Emerald is very glad Joey is, like her, more concerned with Kennedy than with the criminal. Although, deep inside, she wished she could have perused. "Kennedy? Kennedy?" she asks while reaching to pet his cheek, being the other face he sees now. "Don't worry, Kennedy... we're here." she has tears in her eyes and a worried look. "Just relax, but stay awake, alright?"

"Can't stand that devil is getting away..." Joey mutters, staring daggers at the fleeing woman.

The instant Kennedy begins opening his eyes, the paladin charges for the window, draws his javelin, and throws it at butt-end-first at Laniya, hoping to knock her out, but misses.

"Someone stop that woman!  10 gold to the one who apprehends her!  No, 20!"

---

You rolled 9 using 1d20+5 ((4))  9 wouldn't hit the weakest NPC minions in the game.  ;.;  Oh well.

Kennedy stirs. His eyes focusing on Emerald. "Hey," he says weakly, "don't cry. I'll be fine." His side hurts, but looking down he sees no blood, and heaves a heavy sigh of relief. "Next time, lets go somewhere where there's no women," he says with a smile.

His mind was foggy. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened, btu something told him it wasn't going to get much better for him in the future.

Emerald hears Joey yell out a reward and figures if that doesn't do it, the group will just have to accept the fact one got away. It happens.

Emerald chuckles nervously to what Kennedy said and brushes a hand on her cheek to wipe the tears away. "...I'm a woman too, ya know. But *this* woman's your friend and ally. I think the lesson here is if you see someone you're attracted to flirting that much with you, you'll know it's entirely too good to be true. Though... as entranced as you were, I coulda sworn she was using magic on you. Was she?"

She looks to Joey, "Granted, she ignored us like we were invisible just as much as Kennedy did..."

Emerald then ohs and says, "With you almost getting killed, I almost forgot!" she pulls out Kennedy's coin purse and offers it up to him. "She took your purse. Thankfully, I took it back."

---

I'm curious. Is Laniya straight-up rogue? Warlock? What exactly kind of build were you thinking for her?

Joey raises an eyebrow at Emerald's returning Kennedy's coin purse, then his eyes turn furious as he puts together what it means.

"So it wasn't enough she'd already fleeced him," he snarles as he gruffly sheathes his sword, "She had to lure him away to butcher him for the sport of it!"

He storms toward the door.

"I'll first deal with this innkeeper then talk to the authorities about tracking her down."

He steps out of the room and looks to see if the innkeeper is where he left him.  "Think you're up for joining me, Kennedy?"

Kennedy shakes his head, trying to clear his head enough to give an intelligent responce. He reaches out to take Joey's wrist to plead a case for the young girl. Sure she had stabbed him, almost killing him, but there was something about her that made Kennedy feel sorry for her.

"Joey," he says weakly, "let her go. She was scared. Angry. Lost. Lonely. Afraid. I saw it in her eyes." He coughs a weak cough, his mouth is dry. Near death experiences will do that to you. "I'm sure we'll run into her again. And if you are still angry at her, then you can prosecute her to the fullest of the law. But I think we, I, owe it to her to hear her out." His words are soft. Despite his condition he has a place for her in his heart -- oddly enough. There was something in that kiss that told Kennedy that Laniya was more in awe of the moment than furious that it happened. "Please, let her go." He sits in silence to let Joey, or Emerald, respond. "But if you insist on talking to the innkeeper, could you ask if to bring me some water?" He chuckles.

Emerald quietly wonders if that's why she herself wasn't as angry with Laniya as Joey is. For the briefest of moments, Emerald actually thought herself less of a hero for not being that angry. But she had concern for Kennedy and helped bring him back, which assured her she at least had her priorities straight. Besides... compassion isn't something to whip yourself over.

Emerald grabs her canteen and puts it to Kennedy's mouth. "Drink up, Kennedy. And don't you worry... I saw how Joey threw that javelin.. it was butt-end first. Even as angry as he is, he's not gonna kill her on sight. We all want answers." She then speaks a little softly (and almost timidly) but still clear enough for Joey to hear, "And I know exactly how she feels. In a word; powerless. I've been there. Sadly, she isn't yet at the point where she realizes the freedom of trust."

Joey reaches to put his surprisingly gentle armored hand on the one that grabbed his wrist.  He turns his hard gaze on Kennedy, purses his lips in thought, then nods.

"Thank you for pointing that out, Emerald.  A more experienced knight is unlikely to have been so merciful.  I suspect the girl is haunted or possessed.  I fear that if we don't catch up to her, she's liable to meet her end by the sword of someone less understanding."

If Kennedy releases Joey, he gets to tieing up the innkeeper.  "Don't have time to question this guy so let's leave that to the authorities.  Every passing moment puts our fugitive at greater risk.  So I ask again.   Who's going with me?"

Releasing Joey's hand, Kennedy nods. "I am with you."

Emerald begins heading out. "Then let's go."

The Innkeeper is easily tied up and the authorities actually arrived soon after, having heard word of the loud man offering a 20 gold bounty. Hearing that Joey is a paladin and en route to try capturing a murderer, they tell him to go on ahead while they handle the innkeeper.

Laniya is a slippery one and was sure to mix her footprints in with others. However, in her haste, she was a little sloppy. Turned karts, a torn piece of cloth, and other clues on which direction help along with witnesses. Among the witnesses are even a few who tried to stop her for varying reasons. Some because they wanted to know why she was running and hoped to help her, others because of the 20 gold bounty.

All the same, she made one major mistake: Leaving town without doing so on horseback. She'll be caught up to, it's just a matter of time.

She is seen a long ways off, disappearing into the nearby woods (Remember the woods that are a few miles off?). The heroes arrive and find her trail again easily enough and continue on through the woods, which then gets thicker and... creepier.

Some straw dolls hang in random areas. "....oh dear" Emerald comments, "a witch. But are we chasing a witch? Or did we just accidentally chase a confused woman into the clutches of one?"

(OOC: Laniya worked out as a springboard to get things started after all. ;) I'll get us there. And don't worry, I'm not forcing anything... Laniya isn't the witch, obviously, since I can't decide what Laniya is. Although there IS one in the forest. XD Anyways, if anyone has any problems with the fast-forward, lemme know and I'll adjust accordingly, but the forest is the general direction I want us to go. :) Just figured Laniya was perfect for getting us there quick!)

"I'm guessing this might be the lair of the one who enchanted our fugitive," Joey says, "But it's only a guess.  Everyone please strike to subdue, not to kill.  For all we know the viscous beast that ambushes us is the very girl we came to rescue - only under a polymorph spell."

He draws his sword and takes the lead cautiously.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:04, Sun 19 Aug 2012.

Kennedy searches his pockets and puches. "Damnit!" he says, just loud enough for Emerald and Joey to hear him. "I left my subdue blade at home," he says with a chuckle drawing his rapier. He gives Joey a smirk and takes rear guard.

Emerald lets Joey take the lead since he's the tank. But soon enough, the group finds a witch's hut! Or what looks a lot like one. Emerald says, "Be careful, guys... witches know some weird magic."

A pit trap opens under the three heroes! But all three manage to deftly side-step the crude, obvious trap!

---

4e, so no reflex SAVE. Instead, I roll against your Reflex defense. And yeah.. I rolled a 2. That's not gonna hit any of us.

Meanwhile, speaking of "weird", Salow, you remember me mentioning how I said to Byron "You haven't seen how weird Chris and I really are" and he responded with "I think I have a pretty good idea" like he knew better than Chris and I on how well he'd know us? Well today, I got to weird him out like you wouldn't believe. I said "I tried to warn you that you don't know how weird Chris and I are." to which he admitted, "I *thought* I knew..."

What weirdness did we unveil? Remember the Brain Bug from Starship Troopers? Remember Sailor Moon? I described a Sailor Brainbug to him that I designed years ago...

Joey sighs lightly and head-shakes at Kennedy's sarcasm.  Not one to leave things to chance, he clarifies what he meant.  "In other words, favor using the flat of your blade over the edge and aiming for limbs rather than vital points."

The pit trap would be one of the reasons why Joey was acting so paranoid with his cautious approach.  "With all that noise I suppose there's little reason I shouldn't call out to whomever lives here.  Any objections?"

Unless his friends tell him not to, he'll call out, "Greetings and peace be with you!  I am Joey, paladin of Avandra.  I and my friends seek safe passage for ourselves and the human woman we seek."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:04, Tue 21 Aug 2012.

"The woman is only a secondary concern!" he chimes in. "If we could just get through this spooky forest, that would be perfect!" His voice was kind of shaky with the latter part. He steels a glance at Joey and Emerald to see if they notice.

Whether Emerald noticed Kennedy being nervous or not, when he glances at her, she has a look of concern on her face. Though her glance isn't aimed at Kennedy specifically. Just looking forward. So she's probably just worried just like Kennedy.

The creepy woods seem to be eerily silent after a bit. But soon, the trio come across a hut in the woods. The hut has a fence made of sticks. At the top of the sticks on either side of the front entrance are small animal skulls. Possibly mice or other rodents.

Emerald says quietly, "So now comes the question: Do we knock? Or do we sneak?"

Joey doesn't comment on Kennedy's apparent nervousness.  The man nearly died today from black magic, so you can hardly blame him.

"Hmm... Perhaps both would be best.  I'll knock while you two hang back out of sight.  I'm kinda noisy in this armor anyway."

He sloowly approaches the stick hut and calls out to the possible occupant. "My name is Joey.  I am a paladin of Avandra.  I am here in search of a young Human woman.  I'm approaching the door slowly because I encountered a pit trap earlier."

Whispers to Emerald, "I hope we don't see any flying monkeys."He keeps his wits about him and watches after Joey and the surrounding area. There's no way anyone, or anything, will get the best of him this time.

---

^{Perception Roll to notice, anything suspiscious: d20(18)+8=26! Hells Yeah! "Yo can call me 'Eagle Eye' Kennedy. LOL}

The flying monkeys comment actually makes Emerald snort, stifling a laugh. She hangs back with Kennedy like Joey requests. Her eyes are fixed on Joey, wondering if the paladin will be OK.

Joey hears no response.

Kennedy can hear a faint sound like the hum of electricity (Not that Kennedy or ANYONE the team would know from that sound) coming from inside the hut. He also notices one of the rodent skulls actually moved slightly to "look" at Joey as he approaches.

Kennedy also notices bent grass, much like someone having recently walked on it, that leads around the hut like someone came here and avoided the hut. Likely Laniya since it is coming from where Kennedy, Joey and Emerald all just came from.

Rather suddenly, Joey can see the dirt in front of him starting to scribe something as if an invisible stick were being dragged through it. It reads in haphazard lettering; HELP

Joey's eyes go wide when he sees the lettering in the dirt and picks up his pace.  "Someone used magic to scribe the word 'help' in the ground," he calls backs before shouting at the door, "I'm coming to help!"

He then tries the door, steeling his mind and body for the trap he's expecting to trigger.  If the door is locked and untrapped, he'll try the window before resorting to breaking things.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:21, Sun 09 Sept 2012.

Seeing a possible threat Kennedy springs forth from behind the tree he was hiding behind. And makes to leap over the fence to stop Joey, barely clearing the top. "NO, don't!" he yells as he comes within steps of Joey, potentially putting himself in harms way.

---

^{Athletics roll to jump fence line: 1d20(8)+6=14; just made it.}

The door is actually unlocked and untrapped. When Joey goes to open it, it creeks open.

When Kennedy arrives at the doorway, he would see the same thing Joey does:

Just past the open door is a huge crystal hovering in the middle of what looks like a witch's hut. A large cauldron sits near a fireplace, all kinds of herbs hang on the walls, along with cured animal skins and tiki masks. Inside the huge levitating crystal can be seen an odd black creature:

(The pic I showed you: http://timothius.deviantart.co.../?q=reverie#/d2kf3gb )

No traps go off. But Emerald does eventually catch up to the group. "...what in the world?" she comments.

Joey's not sure whether to be more surprised by Kennedy's jumping the fence to stop him from opening the door or that the door wasn't trapped.  But there's no question that he's more surprised by what he finds inside.  "Good question, Emerald," Joey says, "But I would ask that we keep in mind what I requested earlier...   that we be cautious about the assumptions we make."

He looks around and asks, "How can I help?" then glances down, expecting to find an answer to appear in the dirty floor.

As graceful as Kennedy's hurdle over the fence was -- a fall from grace isn't the right term here, more like a faceplant. His feet catch beneath him and he finds himself with a mouthful of dead leaves and grass, with a bit of dirt for texture. His undressed salad left something to be desired, so he responded to Joey's question -- oblivious to the door being openned -- "get me some vinagerette at least."

Emerald is trying to figure out if she should feel bad or not for finding Kennedy's faceplant and response to be a touch humorous. But Emerald decides after seeing the imprisoned... whatever that person is, she would simply draw attention to it. "Look, Kennedy... someone's trapped in a crystal." she nudges him gently with her boot.

Meanwhile, in response to Joey, the ground does, in fact begin scribing again. It reads: Open Case ->

The arrow seems to point to a desk and there is a small case on the desk. Like the kind you might keep a necklace or ring in.

---

Here's where things will get interesting. I have in mind what's in the case, what it does, and why it is able to "help" Reverie. The question is which one of you can and will retrieve the item inside the case. Since Kennedy is faceplanted, chances are Joey will at least see the message first. But it's up to you two who gets the item inside. It isn't an item you'll find anywhere in the books.