A Pirate's Life for Me

[Shadowboxer]

As Nightrival listens to Kevin and Sen, he ponders on Slathliss's rather verbose reply. I wonder what his relationship to th' elves are? He seems ta know their ins and outs. I know he can lead us there, but what are we gonna find?

He returns to the conversation when Sen finishes his thought.

"Alright, I'll roll with that plan. Slathliss, can ya lead th' way?"

[Heridfel]

Slathliss nods, but his words belie the motion of his head.

"I can try," he says. "They move each day, sometimes more than once, and they have a way of not being found if they do not want to be. If that one were not so weak, we might be able to catch them by circling the gates, but there is little chance of that."

Kevin curls his lip in disgust at Slathliss, saying, "I can keep up, and you guys won't even feel tired with my help. I'm better today."

Sen and Nightrival, who know him a little better, can see that he's telling the truth, but not the whole truth. He's certainly doing better today than last night, but he still hasn't eaten and has a pale look to him. If it really is radiation poisoning, then the longer they stay here, the worse he'll get. They may not have a better chance than now.

Slathliss does his peculiar half-shrug, then picks up the pace. "Then we run," he says.

[Warmonger]

Sen smiled slightly. "That will not be a problem. I will go ahead." It took no more than a thought to focus his ki, and in an instant the Sen sprinted forward faster than any normal man could run. He remembered what elves looked like he only hoped he could catch up with the group in time.

[Heridfel]

Kevin looks over to Nightrival, shocked at the display of speed that Sen is putting on.

"Did you know he could do that? I did not know he could do that," he says in between breaths. He sounds a little winded already, and despite his bravado, it doesn't seem like he could keep up this pace around the entire circumference of the city.

"Heck, he can just find them himself," he thinks. If Sen waits for them near the gate, he'll help him out further and align his chi.

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival paces himself by jogging behind the others, and then he gradually gains more speed until he's racing along the cobbled streets. The merchants and beggers and other assorted, colourful characters fly past him as he focuses on his breathing and pulse. He notices that he doesn't smell the city anymore.

He shrugs and grins at Kevin's question.

"I seen 'em run up th' side of building once," replies Nightrival. "I guess movin' like Velocity lets ya do those sorts of things."

[Heridfel]

"I thought he was like us," Kevin says between breaths. "Besides the sword, anyway." It's clear that Kevin still thinks of himself as 'normal', despite all that he can do.

Kevin manages to get out to the gate fairly quickly, but it's clear that he and Slathliss are holding back Nightrival... and Sen is simply in a world of his own. He looks like he's had a few minutes to rest by the time the other three get to the gate, and it might even be true.

Kevin pants, doubling up over his waist and dry-heaving. He looks spent. For what it's worth, Slathliss doesn't look much better. When Kevin regains some semblance of control, he looks at the other three. With some misgivings, Kevin aligns his chi first. In the space of a couple seconds, Slathliss goes from red-faced and out of breath to ready to run a 10K. If his improvement was more dramatic, Sen and Nightrival's are just as powerful.

"Go find them," he says to Sen. "You could probably catch them and run back to us before we'd be halfway there." Then he looks to Nightrival.

"And you should go the other way, in case they're close. Slathliss can stay here with me, in case someone comes up. I wouldn't understand a word they said otherwise."

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival now feels a newfound strength coursing through him, as though he has rested for hours and drank one of those energy drinks he buys at the health food stores back in Freedom City. He not only can run for hours, he wants to run.

"Take a breather," he says to Kevin, "and I'll go check things out in that direction."

He sets off down the street where Kevin suggested, keeping his eyes open for any sign of these elves. Not only do his legs feel like iron, his perception seems more precise. He notices small details on people that loudly broadcast a myriad of meanings. He would love to think about each of them, but he has a job to do.

[Warmonger]

Sen took a deep breath as he felt the energy flow into him; it felt a lot like when he aligned his ki. The minor exhaustion quickly fled and the samurai. "Very well, your suggestion is a good one" he said to Kevin. He even tried to smile a little. Then the samurai dashed off hoping to spot the pointy eared folk.

As he wandered around he wondered about Kevin. The youth possessed a curious form of courage unlike any Sen had seen. He and Nightrival had trained many years for the sort of lives they would lead but for Kevin, this was all new but the youth bore it with surprising strength of character. There was a lesson here for Sen if he could but grasp it.

[Heridfel]

As it turns out, both Sen and Nightrival are successful in their searches. Nightrival sees a group of pointy-eared humanoids sitting around an old wagon being pulled by some sort of giant lizards after about 20 minutes of jogging and running. Sen finds the same group, having circled the whole of the city in the same time. Kevin's help only lasted for about a third of the time, and steadily decreasing potency, so the two of them are feeling the burn by the time that the elves are found. The two men also see one another - Sen standing at the top of a bluff that borders the city walls, and Nightrival in a gully a couple hundred yards from it.

---

Kevin takes a deep breath. He didn't expect them to find the elves instantly... or perhaps he did, given all the luck they've had so far. He's really been the odd man out. Unable to understand what he hears, the only one of the 'heroes' whose previous experience all came in the last year, Kevin knows that he's slowly dying. He might not be able to do anything about it, but he can look at his own chi as well as he can see anyone else's. He has a day, maybe two, before there's no hope of recovery.

With his eyes glowing a viridian green, Kevin looks at Slathliss, who sits motionless on the ground. He blinks, then looks at him with normal eyes. Slathliss looks like a human there, but his life force shows him to be something other than human. His body temperature looks like it's ten degrees lower than Kevin's, and his bone structure looks like it's made more from cartilage than actual bone. Even his cranial structure shows a complete lack of a nose (though his sense of smell is better than Kevin's).

"What are you?" Kevin asks Slathliss, momentarily forgetting to be circumspect.

[Warmonger]

Sen took some time to steady his breathing then moved towards the group at a regular trot. He kept his sword out of view but kept his hand near the hilt. Perhaps these Elves would prove themselves troublesome after all. As he got within shouting distance he called out. "Wait!"

[Heridfel]

The elves immediately look up to where Sen has shouted to them. They also see Nightrival coming from the other direction, and the ones closest to the two men draw longbows and nock an arrow. Two aim at Nightrival, and two aim at Sen. They aren't firing yet, but they aren't looking like they're happy to see customers.

"Halt, both of you!" an elf shouts. She stands in the middle of the carvan, and she has no weapon drawn herself. Despite that, she seems as dangerous or more than the ones with bows and arrows.

---

"I am not from this world," Slathliss says. He lies out on the grass and stretches, sunning himself while waiting for the others to return. "I found my way here from the Terminus, where I was taken against my will. It has changed me, as it changes all who enter it. I can understand and be understood by everyone I speak to, and everyone sees me as one of their own species. I look like an elf to the elves, a gnome to the gnomes... though a giant gnome, which has caused me some trouble."

"I just saw what you really are," Kevin says. "One of the Serpent people, aren't you." It isn't phrased as a question.

Slathliss shrugs, "We don't call ourselves that. On our world, we'd call you a pink-monkey person." He props himself up by the shoulders and looks over to Kevin. "You fear snakes. Your kind, that is. I don't like looking different to everyone, but I'm glad that I'm not hated for what I look like."

Slathliss's words hit Kevin pretty hard. What he's saying sounds a lot like what he's heard from some of his teammates growing up in Texas. Attitudes are changing for the better, but there's still some people with old-fashioned racist attitudes. He hasn't been treating Slathliss very well; is he acting more like those bigots? He falls into silence as he thinks.

[Warmonger]

Sen stopped but hardly didn't put his hands up. He judged that he could defend himself from mere arrows and kill the two guradians. Which only soured hsi mouth at the violnce that had flashed through his mind. He kept a straight face but called out at the distnace he had stopped. "I mean you no harm but I would ask a question of you."

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival also halts when he sees the bows and swords get drawn. He drops his hands and cocks his head to one side, as if he is anticipating a sudden attack. Sen has already spoken to them and he would only confuse the situation if he says too much. Nightrival decides to let the situation play out and react accordingly, which usually ends up being a violent reaction.

"I'm with 'em," he adds.

[Heridfel]

Sen stopped but hardly didn't put his hands up. He judged that he could defend himself from mere arrows and kill the two guardians. Which only soured his mouth at the violence that had flashed through his mind. He kept a straight face but called out at the distance he had stopped. "I mean you no harm but I would ask a question of you."

Nightrival also halts when he sees the bows and swords get drawn. He drops his hands and cocks his head to one side, as if he is anticipating a sudden attack. Sen has already spoken to them and he would only confuse the situation if he says too much. Nightrival decides to let the situation play out and react accordingly, which usually ends up being a violent reaction.

"I'm with 'em," he adds.

While the elves don't lower their weapons, they don't look like they're about to attack Sen or Nightrival right now. The female elf holds up her hands and a nimbus of energy shimmers around her. It doesn't seem to have any effect on Sen or Nightrival, but it's not clear what it did do. She moves warily toward Sen.

"What is it that you want of me?" she asks him. "You do not look like the kind of person who seeks us out - neither of you do."

[Shadowboxer]

"Why, who usually comes lookin' fer ya?" Nightrival blurts out. "A jolly fat dude inna red snowsuit? What we hafta say concerns us both. Get yer people ta drop their weapons so we can all be civilized about this. We ain't lookin' fer a fight."

[Heridfel]

"People who want to purchase something from us. The two of you don't look like you've got two gold pieces to rub together. Talk is not cheap. What are you offering that supposedly concerns us?" she asks bluntly. Her assessment is accurate. Both Nightrival and Sen slept (or meditated) in their clothes, and bedraggled is not a rich look. She doesn't say anything to the guardsmen about lowering their weapons, and for their part, they keep an arrow nocked and trained on each of the men.

[Warmonger]

Sen locked eyes with the woman, again he could feel himself being entranced by her beauty, but his iron self control reasserted itself. He made no threatening moves but did not to appear harmless either. "It is true that we have no coin," he began. "and yes we will ask a question of you. We seek the one called Edward eldricth we belive that you spoke to him recently." Sen said brazenly. Then he paused. "As for the matter of payment. We are capable men, for this favor we will exchange our services."

[Heridfel]

The elves look closely at Sen, trying to determine whether he's speaking truthfully. Finally, the leader frowns and speaks.

"We spoke with a wizard recently - though he gave his name as Adrian Eldrich, not Edward. Still, names are easily changed. I will give you what you ask for no charge to see you away from here. He did not say where he was going when he left, but he went along the north road," she says. She waves her hands as if to shoo the two of you away. The guards seem just as ready to attack you as they did before she answered your question - maybe a little more so, now that you have what you were supposedly after.

[Shadowboxer]

Nightrival grinds his teeth.

"You suckers are lucky I'm inna good mood. We'll take what yer offerin' and go our own way, but remember ya'll catch more flies with honey, ya know what I'm sayin'?"

He unclenches his fists and draws his legs together. Another second and he would have started dropping elves faster than Peter Jackson. He nods at Sen and motions towards the street.

"We got what we want. Let's leave these charming folks with their business."