07.11e: A Marriage of Inconvenience

[Joshua]

With the zombies finally slowing down, Osmund will use his pattern sigil to strike the spell, shattering it. He will unceremoniously grunt at Aibne, but will be preempted by Rogbar. Instead, he will turn to Ch'talo. "We need to talk, Chosen."

The tabby will run up to Aibne. "Are you okay? Dios mio!" Before calling for a healer... who isn't there... and starting to bandage the bear's wounds. Any joke or light-hearted comment lost to the seriousness of the moment.

[Chtalo]

Ch'talo will eye Osmund for a moment, but simply nod, glaring at the ground where Dal'ashi vanished only minutes before. He kneels down, taking out more of the sand from his pouch, carefully this time, and begins to pour a small pattern that might be words, but maybe not.

"You aren't lost forever. And there is no place where i cannot find you.," he mutters to himself, then sweeps his hand across the sand, scattering it, before looking up to take full measure of what he has stumbled into.

[ShadowOfPreservation]

Jiga, fresh from her emergency refresher on first aid, will help bandaging up other wounded Striders, leaving Aibne to Rogbar. She does keep an eye on the two however and is likely eavesdropping on any further conversation they have.

[Joshua]

Osmund will sigh, and talk to Ch'talo. "Yeah... that thing you drew. It's from somewhere. You should probably come back with us." He will look around. "This will take a bit of explaining, and I'm not the best one to do it."

Rogbar and Aibne's reunion is montaging in the background as players idle.

[Wyvern]

And it's at this point that Alys emerges from the castle, her cloak and sword gone (and, for those with sufficient warfare to notice - hello, Osmund - the rest of her normal arsenal of concealed weaponry is missing, too.) Balanced on one shoulder is an eight foot long sword of some flat black metal (roachface's sword, obviously); one hand is steadying that, while in the other she carries Rogbar's hat and boots and blade.

Tinder, at her heels, whines and looks up at her, an attitude somewhere between "Why are we still in this shadow?" and "But there was something bad here! Really!"

"See?" Alys tells her dog. "I told you - we're still too close to Amber; it must have taken an absurd amount of power to bring the Abyss here at all. I doubt even Primal Chaos would hold a significant risk to this shadow."

[Joshua]

One of the striders will take Rogbar's equipment as he's otherwise occupied.

A short time later, Rodgers (the goblin) will announce that the castle is secure*. He will let any amberites know that they will handle cleanup, and the lizardfolk and will meet them back at camp (Ht'Gon) in a few hours. If they'd like to escort Aibne and the new guy back. Or trump back, come to think of it.
________________
*: The moat monsters produce little more than a jump-scare at this point.

[Wyvern]

There may still be some conversation with Ch'talo prior to departure; if nothing else, Alys would introduce herself (and I suspect Ch'talo may have some strong opinions on what she should do with that soulsteel daiclave...) Still, that could occur here or in a new thread.

As for stuff that goes here: Alys and Cameron will talk a bit on what to do with the lizardfolk (a conversation that occurred largely OOC via PMs); the consensus is that:
One, once the group has recovered, they'll be offered the option of claiming that castle as their own - and assistance in rendering it something they can defend even in a world with absurd local magic.
Two, while in Amber, they'll be put in touch with representatives of Rebma, as that court includes some groups of formerly-swamp-dwelling lizardfolk already, and may reasonably be a good source of culture-appropriate aid. This may or may not end up working counter to point one; we'll see when we get there.

[Chtalo]

(OOC: Ch'talo will be amenable to discussion - seeing a veritable army here trying to chase the one he's hunting will play well with him on the trust angle. As he doesn't quite understand the Broken Pattern he's walked, he'll take a lot of interest in what Osmund has to say on the subject. Will pick this up IC in other thread(s))

[Wyvern]

(( And made a thread for some of that conversation here. ))