Ameena's new normal sized dungeon crawl!

[Ameena]

OOC - Unless you decide otherwise, as far as Ameena's concerned Aurek is a compelte stranger and she's only just meeting him for the first time and therefore presumes he's one of the soldiers because he's wearing their armour. Fortunately the general open-mindedness of murafu enables her to not simply assume that he's an enemy or otherwise automatically untrustable - she'll give him a chance because, despite the armour, he seems to be working with the group.

BIC - Ameena hunches down a little further, confused by Haynuus's comments to the currently out-of-sight Soorec that she's been eating mages or something. She tries to remember the specifics of her interactions with Soorec from before, but it's all rathr hazy (OOC - ...unless you say otherwise ).
And then Falkor returns his attention to her and more or less orders her to sit still and say nothing. Somewhat hurt, she moves back and sits against the door, which she only now realises is closed. She crouches down, forepaws back on the ground, and wishes she was somewhere else. She just wants to curl up and sleep, but she just doesn't feel safe here. And her forelegs are still hurting. This wasn't the reunion she'd hoped for.
A glow from the altar and a series of explosions indicate that someone else has been reawoken there, as Soorec was. Well, at least now they'll hopefully stop asking her whether she was the one who worked it. How could they have thought that, anyway? She is no magic-user, and these life-returning altar things aren't usually the kind of thing which actually need to be used. Are they?
Ameena is vaguely aware that her name is being mentioned by various people in the room, but no longer has the motivation to respond. It sounds as though they're talking about her, anyway, not to her. So she just remains crouched in the corner, weight on her haunches, forepaws resting on the ground in front of her, close together. She stares down at them, and the ground, ears and whiskers drooping, and vaguely wonders what to do.

OOC - She's still in N4, but over as far as she can go, in the bottom right corner of that square, leaning back on her arse against the door.

[beowuuf]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, poor murafu!

Ardur moves a few steps forwards cautiously. "Are...are you ok?" he asks in a whisper, looking nervously across at the rest of the group.

I'll summarise that Ardur whispers to Ameena if no one comes closer, or actually write it out in my next update if they do.

[Ameena]

OOC - Okay, I'll wait for your next update then, to see whether he says it louder. I was rather hoping he'd try and help her . I have looked at the other IC thread and it looks like Haynuus, at least, is showing some concern for Ameena. But I'll wait for your update before I post. So unless that comes within the next 35 mins or so, I'll be posting this evening I suppose .

[beowuuf]

You should have just updated again, but since you updated once already that's fine.

Feel free to answer Ardur here. I wonder if what Seeroc says gives enough wiggle room for Ameena to be played fully in the main thread now. Interesting to see the reaction!

Oh, wait, I have posted it yet since LB hasn't posted his move. Nevermind. You'll see it soon enough I guess.

[Ameena]

OOC - Alright, one update coming up . Presumably Ardur will answer Westy in your next update so I'll have his (Westy's) yell occurring at the end of this post.

BIC - Ameena twitches an ear in the direction of Ardur and raises her head slightly, though she doesn't look all the way up to his face.
"I'm just...tired." she says quietly. "I'd been hoping that...that us all getting together again would be...happier, somehow. I'm still not used to spending so much time around these other species - they...you...think differently, have different priorities. It's...difficult for me to get used to, despite everything we've all been through together."
She lowers her head again. She knows what she'd love to do right now, with Ardur so close and herself feeling so in need of some kind of comfort, but she remains where she is, knowing that Ardur might respond fearfully or aggressively, and withdraw or just push her away. Staying put isn't particularly difficult, however, since all her energy seems to have disappeared off somewhere for now. Too many things have happened, too close together, for her to be able to deal with it right now - whatever happened before the group was separated, the actual act of the mage throwing her across the room, the stress of finding herself in another part of the dungeon, terrified and with the ache in her foreleg, the somewhat painful encounter with Small-Small, despite the fact the rat-creature turned out to become an ally in the end, the attempts to avoid the guards, the rising hope of reuniting with her friends only to find them in combat with grak-graks and a returned Soorec, and now no apparent happiness on the part of her friends at her return. Murafu would have practically leapt on top of her, and she them, on finding each other again - there would be much sniffing and snuffling and happy grinding of teeth, pressing together of bodies and general excitement all round...regardless of the situation.
Still, she thinks, maybe things will change soon. Maybe...maybe one of them will remember what to do with Soorec...except, no, that won't be any good, will it - if he's come back now, it's clear he can get out of...whatever situation they put him in before. They'll need to find another way.
She hears more shouting from over near the altar - Westian is calling to Ardur. Well, the young human will be of no comfort to her now, then, if he's being called over to help them.

OOC - I wonder how long it will take before I start to confuse myself with all this time-travel stuff and mixed-up memories of what's happened before and what hasn't happened yet (even though it technically alreayd has) because it was/is in the future. Arrrgh, brain, lol.
Assuming it even registered with Ameena that Westian was one of the corpses on the table, it's all such a mish-mash in her mind right now and she's rather too tired to deal with it as well, so she's just sort of passing it by for now. If the group hadn't been in such...erm...hectic circumstances when she found them, I suppose they'd all have had time for a proper reunion, but well, 'twas not to be, eh? Maybe Ameena can get her hug later, when her future-memories cause her to go up to one of the party members and attach herself to his leg or something .

[beowuuf]

Still, the others seem a little preoccupied to even deal with Soorec until now! Anyway, didn't deliberately panit this way, but might be interesting to see if Soorec/Seeroc's comments give Ameena a way to come to terms with her weird memories, and you get some brainspace back!

[Ameena]

OOC - Heh yeah...hopefully Ameena will be able to concentrate long enough to listen to what Soorec has to say. Btw I'm guessing that the Vi altar fully heals any wounds on a person when it rezzes them - but what about any blood that might have erm..leaked out onto their clothing or whatever? Does that get "cleaned up" as well or are they fully alive and intact but with rather stained clothing? Just curious.

[beowuuf]

Lol, yes, just like in DM the Vi Altar gives you all your health back, and a lollipop :p Nah, OB's lucky, or else he'd have less constitution, but he will only be on half health. And yeah, he will still be a little bit messy. So basically back to life, but still a little messed up. We've sorta glossed over that, I notice. Maybe I need to add that onto my notepadded next post....

[Ameena]

OOC - Ah, so the Vi altar basically, then, heals (or mostly-heals) any life-threatening (or life-ending, as the case may be) injuries, but doesn't fully restore your health, and you remain all messy and stuff if you were bleeding before. I wonder what happens, then, if you died lacking any numbers of limbs...or your head. Would the altar regrow them ("Hey! I had my leg amuptated five years ago and it's suddenly come back!"), or would they need to be (found and) put onto the altar with the rest of the body and then the magic would reattach them? Or would it just not do anything if you put, say, a headless corpse onto it? I realise none of this is particularly relevant to the game (so far), but erm...well, I just wonder about these things .

[beowuuf]

Well you'll have to see, won't you Or...hopefully not, as the case may be. It might be game relevant in the future, so I won't spoil it now.

[Ameena]

OOC - Damn, that Soorec is a sneaky bastard, lol. Either that or he thinks he is actually telling the truth and has no knowledge of time travel (or that it's actually possible), considering the act of throwing people through time is, I'm pretty sure, something only the most uber of the uber (ie High Lords) can do. Oh well, I suppose his little speech might serve the purpose of throwing in a little more doubt - whom should the party trust? The murafu they think they know but who's randomly returned acting rather strangely, or the gnomish mage they know is probably out to get them but has probably just given the only logical-seeming explanation as to Ameena's condition.

BIC - As Ardur rushes over to the altar in response to Westian's request, Ameena hears someone call her name - the gnomish mage, Soorec. She is a little confused by his words, and, knowing he isn't one who can be trusted, pushes her weight forward a little in order to shuffle over to the edge of the wall. She pokes her nose around but nothing more - even so, she imagines that from his current position, Soorec probably still can't see her.
"I don't know what you mean." she replies. "Your real name...you mean that you're actually called Soorec while other people, like those soldiers, seem to call you Seeroc? But...we found that out a long time ago."
Then she considers the rest of his words.
"You make it sound as though we've never met before." she says. Then a thought occurs to her. "Oh...well, maybe we haven't. I suppose you would remember, yes?"
She knows Soorec shouldn't be trusted. She knows she sohuld be very careful what she says and resolves to give away only the minimum of information from now on, as long as the gnome is present - evidently whatever the group did to him before has somehow erased his memory of their previous encounter(s). Which might mean that they can do it to him again. Whatever it was they did. And maybe, whatever it is, it will hold long enough for them to finish whatever it was they started with the other mages. Because bad things will happen if they don't. She remember that much, somehow. Very bad things...

OOC - I bet that other grak-grak has just shifted into the form of someone else...possibly Farel or Westy, or maybe Ardur - then they might rez Farel but the grak-grak (in Ardur's form) can busily start hurting itself and thereby Soorec can, from a distance, hold Ardur hostage to get the rest of the group to do what he wants. Or something. Or maybe it'll even take Ameena's form...I wonder if size is a factor there. I suppose Ameena would remember if a grak-grak coudl take her form. That could be interesting - to see whether the shape-changing is more of a surface illusion, or whether they can actually perform a full change and alter their mass as well...

[beowuuf]

I have mentioned quite alot how dangerous you having two memories was... and we all know that the Grey Lord isn't the paragon of doing things that have no repercussions. Who knows what the wise and knowledgeable know... you'll need to find them and ask them. And trust them to tell you, too :p

As to what the grak-grak turned in to .... lol, glad that's one person who hasn't realised what it would be yet

[beowuuf]

You know what, for shits and giggles since you are trying to conceal the truth - especially since Ameena doens't believe Soorec doesn't know her - give me a bluff roll!

[Ameena]

OOC - Heh, you know, I did wonder whether a Bluff roll might be appropriate as I was writing that post - after all, Ameena's not lying (since as previously explained, that's not something murafu ever do - it's just something they learn about when they encounter/hear about other species such as humans), but she is trying to...divert...Soorec's thought processes a bit, because she thinks that it's his mind that may have been messed up by whatever hte party haven't yet done to him because that was in two weeks' time so it hasn't actually happened. Anyway, yes, Bluff roll = 20 (19+1), wooo I was expecting that to be crap . If Ameena continues in this line...that is, if Soorec presses her for what she knows and she's required to "dance around" the exact truth a bit more, will more rolls be required or will the one roll cover a whole conversation? Just so I know whether I should be making more rolls in future posts during this scene.

[beowuuf]

Only if she outright lies, and then it might be too big to cover with a bluff

[Ameena]

OOC - Then that will never happen - she's a murafu .

[Ameena]

Ameena puts her head to one side as Falkor speaks to her. First he tells her to be quiet until she gets her head sorted, now he's actually asking her for information. This confuses her slightly, and she's not really in any mood for a great amount of discussion right now - she would love to talk through the situation and discuss everything that's happened, but right now, in this room, with certain individuals present, and in her current state of body and mind, Ameena doesn't want to do much else than run away somewhere quiet and curl up to sleep.
Still, she decides to try and answer.
"Small room?" she asks. "Well, I expect we went through many of those. Umm...those other things you mentioned...yes, I think I remember those too. Giant wosp...hmm, wasn't that some kind of large, buzzing thing? I can remember...hmm...something to do with buzzing, anyway, and something sharp. That's...that's about all I can remember."
She pauses a moment, then goes on.
"I think it would be best for us all to put our thoughts together and see what we all remember, if the rest of you haven't done that already since you got back together. But...maybe we should do that later..."
She gestures with her head and gives a meaningful expression (at least, it would be meaningful to another murafu - whether the halfling can understand it is another matter), indicating Soorec. Since he's still stuck around the corner from where she is, she has no fear that he'll see her. She hopes that Falkor will take her point and not say anythign he shouldn't whilst within earshot of the gnome.

OOC - Is it possible for PCs to require Sense Motive checks of each other? Maybe you could get Falkor to roll one to see whether he gets the gist of what Ameena is trying to say? Which is, basically "Let's not discuss this in front of Soorec - we all know he can't be trusted. We should leave this kind of conversation until we're in a safer place". Alright so that sounds like a bit of a lengthy message to be sending by just a couple of gestures, but hey, he might be sharp enough to catch on to that .

[beowuuf]

While it's usually a good idea for players to be honest which each other, certainly sense motive, etc can be used for characters to spot character stuff - in this case, non verbal communication is a sense motive anyway. Your 20 bluff from before is good enough to communicate simple non-verbal stuff.

Not rolling against players is usually to stop sidestepping fun roleplaying, etc.

[Ameena]

OOC - Oh, someone did mention Gholst, now I've re-read the last few posts. Falkor did whilst rummaging around in his backpack for erm...something I've forgotten. But I'm guessing that still doesn't make much difference. Likewise to Westy's mentioning of the ghost girl.

BIC - There is another explosion-type-thing from the altar, and Serfarrel sits up. He speaks briefly to Ardur, then notices, and, thankfully, recognises Ameena and for some reason asks her about some kind of head-armour. Then, suddenly, a lot of things seem to happen at once, and none of them seem to originate from Soorec. Firstly there is a loud (and, somehow, unpleasantly familiar) snarling sound, followed by some scuttling. Ameena peers back around the corner just in time to see...something...explode. Standing behind the smouldering remains is...another human. And he's wearing what his kind call "robes". A mage?
Looking once more at the smouldering, sticky, gooey mess on the floor not far from Falkor, Ameena nudges her tired mind into realising - Yes, a mage. Another one. But one of them?
Ameena considers. He's wearing grey. But he's not that mage. Maybe he's...the other person who was there. But she can't remember many of the details.
The mage suddenly seems to become very angry and starts pointing at Falkor, but at the same time is apparently...unwilling, somehow, to do so.
Westian calls a name - Theron. And Falkor mentions another one - Gholst. They both mean something[ to Ameena, but she can't quite recall what. She looks at the new mage again. For some reason, now she's heard his name, she wants to associate him with the other grey-robed mage. At least, she thinks the other one wore grey robes. Maybe they were black. Or maybe they were both colours - striped, or something. But she's getting off track - what about the other name? Gholst. All this means, for now, is Very Bad. Something about Gholst is...he's Very, Very Bad. But he's not the other mage either. That one was called...Black-Robe or Lord-Blue-Eyes or something. Something to do with colours.
Then Ameena looks again at the scene in front of her. For some reason, she's getting some kind of bad feeling from the one called Theron. It's as though he's...not himself? Not in control, certainly. And he's pointing at Falkor. And Falkor seems...upset, somehow. Scared. And he's asking Soorec...Soorec?!? Asking Soorec for help.
She looks again at the mage's pointing finger. Westian seems to be trying to talk the mage out of whatever he's doing (and why, she wonders, is the half-elf wearing black armour too? Maybe he was caught by the other soldier in the room before reuniting with the group, and had to pretend he was a soldier too in order to avoid being killed. That might make sense...), as does Falkor. But no-one is moving. Maybe if the mage is distracted, he'll stop pointing at Falkor like that. Maybe...maybe he'll zap someone else instead.
Ameena considers. She doesn't want to go near Soorec, despite the fact that he's trapped. And he has those grak-graks in there too, and she isn't sure which is worse. This Theron person is apparently doing something bad to Falkor - he doesn't seem able to move. Either that or he's choosing not to. But he seems on the verge of panic. And asking Soorec, of all people, for help. It was probably because of Soorec's death, she knows, that Theron has come here - she was right, then. And now he's doing something, though he doesn't seem to want to. Gholst has been mentioned. She knows there's something bad about him, though not quite as bad as...something else...that she can't remember.
And her forelegs are still hurting. Especially the right one.
Anyway, maybe it would help Falkor if someone stopped Theron from pointing at him, or at least blocked his line of sight somehow. Ameena is shorter than Falkor by about a head, but that should still work, shouldn't it? Maybe it will turn out somewhat...painfull, though. But she' s a murafu.
A friend is for life. Life is for friends.
So thinking, Ameena suddenly bolts forward on all-fours and plants herself, upright, directly between Theron's pointing finger and the distraught Falkor. She makes sure she's standing fairly close to Falkor, so that Theron can't just point around or over her, but isn't quite within arm's reach of him. She also tries to avoid the pile of smouldering...ick...on the floor.
"Stop it!" she cries. "That won't help! I mean..."
Here Ameena pauses. She seems to be doing that a lot lately - having to be so careful as to what she says. She doesn't know what will happen if Soorec, or indeed, now, Theron, find out about what happened.
But wait a minute...Theron was there, wasn't he?
"The other mage might find out!" she says. "He got really angry, I think. Something happened...he got really very angry, and..."
Here she peters out somewhat, not really altogether sure what she's saying or trying to say, or how to go about saying it. But she doesn't change her position. She stays where she is and hopes to achieve...something.

[Ameena]

Ameena relaxes slightly as Theron disappears, then turns and listens as various people start talking. Soorec addresses her briefly, but then seems to sidetrack himself and starts talking to Westian instead. She resists the urge to mutter "murafu", since he doesn't seem to know the species name or even have ever seen her before - she decides that maintaining silence is best, for now. She has no intention of giving Soorec any more information about herself or any of the others. What she needs to do, she knows, is get the group away from the gnome, and his grak-graks, in order ot discuss the situation properly with them and ascertain how their memories are faring. She doesn't know what words were exchanged before she arrived in the room, so doesn't know how much they all know. And she still wants to find out who this black-armoured soldier is who seems to have been accepted by the group. She has decided, for now, that the most logical reason for Westian to be wearing the armour is as a disguise.
Soorec continues to talk to Westian, and mentions a name in doing so - "Grey Lord". Hmm, now that's familiar! Maybe he was that other mage. The "grey" part would certainly make sense. And she now vaguely recalls that someone of that name had something to do with the one called Theron. Yes, it seems to be coming together a little better now. But somehow she isn't sure whether they should be avoiding this Grey Lord, or finding him.
Meanwhile Soorec is casually telling Westian that he wants the group to split up and go different ways, accompanied by grak-graks, while herself and Haynuus remain behind. And he seems to be telling Westian to kill some priest person. She tries to recall whomever it is, but can't at the moment.
And he's saying that he wants to kill Falkor.
Well, she won't be just letting that happen.
She moves to position herself between Falkor and the advancing grak-grak. She remains upright but doesn't draw her weapon, and flicks her gaze between Soorec and the grak-grak as she begins to speak to the gnome.
"We can each speak for ourselves." she says. "We work together - it's better that way. We know each other. You seem to be telling us what to do, or at least assuming we'll just do what you say. Well, I don't like what you say, so I won't do it."
Were she any other species, this would probably come out in quite a forceful, aggressive tone. But she isn't any other species, so it comes out in a fairly calm, level voice.
"Anyway," she continues, "I don't have any reason to believe you will stick to what you say. Your grak-graks are strong - they can hurt us easily. If we're separated, they'll be able to hurt us more easily. You said you're loyal to Gholst - I don't think he wants us around, so I think you might try to get rid of us for him. I know you're a mage so you can throw fire and...that kind of thing, and you have these...undead...creatures, who do whatever you want them to do because you control them. And I'm only a murafu. But you're trying to kill my friend, and I'm not going to just let that happen. I think you'd better come up with another suggestion."
She doesn't really expect her words to get her anywhere, but just wants to stop any more violence from occurring. Maybe Soorec will just have the grak-grak try to tear her to pieces, but at least it will be her getting destroyed, and not Falkor. Maybe he'll be able to run away, or something, while the grak-grak is busy.

OOC - In case a Diplomacy roll is needed for that little speech...15 (8+7)...meh. Could have been worse. I'm pretty much sharing Ameena's opinion here that her words probably won't change Soorec's mind and he might just get the grak-grak to deal with her instead (or at least, before Falkor, since she's manoeuvring to block its path), but maybe the others can come up with something in the meantime.
Btw, something I don't think I've asked before (but may have and then forgotten about it) - can Soorec see via the grak-graks, or have any other kind of awareness of exactly what they're doing/hearing/seeing at the time? I just wonder whether he ever uses them for surveillance/reconnaisance/observation etc, and whether the group would have found that out the first time around. Presumably he at least knows how many grak-graks he currently has, and probably at least a rough idea of where they are, but I just wonder as to the extent of that awareness (and more to the point, whether Ameena would know of that). If it's something that didn't come up in the First Run or that you otherwise don't want to give away yet, then that's fine. The rest of us can figure it out as we go .

[beowuuf]

Ameena would have no idea about the knowledge sharing of the grak-graks and Soorec, I'm assuming FR they only encountered Soorec in his room and otherwise the grak-graks were just some evil undead things. If you guys accept his offer someone, you'll maybe find out, otherwise it'll be something for you to worry about

[Ameena]

OOC - Heh, I really hope everyone else is as against Soorec's dictation as I am. I don't really know htf we can get otu of the current situation, but if we all split up chances are he'll probably have us all picked off - led into trouble by a grak-grak (or just plain attacked), or something. Plus given the state of the dead bloke and the Scorpion, I really wouldn't fancy being left behind in Soorec's room. He mentioned that a grak-grak would take Haynuus's form to communicate his physical wellbeing (or lack, thereof ), but didn't mention Ameena at all. I can't remember whether you confirmed/denied/refused to comment on my inquiry as to whether the group ever saw a grak-grak take Ameena's form or whether they only cloak themselves in an illusion and can't physically change shape enough to make themseles that small, or something. Then again, throughout this whole encounter there hasn't been one which took the shape of Falkor, who's only about a head taller than Ameena. Of course, Falkor was sort of pretending to be on Soorec's side for the most part...up till he nuked him, lol.

[beowuuf]

Exactly...the ickle ones in the FR probably weren't a threat compared to the tanks, and in the SR fight the only small fella was the one that woulnd't be duplicated anyway.

And lol, why are you so sure Soorec is gunna kill you guys? You are all so paranoid. I dunno if he's just a character that comes across liek that, or if people jsut don't trust the DM...

[Ameena]

OOC - Heh, maybe because we know Soorec is a bit...erm...unhinged. We know the grak-graks are undead, so their bodies must come from somewhere, and even if Soorec doesn't actually kill someone (though there is that dead body in the corner, isn't there...), I imagine he keeps them for experimentation and stuff. Like a vykker. Even if his goal isn't to kill the party, I don't imagine he'll do much to help them. I don't know how much he knows about the Soul Stone, but I bet he wouldn't be too happy if the party got hold of it. He's too unpredictable to risk trusting in any way, even if he didn't have the grak-graks to back him up.

[Ameena]

OOC - My IC posts will now be more detailed in the main thread, but I'll continue to omit some of her inner workings till she has a chance to explain everything to the rest of the group. Which is probably gonna take bloody ages if they're gonna be stuck with Soorec for a while . So I'll write out posts in proper detail here, as before, but not edit them quite so extensively any more.
Omg there's some kind of bloody car alarm going outside - it's been going for at least ten minutes now and it's bloody annoying. I hope I can maintain concentration to the extent that I don't miss out anything really obvious in this next post...

BIC - Ameena listens to Soorec's words with quite a large amount of confusion. He calls her a "seer", whatever that is, and seems to think she's the leader of the group. Well, she has eyes - of course she can see. But she decides that's probably not what it means. And as for being the leader...she's a murafu - they don't have leaders. Everyone just tends to work with and around each other to the greatest benefit and convenience to the group, without any one individual really taking charge. But she doesn't say that. She listens as Soorec talks himself into silence, finishing up with (OOC - Ooh yay the car alarm just stopped ) the suggestion that he, and several grak-graks, accompany the party.
Ameena is somewhat startled by this suggestion, which at least makes a change from the vast amount of confusion she's been experiencing throughout the rest of what he's been saying. He seems to think that Falkor is some kind of...cold-hearted, uncaring murderer. And that Ameena is in charge of everyone else. And...lots of other stuff. But it seems that maybe he won't try to kill Falkor just yet. But she can't be sure - even if he says he won't, she can't be sure. Why do other species use this dishonesty thing? It makes life so complicated and unpleasant. Unpleasantly complicated. Complicatedly unpleasant. Either. Both. Never mind.
Anyway.
Ameena glances around in the direction of a few of the grak-graks, making sure that she keeps an eye on any that might attempt to move toward Falkor. Then she speaks to Soorec. No need to tell him she's not in charge. If he wants to assume that, she supposes, she might as well let him.
"Umm...so..." she begins, feeling slightly clueless about the whole thing. "Umm...if you come with us, with your umm...friends...umm, well...we know they're a bit...I mean, I know you control them, but that's sort of the point. I mean, if you come with us, with all your grak-graks, you might just...try to kill us. Or Falkor, at least. There are lots of you. I suppose if you were really going to kill us you probably would have done it already..."
She realises she isn't really getting anywhere. She has an idea, something that murafu often use when they want something.
"Maybe we can...trade." she says. "You like knowledge, don't you? Information? Maybe I can tell you things about...about the outside world. I've travelled around - I know things about...things. I mean, I learn as I travel. About creatures, plants, taht sort of thing. I suppose...I suppose I have a different umm...perspective on other races. I mean, on races like humans. Maybe I could tell you things about them. I mean...I think, in some ways, gnomes are quite like murafu. That is, occasionally in the past I've met gnomes. They seem to like talking. And learning. So they're sort of similar to murafu in that way. Maybe we could talk about things. You might find it interesting."
Even as she says this, an idea is forming in her mind.
"Yes..."she says, thinking it over. "Maybe my friends could go and look for their priest. They...they might end up fighting. I don't really like doing that, but sometimes it seems...necessary. Against the kinds of creaturs down here. I mean, there are other creatures who are undead like your grak-graks, but they're not the same because no-one seems to be controlling them - they're like your grak-graks are when you're dead. They just destroy things. So we have to fight them because there's nothing else we can do with them unless we trap them somewhere, which hardly ever seems to be something we can do because it's always in a big open room or umm...an empty corridor, or something."
Ameena lets her rate of speech increase slightly - when in full-flowing conversation amongst each other, murafu tend to speak at a considerably faster speed than she has been. Due to the fact that this is a little too fast for many races, murafu learn to consciously adopt a somewhat slower tone when speaking to non-murafu.
"Sorry, I'm distracting myself, I think." she says. "Umm...so maybe the others can go. Let them go. They can deal with the priest. They know what they're doing - how to fight, that sort of thing. They won't need your grak-graks. I mean, the priest might get umm...scared, if he sees them. That is, if he knows you don't like him. Do you? Oh, well, I suppose it doesn't really matter. So umm...meanwhile, I could stay up here. We can talk. We can talk while we wait for them to come back. I can tell you things. I've been to plenty of places - maybe I know something you'd be interested in. And then when my friends get back, I can rejoin them and you'll know they succeeded. That's all you want, isn't it? For the priest to be dealt with? And if anything...bad...happens to them...well, to Falkor...then you won't have to kill him, will you?"
Ameena ends this rather rambling and extensive speech with a quizzical whisker-twitch and head tilt, awaiting Soorec's response.

OOC - And yes, that idea did pop up in my head at around the same time it occurred to Ameena - I haven't been sitting on it for a week or whatever . Oh and umm...I'm thinking Diplomacy might be useful at this point, soooo...21 (14+7). Hmm, not bad . So yes, basically Ameena is offering to stay behind and chat to Soorec (and hopefully get something to eat and drink and settle down for a nap too) while everyone else buggers off to deal with the priest and no grak-graks. And because Ameena is the "leader", that means she's valuable and they will definitely come back for her. Obviously Ameena, like the others, knows this isn't true. She has that murafu saying to fall back on - if they don't come back for her, at least she will have (hopefully) got Soorec and his "pets" off their tail, at which point she'll just have to hope that they remember the stuff about the Grey Lord and the Soul Stone and all that by themselves. Oh, well, she doesn't remember the Soul Stone herself just yet, does she? Well, you know what I mean .
And now I'll go and post this in the main thred (plus a couple of possible minor edits - for the most part this post will be pretty much identical as it's mostly speech - I'll also remove these rather lengthy OOC notes from each end of it ).

[beowuuf]

Hey, throw me a will save, would you? You're not conveniently ignoring the while reference to Fakor meeting Gholst and sliders coming for the group and the group killing solders for the armour without a save to back it up!

Also, can you maybe just put the edits here? Reading a long post, then trying to read a long post again to spot the differences takes time!

[Ameena]

OOC - Heh, about the only differences in that post were that I took out the references at the beginning to Ameena's confusion over Soorec calling her a "seer". You could alternatively just read the unedited version of posts here, since it's only some inner thoughts that will be missed out from posts now - the others will now see her thoughts, just not necessarily all of them.
I wasn't ignoring anything in Soorec's last speech as such, more a case of there was tons of it to read, it was around midnight, and there was that bloody car alarm going off. Ameena probably has about as much brain power left as I did then anyway. Maybe Soorec will let everyone have a snooze and stuff before they do whatever they're gonna do. Anyway...Will save = (yay) 21 (19+2) . That must be my best one yet...

[beowuuf]

Nice will save, you have actually managed to completely miss the implications of what was said, ratherthan have a sort of iffy miss. Well done. By the way, probably best to put things liek the dipomacy roll into the main thread, just so I know.

The point is I want to do the main update copying and pasting the main player updates, then acting on them. Then if you've got any behind the scenees ocomment,s etc, I'd do them separately here.