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Changeling-Earth 2: Freehold Earth - The Hedge


Dawn OOC

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When Rochelle got excited, Khalid helped Saffron up and smiled to her.

"Time to go," he said to her quietly. Just then he heard a loud snap coming from the woods behind them. Khalid turned to look then scanned around for the others. Tim and Billy were both here, so it couldn't be one of them ... falling down out there.

"Um, hello?" he called out into the Hedge.

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Evan dropped the limb-pieces and stepped into view, the girl hidden further behind him. "Hello," he responded flatly, golden eyes meeting Khalid's, "I - Khalid?" He squinted, voice betraying just a hint of surprise. "What're you doing out here?" Then, suddenly realizing what he must look like, he hurriedly added, "It's Evan."

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Khalid takes a step back.

"What the ... Evan?"

He studies the Tree-man and finally settles on it's eyes.

"Evan, it's really you, isn't it? I mean ... um ... hello."

He strides the few steps between them and gives his brother-in-law a hug.

"I came into the forest looking for you and here you end up finding me."

Turning the the rest of the group,

"Everyone, this is Evan Bishop, my brother-in-law. Evan, this is Saffron and Orderly. They came here with me. This is Billy, Tim - our guides and guardians here in the Hedge. This is Rochelle, who's found our path back home for us, and this is Gabriel. Billy, Tim, Rochelle, and Gabriel are from the ship, like us."

Khalid slaps him on the shoulder.

"Man it is good to see you."

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At the sound of the snap Billy turns and pulls the shotgun off his shoulder, chambering a round and pointing the weapon towards the ground in the general direction of where the sound came from.

When the figure identifies himself as Evan, he puts the gun away and walks over to introduce himself.

"Hi Evan, you might remember me, or maybe not given how much we both have changed. The name's William McInness, Tim and I were working with you guys with security for the agronomists in your section. We also saw you back at the Market, I'm glad you managed to get away. While we were there we saw you with one of the slaves we recognised from the ship, any idea what happend to her when the raid occurred?"

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Rochelle stares, aghast, at the tree-man. Even the changes to Billy and Orderly still left them basically human. But this! This was...

Insanity.

She stands where she is as Evan introduces himself. Partly because she doesn't want to lose the path again, but mostly...and to her shame...because the sight of a plant-man offends her in a totally irrational way. This wasn't some genetic alteration; a few transgenic features swapped in and out via some recombinant viral vector. This was a tree that walked and talked.

What WERE these things? These Gentry?

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Evan stiffened at the hug, sighing when Khalid lets go. "Yes," he said simply in response to Billy's question. He raised his voice slightly. "It's safe to come out, Mia." A dark girl in a dirty linen shift materialized, keeping a distance from everyone, even Evan.

He gazed at the group dispassionately, thoughts mostly unreadable, though his leaves curled in a way that seemed to indicate nervousness. "Were you - " taken too, he finished in his mind. But it was a question too obvious to ask. "Going back to the Manifest?" he said instead, painful thoughts resurfacing. His daughter. His wife.

A glance down at a bark-clad arm. Himself.

The girl: "Do you know the way?"

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"Welcome to what's left of our camp. Come on over and have something to eat and drink. Rochelle over there has an idea of a way back to the manifest, we were just packing up and going to see how it pans out. Your both more than welcome to join us."

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Khalid bites his lip before responding. He has trouble meeting the TreeMan's eyes, but somehow manages it before he starts speaking.

"Akilah was recovering from surgery when I last saw her and Lila was sleeping at her bedside. I operated on Akilah myself and I know she's okay. Since I don't know how long we've been gone, I can't tell you how far along she would be in recovery. For all I know she may be up and walking around again. Everything was intact."

"Anyway, that's why I came for you. I ..."

I couldn't deal with taking care of your family he left unsaid.

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With a heavy heart and chipper words he turns and faces Rochelle.

"Let's get going then. No time like the present to find out what has transpired in our absence and what they'll make of us. We can share food with Evan and Mia along the way."

Khalid walks over to Orderly and softly says,

"I have not forgotten your quest my friend. I think we are developing the right companions to best help you achieve freedom for the one you love. Don't give up hope."

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Billy looks around the camp and people, then says, loud enough to be heard by all, "Ok, you heard the man. Lets finish packing up, but keep some food and water handy for Evan and Mia. Rochelle and I will take point, and Tim will bring up the rear as tail-end charlie. The rest of keep together, and don't wander without letting at least two people know where you are going. It's taken sometime to find each other, and I don't intend leaving anyone out here if we can avoid it."

With that he will grab his bag and get his shotgun back into a ready position as he makes his way back to Rochelle.

"Ok Roach, lets give them a minute to grab stuff, then let's see if we can bring us safely home."

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"I'm sure I didn't spot this path here from the clearing before, and I went all around that place for several hours while you guys slept."

Billy shakes his head ruefully, "Oh, well the Hedge strikes again. Hey, Rochelle, any idea how long this path of yours is going to go on for?"

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Orderly secured the chest with a sigh, lifting it onto his back. He looked tired but determined as he started on the path. Fingers dropped out of the trees, joining the convoy that was slowly forming. After a moment, Tim grabbed the last of breakfast, wrapped it in a bit of cloth and stuffed it in a pack for later. Then he fell in as well, leaving their short sanctury behind. Saffron waited for Khalid before taking his hand and walking away with him. Mia, still silent, walked near Evan when he followed. Last was Gabriel, who stared back the way they'd come for a long moment before stumbling after them, his shoulders hunched and his head down.

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Khalid smiles when Saffron takes his hand. It feels good. It also reminds him of a pressing matter made all the more pertinant because of the path they have now found.

"Saffron, when do you want to do the surgery? With the tools I have, it will be dangerous. If we wait until we reach the ship, there is a good possibility they will want to take and study the box. Eventually they will get around to returning it to you, but it could be some time. I have no idea how militant and authoritarian the governing body is. I wish I did."

"We could do the surgery right before entering the Manifest's zone? We could wait until we are within the zone and in custody, hoping they don't search the box, and do it there. They might respect our rights as sentiants. I'm not sure which way to advise you."

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Saffron glanced at him through her mask, her gaze uncertain. "I don't know. I guess... well, what do you think is best? You know how hard it will be, and you know the people that we return to. I'll do what you think is best, and trust that you will save me." Her hand tightened around his, and he felt that slight tremble of fear that she couldn't hide.

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Billy laughs at Rochelles reply as he catches up to her at the front of the group.

"Well, I'm glad to see your getting the hang of the way things work here in the Hedge."

As they follow Roach's path he keeps all his senses sharp, both for the route they are following and to try to detect any trouble around or ahead of them.

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The last clinging bits of night finally gave way before the dawn. This deep in the Hedge, 'light' is merely the ability to see without artifical light, as there is no sun reaching this far down.

The thorny trees pulled back with little warning, showing them to be on the verge of a clearing. The thorns still tangled in the sky over their heads forming a natural cathedral and blocking off the light. Rochelle was relieved to recognize the place; they were on the right track. The clearing might have been welcoming, save that it was already occupied.

A long house stood on centipede legs. For a moment, they looked carved, but then they moved and the house flexed as it turned to face them. It could be a creature designed to look like a house, but it's curtained windows and closed doors looked all too real. In fact, one of the curtains may have just twitched a little, as if someone looked out past it.

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Rochelle stops, dismayed.

"I...that wasn't in the dream," she says softly. She looks back and says it louder, to Billy. "It wasn't in my dream."

Then with a rueful shake of her head, "Leave it to this place to be even -more- surreal than a -dream-."

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"I don't like this one bit. Whoever owns that place is more powerful than I'd like to risk running foul of. I suggest we keep to the edge of the clearing and just try to get around to wherever you feel we need to leave as quickly as possible Roach."

Billy looks over the area nervously, gripping the shotgun in his hands.

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Billy looks back to the pair.

"Yeah, and normally I'd be the first to agree with you, but this is only lead we've had for a way to get back to the Manifest. I'm reluctant to give up on it without at least trying to get around this obstacle."

He glances back over the rest of the group.

"Well, whats the consensus? Do we try to go around, or just give up on this route to the Manifest?"

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"I think we'd better go around," Rochelle says with a dry swallow. "I mean...this is the only path I know. Who knows what we'll run into if we just tear off randomly? If this thing is dangerous...we can just run, and hope we can run faster."

And if not?

Then it was probably already too late.

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Billy looks over the reactions of the people following him and Roach, then comes to a decision.

"Ok, keep up everyone, keep quiet as you can and right to the edge of the clearing. If it starts coming for us then we get back into the Hedge at the earliest place we can, and fight as a last resort."

So saying he chambers a round in the shotgun and starts off around the clearing, dividing his attention between the way ahead of him and the strange 'house' in the middle of the clearing.

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Fight as a last resort Khalid thought with an inward chuckle. There was a real need by him and his two companions to pick up weapons of some kind. Being defenseless except for their value as slaves was no fitting defense. There was also the small matter of learning how to use a weapon, but that was a hurdle for another time.

He slowly took off after Billy holding Saffron's hand.

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Orderly hunched over and tried to sneak lower to the ground. Gabriel imitated him, while Saffron clung to Khalid's side. They were a quarter of the way around when the house made a strange noise, almost a bugling sound. It charged at them, it's long, insectoid legs pounding the ground. It moved roughly twice as fast as they did.

[OOC: Please roll initiative. laugh You have two rounds before it reaches you.]

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Something had been bothering Rochelle all day. She hadn't really been able to put her finger on it. It had something to do with her dream and how it seemed to lead them through the real world. It had something to do with how she got the weird feeling that it was the real world that had guided her dream. Or no...that her dream and the real world were somehow...the same. It also had something to do with how she'd realized that she was taller and somehow more REAL in her dreams than she was in reality.

So when the house attacked, as she'd suspected it would; as it seemed like it HAD TO for some reason, Rochelle did the last thing she ever would have expected. Without thought, without reason, she reached for Billy's head.

For some reason when her fingers passed without resistance into his skull, it wasn't surprising.

What was surprising was what she found inside. Something hard and round and smooth, like an egg. With a startled gasp she yanked her hand out...in it was an oddly small and nonthreatening looking metal ball with a pull pin attached. A grenade.

(Cobblethought - looking for something like hand grenades or a bazooka. Something that booms big. Don't got my dice pools at work...:(

Cobblethought roll:

1d10=5, 1d10=4, 1d10=9, 1d10=10, 1d10=7, 1d10=10, 1d10=4, 1d10=2, 1d10=2 = 3 sux

Rerolling 10's:

1d10=9, 1d10=1 = 1 sux

Total of 4, White Phosphorus, -2 to throw, +4 dice to damage)

Init: 15 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1900700/

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With the house still advancing Billy couldn't afford to be distracted by whatever Roach was doing beside him. He shot for the knee of the house, hoping to at least be able to slow it down so they had more chance to run.

(OOC:

Firearms + Dex = 3+2 = 5 + 4 (Favoured Fate) = 9 dice!

1d10=1, 1d10=10, 1d10=8, 1d10=7, 1d10=2, 1d10=9, 1d10=4, 1d10=5, 1d10=2

1d10=5

4 sux )

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The house keened - there was no word for the noise if made as the shotgun blast tore into its knee. But it was Evan's strangely powerful glare the made it start to swerve away from the group.

[OOC: It acts later, so you guys see only the beginnings of its change in course]

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Rochelle bounced the thing in the palm of her hand and grabbed the little loop that she knew would arm it. Then hesitates.

What was the minimum safe distance on one of these? Hell...what WAS it even? She'd somehow ripped it out of one of Billy's...thoughts? Dreams? God only knew what would happen when it went off.

"Uh!" she yelped, and looked around. "I have something here but it's a grenade and I really think someone with bigger, stronger arms than me should be throwing it because I don't know what it's going to do!"

She holds the little metal ball out like it was burning hot to the touch.

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