Defend OotN at Westgrove Op in GoC
This is my first Quickpress message – *crosses fingers*

Yes, she does have a crush on him.

http://www.obamagirl.com/

-

Don’t go walking by the lakeside alone in the pale moonlight.
Kami will come up upon you child with no earthly body in sight,
come up upon you child and he’ll whisper something sweet
then take you where the waters rise so high and run so deep.
You gotta pledge your soul to Jena deep inside.
Gotta pledge your soul to Jena deep inside.
Put your faith in Jena child, when the Kamis come nigh.

-

Now when I was just a little Tryker my mama said to me,
“Beware of the Kami my child but if by chance you should meet,
beware of his cold dark eyes full of bold and unholy deceit.
He’ll tempt you with a whirling pool of lies
and promises that he’ll deny, that he’ll never keep.”
You gotta pledge your soul to Jena deep inside.
Gotta pledge your soul to Jena deep inside.
Put your faith in Jena child, when the Kamis come nigh.

Riveit sat next to Gywidion under an enormous mushroom and watched the rain pour down. The Arena was directly behind them. It was almost sunset again. He prayed for a break in the clouds. Jena! he missed the Lakelands. He had been running up this wretched hill in Majestic Garden every evening for a week. A patrol of Green Seeds ran by down the road. A couple of the Trykers waved at Riveit and Gywidion. He waved back at his friends. He thought he could almost join the Green Seeds by now. Ha! Except from all the digging in this grass he had done, while ragus pups nipped at him, he would be a Green Seat instead! Gywidion squinted at the sun and said, “Get ready, you’ve got to get the timing exactly right.” Riveit carefully set down the Boomer rifle that he had been cleaning. He had picked up this excellent weapon made by Themac in Yrkanis. It was one of the few good things to come from this blasted Matis prospecting rite. Riveit must have shot over a hundred ragus and gingos with it over the week, but new packs just kept popping up.

“Remember you have to stick straight to the path I showed you, climb over that huge fallen tree, don’t go around it!” Riveit was certain that some over-tall Matis had cut down that tree on purpose and was probably still laughing about it. A gleam of sunlight broke through the clouds, and Gywidion said, “Ready …. now, Go!” Riveit took off at a sprint down the hill and across the road, his short Tryker legs pumping furiously. He was certain of one thing. If he didn’t complete this rite tonight, he was going to take this prospector’s pendant, wrap it around Sicha Pelli’s neck and twist.

The group trudged up the sodden slope in the Void. A circle of stone menhirs stood on the top of the hill. It had been a long day. They had crossed the Trench of Trials to get Starrain to the Zorai teleporters, then turned north for jungle hunting. Dreamin took point, as usual. Bowrifle slung from her shoulder, she carefully scanned the wilderness for danger. Iverem came second with amps ready and an elemental spell on her lips. Her guildmate Davrick followed closely behind Iverem. In the middle, Pero enthralled the Aedan Artisans with the story of how he was forced to cut off his long hair to keep the many infatuated Crystobel girls from mobbing him. Pipp made encouraging noises like “Ooooo, tell us more!” while rolling her eyes behind his back. Riveit followed at the back distracted. He pulled the magically protective earring off his right ear. Black! Burnt out another one! He threw to the ground and then inspected the ruined mess of his white light armor. It was mud colored now. With all these rips it would be worthless after another battle. Suddenly, he tripped on a tattered strip of his once-white Illuminati boots. As he picked himself up from of the muck, Dai-den stuck.

With well-oiled precision, the team fanned out and fought back. Dreamin and Pero leaped into action firing shots and smashing at the giant kitin. Dai-den’s ear-splitting screech filled the homin’s ears. Iverem, Starrain and Jinn shot elemental spells at the kitin lord while Pipp healed. A blow from its legs caught Dreamin and threw her against a menhir, where she lay crumpled with her spine twisted sickly. Pero engaged the kitin, smashing at its legs and underbelly with his mace and nimbly leaping from its pinchers. Riveit got his muddy amplifiers into action and watched as his healing spell seized Dreamin and straightened her spine. She smoothly pulled out her sword and leaped back into the fight. Then Pero was stabbed through his gut and went down. Dreamin fought alone until Pero was healed back up. Bursts of cold, electricity, and fire shattered against Dai-den, further driving it into frenzy. Dreamin went down again, then Pero, as blows knocked them down and healing raised them back up. Minutes later, though it seemed an eternity to the homins, the Dai-den spawn screamed one last time and crumpled to the ground. They all heaved a sigh of relief and gathered next to the massive corpse. Pero pulled off his Tryker helmet and smiled at everyone, “Look, another benefit! No helmet hair with this hairstyle! As perofect as ever.”

The Illuminati were gathered for a guild dinner on the deck at Be’Canon’s Bar overlooking Lake Shu. A gentle breeze blew off the lake and a gorgeous sunset tinged the sky orange.

Riveit turned to Kiliane and inquired, “So do you have really tall pumps? And how many do you have?”

Kiliane arched her browns and responded, “I have enough. Why, may I ask, do you want to know?”

“Because we are all too short, except for Magnifico, and he might be a little too tall.”

“Too short for what?” Kiliane asked.

Riveit explained, “Well, let me start at the beginnning. You know how many dappers the Karavan collects from the teleporter service here at Fairhaven? Hundreds of thousands every day, over a million on busy days. Suppose we could run a teleporter service. We would be rolling in dappers in no time. The guild treasury would burst at the seams! There would be like a sea of dappers! So here is my plan. We will steal a teleporter. First, I am crafting three Karavan suits. Now we are too short for the suits …”

Dalin spewed the beer she was drinking in a great guffaw. A howl of laughter went around the table. Watryk asked, “How are you going to turn it on? How do you point it? What about the Karavan guards?”

Arcana slammed her glass down and said, “Kid, shhhhh, hush everyone … the walls have ears. They know everything that goes on in Fairhaven. No more talk like that around here …”

Riveit sat down on the warm sand and rested while Iklio kept gathering Fung resin. Pipp was leaning against a tree watching the Trykers who passed by. Riveit said to them, “I’ve been thinking alot about the Karavan lately.” Iklio didn’t look up but replied with a mocking tone, “You’re the Illuminati, so illuminate us.”

Riveit continued, “As far as I can tell from the lore, no one has ever seen inside those Karavan suits. Just what are they hiding? I know, so they don’t breath Atys air and they are allergic to sap. Sure, that’s what homins say, but who really knows? Why can’t we see their faces through glass masks then? Karavan have been injured, even killed, but where is the blood? Where are the guts? No one mentions Karavan blood and guts in the lore. Kamis are animals, at least. Bizarre loony animals, but animals a little like us. What are the Karavan? Machines maybe? Inhomin creations built to look like homins. Could be. Could be Jena is a machine too. A God-Machine that really doesn’t care about homin life. Maybe we are just useful tools to her? Tools to help her conquer Atys and devour its resources? What do you two think?”

Iklio snorted and said, “I think you’re a bonehead. I gave you a huge load of shu fiber last week and you haven’t crafted it yet. Where are those pants and vests! Why am I doing all the work? Pick up your pick and dig, stupid!”

Riveit smiled and picked up his pick, “What do you think Pipp?”

Pipp was still watching homins and said, “Did you see Iverem? I want some white feathers like hers. Where do you think she got them?”

Thump, thump, thump. Uuuuuggghhh. Everything hurt. Slowly, Riveit rose up toward consciousness. It seemed like a bad dream, a nightmare. The first crossing of the Lagoons of Loria had gone so easily. Watryk and Waerdan racing along with an occasional shot at predators. The Heretics Hovel was empty, deserted and silent but for the buzzing of insects and songs of birds. But time had run out and they went no farther. This second crossing of the Lagoons was far different. The party was far stronger but a swarm of kipestas hit them as soon as they walked into the lagoons. The whole party went down. Dalin respawned and revived the group with the help of a passerby, Sandie. They zigged and zagged across the landscape, avoiding predators. Finally, Arcana and Kiliane joined them, back from some mysterious conclave. The pace picked up and they started hunting the Lagoons. But the real horror began back at the Hovel. The Heretics were waiting in force. He was plastered and revived again and again and again. At last they blasted their way through only to find a hellish maze of dense forest and predators. It was all one long blur of blazing elemental and healing spells with Magnifico hacking away at the front. At the end, Riveit was knocked unconscious and had to be carried along as so much baggage. Thump, thump … THUMP! Magnifico had dropped him unceremoniously on the ground by the Fleeting Garden Karavan altar. Riveit’s eyes popped open to see the green grasslands of Verdant Heights for the first time. Kiliane leaned over him and asked “Are you OK?” He focused on Kiliane’s lovely face looking down to him and smiled. “Yes, I’m fine”, he lied and rose shakily. “Thank you all so much! Dalin, Daernan, Magnifico, Kiliane and Arcana. Thank you. At last I made it. Our Illuminati guild is the best, the very best. Sorry to pester you so much about going here and sorry to be dead weight at the end. You are all simply marvelous.” After their protestations of ‘no problem’ faded away, Riveit looked over the hills of Fleeting Gardens and smiled. Out of the Lakelands and free to travel. It was an exciting time. Worlds were colliding. Kingdoms would fall. Dangerous times but fortunes could be made.