I was going to say, I'm missing me some Cedric, but I agree with Reralae: the behind-the-door reactions are where it's at.

IF she really is immune/resistant to it, I think Ara having a go at the door, whether determining if the pendant is a key, or just seeing if she can push/pull it to any affect, is an idea--not a great one, but it is one. And if there are no better ones, that's how I'm voting.

Unless the casters have some sort of dispel abilities?

Alrighty, updated Kith's last post to include the door being a dick, and a brief interaction with Aranwen.

Aww, been missing a good Gib post!

Good luck with all of the work stuff, Brom, and safe travels!

Be careful taking those caffeine-fueled one-liners Eol, you make have to pay me back 

Oofta, yeah, that's not fun. Kith will ignore Davena since she wasn't helpful to her and approach Aranwen, Midge and the others about the pendant possibly being a key, though if there are any other takers to test the thing on the door, Kith will glaaaadly give it up. If it seems useless she'll just pocket it again.

Edit: thanks Reralae. I'm busing on into work right meow but I'll include Aranwen's helping her out when I have a chance to edit!

Np! I'll be revising my post a little when I can to react to that.

Sticky Finger Syndrome, always touching shit she shouldn't be tsk tsk tsk

Reralaaaaae! That was a wonderful treat to wake up to!

Why isn't Ch'dau, the greatest Kazari Kh'ur of Rrowl in all of Audalis, not on the Kazari list?

Kithran stalks forward into the mist once more, alone again. And while she was comforted that Aranwen was not too far behind, she couldn’t help but feel as though the mist were engulfing her, swallowing her whole, strangling her in its emptiness. The very faint clanking of Gib’s armor was reassuring.

Soon she found herself in front of a cave, presumably the one they had been searching for. It was certainly ominous, but blessedly without the mist obscuring her senses. The dark was nothing. Kith pulled her hood back and waited until her black eyes met their leader’s, gesturing to the cave entrance.

((OOC: Assuming Aranwen gives her the go ahead to stealth on in))

At Aranwen’s approval, the hood came up again and she padded in silently, taking note of every sound, every smell, any discolored portion of the path. Despite being out of the fog, the eerie silence still feels palpable. Even she felt she sounded gratingly loud, and she was virtually silent.

It is only another moment or two before Kith comes to face a large stone wall, fitted in the middle with a set of dark grey doors, iron handles adorning each. She can hear Aranwen approaching her from behind, but before the rest of their group can gather, she begins to check the door for traps. She examines the sides and creases, but the moment she begins to lightly run her fingers across the embossed set of skulls on either door, a painful rush of cold leaps into her. She snatches her hand back but it is too late, and the panic she had been forcing down comes bursting forth as that familiar icy pang of paralyzation creeps into her stomach.

"No," she whispers to herself as she grasps her stomach and tries to shake it off, "no . . . ." Despite her dread, her quiet, fervent pleas seem to stave it off this once, and she gasps at the freedom from it just as she is yanked backward by the collar of her cloak.

Kith spins around, drawing both blades and ready to strike at the ghoul on her back before recognizing instead that it is Aranwen, wrenching her away from the door. She visibly relaxes as much as she can and slips the daggers back into their sheaths, "Apologies Aranwen, and thank you. Apart from the pain of the cold that door inflicts, it can also cause that paralasis. I had just fought it off before you pulled me back."

She turns back to the door and pulls the skull trinket she had taken from the dead priest out of her pocket. The designs are very similar, as most skulls are.

She turns to listen to their group decide how to proceed.

"Were I in charge of some hidden keep," Aranwen reasons, "It'd be in my interest to devise a way to keep others out, while letting my people access." Kith nods in agreement. Though not well-versed in magicks, she knew mages. They were tricky-folk.

Aranwen continued, "How might they have made certain this door would respond to them?"

Midge frowns, "A wizard-locked door might open to a password or such. No telling what that might be, naturally." He squints at the door, "Of course, the simplest thing would be a key to open a lock. Perhaps some easily portable item might function the same with regards to a spell? Just musing out loud."

Kithran looks again to the pendant in her hand, then pockets it and turns to Smallclothes and her guard, “Davena, Garn, in your torturings of those D’hurgen priests, when they mentioned this cave, did you happen to ask them of any obstacles we might face once we entered? Did any of them offer up a password or mention some sort of key?”

((OOC: If the two offer anything useful that actually works to open the door, great. If not, Kith will just ignore them and take the pendant back out, show it to Midge and Aranwen, and then take it to the door to see if there’s any place she can put it, or if something happens))

Yes, me too. It's a really cool coincidence though! We were MEANT from the beginning to take on the death god ^___^

BAAAAHAHAHHHAA YES

Come at us you ugly death god!

Olan, are we still surrounded by all of that mist, or did that end at some point?

*Kith flips the trinket in the exact same shape as the door around in her hand* An easily portable key? Huh, too bad we don't have anything that fits that description *eats it* 

 I'll be working on a Kithy post tonight!

I'll think about this tonight. I generally create a character, and then look for words to describe them in different languages based on how I want their name to sound (harsh consonants vs softer sounds) and then mash them all together in a Frankenstein's monster of a dope name.

Like I said though, I'll keep an eye out and try to get some lists going!

First of all, “Your blades are fine. I insulted you.”
How dare you?

Second of all, I nearly lost it when Ch'dau stole her "You had better be careful, you may end up having to pay me back" line.
Amazing.

Third of all, yes let's change the name!

Does it look like the trinket Kith plucked off the dead priest man?

Speaking of people making ideas so much their own, your taking of Arancon and turning him so quickly into Aranwen has been brilliant. Of course the prequel stuff helps to create more of a bond for me/Kith, and Blackthorn is an incredible player, but I've absolutely loved watching how you made her yours.

I think it can be an little odd taking over someone else's character--it was certainly difficult for me at first to find Kith's voice, but she feels more like mine everytime I write her.

Aranwen and the life Raven has breathed into Cedric have just been fantastic to watch.

And Olan, yeah! This is 10393736% your creepy creation now. I'm glad I've been able to be a part of this amazing group who've been able to get this far too!

I only play a 32 year old woman on TV, I am actually two gnomes in a trench coat.

I debated the teasing, but it was such a lame joke and Kith is pretty nervous, I sort of considered it her trying to take her mind off of more giggler attacks, and I'm guessing Ch'dau would see that plainly, considering she has never really shown any sort of lack of confidence before. Not that the teasing truly helped her, but such is life.

I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't mention "rear lookouts" on page 69 of this Q&A.

That's all.

Kithran didn’t pretend to know much about strategizing, at least when it came to hunting ghouls. In the past when she’d take jobs, either an elaborate plan was already in place and she was but a piece in it, or she was just swiping some useless trinket from an old woman’s boudoir. She worked alone and didn’t have to measure the talents of multiple teammates against each other. It was only perhaps a year ago when the idea of a battle strategy had ever even entered her mind, as she and Ch’dau began working together. It was even less time than that when they allied themselves with Aranwen, and everything became a strategy--which was welcomed, as the better a plan was executed, the less money she had to spend on sewing supplies. While many plans changed and varied from situation to situation, Kith was always the tip of the spear, and so it was of no surprise to her when the bladesinger assigned her her duty.

“Kithran, we will definitely need your support in front, I may not be as light on my feet as you or Ch’dau, but I will be with you. Then, if another of those damned giggling creatures attacks, get behind me quick as you can.”

She nods her acceptance and Aranwen turns to Ch’dau next to her, “I’d entrust the rear lookout to you, dear friend. Please see that we do not become the ones that are hunted.”

Ch’dau agrees as well, and forcing her hands to loosen again on the bow, Kith looks up at him and whispers, “Think you can handle our rears?”

((OOC: well?))

Kith laughs softly so as not to disturb the conversation, but trails off as her eyes wander again to the trail of footprints presumably leading them to this cave of ghouls and who knew what other kind of horrors. She would have liked to have had an army for this. Even if these things weren’t mindless, psychosis-inducing monsters, there were still an innumerable amount of them, and only eight in this group--two of which were not even to be trusted.

She takes a deep breath and pulls her eyes and thoughts away from that end for now.

As the conversation comes to a close and the group begins to get into position, Kith stops at the Cidal, “Midge, I’m sure you can’t keep your spells up indefinitely, but as I will be touching a lot of things looking for non-arcane traps in there, please make sure I don’t blow myself up on any unseen magical trap while you have it up.” She holds out her left hand so he can see the old burn scar starting on the pad of her thumb, and flaring out just past her wrist and creeping halfway up her forearm, “Picking a mage's lockbox, I wouldn’t recommend it.”

((OOC: Midge’s response/assuming a positive)

“Thank you, friend. I will do my best to keep you all in mostly one piece as well.” She turns and before leaving Ch'dau's side and heading to the front of their party, she reiterated to him once more the Bladesinger’s words, “Like Aranwen said, Kh’ur Cat Beast, lookout for our rears, especially this ‘thieving rear.”

((OOC: Response if any))

She grins, forcing down the ever-growing feeling of ice cold dread in the pit of her stomach. Rrowl would never let her into the Eternal Hunt if she let that dread overtake her, and so she focused on serving her comrades instead.

Kithran took her post at the front of the procession, pulling the shortbow off her shoulder and testing the string a few times as the rest of their group fell into order. When Aranwen took her place behind her, a familiar formation they had taken several times over the course of the last few months, Kithran raised the hood of her black cloak and nodded to the Bladesinger, “On your word, Aranwen.”

Aranwen gave it, and with that, Kith slinks silently along the path, following the ghoulish footprints forward.

((OOC: and keeping an eye out for any possible traps, dangerous areas, Roguey Things™ ))

Awwww SHUCKS 

Kithran stalked toward the exit while two of the guards play with the cat-beast thing. The guard standing in the doorway ignored the spectacle in the cage, scanning the room for signs of Kith and giving her very little leeway to get the jump on him. Behind her the other two guards were closing their distance as well, and the clumsy steps on the other side of the room let her know that at least two more lumbered over that way.

She continued creeping forward. At 5’10” her body was long, and she appreciated it most of the time. Her reach both in a fight and when swiping something that did not belong to her came in very handy, and her legs swept her away faster and farther than any normal perturbed guard could keep up. It was only in times like these, when she needed to be as small as possible, that she would have killed for a couple fewer inches.

Perhaps if she had helped the cat he could have ran around with a target on his back for her. That would have actually been helpful. As it was, Kith was now within striking range, but her timing had to be flawless--with him looming above her and the two at her back, one slip-up and it would not be pretty. Not that she was out of the fire either way. Even if she happened to buy herself a few seconds of not being seen by the two behind her immediately, the torch held by the one she was preparing to jump would still fall, drawing the attention her way anyway.

At least I’ll be done with one of you.

There was nothing for it. She should not have stopped to speak with the beast. Maybe when she made it up into the manor she could break a window and make it look like she had fled. Or she could flee, if the entire estate would be falling down upon her. It was just . . . those nerds were offering so much for that grimoire.

It was coming, the entryway guard was about to look away and the other two were both preoccupied with the tubs Kith had just skittered past.

She leaned forward in her squat, about to pounce, when a massive roar rang throughout the room. The sound stopped her body in its tracks, but not her momentum, and she stumbled forward, catching herself on her hands and spun back behind the stone slab.

Kith would have worried that the other two guards, now standing upright, would have seen her, as she was staring straight at their profiles now. However like them, her gaze was ripped toward the cage, where from the unimaginable screams of a man as his skull was caving in drew all of their attentions. The guards made half-hearted movements to save the blubbering man, but all were for naught as the beast, with tooth and claw, ripped the man’s head clean from his body. Dark blood splotched his face and drained down his silver coat, the head and corpse landing with a wet splat as the creature awaited its next victim.

“Bloody hell,” Kithran whispered in the short silence that followed, along with the guard who had had a front row viewing of the horror.

“The beast’s killed Markus!!!” He shouted, and Kith watched the beast sizing him up, revelling as the panicked man backed up closer and closer toward him, “Help!!! Hel…” but it was too late. The man watched himself be torn open, before his panicking ceased and he too was dropped to the floor.

This time it was insatiable. His entire front was soaked in red and his blood-curdling roars nearly shook the room around him. He pulled against his chains, tore at the bars, taunting the remaining guards, “Come, monkeys! The Hunt awaits! Bring me more blood for Rrowl!!"

And like magic they fled to him. After that roar the entire dungeon would soon be on top of him, however to Kith’s delight, the guard blocking her escape also abandoned his post to avenge his comrade. And, with the “monkeys” focused on him, she would have a bit more space to run around in.

I knew you’d be a good distraction, kitty cat, she thought as she jumped up and ran to the door. She would only need to dodge anyone running toward the beast and she would be free of this dungeon at last.

As she began to run into the next corridor she heard two more sets of footsteps racing down the hall and leapt back into the room, pressing her back against the shadowed wall next to the opening. She waited a moment for them, glancing over at the cat-like creature. It was much larger than that cage allowed it to appear, and the complete embodiment of brutality. It fought fiercely against the guards, dodging strikes in its small space, taking chunks of flesh out of anyone stupid enough to come within its range.

The two guards finally ran through the door just as a different roar burst forth from the beast. One of the guards had found purchase in its thigh, and though he was able to deflect some, that brief moment of reaction opened him up to more strikes.

Kith looked to the exit, then back to the cat man, then to the two fresh guards running toward the fight and gritted her teeth.

Stepping angrily forward, she tossed a dagger into one of the guards’ ankles. With a burst of speed she covered the distance between the two before the man hit the ground, leaping onto his back, and shoving her second dagger up into the base of his skull. She leaped up, tearing the dagger away as the other guard turned to see what had happened to his companion. What he saw instead was the dagger just before it pierced into his eye socket and deep into his brain.

She wastes no time pulling her blades free and racing for the cages.

The first blade sunk into the back of a guard’s knee and it gives out as Kith sends all of her weight leaping onto one who had been too afraid to get too close, sending both of them hurdling into the bars of the beast's cage. 

“Cat-man, my offering to . . . Rawr?” The beast’s bloodied head turned her way, and she could feel the heat of anger radiating off of him. She was sure that some of that was for her. The guard next to the one she was still pressing into the cage reared his arm back to strike again, and with her free hand Kith sunk a dagger into his temple, maintaining eye-contact with the giant, angry cat.

“See? Kith good. Now make yourself useful.” She shoves the guard struggling against her back at the bars and lets the creature do as it willed with him while she retrieved the dagger still embedded in the back of the other guard’s knee.

As their fight continued, it became clear that the remaining guards didn’t seem to know what to do with them. Kith took a few strikes to her extremities, but was otherwise too difficult for them pin down--partly because she was so fast, and partly because while they struggled to land a strike against her, she would lure them too close to the cage, at which point, should the cat beast not already be preoccupied with ripping a comrade’s head off, it would take to working on theirs. Should any of them attempt to flee, the rogue would send blades tearing into their achilles tendons, split open their necks, or simply insult them as she knocked them off-balance and flung them back to that horrific monster.

((OOC: Please feel free to expand as you’d like on the details of our fuzzy friend’s ferocity))

As the room quiets once more, Kith searches for a place on her to wipe her bloody daggers against, but everywhere she tries only coats them in more red film. She felt the viscous liquid dripping down her face as well, so she could only assume she looked as terrifying as the now red-silver creature before her, huffing just as heavily as she was. As horrific as she may have found him had she stumbled across him in the forest, he no longer seemed as frightening as he had before. At least for now.

She reached into her pocket and held out the ring of keys, “Next time, lead with ‘I rip heads off human bodies’,” she tosses them at him, "I don't know if you'll find what you're looking for on there, but I have my tools if need be."

((OOC: any response to any of the above))

As he fiddled with the keys and the manacle tethering him to the inside of the cage, Kith wandered toward the lock and examined it. It was strong, to be sure, but nothing she couldn't handle. She gave a sideways glance to the big cat playing with the keychain and shook her head. This was taking too long. It would likely be a matter of seconds, not minutes, that more were upon them.

She resheathed her blades and pulled two thin picking tools from one of the small pockets in her leathers. She gave the lock another once over and slid the picks inside.

"You insult my blades, then I have to save your fuzzy ass, now I'm dragging you out of your own kennel." She shook her head, feeling for the correct give in the lock, irritated she hadn't already, "You better be careful, you may end up having to pay me ba--"

Kith's breath is taken from her as she is knocked to the ground. Her eyes fly open and Tibbins' massive captain is above her, tossing her daggers back out of her reach.

"Tsk Tsk tsk, what have you done?" Anger and power wafted off of him, yet he was grinning down at her, "She will be very displeased. What have you done?" He looks to the cage, "And you've let her pet out as well." He shakes his head.

She turns to the cage and the worthless cat truly has fled. She looks up at the man and struggles against him, trying to throw him off balance, trying to find an opening to get out from under him. Dagger-less and with the full brunt of his weight pinning her into the dirt, there is nothing she can do but punch and scratch at his armor before he grasps her hands and pins them beneath him as well.

Leaning forward, he slowly wraps his meaty fingers around her neck and begins to squeeze, his breath now hot against her cheek, "You are not going to like what she does to you." And she can still hear the grin in his voice as his grip tightens.

Fight or flight or f . . . get down with Adedre!

And yeah, you deserve that break! Our NPC list is seriously stacked.