Chapter 2: Tiptoe Through The Thorns Part II [The Spurious Sanctuary]

[Grey]

Mr. Lapwing


As they walk on, Lapwing falls back a little and reaches up a long arm to pat Watson on the shoulder.


"You couldn't've known, Mr. Watson. At least he'll have an easier time of it than we did, eh?"

 

[risaphoeniix]

Corri


Corri, also a bit shocked and as worried as she ever seemed to get over another life form scratches the dog's head as she passed.

 

[Hyrune]

The Hedge is changing, subtly. You've been walking for about a half-hour now, though of course, it's impossible to tell: it could be three times that, three times less, or some equally meaningless number. Deeper into the shadows, for indeed the Hedge itself has thickened perceptibly; the walls are higher, and there's actually grass growing on the trod itself. Occasionally a cobblestone sticks out from the ground, like a whale's surfacing from the soil - you're likely to trip over these, if you're not careful. You find yourselves having to duck and weave through stubborn, thick branches (mercifully smooth of thorns) weaving their way across the path, as if they were pipes in a sewer.


Delicate, golden toads cling to the branches leaning across the path, apparently harmless. The air smells like resin, like a car freshener pumped up to eleven with the heat on full-blast.


Bizarrely, the greenery of the Hedge abruptly stops - between one step and the next, the greenery has turned red, deep and crimson, and you're suddenly climbing...uphill. There seems to be something in the near-distance, glimpsed through gaps in the 'reddery'. A brief break reveals a rather plain, three storey house, sitting at the top of the hill...

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Bronn


Cursing after tripping over a cobblestone, the ogre pulls his attention from the golden frogs to the house uphill. "So is this it or are we lost? I don't recall golden frogs any time I wandered round this...area...last." Directions meant bugger all. Hell, he could have been wandering south and up last time.

 

[Hyrune]

To Bronn


"Toads, actually," a passing shadow corrects you before flitting through the branches and up the hill.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Bronn


The ogre simply stares.


Then stares some more.


Eyewitnesses even confirm he stared longer than that before his senses came back to him.


"Did you people see that?! HAR!"

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Old Man Willow


With his kith's blessing, he didn't stumble through this part, and wherever Bronn was about to stumble, he's be there fast, helping steadying the big guy. Where in God's name are we? and what, or who spoke those words. We must be careful, this is the Hedge, or it might be that we stumbled back into Faerie. He shudders at that thought. Best not to consider that possibility.

 

[risaphoeniix]

Corri


Corri was alert, searching with ears and eyes for the shadow, or anything else that might come at them out of the hedge. She wasn't stumbling as much as Bron, uneven terrain posed little change to her, but she found the red of the hedge unnerving.

 

[Grey]

Lapwing


Lapwing adopts a more four-legged gait, scurrying along the trod without difficulty in some horrific parody of a spider, night-black eyes scanning the path as he roves slightly ahead.

 

[Hyrune]

As you ascend further, the Hedge pulls back - as much as it can, at least. The hill has risen from the Thorns like one of the cobblestones in the road, a sharp incline, meaning the Hedge sort of...rings it rather neatly, actually. The hill itself is free of thorns, carpeted instead with a thick, whispering grass, blowing in the breeze (though you can't feel any wind...) all the way up to the house. The trod, in turn, also leads directly to the house, up the hill and presumably down it once more on the other side.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Bronn


"Can't say that grass thrills me."

 

[Chaka]

Micah Sands


Micah looks around him, drinking in the details of his surroundings. "A Hollow. Interesting."


Shrugging, he starts walking up toward the house. "Let's see if anybody's home. Be on your guard. and it's probably best not to step on the grass, yes..."

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Bronn


Staying on the beaten path, "So should I knock?" Giving a granite smile, the ogre pulls out his sap gloves, black with dense padding and sand put right into the top of the gloves and hard plastic knuckles. "I'd be happy to." He gives a grunt as he tugs the last on.

 

[Hyrune]

It's just a bland block of dried clay with square windows and a square door. No ornamentation.


Little color. Bland in nearly every way...

 

[Chaka]

Micah Sands


Micah raises a crystalline eyebrow.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Bronn


"What? I'm just getting ready if shite goes down. I'm actually going to knock. I swear, people don't give ogres credit...I may not be the swiftest in convers'tion or at that fiddly math, but dammit, I'm po-lite, eh?" And the ogre keeps his word, walking up to the door and give an almost shy knock. "'Ello?"

 

[Chaka]

Micah Sands


Micah shrugs and stands slgihtly behind and to the right. He's not great shakes in a fight, but he was ready to throw down if he had to.

 

[Hyrune]

The door opens inwards with a soft exhalation, a physical sigh...

 

[Chaka]

Micah Sands


Micah *tchs* irritably.


"Of course. Melodrama."

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Bronn


"HMMM. Certainly not ominous. What's say we go in?! Gentleman, ladies, elementals, please, follow me." Grinning, Bronn walks on in.

 

[Hyrune]

To Bronn


Immediately, a number (quite a high number at that, surprisingly) of shadowy figures heretofore unseen detach themselves from the walls and corners - a number of fauns with long, flowing red hair, a trio of sparkling elfin creatures, a cluster of clawed, black shelled things with waving antennae and chittering mandibles, several smaller green furred females with oddly pointed faces and long tails, buxom women with blue ink tattoos shifting on their skin, shining eyed grey ladies with a proud demeanor... the list goes on. All at once they crowd around you, their hands (or various hand equivalents - there's definitely more than one tentacle in there) trailing along your stony skin, exploring...crevices along your arms and tugging ever so gently at your clothing, their eyes (or eye-equivalent) all turned to yours, silent caressing, imploring...

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Bronn


Bugger.


"Um, no, no miss...sir? No, thank you-I don't-OI! WHO HAS THEIR HAND THERE!? Oh, you...bugger off! Fuck you, seriously! No, no, no NO that wasn't an invi-goddammit! OFF! A little HELP in here?" The ogre's face turns to lava rock in embarrassment and a twinge of fear. "What the cockswaggling hell..." His face goes flat suddenly, turn round to look at a faun...touching his back, "This isn't Sunday, faun. Fuck. Off. And I'll thank you not to give the doe eyes."

 

[Hyrune]

To Bronn


Almost as one, each of the hobs backs up one, single step - but the hands are still there, just out of reach, just above your skin, almost touch, imploring, inviting...

 

[Chaka]

Micah Sands


Sighing, Micah observes "There's always something."


Closing his eyes, he draws on the well of glamour suffusing him. With a sound like stepping on thin ice hundreds of fractures spread along his body, craze-cracked. with the distinctive noise of shattering glass these tiny shards seem to explode off him, into a cloud of swirling razor-shards. Beneath this he is once again unharmed. The cloud surrounds him entirely at first, before flowing down to surround a single hand in a tight sphere. Best be ready for trouble.


Spending 2 points of glamour to activate Armour of the Element's Fury. Roll to activate: Results for 4 dice: 1 success [ 9 2 2 4 ] (TN: 8 ) (damage/extra) 1 armour gained, inflicts (wyrd/2)L damage with touch attacks.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Bronn


Taking a classic fighter's stance, left foot forward, weight upon it, Bronn doesn't raise his hands just yet. "Um...someone wanna get these leeches away from me? This is like a bad prank of 'I'm not touching you!'" His eyebrow's twitching. He remembers his old Keeper and shudders again.