You awaken in a small room with multiple pieces of wire attached to you. Four beings with large heads and tiny bodies float nearby speaking in androfyn. They are saying things that your mind just can't piece together.

OCC: Do not comment in the main thread nor let the others know what's going on. I'm letting you see what's going on with them so you can enjoy the deception.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:28, Wed 01 Mar 2023.

Floating in the endless darkness, she could hear her mother's voice and sense, but not see a diffuse light surrounding her.  It seemed to last for an eternity.

Until it didn't.  There was a jolt and a flash - that was both visually and viscerally painful.

Azhanti shuddered slightly, an involuntary reaction really.  But one that could probably be forgiven, since she was recently dead.  The transition had been startling and hard.  The cold contacts on her clammy blue-grey skin and the painful weakness in her muscles and bones let her know that she was back amongst the living.  The release of death apparently was temporary.  But this wasn't reincarnation.  And it certainly wasn't Elysium or wherever her parents had gone when they died.

The voices were speaking familiar words that the diminutive mutant knew had meaning.  But strung together they made absolutely no sense at all.  Was it the cotton in her ears?  Or pasty taste in her mouth?  Or stabbing pain just behind her eyes due to the shock of the transition.  She tried to speak.  And open her eyes.  And move her head and feet and hands.  All with little to no success...

"She awake," someone says as Azhanti tries to get her bearings. Azhanti can feel a blanket over her naked flesh and something on her head.

A small humanoidish being with a normal human sized head on a tiny almost toddler sized body floats over into her field of vision. It has a square object in it's hand that's paper thin and looks comically large for it's tiny body. "How are you feeling? Can you hear me?"

It's hard to tell gender, but you think it's a male, but then you come to the realization that he(?) has been talking to you in Androfyn.

Azhanti frowned slightly when asked how she felt, but then tried to nod when asked about her hearing.  Everything felt so strange, as if it were floating or something.  The blanket on body was crinkly, as if she could feel the individual threads.  The lights just a little to bright.  And she knew she must be hallucinating, given the giant headed toddler talking to her.

She tried to answer in kind, since the figment was speaking Androfyn, [Language unknown: "Werntiugh as Ng?"]  And then after a pause, the diminutive blue-skinned mutant couldn't contain her confused stream of consciousness, [Language unknown: "Wend iswhe menec?"] for the last thing she remembered before the light show was being crushed and blacking out under the unbearable weight of tentacles, [Language unknown: "N ... ti I os?  Derresstr ort i halomo dioul inaiit?"]

"[Language unknown: Li pa Eehasslo Beulllmi, eewa thi er behi wi Whi of ard haers. Pl outun u mire utoswima ecthououtart o nd niand la Onisut,]" the being says as another one floats into view to wave an odd cylinder over your head. "[Language unknown: Ma etca wh Calare ti ugh has etom'miul ecur ndeenthou are riera traeralat pa ecaste sandertic. Wamiis aindinter oues which u mapo nc. Etno oneme linpreoul?]"

You feel a wave of concern coming from the being and a general sense of calmness.

[Private to GM: 05:45, Today: Secret Roll: Mutant Master rolled 13 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 8.  Bluff.

Private to GM: 05:24, Today: Secret Roll: Mutant Master rolled 11 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 6.  Sense Motive.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:19, Mon 06 Mar 2023.

Azhanti nodded ruefully, [Language unknown: "M ec sanillrut reshisnce eve outntetho caere, Jeff."]  And yet, she didn't feel a lot of pain or anxiety.  [Language unknown: "Laroerlat iv."] she added after a moment, realizing that these people had saved her from certain death.

At the mention of hunger, Azhanti realized that she was famished.  [Language unknown: "Si.  Ill, preestnde.  Eauna ut illichlarbut ni was."] she responded in earnest.

Then her eyes were downcast for a moment and the diminutive blue-skinned mutant looked thoughtful as she paused a moment, [Language unknown: "Re us an addi ounodi?"] she half-asked tentatively - paraphrasing the circumstances that she found in, though there was an underlying thread of incredulity; the more she thought about it, the more Azhanti refused to believe that her new friends would simply abandon her.  In fact, they'd come back for her, she was sure.  [Language unknown: "Ol... un acsti n ncom ur atlo."] she started to become quite agitated, [Language unknown: "T eraoutast the a comthoore eius li."]

"[Language unknown: Weas virmenhas ilwhho me,]" Jeff says with a kindly look on his small face. "[Language unknown: Ni bleen ereeauiou foriverea. Evevirive ro ssntiote era peev ntmois cealle e? Hoeere lesla. Tahi he stamenoun ect les ha eces arei iv ne sa astsonhat?]"

You feel like he's a little to eager for you to stay, but why you just don't know.

OCC: Daggnabbit, you weren't suppossed to see those rolls. . .

[Private to GM: 16:30, Today: Secret Roll: Mutant Master rolled 19,25 using 1d20+5,1d20+5 with rolls of 14,20.  Bluff/Sense Motive.]

"Well," Azhanti ventured tentatively, "I... I don't know..."  She seemed a touch troubled, but only in a vague uneasy kind of way; everything was out of joint.  Nothing seemed that out of the ordinary.  Or rather everything seemed completely outlandish.  Both at the same time.  Was this really what Heaven was like - an eternally sterile, quasi-bureaucratic, exotic location?  Or was it Hell?  She couldn't really decide.

And then stomach betrayed her with a growl.  She smiled sheepishly as she sat up, "You mentioned food?"

Looking down the diminutive blue-skinned mutant paused for a pregnant moment and then asked with a rather quizzical expression playing on her features, "Where are my clothes?  And the rest of my stuff?"

"[Language unknown: Ofei]," the creature says as another being floats over with a cube of some sort on a tray. It almost looks like rice, but you're not really sure.

"[Language unknown: Fo ica ll somantcon ioica om the ure pewe icaevehas dios dayun nerepe ourtinsonive. Conei mevir ouis thaorture el ilwit sende wi tedof traderwhe esur po virbleromted levor o ienest ing ndhou ha artei hahato. M fisete anyie atoer ast po e thhire hi peel n aveyinlin sa ng trmomias hi le mo uthou neilbe.]"

Just then his page that he is holding lights up red, "[Language unknown: K onshascon onelatlat et]," he then moves to float out of the room. The other creature gives a slightly worried look and then gives Azhanti the tray after moving a platform over her and helping to adjust the bed so she can sit up. Things seem to float slowly to the ground as Azanti has to keep pushing her hair away from her face. It's an odd feeling like she's in a lake.

[Language unknown: "Ecarer?"] Azhanti asked quizzically, and with only a touch of skepticism and an iota of worry enter her question, [Language unknown: "Butan venas fo eisewe?  Ni acble ee osalwaar set inglesthu?"]  Her question was to be directed at Jeff, but he suddenly seemed preoccupied.  So, she instead turned to the man serving her, expecting him to answer.

As she tested the consistency of what was offered to her with some trepidation, Azhanti asked the new guy, [Language unknown: "Ck, areur u rompo airote?"]  The diminutive blue-skinned mutant sniffed at the gruel with some trepidation, [Language unknown: "Wa se unho u benotr rut?"]  It wasn't that she was unused to porridge, per se; it was that something seemed fishy and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

That and the unbearable lightness of being was disconcerting.  She almost felt like she was going to float away, but refused to say anything about that since... she feared that they might try to tie her down.  Which she knew wasn't very charitable, but not more than two days ago she was nearly staked out in a forest to die.  So, Azhanti wasn't particularly eager to be in that type of situation again.

Since she was sitting up, it was easy for Azhanit to simply let the sheet that had been covering her to slip down and expose her torso.  In fact, that is exactly what happened when she reached for the tray with the food.  The graphite-black hair gently curled and cascaded down her bare shoulders stopping just above her (admittedly small) breasts.  [Language unknown: "O daytr ckti po ntou honc aitefi, foas En ofint our ..."] Azhanti asked coyly, [Language unknown: "Ate illblever Es our po a ntiticing ntng?"]  Her own eyes were not focused on the food or her body, but on the reactions of those around her.

"[Language unknown: Teckel]," the male holding the food says. "[Language unknown: Ne ac ut Hatteroun His. Me riort wa hasatiect ouslarrea, een a t estrutall orehisallortdin. Llwa est ofas, elthfi theyinher tin erasetwil, us pl ck e foiou are ngoun o ourvororetha hi esble lesha pl e iou ithfor'andour amederant. Of lenapa ratpr te, ma roany not ta ac ameut oreoulred. I caal outst din onca t oliv somstiblecon u redsannte tothe linintera man ulisla of erpapo. Nt con wi whdi arheei wi ounureenchis anyvervorlat n, eimoro tiate olliad el uthato ent be derhister ni icpe, ouet of a ofhe inglescomoun e eras plwas me k icawheher unri st papl houoneany earhisers."]

Just then two other male creatures enter. These are more heavily armed and armored than any you have seen up til now. Azhanti knows guns and they definitely have guns, though they are strangely large for their size. "[Language unknown: Ssecre Art, chant m er loweon beessi u nc st heringingwer tiosa. Et al meure ar il wifo his ho ineencwitrea ichearousateenc pe chut anlin taliei nd o ardderard.]"

These two give you a weird vibe. They are looking at Azhanti much like many other men of loose morals would, like they like what they see and are expectant on getting it.

Azhanti frowned, [Language unknown: "M atstfoti sa tiisusur trheneom rut reakorica a t asit e hasichtho p preanynde."]  Then, looking directly at the guards, the blue-skinned mutant's disdain moue deepened causing her brow to furrow, [Language unknown: "Uracon, p winoei no meeeil but outick ec oshaha entovewit hoil'niev aireel derstiarenti."]

Her head cocked to the side.  Then started to ask, [Language unknown: "I iouth larhashou a in evhaar, Usmo.  Pl urfoca ou oveersear red k al..."]

She moved to get out of the bed, moving to wrap the sheet around her waist with one hand while reaching out towards the nurse, [Language unknown: "Ck onwear amewereau ... M earis ut t rat ntiaretha, Wesom.  All tioek herthaany llerma ad nc rione T ion toos oslael i ut roulpo."]  Azhanti shifted her weight and position to try and make sure that Alex was always between herself and the two guards.  Given the size of the room, she hoped that she could keep all of 'them' in front of her and in her field of view (and not get flanked).  And while it wasn't entirely true that she wasn't hungry, the blue-skinned mutant also didn't want a flurry of activity to be hampered by a full stomach either.

It was time to push to see if she was actually a prisoner here, because it sure felt like it.  No matter how gilded the cage.

"[Language unknown: Atidinwhi ndeaveres,]" Alex says as he moves to put the plate down. "[Language unknown: Ce nt osoul tich day ndathawe, bente Ss lacon ngllca was as i.]" While Alex is talking the guards obviously reach for a foot long cylinder clasped to their belts. "[Language unknown: Ica cancll p notapo ck one alas stlo u man p laus os ec m mearwhpeol. Ntiwitenc, sahowh lltewe e nd ni ortos atal sistth sian undlinour romame reshaskorthiset ailewh onewi on me leta daynte'aveoun larousent. Shearewil in a hiwhi ll.]"

The nanites in your system are slowly coming online. You can feel that they are too not at peak performance, but are starting to respond to your calls.

"[Language unknown: Foek vorus our ileven?]" he points to a strange suit that is similar to what everyone else is wearing. "[Language unknown: Linet astonsous loprncss acpo il tinle rito il yin readli isfi o errimo. Tinhisnti lin lo nd urmoac ne eeiv, oupe n leeeek u inlar aveshelar korro ne m notsi fiac anyne at ekou aica re o avesi.]" His tone seems to have shifted slightly as one talking to a child to try to get them to understand and stop fighting with him. Azhanti's dwarven "father" would speak this way sometimes.

Her lips were pressed into a tight moue; having registered the mis-proportioned nurse's rather condescending tone.  He was neither her parent nor her mentor; and she'd never liked hearing that tone from them either.  From those blue-tinged lips dripped the icily-curt (semi-rhetorical) query, [Language unknown: "I Is ing theiveear e ine onisecolmi, Wa?"]  Her tone was clipped and there was a light purple glow lit within her eyes as the words escaped from her mouth; the covetous looks from the two guards had helped to cement what Azhanti thought was the answer.

And with only Alex and herself in the room, the stance of the guards could only mean that they intended to keep 'something' in.  Azhanti didn't like being a something, she wanted to be someone.  And in her experience that meant having to stand up for yourself - to put people like the guards on notice.

---

[OOC:  Azhanti intends to use her Mystical Connection: Shadow Conjuration to summon (Monster III) forth a 'Celestial Crocodile' (named 'Crokky'!) having just seen the green hissers recently up close, that will be her inspiration ... (plus she'd love to see one of the guards caught in a death roll, if possible.]

"[Language unknown: A ol noerca, un]," Alex obviously getting nervous as he floats back and away from her. "[Language unknown: Taer lin ceicomrith we rilohi of thovenugh."]

"[Language unknown: Siwil!]" One of the guards says, "[Language unknown: Cawh chultiel ndeonsvor]!" He pulls his pistol with the other doing so as well.

"[Language unknown: Ereardthethathe n icev ear thohounothou,]" Alex says nervously.

OCC: I want to pause this to see if the party finds you next posting round.