061014samitunnels

 [06:08] RC: ((wewt. Okay, so you were in the tunnel, and you hear libby ahead begging Jack not to kill you guys. what do you do))

 [06:09] AA: (( Proceed carefully, to get a good view of the situation. Keeping in mind that Sami is HIGHLY DUBIOUS about this whole thing and suspecting a trick. ))

 [06:09] RC: As you proceed through the tunnels, they always seem to be a bit ahead, just out of your reach.

 [06:10] RC: just around the corner, etc

 [06:10] AA: "Well this is getting me nowhere fast."

 [06:11] AA: Stop and try to listen to more of what's being said, then.

 [06:12] RC: While they continue the same conversation, another female voice, the same you heard earlier, chuckles. "Stopping already?"

 [06:13] AA: "Well I don't seem to be getting any closer to them."

 [06:13] AA: Do the voices move away further if I stop, or do they seem to be the same distance away as when I was chasing them?

 [06:14] RC: They continue moving away, becoming quieter.

 [06:14] AA: "Dammit." Sami continues after the voices, in that case, still suspecting a trap.

 [06:15] AA: Is the female voice the same one I recognized but couldn't place, and who was whispering in my ear before?

 [06:16] RC: yes

 [06:17] AA: "So are you the one responsible for all this?"

 [06:17] AA: "Getting our team separated and blacking out Beau's powers and everything?"

 [06:17] RC: "Yes, most definitely."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:18] AA: "Why? What do you get out of it?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:18] AA: "Are you guarding Cetus or something?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:18] AA: "Or working for the imps?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:19] AA: "Or....Jack?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:20] RC: "Hah, no. I have a much more interesting employer."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:20] AA: "Wait, that doesn't even make sense. Jack wouldn't need your help to torture or kill us."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:20] RC: "Indeed."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:21] RC: "Regardless, my employers have made an interesting offer for you. So, I'll give you a choice - come willingly, and I wont kill your friends. Fight, and I will."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:22] AA: "Well before I answer....what makes you so sure you COULD kill my friends? Or beat me, for that matter?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:22] AA: "Nate's pretty handy with a gun, and Doir's got his weird Dina magic, and Beau's the smartest one out of all of us."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:24] RC: "Because I've been observing you. What do you think that oracle was protecting you from, in the furthest ring?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:24] AA: "...wait. You're with the HORRORTERRORS?!"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:24] AA: Sami goes pale. Well I mean....that's a hard statement to make given her general complexion, but she certainly looks upset.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:25] RC: "They've asked for you. Now, why don't you come along."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:26] AA: Sami looks like she wants to scream defiance at this entity for threatening her friends....but she knows the power of the horrorterrors, and if this thing is their emissary...

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:26] AA: "...what about Libby and Jack? I mean....I don't think it can REALLY be them, but if it IS, I should do something to help..."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:27] RC: "They're not real, dear. Illusions."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:27] AA: "Oh. Yeah, okay. I guess that's not that big a surprise."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:27] AA: "...if I come with you, you have to let my friends go. And stop doing whatever it is you're doing to mess up their quest."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:29] RC: "I don't think you're in a position to be bargaining here, Sami."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:31] AA: "Okay, maybe not....but if the horrorterrors made you an "interesting offer" for me, can't that be enough for you?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:32] RC: "But it's not."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:33] AA: Sami looks sad and helpless.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:33] AA: "Isn't there anything I can do to convince you to leave them alone?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:33] RC: "I don't know. Hah. I'll give you time to think on it, how about that. Let you brainstorm. See if you can paint yourself out of this one."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:34] AA: "Well why don't you tell me what the Horrorterrors offered you? Or at least what it is you WANT out of all this! Maybe I can beat their price! Or maybe I know of something that would be worth even more to you?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:36] RC: She chuckles. "Revenge. They offered revenge."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:37] AA: "Revenge? That's it? If you're so powerful you can take on our whole team, who's out there that's so strong you can't get your revenge already?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:38] RC: "Why would I tell you?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:40] AA: Sami thinks about it for a moment. "...because you're all pent up inside over whatever it is they did to wrong you and you could just really use a chance to vent?" she says hopefully.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:40] RC: "Are you offering to be my moirail, Sami?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:41] AA: "...'moirail?' Are you a troll or something?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:42] RC: "No, but I'm familiar with their terminology."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:42] AA: "I'm not offering to be your moirail. But maybe you'd get some good feelings out of telling someone, and me knowing could help me figure out if there's a way to convince you not to hurt my friends."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:43] RC: "I don't want to tell you then. I'd rather have a moirail I could trust."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:43] AA: "Maybe I would consider it if you had given me any reason to think I could trust YOU."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:45] RC: "But I have. I told you they're an illusion. I could have walked you right into a cage and said nothing. Yet here I am, even giving you a chance."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:47] AA: "I guess that's true..."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:48] AA: "...can you at least tell me why the Horroterrors want me? And why they want you to mess with my friends?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:56] RC: "They want you because they hold you and your friends responsible for the loss of the Oracle."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:56] RC: "They have selected you to take her place."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:56] AA: "Oh."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:56] AA: "Well....can't they just take it out on me then?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:57] AA: "Leave my friends out of it?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:57] AA: "Or heck, couldn't they just help us save Libby? It's not like she's beyond saving!"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:57] AA: "Last I talked to Ryspor, it sounded like he has a plan! They could help with that!"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:58] RC: "He sure is taking his time. Besides, she's not going to be happy to see him, with all that betrayal

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:59] AA: Sami lowers her head. She's not familiar with the betrayal in question, but she doesn't know Ryspor well enough to offer a real defense for him.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [06:59] RC: "Don't fret, Sami. I'll leave you hear for now. You can think on it, hmm?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:00] RC: here**

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:01] AA: "No. I don't think I need to. I'll go. Maybe I can convince the Horrorterrors to leave my friends out of it, and then you won't have any REASON to keep harassing them."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:02] AA: "Or get them to help save Libby instead of trying to get a replacement before she's even really gone."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:02] AA: "But you promised you wouldn't kill them if I come with you, right? You'll stick to that at least?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:02] RC: "That will be interesting. Well, wait here. I'll go open a portal, hmm?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:03] RC: "Yes, I will."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:03] AA: "And you're not going to pull some 'literal genie' nonsense like tricking them into walking into a pit and then saying 'I didn't kill them, gravity did!' or something?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> -- ravishingCalypso [RC] ceased pestering arcaneArt1san [AA] at 19:04 --

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:05] AA: "And you're not going to pull some 'literal genie' nonsense like tricking them into walking into a pit and then saying 'I didn't kill them, gravity did!' or something?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:05] RC: "No. I will not take any action that will result in their death without outside interference. Better?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:05] AA: "Okay. Then I'll come quietly."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:07] RC: A black tentacle portal appears nearby. "Come on in, then."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:07] AA: Sami gulps and walks in.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [07:08] RC: ((huehue, that's where we'll stop.))