Saved roleplay from last turbo round :)

[Daryn]

"It wasn't me if that was your thinking," Daryn picked the limp wildcat up. He sniffed the dart. "I wonder..."

[loti71]

((I wonder what happened to Orion and Krowdon...))

Jadrek pulled the dart out of Quixote's neck, causing a brief jerk from the limp wildcat. "It's barbed," the wolf muttered, turning the dart over in his hands. "Other than that, I don't see any distinguishing features. It's as simple as a wooden cup." Jadrek looked up at Daryn. "D'you think that someone might've stowed away on this ship?"

[Daryn]

"Stowaway?" Daryn echoed thoughtfully. "Could be. I'll send my lieutenant to check. You're a good head on sturdy shoulders Jadrek. I wonder what Quixote'll do without you."

A sleek black shape made its way toward the leopard. Jadrek drew his sword.
"No, this is my spy," Daryn growled. "Vardrake, is there a way you can get onto the enemy's ship?"
Vardrake nodded his sleek head. In the light of the candle, it appeared he was a long sinewy ferret.
"Good," Daryn nodded. "I'll get the Emperor's approval for the mission. We'll get a small skirmish near their fleet and leave you there. In one week's time, we'll mount another battle. Hopefully we can get you back then with the info."

<<IDK what happened to Orion and Krowdon. Seems they may not want to continue the roleplay.>>

[loti71]

((Oh, well.))

Jadrek grunted, sheathing his sword again. "He'd get himself in too much trouble," the wolf muttered. He grabbed Quixote beneath the arms, dragging him toward the stairs that led belowdecks. If it wasn't for the wildcat's weight, Jadrek would be carrying him in his arms.

[Daryn]

"A spy?" Ublaz sneered at Daryn's idea of a spy. "Do not care about Pewlet. he is not worth our time. Our goal is to only reach the East."
Daryn agreed grudgingly. "But, your majesty, you don't know when they are going to mount a large attack!"
The pine marten threw the goblet in his face. "Go, you are dismissed. Go!"
The leopard struggled to control his anger. How dare that marten throw wine in his face like some common slave. He hit the conclusion that Ublaz was unstable. He'll probably lead us to death with his dreams.

[loti71]

Quixote let out a groan; he wasn't feeling too good. Feeling something soft underneath himself, the wildcat concluded that he wasn't on the deck.
One minute, he'd been listening to Daryn; however, before he'd heard the different styles, Quixote had felt something prick his neck. A second later, he'd fallen unconscious.
Quixote struggled to push himself up, but a hand pushed him back down.
"You need to rest," Jadrek said, studying the wildcat as he sat on a stool by the bed.
"What happened?" Quixote asked quietly, letting himself be pushed back down. "Where am I?"
"Found a dart in your neck," the wolf replied. "You're on a bed belowdecks. We're still on the same ship." He then grinned. "See? I told you you needed more training."
"Haha, very funny," Quixote mumbled, not taking the joke. He pushed himself up to a sitting position.
Jadrek didn't try to push the wildcat down, though he did push a bowl of something into the wildcat's hands. "You also need to eat."
Quixote grimaced at the bowl of stew in his hands; it smelled like herbs. "Our herbalist, right?"
"Who else would it be?" Jadrek grinned, then stood up. "Eat that, then get some sleep. I'm going to find Daryn."
Quixote would've asked why, but his stomach growled first. Soon after he'd eaten the stew, the wildcat fell back into a dreamless sleep.

Jadrek strode back onto the deck, searching for Daryn. The fog had cleared out completely by now.

[Daryn]

Daryn shrugged off the threat of Ublaz. The spy was a good idea. Why would he dismiss such a threat that was practically tickling his nose?
The leopard sat himself down against the mast and began to catnap.

[loti71]

Jadrek found Daryn sleeping against the mast, then sat down beside him, sighing. "Some day," he muttered. "First, a fleet comes out of nowhere, taking one of our ships. Then, someone hits Quixote with a sleep dart, and he doesn't feel too good, it seems. And, far as I know, we still don't know who did it."

[Daryn]

"I have eyes and ears on this ship that can find whatever or whoever you are looking for, Jadrek," Daryn replied. "So many people, and such big of fleets. it could be anyone that has enough to pay for services, or loyalty. It could be someone who feels animosity for your Lord. Morvatius!"
A saturnine ferret came out from the cabin. He was a head shorter than Jadrek, but even though he was small, the ferret had a sinewy body and muscular limbs.
"Yes, Daryn?" Morvatius, the ferret asked.
"Tell the Night Hunters that anything they hear about Quixote, they will report to me as well," Daryn ordered.
"Yes, sir," Morvatius nodded and disappeared.

[loti71]

Jadrek was somewhat surprised. /Sneaky little fellow, isn't he?/ he thought.
"Thanks for the help," the wolf nodded. "I'm not sure if we would've survived this long." After a minute or two, he remembered something. "Hey, Daryn, any idea when we'll reach this...what was it, Shingro-Lai, or something like that?"

[Daryn]

"In 7 day's time i think," Daryn answered scratching his head. "It will be a hard battle. The city has things that none of westerners have seen before. Some of its wonders even i haven't seen."

[loti71]

Jadrek grunted. "If it's gonna be a hard battle, then this obviously isn't just any abandoned city." The wolf paused. "Or is it?"

Meanwhile, back in his room, Quixote wasn't going to go without dreaming...

"Cummon, Quixote!" Jamal sighed, exasperated as he knocked aside yet another futile swing. "At this rate, you'll be a fighter when you're old!"

Quixote was panting as he tried swinging the practice sword at his older brother's legs, but the smoky-grey wildcat just blocked it with his own stick.

"Sheesh," Jamal shook his head. "When will you learn? You won't make a good ninja if you fight like this."

This was where the young Quixote would have answered. However, Ublaz suddenly burst into the training ground, waving something in his hand and cackling about findging Shangri-La. Then, the ground was suddenly the deck of a ship, and an unfamiliar-yet-all-too-familiar figure grinned wickedly as he silently walked up and-

Quixote sat up, breathing heavily. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dim room. /Just a nightmare,/ the wildcat thought, lying back down. /Just a nightmare./ He couldn't go back to sleep, though, for fear that he'd dream it again.

It had started out as what he'd remembered of one of his childhood days, some years before his family's demise. But, everything had gone wrong; this dream, it was not what had happened in real life. The part with Ublaz must have been brought on by this journey, which could prove to be fruitless. Quixote was puzzled, though. Why would that person show up in the middle of his dream? The wildcat hadn't seen him since...come to think of it, he hadn't really seen his face at all. Yet, he was sure that it had been the warlord responsible for his family's death.

In short, what had brought about this dream?

[Daryn]

Daryn reminisced back to the old times. The Night Hunter order was a whole back then, with its proud thousand members, trained in the finest temples. They had guarded thier temples, until the self proclaimed Emperor Brooks came. He was young back then, so he and his younger brother took up the Emperor's army to lead it. Then after a couple more years, Daryn realized his mistake.

"Daryn! Daryn!" The voice of his younger brother rang in the halls of the temple in which they reside. A stocky snow leopard dashed up to him. His leather sandals slapped against the ground with every step.
"What is it, Taun?" Daryn muttered as his brother nearly crashed into him.
Taun looked at his feet. He was an average snow leopard, with the silver fur and black rosettes. The only thing that was different was his eyes. Instead of being the normal blue color, they were a dark deep green like the taiga forests of the North. Taun was dressed in a light blue tunic with a darker silk sash.
"The Emperor has put to death the entire Sharktooth company," Taun breathed out softly.
"What?!" Daryn exclaimed with shock. The Sahrktooth company had served the Emperor loyally. Then came the battle with the Persians. There, they had been defeated. "That's a thousand good and able men!"
His brother looked out the temple window. "I know, Daryn. I told him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen. I think he's losing his wits. Just right now, he also proposed to deface all the temples in his empire to worship his foreign gods."
"He can't do that!" Daryn roared with rage. His ears were laid back and his tail stiff with anger. "This is blasphemy to our gods! They have been watching over this land since it began, and to dihonor them by defacing them?! It's sacrilege!"
"We have to do something about this, brother," Taun stated. "Other wise, he'll bring Amun-Ra's wrath upon us."

[loti71]

Jadrek noticed the distant look on Daryn's face; he seemed to be thinking about something else.

The wolf laid his head back against the post. He would be glad when this journey was over; his old bones couldn't take a whole lot more at the moment. Ten years ago, though, Jadrek would've been up and checking things out. That line of thought brought him about to the decision he'd made ten years ago...

Jadrek looked at the wildcat that lay before him; this one was quite dead. Normally, he wouldn't have said anything about this latest invasion, but the Katana family had actually been the closest to being truly honorable, despite being a warlord's family.
The thirty-year-old wolf heard footsteps approaching, and he, along with the other soldiers in the room, immediately stood to attention as his superior strode into the room. "This was the last of them, my lord," Jadrek reported.
"You're sure?"
"Yes, sir," Jadrek affirmed.
"And the one who did it?"
The wolf gestured toward one of the other soldiers, a hardy rat with an eye missing.
The warlord congratulated the rat, promising a reward later on, then slowly walked around the room, closely examining everything, but touching nothing. After several minutes of silence, he nodded to himself, walking back to the door. Suddenly, the warlord turned back to the room, saying smoothly, "We'll meet again, cat."
The other vermin didn't understand the meaning of this, but Jadrek did. The wolf knew of the young wildcat that hid underneath the floorboards; at least one member of the Katana family had survived. As everyone else left the room, Jadrek hung back, looking pointedly at the floor. "Make sure you don't get yourself kxlled," he muttered quietly.
As Jadrek left the room, he came to the conclusion that he needed someone else to serve. If the young wildcat lived long enough, then, one day, the wolf would serve him, instead.

Quixote shook his head. Bah, what was he worrying about? The black wildcat swung his legs over the bed's side and stood up; he made sure he had his deep-blue tunic on before walking out into the hallway, eventually making his way up onto deck. He needed to find Jadrek.

[Daryn]

Daryn muttered something about advanced athritis and tried to block out the painful memories of his past. Bad times of the heretic Emperor Brooks.

"Stop the killing of the Sharktooth company?" Brooks pondered. The slim wolf stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Or should I stop defacement of the temples? I am the only god on this world."
Taun glared at him with slitted eyes. "They have maintained Ma'at (Peace) for centuries in our land. Why destroy them?"
Brooks glared at the snow leopard. "There are no gods. There is only me. Replace the names of the gods with mine, sculptor Horakht."

Daryn blocked the entrance to his temple, Montu-Horus, the god of the Warrior-King.
"I do not grant you access to my temple," Daryn hissed at the sculptors.
Horakht glared at him. "It is by the royal decree of his majesty Emperor Brooks, the One God, smiter of ----"
The snow leopard let out a roar and ripped the royal decree out of the cats' hand. "No one is going into my temple without my permission. Night Hunters, stand at the ready!"
The sculptor hissed at the paladin and ran away with his gaggle of followers. "The Emperor will be hearing about this!"