Chapter 3: The Enemy Within

[mike]

Torhak glances about the room warily, his axe at the ready.

"By Khyber's Teeth," he says, "where is Roresht? And my other brothers of war?"

He points his axe at the half-elf with the rapier. "What have you done to me? And what is this ... this place?"

He spits on the floor. "This smells of sorcery. I like this not."

[Darren]

Kal whips his head around to look at the dwarf, his green eyes trying to penetrate into the dwarf's very soul, to try to discover his intentions. His posture hasn't slackened at all, and he still holds his Deneith longsword as if ready to strike. His head turns quickly to look at each of his companions.

"Grafth, Goran...check those other crates. We need to know what, or who, else is inside of them." Kalarian then walks up to the dwarf, his longsword still at the ready, his long black coat flaring out behind him with the speed of his movement. The many straps and buckles around his leg creak slightly as he walks. "Who are you? Where did you come from?" Kal spares a quick look at Ralsor, then looks back at the dwarf as he nods his head in the half-elf's direction. "You've just become a stowaway on my Lyrander friend's airship, so I suggest you answer quickly before he decides to pitch you overboard."

[mike]

Torhak stares at the half-elf. "I am Torhak Khazardun, of Droranathhold. I ... I was in the depths of a dark vault beneath the Mror Holds, looking for ... something. Then the giant beast leapt out at us. I drew blood, but after that ... I do not know." A mixture of sadness and confusion fills his eyes for a moment.

He shakes his head, and the confusion is gone. Anger has replaced it. "I am no stowaway, sir. And if you wish to throw me off of this -- this ship, as you say, you are most welcome to try. But I pray you enjoy the taste of steel, for I promise you shall feast upon it if you decide to make good on your threat."

[Darren]

"I have heard of such beasts that can turn flesh to stone. You're lucky to be alive." Kalarian's head swivels as he talks, looking to the other crates. "Fine. For the moment, we will believe that you mean us no harm. Let's check these other crates and see what else lurks."

Kalarian kneels near Tangat. In Halfling, he says, "See if you can get the scent of that gnome woman. I want to know where she's gone..."

[Jeremy]

Goran eyes Torhak in silence for a moment, then sheathes his sword and approaches.

"My name is Goran, and these are my companions. We are on a dark business, so it may be you who wish to be free of us. Time will tell. I am a ranger from the Eldeen Reaches, though my business has taken me through these confused lands for some time now."

"Can you really remember nothing of what brought you here? Or what it was you faced before all went black? Do you not know what became of your companions? I can assure you they are not here...unless there are more crates..."

[Joe]

"My friends, I don't mean to be a wet blanket..."

Streko points to the shuddering crate, the screeching within makes his ears hurt...he can only imagine the pain Tangat must be experiencing.

"...but, I think perhaps we should introduce ourselves AFTER the current situation has resolved itself to a satisfactory conclusion, meaning no one is dead, dying or wishing they were so."

He turns to Ralsor, fire in his words and thoughts. "Are you a black market smuggler as well, Lyrander? Transporting living beings magically transformed into stone to some slave market?"

He glances back at the crates. "Perhaps the gnome was simply attempting to find a missing relative? Or a family heirloom? As if we need MORE enemies..."

Streko does not budge. His masterwork sickle remains before him in a guarding stance as he continues to look around, attempting to spot something that might give him an idea of where the gnome has vanished to.

"And someone might consider closing the door...it isn't like we want whatever is in here to have free reign of the ship..." Streko glares at Ralsor..."and its elemental core. Do we?"

A stray thought passes Streko's conscious mind. Why is he so angry at his host? He isn't sure, nor does he care at the moment.

"I'm simply tired of fighting for my life every waking minute. Khyber's breath, but I'm tired of it!"
_______________________________________________

Streko will continue to make spot checks throughout the cargo hold, attempting to locate signs fo the gnome...until something breaks his concentration, that is....

[Jeff]

"Whoa!" Ralsor, the half-elf in the longcoat, points his rapier blade down to the ground as a gesture of cautious peace. "I didn't do anything to you, mate."

At Streko's accusing, he pivots sharply on the halfling. "Hey! I'm no smuggler! And you and I will exchange further more words about this if you feel inclined to accuse me of committing crimes. I don't appreciate your accusations. As far as I knew, I was hauling some sort of eccentric collector's statues. That's all I know. If I knew there were live people...."

He shakes his head. "No. That gnome...did this! Who in Khyber is she!? And now she's conveniently gone."

The screeching sound coming from crate C has quieted. There was no green light emanating from any of the other crates behind these four, and certain there are no sounds from them.

"Torhak, is it?" the half-elf says. "Well, master dwarf, you've gone from being an unintentional stowaway to a passenger aboard my ship. Welcome to the Thunderhead. If there's foul sorcery afoot, then I assure it didn't come from any of us, but probably was your means of getting....in there." He gestures to the wooden crate Torhak is still half-standing in. At the dwarf's feet is packing earth and stony powder, which seems like it was meant to cushion him in rock form. "If you'll be patient with me, I'm sure we can sort this out together. If it helps....I won't charge you airship fare for the time being." He offers a knavish grin.

__________________________________

C'mon, guys...give us some more physical description of your characters for the benefit of Torhak. Darren did, see? How about Jeremy, Joe, and Josh?

[Josh]

The shifter, having made a cursory check of the other cargo in the area, glances at the noisiest of the crates. He seems uncomfortable with the situation as a whole.

Having yet to put on his recently repaired coat, Grafth seems less bulky than usual, his athletic frame more apparent under a simple faded shirt. The flat, dull piece of iron that hangs around is neck is in stark contrast to the unnaturally bright orange hair which seems to spring unbidden from the top of his head.

"Streko, be calm. Come with me—we need to check on Pel and Amal." He gives a brief glance at the dwarf. "Welcome, Torhak." The shifter quickly heads towards Pel's quarters, hoping Streko is in tow.

[Jeff]

Tangat reaches his nose to the ground, sniffs, and starts to pad around the room...slowly walking to the same door through which everyone else entered. Evidently, the gnome left the room again after her initial intrusion.

Grafth races up to the room where Amal and Pel lay, Streko [evidently?] following behind. Both lay sleeping still, the room undisturbed. Along the way up, Grafth caught a scent in the air of something unusual. Not the musk of an animal, but certainly something other than any of the races with which he's become acquainted. Short of shifting, he's unable to trace its source.

Ralsor walks warily over towards Torhak, very aware of the nasty axe the dwarf carries. When he approaches the crate that Torhak had been confined in (it's only an inch or two taller than the dwarf himself), the half-elf points to the D burned into the wood frame. "'D' for dwarf? Twelve Moons, I need to think about this." He looks to Goran and Kal, then to Tangat, who has just walked out of the storage room. "Yes, find the gnome."

[Joe]

At Streko's accusing, he pivots sharply on the halfling. "Hey! I'm no smuggler! And you and I will exchange further more words about this if you feel inclined to accuse me of committing crimes. I don't appreciate your accusations. As far as I knew, I was hauling some sort of eccentric collector's statues. That's all I know. If I knew there were live people...."

Streko closes his eyes and breathes deeply. "My apologies, Master Ralsor. I am angry with myself for not speaking with the gnome in more detail and for not keeping a closer eye or two on her movements. I am easily rattled these days, it would seem. When I was a child, my sister always said I was such a quiet boy..."

"Streko, be calm. Come with me—we need to check on Pel and Amal." He gives a brief glance at the dwarf. "Welcome, Torhak." The shifter quickly heads towards Pel's quarters, hoping Streko is in tow.

"Yes. Yes, of course." He nods to Torhak. "Good dwarf, we will speak again soon, once we have discovered what, exactly, is occurring here. But, please, be welcomed. I am sure Kalaraian will be happy to answer any and all questions you may have..."

Streko quickly chases after Grafth, who has already left the cargo hold. He has his sickle in hand and the omnipresent haversack is comfortable against his back. His thick and wavy brown hair billows in the breeze he creates as he runs after his shifter friend.

He arrives at his room seconds after Grafth. "How are they?"

Both lay sleeping still, the room undisturbed.

"I will remain here, with them, if you wish to pursue the gnome's path, although I suggest taking someone else with you...perhaps Tangat?"

A thought occurs to him. "Perhaps Matheu can assist as well?"

[Darren]

admin said:

Kal notices the slightest traces of what appear to be footsteps in the stony dust that has spilled out across the deck. They appear to lead out of the room. They are small, strange prints.

Kalarian points to the footprints in the dust as he kneels down by them, his cheek brushing against the high color of his coat. "What do you make of these, my friends? Tracking has never been my strong suit, but Tangat seems to have caught wind of something. Ralsor, if you would stay here and keep an eye on the rest of the..." Kalarian pauses, clears his throat and nods slightly towards the dwarf, "...cargo, then Tangat and I will see where these lead."

Kalarian looks to Goran. "Perhaps you can help me track whatever made these prints?"

Kalarian heads off, following Tangat's nose.

[Josh]

"Yes, alright," says Grafth, "I don't know what's going on around here, but reviving Pel is our utmost concern at the moment— I'm sure you agree."

"I'm going above deck, and then I'll work my way back down."

The shifter turns and heads from the quarters and up the mid-ship stairs. He will make an anti-clockwise survey of the deck, starting at the starboard side and making sure to the check out the "lounge" as he passes by each entrance. He will end at the wheelhouse.

[Jeremy]

Goran nods at Kal. "Let's do some tracking indeed...though what my skills might yield on a wooden ship is anyone's guess."

Goran's lanky yet wiry-strong frame moves beneath his battle-worn clothing in quick, precise movements. His eyes, already on the job, dart expertly across the scene before him as he chooses a path to start their search. A sword sits snugly in it's long sheath, and a bow of exquisite craftsmanship is slung over his torso...companion to an empty quiver. He pulls his long (and dirty!) hair back from a fair face lit by sad eyes, and nods to Kal that he's ready to leave the room and search the ship.

---

How's that?

[mike]

Torhak stares in disbelief at those who start leaving the room. "PFAH!" he snorts. "They seek answers to riddles, yet choose not to see what stands before them."

He looks over at the crates - specifically, Crate C, which is just slightly opened. "Perhaps more of my brothers of war are trapped within these boxes." He goes to forcibly pry the crate open.

"Goran ... that is your name, yes? Care to find out what - or who - is inside this blasted thing?"

[Jeff]

Ralsor waves Streko without another word. He seems irritated with him.

Once Grafth and Streko have checked out Amal's and Pel's room, Streko remains behind, ready, while Grafth goes to the top deck and begins his search. The starboard side offers nothing amiss. When he approaches the storage/lounge—so named by Ralsor because while various things are stored here, there's also a few chairs and tables about, a place to go if weather is bad with plenty of windows to the outside—he sees Matheu crouch on the forecastle roof.

Excitement below, shifter? You appear to be looking for something. How is it that you are not eating your breakfast still?

Goran studies the dust prints on the hardwood deck. Although the tracks get fainter the further they go, he's got a lock on them now and feel fairly confident he can follow where they lead....which seems to be out the door, around to the corner in a counter-clockwise direction through the hall, back toward the stairs up.

Ralsor, the only one still left in the room (Goran is in the doorway still), looks at Torhak. "Easy now...something was just moving around in there." He points to the C crate that Torhak was about to pry further open. "And it sounded angry and, ummm, birdlike. Whatever's in there, it's not your friends. Let's come back to that one, all right?"

"The A box had some kind of animal in it, some cat....but it...well, broke. And whatever was in B already broke out and is gone. I guess that's what the others are tracking. The rest of the crates—" He gestures to those still under the tarp, a half dozen of them. "Whatever's still in those...they're probably still stone. So if they're your friends, we can't help them at the moment. Maybe help us with whatever escaped from that crate and then we'll figure out how to help you and your friends afterwards."

"Can you fight?" Ralsor asks Torhak, then looks at the dwarf's axe and flushes.

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Goran's Survival (tracking) check = 19

[Josh]

Excitement below, shifter? You appear to be looking for something. How is it that you are not eating your breakfast still?

"Alas, that would be my preference. As for the excitment," the shifter frowns at Matheu, "it seems that the gnome has disappeared, but not before reanimating several creatures that had been turned to stone.

"Things seem to be calm enough at the moment... and I'm trying to keep it that way. Have you seen anyone on the deck this morning?"

If Matheu replies that he has seen no one, Grafth will humbly request that the pseudodragon continue a look out and inform him if anything interesting does come up. He will finish his sweep of the deck areas and then continue down to the lower level.

Otherwise, Grafth will detail his next move after Matheu's reply.

[Jeff]

Matheu flits his tail about. I have no seen none but the passengers already accounted for. I will check below.

The pseudodragon opens his wings, catches the current, and sails down the wind beyond the railing.

[Joe]

Streko sits on his bed once he has assured himself that both Pel and Amal continue to heal (double time). He nibbles on one of the sausages he had earlier brought down for his patients.

"If I were a gnome...where would I go? HA! I would go where I was told not to. Damn creatures are the most contrary tthings known to man..."

Streko curses in the gnome-tongue. "I've had to deal with a few in my travels..."

He stands up and begins pacing.

"So, how would a gnome think? Well, let's see. Let me try to think like one..."

He grasps his holy symbol and caresses it. "The first place I went was where I could find all those wonderful goodies our Lyrander host told us about. I can't believe he showed it to me. After all, it isn't like he forbid me to..."

Streko freezes mid-step.

"It isn't like Ralsor forbid us to go to the Cargo hold...and there's only one place he absolutely ordered us NOT to go..."

He races to the door and flings it open. He yells down the hall to no one specifically. "Has anyone checked the elemental core???"

[Darren]

Kalarian, senses alert, continues to follow whatever trail Tangat has picked up.

[mike]

Torhak chuckles. "Can I fight? Aye. I have, on occasion."

He looks at the crate, then back at Ralsor. "We'll play this your way, then. But if something comes out of those crates to give you trouble ... well, don't say you weren't warned."

He follows Goran, who appears to be following (or at least looking for) a trail.

He'll also try to make a Survival check, to see if he can pick up some sort of trail on his own.

[Jeremy]

"Come with me then, friend, your axe could come in handy!" says Goran to their new compadre.

Goran wants to search the smaller cargo hold first, and look for other signs of the gnome in and around it, specifically the passages nearby.

He will keep a dagger handy, but no other major weapon...for the present.

[Jeff]

Grafth finds nothing unusual in the wheelhouse, so eventually goes back down to the quarters deck, where he is rewarded with Streko's sudden yell from only a few feet away. Everyone else is able to hear Streko's shouted words from their respective positions in the otherwise quiet airship—if only distantly.

Goran veers off the trail of prints to check out the other storage room—which is unlocked. Torhak follows the ranger, axe ready. Only now that he's walking around the hold does Torhak truly feel that he's not beneath solid earth. High winds occasionally buffet the ship, which to its credit only shifts slightly from time to time. Goran finds the other storage mostly empty, sections of the wall stacked with smaller crates and tarps. Nothing seems amiss there.

Kal follows Tangat past the stairs up and around the corner to the starboard side of the cargo deck. The wolfdog's nose is to the ground—he's definitely caught a scent. Just then, Kal sees the gnome woman lying on the ground dead ahead near the front of the ship, near the narrow point of the corridor. He's not sure from this distance if she's breathing.

__________________________________


Torhak sees the slight dust footprints on the ground, but once they exit the original storage room (the room he was in), he loses all site of them.

[Darren]

"Khyber," Kalarian mutters. "My friends! To me! I have found the gnome!" Kal yells. His sword still out, he rushes forward to the gnome. "Watch my back," he says over his shoulder to Tangat.

[Josh]

Grafth moves foreward (literally!) down the hall, keeping his senses alert for any sounds and smells that seem worthy of investigation.

As he moves past Streko's position, he gives him a quick nod, and then heads down the stairs toward the lowest level.

[Joe]

"My friends! To me! I have found the gnome!" Kal yells.

"I knew it! Gnomes are SO predictable!"

He looks around the room one more time to ensure his friends are safe and secure, then exits, racing back down to rendezvous with Kal and offer what assistance he can.

[Jeremy]

Goran nods at the dwarf.

"Better go see what they're clamoring about." and he sheathes his dagger, and sweeps out his sword, walking quickly towards the sound of Kal's voice.

[Jeff]

Grafth moves past Streko's position, then heads down with the halfling in tow toward the fore stairwell to the cargo deck....Where everyone else is moving in the direction Kal has called from.

Goran, knowing the narrow corridor on the starboard side won't allow them to join Kal easily, leads Torhak around the other direction. He glimpses a small red form flit past a porthole on the wall as he passes it, then hears Matheu's voice in his head. There is something this way, half-elf. Shorter than you, but probably stronger.[/color]

Torhak glimpses the reddish form as it flies past the porthole—barely larger than a domestic cat—and the flash of wings, but he's not really sure what it was. This place is so very strange!

Sword drawn, Kal nears the gnome where she lays crumpled to the ground. He sees a livid bruise on her forehead, but he can see she's still alive and breathing. Although he cannot see or hear anything, he knows there's something nearby, hiding, perhaps just around the corner.

At the bottom of the fore stairwell, Grafth sees Goran coming around from the left, and to the right he sees the gnome prone on the ground.

[Darren]

Catching a glimpse of Grafth's hairy form coming around the corner, Kalarian quickly extends his finger towards the shifter and quietly speaks some arcane words. He then speaks to Grafth in a barely audible whisper, although the words sound to Grafth as if Kal were speaking right beside him.

"Approach slowly, quietly and with caution. There's something here. Perhaps we can trap it between us."

Kal motions for Tangat to stay where he is at the intersection of the two hallways, alert for any danger. He then begins to inch forward slowly, making as little noise as possible.

_____________
Kal is casting Message.

Is a Move Silently check appropriate here?

[mike]

"Agreed," Torhak says to Gorhan. He twirls his axe as he follows the half-elf. "Perhaps answers will be found."

As he spies the strange red-winged creature flying past the porthole, he grins. "I know not what this madness may be," he mutters to himself, "but it appears my axe will be able to sing its song of battle again ... soon!"

He still follows Gorhan's lead, but reluctantly. He's itching to do what he knows best - fight.

[Joe]

Streko notices Grafth's change...how he effortlessly slows and glides into a stealthy mode of movement. He stops and will move silently behind Grafth and follow his lead. He will also listen for any sounds coming from ahead of him where the gnome lies unconscious.