An Epidemic of Epidemic proprotions

[Chronos]

"All well and good," Ensichrys said somewhat anxiously, "but we still need to find the original point of entry that the goos used to invade Blackstar. We may find some of the actual goos themselves there. We may do well to take a sample of what their bodies are composed of."

[TheBlackSoul]

The Morbuzak waited patiently for the group to move on, listening to every word that had been spoken so far.

Ensichrys's statements were quite interesting to it. Goos? It had never seen any goos. Then again, it never was one to pay attention to what pitiful humans and animals were doing. Regardless, it was enough to change its mind entirely about what it thought about the group.

Rather than being their enemy or just plain following them around, it was going to try to help them instead.

[Shine]

While the others talked about boring stuff, Emler bounced outside. He bounded off a little ways inorder to "relieve" himnself, as was his morning ritual. Unbeknownst to him, he ended up not to far from where the Morbuzak was.

S'klu droopings are an excellent source of nutrients for most forms of plantlilfe. After last night's fine feast this morning excretion was exceptionally so. Feeling several pounds lighter, Elmer began to make his way back towards the mill.

(( I am soon going to have to pack up the computer as our family is moving. Until we get the internet set up in our new town, my game time will be very limited. I could RP as though I am going solo to another of the sights,(I know about Corp Dev. 1 & 2) or I could just tag along silently with the group. Any ideas?))

[Mitsukai]

((Hmm... we could just have the two of them with us the whole time so when you come back you just pick up from where we are instead of where we left off. *shrugs* Whatever you think will work the best for you.))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nynaeve gazed at Ensichrys with a thoughtful expression. "Are you alright?" she asked him, a bit worriedly.

[Chronos]

Ensichrys blinked at Nynaeve. She never ceased to amaze him with her insight. "Actually, something is bothering me. Nynaeve, I'm not from Blackstar. What if I was the one who brought this terrible illness on the innocent inhabitants of this realm? I don't know what I would do with myself. Or worse, what would everyone else do to me?"

[Mitsukai]

She placed a reassuring hand on his arm before smiling softly.

"Shh.. don't worry. I'm not from Blackstar either, and I doubt that it was us that brought the illness. If we were truly the source, then wouldn't it have happened sooner? And the children at the Academy... very few are Blackstar Natives and yet they've all contracted the disease. I think it's a different source that we are looking at."

[Tala Lupe]

Tala yawned widely, her show of teeth and tongue that went along with it accompanied by that slight whine that canines did.

"I don't think a lot of us are Blackstar Natives, I wouldn't worry about it. Let's just keep going so then we are at least trying to help"

[Chronos]

Ensichrys turned his head straight and looked up. "You're right. It couldn't have come from one of us. None of us had even heard of this illness before." Ensichrys gazed into the distance, as if he could see something glinting far away.

"We should leave now. I can't stand this musty old rotted mill. Wood chips in my feathers, splinters in..." he trailed off mumbling about how dirty the place was.

[TheBlackSoul]

The Morbuzak, who had been waiting quietly, tunneled after Ensichrys, it too wanting to hit the road. At the same time, it tried to figure out a way to win over the friendship of the group without losing nutrients or getting parts of it burnt or hacked off.

[Chronos]

Mortracta stirred. Something was not right. She spread her roots out and braced for any signature.

Enischrys...
The Guardian...
The bouncy little one...
And then something familiar caught her attention. That same terrible hunger she had felt before. The Morbuzak was coming, but something was different. It was not driven by malice this time, but with a sincere will to help.

What had happened? Mortracta sent another chemical message to Ensichrys.

Morbuzak videor repeto. ((The Morbuzak seems to return/ask back))

Ensichrys snapped his head to Mortracta. "Quinam?!" ((What?!))

He turned to the others. "Um, everyone, I think our thorny monstrosity is back! Be on your guard!"

[Tala Lupe]

Talas ears pricked up hearing this. Thorny little friend? Sounds like they'd had some sort of plant trouble. The werewolf stood and stretched herself, before what might look to be something very strange happened.

Her front paws and toes began to grow longer, until they began forming fingers whilst the gap between her ankles and feet grew shorter, as the legs grew longer. Bones cracked, creaked and bended as Tala began to regain her human form. Her ears became shorter and more rounded as they migrated to the sides od her head whilest her muzzle shrank. Her nose became pink and less wet whilst her teeth shrank and rearranged themselves. The bones and muscles in her shoulders changed positions as she stood up on two legs whilst the fur and tail receded back into her body. All except on her head, which grew until it became silvery, shoulder length hair.

Her silver coloured clothes were revealed once the shaggy fur had receded, and once she opened her eyes the colour had changed from yellow, to brown. Tala smiled and stretched, making sure everything was working as it should be.

"So, who or what is this 'thorny friend' of yours then?"

[TheBlackSoul]

((Umm, the Morbuzak isn't hungry. It fed during the night-time. Just thought I'd point that out.))

Snap!

The Morbuzak promptly stopped moving, and the large plant became as stiff as stone, not moving an inch. If that other plant-thing decided to attack, it wasn't going to waste the energy. It was going to turn around and run.

[Mitsukai]

"Something we unfortunately met up with earlier..." she trailed off in response to Tala's question, the memories of the battle still fresh in her head.

[Chronos]

((Mortracta's familiar with the Morbuzak's mindframe. I didn't mean 'hunger' in the literal sense of requiring nutrition, but 'hunger' as more of a 'subdued desire'. Perhaps I should've cleared that up.))

"It's definitely not a friend, miss. This is an immense plant creature that rivals Mortracta in strength. She's able to handle the Morbuzak, but it's clever. It might have found a way to take her down!"

Secus! Hoc peto venia! Hoc opto succurro. ((Otherwise than that! It seeks forgiveness! It wants to assist.)) Came Mortracta's chemical message

"Succurro," repeated Ensichrys. That's what I'm afraid of. 'Succurro means literally to 'run up under.' Perhaps he was being too analytical.


"Keep your guard up, people. Apparently it wants to help us, but I don't know that for sure."

Mortracta strained herself to extend a peace offering through chemical signatures in the soil. The Morbuzak could not understand these, but she may be able to reach him on an emotional sub-conscious level. It was worth a try.

[Mitsukai]

"I never said it was a friend," she retorted. "But perhaps it can be..."