[Game Thread] Chapter 1: Fractured Reality

[Pojo]

"Loop, swerve, disintegrate, what's it matter?" Emma says in a facetious tone. "We're all together now, and that, my friends, is all that is really important. That, and we've found a wall. I suggest the sensible course for any twisted labyrinth - we put our hand to the thing and walk until we find an exit."

Even as she outlines her plan, she picks up the largest nearby stone and, without warning, hurls it at the glass wall with all her might.

[BrokenPlayer]

"You know of each other?" Sydney asks as she moves towards Damian. "My name is Sydney Rose." She smiles faintly, although it is apparent she is still somewhat shy and embarrassed. "It's nice to finally meet some new people. We were being followed by a rather odd creature earlier and I'm just glad we lost him." Sydney cannot help but glance at the old woman and her odd antics.

[Timeless Prophet]

Emma lobs the rock through the area. Although the rock seems to land against the milky glass with the appropriate force, the glass responds with a low metal ding. The rock deflects off and hits the ground and skips a few feet before coming to a rest in brush near the wall.

"Now darling why would you go and do a thing like that? I lose sight of you for but a few moments and there you go back to your old antics again." a shrill woman's voice comes from the forest behind the party.

A tall elven woman steps out from the foliage. She is dressed in a fine day gown that is yellow with blue trim and covered in various places with white lace. Her brown hair is wrapped a tight bun and covered by a day hat that is covered in flowers that come in shades from bright orange to blues. She is wearing white gloves. The bottom of her gown is covered in a thin layer of dirt and grass stains while her face appears flushed with activity and a few beads of sweat are forming at the corners of her sharp face.

She steps into the opening with the party taking, taking a moment to stop and observe everything around her.

"Now then, tell me Emma how did you manage to ever find your way into this place?"

[Pojo]

Emma looks quizzically at the woman, no flicker of recognition in her eyes. An odd smile suddenly flashes across her face. "Oh, well, you know how I am with my antics, Genevieve. I suppose I'm very predictable in that fashion. Hold on a moment."

She snatches Sydney and the elf by the shoulder, drawing them in towards her as she mutters under her breath. "Flank her, flank her!"

Letting go of the pair, she turns and strides forward towards the woman, taking her bird under an arm as she does so. "So have you been, dear? I haven't seen you since that time, oh, it must have been ages ago. Such a fete! You don't look like you've aged a day. And me, hmph, well, I can scarcely remember your name! Old age, and all, the brain gets a little loopy. Have you met Prometheus, yet, Ginny?"

[Timeless Prophet]

The woman seems to move almost opposite to Emma, keeping a good distance between her and the old woman. She stops near Ophelia and Sydney leaning in to say, "Quaint old bat isn't she? Surely you've notice she is entirely off her rocker by now. Has she told you about the time she was the kobold empress, or whatever such nonsense she does so enjoy spouting off about."

The young elven maiden spins out in front of the two women and smiles warmly she turns back to Emma with a scowl on her face. "Now godmother is it really so nice to go spewing such nonsense about me. You know my name and it certainly isn't Genevieve." She crosses her slender arms across her front. "Now stop playing this silly game before you burn down another village." She pauses for a moment. "Or this lovely forest while we're all still in it. You know how your powers have a tendency to get out of control when you are flustered. Now come introduce me to your friends like a proper lady."

She spins on her heels once more and smiles broadly at everyone who is not Emma. "Pardon my dear godmother's frail mind, she does tend to get so confused about things sometimes. My name is Nariel Pendragon, Emma's god-daughter and I think I was drawn into this unfortunate place while I was staying at the Teary Eyed Maiden. Perhaps you can help my god-mother and I get out of this wretched place."

[Pojo]

Emma snorts. "Old bat! I see your parents never taught you appropriate manners, Ginny. And from a pair of elves - well, I'm a better influence than I'd hoped. And you forget, I'm the one who got to name you. Godparents privilege, you know. I can't believe you're still calling yourself Nariel. I mean, honestly, how could anyone not tell you made it up?" She smiles gracefully at the rest of the party. Don't encourage the habit, dears, she'll be in a temper about it for a while but it will be worth it in the end. We've gone through it all before. So, Ginny, how are your parents? I'm not legally charged with you or anything now, am I? No, you're probably of age now. Huh! Seems like the last time I saw you were in diapers! But then, I guess that phase lasts a little longer, elves and all."

As she talks, she moves around behind the new elven maiden, sizing her up with a cluck or two. The first moment the girl looks away and at every available opportunity after, she gesticulates wildly at the rest of the group, making a giant circle with her hands.

[OwenQuillion]

Beau, still shell-shocked at the... Strangeness of these new compatriots, really doesn't know what to say of the matter. The older woman is just an enigma, and he doesn't trust the new elf maiden much either. He gives a good eyeball of the rest and decides that maybe being so open isn't a great idea at this juncture. Stepping back a bit to put Ophelia in the line of any potential hostile fire, he clears his throat.

"Well, enough of the... family squabbles, huh? We can sort those when we're out. Ophelia and I came here through some tunnels - maybe we could find another way... Actually, come to think of it, the other routes seemed worse than this one. Maybe grandma's plan, then? Follow the wall?" He looks to the others with what he hopes is a disarming smile, trying to hide his apprehension that these might just be some sort of chain-monsters - or worse - in disguise.

[Jinx_Greyflower]

[Ophelia]

"Considering that none of us knows anything about this place," Ophelia answers Beau, "One direction is as good as any other." Ophelia takes a close look at the two newcomers, ransacking her recent memory to see if she recognizes the two newcomers to the group. Such colorful bickering couldn't have gone completely unnoticed by her.

[BrokenPlayer]

Silent as death, Sydney Rose only manages to faintly smile and blink as she watches the recent events unfold before her eyes. She had subtly moved away from Damian and the others only to find herself thrust back into the middle of the fray once more; the arrival of a young Elven woman didn't make things any easier for the shy teenager. The only thing that shows she is still alive is her constant adjusting of both her torn dress and greatsword. She really had no idea what to say to these people.

"I wonder how my dad would have handled this.." she says in her head as she looks around.

[LordJecks]

Brother Damian merely nods and takes a position near the front following the wall. He was smart enough to know not to get involve in the family bickering's of an obliviously insane woman and her relative.

A life as a monk is looking pretty good right about now... If only I knew what being a wandering cleric was going to get me into I would have done it... Alas hindsight is 20/20

[Timeless Prophet]

Ophelia is unable to place either woman at either the inn where she had been staying or since she entered this hellish nightmare.

The elven maiden rolls her eyes at Emma. "Not that they didn't teach but that you were so exceptionally skilled at teaching me the exact opposite of everything I learned from them." She shoots a devious grin in the old woman's direction. "And you've seen me many a time since I was in diapers dearest, you probably have just forgotten. And don't worry you aren't charged with any longer; we were just meeting for old times sake, remember?" She again smiles but this time warmly at the old woman. She turns and her heels and begins examining the surroundings before looking up. "Curious, what is that thing?"

Nariel's finger shoots straight out and points above the door. The lot of you turn your attention from the drama that has just unfolded in front of you to the site the elven maiden has indicated. Sitting on the wall above the door is the strange rock creature from before. It seems intently interested in what is happening on the ground below. When you all take notice, it rears back and skitters farther up the wall for a moment. It seems to peer down at you before slowly skittering east. It stops some twenty feet down its path and seems to turn back and face the party once more. It doesn't move again, instead, it just waits.

"Curious indeed..." Nariel adds after the odd little show by the thing.

[Pojo]

Emma doesn't look up, still strafing around the elven woman cautiously. Her gaze flickers over the rest of the group, studying their confusion, sharpening as she examines their reaction to what has just transpired. "Oh, you're a clever one, at that, Ginny." she says in a low voice, a begrudging admiration for the woman surfacing in the words.

Her grin broadens, the spark of violence subsiding for a moment. "Just like your parents! Why, I remember a time when those two still had you in petticoats, and they convinced you that the festival turkey was going to be replaced with a baby drakeling. Oh, how you cried! Ah, but a story for another time, perhaps. I suppose we'd best be following that little granite monstrosity?"

[BrokenPlayer]

"Um." Sydney Rose slowly points towards the odd little creature she and the others had followed to meet the gnome and elf. "Should we follow that?" Her question is some-what answered as Emma asks a similar question. Feeling the need to do something, Sydney mumbles something about following the creature and begins to move along the wall towards it.

[LordJecks]

"Well so far it seems to be helping us... So why not." says Brother Damian moving to the door. Reaching down to the handle he attempts to open the door, hoping the regular laws of the world were in effect behind it.

I can't wait to leave this jungle... it can't get any worse than this

[Jinx_Greyflower]

[Ophelia]

"Are we really following this skittering creature around in this hostile place?"

Too weak, too weary and much too tired to argue, Ophelia simply shakes her head and follows the others. Though she'd much rather they strike off in another direction, she can't help but remember the fight, and her wounds.

"No matter what else, there is a safety in numbers," she consoles herself. Perhaps if she kept repeating that to herself, she'd eventually believe it.