Session Start: Tue Apr 09 18:10:45 2002 *** GMAmy changes topic to 'Grandia: New Horizons | Chapter 24.5: Erellisae Lude | Location: Tenkali Village, evening, July 4 | Lude Start' ==Session Start== It has been an extremely wet and rainy day, too wet for travel. The party stayed in the Tenkali village and relaxed, well fed and rested by the friendly villagers. Erellisae has been provided with a comfortable extra room in one of the tree cottages. The previous night was free of nightmares, and as she prepares for bed, she hopes this one will be too... * Erellisae looks out the window and sighs heavily, shaking her head briefly in thought before packing away her diary and blowing out the light. Erellisae is quickly asleep. For a time her rest is undisturbed, but after a time she comes back to awareness, a strange noise buzzing at the edge of consciousness. All is dark and strangely fuzzy looking to her sleepy eyes.... * Erellisae winces slightly, running a hand back through her hair as she looks around somewhat blearily. She rubs at her eyes tiredly. Outside there is a loud noise, a rumble that shakes the tree where her little cottage sits. She hears shouts from without. * Erellisae blinks and straightens as the noise goes off, before getting out of bed and hurrying to the window with a quizzical noise. Outside, she can see Mitsuo standing in the middle of a clearing between the trees, rings out and his feet in a guard stance, staring at something off in the forest. Shouts come from other directions, beyond Erellisae's line of vision. * Erellisae blinks, then grabs her staff and rushes downstairs to see what's going on. Mitsuo sees Erellisae running up and waves a hand to her. "Erellisae, careful! There's something coming. It darted into the village, grabbed two small children, and ran off. Listen." Erellisae can hear crashes in the foliage. "It's coming back." * Erellisae nods, "Okay...", before moving back a ways, starting to focus magic into her hands. A few moments later, Feray and Cassidy rush up, weapons in hand. Cassidy stops, catching her breath. "Watch out, Mitsuo! They're on their way!" * Erellisae looks around, still keeping her spell at the ready. "/What/ are on their way? What's attacking?" Sure enough, a few seconds after they arrive, the trees rustle, and a pack of five huge wolves bursts from the trees, bigger than any wolves Erellisae has ever seen. Their teeth are huge and dripping with black saliva, and their eyes are red. They race for the group, and Mitsuo hurls his rings at them, slashing one across the side. Heedless, it continues to race... * Erellisae takes a step back, looking afraid, then works to cast the Burn spell at the lead wolf. Erellisae's spell goes off without a hitch, the fire racing toward the wolf and engulfing it in bright flames. The light clears.... But the wolf is still coming, unharmed! O_o The magic had no effect! * Erellisae blinks, and takes a step back. "Uhm... maybe we should get /out/ of here?" ^^; Dylan lumbers up from behind, panting. "Then who will protect the villagers, Ms. Erellisae?" He hefts his axe. "We can take them!" He charges at the nearest wolf, letting out a battle cry... * Erellisae nods, biting her lip. "You're right..." She shakes her head, preparing a stronger spell to see if that works. Mitsuo smiles at Erellisae. "Don't worry, if the magic doesn't work, I'll protect you!" He readies his rings, sending them in a sweeping arc at one of the wolves just as Dylan reaches the lead one. Axe blade clangs against huge teeth, and the rings clip the other wolf's side. Both keep coming, the first one barrelling the huge Dylan out of the way with sheer strength. O_o * Erellisae blinks, stepping back in surprise. "J-jeez... what /are/ these things-..?" She shakes her head, trying to hold fast and concentrate on the spell as they rush forward. Mitsuo pants. "I'm...not sure." He sends another volley of rings out, but they seem to have little effect. The wolf grappling with Dylan has knocked him down, and the big Lainian fumbles for his dropped axe.... Dylan! Are you okay? o_O Dylan mutters. "Yes, just let me get my...oof!" A wolf jostles him from the side as it leaps past. He recovers, grabbing his axe and standing. Finally the wolves close on them. Mitsuo holds his rings up defensively, ready to slash at the nearest wolf. It leaps for his throat, knocking Mitsuo over on his back into the mud. Mitsuo attempts to slash at the thing, holding it by its throat with one hand... M-Mitsuo! * Erellisae nearly throws her spell at the wolf, before holding back cuz of that 'area of effect' thing. She looks on, worried, unable to help with the spell so close to completion. The wolf reaches past Mitsuo's defenses, grabbing him by the throat with its jaws! Mitsuo gasps. "Erel...run!" * Erellisae takes another step backward, nearly tripping over a hillock. She watches fearfully, and looks around for some way to help. "B-but..!" Mitsuo screams as the wolf bites down, crushing his windpipe. He chokes, a gurgling sound, then lies still. Its prey killed, the wolf turns and looks at Erellisae, its jaws bloody. * Erellisae freezes up, sobbing as the wolf bites down. She remains frozen, tears running down her face. "M--... Mitsuo...?" There are yells from her other friends. Feray grabs her by the shoulders and pushes her away. "Erellisae, get out of here! You can't help; you're only a liability. You'll be dead in seconds if you stay! Now run!" Her voice is choked and stern. * Erellisae stumbles backward from the push, rubbing at the tears in her eyes. "B-but...!" Feray shoves her. "Go on! NOW!" But she isn't quick enough. A wolf comes close, growling, and suddenly leaps for Erellisae! * Erellisae falls backward from the shove, wincing as she lands on her back and trying to roll sideways as the wolf leaps. The wolf grabs her arm in its jaws and proceeds to worry it, tearing the flesh painfully! * Erellisae screams, before clenching her teeth and trying to hold back more tears, trying to push the thing away with her good hand. "N-noo... aaah..." The pain grows, and admidst it she can hear her other friends screaming, dying. Her vision turns to blackness... * Erellisae jolts awake with a strangled noise, breathing heavily as she stares, eyes unfocused, towards the ceiling. She remains still for a while, before slowly curling up in a small ball and starting to sob. It takes Erellisae a while to realize, however, that she is not in her room in the little cottage. O_o The air is damp and musty and cold, and she feels hard stone beneath her... * Erellisae blinks, hard, before moving suddenly to look around, gratefully looking for anything to distract her from the aftermath of her dream. Erellisae hears a familar voice. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Footsteps echo in a nearby room... * Erellisae blinks. "M-Mitsuo...?" She picks herself up off the floor, sniffling somewhat and wiping away her tears as best she can. (far off) Erel...? Is that you? Where are you? * Erellisae starts crying again a little. (m) "Thank gods... (louder) I-I'm here... in... some kinda room?" She glances about, trying to discern which way Mitsuo is. (Still a bit far off, but sounding much closer) Just keep talking...I'll find you, okay? * Erellisae nods to the still air, then looks around. "U-uh.. well... where are we?" ^^; (Sounding even closer) I'm not sure...I think we're in those ruins, you know? The ones we were going to go to? * Erellisae sweatdrops. "Uhm... last I checked, I was asleep in bed..." (Closer)...So you sleepwalked too? * Erellisae looks around. "I hope so. Otherwise this is another really /worrying/ dream..." * Mitsuo finally appears in a doorway, and smiles. He looks very waterlogged and somewhat pale, but is otherwise unharmed, "Erel!" * Mitsuo suddenly rushes up to her, and without warning, hugs her. o_o * Erellisae blinks. o_O; "W-wha...?" She tenses up, before letting out a faintly strangled sob and hugging him tightly back, screwing her eyes tightly shut. * Mitsuo hugs her, "S...Sorry. I just had a really bad dream and...something not so nice happened to you. It's good you're ok...hey, don't cry. It's okay..." * Erellisae shakes her head. "I-It's okay... I had the same... when I find who's doing this every night they're getting blown skyhigh..." She sniffles and shakes her head again, but otherwise looks... better. * Mitsuo looks a bit better too, "We need to find our way out of here. Whatever did this...I'm not tackling without some serious backup. ^^;" * Erellisae shakes her head and looks ready to cry again as she looks around. "I-I.. that... might be a good idea..." Hey, no tears. ^^; We're okay...and that was just a dream, right? * Erellisae nods slightly, then shakes her head. "I-I..." * Erellisae looks up at the ceiling with a faintly beaten look. "I /really/ want to blast a hole in something right now..." ^^; Me too. But I wouldn't stay too long here...I feel a really weird magic in here... * Erellisae looks quizzical, then relaxes, trying to gauge the feel of the place. * Erellisae nods. "Okay... so...", she wipes her eyes again, sniffling once more, before looking around. "... which way do we go?" ^^; Hmm...Well, I came in that direction, and there was a door there...So maybe that's the way to go. * Mitsuo mumbles to himself, almost out of earshot, "Some freakin' birthday this is turning out to be..." * Erellisae nods, rubbing her arms slightly, before grabbing Mits's hand and heading towards the door. "Okay... c'mon, let's get out of here and cause severe harm to whoever's doing this." * Mitsuo nods, taking her hand, and leading Erel in the direction he came from. Erellisae and Mitsuo go off in search of answers, and hopefully the rest of their friends... ==Session End== *** GMAmy changes topic to 'Grandia: New Horizons | Chapter 24.5: Erellisae Lude | Location: Tenkali Village, evening, July 4 | Lude End' Session Close: Tue Apr 09 19:46:30 2002