248 replies to this topic

[y2kewel]

Ulf sighed deeply. “I did not revive anyone for them to start a fight, when we already have enough problems. Let us just get back to the house and deal with those. My mouth is a desert as it is and I will say no more on any matter before we reach our destination.

Darian nodded as he watched Ulf prepare to leave. After a moment he noticed that his friend seemed, ‘distracted’.

“You walk with a heavy heart my friend. I’m more than willing to listen if you have a mind to talk.” He offered reassuringly to Ulf.

Ulf staggered and felt flashes of heat circulate through his body. Oh no.. not again.

Concern crossed Darian’s face as he approached Ulf. “What’s the matter? Have you been poisoned again?” He was beginning to wish that he’d never signed up for this. “I feel like I’m in one of those overcooked drama plays put on in the Imperial City.”

[Kheskeim]

"What?", Ulf mumbled and swayed a bit looking confused. Darian had done more than he realised already, just by getting Ulf's focus back from the dangerous path of self-destruction. He was spent more than a man should be; the dehydration of his body was rapidly becoming more dangerous to his health.

Ulf stopped for a second, took a vial in one of the pockets of his cloak and gulped it ferociously. The effect was almost immediate, clearing his eyes of the fogs of delusion and giving them their sparkle back. "There... I shouldn't have waited this long... thank you friend, I am alright now."

"Let us get back there quickly and then do the talking there."

(ooc: vial = restore health + much needed moisture)

[Malchik]

In the house Ook looks at those inside and says: "It occurs to me that you have not done that most basic of things, searched each other's belongings. Oh some of you may be sensitive but after all the sooner you can identify the culprit or culprits then I can remove their infection and you can get on. You might wonder also about the weapon used on me since none has been mentioned. Could there be tell-tale signs? No doubt you wonder about the well. There is another way in through the cellar of the tavern. Unfortunately I can tell you nothing about what you will find there although you will certainly have to climb in some areas. If you have no rope then perhaps you can tie clothing together. Dull Griet maybe a mad old crone who believes she is a beautiful princess but if you flatter her she must have clothing she is prepared to give you. But I am still shaky from the attack and need to rest again. Is there anything else you need to know?"

[Masurao]

Garrick gave Ismail and Wulfgar a meaningful look and then said, "I possess what I am carrying, but if the others left some of their gear behind... We could take a look, of course."

"Indeed, you had not mentioned a weapon, Ook, but if you would allow me to investigate you for signs, I might find something out. Also, we shall have to discuss what equipment we have and don't have when... if the others get back. If it had been my call, no one would've left at all and we wouldn't be in this mess, but some of them seem so eager to solve this, that they loose sight of the bigger picture. I hadn't even the chance to tell them the danger comes primarily from within."

"Wulfgar and Ismail, good friends, would search the two rooms we slept in for any clues? In the meantime, I can check Ook, if he allows it, and keep any others that might return downstairs until you finish your search."

"Is Dull Griet dangerous, Ook? I find that the others are taking an awefully long time in getting back from what should be a simple talk and food retrieval..."

[Kheskeim]

They passed the well, careful not to go too close to it as if it was poisonous by touch too. Why hadn't they just checked all their items back at the house, when it was known by everyone - maybe save one - that they had been meddled with and their things been tampered with. It was all his fault, panicking like a mad man when they'd all noticed the blisters on his skin. Ulf was tired, utterly drained of energy and didn't know what to think anymore. Things got mixed together in threads of thought, he didn't have the clarity to discern.
When another tingle started in his left arm, Ulf was prepared though. Old fool! Bringing about everyone’s downfall can't come quick enough? You have to add to the drama by being compulsively fiery at any given chance too?, Ulf spat, mentally aiming for himself.

The dragging circus seemed like it went on forever; the added weight as the feather spell vaned in effect added to the task of the circus artists; them. Thinking of circus... this reminded him of the clowns, who did everything they were not supposed to do and nothing they were, be it even small and simple tasks. That was exactly how they have behaved - the ones leaving the house at least.

Ulf hoped his friends in the house had had a higher level of wit throughout. Don't be silly old man, there is no way in Tamriel they couldn't have! Ulf left the decision making business now that much was certain. He had proved to be just as single-minded and egocentric as he'd always been. Do they even still consider me a friend? With the thought Ulf spent valuable moisture, not of his free will but as an effect of his feelings... the tears streamed down his face, although he quickly removed them with a finger that led them to his dry mouth. If he had liked them so much, which he obviously did, why had he left them???

Ulf covered the last meters to the house utterly ashamed and filled with contempt for his own personality. Reaching the steps up for the house he dragged Zow up to the door with one last branch of strength. When he had just to knock the door left to do, his arm failed him, his thoughts faded and everything went black.

Ulf fell the little way there was to fall to the ground and hit his head into the upper stair step stone with a heavy thud.

[Morgoth]

"I do not wish to start an argument," Wulfgar replied " but I would suggest that two of us remain down here, and only one of us has a look at the two rooms we have slept in - at the moment, Ook's explanation that one of us was being controlled by some unknown force appears like the most plausible theory but apparently it can only control the affected person when he is asleep. Consequently, if we will have to face any danger it will most probably come from the outside, so I would feel better if two of us stayed here downstairs ... Whatever is happening to the others at the old woman's shack, I assume it would be a huge mistake to split up even more, so I think the question whether we three all stay here is not even up to discussion.
I do not know how you feel about this, but I would also volunteer to have a closer look at our sleeping rooms."
At this point Wulfgar turned to Ook: "Before you rest again, friend, I have two more questions I wish to ask. The first one is, can you remember any kind of detail of the attack last night that might provide a hint what exactly happened and who of us is the one who had been under that strange influence? And secondly, when I came down the stairs this morning, and found Garrick leaning over you, I had readied my weapon to fend off any sudden attacks. But when you awoke and saw me, you shouted something in a language I did not understand - what words did you utter?"

[xavori]

OOC: I'm assuming I'm still held in a stasis field, thus I won't talk, just think stuff


Ander was speechless, both due to the magic that held him and the realization that the perpetuator wasn't who he expected it to be "Well, one less thing to worry about, it seems" he though, relieved "But that doesn't mean anything! There's one of us who is possesed, and we need to discover who it is quickly. Last but not least, this thing, whatever it was, can paralyze us, and there's nothing we could do about it. I have never felt so hopeless before". In his helpless state, Ander's worry showed in his eyes.

[Malchik]

As the paralysed and sick crawl in Ook, weak though he is, gets up in alarm. "My good friends, what is wrong? Did you try to go into the well from the crossroads. Oh dear, oh dear, that would be foolish indeed. Here I can help a little. I can cure the curses of Oblivion when I know what they are." He waves at Ander and Zow who find themselves able to move again.

To Hadrio he says "My good sir, you are angry at past injustices and that I believe I can understand. Do you know what it is like to be called a monkey when you are in fact a great ape? Perhaps that sounds petty to you but it is simply an example of how we show contempt for each other without caring of their feelings. But do not take out your anger on the wrong people. They are afraid, all of them, however much they attempt to hide it. How can they not be when they know one of you has access to powerful magic they cannot defeat. I cannot heal wounds to your spirit or your pride but the effects of Oblivion's poison I will remove. "

So saying he does this.

He looks at Ulf for a long time. "You spend too much time in the past, sir. The only hope for us depends upon what we do in the present. How will you be of use to your friends if you pass out or lose control at a crucial moment? Take heart. It is not the past you are facing here."

When they examine the wound at the back of Ook's skull they can see it was made by a wooden object, splinters of wood remain matted in his hair. The colour of the wood matches the beams and rafters of the walls and ceiling of the house they are in. Yet no weapon was found by the body. Why was it taken away?

(OOC> fingerprint technology and DNA testing has not yet been discovered in Tamriel ha ha!)

[Morgoth]

OOC: Can you specify what kind of wood the house is built with or is that irrelevant?

"By the grace of the gods, what has happened to you?" Wulfgar exclaimed when he saw the others enter the house and rushed to the door. After he had made sure that he would not inflict any additional wounds if he moved them he helped the others one by one into the house so that Ook could take care of them.
Having a closer look at this companions, he decided that at the moment none of them would probably be able to give them a full and consistent account of what had happened outside, so he did not even bother to ask further questions - at least until one of them had recovered a bit.
Standing there, not really knowing what to do next, most of his party looking like beaten dogs, made him feel increasingly helpless.
"Master Ook, if there is any way I can assist you, please tell me!"

[Kheskeim]

“Has it occurred to your loftiness that carrying a well in shape redguard across town and being without any sort of fatigue-restoring spells nor potion, might be a bit of an ordeal for an old man, when he’s had nothing to eat nor drink for what seem days? While I take heart in the rest you say and truly appreciate your efforts to help us, I fail to see why naming a deadric being with immense power as merely a mad woman could possible be justified unless you my good sir know nothing about this place at all and have expertices in eating bananas and shouting for books while no one is around only.” Ulf felt his strength return slowly.

“I do not mean to mock you or anyone, by Azura if anyone deserves that it is I, but this place has been nothing but ill events from the start.”

Ulf told the tale of going to the `mad woman’s´ shack, of how nothing could be hunted nor foraged, and of their ill luck there after what had seemed to be a light at the end of a long tunnel to weary and hungry souls had finally appeared with the cooperation of the lady and her stock house indeed. * He told something had happened in there, while he was outside attending Hadrio and looks towards Ander, Zow and Darian to elaborate on that part.* “The rest you know already or can easily contemplate in your minds. We have been caught red-handed in the act of foolishness and now is the time to start doing the right things – therefore I leave all decision making to be done by all other than myself, having shown my skill at such to be that of a pawn – which resembles very well our part in this whole charade up until now.”

Ulf thanked Wulfgar for his help in getting him back on his feet.

“Since the deadric being revealed to all of us that it controls one of us in our sleep, besides showing its fondness for playing games with mer and men, I have been thinking of this command spell can be in any way countered by a dispel or other command spells? I am ready to try dispelling it on all 8 of us, but we have little way of knowing the effect of the spell without any detection abilities”, Ulf offered while looking into Garrick’s eyes as is asking him this time not only for his opinion but his permission too.

“... or maybe we should just empty our packs and pockets and play who is the one through scrutiny of the items of all.”

Ulf sat down on the staircase, put his pack on the floor and found his skin of brandy with a look of lost love in his eyes.

(ooc: added important part sorry.. deleted it in my edit crazee I put a ** around it)