Somehow, I totally missed mention of the door in the antechamber, too... or perhaps I read it as being in the larger chamber beyond?

That said, I think the wooden door is worth an inspection, at least, before moving on into the larger room. No sense in leaving it unchecked and, perhaps, risking something(s) coming through it and putting them at our backs as we move forward, right?

Y'know? Maybe I'll do a couple of versions... One being in the standard "just standin' there lookin cool" vein and, the other, a more "action oriented" deal.

...doing a little scribbling, now, playing around with layout ideas and such.

Any specific requests as to appearance and such?

Like would you prefer Kith being drawn with her hood up or down? Crouching or standing? Etc.

And for Ara, I'm assuming blade out, of course? Battle stance or just standing there?

Anyhoo... as I said... I'm doodling... will see what comes of it. Got a meeting in about 15 minutes but I can probably scribble through a decent bit of that.

Now I've got a clear idea, so that's good... I hear my sketchbook calling and demanding a "group portrait" being attempted.

...Like Roger doesn't have his own share of dad jokes in the wings!

I've rather imagined at least one of Kith's daggers (perhaps even the one Ch'dau carries, now) to look something like this:

...and/or this one:

Gotta love that keen cheddar!

...at least, it is in the Eoliam-Whackadooster dictionary definition of the word, anyway. 

Besides... "normal" is a setting on the washing machine, not people!

As a "blade-guy," myself, I've searched for and, in more than a few cases, bought blades that fit my ideas where the weapons of my characters are concerned. Have Nyx's kukri, Jericho's cutlass, and several other stabby-stabby-slashy-slashy items adorning my home office... aaaaand have been looking for a decent falcata to add to the collection, of late.

Soooo.... yeeeeeahhhhhh... TOTALLY normal. 

Looking forward to the next round of posts.

Re: Familiarity/reputation - totally agree! Couldn't see it any other way, tbh, especially among warrior-types. Even if he'd only had brief/at-a-distance encounters with the Sylvari elite, he'd have certainly been impressed enough with their prowess to have asked about them. As for Ara's recognition of Ch'dau, yeah, kazari are pretty darn uncommon in these lands and rumors of The Silver Cat of Coria have likely reached the pointed ears at Megilindar Nost.

Good stuff, there, Butterfly! Love the "battle poise" that Ara maintained in the face of having the bloody pair dropped at her feet (though I can't say I was truly expecting otherwise) and the recognition by reputation bit was a neat little add in, too! Fantastic!

As far as Adedre's estate goes: I hadn't really stated in post exactly where it was, so having it placed somewhere in the city itself is fine with me. I had initially imagined it being on the outer edges of Davnor but, again, I'd never posted a precise location. Even at that, if Ara entered the city thru one gate, it's possible that her tour through the city eventually found her closer to the opposite end... *shrug*... whichever way the two of you want to play/place it is okay. It's our story, after all, not mine alone.

Skeletons - I'm thinking that given the events that have transpired, Adedre is likely recalling her forces in order to regroup and re-strategize... put together a more organized search, keep her more horrific agents penned within the walls of her estate, etc. She wants her prize back, of course, so she's not giving up on the search but I feel it might be more a covert action now that it's expanded into the city-proper. That said, again, I trust the two of you to follow up on those sorts of things as you see fit and as makes sense to the tale.

Also - GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING! Time for coffee!

...hence, Jesus and Muhammed, I suppose.

((No offense to the religious intended, of course.))

Glad you approve, kabibi!

I'm down for a collab, myself... assuming Ch'dau can even speak at this point. 

Read. Ponder. Let us know. 

P.S. Bree - I figured "unsuspecting" was the only way it'd work. Kith is a bit more nimble and sneaky than Ch'dau, after all.

There ya have it, my friends! One forcible extraction from Undolethe's lair! And we're now officially all in the same space!

It got a bit lengthy but I think it worked well! Looking forward to whatever might come next.

“…I do owe you my life, though,” he admitted, “and, wise or not, kibibi, if that is your decision, I will be with you.”

“I believe I told you already that you owe me nothing,” the jaded expression on her not-quite-monkey-face betrayed the sigh she had managed to suppress. “Your life is your own, Ch’dau. Go and be free if that is your wish.

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.” With that, the shadow-girl turned, quickly and quietly picking her way through the jumble of bones that was resultant of their latest encounter. “Come along, Kazari,” she murmured as she went, “the entrance to the manor is just ahead. I’ll show you the front door and you can make your decision, then.”

“The decision is not mine to make,” he uttered, following along behind the fleet-footed girl, mindful to try and keep his steps as silent as hers, “the ki’ja’kazi is an honor that none of my kind would deny…”

She glanced back at him, then, confusion etched on her shadowed face.

“Ki’ja’kazi,” he whispered, again, as his mind sought out the words that might match in her own language. “How is it said in your tongue? A life-debt? It means, Kithran, you are not my keeper, but I am yours.”

The hissing sound he heard coming from her as she peered around the doorframe, he imagined, was intended to be a scoff. Her surveillance of the corridor complete, Kith took a step forward but, then, paused and looked back at him. “Rocha and kabob,” she asked in a hushed tone, “what do those words mean?”

“Rrow’ka,” he replied, carefully enunciating each syllable as best he could while whispering, “means ‘brave one.’ Kibibi, in your language,” he continued, his feline featuers twisting a bit as he, again, tried to properly translate, “would be ‘little lady’?”

“Little…” The rolling of the girl’s eyes seemed to be driven by the frustrated sigh she heaved. “That’s it, I’m taking both, cat-beast.” 

I am sure you will try, he chuckled inwardly, sticking close to her as she bounded off into the shadow-strewn corridor, Little Kitten.

A turn or two in the labyrinthine hallways found the unlikely duo at the foot of a stairway that led upward, presumably into the witch’s abode, itself, and Ch’dau couldn’t help but feel some small bit of elation in knowing that, beyond the door at the top of these steps, was an escape from this slick-stoned hell in which he had spent the last Khr’a-only-knew how many days. A soft purring sound threatened to tickle its way free of his throat but it was abated by the raising of Kithran’s hand; a signal for him to wait before she silently skittered up the stairs. He watched and waited as the shadow-girl pressed her ear to the door and listened, then, seemingly assured that nothing lay in wait for them on the other side, beckoned him up.

Before he had made it too far, though, she stilled him, yet again, and put a finger to her lips. A series of similarly silent gestures followed and, from those, Ch’dau understood that something – or, rather, someone – did, indeed, await them on the other side of the doorway. Her last gesture indicated that she was going to open the door and that Ch’dau should be ready for whatever it was. He simply nodded in reply and readied himself as her hand weighed heavier on the latch…

…The guard at the door had been short and simple work, with little enough sound created to raise an alarm. Beyond that and, even in the absence of the shadows in which Kithran preferred to work, there were but a few more instances in which the witch’s henchman needed attending to. Eventually, as the pair found themselves huddled in a small patch of shadow cast by the structure of the manor’s grand stairway where, just a few feet away, the doors that led to freedom from this hellish place awaited. She looked up at him from where she crouched in the staircase’s shadows and his, raised a questioning brow, and nodded faintly toward those doors.

Kithran seemed intent on continuing with the quest that had brought her here, to begin with, and, as much as he would have loved to have accepted her offer, the Kazari responded to her unvoiced query with a simple shaking of his head as he lay a paw across his chest and then pointed, meaningfully, at her. Following that, he gave a quick jerk of his head indicating that they should proceed up the stairway in the nook of which they now secreted themselves.

Grinning, Kith reached out a hand and nudged Ch’dau’s shoulder. The Kazari, in return, simply shrugged, his lips tightening over his own teeth, and repeated the head-jerk motion toward the upper floors. If her face made any other quiet commentary, the cat-man didn’t see it as kith had pulled her hood up over her head and, after giving a listen for any potential threats that might await, led them quickly and quietly up the steps, past the second floor and immediately up to the third. Kithran stopped there, for an instant, and Ch’dau was fairly certain he heard (or felt) her heart as it trip-hammered away deep in her chest.

We must be close, he mused, lurking just behind his penumbral partner, there are no more steps to climb and, unless her quarry is hidden on the roof…

The big cat’s thoughts were interrupted, then, by a semi-familiar clattering noise that echoed from farther up the hallway that diverged from the head of the stairs. At first, to his ears, anyway, it was reminiscent of the tinkling patter of boney feet that had preceded the skeletons that had set on them in the dungeon but, too, it seemed more than that… many more footfalls, overlapping one another and, perhaps, clanking together in a curious staccato rhythm… tik-tik-tik-tikkity-tak-tik-tik-takktiy-tik… Bhak’chu’s balls! What is that?

Just as both of their heads had snapped in the direction of the sound when it first became obvious, so, too, did their eyes seem to find one another when they registered that it must be a greater troupe of skeletons that had raised such a noise. Scarcely a blink had been exchanged before, in unison, they had torn back down the steps and frantically sought shelter behind the door of an empty room on the second floor. Behind the door, both Kith and the cat, over the sounds of their own heaving breaths and thudding hearts, strained to hear whatever might have become of the bone army’s feet. Straining became unnecessary sooner than he would have liked, though, as the strange rhythm of the clattering steps made its way down the stair, into the hall, and, room-by-room, door-by-door, it drew closer and closer.

Behind him, Ch’dau heard the shadow-girl fight to contain and control her breaths and, as a doorway two or, perhaps, three rooms down, splintered in response to the searching skeletons, he flicked a glance at her, then jerked his head in the general direction of the space at their backs. Without so much as a nod, Kithran sought out a place to best position herself in preparation for what, by then, they both knew was inevitable. Ch’dau, too, prepared himself, though staying much closer to the door, and readied his stolen sword as chuffing breaths heaved against this aching ribs…

Tik-tik-tik-tikkity-tak-tik-tik-takktiy-tik-tik-tik-tak.

…As prepared as he imagined he was, what came through the hole in the wall following the explosion of the door was nothing like the Kazari had ever seen or could have readied himself for. It was, in fact, a horde of skeletons but, rather than a rank and file press of individual monkey-bones, a thing of true nightmares burst into the room. A half-dozen (if not more) skeletons, it appeared, had tangled themselves, one upon another, to create what he could only see as some sort of horrific bone spider. Ribcages had interlocked to create the semblance of a thorax; limbs had broken and twisted to form themselves into spindly, spear-tipped legs; and spines and skulls had wrenched themselves into impossible representations of a multi-eyed head, sharp-boned mandibles, and seeking stingers. The sight of it so unnerved him that in recoiling from the horror of it, Ch’dau had foolishly allowed himself to succumb to the first sweeping slash of one of those legs that it sent the sword spinning from his hand.

He had scarcely registered the loss of the weapon when he found himself caged beneath the horrors rattling limbs and staring into the myriad red pinpricks of light that glared down at him from the thing’s silently shrieking heads. Immobilized as he was, Ch’dau did manage to evade what would have been the worst of the attacks raining down on him, though he did succumb to others. The bone-spider was incredibly fast, striking from multiple angles all at once, and making it nearly impossible for him to counter or even land a sacrificial blow of his own in response. In fact, just as he squirmed away from the stabbing of a jagged, bone-pointed spear of a strike from one of the things legs, he found himself directly in position to have been chomped fatally upon by a multi-skulled pincer. The defiant roar that exploded from him, then, was punctuated by the rasp of steel and the clatter of bone and, to his relief and surprise, the expected deathblow failed to land. Instead, one of Kith’s daggers appeared where the now missing mandible had been and, on instinct much more than practice, the Kazari reached up and snatched the blade free from where it had lodged into the broken skull. Even as he set to laying furiously about with Kithran’s blade, severing skull from spine, he heard the thief, herself, roar out a battlecry and caught sight of her dark shape as she launched herself onto the bone-spider’s back.

“Get up, Ch’dau,” he heard the shadow-girl plead, even over the sound of brittle bone and striking steel, “For Rawr!”

Between the gaps of bone that constructed the spider, Ch’dau glimpsed the girl straddling the monstrosity’s back; her daggers rising and falling as she fought her damnedest to keep the thing in check… then, he saw the pair of spiny clawed appendages that the monster had begun to raise over his new friend’s unsuspecting back. Another roar, perhaps more ferocious than any other she had heard to that point, exploded from the Kazari’s mouth as he wrenched himself free of the bones that had caged him…

 “For Rrowl!!!”

…The roar ended in a shout and a correction on the same maddened breath. The cat-beast rolled from beneath the bone-spider and, as his own feet came under him, launched three hundred pounds of furred fury upwards to intercept the spikes that would have surely pierced the thief’s back. Rather than find their intended target, though, one of those taloned appendages was hewn away with the stroke of the thief’s sacrificed dagger and the other, even as it’s skeletal claw sank into the meat of the kazari’s shoulder, found itself caught in the vice-like grip of the cat-beast’s paw. A roar that was equal parts pain and rage echoed through the manor, then, and, Ch’dau, leapt from the bone-spider’s back, it’s seeking, spear-like appendage still in hand. The pull of the cat-man’s momentum, multiplied by his weight, flipped the bone-spider onto its back and sent the shadow-girl sinning through the air and into the hallway beyond the door.

Ch’dau scrambled to his feet, and, in agony, extracted the thing’s spike from where it was lodged in his shoulder, as the bone-spider desperately tried to right itself. He thought, as the tinges of red anguish and rage filled his vision, that he heard the thing shriek but, as the talon came free and his own blood spurted forth to splash the writhing bones of the abomination, the kazari mercenary realized that the sound he was hearing wasn’t a shriek, at all, but, rather, a song…

A bladesinger, he realized, wincing against the fresh injuries, even as, at the far edge of his clouded vision, Kithran rolled to her feet. He had encountered bladesingers before, in his time serving with the Wyverns, and, from what he knew of them, none would have found their employ in the service of one such as the witch. In the space of a blink and a wince as he tried to clear his vision, the Silver Cat realized that the wordless song he heard had risen from just outside the window in front of which Kithran had recently righted herself. If there was any fight left in him, now, it would not be enough to save either himself or Kith from what might happen when the bone-spider regained its footing. Thus, as he secured his grip on the dagger that had saved him, he gathered what was left of his strength and charged, headlong, at his new friend…

“Wha…???”

…He vaguely registered the shadow-girl’s shocked expression and the surprise in her voice as he barreled into her. He snatched her from her feet and, even as his arms were still folding around her, twisted himself in the air so that their crashing through the window at her back would spare her the worst of it. For a brief eternity, they plummeted through the stench and song that resounded outside the witch’s lair and, when it was over, the impact with the ground forcibly expelled all of the air from the kazari’s lungs. As he fought to regain his breath and Kithran groaned against his chest, his dazed vision caught sight of the elven warrior whose song and steps had just led her from being crushed by their fall. A pair of skinless human skulls thunked into the dirt near his own as, weakly, he tried to lift the dazed thief from his own body.

“Take… her… rrow’ka,” Ch’dau wheezed as the surprised Syl peered down at him and the bone-spider’s front legs appeared in the broken casement from which they had toppled, “Get her… free… of this place…”

((OOC: Good place to stop, I think, and let the two of you pick up if and how you see fit… Tag: Rer and Bree!   ))

My heart be boomin' yo!!!

Well done, kibibi!  That description of the bone spider was spot-on, too... It's like you read my nightmares or something!

I'll endeavor to get a follow up tacked on soon.

I appreciate the kind words, Almerin, and am glad that you've enjoyed the read, so far! It means a lot to me that you took the time to say so.

I'm good with all of that! Makes sense to me in all respects. Love the idea of Ara's song prompting Ch'dau to consider the window a good idea.

Edit: Just happened to think that, with the time that Ch'dau's spent in the merc companies, he may have encountered a bladesinger or two and, thus, be somewhat familiar with their "songs," so, that could definitely drive his decision. *nods*

...Ch'dau's just playing "rear-guard," at the moment, I believe. I think I left my last post with him following the rest into the chamber beyond the skull-door. Not sure I can add anything else, just yet.

"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."

It is for this reason that Ch'dau refers to Kith as "Little Kitten" to begin with... with her stubborn ass!!!

Personally, the way I see this playing out in an "immediate sense" is that, yeah, Kith decides to persist and she and Ch'dau proceed onward and upward. Maybe they even make it a floor or two into the manor without too much difficulty, at first... then BOOM! BONE-SPIDER!  That might be a little much for either of them in their conditions and, as a result, a "hasty exit" is required.

Imagine Ara's surprise when, as she reaches the manor house, she's greeted with the sound of breaking glass and a thief, wrapped up in a kazari rug, landing at her feet.

Also - imagined how miffed Kith will be at those circumstances!

Kith: "What the hell is wrong with you?!?!"

Ch'dau: "I just saved your life."

Kith: "Saved my life? You threw me out a window!!!"

Ch’dau leaned heavily against a bank of shelves, trying to ignore the aches and pains in his… well, everything… as he eyed the piles of bones that, until he and Kith had smashed them into bits, had been warriors of a sort. It was strange, he thought, how tenacious these monkeys were without flesh and blood about their bones. Small and brittle as they were, he could think of no human warrior in recent memory that was as relentless as these had been. How does such a thing even work, he wondered, absently grunting as a pain shot through him from where one of these things had pierced his side with talon-like fingers… “It is unnatural,” he murmured.

“I’ve read about bone armies in stories, but that’s all they ever were,” Kith huffed over his own musings, drawing his attention from the spill of broken bones at his feet, “Have you ever seen anything like this? Or anything else like this since you’ve been here?”

The kazari shook his head. “In my time here,” he said, “I have heard many strange things moving in the dark, heard the whispers from the guards about the horrors the witch was capable of… experienced some of it, myself… but, no. I have never seen anything the likes of this.”

“I suppose,” Kith nodded faintly, “that as horrifying at these things are, they aren’t so horrific to fight. What say you, Ch’dau,” she asked then, her eyes lifting to his as she tried to mask the evidence of her own pains, “Can you handle a few bone heads?” Blood dribbling from a split in her lip, she grinned wide at her quip.

Determined as these abominations may be, Ch’dau thought eyeing the girl before him, you, little kitten, are moreso!

“If I imagined there to be only a few,” he grunted as he pushed himself away from the shelves, “yes. I have doubts, though, that their numbers will be small.” Using the point of his stolen blade, he gestured at the skeletal remains strewn about them; “And, if the monkey-witch is capable of such as this, what else might we encounter?

I do not, think, rrow’ka, that continuing after your book is the wisest of decisions.” His gaze ticked from the dispatched skeletons to the door and, then, back to her. “I do owe you my life, though,” he admitted, “and, wise or not, kibibi, if that is your decision, I will be with you.”

((OOC: So, just a shortish one to keep things moving. Going to pause here for Kith’s reactions, input, snarking, etc. Where we go after this kind of depends on what she says/does, really. ))

I think the last time I played a SW RPG was here at the Inn, actually. Tides of Fate, I believe it was, with you, Admiral, Ginafae, YeOlde (RIP), and Vilyamar... Good times!

Glad you had fun, my friend.

That said - Chop, chop, young Cedric! We're gonna need some healing, methinks!

...to a game thread near you; a post from the cat!

Finally got the greater majority of the Halloween business taken care of, yesterday. Monday staff meetings are finished and, since the government is off, today, thanks to Christopher Columbus' poor navigational skills, I foresee the rest of my work day as not having too much "work" in it. Soooooo... here I sit, re-reading the last few posts and prepping to write up one of my own.

Happy Monday, ladies!

That was perfect! Loving how they're not quite in sync as far as anticipating the other's fighting style and inadvertantly "stepping on each others toes."

Well done!

Hope the move went well and you're feeling a bit more refreshed, today!

I'll see what I can do about getting a post together before too long. Got a good idea of where to go with this.

It was a fun project, to be sure. I'll see what I can do about getting pictures of everything... might take several to capture it all, though. We've got stuff everywhere! Melty Mildred, the witch; Hook-hand Hal, the pirate; a giant kraken tentacle; a graveyard; a fog cannon; ghosts; the Witchworks itaelf takes up the entire front part of the garage! Holy Hannah! I've got a problem!

Would love to see Aranwen's sword make that collection!

If you're interested in the cauldron I made, at all, here's a quick little video Cauldron Test

I must have fallen asleep thinking about this tale, last night. Had a nightmare in which I was being chased down a tunnel or something by a "spider" made up of what had to have been at least 3 different skellies! Freaked me right out!  

As for my weekend plans - gotta get out and finish up the spook show that my yard turns into at this time of year... test the cauldron and lights and such... I don't know about relaxing or fun but the results are worth it.