large dogs- when they neared the orb of webbing, suspended over the empty chasm that gaped toothlessly in the center of the catacombs. Just looking at their eight, round, glittering eyes and bulbous, bristly bodies made her itch, as if thousands of their tiny cousins were climbing all over her.

Inside the cave of webs a drow priestess unleashed a horde of the crawling terrors. Erupting from corpses like a virulent plague, skittering and scratching their way toward Brynn and her companions. Naturally, some fighting ensued.

Currently Brynn was surrounded by them, though Haer'Dalis, her nearest ally, was not far and she didn't deem herself in any real danger from the teeming, scuttling monsters.

She felt one of them land on her back and reached a hand behind and yanked it off by one hairy leg. She threw it against the wall, but it righted itself and came back. A single swipe from her right hand katana caught the foul thing as it came at her again and split its fat body in two, leaving a gray-green slime on her blade as she withdrew it.

She kicked another that tried to climb up her leg and left it mortally wounded with an outward sweeping blow that caught it as it tumbled in the air. A third, however, sank its fangs into her foot, right through the leather of her boot. She in turn sank her left hand blade into its middle, pinning it to the webbing of the floor. She swept the blade out, leaving the spider amost cut in half but still writhing.

Agonizing heat radiated from the wound and slithered up Brynn's right leg. Of course they would be poisonous, she had expected no less, and though the poison was a very real danger she had to deal with the more immediate threat presented by the dying spider's many kin before settling down to purge her system of its toxin.

Limping slightly, she shifted back toward her allies into an open space left by Minsc's able management of his greatsword. A half turn to catch another many-legged adversary as it leapt toward her allowed to her glimpse the rest of her allies in their efforts against the spiders and their mistress. Yoshimo and Minsc seemed to have the drow priestess well in hand; they kept her pinned between the two of them, preventing her from casting spells and wearing down her once formidible defenses. Aerie left a line of charred husks with a well-cast spell, but Nalia seemed to be having some difficulties. One of the spiders must have bitten her hand, for she cradled it to her chest and wasn't casting when Brynn saw her.

"Aerie!" Brynn shouted, "Nalia needs help!"

She didn't see what came of her order though because she was already turning about again to split open a fifth spider and send a sixth tumbling with a poorly timed blow. Not up to her usual standards at all. The poison was already making her arms feel leaden and hot. It was beginning to get hard to breath. Haer'Dalis cut his way to her side, dispatching two spiders with precision thrusts of his twinned short swords. He stabbed the spider Brynn had knocked. It wriggled, impaled on Chaos as he lifted the blade up. A flick of his wrist flung the thing from the sword and it hit the wall, leaving a green streak as it slid down, still spasming in the last moments of life.

Gasping against the leaden weight in her chest, Brynn linked up with Haer'Dalis, managing despite the sluggishness of her body to kill a spider that was bracing to attack the bard.

"Keep them off of me for a moment," she said, though the way her numbing lips and thick tongue caused her to slur the words they sounded only passably like the ones she intended. Haer'Dalis got the drift though, and put himself between her and the main group of spiders on their side of the structure.

Still clutching her katanas, Brynn pressed her hands, over her chest, seeking the barely tangible threads of power needed to expunge the spider's poison from her system. She plucked them from the Weave, variations of the same strings that any magic-user pulled to manipulate the fabric of reality, something she regarded with wonder because she had never learned the devotion of a priestess nor engaged in the mage's studies. She concentrated, and felt the tendrils of power reach through her body, saturating her, and when they withdrew they took the poison with them.

She took a deep, easy breath, "Haer'Dalis, help me cut a path to Nalia and Aerie," she said, even as she stepped forward to put her words into action. There was no time to be wasted. Aerie had fallen back to Nalia's side as Brynn had ordered, but was having difficulty pushing the spiders back far enough to give herself room to cast a spell.

Bard and kensai moved in, making attacks meant to clear as many of the spiders from their path as possible and sacrificing the lethality of their blows to do it. Brynn felt a little like she was implementing a pair of poorly crafted brooms instead of two finely honed swords, and from the look on Haer'Dalis' face he felt much the same way.

Brynn heard, Yoshimo give a victorious shout meaning that he and Minsc had dispatched the priestess, but she didn't turn to look. "On me!" she called to them.

"Minsc and Boo will clean up the gooey insides of evil with their shining mop of justice!"

Brynn took that as a confirmation. She swept two spiders aside, cutting through their legs and incapacitating them, and then spotted on of the spiders crawling up the wall and moving to descend on Aerie's head. Brynn shouted a warning, and at the same time Nalia reached to her side and into the sack hanging there. Nalia drew out a wooden rod topped with multicolored crystalline spheres and pointed it at the spider even as it sprang from its perch.

Brynn cried out, "No! Not the Rod of Wond...!"

Her words were lost in a tumult of sound and color. She felt suddenly as if she had ben kicked in the chest and tumbled backwards. Her vision became a myriad of specks and her ears rang from a thunderclap that faded into something like the roar of surf. She tasted salt, felt heat on her back, grit in her face and when she tried to inhale she couldn't breath. She sat up without realizing she had ever been laying down and found herself suddenly very far from the dank Athkatlan catacombs.

She had not heard something like the roar of surf, it was the roar of surf, the grit on her face was sand, and the heat on her back was the sun ruling unchallenged by clouds in a sky of perfect cerulean. To her left was ocean as far as her eyes could see, to her right, a verdant jungle, and all around her were strangers.

Automatically her hands sought out her swords, but she found both them and her scabbards missing. She took a panicked breath, and scanned the sand for her katanas. They were nowhere to be seen. A feeling over overwhelming helplessness threatened her, but she quashed both it and the queasy feeling in her stomach that accompanied it.

Forcing herself to at least appear calm, she stood up slowly and brushed the sand off of her clothes and face.

Brynn hears one of the two strangers in front of her, a fellow half-elf and fellow female say: "...Should hope not! Who are you, anyway?" as she approaches them.

Brynn gives both the half-elven woman and her human companion an apologetic smile. She assumes from the woman's question and the bewildered look both she and the human man with her wear that they are strangers to one another and that they, like her, are unsure of where they are. She hopes she is not wrong.

"Hello and, uh... sorry for the interruption," she says, pushing her hair out of her eyes. The bright light makes her squint. She feels like she is already sunburning, though she has not been in the sun that long. Before the sun has moved more than a scant few degrees she is certain she will have burned redder than a boiled lobster. "If we're on introductions, my name is Brynn Trueblade, swordswoman as you can probably se... well, you -can't- see, since I don't happen to have my swords handy, but..."

Brynn finds herself at a loss for further words as so she is glad when from nearby another stranger calls out, "Hello there! I don't suppose you'd all be reasonable and help a chap out in trying to reach some conclusion in where in the Nine Hells he is? Or somewhere in the Abyss, or a different plane? Not necessarily the Hells? Oh, damn it, I'm not dead, am I?"

The relief of finding someone else more confused than she is, gives Brynn her tongue and her aplomb back. She chuckles in a friendly, inviting manner. She says, "If you are this isn't the Hells or the Abyss that's for certain. The Abyss has infinite layers, but I doubt any of them include a place that seems so pleasant -at least on the surface- as this. One of the Heavens maybe, but this place feels too normal even for that."

She pauses, curious, "But really, why would you think you were in the Abyss or the Nine Hells? Or worried about being dead for that matter? If we were dead we would be in the Fugue Plane right now awaiting a representative of our respective deities to take us to that deity's domain. This however..." she waves one hand, endeavoring to encompass their surroundings in the gesture... "doesn't look much like what I've been led to understand the Fugue Plane looks like. Though, I will admit that I've been known on more than one occaision to be wrong." She shrugs.

Anni wiped her hand across her mouth trying to rid of the sand, only problem being her arms were also covered with sand. She spent about five minutes struggling vainly to get rid of the sand with no sucess. When she finally gave up she looked around and saw a woman not far away from her.

She scramble over and looked at the taller woman. -Of course she's taller, isn't everyone taller than me!?- She smiled slightly hoping she appeared friendly enough.

"Hi, um... do you know where the bloody hell I am? I swear I'm going to kill a certain Red Wizard when I find my way back!"

Kane walked up the beach, aggressively kicking a stone. He was growing more thirsty, but even the water bottle he kept attached to his belt had gone. So, whoever is responsible for this didn't want to make it easy for me. Well, whether I have my equipment or not, I am more than a match for anything they want to throw at me. True, he was more of a fighting man than a thinking man, but there had been many times during his life when he had been alone, with no means to defend himself and no companions to back him up. He had always survived then by using his head and he could again.

And, truth be told, though he was uncomfortable about all the unanswered questions, he was quite pleased at the prospect of having a solo adventure. He loved his companions, especially Edwin Odesseiron, his lover, and yet, he realised with a start that it was something of a relief to get away from the in-group fighting and bickering, including the problems in his own relationship. Still, Kane really hoped they wouldn't get too worried about him. He knew very well the sort of state Edwin could work himself into.

He was sweating quite a bit and he paused to wipe his face again. His black hair was stuck to his head. Damn, this sun is just too hot. He glanced down at his arms, frowned at his naturally pale skin. I'm going to get burnt pretty badly if I'm not careful.

That was when he heard voices. There are...others here? And just a couple of moments later, they finally came into view. Perhaps they had answers. It seemed they hadn't yet noticed him, so he continued to make his way across the sand towards them. Only when he was just a short distance from them did he speak.

"Hey!" He said, unable to keep the anger he felt out of his voice.

"I -- I should hope not! Guess you're as confused as I am. Who are you, anyway?""

Talek would have replied, but at that moment, their conversation was interrupted. He looked around, his eyes wide in surprise as not one, but TWO others, one of them, another half-elf woman, looking a good deal more muscled than the one with the bird on her shoulder -Why did she have a bird on her shoulder?- the other, rather wet human. Never being very quick on the uptake in any situation where 'kill the other guy' wasn't the immediate solution his head swivelled around from one to the other, preparing for a fight just in case.

"If we're on introductions, my name is Brynn Trueblade, swordswoman as you can probably se... well, you -can't- see, since I don't happen to have my swords handy, but..." The other woman introduced herself. Talek immediately inspected her. Her muscles were less pronounced, but yeah, she did move like someone who lived by the sword. He might have replied again, but than the wet human interrupted.

"Hello there! don't suppose you'd all be reasonable and help a chap out in trying to reach some conclusion in where in the Nine Hells he is. Or somewhere in the Abyss, or a different plane? Not necessarily the Hells? Oh, damn it, I'm not dead, am I?" The man said, sounding much like Talek felt. He was sure he'd be very angry, as soon as he could find someone to be angry at.

The swordswoman, Brynn, quickly answered his question. Talek... didn't understand most words she used, but she sounded pretty sure of herself, so he assumed they were probably not dead. That was good.

There was a moment of silence. Perhaps everyone was considering that. Talek decided he'd say his name as well. Perhaps all of them could find the guy who got them here and kick his ass. Wait, that was the wizard back there. The other guys were probably having a talk right now.

"Right, so we're not dead. So, anyone's got a clue where we are then? Oh yeah, the name's Talek, Talek Gori..."

"Hey!" Then he heard an angry voice behind him interrupting him. He turned and saw another human man, short by. Talek immediately took a more threathening posture. The relief of not being dead had washed away, and he was going back to being confused, frustrated and angry. That cry had sounded like a challenge.

"What?" He called back in the same tone of voice.

"If we're on introductions, my name is Brynn Trueblade, swordswoman as you can probably se... well, you -can't- see, since I don't happen to have my swords handy, but..."

"Hello there! I don't suppose you'd all be reasonable and help a chap out in trying to reach some conclusion in where in the Nine Hells he is? Or somewhere in the Abyss, or a different plane? Not necessarily the Hells? Oh, damn it, I'm not dead, am I?"

Elshana blinked. More people! And adventurers, by the sounds of things.

The blonde haired woman chuckled. "If you are this isn't the Hells or the Abyss that's for certain. The Abyss has infinite layers, but I doubt any of them include a place that seems so pleasant -at least on the surface- as this. One of the Heavens maybe, but this place feels too normal even for that." She paused for a moment, and Elshana blinked. Geography of the planes had never been her strong suit. In fact, she had pointedly tried to avoid it.

"But really, why would you think you were in the Abyss or the Nine Hells? Or worried about being dead for that matter? If we were dead we would be in the Fugue Plane right now awaiting a representative of our respective deities to take us to that deity's domain. This however..." she waves one hand, endeavoring to encompass their surroundings in the gesture... "doesn't look much like what I've been led to understand the Fugue Plane looks like. Though, I will admit that I've been known on more than one occaision to be wrong." She ended with a shrug.

Elshana shrugged back in return, trying to keep the scowl from her face, simply nodding. It made sense, from what she did know. So she wasn't dead. Always a good thing . . . She thought sarcastically

Elshana turned her attention back to the first man when he spoke again.

"Right, so we're not dead. So, anyone's got a clue where we are then? Oh yeah, the name's Talek, Talek Gori..."

"Hey!"

Elshana whirled at the new voice. There was a definite note of challenge, one that in the present situation, angered her. Enough already! She thought. "What!" she snapped back at the newcomer almost in unison with Talek, hands on her hips. Normally she would not have snapped so, but she was thirsty, hot, confused, and really frustrated.

"What?"

Both the human man and the girl answered his call quite agressively. Kane didn't resond immediately, he just moved nearer, eying them warily. There were quite a few of them, but they all seemed to be unarmed and rather confused, which made him feel better. Just how many of us are there here anyway?

When he reached them, he completely ignored the girl and faced the human male with the black hair instead. "What are you staring at?" he said shortly. "And just who are you anyway? What is going on here?"

"What are you staring at?" the newcommer said, looking past her to Talek. "And just who are you anyway? What is going on here?"

"Look." Elshana said before the other had a chance to speak. She pulled herself up to her full height, though that still came short of the three humans. "One: I wasn't staring at anything, I was looking at you -- there's a difference." She tossed her head. "Two: My name's Elshana of Candlekeep. Three: I have utterly no clue." She raised a black brow. "Satisfied?"

*Mistress . . . * Numel sighed.

"Shut up, Numel," She hissed aloud. Turning back to the others, she continued, "I really don't know what's going on, and in all bluntness, I really don't care. I just want to go back to where I was."