Drych Lake - Path to ???
"Okay... okay..." Tau grumbled to himself, leading them on a little warily. Yeah, they were mad. He wished he was told they would be so mad. He kept a tight grip on his staff throughout, and an eye on the younger red-head. Yeah. Mad.
The group walked down a path towards the staff area, a much simpler looking place compared to the main building. They could see some sort of structure behind it, although it wasn't until they passed the building that they could see it properly. Syed faltered in shock, only to have to catch up with the others again. A earthen structure, roughly hewn from the land itself. It resembled a giant set of stairs or a seating area, with a large patch of flat land between it and the lake it overlooked. And right at the top... stood a figure, shillouetted by the rising morning sun. More figures surrounded it as well.
The figure's hair and skirt blew in some unseen breeze as she looked sternly down upon them all. She too held some kind of staff in her hands - a staff she banged onto her earthen platform with a resounding
tap once the Guilders had arrived. While Tau's was a much more simple design, this woman's staff held the more delicate design of a weapon of mind rather than muscle.
"Tau," she called. Before the Guilders could react Tau was already sprinting off across the field, coming to a stop beside a larger figure. He didn't need telling twice, the more distance he made between him and the Pride the better. "Good boy. You've done well."
With that, the woman at the top of the structure stood proud as she looked down upon them all with her head raised high. "So," she shouted down to them. "You call yourselves 'The Pride', am I correct? How obnoxious." She clacked the base of her staff against her structure once more.
The ground beneath them began to shudder and shake, before suddenly Varren erupted from all sides. Dozens and dozens, several bearing the marks of the fight last night. Not all. This was more than they had encountered before. None of them made any move to attack, merely surrounding them with various poses. Right at the base of the structure the Big Bro Varren appeared, sitting down on one of the tiers and blocking the Pride's path toward her.
"I'm sure you have your questions. Why your bodies have changed, how they changed. Why the Varren are here. The answer stands before you... me."
"So it's fucking YOU?!" Moira bellowed, her voice seeming to rumble the ground itself. She was already unsheathing her greatsword, stomping forwards. And she wasn't alone, many of the others too readying themselves. The Varren seemed to buckle down in retaliation, not to attack themselves but to prevent the Guilders from attacking should they try. "YOU DID THIS TO US?! WHAT'S WITH THE RATS?!"
"Not so fast, scum," Penelope spat, although her face somehow managed to retain that pleasant smile. "Do you really think you can solve everything with brute force like that? When I outnumber you so? No. No, I have a much better idea. Everything in due time."
"Yes, I did this to you. I am a sorceress. And I..." she threw her arms out before her, "I am the only person who can undo the gift I have placed upon you all. The cure to your predicament will die with me if you attempt such a thing. So, here is my proposition:
"I challenge you all to a game! Should you win, I will undo the work done to you all." She raised her head a little higher. "It's a much better deal than any of you deserve."
"...And should we lose?" Syed asked. His eyes darted to the others with concern. He had no idea what this woman wanted, what she was planning. And he definately didn't like being like this. He liked his body the way it was. He had spent 28 years in it by now, he knew every crease and scar and mark on it, he knew how it worked and what it couldn't do. The change felt jarring, invading and devistating, and the only thing worse than that was how he was
already beginning to get used to it. It made him feel sick, constantly fidgiting and shifting.
Penelope snorted. "Hah."
