The Construct was wary now, since something swift was hounding them by their cage. His mouth twisted into a deeper frown. Though the light in the cave was dim, his cellmates could clearly see he was enormous, and that his eyes glowed brightly with their own light in their pupiless depths. He regarded the little half orc girl who attempted to approach him and smiled softly.
Even in the dim light, they could see his whole boy was a mishmash of what seemed to be different skin tones, with both rough and fine stitchwork to keep it all together. The construct heard the elf's words and shrugged. "Perhaps, but they may find me somewhat indigestible if I have anything to say about it." He leaned a little closer to the group. "I can get us out of here, but I need some times to rest in order to do so. I was unarmed when the captured me, but I am not without my own means of fighting." he said conspiratorially, holding up a massive fist that seemed to suck the light from around it briefly before it would return, and the fist moved back to his side. "I was created with an interesting gimmick... though it might leave me vulnerable after I break us out. You all have to escape."
...looks around with excitement. The safari trip! Varga couldn't remember how he got here, but from the looks of this place, it had to be the safari outpost starting point. Varga's head was pounding and ears ringing...he must have had so much fun at the Deathmatch he blacked out. That happened sometimes. The curse of being born with psionic powers he had always assumed.
"Oi!" Varga called to the first person he saw. "Where is the guide to the safari? I am the winner of Mittens' contest."
The man looked at him like he daft. Varga didn't like that very much. "C'mon, you know? Mittens Meowselsworth? The Deathmatch Extravaganza!" The last bit was said in Varga's best announcer voice. He gave the man a crooked smile and posed hoping he would recognize Varga from the couple of promo spots they had had Varga photograph for the winner announcement.
"Hey now, I need to get the safari, bub. Don't be jerking me around."
Charlene looks at the helmeted hovercat with some puzzlement. "Safari? Was there a safari, too?"
Cupping her hands around her mouth, she calls in the direction of the ruckus, "This is the Safari! Deathmatch Safari, right here!"
Are there others from home here, too? What... what *is* this place?
Bryn quirks an eyebrow at the ruckus; nodding approval at the line Charlene takes.
"As we know you are universally famous celebrity." he says with some awe to the helmet-cat. For the norse-mans admiration of the genius is slightly perculiar; given his distatse for authourity.
"Mittens von Meowselsworth actually. There's a von in there. I don't remember you. Are you from the second season? Did that actually get renewed for a second season?" The feline on the hoverboard looks towards Charlene, and based on her expression would shrug if she could. "The first season didn't have a safari. I feel like I've just been exposed to some huge spoilers. It's kind of one of the most disappointing parts of time travel."
"What in the bloody 'ell is a 'Deathmatch Extravaganzer?'" Belzac asks, the whole 'safari' and 'season' nonsense flying over his head. Mus' be some surface folk nonsense...
A smile twitches onto Finwa's face at the idea of finding a little friend for Hugh like Datarila. She rubs Leo's arm appreciatively and flicks her tail about the two men. As they continue on she is tempted by Turble's tail. It keeps twitching and moving about making her want to pounce it but every time she thinks about it she holds hands with Leo or Bryn.
Finwa wonders about this talk about the Gomoktooth being able to fly and scrunches up her nose while flicking an ear trying to remember what the mayor had told them, "Do you remember there being wings on that Gomok thing the mayor showed us a picture of?" She asks Leo while realizing that Bryn was a bit closer to them now as if he were almost hovering over them.
Her eyes open wide as she hears the commotion when they get to the north gate and she jumps up and down when she hears Varga and the others about the safari, "Oh! I know that one! There was a contest through Miracle-Mote Food Delivery for the Deathmatch. There was a scandal on my world about a fake winning number. I never got to learn what happened with that because ..." Finwa's ears droop and she licks her lips as she remembers past that, her voice dropping as she looked to the ground, "Because that was happening as my brother called me to his laboratory. He must have been at the Deathmatch."
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"They can fly, I swear!" the dwarf claims, before going quiet. He contemplatively strokes his beard, as though he had just remembered something. "Wait, no... wait a sec... Could they fly? Or was it dem goats..." he mutters, lost in thought. He decides to leave out the fact that his entire band had been drunk out of their minds when the Gomoktooth attacked them.
Realising what could have happened to Belzac; "I remember those nights, with my band... good times. Your guitar, acoustic?" he says with a teasing smile.
Although it might be that the Gomoktooth may not fly, still Bryn keep's protectively close to Finwa. They could always swing down from the trees, Tarzan like.
Leoian mostly walks along with Finwa keeping hold of her hand when he's able, but often scurries off to investigate something, or search for pixies. When he's questioned about the Gomoktooths he shakes his head "No, Huuagh didn't have any wings." He says as if people would know who he's talking about, and that it is in fact relevant to Gomoktooths.
At the appearance of Vargas Leo's eyes widen and he comes over to investigate "Wow, are you a pixie? You're looking for Meowsie? Are you going to be her little companion like Datarila is for Ms. Mayor?" He looks confused for a moment, "But you weren't at the Deathmatch I don't remember you... I was there, I got..."
Stopping in mid sentence the small man looks back towards Finwa with her ears drooped and decides going on about how he was shot in the face might not be the best idea. He comes over and takes the feline woman's hand squeezing it lightly "Well all that's done, we're here together now... what's a safari?"
Belzac seems to brighten up considerably at the mention of Bryn's band. "Ah, so you're a musician too?" he asks, the flying gorilla debacle floating out of his mind, "Yeah, my beaut's a 'coustic alright. It does got one of them holes for an amp, though. O' course, they don't seem to have that much 'lectricity up here on the surface."
Despite the revelation that the Gomoktooths are incapable of flight, Belzac turns his gaze back to the sky, as though something might swoop down and snatch one of them up at any time. Swooping is bad, after all.
Charlene looks at Mittens curiously. "He wasn't in the reality you came from... could your technical hijinks... I mean, uh, your technical brilliance... have pulled him from another reality, somehow? I remember reading about infinite potential realities in some layperson's science magazine. It sounded like physicists believed it could be real - many universes, I mean. They had no clue how to communicate between them." She regards the small feline with ill-concealed and growing awe.
"Well... think of the second dimension as a loaf of bread. Then the third dimension is like a loaf, with lots of those slices of bread, with the length of the loaf running orthogonal to the slices..." says Mittens, a bit awkwardly to start. As an announcer by trade, she's more used to yelling things than explaining things. "Alright, so now think of the third dimension as a slice of bread. Time is the new loaf, still running orthogonal to the surface of the slices... Now think of spacetime as the slice. I think... We kind of skipped slices in the multiverse loaf, which is no big deal, I just have to recalculate. I still have access to helmetspace, so that's a good sign. But I think this guy might have just won some kind of promotional thing... spend a day with Mittens! My manager had me do all kinds of stuff like that! I could never keep track... How he got here, well... I dunno. Maybe Boots is messing with me..."
She pauses a moment, "Wait, Finwa... you said there was a controversy about a winning ticket on your planet? Oh man... I am gonna take a stab at what happened. Law of dramatics. And you are not gonna like it..."
Hearing someone calling "Deathmatch!" behind him, the spiky-haired youth turns.
"Ah-ha! Mittens!" He begins to run over with a big grin and an enthusiastic expression.
...and comes to halt several feet away with a huh? look on his face.
"Huh?" Varga says pointing at Charlene. "Uh...whoa. So it was all, like, special effects and stuff? Nobody actually got snuffed?"
A strangely disappointed look crosses Varga's pale face. But then suddenly a smile returns and he says, "Eh, screw it. Who cares? Let's do this Deathmatch Safari!"
Seeing Bryn, Varga suddenly howls like a wolf and plays an air guitar.
""
When he finishes a gust of air rushes down at the ground kicking up loose dust in a perfect circle around the young man.
"Hell, yeah! You were one of my favs. This is going to so badass!! They didn't tell me I was going to get to hang with the cast."
Finwa blinks as Belzac speaks about the flying and goats, starting to look rather confused especially when Leo adds in about a "Huuagh", trying to figure out if he was talking about Hugh and how that got in on the conversation. Her ears flick about with curiosity as her tail flicks about with the confusion.
"You have electricity ... uh Dwarves here live underground I take it?" She puts her head on Leo's shoulder as her tail wraps around Bryn's leg.
With all the space, time, continuum bread slices going on as well Finwa flicks her ears towards the smaller cat form and thinks it over, "Yes there was controversy over the ticket. It may have indicated on the container that there were two tickets as an accidental printing. That's it! There was a second ticket and they were fighting over if it were real or not."
The little lady gulps when Mittens says that her theory may not be liked and her mouth goes dry. Her emerald eyes remain glued to the helmet-cat as she wraps her arms around Leo's, holding it like a life preserver, "Ah. Go ahead. What is your assessment?" She doesn't even notice Varga's outburst and reaction towards Bryn even though her tail does tighten around his leg with her apprehension.
"Well... if it's something on your world, and you say that your brother might have been somehow involved in your being at the Deathmatch... And this guy showed up for the Deathmatch safari... Across space, time and dimensional barriers, no less. Well..." Mittens looks away a moment, "We may have a Cimelocarn family reunion on our hands."
To Varga, she speaks, "And these guys all actually died. I just split the timeline to pretty much bring them back to the dead. They've been real troopers about it. Good for them."
Varga blinks at Mittens' words. "Uhh..." Raising an eyebrow, he looks at each of the "dead" contestants in turn.
Then the young man laughs and squints one eye while pointing at the helmeted cat. "Riiiiiight, Mittens V. They're aaaaallll dead."
Varga raises one hand to the side of his face so that the palm is facing a way from him and in a much more conspiratorial voice, "You got it, kitty, I won't ruin your gig. This contest winner tows the line for his favorite program."
Then he winks and acts like his firing finger pistols several times at the group while making pew pew pew sounds.
"Anyway, what's the plan for this crazy ride you have set up for me?"
"We're going on a safari, as advertised," Charlene says cheerily, "You have your machete? Or some weapon? How are you going to hunt eight-armed flying gorillas without one?"
"So... he's not a pixie?" Leo asks with a slight bit of confusion not really knowing what the deal was with this safari character.
Mitten's talk about how the multiverse is like a loaf of bread makes about as much sense to Leo as trying to read War and Peace in an alien language. Finwa seems somewhat worried though, as she clutches his arm, the little halfling rubs her arm reassuringly. "Don't worry Finwa Mittens'll solve it." Whatever it is that's going on.
When Varga makes finger pistols Leoians eyes widen and he tackles Finwa out of the way covering her body with his to keep her safe from whatever might shoot out of his fingers.
The dark haired Norseman nods to Belzac; "Lost my guitar a while back, I was going to just sing for my supper." The physics talks slightly go over his head, although he understands the outskirts of the concepts.
However when the newcomer recognises him, Bryn throws up the horns with a soft sneer of recognition. "Thanks man, great to meet a fan. This should be wild."
His eyes go wild as Leoian jumps in front of Finwa. "Maybe now's not the best time to cop a feel? Later?" his tone soft and joking although their is an underlying respect for the halflings' courage.
"I guess it's a bit unbelievable that they'd all be dead, but it might also be unbelievable that you've crossed time and space to be on this safari. Let me guess, Murder Monk's monster made mincemeat of this man with its massive maw," sighs Mittens, "Thanks for playing along guy, makes my day."
"There's a music shop in Fairaven called Flutes n' Chimes," Belzac says, nodding when Bryn mentions his lost instrument, "But it just ain't the same without your own instrument. It's like a piece o' your soul is missin'. You can't jus' replace that." The dwarf huffs, pushing back some of his hair.
"We'd best get a move-on. I've got some Gomoks to shoot up."
A Cimelocarn family reunion.
This was something that Finwa had not thought of but now she is caught up in trying to figure out what exactly her brother had said about coming back from the dead. It was strange and difficult to put a finger on so she all but gave up and was about to say something when she was sent flying to the ground.
Finwa yelped with fear as she could not figure out what was going on now but then noticed Leo on top of her and her eyes flicked about viewing the area to figure out what in the world was going on.
"Leo! What ... what's going on?" She whimpers under his body as she notices the others not worried about anything but she still was scared from his reaction to whatever happened.
Seeing that Finwa was fine; the Nordic man agrees with Belzac. Obviously the musician was very dedicated, probably very skillful too."I'm just glad that my primary instrument is my voice. My fretting upon my guitar is..." he shrugs with a false modesty; "I'm sure you can make yours sing."
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Leoian seeing that there was no imminent danger despite finger pistols aimed at them. He carefully gets himself up off of Finwa and helps her up. "Sorry Finwa... the finger gun surprised me" the last gun like object pointed at him left a significant hole in his face after all "With the special powers and all I umm... wasn't sure what would happen with the finger shooting at you so... y'know better safe than sorry?" He supposes it was a bit foolish, but he was on edge enough as is due to staying in the town, and with all the other strange things that have been happening he wasn't about to take any chances that this Varga person might hurt Finwa with his fake pistol.
Charlene watches the halfling pileup with some bemusement. "It's probably wise to be safe rather than sorry. Speaking of powers..." She rounds on the spiky-haired newcomer, all business again. "You there. Have you ever done that thing with the dust - the air and the dust, I suppose - before? I mean, did you do that at home?"
Varga watches Leoian tackle Finwa and starts laughing.
"Oh wow! You guys are even sillier in person. Even when you don't have imminent death hanging over your head. This is going to be so much fun!"
"You have your machete? Or some weapon? How are you going to hunt eight-armed flying gorillas without one?"
"You there. Have you ever done that thing with the dust - the air and the dust, I suppose - before? I mean, did you do that at home?"
Varga puffs up with pride and says, "I wasn't going to the Riven Academy of Psions for nothing. That's on the planet Eversol, in case you haven't heard of it."
Varga holds out his hand and narrows his eyes in concentration. A shimmer of the air is all that betrays the projection of solid force that appears in the faintest outline of a wicked blade. Varga swings his hand and a chunk of wood from a nearby fence post is sheared off cleanly. The shimmer fades and Varga lets out a breath of relief.
Looking back to Charlene, Varga says, "Good enough? Though that's kind of advanced stuff. I can't do it for too long. This is more my specialty."
Varga emits a "Ha!" and thrusts a hand forward. The piece of sheared wood goes flying as if someone had just whacked it with a golf club. It embeds itself in another post thanks to the sharp edge given by the force blade Varga had used earlier.
The caravan master shakes his head then turns, ignoring the strange group of people and gets his people headed out leaving the next group to go through and out into the wilderness. It is soon the the Deathmatchers and party get to the doors and are allowed out into the pleasantness of the woods.
It is strange how the north side of the town is much more calming than the south but by what everyone can see there is not much land for farming which must have been the reason that people actually braved the dark creatures. How else were they to gain the food required to keep a city running?
The day goes by easily enough until the road the group needs to travel turns into a small trail through the woods.
"It's ok, Leo. It's ok." Finwa says calmly as she gives him a kiss on the cheek then brushes herself off but no sooner does she do that then Varga shows that he does have some strange abilities himself. She squeaks and holds onto Leo and Bryn wide eyed.
As they get going she is happy enough but she makes sure to keep her distance from the windy one and reserves her attention for watching the wilds go by. She keeps track of birds and sounds, ears twitching with all the interesting things that she's not used to. Soon she is in the rhythm of walking and talking until they hit the trail.
Finwa takes out the map and looks at it in deep concentration to make sure they had missed no turns then hands it over to Charlene, "It seems we have been going the right way and if I'm right we have made a good trek for the day. Should we go on or camp for the night? If we camp we should be at the Gomok camp some time around noon tomorrow I think."
Romycas spent the next few hours resting, recovering his strength. He slept peacefully, and knew that once he woke, he would break them out of their prison cell. The stout wood bars were no match for his strength at full power. After waking again, he stood up as best he could in the squat cave, then moved to the bars that blocked their exit. Kneeling down, he placed his palms onto the stout wood, and closed his eyes.
Dark energy started to swirl up his arms, his muscles bulged as his artificial blood pumped through them faster. Then he drew a hand back and threw it forward, punching a hole big enough to fit even his large frame in the wood. Of course, now he felt a bit tired from just that show of force. Looking over his shoulder to his fellow prisoners, he commanded "Go." He said, then ran out the opening he made to fight the guards off.
"Um... no idea, really. If you think it's best to camp now, that sounds fine. Arriving there in the daylight is definitely something we want to do, unless you can see in the dark." The manager ponders a moment. "Er... can you? See in the dark, that is?"
"I can. I mean, I have natural nightvision, even, but my laser goggles give me infrared vision as well. And they shoot lasers. Do you remember that part of the Deathmatch, Varga? I was seriously becoming unhinged," says Mittens, almost proud of her own insanity.
"Got some of the ol' darkvision myself. Comes with the stoneblood, y'see."
"Hells, yes! Laser Eyes are bam-frackin'-tastic! Goggles or not, still freaking cool." Varga says in admiration at the helmetkitty's mania-induced actions.
Varga had spent the last several hours essentially geeking out about being on an actual safari and regaling everyone with his view of the Deathmatch, including horrifically descriptive accounts of their own grisly deaths. He had calmed down once they had gotten further out as he looked around wide-eyed and occasionally swatted his forceblade at stray jungle tree and bush branches that poked at the party.
"Wow. I mean wow. This is like the bestest contest prize ever!"
Finwa shrugs, "I can see in the dark as well so it is no problem for me." She closes her eyes and breathes deeply taking in the sounds of the wilderness and concentrating on the foliage about. The little lady purrs as she communes then opens her eyes again, "We probably can get close enough to view the camp and I can make a hide out for us there so we can check it all out before making further plans."
She takes some food out of the pack and tosses a piece of beef on the bone towards their gnoll friend then hands some beef buns to the others, "So ... should we go on?" The little female starts walking again and looking for a river just in case they were going to camp and so they could get more water if they were continuing on.
"Well... I seem to be the Weakest Link here, vision-wise. We should probably start looking for a place to set up camp. No point stumbling onto the Grokteeth in the dark. Who knows? They may be able to see at night as well." Charlene glumly munches part of the beef bun, then offers the rest to Turble, if he wants it.
"I can sorta-see in the dark. More about using a light projection of force to catch the outlines of stuff," Varga says. He puts a hand on his chin and looks thoughtful. "I guess it's like sonar. Just without, you know, sound."
Varga eats his beef bun enthusiastically. "Hey! This is way better that the noodles that won this contest!"
Bryn had spend part of the afternoon, talking to Varga. Trying to make the enthusiastic man "mark out" more... In fact it was joyful to see the look on his face when Bryn started the first few bars of his big song "autumns fall".
"Nope Charlene, I cannot see in the dark either. And the forest gets very dark." Bryn continues; "Maybe could one of you heat up some rocks? For our fire, as we couldn't have open flames if the Gomoktooth can see in the dark."
Bryn has edged closer to Finwa and Leoian, ostensibly so that their greater vision on the dark could help protect him. Though if that meant he got more harmonious with them, he's not one to complain.
"So how about we camp for the night and set off in the pale hue of pre-dawn. Those that have good vision can lead us, with the wane illumination." He leans over to Finwa; "You could lead me anywhere."
"Thus we should pass the Gomorktooth's village at dawn, when they'll either be asleep or just waking. Depending upon their habits....of course if they're diurnal then we have trouble." he puts a hand to his chin feeling the light stubble; "What colour were their eyes?" he says almost absently, wondering if they are like owls.
"Then we can find Mittens balloon." he turns to Varga, "Hows that a safari in a balloon!"
Leoian looks around to the others "Can most people not see in the dark?" the little man asked as if he'd expected everyone to be able to see clearly in the dark. "Ummm Bryn, how are we supposed to heat rocks without any fire?"
"I guess we should wait until it's light out if people can't see..." He looks confused towards Bryn again the man was often very confusing "What's diurnal?... anyway yes we should go find Mittens' balloon and she can continue with her plan."
"Laser Eyes! They should be able to heat rocks....unless they make them explode." Bryn concedes looking to Mittens with awe. "Although, I suppose a great woodsman, like yourself might be able to hide the sight of the flames?"
The Norseman lowers his head, he feels that Leoian is still confused and dislikes him; "Diurnal is when you hunt at dawn and dusk like certain owls and bit cats." He brushes his feet across the brush.
Finwa sits down and looks at some rocks that are in an area of clear ground then closes her eyes. Roots start to come out of the ground and creates a teepee over the section then builds out into awnings at each side. As they move they create four shelters facing towards the rocks and inside each woven beds are built with leaves to cushion the occupants. The cat like lady touches her top teeth on her bottom lip, her small canines pinching the light flesh but does not pierce the skin as more leaves create a barrier over everything from the elements.
Once it all stops growing the group can see that one of the short shelters has a large bed with three "pillows", one is thick with one pillow, another is thinner and the last one has a bed with a circular bed at the end of it.
Emerald eyes finally open and Finwa smiles tiredly, "One for us three," She points to Bryn and Leo, "And an extra pillow in there for Mittens. The thick one for Belzac was it? Thin for Varga and last for Charlene and the round for Turble. That should make the fire not be seen and the smoke to go up in several places in the middle. So we get fresh food?" She leans against Bryn's arm exhausted, "I guess Charlene and Bryn cook. Others get water, food and ... stuff." She waves her hand about with a sleepy expression but touches Leo tenderly as her eyes close a bit.
"I think a pillow will do fine, but I want it on my hoverboard. That way, if there is any trouble, I can be off right away without even having to leave my comfort," says Mittens.
Belzac regards the display of Finwa's power with a curious expression, but merely shakes his head when offered a pillow. "Nah, I'm fine, thanks. I'mma jus find a nice rock to sleep on."
"Are you alright? I know how much wyrding takes it out of you." Bryn puts his arm around the exhausted Finwa, letting her lean against him. "Now, why don't we sit you down here."
He gently picks her up and places her on the verdent ground. "I'll take of you, later." he promises gently.
With a turn to Charlene; "So, boss shall we get started upon the food. We have plenty of dried grain and some smoked meat from Hugh, even a few fresh fruits too." he considers the options. "A light stir-fry, with some rice?"
The Norseman starts to prepare the fire, his eyes glancing occasionally to the tired cat-lady.
"It may be wiser to serve items separately, since we don't know everyone's tastes. No point glomming them all together only to find nobody will eat it. We can get fancier in time." And Charlene digs through the stores while Bryn starts a fire, unpacking utensils and foodstuffs enough for everyone.
"If the rest of you could fetch water and forage for fresh herbs, roots, or fruits, that would be very helpful," she tells the newcomers, eyeing them skeptically. God, I doubt they'll be able to manage that.
"Uh...do you have like a guide book? I kinda...slept through the botany portion of biology..." Varga says sheepishly.
Then his face brightens. "Wait! I do remember my physics though! I could use force to put pressure down on the pot and cook the food that way. 'Pee time vee over tee' and all that. Then no need to worry about fire or smoke or anything." Varga smiles excitedly.
"Well, I s'pose I could dig up some roots..." Belzac mumbles, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. The dwarf had lived on the road long enough to know what was good for eating, and what wasn't. He very nearly shudders when he recalls what had happened with the speckled shroom. "Just don't come cryin' to me if it don't taste good. Some of your hume' stomachs might not be able to handle it."
"Pressure cooking presumes a vessel which can hold the pressure, of course... unless you can do that with, er, whatever you call the powers you have. We can cook what you bring separately, Mr. Boomshot, so you can at least enjoy it if we cannot. Turble may be able to eat it as well."
She sighs and begins, "Cooking is so hard without a counter or table..." then stops abruptly and gives Finwa a guilty glance, hoping the catwoman was asleep.
The fire having burst to life under his ministrations, slowly being fed until it provides a nice even temperature. 'It should be hot enough in the 'tent' tonight.'
"We'll manage, I've cooked in worse conditions." Bryn says confidently; "You can do a few magical things with mushrooms. But as Ms. Oftenseen says, we keep things separated so we can pick and choose."
His hands skilfully wielding a blade, starts to prepare the dishes. Moving carefully but with speed.