Who's bad?

The group is rudely awakened by the shattering of glass just outside their room, and in just a matter of seconds, everyone was on their feet and alert. Nic smashes the door open and Thanin, now a snake, slithers his head carefully out into the hallway and takes a look around.
Everyone gets themselves ready for some action. Care turns her mandolin-like thing around to have the base face the top, Keith has his explosive potions at hand and ready for throwing, Ping weilds the two daggers, Nic with his staff, and Daniel just furious.

Thanin moves out of the room completely and into the corridor, the words of rhinocerous-morph at the tip of his tongue.

"Watch out below!"
"Xilo Crep Na!" *ZIPZIP* *BOOOM* *SWISH* *SUUUP* "Heh.*

In seconds the hallway was full of smoke and weapons flinging violently at nothing. Not to mention the humongous rhinocerous in the middle of everything. The repairman above shouts,
"Geez, when the innkeeper said, 'no noise,' she really meant it."

*YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN*
Yong Beng walks out the room, "Is food ready yet?"

Silence is golden.

It is midnight and Thanin wakes up drenched in his own cold sweat. He was dreaming again.
"Another night, another nightmare." he sighs and lies back down, only to stare, deep in thought, at the ceiling.
It keeps coming, the horrid dream of him being left behind. There was something new this time. Blood. He holds his hands up, trying to reach out for something, and blood drips onto his petrified face. He is still screaming, but it has lost all value. No one is going to help him this time, but he thinks... "No one has ever helped me..."
"That's not true," speaks a voice at the back of his head. "You know someone who's helped you out a great deal."
"Yes, but.. Where is he now?"

Thanin gets out of his assigned couch and peers across the dark room. He sees Ping fiddling with his hair in his sleep, Keith snoring like a frikkin' beast on the other couch, and Care lying daintily on the bed a little too big for her. Beng is sprawled across the floor, not much space left to walk around, asleep but saying, "Master, just one more bowl of 95% water, 5% meso, please!"
Nic has his legs propped up on Beng's huge and apparently extremely comfortable stomach and Daniel sits asleep at the corner of the room, an invisible but obvious mean/vicious vibe radiating from his core.

"Damn, even the weird one sleeps well." Thanin heaves a sigh and goes back to bed.

Wow, a 7 footer.

Thanin is extremely shaken by the bloody mess Daniel now lies in, mouth open wide and eyes popping out of it's sockets. Ping stands towering above Daniel, smirk on his face.
"That'll teach that son of a pig."
"What the hell did you do that for?" Keith exclaims.
Thani is still unable to respond, but he drops to his knees, hands on the floor. Care, also in a state of shock, drops her instrument onto the ground, shattering it into a million glittering pieces under the bright sun. Keith, the only rational one left in the group pushes past the crowd and walks to Daniel, observing the wound and taking out the appropriate herbs.

By this time, Beng is helped out the inn by a young, built and tanned man who introduces himself as Nicholas, son of Thoras, Farmer of the land of Typronkite. He single-handedly maneuvers the large man with ease, pushing him as desired.
"Shit that guy is buff." Ping marvels. "It would'nt hurt to be built like that."
"Stop looking at guys, you fag." Daniel is up and walking once more.
"You whore, don't make me stab you again."
"You can try, I'm ready for you this time, you stupid sissy!"

*BAM* *SMACK* *BIFF*

Nic slaps the two individuals from one another.
"Peace, brothers," he says in voice too soothing coming from the rugged face, "make not enemies with one another, but with those against us as a whole."
"What the *bleep* are you saying you stupid *bleep*?!" Daniel is obviously pissed off.

Thanin and Care finally recover and they walk into the center of the group. Care now with a new instrument. (I swear, her instruments just sort of pop up, or something!)
"Care, do you know a song that will soothe all of us? It's only 3 hours after daybreak, but it's been hard on all." Thanin is desperate for peace as well.

*Ahem*
"The stars come and go
In our eyes.
But they're always there
Too shy to glow.
Or is it just us
So caught up and lost
In a world we spoil
And it's beauty the cost.
Let them shine, oh so bright
So magnificent
Giving us light.
Now embrace it's truth
It's beauty
While it's there till it fades
In the cold reality."

Nic joins the group.

The broken tree.

The group wakes up, save Beng, still drooling in the centre of the room. Daniel leaves the room as is his habit and Thanin and Ping start talking.
"There's something very wrong about that prick."
"I know, we'd better keep our eyes open."
"Sigh, I don't even feel like gelling my hair today."

Keith is admiring his herbs again and Care starts singing to herself.
*SNORE*
"Holy shit, that guy's a beast." Says Ping.
"Here, let me take care of him for you... Sai Lance Treb Ian!"
Care silences the big man and starts hopping about the room, feeling useful.

They walk out, feeling in need of fresh air. Beng however stops at the counter,
"Can I have three large plates of whatever? I'm starving."
Daniel appears out of nowhere,
"How the *bleep* can you be starving? have you seen yourself?"
"That's enough, Daniel." Chimes in Thanin "I won't have any of this."
Daniel shoves past Thanin and storms out the door like a spolt little brat.
"Someone's got to teach that kid some ma.."

*BAM*

Everyone in the inn jerks and exits, wondering what the hell happened. A huge tree has been cut down to size, firewood lying all over the place.

"What the hell did you do to this enchanted tree?! It was a hundred years old and you just burst it into flames!" Ping was furious. "I've had about enough of you and your temper. Put 'em up, I'm going to teach you a lesson"
Daniel's eyes glow but Ping starts running towards him. He pulls out his maple-handle dagger and stabs Daniel in the chest.
"Y.. You're fast." Daniel collapses onto the ground.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

An unexpected guest.

*BAM*

The door opens wide, slamming against the wall. In walks an enormous man, wearing a robe.
"Ulp, I.. Uh.. Drank too mu.. ULP." Says the big man.
"My ULP! name is ULP.. Beng." He says as he collpases onto the floor.
The group is taken aback at the weird intrusion and decides to talk to him when he comes to. They wait 3 hours and Beng finally starts to show some sign of being awake. Daniel goes up to him and asks, "Who the *bleep* are you and what the *bleep* are you doing in here?"
"Aw come on, Dan. He just woke up, he does'nt need your attitude." Says Ping.
"You want a piece of me, sissy boy?" Daniel shouts across the room and his eyes start to glow.
"ENOUGH!" Shouts Thanin, obviously pissed off.
Keith goes up to Beng.
"What are you doing here?"
"I uh... Got kicked out of the dojo at which I've trained all my life since I was a baby. I was becoming too powerful." Comes the reply.
"Yeah right!" Scoffs Ping.
"Seriously, I mastered all his moves and because I am so larger, I can take more hits and I can therefore beat my master. He got enraged and did not want me taking his place so he had me banished from the dojo." Beng says in a pitiful manner.
"Awww, poor Beng. Here, let me sing you a song." Caroline tells Beng.

It matters not what happened
But what will happen
And your tears and grief
I'll wipe away
Forget your troubles
And hear me say
Sometimes life can be too much
With trials, sorrows and things as such
But tomorrow comes a brighter day
A beatiful morning laced with the suns of May

Caroline goes on singing and the moods of all in the room are lifted. Everyone feels happier and Beng is welcomed into the group.

The meeting in the room.

As fate would have it, there were no available tables, but there was a room, though. They take it and start walking down the torch-lit hallway.
"There you go, fourth door to your left, room 47." The inn-keeper says.
They enter a big room, where two beds were positioned against the wall, a big dining table in the centre and two giant couches that line the adjacent walls.
"Why are we together?" Daniel inquires.
"That is pretty strange, I wonder how we all ended up together." Keith replies in an agreeing manner.
"It does'nt matter, we're all here now. We might as well make the most of the day.." Thanin says
"AND GET OUR BEAUTY SLEEP!" Finishes Ping.
"Dibs on the bed!" Shouts Caroline.
Thanin and Keith turn to one another.
"We'll let sissy boy have the other bed." Thanin says.
"I resent that... THANKS FOR THE BED!" Replies Ping.
"You guys can have the couches. I won't be sleeping." Daniel says to both Thanin and Keith.
Shrugging, they lie upon the huge couch and almost instantaneously, fall asleep. It was late, and everyone was tired. Daniel walks out of the room and out the inn. He sits on a giant rock just outside the inn and stares into the sky.
"You've brought us together for a reason. I don't know what, but I'll find out."
Shortly after, Thanin comes out, Chubbs still comfortably asleep on Thanin's couch.
"Whats the matter?" Asks Thanin.
"Nothing, I'm just thinking." Came the reply.
"What about? And what the hell are you, anyway? Those glowing eyes are freaky."
"I don't know, but everytime I feel a strong emotion, it happens, something bad. To whatever I wish it upon." Daniel turns to face Thanin.
"I have a troubled past." He finishes.
"So do I. Hang in there." Thanin consoles Daniel and returns to the room.

Into town.

They walk into town, searching for a suitable inn.
"The seven leaf clover, this sounds like a lucky place." Ping states.
They walk into the lively inn, dancers are strutting their stuff on the stage and patrons fill every table in the inn. Daniel looks around the inn, surprised no one cares about his presence. He turns and sees a woman scolding someone who appeared to be her daughter.
"Ain't ye touch ye's little brother ever again. Ye filthy hands will tarnish 'is bright future."
Daniel remembers his past, and involuntarily, his eyes glow and he walks toward the mother.
"What right have you to treat your daughter that way?"
"What I does is no business of ye's. I'll treat me daughter however's I wants ta treat 'er." The woman replies.
The girl stares at Daniel in horror. Apparently no one ever spoke to her mother like that before. It turns out the woman was wedded to the most powerful merchant in their land, Spax Dune. Daniel starts to whisper and just in time, Thanin takes him away.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? She could get us all kicked out of this inn and every other inn in the land!" Keith shouts.
"But she was mistreating her daughter, she'll be traumatised her whole life......"
They walk to the counter.
"Like me." Daniel finishes in a whisper.

The escapade.

*Cough cough*

Daniel jerks and his eyes open wide.
"WATER, I NEED WATER GOD DAMN IT!"
Keith was ready, his outstretched hand holding a canteen. Daniel takes the bottle and drinks ferociously, water dripping from the edges of his lips. He turns around to face the group of people, shocked by the presence of so many beings around him. Daniel turns around and runs.
"Ping, ride me." Thanin shouts.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"You'll know what to do. Get ready to stop Daniel.... Xile Quin Avido!"
Thanin's form once again alters itself. This time, however, Thanin turns himself into a griffin, a magnificent creature with wings... Basically an eagle combined with a lion. Ping jumps onto Thanin's back and they flew off. Very soon they spotted Daniel still running away. Ping pulls out a net and dexterously throws it, capturing Daniel. Thanin lands and upon contact, transforms back into his human form. Daniel struggles for a bit and his eyes glow again.
"I have a very bad feeling about those glowing eyes.." Ping says, taking a few steps back.
A shout escapes Daniel's lips and the net disintegrates.
"HOLY SHIT! RUN!!!" Shout both Thanin and Ping.
Daniel raises his arm and with his finger spread out and eyes still glowing, he whispers.
"Stop."
As if by some magical, wait.. It IS magic.. Thanin and Ping freeze in their positions, Thanin halfway in his transformation into the griffin. Slowly, Daniel walks to them.

*BAM*

Keith distracts Daniel with another one of his exploding bottles. Caroline strums her instrument once, chanting...
"Lybahritee."
A liberation spell. Thanin and Ping fall from their fixed positions and Thanin is back into his human form.
"We just want to talk, won't you tell us what is wrong?" Caroline asks.
"I'll leave that story to the people I want to share it with." Daniel replies. "You guys saved my life. I'm indebted."
They start walking, talking about everything... Because each of them never really spoke to anyone else who thought so similarly as themselves, they became close friends really fast. Daniel trails along, thinking..
"Why'd they have to save me? I am better off dead. I'll just follow them, I know not where to go, I destroyed the only place I've not been rejected. Perhaps they might know of a place I could take refuge in."

The Gathering.

Ping returns with handfuls of herbs, knowing they can help, but clueless on how to use them on Daniel. Keith takes them from Ping, impressed at how he knows where to find them.
"WOW! You sure know where to get your herbs. This is the rare Tonghuali herb. I've been searching for it for weeks now. Daniel won't need this, can I keep it?"
"Sure, go ahead, I would keep it if I knew what the hell to do with it."
Ping starts telling the group about how he knows how to cure minor wounds and illnesses. He takes another look at Daniel and sighs.
"What the hell do you do to an unconscious person?"
Keith was grinding the herbs in his mortar and pestle. Caroline was still going strong with the song and Thanin starts to show his usefulness. He chants the words of enchantment...
"Xelo Vin Diaal!"
His form changes and he morphs into a bear. A huge one. He starts taking the ruins and debris off Daniel.
"I don't know, I was just sitting there, I thought I'd do something."
He picks up his chihuahua and starts swinging it around to Care's now up-tempo music. Just a while later, Keith stands up, a beaker full of the ground herbs dissolved in water. He inches toward Daniel and just before he pours it into his mouth...
"Holy shit! We did'nt even check in the first place if he was dead or alive!" Ping exclaimed.
"Chubbs says that he would'nt have wasted energy pouncing on the damn ruins if it was a dead person." Thanin replied.
"Oh, so now the dog is the leader of the group, ey?"
"Quit it, he's alive, he's breathing, this potion should make him jump. It's kinda potent." Keith interrupted.
He pours the whole beaker of liquid into Daniel's mouth... They all take a step back and wait for something to happen.

The great meeting.

Ping is a ranger and knows the forest as well as he does the back of his hand and decides to take a shortcut into town. A few kilometres down his direction is the cave in which Daniel resides. Thanin wakes up from his dream and decides to go on looking for his companion's lost relative, looking in tree holes, under big rocks and occasionally, caves. Meanwhile, in town, Caroline decides to go "away" to write her songs in the sweet solitude of which she can think best and heads for the forest. Keith, too. He read in one of the thousands of books that a special root can be used to stimulate muscles and can be found only in the place where they were destined to meet, the Jag Slit Forest. The heroes, save Daniel, continue zero-ing in on the location of the cave, not knowing their destinies. Daniel feels the hair on the back of his neck rise, is immediately alerted and slinks further into the shadows of the cave. The four heroes meet at the cave, surprised, shcoked, even that everyone could coincidentally meet at the same place at the exact same time. They start talking, Keith with Caroline and Thanin with Ping. The sounds of happiness fill the emptiness of the cave and hate starts taking over Daniel once again. The sounds of happiness, the sounds of joy, of understanding, and of laughter.

*BANG*

The cave explodes and Daniel is buried in the remains. Chubbs, the chihuahua starts barking and climbs the ruins, hopping about on top of a particular spot. Thanin tells everyone that Chubbs thinks that something is under there. Keith takes out a small satchel and pulls out a tiny bottle containing bright green liquid. He cautions the others to move away and throws the bottle where Chubbs stood.

*BAM*

Another explosion.
This time, Daniel can be seen lying unconscious, skin and cloth alike, torn. Ping goes out to look for herbs and Caroline plays a song to soothe everyone. Afraid moving the body might further damage whatever has already been damaged, they leave Daniel where he is. Since Ping knew how to provide medical care (Another game he used to love, Shaman Situations.), they decided not to go to town for help.

Death again.

Pure hate wells up within Daniel and his eyes glow. His birth was a mistake, or so he thinks. To make it worse, his parents seems to think so too. At least, until a few years later after his birth. His parents are very "closed" in their thinking and anything extraordinary is thought of as evil and bad. Things were ok at first but as Daniel grew older, changes were obvious and his parents began to suspect and doubt. His siblings were then favoured and he turns away from humanity. He leaves home as well, taking refuge in a cave and grows to hate himself more with each passing day. He wishes he was anyone, anything else, something more normal, something acceptable, even. A bat flies in. A tear forms in his glowing eye. The bat explodes, and bat debris flies all over the cave. Daniel's eyes stop glowing.

The dream.

Thanin and his trusty chihuahua dog thing walks through the forest path. They stop at a river to take a drink of water and Thanin falls asleep under the shady comfort of a big oak tree. (No idea what an oak tree is supposed to be but from my understanding, its huge.)
"Don't go! Please! Don't leave me here alone. I can't face this world alone!"
He dreams a dream he's been getting for the seventh day in a row. He's looking from an aerial perspective and he sees himself reaching upwards, at something he cannot see, apparently from where he is himself watching. Due to family problems, Thanin ran away from home at the tender age of 10. He ran into the forest and got lost. Starved and dying of thirst, he awakes to a horde of dogs. Strangely, he is able to communicate with them, and every gesture is given maximum attention by the dogs. He grows up, harnessing the powers of animal communication within. He now takes the prince of dogs on a journey to look for a lost relative, but little does he know, there is going to be a little detour. Yes, the prince of dogs is indeed Chubbs, the chihuahua.

Standing ovation!

In the "Dancing Frogs" inn, Caroline plays the last note of her song and the audience responds in a standing ovation. A great musician, and a great person, Caroline too, faces the challenges of everyday life and the misery and sorrow that come with it. She has a dream, a desire, a longing to belong to someone, but has yet to find her knight in shining armour. She has an individual in mind but a future together is impossible and so she holds everything inside. She hopes to one day be free of earthly desires and memories and just concentrate on what she loves doing; helping people and playing her music.

Another fine weapon.

Keith watches as his father creates another perfect weapon. A shining hammer whose magnificance equals Nicole Kidman. (Or the Eddie Bauer Girl.) Keith's father is the town's greatest blacksmith. His father, Opah, hopes that one day Keith will follow in his footsteps, or the next best thing. To be a warrior weilding one of his own ridiculously overpowered weapons. Sadly, Keith is not as buff as his dad, weighing at 530 pounds and measuring up to a whopping 7feet tall. He was more interested in the fascinating wonders of science and what it was capable of. He grew up toying with his mother's apparatus. She was a scientist. A hopeless one. She took it up as a hobby because she thought it was a medieval lava lamp and did not want to return it. He grows up with books and knowledge at his fingertips, inventing new gadgets and weapons.

Ping finds the scroll.

"Damn this dodi-bug oil gel. Stupid gunk can't hold my hair for squat."
Ping continues down the gravel path and sees a parchment sticking out of a bush. Trees line the edges of the path as far as the path led, and Ping picks the paper out from the bush for entertainment. He goes down the scroll and tosses it over his shoulder. A serious mood is instilled in him and he remembers his past.
Ping is son to Jeffrey, son of Hooch, King of the forest. Jeffrey was crowned King with the Death of Hooch, and soon, Ping was to be King. As a kid, Ping was royalty and was prohibited to mingle with the town boys. Instead, he played with the royal dughters of the other abundances. He grew up with archery being the only sport granted acceptance. He became a professional after a few years of training. Let's not forget his company, girls. He also grew up to be aware of his appearance, always making sure his hair is intact and his outfit was just perfect for the occasion. He was, how you say, sissy. Of course, though he knew that (and wished he was'nt), no one told it to him. It was treason, and still is, so...
The curse is unleashed and in a cave far from civilsation and embedded with Guano, batshit, Sabe materializes.