The van carrying our party heads east down Cullen Street toward the shore of the Incisor Sea. Inside the van, TRITHAL is still somewhat shaken by the whole experience he had in the previous episode.
Aelle: "Tsutaru, are you alright?"
TRITHAL: "Yeah... That was the most spiritually-stimulating experience I've ever had! ...Or, that Trithal has had anyway. This must have been how you all felt when you first met Thrax."
Hearing himself being referred to in third person despite only being 12 inches away, THRAX chimes in, "So, what did that 'shee-row-tah-mah' chick give you as we were leaving?"
TRITHAL withdraws the item from his pack and holds it up. When Palledoris saw what it was, she, also, became shocked and surprised and asked TRITHAL: "Wow! Do you have any idea what that thing is?"
TRITHAL: "Not a clue."
Palledoris: "Well whatever you do DO NOT lose it!"
TRITHAL: "Well, what the hell is it?"
Now acting like she may have said too much, Palledoris responds "... Well it would take too long to explain it in detail... Besides, we're here."
The van stops at the end of Cullen Street, right at the edge of the southern docks of Fafara. The party cautiously exits the vehicle and takes a careful look around. While doing so, TRITHAL decides to share an observation he has with the party...
TRITHAL: "I wonder who decided to call this body of water the 'Sea of Incisor'? It sounds like it maybe was discovered by a ship whose crew was charged with the responsibility of teaching elementary school kids how to brush their teeth... ya know... like the battalion Incisor Faction that came to our school in Dale Gorge while we were in the first grade."
After hearing TRITHAL say that, THRAX grabs a pillow from off-camera and whacks him with it.
TRITHAL: "Ow! What the hell was that for?"
THRAX: "That sounded like some retarded thing Chris would say!" (a'la Family Guy) "Hey everyone! Trithal's the new Chris!"
Rest of party (chanting): "Trithal's the new Chris! Trithal's the new Chris!"
CHRIS (to TRITHAL): "Ha! You're the new me!"
THRAX: "Shut up, Chris!"
The silliness of the scene was broken up by William, who said, "I think that's the place over there."
The party looks to the right to see the building William was pointing out. It's an older, somewhat large warehouse covered in red and black graffiti that stands about 20 meters from where the party is standing.
TRITHAL: "I wish there was a save point somewhere nearby, or we had one of those portable ones Balthisar had."
Rishna observes, "I think that's one over there." then points to a kiosk way-away from the group in the opposite direction from the warehouse.
THRAX: "Chris, why don't you go over there and save for us?"
CHRIS: "Why do I have to do it?"
TRITHAL: "'Cuz Thrax told you to. Now, andale!"
CHRIS: "Pssh! Dude, if you want me to do something, tell me in English!"
TRITHAL points his right index finger at CHRIS's feet then fires a small energy bullet through his finger, just barely missing CHRIS. This lights a fire under the ass of our useless, bitchy party member, and he high-tales it to the records kiosk and saves everyone's places.
While CHRIS is gone doing that, THRAX asks TRITHAL "Well, Trithal, since that back-stabbing bitch Ali isn't here anymore, can you use your telepathic powers to sense what's inside?"
TRITHAL boosts his power to where his eyes glow blue, concentrates for a minute, then says "Not from this far away."
A second later CHRIS rejoins the group with a receipt from the kiosk showing everyone's places have been saved.
THRAX: "Then I guess we need to get closer. Alys, can you erect a barrier around us just in case?"
In response, Alys invokes a spell she hasn't done in front of the party yet, then explains "This is my Soul Barrier. It's better than the Holy Barrier in that, not only does it protect us from attacks, it also makes us invisible."
CHRIS: "Well what's the point of that? If there's anyone there they would've already seen us by now."
THRAX slugs CHRIS in the shoulder for stating the obvious, then says "So what? Now they can't see us heading their way!"
CHRIS: "Oh yeah. That sorta makes sense."
William: "If you guys would excuse me, I think I'll retreat to a safer place than here and let you guys handle the dirty work."
THRAX: "Oh yeah. Sure. Go ahead. You've already done plenty to help."
Palledoris steps over to hug her old friend and says "Thank you very much, William. We couldn't have come this far without your help."
William: "Hey don't mention it. Don't hesitate to ask again if you need help."
William then parts from the group, gets in his van, and drives away from the scene to wait a few blocks away until it's over. The rest of the party (while hiding behind the Soul Barrier) advances toward the suspicious-looking warehouse. The closer they get, the more TRITHAL is able to sense.
TRITHAL: "I can definitely sense something inside. Whatever it is, it's either really huge, or there's a whole lot of 'em."
The party continues forward cautiously, shortly reaching the door to the warehouse. THRAX carefully opens the door a crack, takes a peek inside, then opens it the rest of the way and motions the party to enter behind him. Once everyone's inside, THRAX closes the door behind him. The party remains quiet as they scan the interior of the place... which seems devoid of any life forms of any kind. They do see a bunch of clutter scattered about... boxes, etc... and a structure to the left which seems like maybe the front office or something.
Out of nowhere, the party hears footsteps approaching, and someone saying in a semi-quiet tome, "I don't know! I think I heard the door open."
A second later, the party sees a short, darker-skinned dude poke his head out from around the corner and look around, then say, "I don't see anyone here, and the door is closed."
The guy who was with him says, "We should have a look around just in case."
The two of them proceed to look around the huge, mostly open warehouse when suddenly one of them lets out a startled scream as he's being held in a full-nelson by someone he couldn't see. The other guy, scared shitless, tries to run away... but hits the ground after being whacked in the head by an equally-invisible force. The two of them are then dragged across the floor and propped up against a work bench.
THRAX (in spooky voice): "WHERE IS RED PHILE?"
Guy #1 (scared shitless): "Dude, I don't know!"
Guy #2 (equally scared): "He ain't here anymore, that's for sure!"
Guy #1 kicks Guy #2 for saying that.
TRITHAL: "Where did he go, then?"
Guy #1: "uh... I don't know..."
Guy #1 feels the sharp edge of a sword press against the side of his neck, then in a fit of panic says some intelligible word really loud. Two seconds later the party is surrounded by a large group of bandits... while at the same time, some kind of infrared light illuminates the warehouse rendering the invisiblity factor of Alys's Soul Barrier ineffective.
Party (in unison): "Oh.... SHIT!!!"
... to be continued ...
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