You are woken by the sound of the waves.
It's an insistent, low roar, or the purr of a satisfied cat. You try to pull the cheap hospital pillow up over your face to drown out the noise – except there is no pillow and, with a sense of concussed realisation, no hospital.
You're lying on the sand in a place you've never seen before. The bones of old ships surround you, bleached white with age and splayed open like a cracked ribcage. The sand is red, or brown - the colour of rust - and the seawater of the same approximate hue, if maybe a little darker.
Low stormclouds fill the sky, threatening rain but not yet delivering on their promise.
Your head hurts, and your ears are ringing. Your throat tastes of bile. You stand, coughing, trying without success to brush some of the sand off of your clothes and stamping your feet to bring a sense of life back into them.
And like the storm above you, the second wave of realisation spreads silently through you mind. It creeps up on you and whispers in your ear, and despite the fact that you're lost, cold, and completely alone...
… you are whole.
She awakes,
as soon as she did she brought her focus back up, A reflex,
I remeber... humm not all, ... mind wipe, .. so what have we here
sounds, lapping water, air, wind, her eyes open, Empathy on.
Nothing no one around, still.
::HaxQin report::
::Active mama::
That was good news, he was still with her, her eyes opened she was looking up the sky was red.
::HaxQin where are we::
::Insufficient information mama::
::All right, report what happened after the meeting::
::Insufficient information mama::
$^$$*£! mind wiped like me, shame
Would have helped to have more information, but who ever was behind this had done a very rough job of wiping her and HexQins memories, given time she could maybe just unpick it. For now she had to start acting. Time to move.
Slowly she started to test her limbs, arms, head then Legs, yes movement. Well that saved her spending the day trying to flout every where. She reached for her things, More good news, her bag was with her.
Lots of sand, and looked like a storm was coming.
Slowly she got up, wobbly then with more steadiness.
Her mouth felt full of.. She spat out some bile, she reached into her bag and got out a water flack, she drank some and spat out the rest of the bile.
That feels better,
now looking around she could see, sea, sand, broken ships add plants and the odd strange animal. Slowly she placed all her things, bag, clothing, Hexqin in a pile, until she was nude, there was no one to see her and even if they did she did not care. Her training was kicking in.
She turned to let HexQin see her back.
::Describe what has been done to my back HexQin?::
::An attachment has been grafted to your spine mam, its seems to made from ceramic and some form of synthetic skin. It runs from your neck to your lower spine. Much like a centipede. Its 3" wide and some 1/2" thick. Its seems to be made of a number of connected links. Your skin looks red around the links but it looks healed.::
She bent over, the stretched to the left and right testing its movement range. Interesting she was more flexible now, She cut of the pain with a thought.
Well they had made her body work again,
best get ready for the fun
She then took a cloth and with some water cleaned herself off, once done she put back on slowly her fine travel clothing, The activated the shift ability built into the sleeves. Her clothing morphed into her fine combat outfit. Boots, hat, Then reaching into her bag she pulled out a gun sword belt, strapping it in. She bent down, pulling out a box, unlocking it she took out a finally made revolver, checking it she placed it in her belt holster. Then four cylinders from the box. Placing then in the gun belt pouches. She placed the box back in her handbag and then took out a rapier and dagger. placing one on her leg the other in its belt sheath. To more things went into patches. She stood back up, pulling the straps out of her hand back and making it into a small haversack, placing it on her back she then stood. Finally HexQin jumped up and moved up her to shoulder. She was now Ready to meet the new world.
Right then, lets what what &**^^ of beyond they have placed me in. Because I have a feeling this is no longer the prime.
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BRIGHT...I can see
John stands, blinking. Slowly he sttod and surveyed the scene. Inside he was exhulting, but then how...where am I, where are we?
Suddenly a fit of coughing shook him as he spat a foul taste from his mouth. On the ground was his pack, and he was in his work cloths and armor.
[i] no tears, just...slime [/b] john carefully touched his eyes. They were hard, metallic.
Seeing others around him rising, coughing, he says what's going on? Where are we? What has happened to us?
You ask your question, but are answered by nothing more than the quiet sounds of the ocean - the companions you had expected to find are absent.
Sallrana looks around but seeing nothing, looking for foot prints or tracks to see how she got here. This was annoying the dunes and ship wrecks meant she could see nothing.
But the training she had gotten came into play now, years ago, out in the wood they showed you how to get over problems like this.
Talking HexQin off her shoulder she through him up into the air, holding up him in place with a power he when 30' up into the sky above her and held there.
::report what you see::
::sand mama, sea, ship wrecks, plants, some clouds, ::
She dropped him back down,
::same as me then, well let do this the blunt way and see what jumps::
She pulled her revolver but dos not use it, In steed She pointed her finger up and then used another power
A loud
sound comes from her finger tip
Best she find out now what badness is waiting for her, she dos a 360 slow turn to see what moves at the sound.
Jack Mister stands tall, for the first time in a long time. Feels for the Pain.
Nothing.
Steps, carefully, on the sand.
Nothing.
Walks, then walks briskly.
Still no pain.
Along on the beach, with a crazy whoop Jack runs as he has not run in so long. Enormous, slow, distance eating strides. He jumps over a fallen spar, lands eight feet away.
A twinge.
He stops. Carefully he examines his legs. Slightly deformed - but as he looks they return to the correct shape.
Happily wandering back to where he awoke he sings in a voice like clashing rocks, a song of might and power. Only the rhyming verses and the cadence reveals it as a song at all
Reaching the spot he woke up in he searches around, finds his kit, stows it and heads off to climb - - a fallen ship.
Baldwin woke to a strange rushing-roaring sound that he hadn't really heard before. Groaning, he reached for his pillow to stuff his face in, but he couldn't find his pillow. All he found was something uncomfortably gritty in his hands. "Whatindaworld?" His words tumbled out of his mouth, bringing the grit into his mouth. His face crumpled in disgust and he rolled over to sputter whatever this stuff was out of his mouth. A tinkling giggle filled the air as he tried to open his eyes. Everything was covered with this grit!
He finally managed to push himself into a sitting position. There was a nagging thought in the back of his mind that he had been talking to someone about something...'Ah forget it. If it were that important it'll come back to you. Maybe.' His eyes raked over the strange landscape, the rust colored grit('Probably sand.') and water. There was a pack sitting next to him with some supplies, and a couple of weapons that he could use. He looked around in his general vicinity once again, and saw his feet.
Wait.
Feet?
"Smackme'tilI'mblue! I've got legs again!!" He laughed with joy, ignoring the tender feeling where he had been amputated, and tries to stand. It took him a couple of tries, and when he finally managed to remain upright he wobbled around like a newborn calf. It didn't matter that it looked like it was going to rain, or that he was cold, alone, and had a terrible taste in his mouth. He had legs!
Baldwin turned in the direction he thought he heard something from, scooped up his pack and his weapons and tottered off, still trying to get used to walking again.
, you manage to climb to climb to the top of one of the wrecks, luxuriating in your sudden freedom and the lack of ceiling above you. It's been a long time, but you're free.
From your new vantage you can clearly see the unfamiliar world around you. The wrecks that dot the sand continue out into the sea, as far as you can make out - there's a fog bank rolling slowly closer across the water, maybe an hour away at the most. Looking inland you can see the familiar distant shapes of the mountains - too familiar, in fact.
You hear a loud snapping sound fro somewhere nearby, and can see a suggestion of figures moving a little way down the beach.
, the only thing your manifesting seems to have disturbed is , who appears from behind a nearby wreck with his gun drawn. Your eyes meet, each of you taking in the wholeness of the other.
, you adapt surprisingly quickly to your replacement legs - they are balanced well, choice workmanship. You hear singing - or what could be termed as singing if you were being generous - from a place quite nearby, and as you head a little closer to the rolling darkness of the sea you spy a massive, hulking shape climbing one of the broken ship-pieces. After a few moments of terror you recognise the shape to be Jack, and the grating shout to be his voice.
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Gathering his equipment, john then moves towards where the noise had come, recovering his composure as he moved. He sees a familiar figure standing before him, although when he last saw her she couldn't stand.
Milady, wellmet. Are you well?
John moves over to her, pointing his pistol downward, and looks at her. She sees his eyes, glinting with a wet metallic shimmer. He smiles, the first time she has ever seen him do that. It seems to drop years off his face.
you are healed. Congratulations.
On 1st seeing john she keeping rotating still trying to spot any thing moving.
Once it's obvious only he was flushed out she stops pointing her revolver and slips it with a flourish into its holster.
Gone is the long dress and floppy hat john, she now looks like this Image here minus street and rifle. She has shaded glasses on that look back at him.
She meets his smile with her own.
"It good to see you John, I had a feeling you would be close by. I don't know why, it's hard to remember what happened, and you have eyes once again. Just as I have use of my legs, I can not tell you how good it feels. Mine you there is some discomfort, the graft was not perfect. I hope your new eyes are not as painful as my back. Mind you the pain is fading."
She had made her mind up in the garden about, two of her fellow afflicted, one bring John. Moves close to him she stood by his side and taking his arm, leans close to his ear in to Which she Whispers.
"You where a Judge, with eyes you are again, always remember that John. What we do WE do for good of the realm, 'our duty is the state... and all things within'."
John that moto is the moto of the Royal Inquisitors, you know this.
The 1st part is common Knowledge but the second is not, it's a pass fraise between Inquisitors and there officers, to hear that from a lady of the real could mean only two things. She is ether an Inquisitor which your sore she is not OR she has or is worked for them. Just as you have one or twice not doubt, when matters of protecting the realm have come with in your portfolio.
She let's go of his arm,
"Well we have our things, that's a good start, have you see any body other than us, John, and please call me Sallrana, makes life simpler and more cordial.
Nature
Geography
History
Local
Plains
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John looks at Sallrana's face carefully as if checking her out pore by pore.
Yes, indeed, Sallrana. Justice and law, above and below, giving the correct response
John checks the ground for tracks
Perhaps I can determine how we arrived in this...place
True but then another sense motive to see if she was lying or being deceitful in what she just said. Hehe
"I was thinking the same myself John. And then shall we find cover from the coming storm"
More interested in the approaching figures than the landscape, Jack starts to climb down, jumping the last few feet for the pure joy of it.
Friend? Foe? Best to be careful
Wrenching at one of the nearby spars Jack starts trying to wrench off a makeshift club
[b]"Yes going inland may be better, not knowing the tide range or how bad a storm surge can get. Being close to the water could be a bad idea. But it may be wort h looking over the wrecks, see if they hold any thing of use wile we have time."[b]
She pulls out a compass from her back pack checking orientation.
, in looking for tracks you find absolutely none save for your own - not even a disturbance in the ground around where you woke. Taking a look at the vast amount of bleached wood around you, you reckon it would be possible to build a shelter if you needed to... but doubt you have the skill to do so effectively.
, you succeed in breaking away a piece of timber that would serve as a large makeshift club. Focusing on the voices you're reasonably sure that you can hear the high-born lady from the rose garden, and she seems to be in conversation with somebody else.
, although you consider yourself something of an expert on the more scholarly fields this place is leaving you rather at a loss - your studies have never hinted at a locale with sands of this hue, and the unnatural claret-coloured sea that sucks at the shoreline is like nothing you've ever seen. Your compass tells you that the sea is to the north of you, which hints that you are on the other side of the Katterfein mountain range to Barrjka - a long way from home - but the landscape around you leaves you baffled.
There is something you remember, the vaguest memory, about a place of shipwrecks... but that memory is of a children's story about the explorers of old, who walked so far that they reached the ends of the earth an kept going, finding themselves in the boundary space between their own world and another... but you certainly don't remember walking any time recently.
She puts her compass away and looks at John.
"My guess John is shift-port, magic or power, take your pick, we have been dropped here. The problem is here is odd, this I think is a place of myth. A place you only find in child's and bard story's. We are on that part of the map that says 'Here be Dragons' John."
She holds her can up and looks out to sea.
"I do know the sea is north and we are on the other side of the other side of the Katterfein mountain range from Barrjka. We'er on the shore line of what sailor and you may think me mad, call 'The blood sea' where lost ships come to rest. I said a place of Myth where the bard tales says worlds meet."
She looks back and smiling a sardonic smile.
"It seems it not so mythic after all, or tails failed to point out it was a real location."
She points at a broken ship.
"They did not land here empty John, the question we have to ask ourselves is now is, what happened to the survives?"
Then back not him, wile pulling off HexQin and throwing him up into the air once more. The Pulls her Revolver out ready.
Jack lumbers towards the sound of talking, then smiles, and sprints.
"What I am saying John is the wrecks may not be empty... yes I see it to"
She looks hard then says to John.
"It looks like the hill Giant who was with us in the garden"
::HexQin Name::
::Master Jack mam::
"Jake I seem to remember his name was, now with the use of legs like me."
She makes HexQin glow some 20' up above her head, hes still detecting.
"JACK OVER HERE!"
"An Orc you say, I see John thank you, do you think hes safe?"
She to keeps her revolver out, but pointed downwards.
This man has a lot of experience with wild races, it would be wise to heed him.
She nodded agreement as his words.
Baldwin grinned as he spotted Jack. He looked very intimidating from afar, a giant hulking shape waving around a giant piece of timber atop a ship wreckage. However, before he could call out to Jack, he was down from the wreckage and sprinting in the direction away from Baldwin.
"Dang it." Baldwin ran after him, his feet kicking up the rust colored sand. Hopefully he would catch up with Jack soon, because a friendly face, even if it is an orc's, was better than no face at all.
, your efforts to detect magic do not go unrewarded. The entire area is suffused with a fading aura, as would be left by some sort of mass transit spell. The power generated by such an endeavour would have been legendary - it is possible that the aura you detected was created only hours ago, and may well have signaled your arrival.
and , you arrive at the site of the glowing psicrystal within moments of each other, Jack's energetic lope and obvious happiness a mild contrast to Baldwin's effort-reddened cheeks.
Wile the others meet and greet Lady Silvermoon is studying her finding.
She bends down to the and picks up a hand full, looking at it.
She lets it fall.
Very business like she says.
"The power used to transport us here was more than than any thing I have seen before, a continent spanning group teleport. That's off any kind of Royal academy of science scale. The party that fixed our body's is far more gentlemen than a simple group of business men and inventors"
She rubs her hands whipping off the sand.
, the land to the south of you is mostly obscured by the veritable forest of beached vessels, but you can see the suggestion of a sprawling city surrounded by forest on the slopes of the nearby mountains- you estimate several days of hard travel would be enough to reach it.
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I can see a city over there, on the mountain side. A few days walk. Shallrana, you seem to know the most about this side of the world. Did any of those myths talk about settlements here, and the sort of reception we could receive?
While saying this John takes two things out of his pocket. First an armband, emblazoned with a coat of arms, (A bear passent, on a field of green on brown, headed by a crown), and an iron holy symbol of abador, god of law and civilization. He puts the armband on his right arm, clipping it into place, and hangs the holy symbol around his neck.
Speaking to himself he says, it's been a long time
She looks on as John puts on his insignia of office.
Sallrana then pats him in his arm a smile on her face.
In a soft voice and with a tone of respect she says.
"Much better Judge John, you truly look the part now."
She takes her hand away.
"Well let's see what I can recall shall we"
She closes her eyes and slips into her mind scape.
She is standing in the hall way of a vast building, rooms and doors abounds. Objects litter every wall and floor. She moves to a door and enters, the room is full of books and maps, she scans them at the speed of thought.
+5 Autohypnosis* (+1Wis 1Rank)<
Knowledge (Geography)
Knowledge (History)
Knowledge (Local)
Knowledge (Nature)
Knowledge (Nobility)
Knowledge (Psionics/Arcana)
Knowledge (Religion)
Baldwin, smiled at the others as he caught his breath. Jack was faster with those new legs of his than he had thought, thus Baldwin ran faster than he had in quite a while. It was both invigorating and exhausting. He nodded his head in agreement with John before looking to the darkening sky and the fog bank rolling in. 'This is not at all what I thought I was getting into. Actually, I don't know what I thought I was getting into.'
"Perhaps we should start moving soon? The weather doesn't appear to be waiting on us, and I for one would rather not be on the beach when it hits." As he said this, a small pebble came flying from behind him and hit him on one of his new prosthetics. Apparently his little friends didn't like his new mode of transportation.
Jack slows down eighty feet from the others, and approaches more slowly.
Come in at this speed, Men will probably shoot me.
"The power used to transport us here was more than than any thing I have seen before, a continent spanning group teleport. That's off any kind of Royal academy of science scale. The party that fixed our body's is far more gentlemen than a simple group of business men and inventors"
"Perhaps we should start moving soon? The weather doesn't appear to be waiting on us, and I for one would rather not be on the beach when it hits."
Jack shrugs
Jack seems to think he is going to be in charge
Her eyes flick open.
"Sorry Jack did you say something, I will not be a moment just need to do something, back in a jiffy"
Lady Silvermoon looks for a wreck with the height she needs, walking over to it, she climes it.
Once at the top she cross refinancing what she discovered in her mind scape from what she and HexQin can see.
Once at the top she once more send HexQin up 30' to report what he says from the added hight.
Once again, as every morning since the Incident, Roger tried to sit up on his own. To his mild shock, he actually did. Shaking his head to clear the grogginess, he realized that: a) he could move freely (miracle of miracles!) and b) he had been awakened by the sound of a gun being fired. Standing (ye gods, he could stand!), he noticed a stack of his posessions: his beat up armor, which appeared to have been recently tailored, a new sea cloak, and ... oh my. That is the most lovely sight I have ever seen. thought Roger as he unwrapped and drew the massive blade. that was when he noticed that he was much taller then he had been before. whatever they done to me, I'll take it. Now then, let's see which of the other nuts got let outta the nutterhouse, then, shall we me pretty?
..........
As he approached, each of you noticed one thing about Roger: somehow, he had gotten bigger. Singing a rather debauched tavern drinking song that died on his lips as he strolled down the beach, he cleared his throat and boomed "Morning nobs. Great day for a stroll, eh?", massive smile radiating on his face.
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oh great, the leg breaker. Hmm, he's bigger. And a big sword. Oh well the bigger they are...
Well met, Roger. Have you been eating your spinach? we are just waiting for Shallrana to get down, and then we are seeking cover from the storm.
You notice John is wearing the armband of a lawman. The Royal Inquisition, no less.
Sallrana looks down from the hight's of the wreck as the thug shows up.
Well well well, this is going to be most interesting
She lets the thought pass, looking out into the world.
, from your position at the top of a shattered boat hull and the extra height afforded to you by your psicrystal you scan the horizon, such as it is - the vast wall of fog is drawing closer and closer. The dwellings that you can see in the distance are faint, but you know enough about the style of architecture in your own nation to distinguish 'foreign' when you see it.
What draws your eye more than the distant city is the sea itself - this high up you can see that the cracked and blasted hulls extend as far as you can see, piercing the unruly surface of the water where you would estimate that the size of the ship be far too small for it to have been beached without there being a considerably high reef there, or the current tide being far lower than you would expect from the state of the beach.
, it takes a few minutes for you to adapt to the sudden increase in power and muscle density, but you are more than pleased with the result - even after so long holed up in the hospital, almost completely motionless, you're sure that you possess all of your old skill - and with a new strength to your name, too.
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John focuses on the movement. Is that the ship Shallrana is on?
Can any of you see that movement in the sand there?
John draws his pistol. Touching his holy symbol he murmurs a short phrase
usticejay uidegay ymay imatay and
Shallrana I think you had best rejoin us