Prev

   

 

Part 8: The Place where the Djinni Dwell

===========================================================
Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hunter leaps through the portal, Kalika Wolfblade follows close behind and -

Discontinuity

- lands rolling so that she ends up in a crouch on the burning hot sand.  She looks around the place she finds herself in.  It's hot, hotter than Taheti had been, but the almost total lack of humidity makes it seem more bearable.
There is sand, pinnacles of eroded stone, pyramids in the distance beyond a tangled area of ridges and gullies, and a sun blazing out of a blue sky so dark that it appears almost black at the zenith.
There are two men in view.  One is standing staring at her from a short distance away.  The other is farther away, lying face down in the shade of one of the rock pinnacles.
Farther away still, towards the pyramids, stands some sort of carriage, although there is no sign of draft animals.
All this she takes in in the space of four heartbeats with her enhanced senses.
Her companions arrive behind her one by one, and with varying degrees of grace.

OOC - Lazarus, you are the man standing watching the gate.  Jack, you are the unconscious guy laying in the shade of the rocks.  Welcome aboard.  :)

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Cyan
-----------------------------------------------------------
Stepping through last, Cube in hand, Cyan glances around, smiling thinly.  "Heat to heat.  This is becoming ridiculous."  Berd immediately perks up.  Hot...dry...lots of sand to roll around in...

Almost as good as...well, a large, dead thing, sliced up into bite sized morsels and garnished with chocolate.

Cyan looks green for a moment as Berd's eyes glitter.  Recovering, she taps his forehead and stares at the two men with burning, sapphire eyes.  Raising one hand, she waves.  "Good day, sir.  Has some trouble befallen you and your companion?"

Not a care in the world, as if she hadn't just stepped out from a tear in space.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Lazarus
-----------------------------------------------------------
As the wolf and silver haired woman emerge from the gate, Lazarus hurriedly finishes scrawling a note in a beatup leather journal and then drops the book onto a canvas pack lying by his feet.

Resisting the urge to draw his blade, he continues to watch the portal for any more activity.  Whoever they are, they aren't the Djinni.  Let's just hope that I can convince them to go back through this... disturbance or follow me out of here before the Djinni arrive and have a bigtime mystic hissy fit.

OOC - hey all!

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Kalika Wolfblade
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kali rolls deftly in the sand and looks around, instantly cursing this place and its dry clime.  In her crouch the large wolf at her side is taller than she is.  Her long silver braid gleams like a mirror, reflecting the hot sunlight like a bright beacon.  Her yellow eyes narrow and the men and she rises to stand in a defensive, cautious stance in one fluid motion, her hand on her sword hilt.  If it was a game of good cop-bad cop Cyan was the good cop, while the dimunitive, silvered haired woman was definitely the bad cop.

At her side, the large wolf, Hunter, raises his hackles, but does not bare his teeth and growl.... yet.

Her nostrils widen slightly as she takes in the desert air, searching for the scents of more men or the absent draft animals.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Lazarus
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lazarus takes silent note of each of the figures to emerge from the glowing portal.

As Cyan speaks to him about his 'companion' he seems to become aware of the body for the first time.  A look of surprise passes briefly over his face and is quelled in an instant only to reappear as he sees the small creature perched on Cyan's shoulders.  He seemed about to say something to her until catching a glimpse of the little dragon.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Kalika Wolfblade
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kali frowns.  To not answer a question was an insult among the Chunchee... if the man was not physically able to talk, that was even worse.  That made him one of the kaedi, the Maimed Ones.

"Well? Did you not hear the... lady?" she asks, trying to keep the guttural growl out of her voice.  She was almost sucessful... almost.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Cyan
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sighing, Cyan walks down to where the other man is lying on the ground.  Quickly she surveys the men for weapons as she does so.  It wouldn't make any sense to fall directly into a trap, and get shot by a crossbow, or handgonne.  Moving up to the possibly unconcious man, possibly not, she eyes him with a shimmering emerald gaze, reaching down to touch his shoulder.

Berd continues to stare with glittering crystal eyes at the other man, marking his movements.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Lazarus
-----------------------------------------------------------
As Kalika speaks, the look of curiosity on Lazarus' face fades away to be replaced by a look of annoyance.

"Look lady, let me set up a hypothetical situation for you here.  Let's suppose you're minding your own business and big ol' dimensional gateway opens up in your backyard," he says, gesturing at the blazing portal.  "Now let's suppose too that dimensional portals aren't an everyday occurance.  And to make things even more complicated a bunch of people hop through, one of whom looks to me like a little girl with my Grannie May's hair that decided to bring her pet attack dog with her and another that has a little dragon for a friend."  Lazarus' face is now a bit red.  He continues on his tirade without drawing a breath, glaring at the silver haired woman, "Call me crazy, but when the lady with the dragon says 'good-day' to you as though this were just another jaunt in the park, you might be a bit hesitant to reply, don't ya think? On the other hand, if I were you, I might just spit the lot of the travelers on my big pigsticker and feed 'em to my dog."

Lazarus stops his speech just as abruptly as he started it.  Still a bit redfaced, he notices Cyan crouching by the fallen body.  "Actually," he says, now to Cyan, "I've never met that man before.  He was here when I arrived, I just didn't notice him with all the fireworks going on here."

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Kalika Wolfblade
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kali's feral yellow eyes narrow and a growl rises from Hunter's throat.

"How about I set up a hypothetical situation for you" she retorts in an obviously mocking sneer "Suppose you enter a portal, not sure what dangers await you on the other side. You find some pretty boy lala and an unconscious man.  You make a good faith effort to be friendly and get nothing by slack jawed stupidity in return!" she cries, fully into her tirade as well.

She locks eyes with Lazarus and lets the silence hang for a moment before assuming a more relaxed stance.  She flicks a child sized hand dimissively.

"Besides, I don't know who this Granny May person may be, but I assure you I am not she" she says haughtily "As to eating us" she gives him a feral grin, revealing long, inhumanly sized canine teeth "take your best..." her straight face crmubles and bursts into laughter "..shot.." she manages to gasp through giggles.

Hunter sits back on his haunches and looks extremely pleased with himself while his mistress dissolves into laughter induced tears beside him.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Lazarus
-----------------------------------------------------------
Looking back from Cyan, Lazarus shakes his head, "I wouldn't expect them to be entirely friendly or talkative, no, for precisely the reasons I gave you."

He sighs, "and this really isn't the time or the place for me to bring you up to speed on the meaning of the phrase 'if I were you'."

Catching a glimpse of the over-sized canines, Lazarus bursts into laughter of his own, "You ever hear the story of Little Red Ridinghood?"

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Kalika Wolfblade
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kali's has a few belated chuckles while the man speaks to her again.  One of her hands scratches Hunter's affectionately.  She cocks her head up, her metallic colored hair flashing in the sunlight while she thinks about the man's question.

She mentally reviews all the stories she had been taught as a child.  There was Khudrim the Undead kaedi, Maerk WaterStalker, and who could forget the antics of Choo the Talking Spider? Kali smiled at the memories of the stories, but there was no Little Red Ridinghood, Little Jadfay Bloodfist- yes, but no Little Red Ridinghood. She shakes her head.

"I have never heard the story of Little Red Ridinghood, but I understand 'if I were you'" she says brightly "Would you share the story of Little Red Ridinghood?"

For all her smiling, friendly demeanor, her mind is screaming I am not a child.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Lazarus
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lazarus' laughter subsides, "I will, but not here.  You picked an awkward place to land in.  In fact we all are in breach of a 6,000 year old agreement.  It'd probably be best if we got out of here, once we've seen to the injured."  He gestures in the direction of the unconscious man, but glances around, green eyes narrowed, as though keeping a watch for someone or something.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Kalika Wolfblade
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kali's good humor instantly fades, a serious cast to her fine boned features and demeanor.

"That's no good" she indicates the portal "Let's take him back through to where we came from. There's less danger there so we can heal him and then return after learning more about this land from our new friend" she smiles at Lazarous, but it is an unreadable smile.

She looks at the others, waiting for them to shoot down her idea.

"Unless there are any objections...."

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
As if on cue, there comes a rumbling from deep within the ground and the sand starts to slide and dance underfoot, making it difficult to stay upright.  The carriage suddenly lifts into the air upon a fountain of sand and rolls over twice before landing on its side spilling equipment and tools across the desert.
A whirling pillar of sand rises from the ground, with lightning flickering across its surface, and a voice like the screaming of ten thousand tortured souls booms across the sky, "Who DaRES tO DisTurB the DjiNni?"

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Cyan
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Well," Cyan begins, "he's not going anywhere.  Someone hit him-"

Then the world goes mad.

Instinctively, she drops her centre of gravity, planting a foot atop the unconcious man's back, and shielding her amythest eyes from the blowing sand.  Equally instinctively, her minds reaches out to the defenses close at hand, always close at hand, and brings the power of palinquot up in her defense.

This cannot be good.

Berd sinks his claws into her shoulder, staring at the enormous pillar of spiralling sand.  Contrary to what might be expected thus far from the little dragon, he merely narrows his shining eyes, and studies the...manifestation.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Kalika Wolfblade
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kali redjusts her weight to her back foot.  She does not step back, so much as lean back. Hunter steps in front of her, but does not bare his teeth.  Her hands come up to shield her face from the sand.  Once the whirling sound has cleared, along with the ringing in her ears, Kali opens her yellow eyes and takes in the form of the.... thing before them.  She stands silent for a few moments before realizing that the thing had asked them a question, and it would rude to ignore it.  She definitely didn't want to piss this thing off.

"We are travellers from a distant land, who stumbled upon this" she searches for a nice sounding word "bountiful desert" she indicates to the glittering portal "we were just on our way out actually... hoping that we didn't distrub the natural inhabitants of this place" she says smoothly.

She may be a trained bodyguard, but she had spent most of her time around simpering courtiers.  That time was not wasted as she had picked up a few of their elegant sayings, but only a few.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Lazarus
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lazarus curses, muttering something about someone having his head on a pike.  He crouches down quickly, rummages through his pack for a second and finally comes up with a tiny silver box which he opens, punches once with his finger and then holds up to his ear, as he watches the Djinni.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Lazarus
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lazarus talks briefly into the little device.  His words are difficult to hear over the howling winds, though anyone close enough might catch the phrase "stupid voice-mail".

Hastily folding the device up again he drops the object into his pack and hefts it onto his shoulder. Shooting Kalika a look that's supposed to say "shhh" he steps a bit closer to the sentient pillar of sand and holds up one hand, palm facing the creature.

The fierce winds whip his hair about his face as he shouts at the creature, "Hear me Djinni, these people are from another place and know nothing of your bargain with Menes the First.  They arrived through the portal behind me without any knowledge of this realm.  Give us leave to depart and we will not disturb you again."

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Cyan
-----------------------------------------------------------
Cyan nods to Berd franctionally as the little dragon's eyes narrow.  "Yes, that might be prudent," she whispers, her own, amber gaze not wavering from the Djinn.  Kneeling slightly, she makes sure the man on the ground isn't inhaling large quantities of sand, while Berd snakes a tail around her neck, and stares directly at the Djinn.

Sometimes it isn't worth trying to batter down at door, when you can pick the lock.

Berd's eyes glitter strangely as he focuses them on the creature.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Ares
-----------------------------------------------------------
Ares moves to the fallen man and scoops him up onto his shoulder, easily supporting the weight and steadying it with one hand.  He edges towards the portal, ready to make a quick escape if needed.  He glances at Cyan and notes the eyes of the dragon gleaming as it stares at the whirling wall of sand.
"What is he doing?" he hisses at Cyan, horror creeping into his voice.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Cyan
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Hush!" Cyan hisses, glad for the assistance, but not wanting Berd disturbed.  "Nothing that should provoke an...explosive response.  Subtle things are often superior to force."

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Kendall
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kendall causually hides the card palmed in Kendall's delicate right hand.  Without blinking, Kendall begins to take in the Djinn with every sense, a future "evil" plan taking shape.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Djinn stands in silence, or as silent as a howling wall of sand with lightning flashing through it can be, as if thinking.  Then it speaks once more, "We will aLloW yOu aLl tO dEpaRt thiS pLacE!"
The Djinn slides forward and the overturned carriage disappears beneath the curtain of whirling sand.
"We aCcepT thIs mETal aS tRibUte.  Do noT intRuDe hEre aGaiN, wE wiLl reCogNiSE yoUr cHavRek, yOuR esSenCe, aNd wilL dESTroY you shouLd we deTecT youR pReSencE aGAin!"

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Kalika Wolfblade
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kali ignores Lazarus and bows her head at the Djinni. Her hair flashes with the movement, and then, in a fluid motion she turns and jumps through the portal... Hunter by her side.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Cyan
-----------------------------------------------------------
All right.  It appears our decision has been made.  Tugging at Ares' arm, Cyan slips towards the portal and through, staring at the Djinn with burning Topaz eyes.  But I'll remember this place.  As she does, she memorizes the sands, the Djinn, the sky, the sun...

Berd heaves a sigh of relief, and puffs out another cloud of oddly smelling smoke.  The glitter in his eyes fades slightly.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Dworkin (GM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Everybody moves back through the portal, leaving Lazarus and Duncan behind, blasted by the sand whipped up by the presence of the Djinn.  A second Djinn rises from the sand some distance away and starts to move close.  As it approaches, it's unearthly voice bellows out.  "GrxAbN, wH y dO You cLaIm thE MetAl? I cHallEnGe fOR tHe rIgHt tO PosSEss iT!  DeFenD yOursElF!"
Duncan looks at the approaching challenger, and shouts to Lazarus above the rising howl of the wind, "Go!  Do you really want to be here when dhey start fightink?" and pushes the other man towards the portal.

===========================================================
Re: Part 8 - The Place where the Djinni Dwell by Lazarus
-----------------------------------------------------------
Lazarus shakes his head in disbelief.  They wrecked my truck. They wrecked my truck and now they're fighting over who gets the scraps!

Duncan's shove interrupts any further thoughts and Lazarus turns towards him, eyes narrowed to angry slits.  The muscles in his jaws tense for a moment.  Finally with a last glance back towards the two Djinni, he trudges over to the glowing portal and steps through into the grasslands he had seen earlier.

This had better be worth my exile.