Kitsune and Black Cat led the way as they continued down the path. The sounds of the forest continued to be spooky and shadows still tried to flirt with some of the weaker willed among them, but for the most part the mentalist had helped everyone balance the effect of the forest spirits...or as some might fear, help them ignore what was actually a very real threat.

Kitsune searched in front of them and slightly to the side where she was, as opposed to Black Cat's end. She felt more confident, it's true, but there was something interesting about both new arrivals here. I can tell conversation for tonight ought to be very interesting, assuming we get to that point.

Aloud, she said, "Anyone see anything of interest here?"

Calypso muttered under her breath, almost inaudibly, "'Sides a peck o' dodgy gits and a pidgeonbrain? Nae."

Ashutosh snorted at Calypso's comment and shot her an amused look. It's nice to not be the only one who doesn't think all this stuff is business as usual, he mused. His eyes swept back to the forest, but he his thoughts bubbled over with questions about "London Below."

Calypso continued to watch the forest though, both out of interest and suspicion. She'd never come this far before, and as long as she wasn't becoming plant food, she was quite keen to explore a bit. She strayed a bit towards the edge of the path, peering through the foliage for who knew what before darting quickly back to her place in the file next to Ashutosh.

The cheerleader walked along next to Dylan, slightly behind Black Cat and Kitsune. Even though she was much more relaxed, she still looked suspiciously at the vegetation as they wound deeper into the forest.

They traveled with no incident to the bend in the path that they couldn't see around. All the while, Nocturne could feel the melodic presence getting closer. With each step the beautiful sound of her mind surrounded him and he could feel that she had opened up to him once again. Once they rounded the corner they saw a most unusual site, lying near the edge of the path, under a gorgeous oak tree.

A white horse lay there on the ground, his slender neck turned away from them, his tender muzzle resting on the ground, hiding his face. His silvery white mane glistened in the sunlight that streamed down from the glass panes that made the ceiling of the forest. Leaning against the horse was a sleeping maiden, her clothing was from a time long past, and her hair seemed to be spun from sheer gold. Neither made any move as the heroes paused to look at them closer.

"Like something out of a fairy tale, almost," Kitsune murmured. This did not hearten her, since fairy tales had a habit of being bloody and violent, at least until they were cleaned up for the consumption of children.

"Oh...it's beautiful!" Barbie's tone was hushed but full of wonder as she looked at the unexpected site of the snow white horse, and the contrasting beauty of the maiden.

"Maybe the troll got a makeover," whispered Ashutosh. It wasn't entirely a jest. Perhaps they shouldn't trust anything they encountered in the forest. Then what about our two new friends? he thought glumly.

Standing right next to him as she was, Calypso heard the comment. "May'ap," she returned, just as quietly. They were lovely, she thought, fine as statues, or as any of the courtly ladies she'd seen at a distance, or any of the Velvets, and she knew full well no good came from them.

"It's her," Dylan said to the group. The way that he sounded left no doubt that it was the same her from earlier. The one that had him so vexed. "Give me a minute with her."

Kid needs a leash, Ashutosh thought.

While the others took in the beautiful and unexpected sight, Dylan knew for absolute sure that the sound in his mind was emanating from that source. And even as the realization struck him, he felt her soft voice in his mind again. {Please do not disturb my slumber. Time goes so much faster when I sleep.} Her mental voice sounded melancholy as it resounded in the walls of his mind.

{Who and what are you?} He sent his thoughts across the link they shared? {Why must you sleep, and why must time pass for you? We truly do mean you no harm, unless you are to prevent us from saving this place and us going home.}

{You can not comprehend what I am, my name is....} Dylan heard a musical sound that touched his body more than it registered in his ears, it was both magnificent and unsettling and nothing that he could place.

As he recovered from the exquisite feeling of lingering rapture that her name evoked, she continued. {I will not harm you or keep you from passing. I would come with you if I truly thought you would leave this cursed place. I have been trapped here for countless years. In my sleep I have the beauty of my dreams, dreams of my home and my family. When I wake...I see only this cursed place with its cursed minions. I could destroy them all, but it would get me no closer to the beauty of my home.}

None of the others had argued against it, so Dylan continued. He floated into the air and approached the woman, careful not to touch her. As he gained some altitude and came closer, he could see that the horse was not a horse, but instead a unicorn.

Dylan hovered and searched her face as an idea struck him. He pushed his own notes of music through their link. He created a series of harmonic counterpoints to join with hers. She accepted his tune and he could sense the faintest touch of pleasure lighting the melancholy depths of her mind.

{What if I tell you we are going to leave? You do not deserve to sit here and dream of your home. You deserve to be home.} Dylan resolved the minor chord to a diminished third in the hopes she would feel the emotion behind his thoughts and the duet they were now playing. {Please wake and come with us. I promise you that I will help you get home.}

Dyaln could feel a wry chuckle coming from her, but it wasn't humor that she felt. {It isn't wise to make promises that you don't know if you can keep, but your sentiment is well received and appreciated. If you find the key to get back to your home, then you may come for me, if you wish. I am a great power and it's better that you leave me to my slumber. If you wake me, I can not know that I won't somehow hurt you or your quest, it is better that I lay dormant lost in my dreams, they are not haunted like yours, my young friend.}

Dylan drifted up and back a little as she spoke to him. The kid was torn between his desire to help her and his desire to let her be.

"She's asleep," he finally announced to the group to get their opinion. "Apparently she, too, is trapped here, and doesn't want me to wake her. She says that she is very powerful, but the ugliness of this place saddens her, and she wishes to see the beauty of her home instead. I told her to come with us, but she fears our safety if she was to come with us. If we find the key home, however, she would like us return for her."

"Well...that's just so sad. I don't understand how she's safe here. It certainly isn't a place that I'd curl up to take a nap." Barbie sighed and shrugged her shoulders, obviously used to living with the many things she didn't understand.

Ashutosh frowned, started to speak, and frowned again. If no one else was rushing to ask the obvious question - Should we trust her? - then he wouldn't put his foot in it. Instead he asked,"Does she know anything about the keys? Or the troll?"

Throughout the boy's exchange with the sleeping woman, Calypso's gaze flitted back and forth between the forest and her new companions. Her eyebrows rose however when Ashu asked his question. Glancing around at the group, she remarked to no one in particular, "Trolls an' keys, li' some bloody quest? Ye go' angels an' dragons next?" She flashed a wry grin, and there wasn't any complaint or accusation to her tone, just cheerful sarcasm. "Seems as one o' you lot could tell the rules for thems of us as missed the start o' the game afore too long?"

Barbie's head tilted in cofusion as Calypso spoke. She was still trying to decipher what she had said when Black Cat started to reply.

The Black Cat had been silent for the past few minutes, watching the trees and the path ahead. The lovely woman and horse did not put him in a mind to relax, but quite the contrary. Everything looked suspicious now, and the more alluring things looked more suspicious because of it. The banter and chatter of the group with him did not provide him with comfort, because they just meant that whatever was quiet in the woods had more information than he had.

"Okay, the rules," he said. "You are in a mansion or castle, and it is a universe by itself, with it's own rules. There are at least two groups here, competing with each other to make reality be one way or another. Until one group wins, the castle stays like it is. They won't cooperate with each other. People keep getting kidnapped by this place to try to sway the battle one way or the other. If we can find a few scrolls we can find a tomb and then we can decide what to do and maybe go home, or we can die trying, or we can live as prisoners like the Fex. They have been here for years." Vincenzo knew nothing he had just said made any sense at all. "Pretend you are in a dream. Dreams have their own reason. This place is like that. You cannot argue a dream's reason." He went back to looking at the trees and the path, and trying to filter the sounds of the forest over the conversation of his merry band of involuntary tourists.

Bombshell shook her head sadly and decided that following would be the easiest thing for her to do. Understanding this place and the rules seemed complicated and she knew from experience, that asking the many questions she had in her head would be distracting and likely unappreciated.

"Be sure to ask the Professor to explain further," advised Ashutosh. He tried to catch Black Cat's eye and share a smile over that idea. So far the Italian hadn't been the friendliest of men, at least to anyone lacking an hourglass figure, but perhaps Ashu hadn't tried his hardest either.

"Not that any of us would understand the answer," Kitsune put in, the humor in her words somewhat marred by the tension they all felt in this place.

Dylan floated about as he glanced first at the woman, then at the group, then back to the woman. "So," he said. "What are we to do? Do we leave her," the kid asked as he continued to play musical duets with her.

He started to broadcast Days of Future Passed for her and awaiting her reaction to the early Moody Blues album that had been a favorite of his for years. He could tell that his efforts were appreciated by the way she opened to him, the blue colors of her mind undulating softly into brighter hues.

"Let sleeping blonds lie, eh?" the Black Cat advised. "Tell her you'll free her or die trying, and then let's find a bridge to look under."

Dylan nodded and told the woman to rest easy until they returned for her. He then drifted back to the ground and assumed his position within the group.

The group walked past the girl, Ashutosh and Calypso more leery than the rest, watched her closely for any stray breath or movement. As they passed the others could see what Dylan had observed earlier, and that the horse was a Unicorn, very much like Kitsune had predicted, a fairy tale creature for sure.

Dylan could feel her musical presence lingering in his mind and could feel her as she spoke again. {Thank you Dylan. May the luck from all the worlds that coalesce here be with you.} As they continued away from her, the teenager had a vision in his mind.

It was as if he was flying high above some beautiful canyon, the trees below dotting the rolling hills. He could almost feel the wind in his face as the creature he was flying on scooped lower into the sky. As he raced through the clouds he could feel the rough golden scales beneath his hands, and as he took in the creature underneath him, he saw the breathtaking beauty that was a Golden Dragon.

Dylan slowed and floated in the air again as he joined her on the flight in his mind's eye. He smiled as she mentally danced and sang with him, and he let her hear more songs like White Bird by It's a Beautiful Day, and finished with the sweeping sounds of Renaissance and their song Sounds of the Sea. Sadly, he drifted back to the ground and left her with but one more glance.

The heroes were alert as they continued their stroll through the forest, the exotic scents and the sweet sounds of birds and insects singing in the background, would have made the trip enjoyable under different circumstances. However, at the moment they were seeking a troll if Jean Louis' words were true.

They went a goodly distance without incident down the winding path, slowing at turns where the trees were to thick and the angle too abrupt to see beyond. It was at such a turn as this, where Kitsune and Black Cat slowed again as they made their cautious approach. The heroes could hear a slight gurgling sound, and Ashutosh had the pleasant feeling that water was running nearby.

The group paused collectively as they heard the high pitched plea of someone on the other side of the dense foliage. "Please don't eat me, Mr. Troll, my brothers, who are right behind me, are much bigger and fatter than I am." Before the heroes could rush in to help, they heard the deep gravelly voice of the Troll as he replied.

"All right you pass. I wait for brothers... I eat you on way back." There was a crisp clickety clack as something hurried away.

Kitsune's flaming sword dropped a little at that, and internally she began cursing her Author in a couple of different languages. "I do not believe I just heard that," she admitted softly. "And for me, that's saying something."

"And it's just going to get weirder, isn't it," Ashutosh replied nervously. He vaguely remembered the fairy tale about the goats and the troll, but the details escaped him. "Should we say we have bigger, juicier brothers behind us?"

Calypso just rolled her eyes. It was like hearing really awful storytelling.

"What I said earlier about looking for a bridge and a Troll?" the Black Cat asked. "Was a joke. Scrum up, everyone, we need to plan real quick." He gestured with his long arms for everyone to close ranks around him.

"Nocturne, can you make it sound like someone is walking trip trap trip trap across that bridge? With your mind, I mean." The Black Cat did not intend to condescend, and was trying actively not to. The kid was playing a grown up game, and treating him like a kid would hurt all of them. He was more specific because the risks were too great for the language barrier to be the thing that got someone killed.

Dylan shook his head at Black Cat's request.

"No, it doesn't work that way," he replied. "I could try and get inside it's head and make it feel things, but the only illusion I can create is based upon its own dreams and nightmares. I can't control what it sees and hears."

"Well, that's a good idea too," the Black Cat replied, "but I don't know what that would be. What scares a troll?"

"D'ye need to talk to 'im, er can we jus' go 'round? Can yer flyin' friend there--"she pointed at Blitz--"can 'e take us over?"

"He has the key we need, or so we have been told," the Black Cat said. "How long is that hair of yours?"

Calypso shrugged and with a tiny jerk of her head a couple locks arced out about 6 meters. "Bit longer than tha', but it can' do much clever past there."

As the heroes huddled together, formulating their plan, Blitz and Bombshell kept a watchful eye on the path in front of them. They heard a ripple in the water and then a few moments of silence before the gravelly voice of the Troll broke through the peacefulness of the jungle again.

"Who I smell?!" His voice was heavy with agitation, not at all interested in being out smarted by the goat-man brothers. There was a heavy thud on the wooden bridge followed by a peculiar creaking sound.

Bombshell took a couple of steps backwards until her back was pressed into Black Cat. "I think he knows we're here." Her voice was hushed but urgent.

"He doesn't sound like the strongest mind there is - you want to try something?" The Black Cat asked Nocturne.

"No permission necessary," added Ashutosh, setting a new speed record for putting his foot in his mouth.

Calypso cleared her throat to hide her smothered laugh.

Dylan flashed a quick glance at Ashutosh before he looked at Black Cat.

"Watch my back," the kid said. "I need to see him first."

Without waiting Dylan floated in the air until he could spy the troll. Nocturne rose several feet off of the ground until he was able to see the troll through the a break in the dense vegitation. He couldn't see all of him yet, but what he could see was imposing and was intent on coming out from under the bridge. As soon as he saw him, Dylan reached out with his mind control to try and shift the troll's desire to help the group.

Kitsune remained uncharacteristically quiet as she sifted through her immense catalog of Japanese honorifics, unsure which one to use to address something so big and ugly and smelly properly. She did follow/flank Nocturne as he floated into the troll's view, flaming sword ready to take a chunk if it needed to do so.

Dylan looked at the beast as he reached out to connect with the creature's mind. "There is no need to get yourself all worked up, " he said as he smiled at the troll. "We are your friends. We are sorry to bother you this way, but we need to cross your bridge. I was telling my other friends just a moment ago how I knew you would be happy to see us. May I tell them it is alright for them to come out now?"

The teen sliced through the Trolls mind and could feel its hunger and commitment. The bridge was his territory and he could taste the ferocity with which he was prepared to guard it. He could see the carnage of the monster's savage teeth as the backlash of his power hit him, and he could taste the blood of beast's last victim. The vicious troll looked up at the sound of his voice and tried to spot him through the thick foliage that was hiding him. His mind wavered at Nocturne's request but with a quick shake of his head, he powered past the mentalist's request to be friendly and roared.

"NO! Feeee-Oh-Na say me guard bridge! No hu-man may cross." With a mighty step, the Troll's large clawed feet, brought him to the entrance of the bridge, where he crouched low to the ground. His head swayed back and forth as his nose and tongue tasted and identified each of them, his mouth opened slightly to reveal deadly fangs, as a large spattle of acidic drool fell sizzling to the ground in front of him.

Ashutosh quickly looked around, hoping to spot a rock, a stick, anything. Whatever fight he could put up would no doubt be exactly useless, but maybe he'd feel better with a weapon in his hands. The unlikely hero saw some sizable stones, near the edge of the path and scurried to pick some up. Armed with a rock in his right hand and two others, ready and waiting, in his left hand, he stood ready to pelt the Troll if it came any closer.

A lock of Calypso's hair tapped him on the shoulder, politely offering a nice jagged-looking rock. As her hair continued its antics, Calypso herself swayed a little, checking her balance before half crouching. She knew from past experience that her best option in combat was to provide a solid base for her more deadly locks. As she crouched, her hair rose, the locks weaving restlessly, sharp bits of rock visible at the tips of several.

"Er....thanks," said Ashu, gingerly accepting the rock.

"Ok. So that didn't work out quite so well. Let's go to plan b and see what nightmares hide the in dreams of a troll."

Dylan reached out and forced his way back into the beasts's mind. He dove down until he found the dooryway to the creature's subconscious. He hoped he'd be able to open it, but Dylan never knew what he would inside someone's mind when he did this.

Once again, the teen slid easily through the Troll's mental walls, and regretted it almost immediately. He saw the hazy vision of a woman as she commanded a fiery river of blood. Even as he watched the horrific dream play in his mind he could hear the screaming roar of the beast, which told him that he too was sharing the vision. The river rushed over the both of them, gagging them as they tried to draw air in through the fiery torrent.

Dylan cringed as he momentarily joined with the image of the troll's fiery nightmare.

"Worth a try, kid," the Black Cat said. "Scare him?"

The Black Cat took a few easy strides, placing himself in front of the rest of his party. He held his grapple claw in his right hand, the coils held loosely in his left. He eyed the troll with wide, watchful eyes and held absolutely still save for the occasional reflexive, tiny adjustments of his feet as he watched and waited.

Barbie remained close behind Black Cat, waiting and watching to see when and if she should engage.

Kitsune took advantage of the distraction that Dylan provided and rushed forward with her flaming sword, eager to plunge it into the raging beast, and give it an honorable death. Unfortunately her swing was off and she wasn't able to sink her blade into his rotten flesh.

As everyone shifted around, Calypso frowned, puzzling over the troll's words. "'Ey," she spoke quietly, not intending her own words to carry further than her companions. "Do ye ken 'oo or what is a fee-oh-na?"

"One of the Ambers?" Ashu guessed.

Even as she asked, Calypso moved forward to the bend in the path so that she could get a better visual on the Troll. Before she knew it one of her long dredlocks lashed out and slapped the troll hard across the face. He bellowed in pain and tried to grab at his assailant, but he was too lost in his illusion.

Blitz followed the crazy haired lady and stretched his arms wide to summon the static that he needed for his blast. Throwing his hands forward he threw the crackling ball of static, which landed squarely in the Troll's chest. He took a small step backwards but was able to keep his feet from the attack.

The monster screamed again, but this time in pain. They all watched as he grabbed his head, shaking it insistently as he screamed, yet again. "Feeee-OH-naaaa"

The Black Cat saw Blitz attack, and Kitsune make her unexpected charge, and he knew things had started to go too hard too fast. The troll howled in agony from Nocturne's attack, and the Black Cat acted. He hurled out the claw held in his right hand, looping it around the troll's legs, yanking them out from underneath the flailing creature.

"Hold your fire!," the Black Cat yelled. There was no point in dispatching the hapless beast if they could not find the key. At the same time, he struck again with his claw, wrapping the coil deftly around the troll's neck, giving a whip tight hold with a snap of his wrist.

"Easy there, boy. We can do this easy and you can go home, or we can do this hard and you can deal with Fiona after you deal with us."

Black Cat whirled his Cat's Paws with amazing accuracy. The beast thudded to the ground and before he could attempt to recover, he was choking in another of Vicenzo's attacks. His clawed hands were already working to gain purchase on the wire that was strangling him.

Calypso scanned the flailing troll, but saw nothing resembling a key. She frowned, remembering stories from her childhood and the marketplace, and it seemed to her that trolls always lived under their bridges...In case the troll could still spare any energy toward listening to them, Calypso got close enough to get Ashu's attention, and gestured in such a way as to suggest she was going around the fight and under the bridge. Carefully she snuck around the edge of the tangle that was Black Cat and the troll, and with a few locks wrapped around a beam just in case, she ducked out of sight under the bridge.

Ashutosh's eyes twitched between Calypso and the struggling troll. Fixing his eyes on the beast, he slowly and carefully moved towards the bridge, ready to warn Calypso if the troll followed her.

The diminutive woman sprang with surprising agility and stealth towards the bridge, and as far as Ash could tell the Troll had no idea that his precious home was about to be breached. He could feel the sharp edge of his rock biting painfully into his hand, but he held it steady and did not throw it.

Blitz, Barbie, Nocturne and Kitsune all followed Black Cat's instructions and waited anxiously to see if the Troll would fight back. They didn't have to wait long before they saw the huge beast break free from the Cat Claw around his neck. He pushed himself into a sitting position and reached out to grab Kitsune with one of his clawed hands. The woman practically stepped into his outstretched hand as she swung her flaming sword to attack him.

Her sword glanced off of him, but didn't seem to deter him from his frenzied rage. He finished standing up and slung the blue haired beauty hard, the others could tell the general direction that he threw her, but couldn't see her from the dense vegetation. The troll roared again and turned his full attention on Black Cat, who still had one Cat's Claw attached to his leg.

"Kitsune!" the Black Cat yelled, and he watched the small warrior vanish into the depths of the garden.

"Bastardo!" Certain sentiments need little translation. With a flick of his wrist, the cable in his hand advanced like a serpent, wrapping around the troll's legs again. With a leaning spin, the Black Cat snatched the troll's legs out from under him yet again.

Once again, Black Cat's claw swung true and tangled the mighty beast in his snare, with a powerful pull from Vicenzo, the Troll fell again to the unrelenting ground. He grunted in irritation and disgust.

Dylan stayed back far enough and watched the battle ensue. He glanced back and forth between the troll and the combatants. He didn't know how long the fight would take, but knew there was something he could do. He reached out towards the troll with his right hand and Black Cat with his left. He opened himself as a conduit and pulled. An indigo beam shot from the troll into Nocturne and then a blue beam shot from the kid to Black Cat. The troll felt the tiring effects as Black Cat felt his own energy being restored.

Black Cat felt a surge of energy fill his mind and erupt into his body as the blue beam from Nocturne's outstretched hand hit him.

Blitz took notice of Black Cat's attack and assumed that all bets were off. His electrical form sizzled forth as he shot a searing bolt of energy at the Troll, who screamed in pain as it pierced through his thick hide. It appeared as though Barbie was about to spring forward, but when she saw the static blast, she stopped short.

Calypso and several locks of her hair rifled through the troll's belongings, muttering a few choice words about the state and stench of his things, not to mention the jumbled mess in which they were kept. She started briefly, jerking her head up to look when the troll screamed, only to realize the bridge was in the way of her vision. "Bloody 'ells," she murmured once more, continuing her search.

She noticed her hair as it picked up shiny bits of this and that to tuck away in the folds of her dredlocks, sharp animal teeth, shiny bits of broken glass, a strange coin or three. She herself noted immediately that amid the number of bones mounded upon the ground here, human skulls figured prominently in the debris. Still, there was nothing for it but to look, and look quickly....

Feeling useless and not a little scared, Ashutosh backed away from the fight until he felt the first plank of the bridge under his thin shoe. He half turned and looked longingly to the far end. Getting some distance from a rampaging troll seemed like a brilliant idea. And if the troll was preventing passage, maybe the key was on the other side?

"Bollocks," he muttered. He quietly set off, looking backward with every other step.

Below, the water in the river abruptly became agitated, whirlpools and waterspouts forming in time with each of Ashu's steps upon the planks. Within a half-dozen the young Indian could see the effects to either side as could anyone with attention to spare, the frothing, magical water leaping up in dazzling, sparkling gouts, each one seeming wordlessly to plead with him, look, Ashu! you're so handsome, so wonderful, look at me, look at me dance for you, see me play, come play with me Ashu...

Calypso was forced to draw back to the bridge's very foundation stones as the water surged and splashed up to the soles of her boots. She and her hair both noticed the shining silver thing sticking out of a pile of what could only be described as troll poo when two of the hugest crocodiles she'd ever imagined were sort of washed up on the shores of the troll's home, stunned half-senseless, striving to get their wits about themselves -- though neither had seen her yet, either one looked as if it could easily bite her in half.

Above, on the bridge, the play of the water from both sides of the bridge abruptly converged upon Ashutosh, completely engulfing him in its liquid embrace....!

"Give up, you big fool!" The Black Cat yelled at the Troll as he whipped the cat claw grapnel around, over his own head. It hissed through the air like an angry cat itself, circling back to wrap around the Troll's massive head, locking itself in place like a noose with a flick of the Black Cat's wrist. Vincenzo's whole body tensed as he applied tension to that cable, enough to snap an ordinary man's neck.

Gagging, gasping, choking piteously, the troll's long claws found purchase upon the device which was tormenting it so. The corded muscles in his arms twisted and with a mighty groan the troll managed to loosen the rope and break the grapple free, somehow miraculously not breaking it as he did so.

The great monster promptly fell over on his hands and knees in reaction, spewing great gouts of foul-smelling vomit for about 2 meters (1 hex) in front of itself, its great claws chewing up the very flagstones beneath. Some of the emesis splashed on Barbie, without effect except for the smell. The petite blond recoiled in disgust and wailed with self pity.

Meanwhile Ashu, completely within the surging waters, felt strangely at peace after that first initial moment of panicked reaction. The water meant him no harm, he strangely had no trouble breathing at all... he could sense the life in the water, including the flesh-eating fish and giant crocodiles, but time seemed to slow down around him, in a sense, as he and the water became one....

Barbie hopped backwards a few steps, still overwrought with the putrid stench that had defiled her. She looked up at the mighty beast in disgust.

ooc: Holding action, abort to dodge if any more puke or troll parts come her way. Still need to get that sheet to you.

GM OOG (Out of Game): Black Cat's grapnel did some obvious damage to the troll, triggering its gag reflex and causing the emetic event that followed. Barbie got splashed, but it doesn't seem to be harming her.

Calypso -- the crocs are 3 hexes away, down near agitated waters of the river and stunned. They show every sign of recovering momentarily. The silvery thing she spotted is about two hexes up the side of a massive mound of, yes, odiferous troll poo. That mound is 3 hexes away from her current position. She can also see the spouts of water that have reached up to the top of the bridge, one on either side of it.

Ashu -- run with it. :) He senses the monsters in the water as I mentioned and can also sense that two of them just got washed up onto the shore under the bridge -- right where Calypso was last seen. Feel free to go as far as you like in discovering his abilities here, but as GM I'd like to request you at least get enough into it to make him useful to the group for something other than witty commentary. ;)

Phase 5:
DEX 28 Calypso
DEX 26 Blitz
DEX 20 Bombshell
DEX 18 Ashu

Phase 6:
DEX 27 Black Cat
DEX 18 Nocturne

Almost forgot -- posting deadline for this action call is Wednesday October 15th, 5pm Pacific Time.

Calypso thought a string of obscenities which started with "Merlin's 'airy balls," (an expression gleaned from an alchemist in one of the markets, it had always tickled her, even if Merlin was little more than a story character to her) and ended with something equally colorful but far more vulgar. Afraid to call out lest she draw the attention of the crocs, Calypso fleetingly wished Nocturne's voice was still in her head, maybe she could talk back to it...Shaking her head, Calypso glanced back at the crocs, willing them to stay put, and holding her breath as much as possible, snuck in the direction of the dung heap. When she got close enough, a couple locks of hair snaked out towards the shiny thing while Calypso kept her gaze on those big damned lizards.

OOC: Like Extra Hands: Telekinesis I (20 STR), Fine Manipulation, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), limit 3 hexes

"I hate to hit a guy while he's down, but... well, it's not a guy anyway, is it..." Blitz, careful to keep just a few feet off the ground, flew past the troll and attempted to light it up with an electrical blast.

Dylan, oblivious to what Calypso and Ashutosh were encountering, watched Black Cat's fight with the troll. The kid hovered in the air where he could provide support to the fighter. The young psychic, seeing that he had rejuvenated Black Cat, lashed out with his Echoes of Sadness to try and take out the troll.

OOC:Echoes of Sadness: Ego Attack 6d6 (60 Active Points); Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (-1), Visible (An indigo colored cloud shoots forth from Nocturn's head to the target's.Target is overwhelmed with deep, soulwrenching waves of sadness. ECV 10

The Black Cat furled the grapnel claw with practiced speed, and swung it at his side, spinning it in tense circles. He shifted from foot to foot, waiting for the Troll to get up, give in, or fall down. He watched it as a cat watches a wounded bird waiting to pounce at the next maimed hop.

OOC: Held action. If the Troll aggresses he'll using an Offensive Strike for 14D6, OCV 13.

Still testing. Game tease!