A Dying World

[Greycat]

A Dying World
OOC

It's late summer in Karn, with the start of autumn but several weeks away. Amberglenn is but one of the many towns and villages scattered across the mainland of Karn. The farmers are beginning preparations for the end of the last major growing season and the merchant's wares are changing. As with any other major town in the land, it has it's jails and cell blocks to cater to those who insist on breaking the laws. However, there is a certain set of prisoners who's situation is a bit different. The only thing that binds these people together aside from their shared imprisonment, is the fact that none of them can remember precisely why they were incarcerated, or anything else for the last month, for that matter.

What they can remember is the cell. Or, rather; pair of cells. Two long cells facing each other, a curtain around the wash basin and chamber pot the only real privacy between the two. On one side were the women; the changling, tiger and the elf. The other held the Rat, halfling, goblin and the human. Being a prison, and not an inn, mats were the sleeping places provided. Aside from the plain clothes they were garbed in, the two druids, the warmage, the changling and the bard had an extra assessor. A band secured over their neck. The standard Antimagic retainer. With it on, all their magic and supernatural abilities were suppressed, and they could only be removed when disabled.

The Warden stalked in shortly after their morning meal. He had the look of poorly restrained disgust as he waited for them to pay attention. "Get yourself together, the lot of you!" He ordered gruffly. "Cause of you folk, the situation is already starting to fall apart! The Governor wants you involved in the control efforts. So get you act together!"

::Cast::
Wezyfish :: Hajime :: Nezumi Samuri
Yellow 13 :: Vashaa :: Tiger caste Artathi Druid
Sikako :: Sena Depogo :: Changling Rogue
Mew :: Sonya Luniri :: Wild Elf Druid
Goldmarble :: Kinsley Vilogen :: Aelfinn Warmage
Grievous Khan :: Snark :: Goblin hexagunner
Fenix :: Milo Lionheart :: Human Bard

[Sikako J]

Sena was sporting her current fashionable body, what appeared to be a human female with dark amber hair that held a natural curled look to it. The hair hung to her neckline of her clothing (or what they had called clothing to give to her) just past the horrid neck band that kept her from changing her form. As a changeling, she could alter her looks to either sex of a multitude of races and had honestly forgotten what her true race looked like. She instead was now a five foot four, slightly curved woman that looked near exact to a human minus slightly longer fingers. Hard as sh strained, she couldn’t tell you about her recent past maybe it was the collar…maybe it was the gruel they passed off as food but her head was fuzzy on details. Her purple eyes glanced over to her “cell mates” one of the few things she had learned over the past..how many days was it?

Vashaa was a tigerlady or better known as a Beastfolk. The fact that the bestial creature was taller and outweighed her was the least of her concerns. This particular tigerlady was of a druidic clan, best that she could relate followers of the stewards of nature. Sena was never quite sure how to those that could call upon the power of the fey or the gods, but the fact that she had spent numerous coins of items that had been taken from the and left her feeling slightly tainted in the tigerkin’s eyes. One could never be too careful around clerics or druid kind, they have all sorts of codes that if you break made you an enemy. Now tack on to that that her other cell mate was also a druid type and that Vashaa had a very strange colored coat made for a slightly uncomfortable changeling.

Sonya Luniri, the other druid in her life currently, was smaller than her current form. Nearly a foot shorter and about half her weight, Sena was sure if a fight occurred she could take the small child looking druid. But much like her own kind, Sonya’s appearance was deceptive. She had learned that this child like creature was in fact an elf and “older” that her by nearly twenty years. Two decades of experience more that the Changeling expert. Although their was some mixed information about elves developing slower that their human counter parts, they wasn’t room to leave her out of her mind as a potential threat.

Now she knew Snark, the goblin across the way alright. They had done a few jobs together before…maybe they had gotten caught on a job? Damn this blaster collar, surly that is why she couldn’t remember. But if anyone could figure out how to unlock the collar device it would have been Snark. He was an inventor of sorts, that she remembered. And if he could figure out how to unlock it, Sena was sure she had to the skill to do it.

Laying down on the improvised bed, a mat filled with what felt like straw, rocks and maybe dead cats from the smell, the Changeling looked up as the Warden walked in. ‘Hurray another tasteless meal..’ she muttered under her breath. As he began to speak, a mild rush of excitement and pankick flushed over her.

What had she done? What had happened?

But she couldn’t let him know that! No! It was best to try and gleam information through speak tricks that to let the man holder her here that she had no clue what was going on.

“Tell me oh wonderful Warden,” she gave a mock bow, “What is it we get out of helping with the problem. I quite like this cell of mine, maybe I could just stay here while you deal with the problems yourself?”

She paused a moment trying to gague the situation.

Bluff Check: 1d20+8 → [17,8] = (25) )
Sense Motive:1d20+4 → [8,4] = (12)

[Goldmarble]

The night had been quiet, if not altogether comfortable. He had managed to get his resting done, but while sitting instead of his preferred method of laying down. Laying down on these slabs of disease infested filth called "sleeping mats" was an affront to all sentient beings. And he was the kind of halfling who had rested in a ditch during a storm at one point. Currently though, he was gnawing on a scrap of old bread that he kept dipping in the gruel to try and soften it enough to eat without breaking his teeth. As the Warden walked in, Kinsley glowered at the man, hatred filling his eyes.

Yes, he had been imprisoned once or twice before, but then, there were reasons around that. Now though? Nothing. Last thing he could remember was coming back from another training mission. He had just gotten back, had a hearty meal and went to sleep. Then woke up in here, apparently a month later. With no possessions. Not even his father's locket with the impression of his mother delicately painted within the cover. Anything else? he could forgive. But having that item stolen from him without reason, crossed every line he could draw.

He swiftly glanced to the other cellmates, he honestly could not have placed any of them in his memory before, not even the fleeting glimpse of recollection. His gaze shifted back to the woman in the other cell, Sena she had said her name was, as she spoke with a sharp venom in her voice. Meanwhile, he continued to sit and finish mopping up the slightly chill gruel with the hard bread, munching while he listened.

Sense Motive: 23

[Yellow 13]

Vashaa was taking one of the many catnaps that she did. When she heard the warden yelling at her, she rubbed her eyes and woke up. Her ears twitched and she looked around, wondering what happened to her. Focusing her vision, she got up and yawned. Taking a quick glance around. In her cell, there were other women including... No. She looked harder and smiled. "Sonya? Is that you?" She asked, looking the pale elf over. "Sonya! That is you! By the spirits, it's been years!" She hoped she'd be awake now. She wouldn't have been here if it wasn't for this elf. She saved her life when she was a little cub. "How did you come to be here?" Vashaa's was so happy to see Sonya again. they had so much to catch up on.

[Greycat]

"You miss understand," the warden all but snarled. He left side tensed as he clenched his fist and held his arm stiff against his side to prevent from bashing the prison bars in anger. "You don't get anything from this. Consider it as apart of your sentence. Community service. Your first task." He managed to exert some degree of control over himself, schooling his voice and tone back into a more measured tone. "Hurry and finish up your meal. The situation is rapidly getting worse, and the adepts say that it will only get worse much more quickly if we do not head it off at this point.

"Not that I suppose you care if the city falls apart," he said, his sneer hinting at a return. "You are the cause of this after all."

[mew77]

Sonya groggily awoke, she looked down to see herself still clothed in her white dress, the patchwork one she used when not shifted. But that meant, she looked down to see furless feet and hands. She blinked to see bars. A cage...was she captured in the woods. No, the king's men almost never reached her part of the woods. And even if they did, now did they know she was anything more than an average wolf.

Which meant she was here for a reason. When the warden came by she sat up, still sitting like a dog she crawled over and snarled at him. With that she returned to her mat and was about to rest again when she heard a voice.

A familiar voice, and a face...she turned to see a tiger girl..."Vashaa", she thought.

Her first instinct was to bark. She had lived as a beast for quite a while, she avoided town mostly but responded violently when predators encroached on her territory. She couldn't remember how long she had been here, but she noticed a collar around her neck with a small hook where a leash would go. They had gotten to her in wolf form or something, and so she couldn't transform, that was at least a day ago she wasn't sure.

She heard words but struggled to get their meaning, slowly it came back to her. "Vashaa it's been many winters since we parted ways, how have you been?", Sonya said while moving on all fours towards her old friend.

By Sonya's count it had been at least 5 winters Vashaa stayed with her in the frostlands. It had been about 15 winters since then. It was strange for her to see the cub was now taller than her, and even looked older. Elvenkind did age slower than other races, but she still looked like a cub, while the cub now was the size of an adult. She sat with her knees bent and her forepaws on the cold stone

"I've been doing well." She replied, shifting to Druidic since it was the language she spoke most often. "I've been well. I trained with the clan until I felt I was ready. I've learned a lot since you last saw me." She smiled, teeth flashing. "You won't find me again in the snow without anything to keep me warm." She said, clearly proud. "How have you been though?"

Speaking in druidic Sonya responded, "The clan is the source of my problems now, the chief always saw me as a threat to him. After all how could he rule when there was a white wolf in the tribe. And so I was exiled. Those with faces can lie, can cheat, I learned much in banishment. I'm happy you found solace in the clan, but I have severed ties with them long ago.", she paused.

Vashaa nodded. "I had some trouble with them when I brought your name up." She admitted. "They didn't like it when I mentioned you and how you saved my life, but they didn't explain. But then again at the time, I was desperate and they didn't turn me away thankfully. I'm sorry to hear that though."

Sonya growled in anger, as she sat up again, it had been moons since she had formed words...the skills were still there but it still felt odd, "I suppose it is right to tell you how my life's been, spending the last couple moons living as a wolf in the northern forests. Well to do, good hunting. "

"At any rate, it's so good to see you again. I've never forgotten your kindness. I owe you my life and now that I've learned a lot of skills on my own, I feel it's only right to accompany you in whatever you do." Her tail flicked back and forth. So many questions filled her mind and she tried to think of what to say first. She remembered something then. "Oh. I nearly forgot, my kind ages faster then yours. That's why I look older. You don't look much older then when I first saw you."

"It seems most of the other kinds are like you in that regard. Now when will that human stop his yapping? I know we're all caged here.But why? Am I supposed to be the prize of some hunt?", Sonya spoke further.

"If you were, why would I be here? And..." She looked around seeing others in the next, far more populated cell. "Why are all they were? I see a goblin and sevral others." Her ears twitched over to where the guard was as though percieving him for the first time. Common. She closed her eyes and concentrated. "Why... We... Here?" She asked, the words strained as she tried to remember how to speak the common languge. She had learned it from somewhere, but couldn't remember. The earliest memories she could activly remember were tumbeling into the frozen wastes.

"Ah so a common jail, I know of them, but these seem more prudent with these collars. And it is strange, I can't recall what happened during the last moon.", Sonya said.

Hearing that from Sonya, she tried to recall where she had been. "I... Don't remember either." She said, truely confused now. "Something strange happened. My last memory was learning how to pass through a forest without leaving a trace." She said. "After that, my mind is a blank until just now."


"Not that I suppose you care if the city falls apart," the warden said, his sneer hinting at a return. "You are the cause of this after all."

Slowly Sonya got to her feet, shakily she walked upright for the first time in at least a moon, "Your territory is yours, but to have invaded my lands, you people have some nerve. How do you know your people aren't the cause of this. After all if the pack doesn't maintain their territory and keep competitors out they deserve to lose their territory. It's only natural."

It was as if Sonya had two minds, the beast and the girl and was switching between them. She was blunt, and knew the warden would be angry. She was only stating the truth after all. Natural selection is an unchanging law, and it seems it was working in the cities jsut as well.

[Fenix250]

The blond kid pretty much went back to sleep the moment he was done with his...poor excuse for a breakfast. He wasn't sure how long he was in here. Be it months or a single day, but this place felt like it would've driven him insane if he wasn't able to sing. Those bastards can take my mandolin, but they'll never take my voice! He thought this to himself as he debated if he should let sleep take him again or to wake up while he still can to prove his point.
Well, neither happened as a loud, angry voice woke him up. The blond man named Milo stands up with a light brush of his currently unkempt hair to remove the bit that threatened to cover his right eye as he listens to the angry warden guy that not even the warden's own mother likes. (his personal opinion, don't hurt me! xD)

[Entering 1st person]
I couldn't help but stare at the warden; we did something that caused the city to start a riot?! I don't even know ANYONE here! Just their names! Well... maybe I should try talking, "Hey warden guy. I don't know where you get your witnesses from, but clearly someone framed me. The gig I have here is too good for me to suddenly organize a riot or whatever the hell you're saying we've done. Heck, I don't even know anyone here your 'law enforcement' grouped me with! And if this isn't a riot, then what am I expected to do; sing whatever it is to death?"
I crossed my arms as I leaned my back to the wall in mild anger as I mumbled to no one, "I even have a freaking fanclub of all things..."
At this point I started to entertain the idea of the riot in question being something as simple as my fans trying to get me out, but I knew there's no way in Fen's name that'd ever be the case. But if it was, then my fans are more insane then I thought.

Die Roll page(note: anytime I group a number of checks together due to the bonus being the same, the rolls will be from (left)top to (right)bottom.)
Bluff: 1d20+6 → [13,6] = (19)
Sense Motive: 1d20+6 → [11,6] = (17)

[GrievousKhan]

Snark moaned and whimpered in his corner of the cell, as he sat his legs flat and wide, his ear's dipped low his features that of sadness. How long had he been in this nasty prison? It seemed like forever Snark had been forced to stare at this grey featureless walls. The worst part of all Snark couldn't even remember why and how he had gotten locked up in this hole. The last thing he could recall was a raid on a caravan off the coast of Karn. Which by the goblins estimations had to be some time ago. How long he had been here was anyone guess though. He peeked around as he let out another sigh. The were others like him, the first cell met closes to him looked to be a oversized vermin. Not to mention, while Snark might be no expert, he could tell that one was as blind as a human at pitch dark.

Then there was that human brought in some days ago. That one never interested Snark much, in the last the only other occupant of this place that was almost as short as Snark. It was really one thing to be stuck in this damned place, but it was quite another to have his beloved Gomm Krud taken from him. He had spent months working on that crossbow! MONTHS! Now only to have it taken away, along with many of his other possessions. Now he might never get it back, or get free of this place. Though the jail keepers had greatly underestimated Snark a great deal. No doubt thinking him just like any fool goblin kin. But Snark was a cut above the rest of his kind by a great deal, and his clan was already well known for their strange and often ingenuous weapons and tools.

A builder and master inventor himself, Snark had taken his time here to study the walls and the cell lock itself. The lock would have been child's play, had he his tools and time. Snark had made sure his time here had not been wasted at the very least. Then the sound of a door unlocking and opening over the whispers of other prisoners brought his attention to now, as the rattling of key's grew near. Snark stood and ambled his way to the cell bars. Squinting his eyes at the 'warden'. Now what was going on?

Knowledge (Architecture and engineering): 16 (studying the state of the walls cell bars etc)

Search: 20

Current HP: 23/23
Current AC: 16
Equipped: n/a
Speed: 30ft

Current effects: n/a

[Greycat]

"Invaded you... you uncivilized twit. The only invasion that was done was your group barging into our homes. One week you have been in here now, and every day you ask the same question. 'Why are we here? What did we do?'" he snarled as he paced the aisle between the two cells. Tension stiffened his shoulders, sharpened his step. "I am getting tired of this act of yours! You were so brazen when you marched into our city and attacked. Arrogant enough to do it in broad daylight! But now? The least you could do is fess up and take responsibility for the damage you caused! The lives you and your friends took!" His voice had been steadily rising throughout, and was practically a yell by the end.

"Jost! That's enough!" Someone said sharply from the entrance. It brought him up sharply, and he whirled, still glowering. Compared to the Warden, Jost, who was a little over six feet tall and maybe half that wide, the newcomer was small, and slender. "You shouldn't be here Jost. You were given leave of absence."

"I choose not to take it," Jost said, puffing himself up defensively.

"Then you shouldn't be venting you anger here," the newcomer said gently. "You know the sages still believe that the spell effects are still lingering. Please wait outside while I talk to these people."

Jost made as to protest, but the look in his replacement's eyes made him stand down, and stalk out, muttering curses under his breath. He paused by the door. "Yell if you need me."

"Perhaps you should get yourself some water. You look parched," the newcomer smiled. Jost scowled and stalked out of view, indistinct mutterings and heavy footsteps slowly fading as he left. The newcomer sighed and shook his head. "You have to forgive Jost. He almost lost his sister during the attacks. I am Asiir Omagan, cleric of Si'ako. I will be much more capable of answering your questions than Jost. He is too... close to the situation to think clearly. But the answer you probably want to know the most, since you ask it so often, is this: You are here because eight days ago, you, and two other groups of attacks, damaged the Seal of Sun and Moon, and almost destroyed two of the six Foci that protect this city from the Darkness of the Depths."

For those who would know history (probably only Kinsley and Milo)
Amberglenn, like many of the cities across Karn, is built around a Dungeon that served some Dark Master ages before. The Dungeon has long since been cleared, purified, and cleansed, and a powerful seal placed over the city to protect it from Nodes or other malignant forces. Amberglenn's seal is the intricate stonework in the central square, and the six statues in plaza's around the town; Three women with a sun crest on their forehead, and three with a a crescent moon crest.
In the current day, most people don't realize the true significance the hold.

[mew77]

"Wait we did what?", Sonya said with alarm. "I don't even know most of these people. And what's this seal you're talking about?", she said slinking back. COuld this human be trusted; SOnya doubted it. Then again maybe she had spent too much time away from the world. The life of the hermit accomplished little.