IC-Chapter 1-Holy Holy(Father Levington/Harry Sawyer)

[Mr. Handy]

"This is a world of dreams," said Snookums as he led Nathaniel onwards through the woods. Though the priest knew it was summer, the trees had multicolored leaves. Some of the colors were downright odd: pink, purple, and blue. The smell of fresh grass was prevalent here, and it all did seem very real. "It's very hard to find, but you can come here if you go down a particular staircase in a regular dream. Unlike regular dreams, this place is pretty much the same every time you visit. It does seem like it's somehow real, even though I know I'm dreaming. I don't really know how this world can exist, but I have explored much of it. Still, there's always more to learn."

[TheAlchemist]

"What were all those things you mentioned, like zoogs and gugs and ghasts."

[Mr. Handy]

"They're creatures that live in these woods," said Snookums. "Well, the gugs don't live on the surface any more. Like I said, they live underground and they can't come back up top. They're really huge and scary. Twenty feet tall, and their mouths are all wrong. They go from top to bottom, not left to right, and they're full of sharp, pointy teeth. I wouldn't want to run into them, so it's a good thing we don't have to. There might be some ghouls hanging around the graveyard. They like graveyards because they eat the dead, but they usually stay underground too, or in caves. They look like Big Folk a little, but their faces are kind of like dogs." Snookums said this with obvious distaste. "Ghasts are scary, but they die in the light, so we'll be safe from them as long as we don't venture underground or stay there too late. They have hooves, but they stand on two legs. They'll eat anything, including each other. Zoogs, now, those are little brown creatures that know a lot of secrets about these lands. They usually eat fungi, but they'd consider our flesh a delicacy. There's a truce between cats and zoogs, so they won't bother you as long as you're with me." Snookums looked around alertly. "In fact, there's one of them now!" He pointed off into the thick woods ahead.

OOC,[b]Father Levington[/b], roll Spot Hidden.

[TheAlchemist]

OOC,Spot: [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2256334/]78[/url]

"What?" Levington said."Great."

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Sometimes it's good to fail a Spot Hidden roll. :)

"Don't worry, Nathaniel," said Snookums. "I'll chase it away." He stood up on all fours, arching his back and facing the thick woods ahead. He hissed loudly and bared his teeth. A second later, he resumed his normal posture. "There, it's gone. It had chased one of the Big Folk up a tree and had him trapped. I think he's a Dreamer too. Come on, let's go meet him." Snookums started trotting into the dense forest towards where he had seen the zoog.

[TheAlchemist]

Looking around, Levington followed the cat.

I need some red slippers, Levington thought absently.

[Mr. Handy]

Snookums led Nathaniel through the woods to a nearby tree that was tall, with blue leaves. "Hello!" said a man's voice from above, sounding cheerful and relieved. Looking up, the priest saw a young man with short black hair sitting up in the branches some ten feet overhead. He wore demin jeans and a black leather jacket. "I'm glad you came along. I thought that little ankle-biter was going to eat me! The name's Harry. Harry Sawyer." He began to climb down, but he clumsily lost his grip and tumbled head over heels and landed in a heap at the bottom, injuring himself fairly badly.

[TheAlchemist]

Levington rushed over and knelt down beside the man.

"Oh man, are you all right? That was a nasty fall."

[Mr. Handy]

"Thanks, I'll live," said Harry through gritted teeth. "I'm always falling down, it seems." He gingerly felt his chest, on which he had landed. "I think I cracked a rib, but maybe it's just bruised, I dunno."

OOC,[b]Father Levington[/b], if you want to try to treat his injury, roll First Aid. If you succeed, roll 1d3 to see how many HP he recovers.

[TheAlchemist]

"I'm not a doctor or anything, but let me check you out.

"You feel better?"

OOC,Booya! Hey, for future reference, if I had failed, could I have hurt him?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Only on a critical failure (96-100). Otherwise, no harm would be done. In this case, you got a critical success, so he actually gets more HP back than usual. He [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2260104/]is now fully healed[/url].

"Thank you," said Harry with a grin as Father Levington wrapped some cloth around his chest expertly. "I feel much better now. I guess it was just bruised. I'm lucky you came along." He stood up and extended his hand. "What's your name?"

[TheAlchemist]

"I'm Nathaniel," he said, taking it. "I'm a bit new around here."

[Mr. Handy]

"Nice to meet you," said Harry, shaking the priest's hand. "I'm new here too. I was wandering around lost in the woods when that little fuzzball started chasing me. Whatever it was, I guess it didn't like cats very much." He crouched down and scratched Snookums under the chin. "You're a good kitty. Yes you are."

"Thank you," said Snookums. "That creature was called a zoog. They live in these woods, but they won't bother you as long as you're with me."

"You're welcome." Harry paused in thought and scratched his own head. "Since when do trees have blue leaves? Oh, and cats can't talk!"

"Maybe we can. Maybe we've just never had anything to say."

Harry chuckled. "You've got me there."

[TheAlchemist]

"You can come with us if you like. We're out exploring the forest."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, you'll be safe if you stick with us," said Snookums.

"Thanks, I'll do that," said Harry, looking around. "Where are we, anyway?"

"We're in the Enchanted Wood. We're on our way to see the vaults of Zin and the graveyard of the gugs. We're more than halfway there already. Just follow me." With that, the cat led the way onwards.

[TheAlchemist]

"So, how long have you been coming here?" Nathaniel asked as the group walked.

[Mr. Handy]

"I've never been here before," said Harry as he walked along. "One minute I was drinking some chocolate milk, the next I was walking around town, only nobody seemed to notice me. I mean, people don't usually notice me, but this was different. I waved my hands in front of someone, and he didn't see me at all! Then he walked through me!" He shook his head in disbelief. "Since I was invisible, I decided to do some exploring. I was poking around an old house when I found this odd stairway leading down to the basement - only it wasn't a basement. At the bottom of the stairs, there was this huge gate and these - things, guarding it. They asked me all sorts of questions, and then they let me through. I went down some more stairs, which somehow ended up in these woods. I wandered around some more, and that's when that little brown critter started chasing me. I climbed up that tree, and that's where I met you."

[TheAlchemist]

"That's very strange," Levington said. "At least my experience started after I fell asleep. That must have been some crazy chocolate milk. Where were you when it started?"

[Mr. Handy]

"I was at my desk at work," said Harry. "I'm a police detective. I found the chocolate milk in a thermos we took off this drug dealer we arrested. At least I thought it was chocolate milk. Now I'm not so sure. I've never had a dream like this, but I must be dreaming."

OOC,[b]Father Levington[/b], roll Idea.

[TheAlchemist]

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2274089/]Idea[/url]