Lady of the Books

[visualspice]

Averella let out a gasp once he began to parade her on over to the bone cage, and was attempting to reason with him when she was stuffed into the cage with an 'ooomf!' Barely managing to fit with her puffy skirts, she threw herself at the cage door, just as Urtok locked her in it.
"Wait!" she said, reaching out to him with desperation sparkling in her green eyes, but he had his back turned to her as she wilted through a pout.

THe eyes of the two sister's, however, were positively sparkling.

"Bone of darkness, bone of snake, trap the woman inside before it's too late," Ethel chanted and the lock was replaced with an iron snake's mouth, wicked with blood colored jewels spakrling within the recessses of it's eyes.

"And tough of hide, tough of skin, tuft of hair and tough with sin, before us there's a monster to beat, and for him, two potions to keep!" Addison chanted, but the last parts the two joined in together,a nd Ethel, now iwth a bottle containing an orange lizard in hand, uncorked it and tossd it into the cauldron, it light up in a puff of bright smoke..
that of which caused Averella to cough.

"Can you please try not to do that again?" Averella inquired with a pout. "I do believe I might be allergi.. ACHOO! To.. to.. to smoke." she said, sniffling.

[Paradox]

Ooc : lol I've no idea what I'm doing...

Ic:

The hag sisters now joined hands and danced around the cage of bones, continuing their peculiar rhyming in a sing-song chant, "Eye of ancient, spleen of goat, turn the fool into a stoat!" Addison removed her eye and tossed it splashing down into the bubbling cauldron. Icky goop, spider and all. Ethel cackled gleefully and tossed in a bloody slab of meat that probably WAS a goat's spleen.

"Fool? What are you two babbling about? Just hurry up already and- " Urtok began to say, but then he stopped talking and his mouth hung open as he watched EVERYTHING grow larger around him until he felt so small that – well, at least he was slightly larger than the rat that scurried by him. 

Wait a moment. Something wasn't right! He knew it too because his ears were twitching again.

Urtok noticed a shadow fall over him. He looked up and he squeaked!
Wait. Squeaked? That wasn't right! Bugbears didn't make such pathetic noises!
A large black shroud fell over him and the world was dark, smothering him. He crawled on hands and knees through the black maze for what seemed like forever. He probably would have been at it for hours (because the fool was going in circles!) until Ethel plucked Urtok's clothing off of him with a cackle then seized Urtok the STOAT by the tail and held him aloft.

Urtok panicked! How come he was one of the few things that were SMALL in this room!? He thrashed about wildly in the air and tried to bite and scratch at the GIANT witch but his struggles ceased when she held him over the boiling brew. It wasn't the heat from the scalding concoction that made his heart leap up into his throat though.

In the reflection of the brew, he saw himself. Not as a bugbear, but as a bloody STOAT!

The book sorceress was RIGHT! These witches a rotten sort! They hadn't honored their promise to him at all! They were rotten cheats! LIARS! Thieves! Oh! They were going to pay!

"And now for the finishing touch! Ehehehehehe! In you go, my pretty!" Ethel cackled and released her hold on Urtok's tail.

And down he fell....to meet with his blistering doom!

[visualspice]

OOC: I still have no idea what to post XD
buuuuuuuuut, forcing myself to post something anyway!
<3
--------------

Lady Averella's eyes went as wide as saucers the moment the spell took hold. The once furry bugbear now shrunk to less than half it's size, and became increasingly smaller until she could barely see it, so it was almost too late when the old women cackled and tried to cast the poor professor into their broiling stew. It was only then things were beginning to surface in her mind the severity of their situation as she cried out, throwing herself against the bone cage, which knocked it into a nearby shelf, and toppled over a few contents from it.

Glass jars full of eyes and toads and flies and leeches all went tumbling down, splashing into the cauldron and making it rumble and shake and spew out growing, coughing plumes of smoke. Averella's mouth fell open, and before she knew it-
The entire shop exploded.



As the dust settled, Averella found her breath, and was soon coughing from all of the dust. her hair and dress were a mess, but she found herself no longer hanging up within her cage, but now on the ground within her bone cage, and the mess about her quite the sight to see. And after a moment of not seeing any other life-like activities, she began to wonder what had become of hte old ladies.. and of the stoat.

"P...professor?" she asked meekly through another cough.



OOC: WHen all else fails, just blow things up? >_>

[Paradox]

Wild desperation gripping him , Urtok the stoat (the very AWESOME stoat, by the way) threw out his four furry little legs, bracing them against the 'walls' of the cauldron and halting his plunge into the bubbling brew that looked like scalding mucus and smelled like a thousand sweaty old people stuffed into one room without any kind of ventilation system.

Then things were falling down on him. An enormous eyeball knocked him into the boiling snot ! He thought he was DOOMED but then...

The cauldron exploded like a volcano, sending him sailing through the air, covered in icky , sticky green goop! He hit one of the cheese wheels on a shelf and stuck there.

Hearing the book sorceress calling for him, he hastily extracted himself from the cheese wheel and tumbled to the dusty floor. " Here!" He called out to her but he was so small and she might not have seen him , let alone understood what he was saying! "Troll's-breath!" He cursed his ill luck. "I'm never dealing with creepy women that rhyme again! I always thought people who rhyme were kinda shifty- woah!"

He felt quite terribly odd all of a sudden and , suddenly, the world was shrinking (or , more likely , he was getting taller!) . When it stopped,he stood there looking around. Had he turned back to his old self?

"Why is it so cold all of a sudden?" Urtok complained and then caught a glimpse of the most hideous of creatures he'd ever seen in the mirror; a human man . A very naked one. And he screamed like a girl. " ARGH! What is THAT THING!? Kill it with fire, sorceress!  "  He punched the mirror with his  little hairless fist and broke the glass. But where he, as a bugbear, wouldn't have felt the stinging pain of glass seeing how incredibly wimpy and hairless he was...

"OH! This is SO not awesome!" Urtok sobbed.

And the arrows were still protruding from his rear.

Ooc: All of this seems perfectly legit.

[visualspice]

At the sight of the naked man, Lady Averella's jaw dropped open.
"Goodness!" and she ducked her head, hiding her eyes behind her gloved hands as her cheeks turned pink. "Professor, I do think you are naked! Might I suggest you find some clothes?"

And that's when a dusty-faced, burnt haired witch of a woman threw herself at Averella's cage, growling in her face. Averella's once hated cheeks paled as she cowered, unable to tell which witch this was.

"You worthless towel," the witch seethed, smoking coming out of her mouth along with her words, as she threw open the bone cage and grabbed onto Averella's wrist. "Now that our potion is useless, you are coming with me!" And before the woman knew what was going on, she was dragged away, nearly falling down a staircase that was well hidden behind the shop's front desk.

"What!? Where are we going!?" Averella asked, trying to fight the grip, but somehow the old woman was strong.

"To tear out your bones, ancient one," the woman hissed. "And to lick off the flesh from them."

"Oh.." Averella said, but then blinked. "What!?" She tried to fight the pull more dramatically now, throwing herself back onto the steps, which only aggravated the witch, who gave a painful pull before successfully dragging Averella into the bowels of her shop.

"Please! I need my bones!" she protested, but the woman seemed not to hear her, as she slammed the door close to the basement, throwing a wooden bolt before it, sealing it shut. Averella threw herself at it, but the witch grabbed her by the hair.

"There is no use fighting us girl, you are mine."

[Paradox]

Urtok looked down at his hairless, pale , smooth-skinned body. He was a fairly handsome creature in this state by general human standards. He was tall, broad, muscular but by bugbear standards? Puny, hairless, UNSIGHTLY! He screamed like a terrified school-girl, "My HAIR! " He felt his face desperately...feeling the small, pathetic patch of man-scruff that fiercely guarded his square jaw. He opened his mouth, felt his teeth. No fangs! What replaced them were sad, flat little man teeth! He felt the luxurious dark mane on his head, but it wasn't quite as impressive as what he'd once had! And he had no horns either!  This hair was smooth and thick by human standards but quite thin and sad by his! He felt his small, rounded ears and nose.

"No, no, no! All wrong! This is SO not awesome! This is...disastrous! Horrifying! I can't believe this!Those creepy old hags STOLE my HAIR!" 
He was so upset that he was completely ignoring Averella even as she was being stolen away by Ethel.

He went on raving about how UNAWESOME his situation was until he noticed how quiet it was and looked up, "Sorceress? " He blinked and looked around the ruined shop. Aside from a rat that scurried across his path, he was alone. "Great! She was probably scared of my hideous transformation and ran away. NOW what will I do?!"

He growled and , quite foolishly, yanked the two arrows from his posterior.
And screamed like a little girl again, baby-man tears streaming down his face.

It was so not awesome.

He then, curiously, made his way over to Addison's desk and went through her things. "Maybe there's a cure here somewhere for this disease I have..." He muttered to himself, grabbing random bottles and glaring at the labels hopelessly. "It's no use! " He moaned dramatically and threw a potion at one of the cheese wheels which simultaneously burst into flames upon impact. "I can't read any of this without her! How will I know which one will make me awesome again!?"   

It was only then that he noticed the conspicuous stairway leading down to a floor level beneath the ground right behind Addison's chair, "Sweet. A hidden treasure room!" Urtok forgot his woes temporarily and stumbled down the stairs, giddy as a child in a candy store. "I wonder what kind of awesome treasures are down here. Maybe an ancient sword made of gold or magical underwear that cleans my butt so that I don't have to! Speaking of my butt...argh...it hurts even more than usual. It must be because I have no hair. " He paused at the door at the bottom of the stairs and knocked on it a few times, "Hello? Any monsters guarding treasure in there? "

No answer. He grabbed the door knob and twisted it but it held fast.

"Curses! It's locked!" He grinned, "Hah! Not a problem. I can take this door easy. " He took a couple steps back and charged at it bodily, ramming his shoulder into it like he normally would and expecting it to yield to his superior strength!

The result , however, was not at all what he expected nor was it pretty. He hit the door as hard as he could, but it remained where it was and he felt pain in his shoulder. Since when had he become SO feeble!?

Oh wait...now he remembered! Stupid man-disease! Stupid potions and rhyming hags!

"I...think I might have...broken something..." He winced.

He thought he heard voices then on the other side of the door. He pressed his little, round and flat ear against it and listened.

"Attack this door until you rot, " Addison crowed.

Let you in, we will not!" Ethel cackled gleefully.

The rhyming was followed by more, even louder cackling.
Troll's-breath were they ANNOYING!

Urtok snarled and pounded on the door with his fist, "GAH!  Open this door right now! I'm going to punch you both in your dumb , hair-stealing faces you thieving witches!"

[visualspice]

OOC: baby-man tears streaming down his face.... looooool

---------------

Averella let out a shriek once her hair was grabbed, and a ripping crack against her backside made her realize...
'Oh no!' she thought 'I'm starting to decompose!'
It always happened from the inside out. Organs began to wither first, then flesh and muscle, too. The bugs always made her uncomfortable, especially the ticking wriggling bite of maggots. Thankfully, it always started out small, but it was definitely beginning now. BUt why NOW of all times!? And for the briefest moment, she was too shocked to fight back, that was, until she heard the professor's voice.

"Professor!"s he shouted, tearing herself away from the two old hags and throwing herself at the door. "I'm inside here! THe women want to tear out my bones!" and that made her quite frightened indeed as she desperately attempted to move the wooden bolt, when one of the old women came her way, latching onto her wrist and yanking her from the door.

"P-PROFESSOR!" she screamed, but it might have been drowned out by the old women's cackles as they strapped her down onto a rock table, limbs spread out into the shapes of stars. And a glint from the corner had her gasping when she noticed Addison with a knife.

"P-... Professor!" she screamed, her heart nearly in her throat when the dagger came down, right into her wrist, drawing heaps of sifting sands instead of blood. Addison removed the dagger with a gasp.

"She does not bleed!" And her eyes twinkled at that, before she slammed the knife once again into her wrist and cut down, down down, until a large gaping wound was left wide open in her arm, exposing her precious bones, and it appeared asi f the two old hags lips were glistening as much as their lips.

"It is true," Ethel purred. "She is an ancient one. With ancient bones."

"And I bet ancient teeth."

"Ancient eyes..."

"And a very ancient curse.." that of which made Addison pause in thought as she observed Averella, who was now laying there, crying upon the table. She then moved to point the knife directly at Averella's throat. "I demand you tell us about your curse girl. Who preserved you and from what era are you from?"

But Averella was too frightened to answer, and Ethel interrupted her thoughts with a laugh.

"What does it matter? He will be pleased!"

"To think, we can offer him a true, immortal bride!"

"He?" Averella swallowed the knot within her throat. "Bride?"

And the dark look the old witches were giving her terrified her to her bones.

"And if he does not want her..." Addison began, licking her lips.

"We can eat her bones," Ethel said, finishing her thoughts.

[Paradox]

Ooc: I know. The image is hilariously burned into my mind.
Ic:
"Okay. Alright. I didn't want to have to use this but..." he took a deep breath, " Open the door PLEASE." He waited. Waited.  And glared at the door that STILL wouldn't open. " Oh come on! Whoever told me 'please' was a magic word was full ogre dung!" He grabbed the door knob with both hands and pulled with all of his weak man might. It did not budge. He scowled and put his hands on his hips,"So you're gonna play it like that huh? Well, I'll show YOU! Here comes the thunder! HIYAH!" He kicked the door high with his foot then tried to karate chop it, roundhouse kick, head butt, punch, belly bounce, threw several potions that exploded , several rats and a cheese wheel...
Nothing worked.
"It's no use! Troll's-breath!"
And it was like magic. He felt his body growing larger, stronger , harrier . And he was elated! "Hah! The potion wore off ! Your evil plans have failed! " He knocked the door down with a single mighty bugbear punch (FALCON PUNCH!) !

He burst into the room and saw the hags had HIS sorceress. "Stop what you're doing, you wicked witches! The lady is not on the menu and she's not getting married because she has WAY more important things to be doing that serve my er...quest! Yeah. "

"Ethel!" Addison hissed,  " I thought you said you bought a bugbear proof door!"

Ethel blushed, " What can I say? The coven gave me a discount? And besides, how was I supposed to know he was going to turn back?"

"Oh! YOU and your bloody bargains! Why can't you get anything RIGHT!?"

"Look who is talking! You're the dummy who ruined our sign! It's little wonder why we have so few customers these days!"

"Hmph! If I made a mistake, then why didn't you fix it!?"

"Why is it that every time YOU make a mistake, I have to clean it up!?"

"Because you're the eldest."

"WHAT!? That doesn't even make sense."

"What?"

"What I just said."

"What?"

"What?"

Urtok's sight shifted back and forth throughout the argument, but while the witches were preoccupied he edged over to towards the rock table and freed Averella of her bindings. "It's kind of sad that you let yourself get kidnapped by a couple old ladies. Just saying."

Ooc: Was not sure if you were going anywhere in particular with this SO I pause so you can stop him IF you wanted or something. xD Otherwise I'm just winging it. 

[visualspice]

"Oh, thank you, Professor! I'd be lost if it weren't for you! They wanted to eat my bones!" she said, seeming not to hear his remark about it being sad she was caught, captured and bond by two old ladies in their cheese cellar. But then as she was stepping off the stone bed, the two witches spun around and nearly jumped two feet.

"The bug bear has our ancient one!"

"The one who bleeds of sand!"

"Do not let her get away!"

"Yes, after him we must!"

Averella's eyes went wide.
"I think that's our cue to run!" and she gave a tug on his arm and bolted from the door, just as Ethel cackled and pulled out a small vial from her sleeve.

"I've got a plan, Addison. The spare potion."

"You've got a spare potion?"

"Yes! But of course! Do you think I was born last century?"

"But of course not, we are not that young." The two old croons cackled.

"Yes, the potion to turn that wretched flea-infested menace back into a more mortal form. Though is this the potion of man, or the potion of mouse? Hrmm.."
As Ethel was trying to read the label, Addison gave a start.

"They're getting away! Throw the potion, Ethel! Do it now! Lest they fly the coop!"

Cawing like a crow, Ethel made haste after the pair, potion in hand, ready to throw the thing directly at the bugbear's stupid head, though when she did, Averella spun around with a gasp.
"LOOK OUT!"

[Paradox]

"Of course you would, silly human girl. " Urtok declared proudly, "Everyone always is lost without ME." Could his head get any bigger? He pulled free the last of her restraints and wrinkled his nose, "I thought only ogres ate bones. Disgusting habit, if you ask me. " Which she hadn't , but he gave his opinion anyway!

"She's not yours, dummies. She's MINE! I found her first!" Urtok stuck his tongue out them, an immensely mature gesture.

The crones started to blabber on about unimportant things that hardly made sense to him. Urtok stuck a claw inside one of his large, pointy ears and picked a glob of earwax free and flicked it at Ethel.

When Averella told him to run and pulled his arm, he didn't budge. " Oh come on! What are they gonna do? They're a couple of old- TROLL'S BREATH!" He ducked , narrowly avoiding the potion that was thrown at his head. "WHAT the heck was THAT fo-"

He felt himself shrinking again. And then he was hairless and weak again. "OH OGRE's BALLS! " He was human again! Why!? Now he'd lost his confidence and ran after Averella. "Hey! Wait for me!"  Nakedly so.

[visualspice]

Averella gripped onto her skirts, lifting them high above her boots as she bolted towards the door. But as she turned around and noticed the bugbear was no longer a bugbear but a naked human, she gasped and didn't watch where she was running- and smashed clean into the wall beside the door.

"Now they'll be ours!" the women cackled together, rushing after BOTH 'humans'.

[Paradox]

"My hideousness is that distracting, huh? " Urtok frowned, watching the poor book sorceress smash right into the wall. "Er. By the way, you totally missed the door by like...a lot." He opened it for her, thankful that a human's shape was at least similar to that of a bugbear's. Then, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her through the door.

Up the steps they ran with the witches cackling following their every step. But when Urtok turned his head to glance back over his shoulder to see if the creepy old hags were in hot pursuit, he saw no one there.
~
Though the witches had rushed to the stairs, they certainly didn't rush up them! Addison led the way, her knees creaking more loudly than the stairs did under her weight. Her ascent was slow, painful. "Remind me why didn't we have the coven install an elevator again? "

"Discount on stairs!" Ethel blushed.

"Ugh!"

~

Urtok through the store, searching for the exit door. Unfortunately, that had conveniently vanished. " Great! Those creepy old hags magicked the door away! How are we gonna get out now?" He proceeded to go over to one of the shelves and look through the potions for something that might make a door appear. In his clumsy haste, he knocked over a green vial which shattered when it hit the floor, the lime-colored liquid dousing a poor rat and turning it into a chicken. 

[visualspice]

At the crashing of items, Averella found herself careful of what she touched, cringing before picking up a few bottles to more carefully push them aside than her bugbear companion was being. But being as this method was taking forever, and she heard the old hags getting closer and close, she began to get more hasty, and knocked over a vial herself, and a small centipede began to grow larger and larger.

Her eyes went wide, her mouth gaping open. She grabbed onto Urtok's arm and gave a tug.
"P..p...professor!" she stammered, the shadow of the beast now looming over them as it grew larger and larger, about ready to bust out of the place. "I think we.... should go back down stairs!"
and she let out a shriek, jumping in fear to get away from the wriggling, writhing long gangily (and HUGE) legs of the MONSTER sized centipede that now was smashing into shelf after shelf withint he room.

Potions began to fall at their feet, popping in broken glass bits as Averella gasped and danced over the puffs of smoke.
"P-professor!" she shouted, as one let loose a cage of poisonous, hissing snakes; all of which were quick to hiss and rise up, spreading out their hoods as they bared their teeth at the mummy girl.

[Paradox]

Ooc: What is it with our threads and giant bugs? Seriously. IF you put one in the only sane thread we have...I will never forgive you.

Ic:

"Not now! I'm incredibly busy destroying potentially hazardous material thank you!" Urtok shook Averalla's touch off but she kept on nagging him so he spun around on her so suddenly, "What!?" He exclaimed in exasperation.
He noted the shadow looming over him and looked up...

And screamed. Like a man-girl. ( I imagine it to be something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPG4NVk_JEY)

He was prepared to agree about going back downstairs when he saw Addison reaching the top. She grinned wickedly at him and reached down into her robe for something, then pulled out a wand.

"Uh....I don't think going downstairs is an option! Why don't you cast a spell or something!? Surely, you must know something from all those books you were reading!"

He saw the snakes and grabbed one of the big cheese wheels on display which weighed a LOT more than he imagined a wheel of cheese really should. "Alright, I have an idea! " With all the puny strength he could summon in his tiny, naked man-body, he threw the cheese at the display window which shattered on impact.

"Let's get the hell outta here!" He grabbed Averella's hand and made a run for it!

[visualspice]

Glass shards fell around them in sharp, tinkling rain. Thankfully, Averella wore many layers to her clothing and avoidedgetting cut as she clung to Urtok's hand and was pulled away.
"But I-I don't know any magic," she admitted through a frown. "Where should we go now?" she inquired, a worried pout set to her lips as they rushed along. Then she gasped, spotting some familiar guards at the end of the road. Gasping, she pointed them out.

"Professor, be careful! There are guards!"

Ooc: she's so good at stating the obvious XD
Also phone posts be short and special Bl

[Paradox]

Ooc: np. Not feeling well enough to really care.

Ic:

Urtok winced and plucked a glass shard that was sticking out of his rear. "Yeowch!" He shook his head at her question, "Well, I don't know about YOU , but I don't think I wanna stay here and have my bones munched on or made into cheese. So anywhere that's far away from weird old rhyming hags that scam people with potions is fine by me..."

Then she pointed out the guards. The very same that were trying to kill him earlier.
They recognized Averella but not the naked man standing next to her.

"Good God, man!" One guard gasped and covered his eyes, "Put some clothes on!"

"Guh. Woman! RUN! NOW!" Urtok exclaimed and   pulled her along, climbing out.

They were moving towards the guards , but he thought being in library prison was much better than being groped and prodded by creepy old women for body parts. Gross!

[visualspice]

"B-b-but, but.. Professor!" she called out as she was dragged along. "The guards.." and her eyes went large as she braced herself for the inevitable capture, but instead, the guards all got out of their way, shaking their head at the naked man and woman beside him before realizing...

"Hey wait.. wasn't that woman?" And then they were quickly pursuing the two down the road.

When Averella opened her eyes, she was surprised to see the road ahead of them was clear.
"Oh... they did not capture us?" But peering over her shoulder confirmed the opposite as she gasped and clung onto her skirts.
"Professor! We need to run faster! I think they're gaining on us!"
And ironically, the old hags were keeping up, just a few feet behind the group of armed guards as they ran all through the 'mean streets' of Uthlyn.

"They'll catch up to us if we don't watch ourselves, Professor!" Averella called out to him. "Do you have some sort of plan? Perhaps a diversion? Or do you own some sort of horse or carriage we could use to get ourselves out of here?"

Because despite there being guards and ugly old women, they still had the large bug to contend with who broke through the old hag's shop and was now terrorizing the people int he streets, which was enough to get the guards distraction to drop pursuit.

If the giant insect wasn't so terrifying, she could have kissed it.
"Look, professor!" she siad with a laugh. "They've give up chase!"
But as soon as the guards disappeared, she spotted the two old women and made a face. "Oh, scarab entrails! Those old women are back! And it appears as if they're still after us!"
What more could they do but run?

[Paradox]

Urtok glanced back over his shoulder to see if what the book sorceress was saying was remotely true because, in all honesty, it sounded pretty ridiculous! Seeing the old hags not so far behind them he cried out over the sound of their rushing footsteps, "What!? They're old women and I'm awesome! How does that even work!?"

Now the guards we're falling the hags, creating a trouble train behind them. And very much to Urtok's horror, his awesomeness was losing steam and the pursuit was gaining. He pumped his skinny hairless man-legs as hard as he could. A pigeon flew overhead and crapped on him. "BLOODY BIRDS! " With his free hand he wiped it from his shoulder to the best of his ability. Gross! It smeared on his hairless baby-man skin.

"Plan? " Tok echoed, "What plan? Isn't it obvious that the plan is to get the hell away from those weirdos!?"

The more the vampire book-nerd sorcress went on, the more annoyed he got. Way to make him not feel as awesome as he really was, Averella. Way to go. "Hey! C'mon now! Who do I look like to you? Prince Charming? Carriages are for losers! Now move those legs faster, skinny!"

The guards broke the chase, distracted by the mini Godzilla-sized centipede.

Urtok gave a whoop, Wahoo!"

But the hags were still chasing him, "Ogre's sagging bal-"

And somehow all that running had brought them before the Library of Evil again. The fake librarian who tried to arrest them saw them and pointed. "YOU! Get back here and pay your library fee!"

"Hahahahaha! No way!" Urtok turned and ran in a different direction.

"You know, it would be a tremendous help if you could step out of your phony damsel in distress mode right now and do something awesome. " He told Averella.

[visualspice]

Averella continued to stumble behind him, her heart thumping heavily inside her chest.
"What do you mean? I can't think of a single thing I might be able to do to help!" she called back, feeling horrid that she was so useless to him;a nd to this situation as she pouted. "But I think we're on the right path. Just keeping running!"

Though as they did, Averella was beginning to get dizzy from all of the running in zig-zags through the maze-like alley ways.
"We need to do something to throw them off our trail!"
And that's when they rounded the bend and she saw a pile of hay near a stable full of horses- One pile was even connected into a cart, and without hesitation, she yanked onto Urtok's hand and leaped into the hay stack- dragging with her the hairless, man-turned bug bear in tow.

Breathing heavily, she turned to face him.
"Are you alright?" she asked,t hen stilled suddenly at the sounds of the old hags approaching and held her breath and listened.

[Paradox]

Urtok too held his breath and waited for the danger to pass before he spoke.

"Okay!?" He exclaimed in his higher-pitched baby-man voice. He slapped his hairless, smooth hands over his mouth . That was a little bit too loud, but fortunately his outburst didn't immediately alert the hags to their location.

"Okay!? Of course not!" He hissed at her more quietly at her, "Look at me! I'm short, ugly, I have no hair, no fangs, no awesome muscles. I'm a skinny, pink, hairless, weak, man-baby! And another thing, this hay is scratching my...bits! Let me tell you something, lady, it's not a very comfortable feeling either. No, it's not. There's also bird poo on my shoulder.So not awesome! "