[005] [text] and/or [commentlog]

[sacredbrand]

New arrivals-

I am sorry for your losses. Words fail to describe.

[No. No, that isn't right. Too personal, too dread.]

If you need any help adjusting, I offer mine.

[In smaller writing, at the corner of the message in quick, jerky handstrokes:]

Joe- may we speak?

[That's the end of it, but passerby can find Nel playing in the lake I

Comments

[Audio]

[drinkuntilidie]

Hey, where are you?

[Might as well tell her what he's planning too.]

[text]

[sacredbrand]

By the lake. Do you need me?

[Audio]

[drinkuntilidie]

Hang on, I'll be right there.

[Off to the lake he goes. A few minutes later Kevas shows up at the lake and settles down next to Nel.]

[commentlog]

[sacredbrand]

[In her hand and in the water are a series of ice-flakes. They look remarkably alike, but aren't the same. That's the point of the exercise, to try and perfectly replicate, down to the last groove, her creations.]

Something has come up?

[commentlog]

[drinkuntilidie]

[Kevas watches her with some interest. He might not be able to do it himself but he understands the point of it.]

I'm heading into the forest soon. Thought you might have some advice, plus I wanted to keep you in the know.

[Just in case he suddenly vanishes.]

[commentlog]

[sacredbrand]

[He has the potential for some of it, though whether or not they could resume lessons here in the Keep is up in the air.

Successfully distracted, her frown turns on him.]

Thank you for telling me ahead of time. What do you know about the forest and the creatures inside it?

[commentlog]

[drinkuntilidie]

[Kevas wouldn't say no to learning whatever she can teach him. In places like this he'll take every edge he can get. At the very least the extra training could be helpful.

By now he's more than used to that frown.]

Heard some of it from Jack, but I take everything he says with a grain of salt. Took a map from him too. Talia told me about the golem and just how clingy it is to its things. That's about it.

[commentlog]

[sacredbrand]

[The flake she's been working on in the center of her palm thickens as her frown turns into a narrow-eyed sneer. Nel hasn't realized the flake is a failure yet.]

Ah, Jack. [That loud, nonsensical fool who didn't know the meaning of 'time and place'.] You're right to mistrust him, at least. Did he mention that the fanged deer in the forest hunt in packs?

[commentlog]

[drinkuntilidie]

[Kevas can't help but notice that. Perhaps she's the 'fool ladymon' that he went on about. Knowing her it's a miracle she didn't just leave him in there.]

There's a lot of mons I mistrust. [Kevas nods his head.] He mentioned something about pig deer. Didn't mention them hunting in packs though.

[commentlog]

[sacredbrand]

Of course he didn't. How could it ever be vital information?

[He does know her so well. Nel came very close to icing him to a tree and leaving him for the predators lurking in the brush-- the noise that he made would actually benefit them instead of draw the hunters closer to the posse.]

In all seriousness, they do. We met one or two at first, but they tried to flank us and would not be frightened away. A show of force scared the survivors off. There are carnivorous plants living in the forest as well. One got into the leg of the man wearing a bird-mask-- Malkus, I believe?

[commentlog]

[drinkuntilidie]

[Kevas smirks.]

At least now I know not to feed them.

[Now that would have been a sight. Kevas would have hated missing it.]

By the Loa, is there anything here that doesn't want to eat us? Remind me to never water the plants around here.

[While he may not appear to be taking this very seriously, Kevas is taking all of Nel's advice to heart. She hasn't steered him wrong yet.]

[commentlog]

[sacredbrand]

[And nor will she, given a choice.]

If it would endear you to the plantlife, I would actually recommend doing so, but that remains to be seen. I don't suggest you try.

[She glances disgustedly at the fat ice formation, dropping it into the grass. Nel starts on another.]

There is quite the army of them guarding the path to a tower. Don't go there unless you have some form of protection. They and the deer are the main threats we've encountered, aside from the golem. That doesn't mean there are not more.

[commentlog]

[drinkuntilidie]

We can have Jack try it and see what happens to him.

[He chuckles again and then looks to the flake that Nel drops to the ground. Maybe he should hurry this up so Nel can concentrate.]

Guess it's a good thing I'm good at getting around armies then.

[Kevas nods his head.]

Hope for the best and expect the worst. Just like always.

[commentlog]

[sacredbrand]

[Tempting. She contemplates the image of the reeking pirate tossed to the floral hordes, and a cold little smile flickers over her jaw.]

We haven't yet tried distracting the creatures with decoys. For lack of convincing ones, mostly.

[commentlog] FFFF I THOUGHT I TAGGED THIS

[drinkuntilidie]

[She's not the only one with someone in mind. There's a well dressed scumbag somewhere in the keep that Kevas wouldn't mind using as a sacrificial lamb.]

I could t'ink of a mon or two dat no mon gonna be missin'.

[commentlog] HOW DARE YOUUUU

[sacredbrand]

[Nel is generally an all-around good person, so the fantasies will remain fantasies until the pros vastly outweigh the cons of cruelly using even hated Keep guests as fodder.

She still makes an interested noise in her throat.]

Care to name them?