Nig: "Okay, so it's basicaly seek and destroy... Uh... is estroying the generators enough, or should we try to overload them and cause some major structural damage as well?"

Rope: I say structural damage. I want my damn land back!

Rope continues before (what he expects to be) silence sits in.

Rope: I wanted to start a village with my girlfriend, Leya, and we came to these woods ten years ago to do it, with fourteen followers. Soon, the sligs came and destroyed our small village. We fought, and only I survived, but it cost me my eye. I've been in refuge since, and been trying to plan an infiltration.

Rope, surprised that this came out, sinks back against the wall. He sits quietly for a while.

drake sits down against the rock wall
drake's thoughts:"hmmm....should i have really told them about my secret"

drake looks at cursuv
drake:"no....i think they only completed the super killer part they hadn't finished the part of hatred for muds...but im not sure"

Cursuv: "Great, so we have a possible phycopath on the team"
*Sees the expression on Drake's face*
" Uh, sorry, I meant it as a joke... wish I hadn't said it now... but don't worry, it's fine that you tell us, if that's what you're worrying about. Probably even benificial."

(Ooc: Please note that mind reading is not a power of Cursuv's but that perception has revealed this insight to him.)

Nig doesn't do much, he just stares into the fire thinking.
Eventualy he realises something is trying to get his attention. He looks around, but only sees the others talking to themselves.
Something's... wrong. Fell's like...
Another vision, but it's... dark. *sigh*

Nig: "Um... I need to... focus a little, guys. Um... just... try and not touch me for a while, okay?"

Nig adjusts his sitting position to be more comfortable (and outside falling distance from the fire)
Okay, relax and focus...
Clear thoughts...
Now nothing...

(Ooc: Oh, yeah, that reminds me. I should have noticed it earlier...)
Cursuv: *After Nig goes to his trance, he realises that he should also be on sentry duty.*
"Ah, me too. Try not to disturb me..."
*Goes into a trance, to try and detect any enemies nearby*
...
*Leaves the trance after the most terrible feeling of nausea and horror.*
" I... we... it... we're... dark..."
*Trails off, unable to get his sentence complete*

Rope is concerned by Nig and Cursuv's trance. But, if it's what they had to do ...

Rope: I'll go find that body paint. Be back in a few.

He turns and hobbles deeper into the cave.

Nig's visions:

*I'm running... must run... it's behind me!*
"Drake!" *that sounded like Pyre*

*Where am I, it's too dark*
*Wait... this isn't real, it can't be.*
"You again?!" *No, not him*
"I am you, Nig. And you know that"
*You are not me. You're just my evil side... Why am I inside myself, I should be looking further*
"I'm not going to let you see anything until you leave me in charge."
*Dream on, you'll never control me*

"Oh, we'll see about that"
Nig's evil half (symbolised by a grey mask) floats towards the inner Nig.
*Never...*
inner-Nig moves his hand sharply into his chest, causeing him to fall backward.

Nig falls backwards, gasping for air.
Nig: "Not... a... vision...
... just... winded... to get... out...

I've got to find a safer way to explore."

Cursuv: *Calms himself for long enough to talk coherently*
"I felt a really evil presence when I started feeling around. It jumped at me as soon as I started. It was so powerful to my sences that I couldn't feel anything else... It was terrible..."

(Ooc: I've tried to stay as flexible as possible with this, so that it may co-inside with as many people as possible.)

(I don't mind if Cursuv finds out Nig's secret.)
Nig: "Okay... I can't tell anything about what's gonna happen.
Uh, I feel so useless." *covers eyes with hands and sighs*

Nig: "We need... to act. How long before we should head off, Rope? Oh right, he's not here..."

Rope: Yes, I am.

Rope had walked back in just in time to hear Cursuv.
Rope was pushing a big, earthen pot. In it was a very clear, thin, liquidy substance. Around his neck was a narrow paintbrush hanging from a narrow rope.

Rope: Okay, everybody, we leave sometime tonight, when everyone thinks they're ready. In the meantime, we need to get ourselves camoflagued. Check this action out.

Rope unties his paintbrush, dips it in the liquid, and brushes lightly under each eye, then on the back of his hands, and up the fronts of his legs.
Shortly thereafter, Rope begins to waver, and he starts to fade. Soon, he is transparent, but still slightly visible.

Rope: Like I said, it's not perfect. But you gotta admit, it's harder to see me now, huh? And in the dark, it'll be damned near impossible. Eh?

drake gets up and goes over to the liquid and starts painting himself

drake:.......wha?

before drake could say anything he was on the ground in serious pain

Pyre didn't hear the others. He was in his own trance, trying to fight off his inner anger. His eyes were two black orbs in his head as he kept them glued on the ground.

He didn't want to hurt anyone anymore.
"They won't go away... the nightmares... blood... so much blood... and pain.... Why won't it go away?!"
Pyre buried his face in his palms ans started gently rocking himself back and forth.

Suddenly,he snaps out of his trance and sees Drake squirming in pain.
Pyre cocked his head and watches. Something inside him is enjoying from the view.
He smiled, revealing a row of sharp teeth in his mouth.

"The Glukkons, Drake?", he cackled,"...are the glukkons still in your head? Are they troubling you too?", he said as he stood up- his black eyes remaining upon Drake.

(Ooc: Ah, but in my last post i was not refering only to Nig's secret; as Muse's last post just about properly revealed, the dark veil comes from not only one, but two sources.)

Rope is panicking. He is worried that the others will think he did this on purpose, somehow. He certainly never wanted anyone to get hurt, especially by something he made.

Rope: Whoa! Drake, what's going on? Are you alright? What's going on?

Rope calms down for a second, and then:

Rope: Somebody run down the hall and get a cupful of water. There is a basinful along the wall, you won't miss it.

Rope doesn't wait to see someone move. He starts making gestures with his hands over Drakes body, in an attempt to dull the paint's effect.

Pyre smiled, " I'll go get the water. You keep your eye on Drake... Incase his condition might get ...worse.", with those words, he left.

Pyre walked calmly down the hall. He stopped and looked for something to carry the water with. Soon he noticed a ceramic cup beside a crack on the cave wall. There was fresh spring water coming from withing the rock wall. Pyre picked up the cup and filled it with cold water.

He looked back at where he came from and he could hear Drake's wailing echoing around him. He grinned.

"...there's no need to hurry... "

Pyre drank the cup empty and filled it again. This time he poured the water to the already damp ground. He filled the cup yet again and finally started walking back to the others. When he got back, he handed the cup to Rope.
"Hopefully this'll help..."

Nig, too worried to move, can do nothing but stare at the rithing mass of Drake.
He's lost in shock, unable to help or move or think. Eventualy, he grabs the water-skin he had given to Drake and empties it over him.

drake:"uh...pyre..evil...kil...hel...ah!"

drake in tremendiuos pain was unable to finish his sentence.drake fixes his eyes on pyre as we walks closer to him.drake sees pyres black eyes.drake quickly grabbed his sword and as pyre came in striking distance drake thrusted his sword into the side of pyre's chest.the pain over drake started to dull down.drake struggled to get up on his knees.

Cursuv: *Thinking quickly and jumping to conclusions, Cursuv sneaks around the back of Pyre while he was being stabbed, and whacks him over the back of the head with his fists.*

(Ooc: This is without skill, he just curled up his fists and brought them down on Pyre. The effect is probably to be decided by TRM)

Pyre's eyes flash red as Drake's icy sword impales his chest. He roars is pain and pulls back, only to get knocked out by Cursuv. He sees everything go dark around him and falls limp to the ground.

"See? He doesn't trust you... He want's you dead! He is the one send by the glukkons to kill us all. He is manipulating the others..."

Pyre twitched and started coughing blood.

"You're gonna die if you don't do something..."

(Ooc: Wow, that was quick.)
Cursuv: (To a vanishing Drake) "Ok, I've just knocked out someone about twice my strength and twelve times my temper. If I don't have a good reason by the time he wakes up, I'll have knocked out someone who would want to kill me. But I'm sure it isn't natural for a guy to be growing fangs. Now, if you think that Pyre is evil, then I would half back you up. I would half suspect you like hell. I would not have beleived you at all if it weren't for the fact that I felt something dark when I was detectoring. I think it's some sort of possession, because I've been "detecting" plenty of times before now with him so close. Now, tell me exactaly what it was that you felt when you were rolling around the floor."
"Oh, and someone sort out Pyre before he coughs up his lungs. It may be a good idea to bind him before he wakes up as well. With something of heat restance. High heat resistance."

Nig, once again frozen with surprise, can't comprehend what happened.

Nig: "DRAKE... WHAT DID YOU DO?! By Odd, what just happened?!
I... I mean... wha...!

You could have killed him! Cursuv, why are you helping him kill the party?!
This... this is too much. Even if he IS evil, how can you kill him?"
Nig walks as far away from everyone as is possible in the small cave.

Rope, holding a now useless cup of water (thanks to Nig's quick wit), watches the whole spectacle in a kind of stupor. Nobody really notices that Rope has blanked out; they are all too busy musing over Drake.

So Rope takes a drink, and sets the cup down. He stands and slips back into the shadows ...

Rope thinks to himself ... "any time, now" ...

drake struggles to get up from his kness

drake:"*turns to cursuv*i....i could feel something in him....like something has possesd him"

drake pulls his sword out of pyre and chucks it into the water pool to the left

drake:"*turns to nig*your worried....worried that i COULD have killed him....he WOULD kill ALL of us without question"

drake stumbles to the ground next to pyre.drake takes his hand and puts it on pyre wound freezeing it which stopped the bleeding.

NIg: "How do you even know it's HIM!

Drake, you should know more than anyone that we can be controled. Forced to do things, horrible things...
You can't just stab someone... Brooke, can you help Pyre?... I'll... try to find something to bind him, just incase."

Cursuv: " It could have been worse. We could have had an enraged but wounded pyre and a disadvantaged Drake attacking each other, and that would not have been good. Next, I do not have enough strength to kill Pyre with my bare hands. Drake shuld not have stabbed him, true, but he did. I just tried to help the situation as a whole by knocking one of them out. Finaly, the fact that he may be controled seems like a good reason to immobilise him. Now, go and collect those binds. We can argue about ethics later. All that matters now is that everyone, including Pyre, be safe."

Nig's thoughts: Cursuv's right, not a time to argue. Deal with the problem, don't create more.
Nig: "Rope, this is your teritory. Anything easy to find that... might keep lava contained?"

Rope comes out of his (dark) meditation in the shadow almost fluidly. Hopefully, no one noticed that he had been hiding in the first place.

Rope: Lava containment? Are you nuts? There isn't anything that spews lava of any for miles! The terrain hasn't develpoed any sort of anti-lava thing.

drake"nig.....if you saw what i saw in pyre you would have done somthing too...."

drake gets up and goes over to a rock and sits down

drake:"we should get going everyone"

Nig, forgetting his task once hearing Drakes words, starts to confront the icy character.

Nig *to Drake* "Going?! Going where?!

If you think we can leave a companion, even a possesed one, to die, you've been too long without contact, Drake. First you kill, then you run. You have to deal with this. You protected yourself, fine. You injured someone who tried to help you, you can't just run from that."
Nig puses to look at the crumpled figure of Pyre.
Not again.... I won't let another friend die for nothing... Never again...

Nig: *to Drake* "If you don't help him, you will have lost an ally. If you can't save him, then I guess that's okay. I'm not gonna let you be responsible for the death of my companions, Drake. Help him, as he helped you when the sligs overpowered you and you lay, near death."

drake walked over to pyre and stared at him looking into his eyes

drake:"pfft.....he deserved it"

drake turned to nig

drake:"what the fuzzles would you know about what happend to me.....having a god damn saw cut you up and put mirco chips into you!.....being a toy for the glukks and vykkers so you can become a monster.....i killed my whole village all 70 muds couldn't stop me all because of what the vykkers did to me!.......if you ever talk to me about my past again i swear you will be on the ground next to your little friend pyre!.....do you think i could go back to civilization after what i had done.....frankly i dont have a clue why the shamans had chose me....."

Cursuv: "You should not leave Pyre to die. Period. I don't care what your past has made you think about yourself, you don't leave a companion behind if you can help it. We can help it. we don't leave him behind. Unless you want to live with that feeling for the rest of your life, you should begin to redeem those seventy lives with this one. Now, as you seem to have recovered, maybe you can use your expertise to help the situation."

Rope mentally thanks Cursuv's speech. He wasn't feeling up to the task of severly scaring the wits out of everyone, although he would have done it if the situation called for it.

Anyhow, Rope now spoke up.

Rope: Guys? It just occurred to me that we have no way to camoflague Drake, since the paint burns his skin ... I don't know what to do.

Nig: "Has anything like this happened before, Rope? The paint thing, I mean, did it ever burn others?"
Another thing Drake hinders us with... but not something I should blame him for...

Nig looks once more to Pyre, in time to see his injured form twist and moan.

Nig: "Although looks like we have a greater problem! Quick, everyone grab something that'll hold water, as big as you can find... and hope the evil's subsided...wait...

Drake, you're ice sword... could you use it as a shield defencivly if you needed to?"

Pyre opened his eyes and groaned. Everything was blurry, his chest was killing him and he had the bitter taste of blood in his mouth. He didn't have a clue what happened earlier.

"...Uh-ugh..."

Pyre struggled to get on his knees. He pressed his hand against the wound. His chest was icy and very, very sore.
He looked up, his eyes returned to normal, and saw Nig.

"Wh...What *cough* ...What ha-h-happened to...me...?"

Cursuv: "We'll tell you when you're in a position to listen. Don't move too much, we're going to try and help you."

Rope answers Nig's question.
Rope: No, not at all! I mean, I've never tried it on anyone other than me, and it's never been a problem. I thought that I had it down well ... but maybe it effects different skin types in different ways ...

Rope thinks to himself: That was a bit uncomfortable ... but I guess no one noticed. I'm safe for now.

Nig: "Skin type... true, it might be that."
*Nig turns to face Pyre*

Nig: "Don't worry, we think you might have... not been you for a while. It was like you were possesed... we had to act for our own safety"
If he finds out Drake stabbed him, one of them will end up dead.

Nig: "Uh, Brooke? Could you help Pyre? Just enough to stop the bleeding, not enough for a spring-in-his-step just incase it comes back"

drake turns to nig to answer his question

drake: yes.....yes you can

drake walked over to get his sword and then walked over to pyre

drake: ok....here goes

drake holds the sword infornt of him creating a large shield of frost and ice

Cursuv: *Watching the frost progress*
"That is so cool. I wish I could do that."