Gordon (Sponge)

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Deana twisted her mouth first into a disbelieving smile, then into a confused half-smile, then finally into a horrified gape as Gordon continued on so adamantly.

"You... you... want us to just give ourselves over to the enemy? Because of some dream you had? Th-that's rediculous!" Her chair scraped as she pushed herself back and stood in a huff, her chest bouncing slightly with the sudden motion. "I don't understand you... I mean... I'd rather go down fighting than succumbing to those fiends. I'm not..." she blushed furiously, "I not going to be some trophy piece for monsters to play with simply because we want to save this dark priest from herself - I'll save her my own way - release her from her troubles with the point of my sword! Grrrrahh!"

She growls out her last syllable in exasperation and then stalks from the room, her cheeks red as a rose.

Alicia was frowning as well, but she was more subdued in her reaction. "I know why you said what you did, Gordon. You're doing it to save us from possibly dying, and then you're planning to try to use this to lull them into a false sense of security. But how can you know that it will work? What if the darkness simply chooses to enslave us all, and puts us in a sort of bondage that we cannot easily break free from? What guarantee do you have that they would keep you free to move about, like in your dream? Did you not say that this dream served a specific purpose? It may not be an exact reality, or at the very least, not a guaranteed one.

"Besides... I don't want anyone else to... touch me like that." Her cheeks also went flush, to match the color of her hair as her golden gaze turned to look at him.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

He sighs deeply, watching as Deana walks off and Alicia explain herself.

"Yes... I know. That's why I said it to be a LAST resort. If you would all rather die, I won't stop you. I was pretty much expecting you guys to reject this, but it was my only real idea. I didn't like it, but it's all I could really think of." However, a thought did occur to him.

"Wait a second... they are after only me, right? Well... you think they would let their guard down once they have me in captivity?"

This time, he was sure the idea was a much better one.

"Ok, same plan as before, but only me. Since I'm captured, the enemy should think that their mission has been accomplished. Meanwhile, possibly Deana and anybody else willing to help could attack from the outside. I'd have to get some sort of signal, but upon knowing the attack happens I could try to fight my way out?"
His voice still seemed desperate, but much more confident in this plan then the last one.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Alicia shook her head. "No... I - we can't let you surrender yourself. You've only just got here... if you surrender, you may end up becoming just like all the other men who have been lost. Dead or worse! Gordon, you must help us fight them!" Her voice seemed desperate as well, and she clasped his hand tight, as though to prevent him from running off and fulfilling his scheme.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

A little surprised by her outburst, he gave a reassuring smile. A blank stare appeared on his face as he smacked himself upside the head.

"UGH! I always do this! I'm trying to leap forward instead of taking other things into account. Hey, try to get Deana back and let her know that I acknowledge I'm an asshole for what I suggested earlier. And get Jasmine here as well. There ARE other options!"


First of all, we have the traitor. Somebody in the city is a mole. Then we have the lycans to deal with, no doubt they are connected with what's currently happening. Also, we got a hint of some woman being in the swamp.


Only question was... what to pursue? He thought the best thing to do would be to find the woman in the swamp, as while they most likely will encounter Lycans and other creatures on the way, they wouldn't need to deal with getting into the heart of the lycan pack. And pursuing a spy without information is totally pointless. Perhaps the woman in the swamp might have information on how to handle both of these problems.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

"Hum... well it's good to hear you say that, but I think she's run off for now," Alicia said, regarding Deana. "Let me go search for her, you can fill Jasamine in on your new plans."

Alicia took the cups and small plates and put them in the washing basin, then headed outside. Gordon followed and saw immediately outside the front door the small form of Jasamine, her arms outstretched to the sky, her body perfectly still, her legs stiff and tucked together, so that her entire body seemed to be impersonating a tree, rooted into the earth. Her eyes were closed and it seemed to be a strange position in which to repose. Then again, she was a dryad, and he'd already learned there were clear differences between himself and the woodland creature.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Run off? Where? There was nowhere to run except in the town. Oh well.

He nodded. "Right, I'll go fill her in."
Exiting the building and already running smack dab into Jasmine, he was glad it didn't take effort to find her. He wanted to get the plans done and over with, as soon as possible.

"Jasmine!" He piped up. "Sorry to ruin your meditation, but we need to talk. Do you know anything about an old woman that lives in the swamps, where the lycans hide? I was told that we could possibly get some answers if we asked her."
Course, he was told in the dream, but he didn't want them to know that. Otherwise they might think he's gone perhaps a bit crazy, or just plain stupid for taking advice he received in his sleep.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

"Yes, I know of the swamp witch. She's a bit crazy if you ask me - a human living that close to the swamp... Even in the days before the darkness there were strange creatures there. Why? Do you intend to find her?"

Jasamine lowered her arms and stepped out of her rooted position - her toes, he noticed, had been dug into the soil. The horned dryad smiled and clasped her hands behind her.

Alicia could be seen heading down the road, towards the tavern, where the distant figure of Deana could be seen disappearing through the front door.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Giving a nod, Gordon made his decision known.
"Yes. I know it sounds crazy, but if we can find her, she'll probably be the person to know the most about anything that's going on right now." In reality, he was only going on a hunch. But that's all he had to go off on.

He glanced back to see Alicia head towards the tavern, making a mental note to go there later. Turning his attention back to Jasmine, he inquired
"So you think you can take us to her? We'll travel all together of course, the safest thing to do. And along the way you could possibly tell me more about your people and how my spells work."

After all, you need to at least get to know your newest team member a bit better.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Jasamine smiled prettily. "Yes, I can guide you to the area where she resides. Though she is rumored to have several campsites, so it will be something of a search to find her, and it will be a dangerous journey, taking us into night, when the mists come. It may not be safe to accomplish that task until we can break the source of those mists. Deana talked to me about it last night as we exchanged places on the night watch. She said that there are wards and spells that this Lauralie person might have been able to cast that would protect against the mists, but a person within the village is casting counter magic on the wards, making them useless." Jasamine shrugged her delicate green shoulders. "Seems to me that we should find this bad apple and remove it, that way we could get some proper wards, and have a safer journey to the swamp... and of course, stopping by our Dryad's Glade again in a couple of days." She smiled, mischeviously.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Currently, his mind was focused on the task at hand. Her last words didn't seem to reach him as she most likely intended.

"Right, well then I suppose we need to find who the person is within the village that is plotting against us. But how the hell do we find that out? I don't know of any truth magic or something. Is there some sort of plant that makes people more willingly tell the truth that you might know of?"


This is going to be hard. How are we supposed to find somebody, without knowing where to start? Hell, I don't even know anybody else here within the village. Hopefully they'll be obvious about who is the traitor, like wearing a big dark cloak or something. Course that's asking for an easy time.

Taking a sigh, he continued to speak. "All right. Gather up the other ladies. We need to try to single out possible suspicious individuals. I know nobody here, so the only thing I can go on, is their word."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

"If I might be so bold, fearless leader, perhaps after meeting the women, we use the fact that they are all trapped here in the town on our say so to go explore their homes for evidence of witchcraft and spell casting?" Jessamine said. "You know... do some investigating?"

The dryad's smile lingered.

Meanwhile the two of them made their way to the tavern, where nearly all the women left in the village seemed to be gathered.

Deana was there of course sitting at a small table with Alicia talking to her in hushed tones. The huntress deliberately avoided looking at Gordon when he came through the door. Every other female head however turned upon his entrance to stare at him.

He recognized a few faces, Harrieta the artist, Rita the baker, and the sisters Lila and Marcia who attended the town chapel. In addition to these were eight more faces, some fair and some not so. There was an old woman, bent over a cane who looked at him with squinting hard eyes. Then there was a table of three women who looked exactly the same, sandy blond hair and blue eyes. Common sense told him that they were triplets. Then there was a dirty redhead girl covered in a purple shawl who sat at a table with a tall, busty brunette wearing yellow. On a couch near the fire place sat two young girls. One was wearing a green beret style cap and had a bow and quiver full of arrows strapped over her shoulders. The other had white hair and red eyes and had very pale skin that was made all the more striking by the black robes she wore. She looked at Gordon with a very blank expression.

"Seems the gang's all here," said Jassamine.

"No, young woodling, not until I cross the threshold," spoke a familiar voice from just behind Gordon and the dryad. It was Lauralie, wearing a crooked smile and her usual low-cut dress, her eyes a pale red, almost pink. She stepped into the tavern.

"Gordon," she said, "It is good to see you again, safe and sound. You ran off quick.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Entering the bar, Gordon blinked as he started to recognize some of the people. But the amount of people that were left... did that mean this was the whole village? Where were the others?

He glanced back, giving Lauarlie a smile. "Good to see you too. Sorry to keep our greetings brief, but we must attend to the matters at hand."

Addressing the whole room, Gordon made his announcement.
"Hello, I'm the... well I'm probably the man you've all heard about. Currently the only man here. My name is Gordon. Now, I owe a great debt to my friends in helping me get this far in helping the village, but it's come to my attention that after much exploration and investigation, I've discovered that there is somebody within this village that is helping the dark forces out there."

Pausing, he wanted them to at first absorb this.

"This means, I have to investigate all your houses. I believe it's best that you all stay here for now, as me and Jassamine conduct investigation. This includes the houses of my friends as well."
Hopefully, his friends would understand. He trusted them, but if he was to be thorough, he couldn't leave anybody out.

"Deana.. Alicia.. This includes you. For all we know, somebody could be hiding stuff in your homes without you knowing. Honestly, I suspect you girls in the least. But if I'm going to be entering the homes of these other people, it's only fair for me to do the same with your homes. But I wish for you two to stay for a different reason. Make sure nobody leaves this bar while I'm gone investigating."
Turning his attention back to the crowd, he nodded.
"Now, is there any information any of you can tell me? If I'm going to restore the village back to it's former self, I need everything. And please.. I need to know everything. No secrets."

Course he was going to have information withheld from him. Everybody lies. The question is, why?

"Aside from that, are there any questions?"

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

"Hmph." There came a loud and quite dismissive harumph from the old woman. The lines on her face and the perpetual scowl on her face seemed to indicate a woman who had seen a lot of things in her day, and that a young man like himself taking charge out of no where at all, seemed a bit contemptible.

"You sound a lot like that witch," the old woman said, pointing a shaky, arthritic finger towards Lauralie. "Suggesting we look over each others' shoulders. Dob in our neighbors. Look for signs of evil workings even amongst friends and family. I know a bit of magic. I use it mostly to give my soups an extra kick of nourishment, now that the farms are all but barren with no men or livestock around due to them wolves... Are you gonna be bringing me up to the block because my recipes call for a spell circle to be drawn, young man?" The woman's head bobbled, perhaps a bit comically, given the serious demeanor she was trying to affect.

Some of the other women look down at their toes. Uncertain of how to take in all of this news. Nearly everyone seemed to have a nervous look and none but the two young girls near the fire and the defiant old woman seemed to want to meet Gordon's gaze.

"There's a difference between spells to induce nourishment in soups and dark magic that summons demonic mists, Haddie," Alicia said, coming to Gordon's defense. "I think it's best to give Gordon here the benefit of the doubt. He's managed to arrive at our village in our hour of need, and that in itself is a miracle worth noting. We must believe in him."

There was a conviction in Alicia's voice that both humbled and gave strength to Gordon. If all else failed, at least it seemed that Alicia would still be with him.

"I think it's an excellent plan, Gordon," said Lauralie. "We can keep ourselves occupied here for the time being. You should get started. Take the dryad with you, since she is not of our village and can be trusted. Once you're content with Diana and Alicia's houses, you might take them with you as well. You've got a full day's work ahead of you, and the farms are a few miles down the road, so there's a bit of a hike to cover those."

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Gordon just dismissed the old woman's arguments. Seeing plenty of cop shows and learning how some people act in such situations, but perhaps she was thinking of something else.

Remarking to the old woman, he smiled. "Look, I understand suspicions for certain individuals are expected, since they have used magic for a long time. For a special treat, I'll do Lauralie's house first to remove any of the obvious suspects. I'll do your house afterwards to show that you two won't need to fight."

This of course, was after he was done searching the two girls houses. He wasn't going to make a trek further from the village without the help he'll need.
But seriously, when in the scene of a crime, shut up and only answer when spoken to lady. Already you just made yourself more of a suspect. And it's always the 'innocent old lady'.

He couldn't help but give an admiring smile to Alicia, as she clearly had her utmost faith in him. Nobody ever really seemed to take his side on anything except her, no matter how ludicrous the idea was.

Gordon nodded to Jassamine. "All right, let's head out." Taking her with him, he wanted to get the first thing off his chest so he wouldn't need to worry. He headed to Alicia's home...

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Alicia's hut was a small thing, very spartan in appearance. It was quite close to Lauralie's, and it was obvious that the diviner's apprentice had taken most of her belongings over to Lauralie's house where she stayed most of the time. Although he found no signs of magical rituals, he did, upon moving Alicia's bed away from the wall, notice two iron loops screwed into the wall, with manacles attached to them, the sort that required a key to open and close. He did not find any corresponding key in the hut.

"Strange," said Jassamine, "I never took Alicia for having that kind of kink..." The dryad giggled, but stifled it quickly when Gordon gave her a look. "Just kidding. I have no idea what it's for. Maybe we should ask her when we get a moment. Still, I think Alicia looks pretty clean."

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

The house was clean, but one thing bothered him. The shackles. And he didn't think it was for any type of fetish either. He couldn't place it, but his mind began to wander with possibilities.

Perhaps because she's half lycan, on certain days she has to shackle herself to bed at night, otherwise she'd go outside and hurt people? No, even if she did turn lycan that still wouldn't stop her from using the key, unless she had somebody else helping her preventing her from freeing herself from the shackles. She might get somebody else to put them on her, then they take the key for the night and return later that day.

He hoped to God that he was wrong about this, but Alicia didn't seem to be the kinky type at all. There had to be a logical explanation. Gordon glared Jassamine for actually considering that to be a possibility.

"All right, lets go to Deana's house now."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

The pair returned to Deana's house, the one that Gordon had just spent the night in. He had already seen most of it. There was a forge at the end of the house in the only room he had yet to see. It seemed to be pretty barren and low on materials, which wasn't surprising. There must be a mine somewhere in the woods to supply the iron ore necessary for making tools. Deana's house had a few markings at every doorway and window, and strange smelling herbs hung in bunches here and there from the wooden support beams near the ceiling, but other than that, the search turned up no signs of magic.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

He gave a satisfied nod. Of course his friends weren't anybody to suspect, but he couldn't dismiss things just because. But now that he had checked, he was able to return to the tavern and get Alicia and Deana....


(guess this will be quick posting back and forth since it's just picking them up.)

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Alicia and Deana were still conversing together when Gordon showed back up at the tavern. Deana seemed to have mellowed out - likely due to Alicia talking her down. The two of them noted his entrance and made their way over to him.

"Are we to accompany you?" Alicia asked.

When they got the affirmation, both of them joined the party.

"Don't forget your pack, Alicia." Lauralie strode up to the pink-haired girl and gave her a leather sack with two strings around that she pulled around her shoulders. "And this, just in case," Lauralie said, producing a curved, sharp looking dagger and matching sheath to the girl. "A proper seer knows when they're going into danger, and arranges to deal with it. I had this made for you many years ago, before you even knew you'd become my apprentice. I of course knew."

Deana looked over at the blade. "The hilt bears my father's signature..."

"Indeed it does," Lauralie replied. "He was a fine craftsman. He likely charged me too little for the quality. But then again, your family and mine do go back a ways, Deana, even if recent events have made us forget that."

Deana frowned slightly at this, but she didn't seem annoyed at Lauralie. Alicia took the dagger respectfully and fastened it to her belt.

"Okay, Gordon, let's get going," she said, her golden eyes peering up at him.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

It never mattered how many times she looked at him, but those eyes always filled him with a soft warmth. Nodding with a smile of approval, they left the tavern.

"All right, here's the jig. That old lady in my opinion, made herself rather suspicious the moment she started to point out Lauralie. Not saying she did it, but I'd like to get this off my mind. However, she does bring about a good point. While Lauralie is a good friend, and has helped us this far, we can't dismiss her being a suspect. To be honest, I just skimmed your houses ladies. But I want to be thorough and examine everything closely. They sure aren't going to let anything suspicious be lying out in the open after all. Search for trap doors, hidden walls... whatever the heck you can think of."

This was now serious. It was time to get his game face on, and go into detective mode. He headed out for the old ladies residence....