Travin crumples to the floor as Jareth side steps around the junk pile and takes position on his freshly conjoured throne. There is no sound coming from Travin as he lays under his pile, tears silently spilling across the floor as memories of his brother come flooding back. It's obvious that for the moment, Travin is useless to the guard, he is awash with emotion and drowning within himself, the guilt and the shame of what he had done threatening to consume him. "Gav?" He whispers through sobs.
"Oh I know you would have. That's why you had the information. But my dear...what have I told half truths about? You want to talk about half truths, hm? Perhaps...perhaps, we should tell everyone your little secret. Oh...perhaps you don't even know? But surely...well. The truth is out there, isn't it?"
He laughed, that toothy laugh of his while he stared a hole in Shavaris. His countenance changed a little when she brought up killing the Goblins.
"I don't want to kill the Goblins." Jareth said flatly, perturbed. "Had I known when I came here and made this place...I'd never have allowed that book to enter my old world. But I couldn't account for human hubris. Now though..."
Jareth sat there quiet for a moment, staring up at the sky overhead. Two eyes, two different colored eyes, shifted around from star to star.
"I haven't seen the night in a long time." Jareth said. "I can leave this place. Did you know that? I can go anywhere I want and restart. Redo all this. Start completely over and there. Will. Be. No. Consequence. Do you know what that feels like? Of course not. But do you know what happens if that army doesn't muster and attack the Goblin City? Blix is going to keep the alicorn, he's going to learn how to use it, and he'll be unstoppable. Have you thought about that? You have Lord Vader on the Ivory Throne now, and you have Ganondorf driving the last remnants of the Hylian Army out of Castle Hyrule right this very moment. The Childlike Empress is dead. And yet the real crux of the conflict this world faces is right here in my Labyrinth. When you faced down Blix, did you notice that half of his magic was only at will? The rest was wild magic. He only knows enough to be dangerous, and it's what he doesn't know that makes him truly dangerous. Do you need further explanation?"
He pauses long enough to listen to Johnathan, then grins and extends a hand toward the Warlock and nods.
"Ah, see? That's why I ignore you. You're inflammatory and, frankly my dear blood sucker, I'm too busy for it. But I'll answer this question at least; where is he going to go? The Lord of Darkness will want him if he leaves the Labyrinth, and here, at least, he's nigh impossible for Darkness or Ganondorf to reach...for now. And here he has an army. Behind high walls. In a maze that is indecipherable. And the walls here are thin, if you understand what I mean."
The former Goblin King turns his head at these words and looks in a different direction, right at you, and winks.
"Ah yes, Gav." Jareth says, but he doesn't seem quite sure of what he's saying. His brows furrow and the word falls from his mouth, practically shaken loose. "You demanded, and I did bow to you, Travin. How can you possibly demand more of my graciousness?"
“Hey Uniball, 1pac or whatever name you are going by now, maybe we should call you the Riddlemaster. So you’ve turned little children into Gobbos, how nice. Special. Riddle me this. Where the hell do we get out of this place and how can we move forward so that I don’t have to see your smirking face anymore?” Kerwyn stands beside Ironsides and crosses his arms with a frustrated look, drumming his fingers.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
“Thought he would never leave. Ok. So. Where to from here? At least don’t have to deal with that riddler anymore for a while. Hopefully.” He puts his hand on Travin who’s sobbing on the ground. “Buck up buttercup, it’ll be ok? That crazy man has left again thank goodness so hopefully we can figure our way out of this mess now.”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Delph watches as their friends argue and cast blame. They look at Travin with an unmistaken look of pity then to Jerath. The fairy then flutters up to Jerath and whispers something in his ear. After that the man vanishes. Delphinium seems a bit enigmatic as they return to flutter in front of Travin. "Travin. I'm so sorry this happened to you. You made a bad choice. A bad thing happened. Words hold more power for fey then any other creature out there. I don't know what happened to your brother but if he's a goblin... then you need to love him as a goblin when you couldn't love him before. It's okay to be sad but you know he isn't gone now. Jerath told us this. You know he's a goblin.. If there are armies coming we need to get to the city before them to make sure he isn't killed in the battle coming. I know it's hard but... we should take Jerath's help. He might know how we can sneak into the goblin city or maybe even disguise us as goblins so we can find them. I really think he means to help us. You are the one most invested Travin. You are the one that needs to make a choice. Let's sneak into the goblins city. Let's get the alicorn from Blix and stop the war. A war here is bad. I know it. Goblins don't need to die if we can stop Blix. Then we can find your brother."
Delphinium leaves Travin's side with a pat on their cheek then flutters into the air to look at the others, "You all keep thinking I'm wrong about not killing things but here is the facts. I can't lie! I am bound by my words. Sometimes I say things I regret...." They look to Kerwyn with a nod of acknowledgement "...but I have to do what I say. It's what it means to be fey. I don't kill because you never know the whole story. You never see what happens after you never know what happened before. It doesn't mean you don't do anything though! There is always a solution for things that doesn't involve killing. Right now, there is a battle coming! All these goblins are going to get pulled into a war all caused by Blix. We can stop it. We can do what is right. If we can get the alicorn and put Jerath back in charge then no war needs to happen! No goblins need to die! No mushroom people, no dwarves, no lupines, no... whatever Ludo is needs to get hurt. Why would we not do this? Why would you not take this chance? I'm going to stop Blix. I'm going to get the Alicorn. I'm going to save lives. I believe we should take Jerath's help and accept his deal! Will you please agree? Can you put your disputes with him aside for now? We need his help. I really believe this." The fairy then waits to see how the others react.
Kerwyn raises up from Travin and considers the fairy, nodding at what it says. He’s thinking and you actually seem to feel, hear, see some cogs turning in his brain. He looks lost for a moment, like he has been lost inside a labyrinth in his own mind. He is used to a world of black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. These shades of gray, these multitude of possibilities do not compute with him. He starts (for once) to follow, a little bit.
“If the Riddler can help us stop this somehow, without talking too much, ok, I think I can deal with that. But if something attacks me, I’m going to fight back, that’s what I do. And now, if it is a goblin, that could be someone’s child that I’m fighting, and killing. I just don’t see how we can get past that. I dunno. Perhaps there is some other magic that can help us. I know a little… but it is mainly for destroying stuff. I don’t have a great handle on how to use it well.” He leans against Ironsides and looks at the color of his shell, lost in confusing thoughts.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Travin listens to Delph and Kerwyn through his wracking sobs and sniffing, he rocks slowly where he is not fully making eye contact with anyone as he considers his own terrible decisions, "Gavin could already be dead, *sob* a-and the time is past for all the goblinses here, hmmm, no hope eh?, never to be what they was before, *sob* Dawn guard would just be putting different evils on the throne, no? Jareth, Blix, it's not right.. yehhh" he calms his sobbing and his stature drops to that of a defeated slump. "Travin doesn't deserve Gavin, or the Dawn guard..."
Delphinium smiles and flutters over to Kerwyn and his snail they seem to be trying to mend fences a bit, "Who said anything about not fighting? Kerwyn, I love a good fight!" Delph grins in a mischievous way "Heck, there was this one hunter I had to break both legs and one arm on to get them to stop. No killing and no violence are two very different things. We can't help anyone if we let others kill us Kerwyn. We just don't need to kill them." the fairy pauses a bit then says "If you really want to avoid fighting the goblins I think we are going to need Jerath's help. Doesn't mean you need to like him but you need to be respectful and polite when a fey offers help."
Travin seems to be struggling and Delph flutters back to them and flies really close to their face so that they can feel the rapid wing beats from their dragonfly wings. They wait a moment for them to finish and then bops their nose. "You think wrong! We are not fighting to put an evil on the throne. We are fighting to save lives! Goblins, lupine, dwarves and more." Delphinium then bops their nose a second time, "You are selfish! It's not about what you deserve! Gavin deserves an apology from you!" Then Delph bops Travin in the nose a third time "You are also stupid! The Dawn Guard is going to need all the help we can get if we are going to beat Blix! That includes you!" Delph stares at Travin but doesn't bop their nose again.
Johnathan remains quiet as Jareth gives an “answer” to his question. It didn’t help in any way but at least he asked it. The childlike empress is dead? We better tell the others when we have a chance. That’s when everyone tries to calm Travin. Seems he went through a lot. I’m sorry about your brother Travin, you didn’t deserve what happened to you. But you are right, he may be dead, we may be unleashing a greater evil by putting Jareth on the throne. He sighs, clearly trying to say something to calm the situation. I don’t mean to be the bad guy here but we are undoubtedly going to have to kill some goblins on the way. There is too much at stake. Let’s not forget that goblins were the ones that killed the mare and gave Blix this dangerous power with the alicorn. They may have been kids once but dark magic has changed that. I’ll not hold my punches if there is danger, those creatures have done enough to me and they will not take anything else from me. Johnathan’s hand is shaking with rage. He has to hold it with his other hand just to make it stop.
We need to move, I don’t think we have a choice now. I’m gonna see if there is a way forward to the castle. Be ready to move, we don’t have long before everything falls apart. Johnathan pulls echo out of his pocket and will begin to follow Jareth through the forest with echo while he remains with the group.
Delphinium looks to Johnathan, they seemed to have started something and they don't seem like they are going to stop. The fairy has a plan but the trick is to get the others invested... especially Johnathan. He was going to be a tricky one since he seems to hate Jerath the most, "Johnathan. What is it you want to do. You seem to just hate Jerath. Wasn't he king before? What did he do to anger you so much? I want to get that alicorn, save the mare and go back home to help. I feel you are all so obsessed with if he's good or bad you have all lost sight of what we are trying to do. Do you want to avoid killing goblins? Because I have an idea but you're going to have to do something you won't like. However, it will likely spare many lives. Not just goblins but others too as it could prevent the war coming to the goblins city."
The fairy seems a bit taken aback when he begins to follow Jerath into the forest. As the fairy follows they say "You will probably need to apologize to him you know. I know you don't want to but he has knowledge and power we need. Can you swallow your pride for this?"
Shavaris sits as she listens to Jareth, at first confused by what he is saying, but as he tells of all the destruction that was happening around them while they were trying to circumvent this stupid labyrinth, it all sinks in. The others really needed help, we needed to help them. And he was right, the magic Blix used was wild, wasn't like anything she had ever seen. She didn't know what to make of it.
She's about to talk with Jareth and how to sensibly figure this out and Kerwyn... basically makes the man disappear. She stands up, takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of her nose as she tries to control her temper. "Kerwyn. You wanted him to leave? Do you not want out of this damn labyrinth? I mean that's all you talk about and then when someone, albeit frustrating annoying, shows up - such as Hoggle or Jareth, you make them disappear? I don't God damn understand it!! Why? We need their help, whether you like it or not. I mean, he even offered to lead us to where we want to go. You could have just sat on your ol Schmoopy over there and completely ignored the madman, but at least we would know where to go!" she stops herself, trying not to let the anger of the situation consume her.
She overhears Delph talking to Travin, and agrees, "Yes, we have a mission and it seems like we keep losing sight of that. As Jareth mentioned, shit is really going down and we're in here messing with doors and gates?! We need to find Blix and the soonest way possible."
When Delph starts addressing the rest of the group, she goes silent, shoulders sagging with the weight of the situation. She looks around a bit and realizes they have had company this entire time. Yes, Jareth disappeared, but who was this? While the rest continue talking, she welcomes the distraction and heads over to greet them.
"Um, sorry for... I mean hi, I'm Shavaris. Are you with Jareth?"
Travin reluctantly drags his ass up from the floor, he wipes the moisture from his eyes and dies his best to get the snot from his mustache, his nose slightly red from the crying and boopings. He stares back at Delph as he regains a modicum of his previous composure "it's a lot to take in fireflight, hmmm, Travin will follow yeh? Travin needs to help guard and find Gavin too." with that said he glumly turns and waddles over to Kerwyn.
"if Kerwyn would, whilst we walk, mmmmmh tell Travin what it's like... Travin needs to remember, what being a human is like yeh yeh?" His tone remains somber and lacking in his usual excitable outbursts as he follows the group's heading.
"Trust me, Jareth is an evil, but he is not out to reduce this world to ash. Blix is. I will attempt to not kill any goblins, however, Blix will die. All this suffering has been caused by his manipulation of the goblin people, I will not show him mercy, especially not while he possesses the Alicorn. Delph, what is your idea, if we can avoid war with the goblin people then the armies may yet be able to finish off Blix should we fail. However, I pray that is not needed." Ward says, looking down at himself and then gripping his staff and looking in the direction that Jareth left to.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
P: The Traveling Ward: Natural Napalm Enthusiast. (AURYN: The Hunt For The Last Unicorn.)
Any attempts to follow Jareth are shattered when the band realizes that he's gone, melted into the underbrush and the great, sparkling trees. A strange glitter hangs in the air as it gently falls from the hanging moss overhead, and leaves that are practically caked in the stuff line the ground.
Sitting alone, where the band last saw Jareth, is a chest. It's unlocked and barely cracked open.
They hear music, pianos and house orchestras, faintly in the distance...
Johnathan orders echo back when he can’t find Jareth. Well Jareth is gone. Now we are lost again. Just great. He the realises that Delph was talking to him. He listens, though a bit confused about the things they are saying. Why should I apologise to him, I’ve done nothing to him. Not so much as raise my voice. True I don’t like him, but that doesn’t mean I won’t work with him to a point. He might be the only one that can save Ralik remember. I don’t care if he is good or bad, we need a way to get the alicorn and Jareth seems to know a lot about this place. As to avoiding killing goblins I don’t think it’s smart to kill every single one on our path. It would weaken us for the fight with Blix. That’s the only reason why I’m not hunting them all down. I don’t care if they were kids once, they will still kill us if given the chance. I’m sorry Travin but if Goblins attack me I will fight back. If they leave us be, then we won’t have a problem. He the hears music and turns to see who Shavaris is talking to, Shavaris, is someone else here? He looks to see who she is referring to.
Delphinium looks at Johnathan after they explain and simply says "Hmm, okay. Let's just hope Jerath can help us sneak in."
The fairy is both curious about the new person and the chest left by Jerath. They decide they can introduce themselves later to the new person and goes over to the chest and opens it instead. Very curious what is inside as they try to identify where the sound of music is coming from.
Popping the chest open reveals piles of beautiful and ornate costume clothing and jewelry...and several masquerade masques.... Everything is lush and beautiful, frilled and lacey, multilayered and multicolored...
Delph gives a giddy squeak of glee and immediately tries to find pieces that are in their size that they can put on. Hoping to find some in their favorite colors of blue, purple and green. They definitely have an idea in mind of how they would dress for a party. They dive into the chest with a giggle and seem to find exactly what they wanted to wear. They find a leaf styled mask that looks like the face of a wildcat except instead of fur they have layered leaves of green that fade into a dull blue on the outer most parts of the mask. The outfit itself continues this leaf like theme as patterned blues, greens, and purples are layered together to give them an almost scale like look except the colors of the leaf scales have gold trim and are arranged in a way to make it look like a smiling face made of leaves on the chest. The outfit even comes with stylized pants that show off more of the gold in the design as the legs have golden stripes down the sides from hip to toe. Each leave pattern seems to glitter and shine and the colors seem amplified with their own blue glow making the golden outline and stripes stand out more in the sea of blue, green and purple. The flutter into the air a bit high to spin in their costumed outfit then say "Let's go see what is going on!" Then flutter off towards the sound.
"Greetings, travelers and/or adventurers. My name is Lazarus, sometimes known as Guile, or sometimes both at once. I am a simple Kobold, trying to make his way across the Continents. Jareth kept me entertained for quite some time, in fact, it was to the point of frustration, and watching your interaction with him, I have to assume you are no friends to the former Goblin King. It also appears one of you have potentially lost a loved one to the madness of these halls? I understand that plight dearly, everyone I loved and knew was killed when I was very young, I was lucky to be taken in by a roving band of ne'er-do-wells, they introduced me to a way of being that I carry with me today. I think our goals align, do you perhaps need a gun-for-hire with a penchant for hyphens and bouts of long-windedness?"
The Kobold of mention was about four-feet tall and was encased in a blacker-than-night half-plate, accented in red, that seemed to shine even in this lighting, under that was a leather body-glove. The armor contained weaponry that was apparent even to those not used to seeing the technology in the vambraces, and at the Kobolds side was a heavily-used pistol of exotic design. He wore a cloak of midnight blue and underneath it was a bulky pack, but it didn't seem like it was used for carrying things.*
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Travin crumples to the floor as Jareth side steps around the junk pile and takes position on his freshly conjoured throne. There is no sound coming from Travin as he lays under his pile, tears silently spilling across the floor as memories of his brother come flooding back. It's obvious that for the moment, Travin is useless to the guard, he is awash with emotion and drowning within himself, the guilt and the shame of what he had done threatening to consume him. "Gav?" He whispers through sobs.
"Oh I know you would have. That's why you had the information. But my dear...what have I told half truths about? You want to talk about half truths, hm? Perhaps...perhaps, we should tell everyone your little secret. Oh...perhaps you don't even know? But surely...well. The truth is out there, isn't it?"
He laughed, that toothy laugh of his while he stared a hole in Shavaris. His countenance changed a little when she brought up killing the Goblins.
"I don't want to kill the Goblins." Jareth said flatly, perturbed. "Had I known when I came here and made this place...I'd never have allowed that book to enter my old world. But I couldn't account for human hubris. Now though..."
Jareth sat there quiet for a moment, staring up at the sky overhead. Two eyes, two different colored eyes, shifted around from star to star.
"I haven't seen the night in a long time." Jareth said. "I can leave this place. Did you know that? I can go anywhere I want and restart. Redo all this. Start completely over and there. Will. Be. No. Consequence. Do you know what that feels like? Of course not. But do you know what happens if that army doesn't muster and attack the Goblin City? Blix is going to keep the alicorn, he's going to learn how to use it, and he'll be unstoppable. Have you thought about that? You have Lord Vader on the Ivory Throne now, and you have Ganondorf driving the last remnants of the Hylian Army out of Castle Hyrule right this very moment. The Childlike Empress is dead. And yet the real crux of the conflict this world faces is right here in my Labyrinth. When you faced down Blix, did you notice that half of his magic was only at will? The rest was wild magic. He only knows enough to be dangerous, and it's what he doesn't know that makes him truly dangerous. Do you need further explanation?"
He pauses long enough to listen to Johnathan, then grins and extends a hand toward the Warlock and nods.
"Ah, see? That's why I ignore you. You're inflammatory and, frankly my dear blood sucker, I'm too busy for it. But I'll answer this question at least; where is he going to go? The Lord of Darkness will want him if he leaves the Labyrinth, and here, at least, he's nigh impossible for Darkness or Ganondorf to reach...for now. And here he has an army. Behind high walls. In a maze that is indecipherable. And the walls here are thin, if you understand what I mean."
The former Goblin King turns his head at these words and looks in a different direction, right at you, and winks.
"Ah yes, Gav." Jareth says, but he doesn't seem quite sure of what he's saying. His brows furrow and the word falls from his mouth, practically shaken loose. "You demanded, and I did bow to you, Travin. How can you possibly demand more of my graciousness?"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
“Hey Uniball, 1pac or whatever name you are going by now, maybe we should call you the Riddlemaster. So you’ve turned little children into Gobbos, how nice. Special. Riddle me this. Where the hell do we get out of this place and how can we move forward so that I don’t have to see your smirking face anymore?” Kerwyn stands beside Ironsides and crosses his arms with a frustrated look, drumming his fingers.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Jareth smiles at this. He stands, turns, walks into the forest.... And disappears.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
“Thought he would never leave. Ok. So. Where to from here? At least don’t have to deal with that riddler anymore for a while. Hopefully.” He puts his hand on Travin who’s sobbing on the ground. “Buck up buttercup, it’ll be ok? That crazy man has left again thank goodness so hopefully we can figure our way out of this mess now.”
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Delph watches as their friends argue and cast blame. They look at Travin with an unmistaken look of pity then to Jerath. The fairy then flutters up to Jerath and whispers something in his ear. After that the man vanishes. Delphinium seems a bit enigmatic as they return to flutter in front of Travin. "Travin. I'm so sorry this happened to you. You made a bad choice. A bad thing happened. Words hold more power for fey then any other creature out there. I don't know what happened to your brother but if he's a goblin... then you need to love him as a goblin when you couldn't love him before. It's okay to be sad but you know he isn't gone now. Jerath told us this. You know he's a goblin.. If there are armies coming we need to get to the city before them to make sure he isn't killed in the battle coming. I know it's hard but... we should take Jerath's help. He might know how we can sneak into the goblin city or maybe even disguise us as goblins so we can find them. I really think he means to help us. You are the one most invested Travin. You are the one that needs to make a choice. Let's sneak into the goblins city. Let's get the alicorn from Blix and stop the war. A war here is bad. I know it. Goblins don't need to die if we can stop Blix. Then we can find your brother."
Delphinium leaves Travin's side with a pat on their cheek then flutters into the air to look at the others, "You all keep thinking I'm wrong about not killing things but here is the facts. I can't lie! I am bound by my words. Sometimes I say things I regret...." They look to Kerwyn with a nod of acknowledgement "...but I have to do what I say. It's what it means to be fey. I don't kill because you never know the whole story. You never see what happens after you never know what happened before. It doesn't mean you don't do anything though! There is always a solution for things that doesn't involve killing. Right now, there is a battle coming! All these goblins are going to get pulled into a war all caused by Blix. We can stop it. We can do what is right. If we can get the alicorn and put Jerath back in charge then no war needs to happen! No goblins need to die! No mushroom people, no dwarves, no lupines, no... whatever Ludo is needs to get hurt. Why would we not do this? Why would you not take this chance? I'm going to stop Blix. I'm going to get the Alicorn. I'm going to save lives. I believe we should take Jerath's help and accept his deal! Will you please agree? Can you put your disputes with him aside for now? We need his help. I really believe this." The fairy then waits to see how the others react.
Kerwyn raises up from Travin and considers the fairy, nodding at what it says. He’s thinking and you actually seem to feel, hear, see some cogs turning in his brain. He looks lost for a moment, like he has been lost inside a labyrinth in his own mind. He is used to a world of black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. These shades of gray, these multitude of possibilities do not compute with him. He starts (for once) to follow, a little bit.
“If the Riddler can help us stop this somehow, without talking too much, ok, I think I can deal with that. But if something attacks me, I’m going to fight back, that’s what I do. And now, if it is a goblin, that could be someone’s child that I’m fighting, and killing. I just don’t see how we can get past that. I dunno. Perhaps there is some other magic that can help us. I know a little… but it is mainly for destroying stuff. I don’t have a great handle on how to use it well.” He leans against Ironsides and looks at the color of his shell, lost in confusing thoughts.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Travin listens to Delph and Kerwyn through his wracking sobs and sniffing, he rocks slowly where he is not fully making eye contact with anyone as he considers his own terrible decisions, "Gavin could already be dead, *sob* a-and the time is past for all the goblinses here, hmmm, no hope eh?, never to be what they was before, *sob* Dawn guard would just be putting different evils on the throne, no? Jareth, Blix, it's not right.. yehhh" he calms his sobbing and his stature drops to that of a defeated slump. "Travin doesn't deserve Gavin, or the Dawn guard..."
Delphinium smiles and flutters over to Kerwyn and his snail they seem to be trying to mend fences a bit, "Who said anything about not fighting? Kerwyn, I love a good fight!" Delph grins in a mischievous way "Heck, there was this one hunter I had to break both legs and one arm on to get them to stop. No killing and no violence are two very different things. We can't help anyone if we let others kill us Kerwyn. We just don't need to kill them." the fairy pauses a bit then says "If you really want to avoid fighting the goblins I think we are going to need Jerath's help. Doesn't mean you need to like him but you need to be respectful and polite when a fey offers help."
Travin seems to be struggling and Delph flutters back to them and flies really close to their face so that they can feel the rapid wing beats from their dragonfly wings. They wait a moment for them to finish and then bops their nose. "You think wrong! We are not fighting to put an evil on the throne. We are fighting to save lives! Goblins, lupine, dwarves and more." Delphinium then bops their nose a second time, "You are selfish! It's not about what you deserve! Gavin deserves an apology from you!" Then Delph bops Travin in the nose a third time "You are also stupid! The Dawn Guard is going to need all the help we can get if we are going to beat Blix! That includes you!" Delph stares at Travin but doesn't bop their nose again.
Johnathan remains quiet as Jareth gives an “answer” to his question. It didn’t help in any way but at least he asked it. The childlike empress is dead? We better tell the others when we have a chance. That’s when everyone tries to calm Travin. Seems he went through a lot. I’m sorry about your brother Travin, you didn’t deserve what happened to you. But you are right, he may be dead, we may be unleashing a greater evil by putting Jareth on the throne. He sighs, clearly trying to say something to calm the situation. I don’t mean to be the bad guy here but we are undoubtedly going to have to kill some goblins on the way. There is too much at stake. Let’s not forget that goblins were the ones that killed the mare and gave Blix this dangerous power with the alicorn. They may have been kids once but dark magic has changed that. I’ll not hold my punches if there is danger, those creatures have done enough to me and they will not take anything else from me. Johnathan’s hand is shaking with rage. He has to hold it with his other hand just to make it stop.
We need to move, I don’t think we have a choice now. I’m gonna see if there is a way forward to the castle. Be ready to move, we don’t have long before everything falls apart. Johnathan pulls echo out of his pocket and will begin to follow Jareth through the forest with echo while he remains with the group.
Delphinium looks to Johnathan, they seemed to have started something and they don't seem like they are going to stop. The fairy has a plan but the trick is to get the others invested... especially Johnathan. He was going to be a tricky one since he seems to hate Jerath the most, "Johnathan. What is it you want to do. You seem to just hate Jerath. Wasn't he king before? What did he do to anger you so much? I want to get that alicorn, save the mare and go back home to help. I feel you are all so obsessed with if he's good or bad you have all lost sight of what we are trying to do. Do you want to avoid killing goblins? Because I have an idea but you're going to have to do something you won't like. However, it will likely spare many lives. Not just goblins but others too as it could prevent the war coming to the goblins city."
The fairy seems a bit taken aback when he begins to follow Jerath into the forest. As the fairy follows they say "You will probably need to apologize to him you know. I know you don't want to but he has knowledge and power we need. Can you swallow your pride for this?"
Shavaris sits as she listens to Jareth, at first confused by what he is saying, but as he tells of all the destruction that was happening around them while they were trying to circumvent this stupid labyrinth, it all sinks in. The others really needed help, we needed to help them. And he was right, the magic Blix used was wild, wasn't like anything she had ever seen. She didn't know what to make of it.
She's about to talk with Jareth and how to sensibly figure this out and Kerwyn... basically makes the man disappear. She stands up, takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of her nose as she tries to control her temper. "Kerwyn. You wanted him to leave? Do you not want out of this damn labyrinth? I mean that's all you talk about and then when someone, albeit frustrating annoying, shows up - such as Hoggle or Jareth, you make them disappear? I don't God damn understand it!! Why? We need their help, whether you like it or not. I mean, he even offered to lead us to where we want to go. You could have just sat on your ol Schmoopy over there and completely ignored the madman, but at least we would know where to go!" she stops herself, trying not to let the anger of the situation consume her.
She overhears Delph talking to Travin, and agrees, "Yes, we have a mission and it seems like we keep losing sight of that. As Jareth mentioned, shit is really going down and we're in here messing with doors and gates?! We need to find Blix and the soonest way possible."
When Delph starts addressing the rest of the group, she goes silent, shoulders sagging with the weight of the situation. She looks around a bit and realizes they have had company this entire time. Yes, Jareth disappeared, but who was this? While the rest continue talking, she welcomes the distraction and heads over to greet them.
"Um, sorry for... I mean hi, I'm Shavaris. Are you with Jareth?"
Travin reluctantly drags his ass up from the floor, he wipes the moisture from his eyes and dies his best to get the snot from his mustache, his nose slightly red from the crying and boopings. He stares back at Delph as he regains a modicum of his previous composure "it's a lot to take in fireflight, hmmm, Travin will follow yeh? Travin needs to help guard and find Gavin too." with that said he glumly turns and waddles over to Kerwyn.
"if Kerwyn would, whilst we walk, mmmmmh tell Travin what it's like... Travin needs to remember, what being a human is like yeh yeh?" His tone remains somber and lacking in his usual excitable outbursts as he follows the group's heading.
"Trust me, Jareth is an evil, but he is not out to reduce this world to ash. Blix is. I will attempt to not kill any goblins, however, Blix will die. All this suffering has been caused by his manipulation of the goblin people, I will not show him mercy, especially not while he possesses the Alicorn. Delph, what is your idea, if we can avoid war with the goblin people then the armies may yet be able to finish off Blix should we fail. However, I pray that is not needed." Ward says, looking down at himself and then gripping his staff and looking in the direction that Jareth left to.
P: The Traveling Ward: Natural Napalm Enthusiast. (AURYN: The Hunt For The Last Unicorn.)
DM:
Any attempts to follow Jareth are shattered when the band realizes that he's gone, melted into the underbrush and the great, sparkling trees. A strange glitter hangs in the air as it gently falls from the hanging moss overhead, and leaves that are practically caked in the stuff line the ground.
Sitting alone, where the band last saw Jareth, is a chest. It's unlocked and barely cracked open.
They hear music, pianos and house orchestras, faintly in the distance...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Johnathan orders echo back when he can’t find Jareth. Well Jareth is gone. Now we are lost again. Just great. He the realises that Delph was talking to him. He listens, though a bit confused about the things they are saying. Why should I apologise to him, I’ve done nothing to him. Not so much as raise my voice. True I don’t like him, but that doesn’t mean I won’t work with him to a point. He might be the only one that can save Ralik remember. I don’t care if he is good or bad, we need a way to get the alicorn and Jareth seems to know a lot about this place. As to avoiding killing goblins I don’t think it’s smart to kill every single one on our path. It would weaken us for the fight with Blix. That’s the only reason why I’m not hunting them all down. I don’t care if they were kids once, they will still kill us if given the chance. I’m sorry Travin but if Goblins attack me I will fight back. If they leave us be, then we won’t have a problem. He the hears music and turns to see who Shavaris is talking to, Shavaris, is someone else here? He looks to see who she is referring to.
Delphinium looks at Johnathan after they explain and simply says "Hmm, okay. Let's just hope Jerath can help us sneak in."
The fairy is both curious about the new person and the chest left by Jerath. They decide they can introduce themselves later to the new person and goes over to the chest and opens it instead. Very curious what is inside as they try to identify where the sound of music is coming from.
Popping the chest open reveals piles of beautiful and ornate costume clothing and jewelry...and several masquerade masques.... Everything is lush and beautiful, frilled and lacey, multilayered and multicolored...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Delph gives a giddy squeak of glee and immediately tries to find pieces that are in their size that they can put on. Hoping to find some in their favorite colors of blue, purple and green. They definitely have an idea in mind of how they would dress for a party. They dive into the chest with a giggle and seem to find exactly what they wanted to wear. They find a leaf styled mask that looks like the face of a wildcat except instead of fur they have layered leaves of green that fade into a dull blue on the outer most parts of the mask. The outfit itself continues this leaf like theme as patterned blues, greens, and purples are layered together to give them an almost scale like look except the colors of the leaf scales have gold trim and are arranged in a way to make it look like a smiling face made of leaves on the chest. The outfit even comes with stylized pants that show off more of the gold in the design as the legs have golden stripes down the sides from hip to toe. Each leave pattern seems to glitter and shine and the colors seem amplified with their own blue glow making the golden outline and stripes stand out more in the sea of blue, green and purple. The flutter into the air a bit high to spin in their costumed outfit then say "Let's go see what is going on!" Then flutter off towards the sound.
"Greetings, travelers and/or adventurers. My name is Lazarus, sometimes known as Guile, or sometimes both at once. I am a simple Kobold, trying to make his way across the Continents. Jareth kept me entertained for quite some time, in fact, it was to the point of frustration, and watching your interaction with him, I have to assume you are no friends to the former Goblin King. It also appears one of you have potentially lost a loved one to the madness of these halls? I understand that plight dearly, everyone I loved and knew was killed when I was very young, I was lucky to be taken in by a roving band of ne'er-do-wells, they introduced me to a way of being that I carry with me today. I think our goals align, do you perhaps need a gun-for-hire with a penchant for hyphens and bouts of long-windedness?"
The Kobold of mention was about four-feet tall and was encased in a blacker-than-night half-plate, accented in red, that seemed to shine even in this lighting, under that was a leather body-glove. The armor contained weaponry that was apparent even to those not used to seeing the technology in the vambraces, and at the Kobolds side was a heavily-used pistol of exotic design. He wore a cloak of midnight blue and underneath it was a bulky pack, but it didn't seem like it was used for carrying things.*