The Muck Pond

[AngelSpice]

Audirda gasps in pain as she drops the knife and tries to throw the weight of her body backwards to try to break the pink person's hold on her. "Help! Anyone! Please!" She reaches to try to pick up the scaler with her free hand.

[Nixit]

(How many men are in the room?)

Briker, in a desperate action, scurried across the floor, then started to crawl up the man who hurt the woman, in hopes of reaching his temple to dig his claws into it.

[Razorlance]

Tek looked down the craggy path then focused on Kikkik to mind speak, "We need to travel down there?" He then focused on Ao, "Your the invincible one, I assume you want to go first. I can grip onto the ground quite well with these" he flexed his 'fingers' on the raised limb "It should not be a problem"

[Schme]

There seemed to be some sort of earthquake going, as the world was throbbing most uncomfortable. MushBall was surprised that no one else seemed to notice, but he kept his dignity very well, getting to his feet (although falling several times) and taking the cup of wine from Yanisha’s hand. “This will certainly put me right.” He thought, draining the cup. “Surely the nectar of the gods can do only good.”

And then, gurgling he lurched forward, grapping Yanisha’s shoulder so as not to fall over, and swayed and staggered before regaining his footing. But he was very determined to become well again, and so he set about drinking yet more wine, so as to ensure that his and Kitty’s mission to the village of the pink people would continued unhindered.

Speaking of Kitty, MushBall had not seen her in a while. He truly hoped she was still around. He suspected that she’d gone off for a nap just beyond the treeline, but he could not be sure, as he couldn’t, for some reason, conduct a proper and thorough search, and all he could do was hope that she’d show up.

“That bird is not very smart.” He said to Yanisha, tapping his head twice (as he’d missed the first time.) “And not too pleasant neither. Or am I thinking of someone else? I dannow…”

And so, MushBall continued to partake in the ceaseless festivities of Bassus, Lesser God of the Forest, and his entourage.

[Fleegle]

(Global statement)
Twilight filled the sky in anticipation of the sunrise. The moon could no longer be seen, for the sky had grown overcast.

(For Nixit and AngelSpice. There are three men in the room, all trying to tackle Audirda)

The man who had relinquished Audirda of the scaler saw her reaching for it and kicked it out of the way. The remaining two men repositioned themselves and grabbed on to her, one man at each arm. The third man did not notice Briker climbing up his side, and proceeded to tie Audirda's hands behind her back with a bit of black rope. The other two men lifted the struggling mermaid with difficulty and began to drag her out of the shack.

(For Razorlance and AoM)

"Indeed." said Kikkik. "Try to be quiet, we don't wish to attract any more attention. When we get to the bottom, I will direct you to a passage where we are less likely to run into those who would do us harm."

(For Schme, and Varrius, if he's around)

Yanisha giggled as she filled up MushBall's cup and planted a kiss where his "mouth" seemed to be. "The girl with the wings you mean? I think she's not used to our ways... maybe she will come around. I'm glad you don't like her though... more Mushy for me!" At that, she pressed her body up against him and writhed about seductively in his mush.

(How one writhes about seductively in mush... I have no idea... I presume that MushBall would find that sexy...)

[AoM]

Ao only nodded at Tek and Kikkik's advice and then led the way down the rocky path. Ao felt very sure footed along the craggy path, for it was a path of stone and earth, so he trusted it not to give way underneath his weight. For surely Eriadina knew of Ao's progress and would not have any stone betray him. In truth, he was more concerned for Tek's ability to navigate the path into Deep Valley. He made sure to stay close, in case he needed to grab hold of Tek to keep it from tumbling.

(Fleegle: Could you describe the surrounding environment of Deep Valley in a bit more detail. I'd like to get a better sense of where we are and how far we've traveled. Is Lomba Mountain in sight?)

[Nixit]

Once he had reached the man's temple, he took an giant ant breath, and began to dig furiously into the man's temple.

[Fleegle]

(For AoM and Razorlance. Yes AoM, I was waiting until you guys actually got into the Valley before describing it in detail, as is my custom)

As they reached the bottom of Deep Valley, the sublime quality of the Valley became more apparent. The Valley was incredibly steep on either side, and seemed like a great maw that at any moment could swallow them up.
"Over there, that's Lomba Mountain" Kikkik pointed southwards. Far away on the horizon, peeking up over the Valley wall, a large snow-capped mountain stood, as if keeping guard over the land. It looked to be very far away.
"Deep Valley winds about like a snake," Kikkik informed them. "We shall not be following it out in the open for very long. There are cave networks that run through the Valley walls, and we shall be taking a few of these to shorten our trip and avoid danger. We have a ways to go out in the open before we reach them, however."
The path before them was fairly wide, but the Valley walls made it seem narrow. The path was fairly straight for a distance, but curved to the east some distance ahead.

(For Nixit, AngelSpice, and Vex/Xev)

The pink man screamed in pain as Briker dug into his temple. The men carrying Audirda wondered why their companion was screaming, but did not stop to offer him assistance. They continued through town, escorted by men with spears, while people chanted with torches and yelled at the mermaid. They approached some kind of wooden stake, near the central bonfire, which they began to tie Audirda to.
The people had begun to move along, following the procession. Nobody had seen Vex/Xev yet. They could see the shack now, where Briker was attacking the man, and could hear the shriek. The pink man suddenly ran out of the shack and tumbled to the dirt, wriggling in pain. He scratched at the side of his head, sending Briker flying.

[AoM]

"Then let's hurry to the caves. I don't want to deal with any more demons... stonegaurd or no."

Ao quickened his plodding, but not by very much, as he didn't have that great a range of walking speeds and anything faster would have caused tremors that would echo resoundingly off the Valley's walls.

[El_Skwidd]

Vex and Xev, finally having a reason to jump into the mob, look to see where Briker lands. Then, with a quickened pace (for a turtle), they rush over to the wooden stake and try to break Aurdida free by biting the ropes.

[Razorlance]

"Agreed" Tek replied as he followed Ao closely, making sure at least any two limbs were planted firmly, the tiny claws gripping securely, before lifting the others as he walked, effortlessly keeping up with Ao's slow pace as they descended the path.

[Nixit]

"Quick! Resist!" Briker mind-shouted to Auridirda as he flew through the air, and landed with a bump. But it was not fatal. And he quickly began to crawl up to one of the men with spears, and aimed for his neck this time.

[Fleegle]

(For AoM and Razorlance)

As the trio rounded the first major bend, they witnessed an incredible sight. A fountain of flame burst out of what seemed a hole in the sky, for there had been nothing in the sky. Bits of flame fell to the earth, and some rocks fell into the valley in response, too far away to be any real danger to the travelling group. Barely within sight, they could see a slight figure duck and cower behind a rock. Shortly it poked its head over the rock. It did not seem to notice the group of strangers, as it seemed absorbed in something else.
"A wizard!" Kikkik spoke. "We must stop here. Ao, do you think you can cover Tek with your body? If the wizard comes this way he will think you are an ordinary rock and will not bother us."

(For El_Skwidd, Nixit, and AngelSpice)

The people with torches screamed as the two-headed turtle-monster burst forth onto the scene. At the same time, one of the spear guards appeared to go insane, for he was jumping about and grabbing at his neck. The flame-wielding villagers concluded that this fantastic creature was certainly a demon capable of making one go crazy, and decided that now would be a good time to scream and yell and retreat to the safety of their homes.
About four other spear guards exercised false bravado, yelling at Vex/Xev and angrily shaking their spears at him. The men tending to the ropes had fled with the rest of the villagers.
Having heard the commotion, the great wooden doors on the stone structure creaked open and one of the pink things peeked out. Seeing the turtle demon and the raving lunatic, it ran off to a nearby hut, as if it did not believe the stone building were a safe place to stay, besides its obvious structural benefits. In its haste, the pink one did not bother closing the door upon leaving the building.

[AoM]

In mind-speak, Ao responded to Kikkik's warning.

"Yes. If Tek can fold in those arms of his, he can hide behind me. I shall do my best to act like rubble."

With that, Ao leaned down next to some other rocks alongside the path and let his body hang limp and still. He kept one eye barely open so as to keep some sight of the situation.

[El_Skwidd]

Vex chuckles as he bites through the ropes. "I'm a demon!"

"Briker, are you all right?" Xev shouts between mouthfuls of rope.