No Escape

With progress stalled on the cure, Alba has been... a less than welcome haunt in the Soldier's Defense. The clinic is, after all, a place of healing and recovery, not of brooding and sulking and unnerving. But the Ranch is too far away, and with no idea whether the plague can be passed on to *non*-humanoids, Alba is very determinedly keeping herself from spreading the sickness to the Felwood.

Which means, after the fifth and sternest admonition to 'get some fresh air,' the Witch has taken to lashing herself to one of the lamp-posts in the Gardens, creating a comfortable nest of hair upon which to lounge, and brood, and sulk.

Yelrona is carrying three large boxes and four... no, five... bags of miscellaneous precariously balanced atop one another down from the Market District towards the Soldier's Defense, mostly travelling the path out of familiarity as she is unable to see it. This probably won't end well.

From seemingly nowhere a man appears beside Alba. Stepping from the shadow of the light pole and running his hand over the smoothness of it up to where her hair is. He seems utterly unswayed by the fact that she's lounging like this, in fact his expression as he turns to look at her is one of soft wonder and sharper interest. Perhaps this is because she has seen him before. This tall, gangly pale man with luminous green eyes and dark hair. He's grinning at her.

"/Hello/." His voice purrs the greeting out, and his fingers curl into her hair where its bound to the light pole.

From deep within the nest a small red-banded viper emerges, its mouth yawning open to fully display its fangs and hiss.

"Sarathrazz says you have no place in this city, vampire," Alba says, as her hair contracts away from the creepy new person's finger, sliding up the lamppost until its entire mass is perched on the very top, keeping her seat steady. Which shouldn't be architecturally feasible, but, Alba. She cheats whenever possible.

"I say Sarathrazz is too nice. I say the vampire wishes to leave this city before I peel his face to cure in the sun, and scoop out his skull to hold candies for the children of a paladin." Here she pauses, and tilts her head as though listening to something. "Yesss... Sarathrazz' way involves less hassle with the Guard."

Occupied by her parcels, Rona had noticed neither Alba nor the green-eyed arrival at first, even though she was coincidentally walking almost directly beneath them. But the familiar voices wafting down from overhead and the word 'vampire,' picked out from a catch her attention, and when she peers up, the packages drop to the floor in an instant. She reaches for her bow but does not unlimber it... the discussion seems peaceful enough, and she does not want to initiate hostilities. She does approach more closely, though, so as to listen better.

The man tilts his head to the side in a motion not unlike a bird. "No place? I am standing right here." He flashes a broader smile at her and motions to the ground. "Though your invitation sounds /delightful/. Will you use a knife to do your work, or perhaps those lovely nails of yours? Some other tool?" His eyes seem brighter now as he steps forward toward her, voice excited.

"It is not *welcome* or *wanted* here," Alba grumbles. "Feh... And it ruins my games. Another I shall have to find."

Pursing her lips, she blows out an impatient sigh. "What does it *want* here?"

For a moment, the snake's eyes turn to Yelrona, and the tiny head bobs once, just a bit, then turns back to stare the vampire down.

It's a fair question. Yelrona's experiences with the green-eyed vampire have mostly involved his penchant for mockery, but that makes him no less a public safety hazard.

"It?" He murmurs the word to himself, coming another step closer as if drawn by her. A bee to flower. "You mean me? I have come for you my sweet black rose." Kol grins, flashing all of his teeth for just a brief moment before it slides into his smaller natural smile. An expression that never leaves his lips for a moment. Then he reaches out a hand gently toward her, surprisingly unthreatening in spite of his nature. "Come with me."

GAME: Alba rolls will: (18)+12: 30

"*Your head in my mouth,*" Alba shouts, exploding into motion. Her hair unravels from the lamp-post, and she pushes up, up, up into the air. "IT WILL LEAVE OR IT WILL BE EJECTED."

OK, that's not so much peaceful, anymore. Rona draws her bow and notches an arrow. "And ventilated in the process," she adds, matter-of-factly but loud enough to be heard.

The vampire - for that is what he is after all - jumps into the air after Alba, hovering there before her. "It would be my /pleasure/." He moves forward quick as lightning. Not to attack but to put himself closer to her. "You may put whatever part of me you desire into your lovely mouth Black Rose."

Morgan comes in the area at first she was in a melcony ‘lets see where this takes me’ frame of mind. But when she hears some screaming she utters some arcane words to take off the ground. To come to the area "great a Vampire... oh wait I dealt with you before."

GAME: Morgan casts Overland Flight. Caster Level: 10 DC: 22

What a thing for an innocent artificer to stumble into as he ambles along the Garden District on his way to ... wherever it is artificers go. Walery pauses as he sees the vampire jumping into the air after ... Alba? He's heard of a spider lady person in the city but he doesn't really know her. But vampires are bad, right? They've probably got rights and an advocacy group in Alexandria, but he hauls out his death ray anyhow, just until he can work out exactly what is going on. He sets a small brass device marked with flamey runes in the death ray, and with a lever, racks it into the firing chamber while he makes sure he understands the situation.

"AAAAA CEASE RUINING MY WORDS," Alba shouts, skittering back in the air. "It needs to leave, if it values its life. If it does not... Saaah. It does not."

"Classy," Rona mutters in response to the vampire's creepy banter. Louder, and more firmly, she adds "The lady asked you to leave."

The pale man stutters in the air, hovering a few feet away from Alba with a forlorn expression on his face. "Is this truly what you desire my Black Rose?" He holds out his hand toward her again, and seems to take heart somewhat. "After all your words; at least come with me when I go. I value my life sweet one, but it is worth risking for something truly valuable - like you."

Morgan is floating in the air not looking at the vampire but his bodyguard ready to do whatever she needs to do if a fight breaks out.

Walery grumbles, "My jet rig is so top priority in my research," cursing his landboundness as he watches the romantic vampire speeches in puzzlement. It's not clear if he's confused about the vampire thing or the romance thing. He's an artificer, confusion is pretty much guaranteed.

GAME: Alba rolls will: (1)+12: 13 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Morgan rolls Knowledge/Religion: (4)+11: 15

"SSSSsssssssss PEEL YOUR FA-- aaa...aaaaaaa...." Alba's thrashing denial halts all of a sudden, hair hanging limp, eyes glazing over. Seemingly panicked, a small red-banded viper slithers out of her hair, biting again and again at the Witch's earlobe to no avail.

The sound of a violin begins softly nearby, and begins to get louder. From between two buildings comes a wee Goblin bearing the violin that plays. She wanders the Gardens, the music flowing with her, until she spots a number of people floating in the air. Acedia slowly makes her way in their direction. "The world is a vampire... sent to draaaaaiiaaaiin me." The Gobbo peers up at Alba. "Hey! Are you busy? May I know your name?" She gestures to the witch with her bow. "Erm, hello?"

Walery looks around the area, and at the flying people. The fellow does look sort of vampirish, but Walery certainly doesn't know the details of what vampires look like. Plus it's daytime, right? Vampires shouldn't be out? Or has he lost track of time? Life is so confusing! And there's so much to do. "Hey," he shouts out. "Are you a vampire?" he demands. It seems to be so, but ... he ought to ask. If it's just two flying people acting strangely, he'll pass it off as just another day in Alexandria. Come to think of it, a vampire is probably another 'just another day' sort of thing. Morgan has disconnected.

The vampire lets out a glad noise. "I knew it!" It's as her 'offer' to peel his face off was an admission of her desire to join him. In a sudden blink he's gone, reappearing slightly behind her and snuggling in close. "Thank you my Black Rose. We will go as you wish." And with that - ignoring the questions from below... they're gone.

"How rude!", Acedia says with a huff. "He didn't let her answer me. I'm going to write him down in my 'to bite later' journal." Her instrument is carefully stowed, and a small book pulled from her pack. "Did anyone get his name? And uh... should we go looking for her?"

Walery peers at the close snuggling and the disappearing act. "I guess they got a room," he muses. "I was just going to suggest that anyhow. The street is no place for that sort of carrying on." He nods gravely, shouldering his death ray and shrugging to Acedia, "I just came by, myself, I have no idea what's going on."

The Gobbo eyes Walery, and the death ray in particular. "It sounded like she did not want to go with him. And did you say vampire, just now? I doubt many do want to be a vampire. Undeath gets in the way of so many good things. Food. Breathing. Walking in the sunshine."

Walery shrugs a little to Acedia. "Well, I wasn't sure, it seemed like she changed her mind. At first I thought he might be a vampire, but I don't really know what one looks like. Black evening dress and a cape, anyone can wear that. And it's daytime, though not for much longer...."

"Well magic can protect against sunlight, I would not be surprised if there were spells or magical things that might allow vampires out during the day.", Acedia replies. "I don't think she changed her mind, I think it was changed for her."

GAME: Walery rolls knowledge/arcana: (2)+13: 15

Walery shrugs about the sunlight thing. As far as changing her mind, he says, "I don't know if it was changed for her, she seemed to me to have a change of heart." Because Walery knows soooOOOooOOooOOoo much about love. "I guess we could ask, next time we see her?"

GAME: Acedia rolls Perception: (2)+9: 11
GAME: Acedia rolls sense motive: (3)+5: 8

Acedia shrugs. "I dunno. He didn't say anything so convincing that Alba would go from 'IMMA EATING YOUR FACE' to 'Why certainly I'd love to go with someone I detest to somewhere I don't know for reasons that are probably not good for me', did he?." The Gobbo rubs her face and sighs. "I ain't letting this go but... I dunno what to do. Or where to start doing... something."

Walery ohs as he suddenly remembers. He unlimbers his death ray and cranks a lever. With a sort of mechanical sound, a small brass cylinder etched with red runes is ejected into his hand. He slips it back into a pouch on his belt and re-shoulders his death ray. "Shouldn't go around with it loaded," he explains. To Acedia, he says, "In my experience, women do that sort of thing all the time." Though generally in the opposite direction, going from nice and friendly to GTFO. But that's his life.

The Gobbo's eyebrows arrange themselves in a way that suggests she doesn't believe that for a moment. "Uh huh. As I said, I ain't letting this go." A small piece of coal is pulled from her backpack, and she writes something in the pages of her book, and stashes both objects back into her pack. "I'mma going to search for her. Her research on the black goop is too important for her to be gone." Acedia runs a hand through her hair. "Maybe the Guild...?"

Walery ohs, "She was researching the black goop? That -is- an important thing. I've heard a bit about it, though I don't get out of my smithy so much. I should maybe help with that, if I can? And if she's doing research on it, we should definitely look for her if she's gone for more than a day or so. I mean, I wouldn't want to mess around with her social life. She totally wouldn't appreciate that."

Acedia huffs and shakes her head. "I helped FIND that stuff, and I've watched people die to the plague it causes. And now the person who was probably the most knowledgeable on it, has vanished. I'mma going to start biting and stabbing people soon." She stomps one of her little feet. "The Witch also mentioned she owns a ranch. I seriously doubt she would leave that place alone for long. Just another reason why I don't think she wanted to go with that guy." The Gobbo crosses her arms. "Besides... if we find her and she is shacking up, I'm sure if we explained our concerns, she just might be understanding... And if she IS being held against her will, I am pretty sure she would be appreciative of the help."

Walery nod slowly about finding the stuff. "Oh, it's quite awful stuff, I'm sure," he agrees. "Though I'm not sure how biting and stabbing people would help. You should probably avoid that, unless you only bite bad people. But yes," he agrees, "She owns a ranch north of the city, there's spiderwebs and such all around, it's a bit hard to miss. You could go there and check," he suggests, "though if she's been taken against her will, it's unlikely she'd be taken to her own home, yes?"

She snorts and shakes her head. "Of course I would only be biting bad people. Good people don't need biting. Or stabbing." Acedia rubs at her chin. "It might be worth a check, still. Perhaps there may be clues. Or she might have escaped? Maybe that guy wanted something from her, and it was back at her ranch? Annnnd there could be some hungry spiders that need feeding. Phew. Spiders. At least they aren't snakes."

Walery ehs about hungry spiders. "I think I don't want to know too much about them. It's not like puppies. Spiders can kill you. And they don't have tails that wag so you know they're happy." He agrees, though, "If you can check on her house to make sure the spiders are OK, that's probably a good thing. If you can do that without the spiders eating you."

"I'll play 'em some music before seeing to their suppers.", the Gobbo says, a bit more cheerful sounding. "And then uh... I guess I'll check out the Adventurer's Guild. Maybe I can arrange a search party. I hope they take eye owe yous."

Walery suggests, "If she's working on plague research, it'd be super important to get her back. So they might offer a reward on their own if you tell them. But maybe a wizard can find out if she =is= being held against her will. It seems like that'd be an important thing to find out."

Acedia looks to Walery and offers up her hand. "I'm Acedia. Are you willing to help me out? And help out the Witch, too?"

Walery ohs and takes Acedia's hand. "I'm Walery. Mick Walery. I'm willing to help out, sure."

"Well met, Walery Mick Walery", the Gobbo says with a giggle. Shaking his hand enthusiastically. "So where is her ranch again?", she wonders. "I gotta get there before it gets too dark."

Walery look at the sky, and says, "I don't think we can make it before dark. And I don't know that I can take you straight there, but I think I could find it again with a bit of searching."

"Well I don't mind the dark so much, I can see perfectly fine.", Acedia says with a shrug. "Only concern is things that might think I am attacking the ranch or something in the dark." She lets out a huff. "Why is everything so hard all the time.", she complains.

Walery pulls out a small stone from yet another pouch on his belt and sets it to rotating around his head. It appears to be on fire. How that worked grabbing bare handed from his belt pouch implies that it's a magic flame thing rather than real flame. It sheds a decent light. "As far as things being hard, if it was easy, anyone could do it."

-End