The Muck Pond

[Fleegle]

(Razorlance and AoM, I will write yours as soon as I get home. I am not at home and I don't have my notes with me here, so I can't remember what powers I was going to give your characters.)

(For Snake_byte)

At the sound of Garob's name, Resuso's tongue flickered. "Yes, Garob. It is lucky that you did not eat him. The flesh of his avatars is poisonous, don't you know? You would have lost much more than your wings. A word of advice, splendid one: Garob is not to be underestimated. He purposefully takes the form of unseeming creatures so that he might trick creatures into their downfall. He counts on creatures underestimating him. A pity what happened to that blue creature... I hadn't even had a chance to meet such a wonderful being. Another one of Garob's victims."
Resuso once again turned to the subject of food. "Would you like to try the toads? They are most wonderfully delicious."

[Fleegle]

(For Razorlance and AoM. Sorry for the delay)

With the sun low in the sky, the Old Temple had grown darker inside. This did not seem to bother Ilosep at all, as he stiffly took his place behind the podium.
"Please, stand here, in front of the podium." he motioned to them, indicating where they were to stand.
After they had taken their places, Ilosep began. He blew upon the bone whistle, and the ghostly voices rumbled behind Ao and Tek. In the low light, one could barely make out the forms of the ghosts. Their visibility seemed to be inversely proportional to the amount of light available.
"Now then, this shall be a double hearing. I have the duty to bestow two fates at once. This is highly unconventional, but I will allow it. Ao, your fate shall be... StoneGuard. You will become impenetrable. That is, from this moment until the day that you die, you shall be invulnerable to any physical attack. You will still be susceptible to disease and magical attack, however."
Ilosep then turned to Tek. "Tek, YOUR fate shall be... MindLink. You shall now be able to instantaneously communicate with any creature of the Muck that you meet, regardless of distance. Both of you must use your powers wisely, in the service of Justice and Life. That is all." Ilosep gathered up the parchment and stepped down from the podium.
"Well then. I suppose those are appropriate fates for you, though I don't really know either of you very well. Ao, don't let that power go to your head. You will find many dangers beyond this area that are not of the physical variety. You must still use caution in your wanderings. Tek, don't underestimate how useful your power is. You would do best to meet as many of the creatures of the Muck as you can, so that you might call upon them when in need. Your power is only as useful as you make it. Now do you have any questions?"

[Fleegle]

(For El_Skwidd. I'm so sorry I didn't get to you sooner.)

As Vex/Xev emerged from the forest, Resuso turned his head towards them.
"Ah splendid! You have returned! Did you happen to meet Bassus?"

(For Nixit)

Briker had skirted the groff-fields, and so was not noticed by Resuso or the others. As he enterred the forest, he caught out of the corner of his eye the two-headed turtle man crawling into the field. The forest corridor was quiet and empty, save for the light chirping of birds. He could see some light emerging from the other end of the forest, where the clearing was.

[El_Skwidd]

Vex and Xev stop for a second and look around tentatively. They spy Beezlebub and notice that Resuso hasn't had any problems with him. Maybe he's not as terrifying as they thought?

Still, the two are afraid. "Hello, Resuso," says Vex, shakily. "We didn't get to meet Bassus, no. The rest of the forest was quite calm, though."

Xev spoke up, quietly. "We've come up with a new plan for ourselves, and we were wondering what you knew about the rocky area across the fields from here. It looks a little rough, but maybe there's something to be found up there?"

Vex subconsciously pulls out a stalk of groff. "Yeah," says Vex, his mouth full. "We're looking for cool stuff."

Xev just shakes his head.

[AoM]

Ao slaps his rocky fists against his boulder of a chest and lets out a loud rumble of exhultation.

"A mighty gift! Surely an attribute worthy of Eridania!" He then quiets himself and talks through mind-speak. "I will not let it go to my head at all, Ilosep. I trust that you do not lie about the dangers of this world that are beyond physical. But I will do what I can with the power given to me. I will be the pillar that other creatures of the Muck can lean on when faced with danger."

"But mighty Ilosep, I have a question. Why are we here? Why have we been called from the Muck? Surely you gods have plans for your creations, for why else would we be given these powerful fates... is there something in these lands that requires our attention?"

[Nixit]

Delighted by seeing a new life form, a giant and strange one at that (although most of the creatures he had seen had been giant and strange), Briker eagerly crawled up the nearest tree and tried to contact the two headed turtle with his newly learned mind talk.

"Hello stranger! I am Briker and I wish to get to know you!"

After waiting a little while for a response, he soon realized that the creature might not be able to see him because of his size, and so he emitted his shriek to alert the being of his presence.

[Varrius]

Waking up from her sleep around the back of the throne, Kitty walks up to Erake. "I apoligise for not introducing myslef before, I am Kitty and my freind is the MushBall, just as soon as he wakes up I may go and see the Pink people to see why they are so afraid of us, the poor little things."

[Debsy]

Erake stood back watching everything that was happening. Hearing Kitty's words, she looked down at her. "Oh..It's no problem...I'm used to all the other creatures not introducing themselves. Like that one that killed that big thing..." She shrugged. No one wanted to introduce themselves...it was their problem not hers. She didn't have to know their names...

[Fleegle]

(For El_Skwidd and Nixit. Applies to Snake_byte too)

"Oh, it is too bad you did not meet Bassus, he is most wonderful. A lover of food and drink, a god after my own heart!" exclaimed Resuso. "The rocky area, those are the Lomba foothills, leading up eventually to Lomba mountain. Oh you won't be able to scale them over there at the end of the fields, but if you take the path up past the Old Temple, it leads into a little valley that continues for some time. It's a little dangerous, but if you travel in a group you should be okay."

Resuso turned towards the shreiking noise. "Well hello! How wonderful! Such a tiny little creature. And who might you be?"

(For AoM)

Ilosep chuckled in his aged voice. "There is always something in these lands that requires attention! You might find the area around the Muck Pond a little boring, but once you get beyond these parts you will quickly find many things to occupy your time. Creatures all over have stopped believing in us. Once that happens, they cannot hear us anymore. You, and other creatures of the Muck, you are not like other creatures. You are, in a manner of speaking, children of the gods, and as such you cannot stop believing in us, you cannot stop hearing us. With you, we hope to restore some faith in others. At least, some of us do. Other gods could care less, or even would have you done away with. Gods like Garob, who thankfully you haven't had the 'pleasure' of meeting, thrives in the lack of belief around these parts. Makes it easier for him to slip in unnoticed and stir up trouble... his specialty. Beware of him! His element is fire, wherever there is fire, Garob is listening. He takes many forms, but he prefers unassuming ones. I believe his last was a little red monkey. Burned off Beelzebub's wings I hear."

[Fleegle]

(Global statement)
The sun had begun to set. A magnificent sunset stretched across the land, pink and orange clouds gracing the sky.

(For 3shyof30rats, Varrius, and Schme)

MushBall came to as the sun began to set. Yanisha was still sitting by his side. "Welcome back, Mushy!" she said softly.
Bassus, still drinking and dancing, approached Erake. "Howss dyou like 'a havva lil' fun sweets?" He stumbled forward.
Hearing Kitty mention the pink people, Bassus turned to her, spilling his cup of wine in the process. "Pink folks be damned!" He then returned his focus to Erake.

[Schme]

MushBall woke, feeling weary and sick. His head was throbbing, and he had a strange stiffness that ran throughout his body. “I must have coagulated.” He thought sadly. “I wonder how that happened. He sat up, and held his head with his little hands, making moan a like gurgle of discontentment. He heard Yanisha, although her voice sounded a bit muffled at first. He nodded to acknowledge her aswell, as if too say “Indeed, I am awake.”

He then looked around him, still a bit dazed.

[Razorlance]

Tek listened carefully to Ilosep describe his fate and answer Ao's question before he spoke. Mindlink, it sounds... interesting, he thought. "So I have to have met the other creatures before I can use this power" he said to Ilosep.

[Fleegle]

(For Razorlance. Schme, I'll let 3shyof30rats and Varrius handle your response)

"Yes, that's correct, Tek. Once you meet a creature of the Muck you will be able to link to it. So, you can already talk to Ao no matter where he is, and Kikkik here tells me you've met Briker, so you can talk to him as well. Oh, and they will be able to talk back to you. I think I neglected to mention that."

[El_Skwidd]

Vex and Xev are startled to hear the voice of Briker in their heads. They look around an see nothing except Resuso and the others, and then notice the high-pitched shrieking. Xev bends his neck down. Eyes crossed and squinting, he notices the little ant.

"Vex!" he shouts, surprised. "There's a creature down here!"

The entire creature rotates so that Vex can take a look. "Wow, is he tiny! How did you talk in our heads like that? And are you interested in an adventure?"

Xev scoffs. "How rude you are, Vex! I'm Xev, and this is my other half, Vex. He's a tad crude at times."

"And you're a tad of an imbecile at times, Xev," Vex grumbles. "Anyway, we were planning on going past the temple into a valley in search of riches. Interested?"

[Nixit]

"I am Briker." he responds to Resuso, and then turns to Xev and Vex, with a broad ant grin on his little face.

"Riches you say? Sounds mighty exciting! I think I shall have to accept your offer and go with you! I think I should probably jump on your back, so you won't have to slow down to go at my pace."