The Winter's Oasis Wiki

Romps and Reconstruction in Loka: Steam, Magic, and Mysteries in the Frozen Wasteland.

Logfile from Winter’s Oasis - November 20, 2015

Players of Note:

Heike, Vannon

Location:

An upscale gala in Acre. A nondescript prison house in Acre.

Summary:

Heike and Vannon attend an upper-class masquerade, which Vannon is, presumably, crashing. They get into a fight of egos so dramatic that they are pressed into a duel of honor. Due to their poor gunnery skills, they shoot a military Captain by mistake, and are forced into a brief prison stay. They hatch a plan to escape, but things do not go as planned, causing the prison to collapse around them and allowing the prisoners to esccape.

Time:

Approximately LY325

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The Acre Museum of Natural History is packed tonight. The Charity Mascarade and Ball for the Homeless seems to have brought in a crowd tonight. Taking place in the main lobby the party goers got to dance under the deadly jaws of an ancient T rex. If only it was alive it would have drooled to gobble up so many fat cats.

The crowd, leaning towards the wealthy, were dressed in costumes, simple masks made from quality materials. The square room was lined in a buffet stacked high with the delicacies of the city. A band in the far corner played violins to a soft, but lively tempo.

Heike strolls his way through the throngs of humans with confident restraint, passing by so many remains of long-extinct species without so much as a moment to stop and ponder. He has his eyes set on one person alone, a cultured-looking fox Pasu in traditional tribal garb. Heike tries to act casual as he slides his way towards the respected city councilor, thinly smiling at others in his way, eyes darting for distractions as he goes.

And then comes along Kydo Vannon. Nothing he has in his closet can come close to matching the least wealthy person here the hyena wears a costume to hide his lack of overwhelming wealth. Dressing as a ‘tribal’ hyena he is wearing a pair of black trousers, a loin cloth, and a faux tiger skin vest that he leaves open to expose his stomach…mostly because it used to be able to button when he bought the thing. Alas, the dangers of a desk job. The pot bellied Hyena wears a black V shaped mask across his eyes, eyes that are locked only on the plate in front of him, a plate filled with food up to his head. He is on a course that will take him to some place where he can eat his food in peace, which unfortunately brings him in front of the the tazmanian devil!

Heike drops his own mask as he stumbles over the hungry creature, neither of them terribly aware of their surroundings at the moment. Oh, but can’t you see, he’s in a hurry! The devil narrows his eyes and huffs hotly through his nose, before softening his features into a forced smile and gathering his things, his face burning red with embarrassment as he rights himself. He stammers, half-under his breath, flustered as his concentration is broken. “W-watch where you’re going, will you, young man? And leave some food for the homeless, too, why don’t you?!” He’s not particularly interested in the homeless, but he’s certainly interested in laying on the guilt.

The hyena’s platter rocks back and forth like a tower in an earthquake. But he is a determined glutton and where there is a will there is a way to defy the laws of physics. Food is spilled, splattering across the floor and the hyena himself but the vast majority of the leaning tower of pizza, shrimp, stuffing, turkey, jello, pudding, and other fancy foods are miraculously saved. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” The hyena says with a polite grin, “I didn’t realize you were blind. My apologies. Sure there is no other way you could not have seen me but, like I said, my apologies.” He let’s the jest at his gluttony slide…for now.

Heike can’t be arsed to help you. After all, you’re the one who stood so rudely in front of him! Clearly, this jackanape was in the wrong. He bites his lip, growling softly as a piece of seafood smacks unceremoniously across his face, leaving a shrimp-shaped smear of sauce across his snout. He produces a handkerchief and unfurls it with a practiced flourish before wiping his face clean. “You f—you, hmm. I’m so sorry, as well, you can’t seem to find any clothes that fit you. Didn’t you know, this was a proper event? Oh, they must not have told you! I’m so terribly sorry, that must be so embarrassing for you, to show up like this. That must be so, so embarrassing.” He smiles.

Challenge Issued. Challenge Received. Challenge Accepted. Holding the platter in one paw the hyena takes a deep breath. “Not nearly as embarrassing as YOUR outfit. But that would be rude of me to say now wouldn’t it. It would also be rude of me to say your face looks like a shriveled up prone struck by a sledgehammer. But I must give credit where credit is due. You must have kept at least ten tailors employed through the winter to find enough fabric to make YOU a suit.” The hyena takes a chicken wing and eats it, staring at his opponent with steely eyes.

Heike stiffens his face up into a mask of well-contained ire. His actual, physical mask helps contain it, too, thankfully! He wouldn’t want you to see how badly he holds up his poker face. “Now, you…listen, here. You…bloviating ignoramus. At least I have the good nature to dress my…extra layers of myself. Not like the corpuscular mass you let swing out in front of you like some grotesque caricature of your species. …Dog.” He flicks his dirty handkerchief into your face, ears pinned back. He looks bothered.

By this point the little scuffle has gained the attention of, well, rather everyone. Rather than stop the fight brewing the crowd let it continue. One can only eat cheese on toothpicks and dange a slow waltz so many times before boredom creeps in. This is by far the most excitement they are having all night! A server in the back has erased the wine menu on a chalk board. He has divided it in half, one side tallying each insult for the hyena, the other the tazmanian devil. Money is being exchanged through the room and the lead violinist is starting to play ‘dueling banjos’

 Dadada-da-da-da-dwaAAAaaa

Another sharp breath from Vannon. So now the teeth comes out eh? The hyena watches the handkerchief fall gently to the floor. “Oh, now you insult my ancestors! I will have you know that my people, the noble hyena wore this as ceremonial garb. I can’t help it if I dress authentically, or if you have a problem with hyena culture. And it’s not so much extra layers as large encompassing mass. Must be genetics. I wager your mother was so robust and rotund that the floorboards would rock in her passing.” The hyena stoops down, setting his plate full of precious food aside on the floor. He picks up the handkerchief and tosses it right back! Ha! There!

Heike hardly seems to notice the room closing in around him; no one else has ever gotten him this worked-up so easily! He slants his eyes, showing those wicked teeth in both the connotative and denotative senses. He sneers, “I’ll have you know, ~friend~, that such chicanery is frowned upon in this establishment. Now, let me luxuriate in the deliciousness of that statement coming from a crapulous tribal furbag like…like you!” He flinches as the stained kerchief lands comically on his nose, before diving in to tackle the odious little runt, sending the crowd into an uproar as they jump back to avoid the flying food freed by the fracas.

Vannon makes a panicked yelp as he is tackled quite roughly to the floor. Vannon was never much of a burly hyena even before fine dining killed his diet. He always had more weasel in his blood his mother used to say. He squirms and wrestles with the older pasu until he can break his grip long enough to shove his overturned plate of foot towards the tazmanian devil. “Here! Have some pudding! You /obviously/ need the calories!”

A gasp of shock erupts through the crowd. Chivalry however demands that the gentlemen of the party and gentle pasu help break up this mess…even if they would rather watch them duke it out. They were going to talk about this fiasco for MONTHS after this. “Enough! Enough!” Shouts a tall man dressed in military uniform. His rank lists his as a captain in the lokan military. The elderly human has a wide handlebar mustache. He quite easily separates the two from each other, by order the staff to do it for him. “This is NOT how men properly deal with their problems. Look at you, grown adults! Acting like children.” “Yeah! Act your age ye old fart!” The hyena hisses at the tazmanian devil. “People should not settle their differences with bouts of fist cuffs!” “Yeah! And you hit like a girl!” “They should be settled honorably, with pistols!” “yeah!” The hyena pauses, eyes blinking, “Pistols?!” “Pistols it is! Excellent choice! To the back alley way!” The man shouts. A great cheer of agreement arises with the party guests around them. They seem to approve of this honorable and peaceful way of settling the dispute with bloodshed. But what else would you honestly expect from a city with a gladiatorial arena?

Vannon begins to shiver and shake as a pistol is thrust into his chest as well. “Wh-what? But…I…this is crazy!” The hyena holds the gun as far away from him as possible.

“No my lad! This is honor!” The old captain shouts, a large group of wealthy merchants, businessmen, and business pasu begin assuring the pair of trouble makers out the back door. The alley way is amazingly spacious, large enough for trucks to pull in and drop off artifacts for the museum. The vast majority of the crowd stay inside, crowding the doorway so they can watch ‘honor’ unfold.

“Ahem,” The old captain clears his throat. “The rules are simple. You will stand back to back, like so, then you will march ten spaces in either direction. When I count to ten, you will turn and open fire. If you should miss you will reset to your original positions, reload, repeat the process to 8 steps and so on and so for until one of you is dead. Do you understand?”

Vannon for his part is still in shock from the the tazmanian devil’s comment about ending his ‘wicked life’. He looks pale under his fur as he he positioned back to back with Heika.

Heike digs deep within himself to muster up some courage, for the crowd if nothing else; his honor is at stake! He looks the Captain straight in the eye and nods, making as if he knew these rules, already. He tries not to let on that his own hands are shaking, just a little, at the prospect, but his anger at being embarrassed so badly trumps his obvious fear, at least for the time being. What a perfect recipe for a rash decision! And few could be more rash or final than this. Silence wafts over the crowd as Heike shows his understanding, all watching on wide-eyed for your response. Are you really as crazy as this guy?!

The old captain squints as he smiles. Thrusting his thumbs into his jacket he barks out the count down. “One!” The hyena jumps then begins to move. “Two! Three! Four!” This, this is not how expected to die. He planned to go quietly, in his sleep. Dieing from the lap of luxury. All the fancy foods, and wines and other vices that wealth brings! Not shot dead in the back of some alley! “Five! Six! Seven!”

The young hyena begins to sweat, holding the gun with both paws to keep it from shaking out of his grasp. He…he was going to die! He didn’t want to die! Dieing was painful! Stupid honor, stupid tazmanian devil, stupid big fat mouth for not just walking away! “Eight! Nine! Ten!” “FIRE!”

Heike hardly notices the addition of one or two characters to the crowd, over the deafening sound of that word, “fire.” It sounds so final, the way it’s said. He doesn’t stop to consider that until after the sound of his pistol sends a ringing in his ears. | Pow. | The hot firearm leaps from his grasp the moment it’s fired, his poor form sending him reeling back onto his hindquarters. He has no recollection of where he aimed, or if he aimed; only that he had no choice but to defend himself from this vile, nasty creature, pitiful as it may be. He stares on through, watching to see what his life decisons have wrought, the silence of the crowd deafening to him.

One of the party-goers standing near the doorway watches the proceedings with rapt fascination, some sort of dapperly muskrat with a glass of wine in his paw. He seems to have ditched his mask inside, and nervously fiddles with the brim of his top hat as he observes the two brave (and decidedly foolish) pasu about to duel to the death.

Of course, at the sound of the first gunshot, he nearly leaps out of his pelt, his monocle dropping into his glass of wine with a clink as he recoils. “My word!”

The hyena spins and fires a split second after Heika. His eyes go wide as the tasmanian’s pistol discharges its deadly payload. Vannon’s eyes widen, his paws clutching his belly tightly. With a pained gasp he falls onto his tail. His chest rises and falls with each panicked breath. He reguards the tazmanian devil with a rather pathetic look. Almost wimpering at him like a wounded puppy. The look says, ‘you killed me! you monster! you killed me!’

The hyena gulps, slowly removing his paw from his fleshy gut to inspect the damage. His paws come away and reveal…nothing…NOTHING! There is no bullet hole, no horrible gush of blood. “I’m alive?” Vannon pats himself over before jumping to his feet, “I’m alive! I’m Alliiiiiiiiiiiive! But wait…you mean we both missed? Does that mean we have to do this all over again?”

“Not…quiiiite…” Comes the estrangled gurgle of the captain as he falls to his knees. He collapses onto to the street between them.

Heike gasps. He holds in his breath, waiting for the smoke and noise to clear. He’s read that most people don’t feel a bullet wound until after they’ve been shot, so he furiously, pats himself down for injuries. …Shoot. Looks like a fatal blow to his peacoat. It was a very nice peacoat! At least it died honorably. He smiles slightly, showing the first dose of satisfaction and relief he’s felt all night, before rising to his feet to inspect the damage he’s done. …None?! What a waste! His look quickly sours again as he regards the flailing captain. Oh, dear. His ears lay down flat as he droops down with a look of despair. Collateral damage! This is going to cost him. “Well, cad! It looks like fate has seen fit to spare you. What say we find some way to egress this situation, quickly!” He tries to sound confident, taking charge, but his voice wavers.

The now monocle-less muskrat spends a moment taking in the situation as well - only to gasp in horror as he watches the captain slump over right before his eyes, standing less than five feet away from the man. “Egads! You’ve…you’ve killed him!” He’s…not sure which of them did it, honestly, but his upper-class sensibilities are hopelessly flustered by seeing a man cold-bloodedly shot right before his eyes.

Because that’s totally different from one of the two unruly rapscallions being killed in a duel.

“Police! POLICE! Help, someone’s been murdered!” The muskrat shouts at the top of his lungs, as a few of the other guests begin to panic and slip back inside, those who left their masks on making doubly sure that they’re still secured, and those that took them off hastily donning them once more in an effort to preserve their reputations.

All while the muskrat keeps wailing.

The hyena looks to the gun in his paws then to the corpse of the captain on the street. He just killed a man…murdered him! A captain in the army no less! They…they hang people for that, right? No…worse…they send them to the games!

Of course the hyena can’t see the hole in the petty coat. Reguardless the hyena tosses the smoking gun away from. “Agreed! I can’t go back to the arena!” Genuine fear over comes the hyena. “I can’t get eaten again!” The hyena clutches either side of his face and pulls his ears.

Heike clutches his head, aching with the weight of the situation. He reels to the side in a stumbling, light-headed sort of way, before finally gathering his thoughts. And gosh, what harsh thoughts they are. How did he even end up in this place?! Oh, right. His own foolishness. For once, common sense overpowers his pride, which he dutifully swallows as he turns about and takes for the open end of the alley, towards sweet, sweet freedom. “I think it’s time to…run!” He ducks his head as he makes to flee the alleyway, as if doing so will somehow mask his identity, his actual, literal mask long-since discarded in the shuffle. His portly body trying its best to sprint makes for quite the sight!

Sweet freedom indeed! As if brought out of a trance as the tazmanian devil runs by him Vannon turns and follows. “Wa-wait for me!” And the two run! Nothing can stop him now in their bid for freedom! Save for the two guards that come around the corner of course. That, that might prove a problem.

Proving that the universe really does just like to mess with people, two Acre guards just happened to be in the area on thei routine patrol. A small fox bat takes the lead in said patrol. The bangal tiger behind his has quite a bit more muscle on her though, making her a much more intimidating figure that seems to just loom around the corner of the alley way. The guards don’t notice the pair of suspects, not right away. They seem just as surprised to see the pair of pasu as Vannon is to see them! It doens’t take long for the guards to put ‘pasu running for freedom’ and ‘muskrat shouting murderer’ together. “Hault!” The bat shouts, reaching for his baton.

Foiled again! Today just isn’t their day. Heike stumbles over himself as he tries to come to a stop, half-thinking he could outrun these two muscular, highly-trained guards. The sight of a hand on that baton terrifies him. He takes a step back, before clearning his throat, already out-of-breath from the exertion. He has a plan! He hopes he can disarm them by making like it was a simple accident. Or at least, the fault of someone else, like that corpuscular Croc next to him. Maybe? It’s possible! “Guards, there’s been an accident!” He states, bluntly and honestly. He crosses his fingers behind his back that he’ll receive some mercy.

Off in the distance the meerkat is shouting bloody murder about murder. Murder most foul! The hyena appears a second behind Heika. Taking a moment to catch his breath the hyena twists and points to the alley in a dramatic way. “Yes! A terrible accident! A man has been shot!” Crud crud crud crud crud. He needed to get away but to run would invite the guards to chase, and tackle, and crush him like the weasely little twerp he was. But for the life of him he couldn’t think of what to say! He needed to shift the blame to something else, or perhaps some/one/ else… “What happened? What’s going on?” The bat asks in a blunt no nonsense way. The fox bat grips his baton tightly in his right hand. The wing attached to his arm seems to be torn in half from a previous injury but, small details, right?

Heike has an idea! Blame it on the other guy. Between the two of them, which one looks like a troublemaker; the stately Heyokan, or the dirty tribal? Heike grabs out at the creature, reaching for the scruff of his neck, and states, “This…creature, here fired after me during a duel of honor.” He growls, “And not long after, I find the Captain lying in a pool of blood. What am I to make of this?” He shoots a steely, unforgiving glare at the hyena, then softening a bit in a sort of apology. His eyes read, “I’m sorry, but I have no choice, here.”

A gasp of shock escapes from the pasu’s muzzle. He is trying to pin the blame all on him? The fiend! That was his idea! Well two can play at that game. Vannon see’s the appologetic look and disregards it entirely! “Lies and slander! I…I…uh…I drew first. Then in a bit of honor I fired at the sky. And this honorless /dog/ tried to shoot me anyway! And missed! /He/ killed the captain, not me!” As the hyena speaks visions of monsterous creatures chasing him down start to flood his vision. Things with horrible teeth. The memories only cause him to sound more and more distressed as he goes on.

Esiet the bat slaps his forehead in reply. The tigress behind him raises an eyebrow. “So…you are saying that you were both in a duel eh? That’s fun. But you missed your target and now someone else is dead?” She crosses her arms, tapping her own baton against her shoulder. “Should have gone with swords.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault, arrest him for his poor honorless aim. The honorless jerk. Honorless.” “Right, sounds like a good idea. Inga, arrest our tazmanian devil friend here.” A look of hope brightens Vannon’s eyes until the bat adds, “I’ll arrest the Hyena.” Pulling a pair of hand cuffs from his belt he says darkly. “Dueling is illegal with in city limits. But don’t worry, it’s nothing compared to a /murder/ charge.”

Heike droops down, all the life draining from his face. The hand reaching for the scruff of your neck now pats you on the shoulder. So sorry. He looks down at the ground, disgraced. Is this going to be how it ends for him?! He’d never last a day in prison! Let’s forget about the arena. “Swords…I could have chopped you to pieces with swords.” He nods. You’re not sure if he’s lying or not. He gives you one last pat, perhaps comforting, before turning to the tiger, Inga, lurching his arms forward in a show of submission.

Vannon is going far less quietly. He knows exactly how long he will last in jail, games included. “I’m not going back to the arena!” The hyena shouts as he tries to flee from the police. “I’m not going back to the arena! You’ll never catch me alive coppers!”

The iron wrot door closes with a definate CLANK sound. Vannon gives the view of the outside world one final whimpering look before the door to the jail cell closes before him. The pudgy hyena has a few bruises across his chest, given to him after the tigress pounced on him barely two steps into his flight from the law.

The term ‘cell’ is a bit missleading. The term dungeon is much more appropriate. The room Heika and Vannon are thrown into is about the same size as the ball room of the musuem. The walls are build from a dark grey stone lined with grime and mold. There is only one small window at the far end of the square room that is so small that neither pasu could ever hope to fit through it even with out their excess weight. In the center of the room is a large cone shaped support pillar.

The room is crowded with many criminals, mostly pasu. They range from drunks, thieves, to presumably murder…since both Heika and Vannon are here as well for a simular charge. The air is putrid with the smell of unwashed pasu and the lack of a single toilet.

One of the prisoners, a lanky hyena (one of many here, statistically!,) smells Heike’s fear on him like a delicious medium-rare steak. Heike stumbles as the creature lunges at his prison bars in a mock attack, sending him cowering to the floor in his manacles. A thunderous laugh goes through the sad scene as the guards force him to right himself and enter the room, drawing an impatient sigh from the tigress, clearly having none of his antics today. Once inside, the musk is unbearable. One of the many canine Pasu present plays openly with a makeshift wooden knife, sharpening the tip with one of his claws in plain view of everyone. It doesn’t look like anyone cares too much, though, as he continues his work, making unbroken eye contact with the newbies just like half the rest of his compatriots.

Heike shudders to himself, looking behind in shock and fear as the door is unceremoniously locked behind him, both guards uninterested in his forceful pleas for mercy. His family name or his social position have no weight, here. Everyone is equally worthless to the dungeon.

Heike keeps close to his compatriot, somehow hoping it will keep him safe. “You’re not going to let them get me…are you,” he asks, his proud voice cracking.

Vannon looks no worse for ware. The jail house was usually the first step towards the arena and from there it was a realitively short journey to a grizzly death. Vannon would be curled up into a ball rocking himself back and forth if the floor wasn’t so filthy. As if in a daze the pasu looks to Heike, then his face contorts into a snarl. “Not let them get YOU? This is all YOUR fault! YOU got us into this mess!” The fat hyena crosses his arms, turning away, “Why should I do a thing for YOU?”

Heike quickly sours, hands and ears quivering, the devil’s expression turning on a dime. “Me? Me?! You weren’t even supposed to be there! This never would have happened if you’d learned how to treat your elders and betters.” He jabs a single finger into your bruised back, pushing in with painful accusation. He flicks his tail in anger and resentment. “You’re one of…these people, aren’t you? This can’t be the first time you’ve had your arse in a cell.”

The hyena gasps, knocking the tazmanian devil’s accusitory paw away with the slap of his hand. “That’s besides the /point/.” Vannon growls, proding the pasu right back in the chest, “You’re one to talk about respect you old fool. I hope they send you to the games before me! Maybe having a druj chewing your arse will take some of fire out of you.”

“What’sss all thiss fancy talk about chewing?” The hyena turns, trying NOT to look any of the pasu here in the eye less that be the only reason they need to come tear him appart. From the darkness in the back a pair of eyes peer intensly at the new arivals. The sound of scales across the ground can be heard as the creature moves slowly into the dim light. A diamond back snake coils itself near the party. This snake has arms and wears a greed hooded tunic with a brown leather vest. “Well well…you two look very out of plassssSSsse. Are you losst? Did they throw you in here assss a joke?” The snake moves closer, causing Vannon to lean back as his face bumps up against his fore head, “Maybe they decided to finally /feed/ us, yesssSSssSss.”

Heike shivers from the inside out. Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes? He hates snakes. All those scales. It’s not right. It takes all the bluster he has to throw an arm between the snake and his unwilling party member. “Hold it, right there,” he barks. He sounds authoritative. But, snakes! The creature’s tongue flicks out just close enough to his fingers to make his skin crawl. Uggh. He shakes, and the snake grins. “Oh, the sssnack has a bite to it, doessss it? Hssss…” Heike growls. This guy is his ticket out! He can’t have him eaten now. As satisfying as that would be. “You may want to step back, friend. I’m a practitioner of magic,” he bluffs. He barely knows a single air cantrip, and it’s not even a very good cantrip. But he steels his voice enough to sound protective of the creature.

Vannon is pulled away, whimpering. Why does everything want to /eat/ him. He can’t taste that good, can he? Surely not as well as a meaty tazmanian devil! The snake for its part coils itself into a sitting position. “Oh! A bonified mage are we?” He chuckles rasply, “Can you pull a rabit out of your hat? I’m ssstarving…” For all the snakes bluster he has not however, moved an inch closer to the tazmanian since his revelation that he has powers…

Heike probably doesn’t even taste that good, either! He’s all gristle! He holds himself steady, keeping his hand right in front of the creature’s face until he’s created enough space for Vannon. He holds a steely gaze on the snake’s eyes, though he’s weak at the knees, slowly backing away a step. And then another. “Creature, what do you want from us? Please, make it quick. The sound of your scales disgusts me.” He spits on the floor. “And you smack of a stench that disturbs me.”

The snake chuckles darkly, drumming his claws together. Vannon, hiding behind Heike for protection peers nervously over his shoulder, “Why are you antagonizing the scary snake? Why?”

Ignoring the hyena the snake continues, “Your liver, grilled with onions.” He says with only a trace ammount of humor. “Buuuuuuuuuuut for right now I jusst want to essscape. Mosst of usss are sslated for the Gamesss, now I wasss thinking of usssing you asss a disstraction to bring the guardss here and jump them. But ssince you are a mage perhapss you have a better way breaking uss out of here?” the snake tilts his head to one side. There is, unfortunetly, no sarcasm in his voice. He actually believe the tazmanian devil!

Heike lets out a silent sigh of relief as he sees his ruse was successful. You could almost swear the devil has done this before, changing his persona so quickly. Then his heart sinks. This plan worked too well. Caught in his lie, he gulps before returning to his big-guy voice. Deciding that honesty may be the best policy here, now that he has the snake’s attention and, at least momentarily, his respect. “Haw! I am no mage. Chicanery, on my part, foolish thing. But do not cross me, and I will help you. My friend here has no pride, he will be happy to serve as bait.” He nods slightly to Vannon. “Tell me, how would you bring the guards?” He tries to hold onto the hyena’s arm to keep him from dashing.

He knows Vannon too well. Not that there isn’t anywhere to bolt in the small cell but that doesn’t keep the hyena from trying. As his arm is grabbed the Hyena let’s out a panicked gasp. “Wait? What?”

The snake tilts his head to one side, “You mean that you are not a mage?” Humor departs from his voice, “How very…disssapointing.” A dark smile creeps along his face, “But the hyena will prove to be a good dissstraction.”

Twitching an eye Vannon brings holds up a paw, “Just give me one second while I talk with my partner in crime…in private.” The snake nods as the hyena tries to drag him towards the door. “Are you /mad/?” Vannon hisses in a whisper. “If the guards don’t kill us these…creatures surely will! Just look at them!”

Heike simple smiles, putting an arm around Vannon in a condescending way, patting him on the back to reassure him. “There, now, come on. You were mute when I asked if you had any ideas, and now we’ve got a way out. Are you really going to ruin this for me? I mean…for /us/?” His smile widens. “Besides, they…probably…won’t let you die. We’re no use to them dead, are you? And if you have to be a snack, well, that’s a price I’m willing to pay. Heh, heh.” He grins. Is he joking? It’s hard to tell! All devil faces look menacing. “Now come on. If he was going to hurt us, he certainly would have done it by now, so quit being a spoiled toddler.” He pushes a paw into your bruise once more. “Will you do it? Please,” he asks, seriousness creeping back into his voice.

The hyena seems to cower in place, ears flat and his head sinking lower into his chest. “Why does it have to be /me/?” oh where was Xeones when he needed him? Lazy tiger! He was supposed to keep him out of such trouble. “Ffffine. What do I need to do?” The snake slithers closer, “Oh, that part is easssy. You jusst need to ssssceam.” The snake reaches out with his tail, securing the hyena by his feet and pulling him off ballence. Vannon yelps as the snake’s cackal fills the air, throwing the hyena against the bars. “GAAAAAAAAAAH! NO! Stop! Help! Someone help!” Vannon gives a rather spectacular preformance at being terrified, even clinging to the bars as the snake begins to drag him to the farther corners of the room. One could say that it was if he wasn’t even acting. A loud shout of fear echoes across the room as he is dragged away. The snake coils around him, binding the pasu’s arms to his sides. “I like thisss plan. Even if it doessn’t work, I can sstill get a meal out of it.”

“No! nonononononono! HEIKE! He-help! This guy ain’t joking! Heike! Anyone? Guard! Guard! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” he screams as the snake opens his maw wide.

The knife-whittler coughs. He’s used to screams, in here. Heck, half the newbies who come in here holler out their innocence until but not like this. He finally stops working on his blade long enough to stare full-on at the scene in front of him, rising to his feet slowly, with a hand on the “hilt” of his “blade.” The shady fellow pulls at his eyepatch, fidgeting anxiously as he approaches the structure in the room’s center. “Excuse me, gentlemen,” he asks, calmly. “Are we going to have a problem, here?” Heike grunts, resenting the intrusion, but appreciates the stranger’s confidence with the knife. He has no problem letting this man approach. As the sound of footsteps approaches rapdily outside the cell, Heike turns his gaze to the sorry sight in front of him. He knows the kid’s not acting. But he hopes to god the serpent is. He bares his claws and that row of huge, terrible teeth at the serpent, the two Pasu surrounding him, ready to pounce should he do the wrong thing. Heike barks out, “They’re coming, now, let him go. You don’t need to make this harder than it has to be. There’s plenty to eat outside these walls.”

“But not assss well fed!” The creature protests. There is a certain madness in his eyes. “I’ve never eaten a hyena before! And he issss ssso tasssty looking.” Nope, it doesn’t look like the snake is acting at all.

Somewhere outside a pair of guards are coming down the hallway. “Seriously? They just want us to let them go?” The rat twirls his keys in one paw. He has the pair shaped build of a guardsmen who sits on his rump most of the day. The brown furred wolf missing an ear on the other hand looks more like a propper guardsman. Trim, propper, keeping his uniform neat and tidy.

“I don’t like it either, but appearently some higher up mucky muck is afriad that they will get their name tarnished if someone at the same party get’s into trouble. It’s a load of political b-HEY!” The wolf shouts as he hears some rather pathetic screams coming from down the hallway. The wolf dashes off to the door. “Hey! What’s going on in there?” The rat comes a moment later. Before he can stop him the wolf simply snatches the keys from his paw and opens the door, drawing his billy club in the process. It seems the snakes plan has worked…

Heike hesitates. He’s a talker, not a fighter! He’s not built for this! Thankfully, the knife-whittler is used to these sorts of things! He thrusts forward with the temerity of a larger, stronger creature, stabbing out at the serpent’s chest. He has surprisingly good aim, despite his lack of depth perception! The one-eyed hyena jabs his wooden blade towards the wide mass of the creature well before Heike gets off his feet to grab for Vannon. He hopes that he’s in time, as he rushes to push him out of the vile snake’s arms, suddenly protective of the foul cad’s life. “You…you have to let him go, now! This isn’t part of the plan…!” He tries to sound confident, but he knows he’s far behind, and it doesn’t take long to make a snack of that creature. He only hopes the dull pain of the blade is enough to distract the foe!

The snake let’s out a shout of alarm as the knife stabs him in the chest. That’s not part of the plan either! With a knife still sticking half in and half out of his chest the snake shrieks in pain, practically dropping Vannon as he falls against the single pillar in the room…and through it!

Filled with rot the pillar simply collapses against his weight, falling across the floor. What ever the guards were going to say is quickly lost as an ominous creak fills the room. The ceiling above begins to bow towards the dungeon right above the snake. “Oh…poop on a stick…” A moment later the roof above collapases into the cell, creating those not crushed by the debris find themselves shoulder to shoulder with dust, falling scraps of wood, and several shocked, and panicked guards pasu as they are thrown about from their desks into the recently created hole. A makshift ramp made from the floor above leads to the upper room.

The various scum and villainous folk duck and dive for cover, bits of wood and stone crashing down around them. A white rabbit barely manages to jump out of the way of the center mass, those powerful legs propelling him to safety where a certain tortoise could not. Your brave defender digs his knife into the snake one last time for good measure, a sneer crossing his face, lighting up his one red eye before he, too, dashes out of the way and towards the ramp to freedom, knowing the chaos will cover him. Heike, in the meantime, freezes up and heads for the way up and out, ducking and covering his head. And good thing he did; a falling post smacks straight into him, splinters of wood piercing his heavy coat and scratching a narrow gash into his arm.

They less than agile Hyena Vannon cowers in a corner as CHAOS decends upon them. The wolf and rat are not so lucky burried alive under the rubble. All that is left of the snake is his tail sticking out of the rubble, which twitches and becomes still.”Heike!” Vannon shouts as the timbers wound the man. “Hurry up and move! You’re gonna slow us down!” One shining moment to prove that he is not completely heartless, squandered. At the very least he stops half way up the ramp to offer a paw. THe guards around the building are still in shock as shouts of alarm go up across the building. In the wake of a massive dust cload that fills the room its hard to tell who is friend and who is a prisoner escaping.

Heike grabs out at that paw, not too proud to take help (when his life is in danger, at least!) The coughing, wheezing creature, half-blinded by dust, forces himself on forward despite the pain, perhaps not feeling it yet, perhaps having a sudden moment of bravery (perhaps.) Taking your paw in his bad arm causes a wheeze, but nothing more, as he grits those awful teeth and makes his way up, up that ramp to safety above. He looks down below, just for a moment, at the coughing, hurt creatures, feeling guilty for a moment, but not too long. He takes a second to hope that the hyena made it out safely. Which he’s sure he must have, if anyone did, right? The shouts from down below spur him on to run with you, still holding onto your paw through the pain, trying his best to keep up. He sees a familiar canine face pop up from the ramp before it collapses, then scittering up over the wall using his claws with some incredible skill. He seems to know what the heck he’s doing. Heike, does not. So it’s all he can do to…run!

And run they do. Taking advantage of the guards as they still try to peice together what exactly happened the hyena leads the tazmainian devil through the rooms of the guard house. He keeps expecting any one of the guards to stop him, toss them back into another cell. But they just keep brushing past him. Vannon suspects that won’t be the case for much longer once the guards get their act together…

“The exit is ahead!” He shouts, pulling Heike along and into a the front loby reception area. The front double doors loom over them, bekoning the two to escape through it. ooc Vannon sent me the first part before. Raziel wanna know what happen!” O.O

Heike is glad to have such a head start on the guards, summoning the last of his strength to bolt for those big doors. He ducks his head down, as if it will help him run faster (makes you aerodynamic, why not!) until they finally reach freedom. The devil slams into the doors with his good shoulder so as not to lose momentum, leading him to the promised land. Freedom. And sunlight! Sweet, sweet sunlight. It’s only been hours, but it feels like days, having been stuck in that dank, lifeless pit. He turns his head and perks an ear to listen for the guards. It sounds like they’re still getting their shit together. Good. Get all that shit together, guys. Put it in a bag, and take it to the store.

So he huffs. And he puffs. He sure has a lot of wind left in him! And blood, too! Or at least, he used to, his gash looking worse than it had before, leaving a trail of red behind him. He hopes blood outside the Acre prison will be a common enough sight so as to not lead the guards right to him. He only pauses for a moment to ask, “Okay, ho…oh…oh-okay. Hahh. Well. We need. To. Get. Somewhere safe. Soon. I have a place. Not far. It’s just down the road. You can come, with me. If you want.”

The hyena comes to a stop outside the guard house breathing deeply as he catches his breath. Running seems to wind him so much more these days. Must be the dust. Yes. He is also abotu to tell Heike exactly where he thinks he should go hide after all the trouble he caused him! But then he catches sight of a familiar tigress down the road. It’s hard not see Inga from the crowd. If anyone should reconize them it would be one of the officers that arrested them. “Hide? Yeah, yeah! Sounds like a good idea! You lead on oh tazmanian devil one! Onward! Just. Get. Me. OUT OF HERE.” The hyena then ushers Heika to move in the oposite direction that inga is coming from.

As far as parties go…Vannon guesses this one was alright…

Categories: Logs