Isla had paled even before Gisela began speaking and took a definite step behind Q; grabbing hold of his jacket.  She might have swallowed her tongue at that noise.  CK blinked and then suddenly started fading from view, as if his image was slowly being erased from the world.

Q on the other hand, it took him a moment to process the sound, but as Gi spoke his eyes widened to match the grin spreading across his face.  Suddenly both hands raising in the air in clench fists as he began to laugh heartily.  "YEEEEESSSS AHAHAHA!!!"  For some reason he seem to relish the thought more than any sane man should...

"It's good to know I can rely on your noblesse oblige, Quentin.  It really makes my years of service to the household seem worth it."  His hand found his face, rubbing over the long bridge of his nose, as if battling a tremendous headache.

The shrieking roar gave him pause, sending a chill up his spine.  His eyes widened at the warbling sound.

His eye twitched as he glanced towards Gi.  "Some of us came unarmed..."  He gripped more tightly at his watch, scanning the treeline nervously, clinging tightly to his parasol, the closest thing he had to a weapon.  Apparently, the mainland wasn't as safe as he'd been led to believe.  He should have brought a knife... or a pole-ax.

In reply to Her Majesty (msg # 116):

Alani's tail is more puffed out than normal and her fur is standing up. "That's not a good sound," she says while Alameth lowers safely to the dock, pulling out her knives as her feet touch the dock.

In reply to Alani (msg # 121):

AJ had made it all the way to the closest road to the docks, there was the Royal Cart sitting there in all its gilded glory with a team of seriously fast looking horses harnessed to the front.  Her fingers itched to take those reigns and see what that thing could do at a full gallop through the streets.... of course she would have to beat the snot out of that driver sitting up there with the stink eye fir....((INSERT GARGANTUAN PAIN IN THE BUTT INTERRUPTING ROAR HERE))

AJ calmly closes her eyes, takes a deep breath in through her nose and lets it out past her pretty lips slowly.

Of course something had to come ruin her chances to take that beast for a joyride, of course something would turn up the moment she took her eyes off Gi... maybe she could get it to eat a few of the other brats. It sounded big enough.

"Well there is nothing to be done about it it. Full Reverse, Hard to starboard.... "

She sighs again at the dream dashed upon the rocks of an uncaring world. Spun round and looked for the roars source with her eagle eyes shaded by a hand above a knitted brow.

What ever this thing was she was going to make it regret ruining her joy ride before it started.

Alameth listens to the roar and scans for the closest and most likely area of forest it could be coming from before he steps over the group, king included, and takes a stance that any that know him from the island would know was his stance for expecting powerful blows. His staff glows a minute before he reaches out with one hand in a blocking motion.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:10, Fri 02 Mar 2018.

In reply to Alameth (msg # 123):

Wolf sniffed the air and looked down at Sulf'r.  He could tell they both smelled it; the stench of death and decay on the wind.  "It wasn't me," Sulf'r said in a deadpan.

Wolf narrowed his eyes at the wolf and got out his bow, adjusted his quiver, and nocked an arrow.  He prepared to aim and take a shot as soon as he saw a viable target at the treeline.  Sulf'r meanwhile became a thing of shadow, his glowing green eyes shimmering from the dark that exuded from him.  "You may need more than arrows to take this thing down," the shadow wolf said.

Wolf stubbornly ignored him.

"Hey!" Q suddenly bellowed. "Big, dumb, and up front!  You're spoiling the view for the rest of us," he continued in a tone that was especially derisive, even for him.  Turning to Isla who was too pale to scowl at him he winked, "Best. Day. Ever."

Moving up he hopped up on a crate to get a better view, craned his neck and cracked his knuckles.  "Hey Kingly," he shouted over to Arthur.  "Your people realize this is more a complement than anything else, right?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:43, Sat 03 Mar 2018.

Arthur was briefly frozen in fear. He stepped back a few places. "Andreas! You said it was dead!"

As Gi flips through the book, it forcefully slaps open to a page in particular as if it was trying to tell her something. The page reads "Obfuscate The Living" in lettering shaped like bones.

Chance had played out his determined march toward Arthur, when Lucky drug him back to the side for a moment... the Twins had been commiserating about something, a moderately quiet yet animated conversation.   As it stood, Chance seems to have lost that argument, whatever it may have been about... but the Acid in his eyes whenever he looks over at Arthur, gives some inkling as to what it was about.

With the Jabberwock barking it's fel call, Chance wears a considerate look.   One that seems interested in more of the bird than what's probably reasonable.   While he's not exultant like Q, he is very interested.

With Arthur showing a yellow streak... he can't keep his tongue quiet any longer.   The teen hisses, "And here we are, Junior... With you looking less and less appropriate for Excalibur.  Feeling fear?   Now, I know my father, Mordred the Black ... to anyone not up on the latest, would not have been considered appropriate to you, but not in his worst day, with the least of his courage, would he have given ground.   Feeling strong and courageous against unarmed peasants, or honorable folk... but hiding under skirts the moment a problem arises on the mainland?  Lord above, I was wondering why the Kraken was looking for the blade... but, this only confirms it.   You don't have it anymore, do you?"

In reply to Her Majesty (msg # 127):


"It was dead," Gisela says as if that was obvious.  "Meaning either someone reanimated it or this is a new Jaberwocky."  She pulled her hand back as the book slaps itself to the correct page, letting out a gasp of surprise and nearly dropping it off her lap.  "Obfuscate the Living," she reads to herself.  "Well, that sounds promising."

As Chance speaks, Gisela lets out a frustrated sigh between clenched teeth.   Out of all the times they could choose to have a go at each other, did it have to be when they were all at risk of dying?  She had had it to here with the bickering in the face of danger.  "We are all about to be facing down a Jaberwocky.  Perhaps we could focus on it, since it wants to kill and eat us, and go back to being petty once we're not in imminent danger?"  She offers, her tone tightly controlled.

"Obfuscate the Living," she reads again, apparently having said her piece.  She reads it over quickly, then takes a deep breath and tries casting.

"When the living shake in fear,
as the dead draw ever near,
When everything then seems bleak,
and escape is the thing you seek,
Then this is just the spell
To drop the wards just like a veil
Then not a sound and not a peep
Not a single sight will creep
Of the living that now hide
And their time now do bide.
As I say, so shall it be
Protection for self, and all around me."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Mon 05 Mar 2018.

In response to Gi's words, a glowing spark erupts from the book and explodes above them in a shimmer of irridescent light. As it falls, it seems to create a dome around them which causes the world to distort slightly as they look through it.

It was only just in time as the Jabberwocky comes crashing out of the treeline and barreling toward the dock. The creature is a good twenty feet tall; looking much like a furry dragon with rows of razor teeth. It stops and sniffs the air with a low growl.

It's red eyes blink rapidly as it looks for it's prey. It inches closer to the group, sniffing along the ground. It moves forward and finds itself face to face with Quinten and his friends. It pushes it's face in so close to Quin that he can feel it's hot, rancid breath moistening the skin of his face.

He seems to be on to a scent but can't quite find it's source. In frustration, he let's out a mighty burbling roar into the trios faces. Q and CK seem unfazed, but as the monster takes off again bounding into the trees, Isla crumples to the ground babbling and giggling like an idiot.

(DC 20 will save for anyone who wants to see if they are affected too. Tex just drew the Short straw this time. Result of a failure is 15 minutes of temporary insanity.)

Q's face was a mixture of tension and dark joy as the Jabberwocky bounded out from the forest.  His fists balled as it approached and his eyes widened, though he took no steps further.  Quinn almost seems to bounce with barely contained energy as his lips moved wordlessly; upturned ever so slightly at the corners.

As the creature bound away he outstretched his arms for as second before clapping, a grim series of chuckles escaping his throat.

It took Quinn a moment to recognize Isla's plight, though CK had suddenly shifted back into plain sight.  "Ummm... Q?" he muttered as he knelt by Isla's side.

"The air tastes purple," the young woman giggled as she reached up and patted CK's cheek before returning to uncontrollable laughter.

Anything resembling a smile faded from Q's lips as he looked down at Isla and then at Arthur, the latter earning more than a disparaging look.  "Way to go Kingly," Q quipped sharply in you king's direction.  "Top shelf people you've got working with you too," he added casting an eye towards the executioner.  "Top shelf"

Leaning down he tried to pull Isla to a standing position, but with her legs as wobbly as a drunken sailor he finally gave up and hoisted her newlywed style into his arms eliciting an amused "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" from the young woman.

In reply to Quinten Heart (msg # 134):

As the Jabberwocky ran off....AJ was running behind it very fast. Which was probably difficult considering she was holding what looked like a saddle. Where she found a saddle already, and who she stole it from, was a mystery but what she was trying to do was not considerings he was yelling at the beast she was chasing.

"Get back here you dumb horse...I need to ride you to my mom," she bellowed angrily and added some choice paragraphs of cuss words as she headed off in the wake of the Jabberwocky.

In reply to AJ Rourke (msg # 135):

Gi didn't try to make sense of AJ's actions.  Where she'd disappeared to, how she'd stolen a saddle, or why she was attacking a Jaberwocky that no longer presented a threat.  When one was friend with AJ, they no longer tried to make sense of actions, just intervene when they can on the more dangerous activities.  Sometimes that wasn't done directly.  AJ actually cared about Gi's safety, even if she didn't think of the costs of her actions.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, she'll tire herself out.  Besides, I'm sure AJ has considered the fact she could get us all killed by bringing the Jaberwocky back," she says as AJ comes within hearing range in chase of the Jaberwocky.  It'd make a point without directly doing anything.  Instead, she shifted her focus to Isla.  She shoves her book into her backpack and shoulders it. She looked at the king a moment, worried about the cost of her casting a spell, much less so soon.  He could have her exiled again.  That didn't matter right now, though, as Isla was now laughing like a giddy drunk.

"Let me look at her," she says, joining Q and his crew.  "There has to be a way to fix this," she states.  "Magic or medicine, or something..."  She was desperately looking over Isla for any signs of how to fix it or if it was temporary or permanent. True love fixed everything, but finding her true love while she was insane... And Q letting them that close... that was not a good route to go.

Alameth shakes his head before he runs after AJ. He gets just ahead of her before he sits down. He's so close in front of her that when he sits down, even if she slowed down, she would run into him.He also spreads his arms out to either side about two feet off the ground.

"She's insane...." Arthur murmurs out of his stunned silence. "We should catch her before she gets killed." His knightly lack of self preservation as he likewise set off to try to tackle AJ.

Blaise looks at Q and flips him off. "Want to know what's top notch? The level of I told you so that will take place at the welcome breakfast when people hear Wonderland's cast offs arrived... AS DID THE BLOODY JABBERWOCKY!"

The executioner wore a dark, stern expression. "How?" he asked, looking between the two. "It's dead."

Quinn's head turned almost in slow motion as he glared down at Blaise.  "Oh no.  Not the breakfast. Think about the crumpets," he retorted in a dark deadpan that declared the field wherein he grew his fucks was barren.  He turned on the executioner quickly enough.

"Oh that's easy," he said hefting Isla tighter as she shifted giggling in his arms.  "It wasn't dead.  No one killed it.  Alice's story is bullshit," he declared with hint of triumph in his tone.

"Nonononono," Isla giggled out suddenly.  "Not the name. The Name trumps the Name!" she babbled before taking batting at Gi.  "Giggle.  Silly Princess.  Princess' can't fix-"

"Shut it Isla.  Seriously," Q ordered curtly.  The younger woman burst out laughing in response and patted the older man drunkenly on his face.

Chance grumbled something to himself under his breath.   It fell to him to address this, apparently.   Well, he was the one usually causing trouble in most situations... and leaning on AJ to sort out anyone who got salty at the deal.  But, it's just not as impressive when things work out the other way...

The teen wears a sour look while muttering something under his breath... He holds out a hand forward, then slings it sharply behind him... Which oddly enough causes a several roots to pop out before AJ ...

(Trip Attempt - Move Object - Bad Luck)

At which point, Chance starts grinning, "... You know... Mom always said I had a knack..."

"First of all, the tale of the Jabberwocky and its slaying predates Alice's visit by some years." Jack had apparently recovered enough of his composure to be... well... somewhat reasonable.  " And second, trusting Alice's account of Wonderland would be like trusting Hank Morgan's account of Camelot."

He watched AJ's chase somewhat glumly, tilting his head towards Arthur, arms folding. "I presume you have some strapping hero wearing a whitesmith's hut's worth of shining armor on-hand to deal with said beast?"