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 Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:16 pm
Malik smirked lightly
"Honestly, how often is she not trouble in some form or another. though not all of it bad, mind you."
before he got yelled at for it.
"I'm at least hoping Serino knows better than to run off without the rest of us. particularly the one that knows where we're going."
Though for the moment, he kept pace by Fianna while they let Galesen take the lead...looking over at her.
"you know, sooner or later, whatever's wrong is going to need to get off your chest as well. I'm not expert, but I don't think runing or tracking is very easy without distractions, much less with heavy ones like your holding."
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:17 pm
A look to Malik and the others before he gave a slight nod. "Alright let's-" A pause as he watched Piper take off before he could. Raising an eyebrow he looked at Malik and Fianna before taking off with Barhnel, picking up a bit of speed before passing her and getting in front. Once Galesen was in place he went through the opening after the others caught up, he couldn't leave them behind now could he? Though when he meant that it was a bit far in he meant it, just getting the horses to trot at an even pace through the Underdark was long especially since they were use to them going fast. A few times Galesen got off to check something that maybe was out of place though he still continued, he forced his mind to recall the exact area of where the saw the 'nells. The kids depended on him to be accurate.
About fifteen minutes later Galesen made Barhnel come to a full stop. He raised his hand to tell the others to do so as well. The path they came to had widen a little bit in an opening that had a few small trees in it. A large tree could be seen jetting out of the right side before the tree line smoothed back and lead onto a narrow path. "This...is it." Looking around he gave a small nod before getting off and walking forward. "I was coming through that tree line," He said pointing toward the large tree. "When I saw them walking by here with the kids." A pause as he looked down and around, he could see small impressions in the grounds, some were a couple of creatures but a few was about the size of 'Sevilin's' boot. It was old and dull but it was large enough, looking close by he saw smaller impression and believed these were 'Piper's'. "I may have found their footprints, it wont hurt to check." The others were probably using ways to finding the fakes themselves, though it wouldn't hurt to try these out.
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Fractured Moonlight Captain
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:57 pm
"I mean trouble in the getting in the way and hindering sense. She's got herself so bottled up right now it's not helping in a single way." Shaking her head lightly but following along. Frankly she was quite glad Malik kept near her...after all, she could trust him in the underdark and Kieran wasn't around to rely on this time. "Master Rune Mages learn very early in their training to block out all and every distractions when such a thing is needed...no matter how fiercely something may tear at oneself. One thing at a time Malik. I at least know where Kieran is, you don't know where your younest is though." Dropping off her horse as they came upon the spot and taking sniff at the air to start with. "Pine and amber, yes?"
Nope, he wasn't getting off his horse. But when they did get there, he gave a scribe of some sorts, the whole immediate area taking on a flourescent yellow glow where it was picking up 'layered' things. In other words, things that were present but naturally produced by the immediate surrounds...like pine. "Zahara I suggest you have a look at anything giving off that glow that's plant like. Far as I know pine only come from pine trees...but that's my knowledge." And some plants mimiced others.
Piper was down and casing the immediate area before she took to anything else, taking in the general dimensions of the path. No signs of mounts with shoes, creatures leave behinds of any sorts. Only thing was those foot prints. Walking over to the trail of them, she stepped a boot into the smaller one. Yup, matched up with hers and no doubt the other was Sevilin's. On foot she followed them till dirt turned rock again. Crouching down, she skirted her fingers over the rocks, upturning them to look at the dirt present on her fingertips, no doubt from the bottoms of boots. "Dirt tracks for only a few feet. But that's far enough for a general direction really...and the shortest distance between two points is a straight line."
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:24 pm
She pulled Faete to a stop and glanced around at the glowing areas, distinguishing phosphorescent moss from his rune trackings and nodded. "Nothing mimics pine but I'll check for a scent signature." Hopping down, she began studying the plants and bark of the few trees in what passed in the Underdark as a clearing. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a sickeningly green vial and tipped it down on some leaves then stood back and watched the smoke carefully. "I've got two scent signatures, though they're fading fast. 'Sevilin' and 'Piper' I'm thinking. They used magic here..."
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Picking Up Stars Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:38 pm
"Magic of illusion and concealment, I'll wager."
Malik was peeling off something that looked like it might have been a lizard if Malvolence hadn't nearly cleaved it in two and mummified what was left.
"Only shadowy resonance with these things, nothing that qualifies as a method of identification."
before looking at Fianna.
"Pine and Amber. apparently stays on things like a shroud. or glue, if you prefer."
Broog got off his mount, and ushered the boys near him, and stood guard with his hammer, sniffing the air like a hound...and started drooling.
"Broog smell cookees. yummy cookees."
Malik smirked lightly.
"That's what Zykariel smelled. You know, I find it a bit interesting that of all the people to mimic, they picked Sevilin and Zykariel as well as Piper. I mean you'd think they'd choose myself or Zahara. the set of parents of one and one of the other. not one parent of each and then a child."
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:55 pm
Galesen nodded to Piper and smiled lightly. "Well at least we got a direction to follow now, that's a good sign." Thank the gods it took awhile for tracks to fade down here, after all it never rained. A blink though as the whole area lit up with a yellow light, now that was a trick he never knew that Sevilin had. "Well there are pine cones as well but other than that you cannot find pine from anything else I think." A small shrug as he looked around, though he watched the footprints a little bit. They were lucky to find them, the weight of the kids must of added more weight on the impressions. A pause as he looked to Zahara for a moment. "They used magic here? I would of noticed if they did." Huh that was odd, maybe they used a spell before he saw them.
A pause as he stood, looking around quietly. Seemed that it was now Sevilin and Zahara's turn to make sense of everything, though there must be more physical evidence that they could find. A look to Malik though and he shrugged. "Well maybe they needed at least a parent from both families to keep the kids in check, and a older sibling to keep them distracted. Or maybe there are few numbers of them, by the sounds of things there are only three of them doing this so after watching us for awhile they chose those people they thought were needed to be copied." A look to Mykorian. "How many 'nell's exist up top? Do you guys have a fixed number or you can't tell?"
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Fractured Moonlight Captain
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:41 pm
Sure enough wherever that bright yellow was that Sevilin had managed, the scents were stronger...though the smell of pine, amber, and cookies together was a tad nauseiating. Yeah, not too pleasant. "Well...the blend of all three is easy to track. Distinct enough. Long as no one in our immediate little group has any of those things on them." Watching ahead of her a moment as her daughter was more or less wandering ahead of them on foot, using her own tracking skills. Damn girl...now was not the time to be acting as she was because of the way she was feeling and how it was unresolved in any sense. But a look over to Zahara. "Magic trails last a bit longer than scent trails...seep off into the enviroment though." Her own flare of runes, revealing whispy smoke like segments in the air that somewhat had a forward direction but yes were seeping off. "This the magic signature Zahara?"
"Galesen has a point. But also...think of the children they took and then the parents. They weren't looking for mere familiarity but actual closeness in parent and child relationship." It was not uncommon knowledge that Dhairiss seemed to spend more time with Piper as Malik had been busy training his elder son in family and business ways, and her personally spent more personal time with Faate since she was striving to be a rune mage. And rune mages had a certain comraderie about them to begin with.
"How many? Well...you really don't know a person is a 'nell or not unless you saw them change or can somehow pick them apart from the original. So no idea how many there are...and it seems they're easily...erm...born I suppose is the right term. So nothing solid in numbers."
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:07 pm
"Not necessarily, Galesen. We're dealing with a different kind of magic than you are used to and there is definitely magical signatures running the length of this clearing. Residue like that doesn't leave the plants and such for a while though it does eventually fade." Nodding to Fianna, she threw down another vial and watched as the smoke colored distinctly. "Now we've got something. If we find the same colors elsewhere, we know they are the same." Tidbits of the conversation drifted her way and she shook her head. "What about Kelligrin? Faate is close to you but Kelli is closer to me."
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Picking Up Stars Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 11:22 pm
A blink though as he heard about the third scent, the cookies. "Huh that's odd, I didn't see the Zykariel copy when I came across the other two, so the third scent might be here because the 'nell didn't take his form yet, maybe it waited until they got back to their place?" A small shrug before he walked around a little, having elf eyes were amazing. A look to Sevilin and he gave a small nod. "That's true, they had awhile to study all of us, so when they took Faate they knew they needed you in order to keep her mind focused on her runes than other things."
Looking over to Mykorian he blinked and raised an eyebrow. "So there is no way to know how many of these 'nells are running around. That could be a problem. They could have already been down here doing this to other important families or people. Hell up top they could have a mass amount of their own kind and been slowly spreading outward." That was surely a bad thought but if there was no way of keeping them in check then who knows how many other people have gone through the same thing? Turning to Zahara he nodded lightly. "Understandable." A light pause over her question about Kelligrin. "Well...what about Zykariel? Maybe they took him so that way they know that their big brother is around and so Kelligrin can easily be soothed if upset? Again I'm thinking that this group is only made up of three, so they had to make a choice between you or him. They had god knows how long to watch us so probably they thought Zykariel was the better one to copy." A small shrug from him, theories were good to talk about and they were finding a lot of trails from this spot, it seemed that they could find these 'nells a lot quicker than they thought before hand.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:41 am
"True enough. What troubles me is that there may have been other reasons. defensive measures. I'm trying to think of a reason they would say, choose Zykariel over me in the event that they get caught. they knew we would trace them, hence there big use of covering thier tracks. I can't think that they don't have a backup plan for if they get caught."
He noted Piper as well. and looked at Fianna with that same 'damn girl' kinda thought.
"Piper, come back here a bit. Don't get too far ahead, please."
Before looking at Fianna.
"normally your right, but form the information we have, these scent traps don't really fade. my guess is it's a defensive technique. if the scents can make you hallucinate or the like, then someone having to track by scent is in for a bit of trouble trying to use it, aren't they."
but glancing over at the boys, a moment, he got an idea.
"The girl. the one interested in Malikhai is a close friend of Zykariel. catch zykariel, learn about the girl, use the girl to get the older boys. If the older boys stay home, they have no reason to suspect the girl anymore than anyone else does."
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Fractured Moonlight Captain
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:12 pm
"Good, if anything we can follow in the underdark, it's color...though you all more so than me. I can see clearly in teh dark when its absolute dark, but this moss and such is keeping my own elven vision from triggering." She was mostly following her ears. "Everyone has a back up plan." Raising a hand, she pinched at the bridge of her nose and frowned a little. "Yes...I can understand that. My head is starting to bother me as well. The curious thing is why are some of us sensitive to it and not others and if they have further of thess traps for the others of us." Then a blink, "What girl? He's attracting girls now?"
"Kelligrin is the youngest of our little brood. And if these things are body snatchers then he'd be high value. My form considering that...Faate was the first target because of her knowledge, and Kelligrin the second whom wouldn't complain if another sibling was coming along." A look to Galesen. "Zykariel and Kelligrin don't get along...their relationship is toleration as of now. So using him for that is not productive. It is a good question as to why they would want to use him as well then..." Maybe more as the intimidation tool for the others. He tended to do that sometimes without even knowing it with his siblings.
"They seem to stay in a certain area up on the surface. We don't know why they do that, but they do. No one's been able to figure it out. So we're not really scared of them coming out after us and know better than to walk into their lands up there. Down here though, I dunno."
Her head was starting to bother her already....but in a pleasant way. Scent leavings, or most in particular to her the pine, were starting to make her head swim with thoughts to her that were akin to those of wanderlust. Visions of places in her head she knew she could go but hadn't been. She was trying her best to ignore it though. A look over her shoulder as her name was called and pop...right into a tree. Looking back to the tree she just smacked into she glared, stepped aside so it wasn't in her way anymore and then waited.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:44 pm
"I wouldn't say attracting as much as his friend throwing them at him or pushing him toward them. though the girl..Karin, I think it was, did seem genuinely concerned for him during the tournament. Other than that, I don't know how things might be progressing or lack there of. I do think she attends the same public schooling that the boys are going to."
A glance up at Piper with a slight grin when she hit the tree.
"My guess is that they are designed for specific people. if you make a trap for a badger, you can't expect a wolf to be caught in it. hence those not targeted don't notice them, unless they specifically look for them."
Though he took strides to Piper, and brushed her hair away form where she bumped her head.
"You need to be careful. don't let this stuff get to you. and don't think I didn't notice that look in your eyes. the same one that you had before you dragged me out of my house the first time."
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Fractured Moonlight Captain
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:00 pm
"Oh...boys being boys. Reminds me of Kieran and Lateef." Those two always made her smile when she thought about it. She swore Kieran had matchmaker tendencies...but now was not a time to think about him. But then a nod, "The simple trapping techniques are always the best."
She titled her head lightly in mere obligatory fashion to let him inspect for injury is he wanted to satisfy his paranoia. "You're the one calling my name." Meaning this was his fault because she had to look away from where she was going but that was all the barbing she did. "Before I dragged you out of the your house the first time? I recall that being one of mere amusement on my part. Hardly think it's the same."
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:04 pm
"you had a look of excitement, the look of wanting to see new things and go new places. like a child that was about to get to go into a candy store with a handful of coin."
a slight nod.
"Yes, my fault. which is why I'm checking. You know...with things like this that happen to us, I'm surprised you don't want to move to the surface or to Andal."
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Fractured Moonlight Captain
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:09 pm
"Oh. That one. The wanderlust one." Despite her keeping it to herself she supposed that such thoughts swirling in her head would light her eyes in that particular manner it did every elf when that urge to wanderlust hit them. But there wasn't much she could do about it...this scent felt thick and inesacapable around her trying to clog her senses. It was hard to keep her head straight. "Things just as bad if not worse can happen on the surface. And Andal is simply not someplace I would be happy. Sometimes I'm surprised you mention such things. I know you wouldn't want to be either of the two places."
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