Seonid

I'm planning a new Paladin post for The Dalles. Should be the second to last one before the timelines sync up. Kobold, what would be the best way for Paladin and crew to become involved in the fighting without Arsenal/Vondra/anyone else immediately wanting to kill them?

Excellent as always. The tension builds!

Ari's eyes grew big as the queen handed her a beautiful necklace. "For - for - for... me? Thank you Princess Elsa!" She stopped, embarrassed. "I mean Queen Elsa. I'll keep it forever." Her father smiled. "Thank you, your Majesty. This means ever so much to her." Ari began to walk over to the wall, where a stand with cookies had been set up. The banner overhead read "The Dark Alley - Baked Goods You Can't Can Trust! "Not those cookies, Ari. Cookies from the Dark Alley are always a bit more than you bargained for. If you're hungry, we should go over to the table. There's lots of good food over there."

At the Queen's remark, the little girl blushed, and pulled back behind her father's legs. "My name's Ari," she said, blushing. Then, working up her courage, she asked, "Can you really do magic?"

The doors to the great hall swung slowly open, pushed by the porters. The interior was magnificent, lavishly decorated in ice and steel. The music drifted out into the waiting room, where a nondescript man in an old but well-cared for suit stood holding the hand of a young girl. Her other hand was held over her eyes as they walked softly into the room. Arvin Weeks looked at his adopted daughter, smiling. It was a relief to be able to find a respite from the chaos in Oregon, even if only for a little while. And the cost was certainly going to be worth it. "You can open your eyes now, Ari," he said to the girl standing next to him. She was about 9 years old, dressed in a jean skirt and a hunter's green polo, the uniform of her new school in The Dalles. With excitement bubbling out from every corner, she took her hand away from her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the beautiful decorations, the food, the band. Almost overwhelmed, she was silent for a brief moment. Until she caught sight of the regal figure sitting on the Steel Throne, underneath the Newcago Crest. "Daddy, is that really..." She trailed off in disbelief. Then she exploded in motion, dashing towards the throne. "Princess Elsa!!!" She cried out in joy.

It's definitely still amazing. I look forward to reading these on my lunch break every night.

Are Epics from Oregon invited?

Nope. The Leader of The Dalles is Stephen Vondra, a vanilla human who hasn't appeared on-screen yet. All indications point towards his first viewpoint scene being jumping out of a helicopter into a panda army.

Thanks! And yes, the Rebellious are High-Order demons. Several are Class VI (I haven't decided whether to have a Class VII Rebellious yet). Yep. The purpose of this RP is to help me flesh out the world that I am building as a setting for the book. If the RP ends up starting plots for other novels set in the same universe, well, that's just gravy. Thanks! That's the feel I was going for. Well, kind of. More like Tolkien and I were both aiming for the feel of the early chapters of Genesis, or the opening stanzas of Norse or Greek or Babylonian mythic cycles. And the King James English seems to inculcate that feeling in modern Americans.

The motorcycle purred quietly beneath Ranger as the miles slid by behind them. The night air was cooling, as autumn wore on, and the leaves were just starting to turn. It was rather beautiful, and a little surreal. The group drove in silence, Guardian leading while Ranger and Paladin, blood still oozing from his severed arm, followed. The incredible speed offered by gravitonics made the commute from Madras towards The Dalles much shorter than it would have been in the old days, before Calamity. Even so, Ranger felt himself slowly drifting towards sleep as the road blurred beneath their vehicles. He started, noticing that Guardian had slowed down, and he braked rapidly to come to a halt next to her. Up ahead, about a quarter of a mile, the road was broken, fragments jutting straight out of the ground while others lay askew at every angle conceivable. There looked like there was a straight path through, but Ranger couldn't be certain. Then, a familiar profile caught his eye. A car, fancy but not extravagant, sitting off of the road near the woods. Guardian seemed about to speak, but he cut her off. "It looks like we have some old friends here." The others looked at him blankly. "That's the same car I found in Madras. Looks like they were on their way to The Dalles after all. I think I'd like to find an explanation of what happened back there." Paladin nodded his assent silently, and they pushed off again, picking up speed as they approached the scene. * * * * * * Will O'the Wisp jerked from his blissful contemplation of the savage confrontation between man and beast to the sound of gravitonics. His wisps, left near the car, alerted him instantly that someone was approaching. There was only one reason he could think of for such an interruption. He was already certain that this was the vehicle he'd been ordered to intercept. That was Arvin Weeks facing down the giant lizard, one of Vondra's most trusted agents. And that meant that anyone following him had to know what he carried. They must be looking to take it back. Well, Will wasn't about to let that happen. Besides, he hadn't had fun with folks on motorcycles in ages. He deserved a little bit of down time, right? He watched through his wisps as the motorcycles approached. They were nearly to the car, now, and they were likely to be slowing down any moment. It was time to strike. The little balls of light darted like lightning. One struck the lead motorcycle directly in the engine. It sputtered, shook, and then flipped end over end as the gravitonics failed unevenly. The rider was thrown headfirst into the trees, tumbling as much as the motorcycle. It didn't look like she was wearing a helmet. Tsk. Tsk. He thought. What would your mother say? The second motorcycle had swerved to avoid the first, and so his wisp had only caught the edge of the engine. The rapidly slowing vehicle started smoking as the electronics caused a fire at the back. Right next to the fuel tank. Oh, this is going to be beautiful. The two riders dived clear just as the fuel tank exploded, sending shrapnel spinning across the clearing. Will jumped gleefully and stepped out into the clearing to inspect the carnage. Out of the smoke, a figure charged towards him, bellowing in anger and waving a sword. Will did the only logical thing under the circumstances. He ran.

Umm...not in this RP. I am planning eventually to do a spinoff set in the Outer Realms, where we play higher-order beings (although I'm not sure that Class VII will be a playable option, but I may change my mind). For this one, though, I'm restricting player to mortals of Class I. And for Kobold (and anyone else who is interested), here is where spirits come from. This is a deliberate allusion to Genesis, just for fun. I'm casting this, as best I can, into the language of a religious text, which seems to me to be the best way to write a creation myth. The CliffNotes version follows the spoiler tag. Cosmological History TL;DR - The All-Father creates everything out of the primordial chaos. In the chaos there exist "intelligences," or little bits of self-awareness. These aren't created things, but are as eternal in duration as the All-Father Himself. However, without space and time, their sentience has no memory and is significantly impaired in terms of awareness. As part of creation, space and time come into being, giving these already-existent spirits memory and awareness. The All-Father offers to invest all of these sentiences with some of his power, making the changes wrought by being in time permanent. Some are content to remain as they are, and to return to the Void when the Realms fade away. The remainder accept the offer, becoming what we can term "spirits," if we like. The Realms of Being are organized. The All-Father offers to permanently bind the spirits to a material form, which is a step towards increasing in power and ability to create. Many (in fact, most by far) of the spirits, again, are content to remain as they are, having no ambition to become greater. These remain as they are. Some are interested in the experience of a material form, but have no desire to be permanently bonded to it. These become the animating forces of plants and animals. The remainder, again, accept the offer, becoming the souls of mortal beings (or more specifically - the spirits that exist in preparation to inhabit the bodies of mortal beings, they don't all immediately receive a mortal form). A dispute over pre-eminence leads to the rebellion of a large number (but not a majority) of these, leading to a permanent rupture. The rebels are defeated and the offer of a mortal form to them is revoked. Of those who did not rebel, Many of these are permanently bonded with their mortal form after death, and some rise to become beings of great power capable of creating Outer Realms. Others become servants to them. We have now gone through the origins and general nature of all of the (current!) groupings of intelligences/spirits/souls. Factions: Nameless - The intelligences who rejected the All-Father's first offer of stability. Nearly no interaction with the Material Realm of any sort, and almost as little with the Outer Realms. They inhabit the Spiritual Realm, preferring its similarity to the primordial Chaos. Named Ones - The intelligences who accepted the first gift of the All-Father, becoming spirits. Sub-Factions: Unmanifested - Those spirits who rejected the offer of embodiment entirely. They have an intense fascination with the Material Realm, flitting in and out and through it on a constant basis. These are the spirits who tend to power the magic of a sorcerer. Animated - Those spirits who rejected permanent embodiment, but were intrigued enough to become souls of animals and plants. These reincarnate as often as they want, entering into new bodies whenever they feel the desire to interact with the Material Realm. These can sometimes power the sorcerer's magic, and many of these spirits (when not in an actual physical form) become familiar spirits to those sorcerers who have them. Mortals - These are those spirits who accepted the second gift, and have become bound to material forms which they currently inhabit. Immortals - These are mortals who have passed through their life and become advanced in power, having been reinstated to their form after death. Among these are many that could be termed gods, although they are different from the lower orders only in degree, not kind. The remainder are servants of some sort in the Outer Realms. Immortals do not tend to physically enter the Material Realm unless they have exceptionally important business to carry out there, instead working through mortal servants or unembodied spirits. Rebellious - These are the spirits who rebelled over the issue of pre-eminence, and had their right to a material form revoked. Some came back, penitent, but most have remained in exile. These tend to try to influence the Material Plane. The most powerful have created Outer Realms and crafted physical forms of some sort for themselves there, and are trying to lure or seduce or draw mortals to inhabit those places for various reasons. These can also power a sorcerer's magic. Questions? Ask away!

Yes it is. A thousand times yes. It happens on my fiction projects, it happens on my essays for school, it happens on my lab reports for my physics classes... I'm not sure if there's anything else to say, honestly.

Paladin might come, but he doesn't do too well at parties. To many places for cultists to hide... On the other hand, Ari might love meeting Queen Elsa for her very first time!

I know how that goes. I can't do the whole write and revise process. It has to be as close to perfect as I can get it on the first pass, or else I can't move on. That's the single biggest crimp in my ability to write right now.

Native English speaker. Took 5 years of German through middle school and high school (but most of it is so rusty from lack of use that I can barely remember anything of it). My wife and my father speak fluent Spanish, and I've spent some time around other Spanish-speaking people, so I can understand quite a bit, although I can't speak much of it (apart from flirting with my wife ). I took a year of Arabic last year, and I'll be taking a second year starting next fall. That was quite fun. My frustration is that I'm not fluent in anything but English. But that's something for another day. I'd like to learn Latin, Greek (preferably koine), Hebrew (biblical), Classical Arabic (rather than modern), and maybe some Sanskrit, in addition to becoming fluent in the languages I already have a start on. It can still happen today. The late Hugh Nibley (a professor at BYU) spoke Classical Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Egyptian (as much as anyone can speak that), Coptic, Arabic, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and English fluently, and had studied Old Bulgarian, Old English, and Old Norse sufficiently to read materials written in those languages. He also studied some Dutch and Russian during WWII.

Just a note on the geography of The Dalles. If it doesn't work as written for the Panda Invasion , we can always write up an Epic that left the area covered in trees. In fact, here's one right now - Arboreta She was a middle-power Epic with a penchant for forests and a love of small furry animals. Enough of a love that she tended to murder people who disturbed them. She covered the whole area north of The Dalles with forests (her power was growing trees), before she was killed by Koschei. Also, The Panda's theme song should be "Do You Wanna Be a Panda?" sung to the tune of "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" from Frozen.

And here I thought that the cosmology and history of the universe was something that nobody would be interested in. I don't have enough time right now, but I think that I can manage a post in this direction later tonight (past midnight-ish, Mountain Standard time). If not, then tomorrow will bring a post with it. Odin sounds fun. When I get some time, I'll post information about the Svalding mercenaries, who have a striking resemblance to Vikings... You are free to make a character with whatever level of influence you are interested in. If we need characters that others don't create, I can always make NPC's. Right now, I'm working through the physics of time-affecting magic. And the philosophical implications of precognition. (The whole free will debate). You'll probably see my take on that in the near future. With regards to religion - there are several tribal belief systems that match what you are looking for. Most of them are imported by mercenaries, but they exist. (There aren't any native followers of them, but foreigners are not compelled to abandon their beliefs). The only spiritual authorities that those recognize are shamans, and even then, they are more like troubleshooters instead of leaders. You might go to a shaman for advice on a war, or if you have been cursed, or if you need a charm for something or the other. But they'd get only the deference due to an expert in a subject, rather than a religious authority. They definitely wouldn't be making imperative demands on your life. Mainly, actually, these belief systems use the shaman as an interface with the spiritual world so that the rest of the tribe/village can get on with their lives without worrying about it. That whole set of beliefs would also give you the advantage of not having to pick sides. Getting a god's attention takes a little more than prayer, most of the time. It honestly depends on the god and the time period and the situation. That will come in a future post. The magic we are talking about ranges from illusion to fireballs to weather manipulation to constructing bodies and binding spirits into them to creating whole mindworlds in the Outer Realms, complete with ecosystems and inhabitants. Some things can't be done, but most of those need a little bit of thinking through on my part. The magic is wildly variable, but poorly understood by the people who live in Edassa.

These are all good questions. I'm still working on a character template. A good, basic one might be: Name: Physical Description: (age, skin/eye/hair color, gender, approximate height/weight) History/Bio: (country of origin would be good here, too, except I haven't gotten the country/culture worldbuilding info posted. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.) Religion/Belief System (if any): Magic User (Y/N): (Include type of magic here. Try to avoid people above Class I for now.) If you are confused, curious, or have questions about your character's backstory, station/position in society, etc, feel free to post them here in the thread or PM me. The more questions, the better, in fact. Our role in this RP is to interact with the world to the fullest extent possible. There is very little at this point that is set in stone (even future events). The only outcome I have in mind is that the Menkoran Patriarchate successfully splinters off of the Church of the Martyr, and that Menkor remains a stable and powerful nation. There are no plot-protected characters (yet), there is no predetermined outcome (even the success of the Patriarchate could include a period of the Inquisition controlling the city, trying to stamp it out), and there is no set storyline. In a large measure, this is a discovery writing exercise for me, but in RP form. I've decided that this will be a very free-form RP. I'd like it to play out in a similar manner to the Oregon RP (in terms of how that one runs, not necessarily in other senses, even though I expect the ponies to fully infiltrate and dominate this thread well before it even starts.) In other words, the story will arise in large part out of the interactions between characters. (Including my own). With regards to time manipulation magic, that's a good question. There are two canon instances of time manipulation (both outside of the time frame of our chosen RP period), one with magic and the other with technology. Backwards time travel is strictly out (even though the FTL system that will eventually come into being is based on wormholes. Yes, I'm still trying to work the physics of that one out. No, it isn't working well yet. Hopefully my General Relativity course next semester will help me towards that). Forward time travel is possible, but with no way back. However, time dilation (or the opposite), precognition/prescience, and stasis are within the realm of possibility. Let me know what you have in mind, and I can give you a better idea of if it would work. With regards to religion, being a part of one isn't necessary. In this society, at this time, full blown atheism is vanishingly rare, but there do exist some skeptics (quietly, lest the Inquisition find them). And not all religions are organized, with priests and temples. The Church of the Martyr and the Court of the Gods both have had (in the recent past!) periods of "Convert or die." The Church is in one right now, as the power of the Inquisition rises towards its apex. As a result, most of the natives in the area have converted nominally, at least, to one or the other. Foreigners have a wide variety of belief systems, and are mostly tolerated, as long as they aren't too outspoken with it. Many of these systems are primitive and unsophisticated, without organization or structure, except for recognizing shamans as loci of spiritual power. I guess the upshot is that if you wanted to play an atheist or a skeptic character, I could squeeze one in. There's enough room for that. But the Zeitgeist of the age is against it. Most people still see the world in terms of natural and supernatural during this time period. On the other hand, if you are just talking about not being aligned with one of the major organized churches, that's much easier. There are quite a few belief systems not aligned with any of those. Some are polytheistic, some are shamanistic, etc. I guess my big point is that everybody has a belief system of some sort that attempts to make sense of the world around it, and given the timeframe of this world, most of those belief systems are going to be coming out looking suspiciously like a religious belief system. (Why yes, Religious Studies - not Theology, but Religious Studies - is my second major course of study at University. The first, if anyone was curious, is Physics.) About magic and religion - magic is associated with religion, and not coincidentally. However, magic is not exclusive to religion. There are plenty of magical practitioners outside the ranks of Church or Court (or other organization). Well, plenty as in a reasonable fraction of the 1 in 10,000 who have the magic gene in the first place. They may not have as excellent training available, but there is no barrier between them and the magic just because they don't belong to a major religion. Gaining magics is a matter of having the genes (or having attracted a god's attention). Learning how to use your innate magic requires training, however, which is almost exclusively the province of religious orders. But, there could be some former priests living out in the countryside or up in the mountains who might train a young magic user without the rigor and theological requirements of the Church/Tribunal. This question goes into the box labelled "Details about spirits and interaction with the Material Realm." That's a section that needs to come out soon. The quick answer is "Probably yes, but I have to think about it and make sure the interactions work right." The long answer might come over the weekend. Unless I decide to actually sit down and write my physics lab on ultrasonics. Who knows, maybe I can get both in. A general point to remember is that the familiar spirits don't actually have a Material form. So if one shows up as a cat, it's because it wanted to, and thus it would probably adopt the mannerisms. But, like I said, there's a lot of related stuff I'm thinking about and trying to get into a cohesive whole. But I'm quite excited about your playing a familiar spirit character. That will be just cool. What we might call willpower is the major component of all magic. The power that lets a mage use his mind as a lever to facilitate the transfer of energy is the same power that lets a sorcerer hold nearly completed magical strictures in his head while maintaining their efficacy. On the other topic, Samhain Seonid had Type I magic. Like most Type I power, it was only able to be used in certain ways, dictated when the being gave the investment (or endowment) of power, and was associated with a specific moral code that, if broken, would render the gift of power inaccessible. Seonid's endowment of power gave him significant resistance to magic used against him, along with the ability to try to negate power used against others. Also, he gained an atium-like precognition that made him nearly unstoppable in single combat. He was naturally skilled with the sword to begin with, and added years of training at the Academy of War to that skill. He preferred a long, curved, single edged weapon that we would recognize as being related to the katana. This was an exotic weapon for his place and time, but his uncle had traded in weapons as a younger man, and had some exotic stuff on hand. This specific sword was a gift for his graduation. Later, he recovered the shards of the Blade of Ash-Kelir, and was instrumental in having it reforged. The other two characters had no magic.

First question first. Yes. All of them possess human or near-human intelligence (some even greater), but their perception of the Material world is not the same as a mortal's. I have some more work to do in hammering out the details in the perception, but I'll post it later. If you are intrigued by the idea of playing as another PC's familiar, that sounds like a very interesting character to me. Not in their current state, no. However, the characters who I based them off of are. Samhain Seonid, the prototype for Paladin, became a leader in the rebellion of 1299 (see my post on the previous page for more information), and he is the source of my forum handle. He was compassionate and merciful, unlike Paladin, who has been twisted by Calamity. Ranger was based off of Asher Il'veradon, a Ti'in tribesman from the far south. He made his way north searching for his sister who had been taken by slavers, and ended up as Seonid's friend and companion. Guardian came from Ariel of the house of Kilbaen, a student at the Academy of War during Seonid's time there. She ended up as his personal bodyguard. The long-distance crush she has on him is canon. No, the two of them never work out. As far as marriage, Inquisitors are forbidden from having current relationships, as those could potentially be used against them. Widows are accepted into the order, however, as long as any children are fully grown, not heterodox, heretics, or apostates, and so on. As for having the contract with the spirit of a wife, well, that would be quite tough to manage but not impossible. Death severs the energy left in the bonds that connect a spirit to a mortal body, leaving the spirit of a deceased mortal nearly unable to perform magic on another's behalf. However, deceased spirits tend to move on to an Outer Realm. If said spirit was invested by one of the more powerful entities in that Realm, they would certainly be able to become a familiar spirit, but would likely only do so by divine assignment. Also, Unodus, I missed your question during this round of answers and my lunch break is over. I'll answer it when I get another chance.

I keep pushing the green arrow, but it won't go up more than once!

0.o That's pretty much the only reaction I've got. Other than "Take my upvotes!" of course.

Sure! Glad to have you! Go ahead and read through the worldbuilding information. The RP proper starts on Dec. 15th, but my finals get over on the 11th, so expect a lot of background information specific to the setting we'll be playing in around then. And, for anyone who's still following this thread, I've got a brief (briefer than I'd like) summary of the order of the Paladins Order of the Paladins The order of the Paladins was officially founded in the late 700's, but the origins go back almost a century and a half before that, rooted in an Atani tradition where the third son of a noble house would dedicate himself to a member of the Tribunal (most often Taris, who has as one of his titles - Lord of Justice, although Hurisen the Lawgiver was by no means uncommon) and spend his life dedicated to the promotion of justice. On those occasions when such a third son had the magic-using gene expressed, a familiar bond was often formed with a spirit whose goals aligned with the actions of the paladin. The practice was formalized into the Order of the Paladins, and placed under the purview of the priests of Taris. For about a century, the tradition of sending third sons into the Order continued, but it was gradually replaced by the growth of new political and familial structures surrounding the order itself. Around 900 S.E., these structures were formally recognized by the Court of the Gods as the twelve Houses of the Order. From the official founding of the order, candidates who were capable of forming a familiar bond were being sought out to participate, and by 950, no candidate was eligible to become a full Paladin without it. ****** So much for the historical development. Now for the actual organization: ****** The current organization is divided into two parts - the organization for those who are candidates to be Paladins, and the organizational structure for those who are not. Those who have the potential undergo rigorous martial training as well as developing the mind through study and religious practices. After a period of training, they undergo individual one-on-one mentoring by a current Paladin, before undergoing the ceremony that induces the familiar bond. For those who cannot become Paladins, the structure is different. These make up the bulk of the houses, of course; even in these tightly-knit communities, only 1 in 100 or so are actually born with the genetic makeup. Many choose to serve the order in mundane ways, working in commerce, banking, agriculture, or other fields to support the temporal needs of the Order. Others, and not a small fraction, choose to serve militarily. These range from the House Guardsmen that provide security for the safe houses, fortresses, and manors affiliated with the order to the Squires who accompany Paladins into the field. A full Paladin will be accompanied by 7-10 squires at any time, meaning that a Paladin is already a small unit commander. This provides significant leverage in political disputes. In addition to the squires, a Paladin can call upon the services of other men-at-arms of the order to fulfill his duties. Depending on the House, their resources, and the area in which the Paladin is serving, this can range from several dozen infantrymen and light cavalry to a full battalion of over a thousand men capable of investing an enemy stronghold. Politically, the Paladin Order is independent of any secular government, and is governed directly by the Court of the Gods. Their reputation for upholding justice won goodwill enough to allow them free rein in many of the southern nations (including, at times, the empires of Alcorazim and Navar), but the rise of the Church of the Martyr has closed most of the northern nations to them (at least officially; they still operate there, but with a smaller profile. They are often targets of the Inquisition, but are only rarely captured). The functions of a Paladin remain similar to the mandate which the third sons originally swore to - uphold justice, protect those who cannot protect themselves, oppose evil (this is defined differently in different time periods; sometimes evil means opposition to the Court of the Gods, sometimes it means certain of the various sorcerer's cults that spring up from time to time, sometimes it means opposing the influence of certain spiritual entities who are, in Tribunal theology, diametrically opposed to the Seven. Further elaboration on this theme will have to wait until I have more fully fleshed out the political situation among the Outer Realms). A common practice is for Paladins to go into service as lawyers or judges in towns that cannot provide their own. In a city, this might instead manifest as being a judge or a lawyer for the poor, who might not be able to afford the services of the law otherwise. Militarily, the Paladins are the arm of the Tribunal in places where they do not hold cultural and political dominion. During the mid-to-late 1300's, the Order was instrumental in helping many of the city-states of the Delta and the Minharan Valley retain independence in the face of the Imperial conquest. In 1355, when the Alcorazimai Emporer ascended to the high priest's office, the Order was officially disbanded. However, they still remained active in places that did not recognize Imperial authority. These branches were cut off from many of their traditional assets, and were greatly reduced in power, but they nonetheless survived various purges over the next century.

Thanks, everyone, for the words of encouragement. Much appreciated. Flying squirrels!?! And pigs ! My characters need to be in The Dalles like, yesterday. LP, how would your pandas react to a dragon coming down unexpectedly out of the sky? Also, how would Panda's pandafication power work on someone who is being protected by an Epic with the power of Imagination? As in, this Epic is imagining this person in a very specific way, and their power is acting to make the person that way? I have the feeling that the imagination and the pandafication would kind of cancel out, leaving the vanilla human like they normally would be, but I wanted to double-check on interactions of powers.

Arvin looked up from setting up camp. For just a moment, he had thought that he had heard...something. Some sort of music, maybe. He tried to remember what it sounded like, but it slipped away from his mind. Pity, he thought. That was quite the melody. I don't think I'd ever heard anything like it. Or at least I remember not having heard anything like it. That line of reasoning was beginning to make his head hurt. As he was about to return to his work, he heard Ari call out. "Ooh! Look! It's so pretty!" He turned to see her dashing off into the undergrowth, following what looked to be a floating ball of light. That was sparking dangerous. She should know better! Wishing again that he hadn't lost his gun, he dashed after her. For a little girl, she was certainly speedy. It was all that Arvin could do to keep her barely in sight as they dashed through trees and around bushes, following the elusive light. As his muscles began to protest, he finally lost sight of her. He dashed on for a few more moments, then slowed, worried about missing a sign of her trail. Fortunately, it was still obvious, even if he had lost sight of her. He walked quickly, trying to keep up speed while catching his breath from the headlong run. Sparking girl! He thought. She should at least have some consideration for those of us who are too old and fat to keep up with her! Suddenly, out of the stand of trees in front of him, he heard a chilling scream. Rushing through the tangled brush, he cursed himself for not being faster. He broke free, to face a scene that could have been pulled out of a nightmare. A gigantic lizard, well over 10 feet long and almost as tall as a German Shepherd, faced Ari, who was cowering on the ground. The floating light seemed to have disappeared, and the ground had grown marshy. He recognized the beast from a trip to the zoo, back when there had been such things. It was a Komodo dragon, one of the last in the world, from what he remembered. Dashing forward, he placed himself in between it and the girl. "You want her?" His voice was iron. "You have to go through me first." * * * * * * Ranger pulled the white plastic tarp off, revealing a sleek, beautiful machine. The motorcycle was built by Knighthawk Foundries, and was one of the most technologically advanced vehicles on the open market. The gravitonics system was smoother than any he'd ever before ridder, and the electronic systems were near perfectly tuned. He could almost describe his feeling as love. Just, not while Ariel was around. She wouldn't understand. There were three of them, one for each member of the team. Ariel had already mounted, her light bags stuffed in the carrying compartment. Ranger quickly mounted his cycle, then turned to help Paladin on. They'd been forced to abandon a lot of their equipment, since Paladin would take up most of the space, and they were leaving behind a cycle, which almost broke Ranger's heart. Still, it had to be done. They wheeled slowly out of the garage, Ranger looking mournfully at the lonely vehicle, sitting empty behind them. Paladin fidgeted impatiently behind him. "Now!" With a sigh, Ranger depressed a button on the remote he carried. With a roar, the garage erupted into flames, which would destroy every trace that they had once been here. The apartment building would not last much longer. In a moment more, the gravitonics engaged, and they were speeding off into the distance, heading north. Toward The Dalles.

I ought to apologize for the declining quality (and increasing sparseness) of my posts. I'm dashing them off these days on my 30-minute lunch break, which means that I don't have the time to polish them that I'd prefer. But life, I suppose, will go on. In any case, you should see a new Paladin/Ranger/Weeks post go up in the next 15 minutes or so.