Celtic way.

[WhiteLily]

Don't get me wrong I love the rain, just not when it's those stupid showers

 

[Shadowseldil]

The snap of a wet shirt stirred a multitude of night bugs to flight on the dark plains. The snap repeated, and was followed by a grumbling or growling. "Stupid storms," a deep voice growled, "I'm going to be soggy for at least a day, and my pants are going to squish all night."
Another snap and more grumbling. "At least the ground didn't have time to get muddy. At least not too muddy." A thought rushed into his mind: the tracks! He twisted and turned about. It was too dark to see them. "If I move around, I'll certainly destroy them, if they aren't gone already. I wonder...That storm started in the south," he pointed in the direction he had seen the clouds, "and the trail..." he looked to the constellation, "runs that direction. Now, the storm runs nearly the same direction as the trail. Chances are that that storm was magical in nature, which means that someone created it to cover the tracks of the trolls."
Rus strained to remember, "Trolls aren't naturally magical, if I remember right. Which means that someone else is involved in this whole ordeal. Now, if the trail runs that direction and the storms were in that direction, then whoever made that storm would be..." he made a few adjustments to his pointing, and said "there" as he sighted where his pointing overlapped. He checked the stars, and made a mental note of where this point was.
He stretched out his shirt and dabbed it against his face, only to find that it was still fairly wet. He gave a frustrated sigh as he snapped it again. It was going to be a long night.

 

[Unity of the brethren]

"Well that was refreshing, something tells me that whoever or whatever caused that storm still isn't aware of our approach. I say that because you really don't just make it rain on a sea dragon like that and not expect to get stronger......we still have the element of suprise."

 

[WhiteLily]

*Is hardly listening and says vaguely* Yeah...right... surprise...

 

[shadowed_eyes]

Maelui smiled and nodded. She swept her thoroughly drenched hair back and shook it around a bit, it began to dry in ringlets and deep waves and as they continued to walk, she saw ahead of her, a dark silohette (sp?) and it making random pointing motions, she smiled, and after a few more feet, she recognised the shape as Rus. Runnoing over, she knelt beside him and his frustrated snapping made her smile return, "Are you alright? And what was all that pointing about?"

 

[Shadowseldil]

(((Umm... Rus was standing, but we'll go with it...)))

Rus, decided that standing and griping was not going to help matters. Instead, he took to sitting and griping, at least this way he could get some rest.
"Are you alright?" came a voice that made him jump, "And what was all that pointing about?"
Rus turned to see Maelui kneeling next to him. "Maelui, what are you doing here?" and then added with a bit of a scowl, "Did you decide to follow me out here? It could be dangerous out here, especially at night. A group of trolls could come trouncing along in the dark and make quick work of you. You should have waited in the village."

 

[shadowed_eyes]

Maelui laughed a sort of silvery, high-pitched laugh that one would expect from a female of noble birth, "There are scarier things hiding in the night than trolls Rus, and i am but one of them. Psychic Vampires, we prefer night and feed off others energy, we absorb the powers and strength of our victims rendering them almost dead. I need little protection from trolls. Anyway, I am not here alone, the others are quickly following behind, i saw you over here and came to make sure you were ok."

Maelui smiled sweetly, she hoped she had not alarmed Rus with her rapid tale of her kin, so she quickly added, "Of course, i do not take the life force out of those whom i know, or indeed, their close family and friends. There are certain rules. The shamans in the forests provide me with the 'food' i require on most occastions. And the mage has done a wonderful job seeing to a back-up plan with this blue crystal. You have nothing to fear in me."

 

[Shadowseldil]

Rus listened to Maelui describe her people. He was aware of vampires, but this was new. A vampire that fed off of people's energy. He pushed aside he curiousity to give attention to more important things.
"The others are here? I thought they were not starting until tomorrow. Well, no sense in going on if we're all here. There isn't much of shelter here, but there isn't much shelter anywhere on these plains.
"But tell me about your kind; how is it you became such? A vampire that feeds off of people's energy? Do they come to be the same that vampires come to be? Or are you naturally born this way?"
Rus checked himself. "I'm sorry," he said, his gruff voice becoming a little gentler, "I don't mean to intrude, it's just that I have never heard of your kind before."

 

[shadowed_eyes]

Maelui smiled, "Don't apologise, if i were in your position, i would want to ask more questions than that."

She moved to sit beside him on the wet earth and looked back as the shadows of the others began to come closer, perhaps she could finish this tale before they arrived? "Psychic vampires are almost exactly like vampires that you hear of traditionally, we are created, not born, by a sudden need for life. Generally we come into being following an attack or a near death experience that leads us so desperatly clinging to life that we take it from the nearest living thing, and because we are still waiting to die as we should have, we need to keep replenishing the enrgy or else we will die. Others though, are actual vampires who choose not to live off blood, but off the life force that surrounds a person, hence the energy."

Maelui smiled and flashed her fangs, "I am a mix of both. I was fighting alongside my family in a city a long way from here when i fell on the battlefield. My will was too strong to see my death and i absorbed the life force of the nearest creature, which just so happened to be an actual vampire, he was rather angry at my actions, and he bit me. I choose to live off the life force around people, as opposed to killing them. Common courtesy... but the trolls may escape that..."

She thought... "Does that answer your questions Russ?"

 

[WhiteLily]

*Zita was straightening her wet arrows and bow as she approached Rus and Maelui,* Hey, what's up you two?

 

[Shadowseldil]

Rus turned to look at Zita, "I felt it was best to camp here tonight, so that I would be able to make it back to the village by tomorrow evening, but since everyone is here, there is no nead for me to go back. I figured it would be best to camp here until morning anyway, since it would be hard going in the dark. Come, sit. The ground may be wet, so you might want to sit on something. Is the other one here, the mage or whatever he is?"
Rus looked at the wood he had collected, and thought of asking for a tinderbox, but since the wood was wet now, it would do no good anyway. "Does anyone happen to have a sharpening stone? I lost mine."

 

[WhiteLily]

*tosses him hers and sits on the ground* I don't mind getting wet.

 

[Shadowseldil]

Rus grabbed at it, but it was wet and thus slippery. "Great," he muttered as he felt around for it. "Thank you Zita. My axe is a bit dull, and since we've nothing better to do, I might as well sharpen it."
His hand passed over the stone, and a smile passed over his face. He took his axe across his lap and began sharpening. "No need to wet it, thanks to the rain."
As he stroked the stone across the blade, he attempted to make some small talk. "Zita, tell me why it is so important that we pursue these trolls, aside from revenge."

 

[WhiteLily]

They took a very powerful moon stone from my home, if they use it, they could control the moon, the sun, and the stars. We need to get it back

 

[shadowed_eyes]

Maelui coughed as she heard what Zita said, "Not much then eh?"

she ran her tongue over her fangs and thought about long ago on the battlefield, but her thoughts returned to her as she looked into the dark and wondered where the mage had gone ot, and indeed, what was his name?

 

[Shadowseldil]

Rus' face wrinkled as he suddenly realized the extent of the task before them. He thought for a second, than asked another question to Zita.
"Zita," he started, still in thought, "Would that pendent allow someone to control the weather?"

 

[WhiteLily]

*thinks* no... that's the Earth stone

 

[Shadowseldil]

Rus rubbed his chin and furreled his face further. "How many of these stones are there?"

 

[WhiteLily]

Three, Earth, Moon, and Time

 

[Shadowseldil]

"And what would happen if someone gathered all three?"