Really?! I'll have to think about it a moment, but I've never seen her as having anything too intricate--just some sharp ass knives that get the job done. I will say that i did give some thought into the one she let's Ch'dau keep. That one was her first, so while the blade is in excellent shape, the wrapping on the handle and the handle itself, with some fading elven design, would show a lot of wear and tear.

Her other normal dagger is basically just that. A normal long dagger to kill all the things swiftly and then tip toe away. "Balanced, as all things should be"

She does have a small spare like, shuriken in her boot, but that only comes out in dire situations 

Hmmm I guess I didn't need a moment haha if you're able and willing and have the time to have a go at them that would be so awesome!

RE: Normal. Oh I know, normal is a construct, maaaaan. No one is normal. While Seuss is not my favorite human in the pack, I like that line he has about everyone being weird and we're all just trying to find people to fall in mutual weirdness with and call it love.

Re: Manor: got it got it. Initially imagined it outside the city too, but either way works for me!

After the Ara post last night I worked on some back-backstory story stuff until I passed out with the laptop sliding off my lap hahaaaa today's my first day back since my move so I'm sure I'll have some catch up. I've got the bare bones of my post-defenestrated post started though. Foggy-headed Kith post is on the way!

Good morning!

P.S. I've begun searching budk.com for dagger-like knives to honor my favorite thief. Normal people do that, right?

No, she hates her mom's blood but in the crowds she's usually around, pointy ears are the very least of her concern. She only really hides them with the rest of her head when she flips her cloak up to sneak around. Having just jumped (tackled) out of a window, I'm sure they're on full display 

AND: Skellies, are they terrorizing the countryside? I'm thinking about my post and wondering if we'll be dodging attacks on our way back into town, if so if would Aranwen be fighting them off on her own or want them to hide (if she did fight, it would also be the first time Kith hears her song, in a state of semi-delirium--Kith may also attempt to fight and Ara can just kick her aside or whatever lol), if town is even a smart place to head?

Just some pre-sleeping thoughts.

The gang is all together. Loooove the turnaround on this ^_____^ It's been a good day in the Kith, Cat, and Khatun thread 

Have some ideas in mind for this little encounter and will try to get them up ASAP. As Kith is a bit loopy as well, I imagine it may be a bit of a short one. 

Have a good night you two!

EDIT: haha I thought about the hand thing too, but I'm chalking it up to Kith just being out of it after all they had been through as well as just dropping out of a two story window. It works for me!

I only put faith in Shinara, so it's all good 

Even gods need a little help sometimes 

Oh

My

RROOOOWLLLL!!!!

That was incredible, Eol! Also love that he just tackled the unsuspecting Kith through that window And I'm so happy they're all finally together!

AND so looking forward to Ara's point of view.

Reralae! Lemme know if you wanna do some collab convo stuff or anything! Kith is probably just going to yell/ask you to help her get her and the Kazari up out of that place, but I'm down to RP some stuff with you too if ya want!

“I do not, think, rrow’ka, that continuing after your book is the wisest of decisions,” Kith lost her grin and followed his gaze over the piles of bones and rubble, “I do owe you my life, though,” he admitted, “and, wise or not, kibibi, if that is your decision, I will be with you.”

She looked wearily back to him, “I believe I told you already that you owe me nothing. Your life is your own, Ch’dau. Go and be free if that is your wish,” And she very nearly wished that it was. Every moment she looked at him he seemed all the more ready to collapse, and she was positive she looked no better. Agency, however, was not something she could take so easily from another. Slightly manipulate into a “Yes,” perhaps, but she was coming to realize she may be asking for more than that now, and that was too much to ask.

“I am not your keeper and I won’t force you to take on your former captor if you don’t think you can handle any more.” She turned and leapt through the wreckage toward the door, grateful he couldn’t see her wincing as she made her way, “Come along, Kazari, the entrance to the manor is just ahead. I’ll show you to the front door and you can make your decision then.”

Whatever he would ultimately decide, she was glad, at least, to hear him scuffle past the bone dust behind her as she peeked around the doorframe for any movement. When she was sure it was open, she took a step forward, then stopped and looked back, whispering, “Rocha and kabob, what do those words mean?”

((OOC: Rosetta Stone: Kazari))

“Little . . . .” Kithran rolled her eyes nearly as hard as she sighed, “That’s it, I’m taking both, cat-beast.” And she bounds forward into the all-consuming darkness.

There are only two turns before they are at the foot of the steps up to their freedom from this godsforsaken dungeon labyrinth. Kith turned to the silver cat and held up a palm, signaling him to wait for her and she skittered cautiously up the flight of stairs. Pressing her ear to the door she listened for a moment. No footsteps or clatter of bones drew her attention, but as she was about to wave Ch’dau up, a soft exhalation caught her ear.

She looked down at him and put a finger to her lips, beckoning up forward. Still a step or two below her, she was for the first time eye-to-eye with him and held up one finger, then used it to point through the door as she reached for the handle. She paused and looked back at him again, gently patting her chest to replicate a heartbeat.

Needing no further explanation, Ch’dau nodded and crouched low, waiting for the door to swing open. As it did, a low snarl escaped his chest and the guard at the door jumped and spun around in time for a monstrous hand to clamp hard over his mouth, and to look into the Kazari’s eyes as the blade ran through his gut. With a swift flick down and out, the blade released the man’s guts from the confines of his flesh and he fell lifeless to the ground.

Kith walked up and pressed his shoulder with her foot half-heartedly toward a less conspicuous corner, but as the blood continued to spill out she shrugged and lead the way forward.

There were far fewer and more sporadic shadows to slip into up here. Candlelit sconces lined the walls, and infrequent lanterns hung from the ceiling as they made their way through this corridor to the main entry hall. Slipping into rooms, or taking turns silently ending the life of a guard or two along the path, the half-Syl thief and the Kazari warrior eventually sat crouched facing the front door in the shadows cast by the main stairwell leading up to the second floor.

Kithran looks looks up to him, eyebrows raised, and solemnly nods toward the door.

((OOC: Ch’dau’s reaction))

She can hide the relief in her eyes better than the grin that spreads across her face and she pokes his shoulder in a show of gratitude. Regardless of how it may have come off to the Kazari, as one who did not like touching or being touched, it was a meaningful gesture to Kith.

Losing the grin, she turned back to the task and flipped the hood of her cloak back over her head. Again, no footfalls jarred her ears, and though some murmuring could be caught behind them as they raced around the banister and up the stairwell to the third floor, they faded as the two reached the top and Kith’s heartbeat raced.

We are so close. She silently counts in her head, down this hall, take a right, one, two, three, fourth door on the le--

Kith and Ch’dau’s heads jerked toward the the bend in the hallway ahead at the sound of the clattering.

It was different from the footsteps of the skeletons before. They were similar but they weren’t footsteps. Or possibly they were. If so there were many more than before, they were moving much more rapidly, and if the rising echoes of bone on hardwood were any indication, they were rapidly heading their way.

The two turned and sprinted back down the stairs, trying to find space to put between them and the horde that approached. Turning onto the second floor and racing down the hallway, they slipped into one of the spare bedrooms and immediately pressed their ears to the door. They heard the ungodly clatter turn on to the second floor as well and after a short breath of silence, door after door burst open. The clatter would muffle as they searched the room, only to return again and burst through another door.

Kith tried to slow her breathing and she looked up at Ch’dau. He nodded, moving to position himself for a surprise attack when they inevitably came through their door. He jerked his shaggy head to the room at large behind him, and Kithran took the signal to find her hiding spot for her sneak attack. Her options were sorely limited, and as the clattering piles of bones reached their door, she simply crouched down behind the large bed and peeked over to get an idea of how many they would be fighting.

The door splintered off its hinges and a creature unimaginable leaped at Ch’dau. Kithran’s breaths came fast and heavy as she watched an amalgamation of bone and horror take the Kazari by surprise instead, knocking the weapon clean out of his hands and tackling him to the ground. He did all he could to dodge while pinned beneath legs of bone blades and claws. All eight of the appendages tore at him, attempting to rend flesh while the teeth of undefinable numbers of skulls snaking on spinal cords clattered and bent down from different parts of its bone-riddled abdomen trying to tear pieces of him away.

He dodged one more attempt of a leg spear attack on his head only to see out of the corner of his eye that his neck was clear for one of the grinning, chattering skulls to take a massive bite. The Kazari warrior roared in anticipation of the pain just as a dagger flew through the skull's jawbone, tearing it free from the now useless skull and lodging into the side of another. Above him the thief gave out her own battlecry and launched herself onto the abomination.

Kith stabbed at the skulls that littered the top of the creature as well with one of her regular daggers and one of her smaller spares, unaware of the two clawed back legs rising behind her, “Get up, Ch’dau!” she shouted as the claws reached down for her, “For Rawr!”

Reason 98475475 to avoid trying to organize my room, COMMENCE!

EDIT: Phew, and done! That was a fun one to write.

Lol, yeah, honestly that feels much more Kith-like to me too--and I love that we're on board for the defenestration.

Okay, here are the main bulletpoints for my post--all subject to change:

• Kith pushes them forward


• Ch'dau and Kith sneak around bonies and guards and are able to get to the second floor
  
  
  
  • Kith is feeling real good about this, believing in her mind that the grimoire is just one more floor away and should be a piece of cake
    
    
    
    • But really needs someone to spray her with a water bottle
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• BOOM! BONE-SPIDER
  
  
  
  • Fight ensues
  
  
  • Things are dire
  
  
  • Ch'dau loses the shitty blade
  
  
  • Kith gives him a dagger
  
  
  
  


• DEFENESTRATION--EDIT: just read Reralae's reply, and yeah maybe her song is why Ch'dau decides to bust through the window? Ch'dau does love a good beat, we all know this


• Cat-Man and Kitty Girl basically fall at Aranwen's feet.

I thnk I'll  write up to the bone spider and Kith handing off the dagger, Eol, you wanna take the rest of the fight and window-busting?

Thoughts on any and/or all of the things?

I believe I got my post up--Kith is just following SOP and scouting out ahead while, she assumes, the group follows along. I will add that she'll check the wooden door for traps and try to hear anything on the other side, but she's not going to outright touch it this time. Kiddo learned her lesson haha

EDIT: At Ara's word of caution, Kith will also pay close attention to the path leading to the antechamber and sketchy door--searching for traps, dangerous footing, etc. and warn the crew as she goes.

Despite knowing we'd write them out of any corner, I really don't see them making it too much further while staying true to the ferocity of a necromancer and her bone boyz--which, coincidentally, is the name of my Soundcloud boy band rap group. It's a niche genre.

At the same time, Kith at this point is reminding me a lot of--story time--my sister's kitten: wiley and persistent to her own detriment. I'm telling you, no matter how sopping wet little tubbo Lettie is from spray bottle attacks, she will still be blatantly sneaking the other cat's and the dog's food until it's gone.

On the other OTHER hand, Aranwen, having threatened to talk to the guard's manager, is also heading inside, so that might be something we want to touch base on as well. Maybe Kith does decide to bail for now--I haven't written it out yet, but she actually has two more days on the contract, she's just a tubby little kitten who feels like it's so close that she doesn't want to give up yet--and in the process of sneaking out they get ambushed and Ara bursts in and ends up saving our asses? Lucky lucky, she's gonna get TWO life debts out of that

This hypothetical last bout could also be where Kith finally gives Ch'dau the dagger.

These are all just the first few thoughts flying around my head, the only thing I am truly attached to is that Kith gives Ch'dau the dagger before they leave the manor for the first time.

What do you all think? How do you see it going down? Thoughts?

Can't wait, Eol!

*tips coffee toward both of you*

Morning, kitty cats!

That's right! Thanks for the reminder

Haha "banshee" is an excellent bladesinger nickname!

I'm doing some research for some Kith-past filler posts I've been a-brewing and have found Coria to be the perfect home for her. Her dad being a merchant, her mother being a Sylvari, the "religion" PrincessAli chose for her, and just the more I read about that region I can't imagine she had anything else in mind for our little thief when she created her.

Which sort of brings me to our Bladesinger. I guess I didn't think about how literal the "singer" part of a bladesinger might be until I read some of your last posts, Reralae. Corians put a lot of value in music, and it made me wonder if a bladesinger's song was something one might hear while fighting side-by-side one?

Kith already has a lot of respect for Aranwen, I can just see this as something that increases her admiration/idolization of Ara and wanted to incorporated it when and if it came up.

As a sidenote: in reading back through our Q&A I realized I had never clicked on that link to Ch'dau's song. I have since remedied that. And it is, how you say *chef's kiss* perfection!

I didn't think I'd be able to get to this until all of the moving stuff was done. But while my room is a dumpster fire and I am so gd exhausted and sore, I was still looking forward all day to getting some writing done, and I did! Just me and my good friend, Mr. Old Fashioned.

Hope your weekends are going well!

Cheers!

 “Excellent,” he chuffed, “They will never find us here . . . .”

“Hey,” Kithran spat back at the all-too cheerful Kazari, “Find your own lines, Ch’dau.” She grinned and wiped her blades clean before slipping them into place.

She looked back at the guards. The precision with which they had disposed of them was encouraging. Recruiting the fuzzy creature was already proving to be an excellent revision to the plan. Better, at least, than her having thought they would have had time to get a better rest in that closet. A miscalculation to be sure, but such was her way.

She shrugged, “Even gods can be wrong every now and again.”

As the massive feline began to open his mouth in an attempt to contest her godliness, some thing clattered into the dark room, careening toward Ch’dau’s back.

Ch’dau spun around at the sound and Kith leaped forward, grabbing his silver bicep as leverage as he turned to launch herself at whatever the thing was.

Her boot crashed into its skull and as she landed, she saw that it truly was a skull. The skeletal creature staggered back into another, regaining its balance, while two more crept into the room behind them. All four jerked their ungodly, flesh-rotted faces back her way, their grins menacing, hungry, and their clawed fingers and bone-strewn weapons poised for attack.

"Wh-what in the hells?" She jumps back and bumps into the Kazari as a roar bursts forth from his chest, deafening her for a moment, and he rushes forward into the horrifying clump, knocking her off-balance. She stumbles into one of the stone slab tables and ducks down. Keeping to the shadows, Kith runs around the table to get into position to flank the skeletons.

Skeletons? SKELETONS?! Kith peeks above the slab and finds Ch’dau to be courageously, and very loudly, drawing the attention of all four of them. One had already lost an arm and another was missing half of its ribcage, but still they pressed and Ch’dau harbored some new injuries as well.

Wondering for one if daggers would even be effective against a necromancer’s skeleton army, and for two wondering what the hell she was even thinking as she hopped on top of the stone table and launched herself at the cluster of bones, Kith crashed onto the shoulders of the closest skeletal frame. The creature buckled in surprised and both crashed to the ground, shoving the others in front of them into Ch’dau. This time it was the Kazari who lost his balance and had to catch himself on the slab behind him.

Kith stabbed at the skull beneath her, but if it felt the damage she could not tell. It began striking at her, shaking, trying to throw her off. As it began trying to stand again, she rolled forward off of its shoulders and found her feet, pouncing at a skeleton that had also regained its balance and was trying to take advantage of Ch’dau as he righted himself. She shoved her arms through its ribs and pulled it back, knocking its strike off-kilter and saving Ch’dau from one more wound, “What are you doing, Kazarai?! Take care of this thing!” And she held it in place as Ch’dau snarled, striking it across the neck. It fell limp in Kith’s arms and she let it drop to the ground while Ch’dau grabbed her by the front of her cloak, ripping her behind him and blocking the attack of another skeleton that would have opened her back.

She growled to herself as she hit the table again, harder this time, and turned back to the battle. This round she joined him in his head-on attack. Running forward she dropped down and slid, knocking the leg of the one-armed skeleton back and in its brief moment of  imbalance allowing Ch’dau to strike down and slice its body in two.

Hopping to her feet, Kith and Ch’dau make relatively short work of the remaining two skeletons, though not relatively easy work. One used to fighting alongside a unit of ferocious warriors, and the other used to fighting on their own, the two have a difficult time predicting how the other will react. Dodges end in one of them knocking into the other, strikes against their opponents bump the shoulder or ribs of the other, throwing them both off their aim. The work is completed, but many of the scrapes and bruises they obtain in the end are not the work of bone blades.

Had they not just extinguished whatever magic breathed false life into these undead, Kith may have brought up the headache that was forming after his elbow had crashed into the side of her head, but as it was . . .  “I’ve read about bone armies in stories, but that’s all they ever were.” She huffs and wipes her blades on her sleeves, grateful at least that she does not have to add more blood to what is already caked onto her armor. “Have you ever seen anything like this? Or anything else like this since you’ve been here?”

((OOC: Ch’dau’s response. I am assuming he doesn’t know much about it, but let me know if I’m wrong))

“I suppose,” Kith continues, “that as horrifying at these things are, they aren’t so horrific to fight. What say you, Ch’dau?” She looks up at him and hides a grimace as the bruise on her rib from being thrown into the stone table the last time starts to protest, “Can you handle a few bone heads?” She grins wide at the un-cleverness of her words, despite the blood dribbling from her split lip.

Eol! That looks fantastic! You're gonna have to show us the spooky wonderland you turn your yard into when you're done!

Ooooo yes, I've been through that thread a couple times  very cool Reralae!

Ahhhh you're both so creative. That kind of work is always fun for me simply for the results. Good luck on all the things!

For Halloween I just got a Tipsy Elves shark onesie. I'm gonna tear it up a little, add some blood, get some props and make it into a rugged pirate shark.

AAARRRR *chomp chomp*

Duuuuuude bone-spiders are nightmare juice! Can't wait for this move to be over so I can fill my head with things like bone-spiders instead of boxes lol

Good morning everyone! Hope you have some fun and/or relaxing plans this weekend!

*sips coffee* Cheers

that's true, that's true.

Thanks for the insight!

They are SO CLOSE!

Your post did make me wonder--are they weliding their old weapons, or do they have skeletal type weapons?

I had been imagining them just attacking us with their own magically powered extremeties so I'm grateful to have read your post first.

I knew you'd be cool with it, just wanted to give yous a heads up.

About Adedre, to me her creepiness fits with who she is. It's not just out of left field for no reason. If anything im just pretty impressed with her stamina. In the course of a few hours she's tortured so many creatures, raised skelaton minions, took a bath, and fucked and killed like 14 things.

As an entrepreneur she's KILLIN' it!

I'm working on a boney fight too! We'll show these skellies what's up!

As a heads up tho, I'm moving tomorrow so I'll be a little slower-going than usual this weekend on my post but I'll get it up ASAP, like a one of Adedre's chosen guards aaayyyyy bone army? More like boner army am I right?!?!?!?!

Kith is having a bad influence on me.