Atharen, A Fantasy Roleplay Forum

Posted: **Sat Feb 06, 2021 1:33 pm**

Frost 8th, 120

Wandering wanderances of wandering aside, Nuraku had taken the form of a boar for the last several days. At first the Mold was jittery, the senses murky, but the numbness had faded at least. Trotting along beneath the desert sun, she had long since left the more alpine northern reaches of Daravin for the hotter desertified region.

Vesta hadn’t mentioned it, but she did get the idea from the woman and her talk about ‘features’--a venomous snake would be more than ideal. Sniffing around with her snout to the desert grasses, she picked up on trace scents that reminded her more of plants than anything else; the boar’s snout was adapted for finding edible fungi, not beasts. Still, she learned, and slowly she began to synchronize her movements with the boar’s body as time went on.

Digging her tusks into the earth, Nuraku checked to see if she could find some water--it stood to reason if the undersoil was muddy, that there’d be burrowed critters somewhat nearby, and if those existed... then there would be snakes.

While Nuraku had seen a pack of hyenas lounging in the distance, she hadn’t bothered to catch their attention, preferring to steer clear and stay focused. It was a lot harder to form the hand symbols she needed to summon anything as a boar compared to the ermine which could stand upon its hind limbs, so she felt rather vulnerable.

Climbing a hill beneath the warm sun, she passed beneath a rocky outcropping before coming across a large, flat boulder. It saw her before she saw it, rearing on its coils and rising a good foot above the ground. A small, pink tongue flickered as it hissed.

Schfpt!

That horrible sound was met with a wet feeling on Nuraku’s porcine cheek. She shut her eye, backing away in shock to put a few more feet of distance between her an the angry Spitting Cobra. Did that thing just... spit on me? No... It spit venom. I didn’t know snakes could spit venom.

Standing at a distance, she stared down the snake, beginning to Imprint. The reptile was transfixed with her, perfectly willing to stand completely still while the minutes rolled on. The way its tongue flickers--is that to breathe, or to ‘taste the air’? How do its scales move?

Soon enough she began to feel the presence of the Template, and backed away. The last thing I want to deal with is a venomous bite, or getting blinded by whatever that stuff it spits is. There’s no other reason I can think of for it to spit at me, other than to blind--I bet that stuff does NOT feel good on the eye ball!

Heading back down the hill, she trotted to a place between some rocks and knelt down, raising her head and feeling for the Template in her mind. Feeding it her power, she began to feel herself shift, innards twisting and churning to a sense of queasiness as her muscles and bones squirmed and popped, fur dissipating for scales. Her big boarish snout narrowed to a fine point as the minutes rolled on, and eventually she settled as a rope upon the ground.

Those first few moments were difficult... and perilous. I’m helpless, she thought as she tried to move, just turning her body and getting a feeling for its spacial awareness truly harrowing. If anything came to get her now, she’d be dead meat if she couldn’t scare it away.

“HsssSSSsss,” hissed Nuraku, moving and pushing on her scales in every direction until she felt herself begin to glide forward. It was a careful dance as she learned to slither along, eventually coiling and directing her attention towards the senses. As she flicked out her tongue and jiggled it up and down, she got a sense for the difference in ‘smell’ between two points. The scent of hyena was nearby, and based on the strength of it as she pulled her tongue back and the trace elements bounced around in her mind, she could tell it was upwind from her. It only took a few more tongue flicks to determine as much.

Notable about the snake was its lack of decent eyesight. Nuraku immediately remedied this by beginning to Integrate her Ermine eyes, there was little visible difference outwardly, but she could see a little better. However, everything still had this extra brightness that made it harder to see. Is this... something related to the darkness?

Slithering along through the desert, she found the pack of hyenas from before steered very clear of the snake and her venom. For hours and hours, she enjoyed relative comfort, at least until the sun set and it began to grow cold. “Ughh,” she muttered through her tiny snout. “The pains of being... ectothermic, was it?” Big words were still hard for her, sometimes.

Still, the snake could see... amazing in the dark. As she stared over a hill, she saw someone ... a woman, quite far away and almost glowing beneath the moonlight from the snake’s colorful thermal vision. “I can see her... heat? Is it heat?” mumbled Nuraku. “That is a girl, right?”

Curious, Nuraku advanced towards the traveler, slithering up on her over time. So quiet, so sneaky, and so hard to see, she spoke up from the ground. “Hey stranger, don’t be alarmed, you’ve got a mage to your left. A little lower. A lot lower. Where ‘ya headed? I could use the company.”

Nuraku reared up, her rodent-like eyes glinting beneath the moonlight. “I may be a snake, but don’t bite--be assured, I have no such intention. If you’re nice, I’ll even let you carry me.”

Ah, an excellent way for someone small to trick someone large into being the beast of burden.

Posted: **Sat Feb 06, 2021 2:08 pm**

¤

"I'll be back, I'm taking my time around here. Surely it has been a season that we've been LOST in Daravin, dear one-- I would like a moment to myself. I will be back when the sun is rising with fruits from this... this.. THIS!"
Joop caught her rising angry with a cough from the back of her throat,
"This desolation."
And with that, Joop took her pony and rode away from Moop, who watched her form disappear into the desert horizon until it was gone.

Fruit was their biggest food recently, that and jack-rabbits. Lengthy, ugly things that provided meat and not much more. Occasionally they would eat a snake-stew prepared by her lovely, ethereal sister.
'Ethereal and lovely, what a twin...'
Moop thought with a sneer as she chomped into the prickly pear fruit, its juices running down the sides of her chin. Messy work, when she was done she washed with some of her rose water, patting her face dry, always having to be clean.

Opening her map she put another tally mark at the bottom, unbeknownst to her sister she had been keeping a record of the days they had been lost and if her calculations were correct-- they were somewhere between the fifth and tenth of Frost. Moop felt like having a cry. She was lucky that her sister was a naturalist, but if they didn't find shelter, real shelter like an Inn or anything soon-- quite frankly they would be dead as a doornail in this arid landscape. There were fruits here and they had been lucky to find water a time or two-- but without Moop being able to read this map they would die. Yes. They would.

'It's not my fault, this.... this map is faulty!'
She thought, wincing with the shame of her only job being inhibited by other's shoddy handiwork.
'We've been lost for... so long.'
And that was where she was when the slithering tongue of an apparent mage made its voice known to her. Moop was wearing her white, gold embroidered toga, metallic arms exposed for clear viewing, and had on her small sandals. She was sat on a small, flat rock beside a large succulent which provided shade during the day. The succulent looked to be akin to an aloe but with red edges and huge sharp red spikes.
"What the fuck?"
She said in Kaedic when her eyes met with a beady-eyed talking snake. She scratched her head but in this situation, she was at a loss.
"I must say, mage, while I have seen many things in Dagrun made of metal and stone-- I have never seen a talking snake. Curious, I suppose, and would like to ask you-- was it a curse placed upon you? As well, I have quite the question you see I must admit, and it makes me shiver to do so, I am lost. Would you happen to know of a place nearby I could get some water?"

Moop, in her infinite wisdom, had no idea where she was and who she was talking to. She wasn't even sure if they were in the Badlands. While she had some wits about her other than the wizard from Ash she had never met another soul in weeks. If there was an ambush for her, surely they would be here by now and this was a sentry, sent to assess her power, but if she was lucky she was saved. It was everything she could do not to let the hopeful emotions play on her face.
"Is it common for mages to wander this desert? Also, and I really am just so sorry for all the questions, are we located in the Badlands?"

Posted: **Sat Feb 06, 2021 2:34 pm**

“Ehm...” Nuraku leaned back on her coils in the darkness. “I can promise as much that you are not, indeed, hallucinating, at the least... so there it is.” Illuminated by moonsun, it was hard to make her out, but the flare behind her head definitely warned ‘venomous cobra’ to any sensible mind. “I have indeed been cursed, but not in a traditional manner...” Nuraku tried to mimic the woman’s formality, her words coming off as forced and haughty from the warbling drone. “You may know me as Nuraku henceforth, and so you should know... yes, you are indeed within the Badlands.”

Working her way back up the list of questions, Nuraku decided to answer the most pressing of them first: “Ah, well, you see, I do not require as much water to survive. I had not seen an oasis for several miles since I began my desert wanderings in search of beasts with unique traits... I did however attain this new form you see before you, and so I am ready to return. You may accompany me to Northern Daravin if you wish, and I may become a bird with my Animus to ascertain a proper direction.”

Nuraku cocked her head to offer a question of her own. “Ahh, I cannot say for the habits of mages, but are you one as well? I am not a Daravin native, I will admit. It is my Animus, and my Lothar blood that drives me to explore and be experienced.”

At first Nuraku thought the woman’s arms were merely coated in armor, but the metal looked very smooth and conforming, as if... “What of your arms?” Nuraku asked. “They seem strange.”

Somewhere out in the barely illuminated void, a rock fell from atop a reddened stone hill, tumbling down and clacking several times with audible clacks in the deep, dark silence. “I hate this place,” remarked Nuraku. “It feels as if haunted by ghosts. There is so little life compared to the forest.”

“I have never been to Dagrun, but I know if it,” she told Moop. “I hail from Tyrclaid, and I have wandered through Daravin, Lorien, and even broke bread with Ash Elves in Sil-Elaine. My quest is a noble one--to destroy the Dranoch that infest the land--the blood-cursed who eat people, and my curse is that I am currently without my original form, perhaps because I have progressed too quickly in so little time. I must obtain better and better animals so that I may one day resume weeding out the monsters of Sil-Elaine. But for now, I am what I am. I may be small, but I am a capable mage at the least. What of you? What is it that you seek, and what drew you to the Badlands?”

Posted: **Sat Feb 06, 2021 3:13 pm**

¤

Moop desperately wished her sister was here, the woman left in such a huff but was much better suited to speak to others than herself. Yet, she was supposed to be an envoy and would have to do her best. She eyed the mage up and down, they looked to be something dangerous. Some kind of possibly poisonous snake like Joop had pointed out weeks prior when they first started their circling in the desert. Indeed, she had altogether ignored the forked tongue offer to pick up the beast, Moop would not touch a slithering thing whether it could talk or not.
"Nuraku, it's nice to make your acquaintance. I am named Moop."
The small gnome nodded and placed a robotic hand to her heart within the bow.
"Accompany you? Hm."

Her eyes betrayed little. While her gnomish-hospitality was showing in her mind she was, for all intents and purposes, sizing up this being.
"A bird you say? Very curious. And yes, I regret it's been quite sometime since my last oasis as well."
A lot was transpiring in a short amount of time. Offers of traveling companions and heading north but without Joop and now fully in the know that they were in the Badlands it would seem that all was not well. She was worried for her twin but didn't disclose this, she would wait to let that information be known. Still, it's not that Joop could come rescue her should anything go awry-- she wouldn't return until the sun had rose; or so she said.

"No, I am not a mage. My arms have little to do with magic, you must not have seen many gnomes before. They are purely metal, technology created by my people to augment our bodies."
She lied without skipping a beat, not looking at the beady-eyed snake before her. While they previously had said they weren't a hallucination, her heart was racing and wild thoughts played in her head.
'How.... odd.'
The clacking of the falling rock jostled her rudely from her existential crisis and she jumped, looking in its direction and quickly back to her company.
"Yes, the ghosts of people lost, surely. This may be Bel for all I know."
Her comment was meant to be whimsical but even to her came off rather dire. She reflexively shifted her metal arms, their whirring to be heard by the snake beside her on the ground.

"Traveler as well, color me shocked. Though you would think I could have guessed, based upon the reality of our meeting. A pity, I would like to have traveled as much as you but the map created by my brethren is faulty, quite the dud. You say these... Dranoch... eat people? Vile. I can see why you would quest to be rid of them. My quest is that of CLUGS, if you have heard of Dagrun you surely have heard of us. We look to reunite the gnome cities and return our family back to Dagrun. History in the making. That's why I'm here, I'm looking for.... gnomes. Truly information of gnomes. So far all I have found is succulents and dust."
She kicked a red rock and it clacked against another.
"I'm sorry to hear about your curse, what a strange thing to be bound in such forms. Perhaps we can help each other, if you can take me to a city or town I may be able to repay you somehow. Indeed, snake and bird forms aren't worthy to read books, or do much at all. I would be in your debt should you set me on my way."

And that was the truth.

Posted: **Sat Feb 06, 2021 3:55 pm**

“Moop,” repeated the small snake in that deep, rasping tone, the higher ends of the pitch vaguely feminine yet so far flung from a normal voice. Some might think it androgynous. “It is my pleasure to make yours.” There was very little in the way of expression on such a small being, but Nuraku’s relative stillness was somewhat encouraging to say the least.

“Yes, being a mage of Animus, I can Imprint upon animals and become them.” Nuraku contemplated changing, but decided doing so wasn’t best in the company of someone who she felt feared her at least somewhat. After all, turning was a vulnerable time for any Animus mage. To turn before someone was either a sign of flippant disregard for the other, or absolute trust.

Unlike Moop, Nuraku had no reason to hold back. Her magic was already out there--still, she relented to share such details as to her Pyromancy, or Summoning. After all, if the woman weren’t a mage, Animus would be impressive enough. “Hum,” said the snake incredulously. “Those arms remind me of Artificed golems. I would believe magic had something to do with them at the least.”

Alphonse sighed, bowing her head before those eyes rose to meet Moop’s gaze once more. “I have not met any gnomes in my travels. I thought perhaps you were just a child, but I apologize for my insensitivity. I have never heard of this CLUGS, however. A strange name--reuniting the gnome cities? I had no idea your people were split apart. That sounds difficult.”

Nuraku would have crossed her arms and nodded if she had any at the utterance of a failed map. Such a common problem. Navigation was, at its core, the bane of any traveler, and even she struggled at times. If not for her rather recent blessing of being able to fly, she would not have been able to make her way around Daravin so easily--landmarks are easy to spot and travel between when they can be seen from high up. “The revolution is brewing. The Dranoch have enslaved an entire country, that of Sil-Elaine, but perhaps in a few years there will be enough of us to overthrow them...” she muttered before dropping the subject.

Nuraku shrugged, looking about the barren landscape. “All you will find here is old ruins, scrap metal, and beasts of the desert. I am quite certain... if they did live here, they would be underground and entirely self-sufficient... detached from the world entirely. Is that how gnomish settlements are? If that were the case, they could be anywhere.”

Eyes following the rock with almost feline curiosity as it tumbled through the dirt, Nuraku leaned and slithered around it, popping up around the other side. “Then we shall leave soon. I have been in many debts before, and I would not beholden you to one just for having similar aims, especially when I have no resources to share, only my company and offering of protection.”

Nuraku looked across the wastes, trying to remember which direction she had come from. “I did walk here... I may need to fly, but that would best be done during the day where I can more easily see where the land begins to turn more inhospitable, and where it begins to green. We are still upon that narrow stretch, after all.”

Turning tail, Nuraku began slithering in the direction she came from, remembering it well enough. “The way north should be this way. Be wary--there’s a pack of hyenas resting not far from here. If you get their attention, it could be problematic should they be brave enough... hungry enough. It’s up the hill and around this bluff, then descend through the valley... should start to green up by the time the elevation begins to increase. Did I explain that clearly?”

And with that, she began slithering up the hill, her little body winding up the earthy slope beneath the light of the moon.

Posted: **Sat Feb 06, 2021 4:43 pm**

¤

She wasn't born under a rock, so to speak, and had heard of animus-- the snake's reflection came off as a slight to the woman.
"There are a few who have practiced Animus among those in Dagrun, although our machines can do anything that a creature can do."
Her tone was somewhat haughty, but she shook her head only twice more at herself than the other and let the moment pass.

Then another slight on Moop, who was sensitive about her size.
"Yes, I was told before leaving my hoe that often people would think I was a child. I am not, I am a fully grown adult. I can't help that most others grow vastly larger than my own race. Though, I must accept your apology. You see, I couldn't even begin to guess what race you may be."

She nodded at the passion they gave for their quest, acknowledging that although she didn't know the full scope of the crisis she could understand the sentiment of the venom they spat to the cause.
"I feel sorry for those enslaved."
Lost in a whimsy for a moment, she stared at the darkness, wondering where her sister may be. A moment passed in silence before she returned to the conversation,
"Hm. Under ground here? I doubt that. There would be signs, grander things than simple scrap metal I would think."

At the other's acceptance of the pact but not the debt, Moop's eyebrows rose and fell, she set a robotic hand to her chin to consider, regarding the snake-person once again.
'Honor driven, I like that.'
There was no reason to exploit this person-- snake-- being and would take them at their word, if words could be bond. Another nod at their explanation of the road they would travel, then Moop hopped off the rock she was sat on. Connecting her Pony, Comit, to the wagon that Joop left behind she followed the snake slowly, not riding Comit but pulling him on his tether up the hill and to-- wherever this snake would lead her. Before leaving she left one note for Joop, and arrow pointing towards the direction in which she left and her name written in the dirt, she would continue to do this periodically, she decided, hoping that they would direct her along the way as well as set her 50oz bag of salt to spill slowly off the side, leaving what she hoped would be a slight trail for Joop to follow. She cast her eyes back as they walked, watching the salt trickle behind, sending a prayer to her god figure CORE, who she knew could not hear, for good luck.

Posted: **Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:05 pm**

“Huh, so you know of the magic? I did not think Gnomes so learned of arcana--I always thought they stuck to the more worldly arts; Etherforging is the main whisper I hear among mages, and beyond that, Artifice, which perhaps is often dismissed as a part of life within Daravin,” Alphonse remarked as they traveled. “Forgive me, it is not easy to tell at a distance--you do not come off as childlike now that I have talked to you. As a Rathor, I have suffered more; in my true form, I tower over most. Seven feet tall, with horns. A Rathor of Rakura, the lion-like pest of Tyrclaid.”

Leaving out the part where she was abandoned as a child over superstition regarding the beast, and her orphan upbringing, she moved her mind on to new things. “Ehm...” It was hard to talk about Sil-Elaine sometimes. So much of her life had been dedicated to freeing those elves. “I do too. That’s why I joined the Black Remedy, the revolution... despite not even understanding the native tongue of the Ash Elves.”

“I also doubt such a thing,” remarked Nuraku. “Surely the mages here would have found an entire society beneath their noses. They are protective of their power, and often spit upon threats. I do not think I will find an ally among the mage lords for the revolution; the Remedy surely hasn’t, and they have been around longer than I’ve been a part of it.”

Nuraku paused when she noticed Moop had some belongings to order, puzzling over why she would write things in the dirt. Signs for the lost? “Did you become separated from another traveling companion?” Nuraku called after her. It was far too obvious now.

The pair traveled up the hill and down across some flats. The trek was relatively peaceful for much of the night, though Nuraku grew tired, having her fill of slithering. “Hey, could you pick me up and place me in your cart... or on your horse? I weigh nothing, but--”

“Auh-h-heh-he-hehehahuw!”
”Heuh-ha-ahaha-hauh!”

Raving cackling filled the air, and Nuraku tensed, immediately coiling her body upon the earth in such a way as to form the sign of Irothar, vaguely. “The hyenas from before--they’re around us!” Nuraku called. “I can see the heat in their blood ahead of us. There are five, at least! Circling. Stand tall and yell--keep them busy while I ply my magic!” To her surprise, forming the symbol with her body was enough, and she began to mutter in a magical tongue, rocking back and forth to try and hasten the ritual. Calling through her bond to Irothar, she beckoned a Caru to come forth, but it would be some moments before it arrived!

Shadowy creatures moved in the night, blending in with the flat, dark terrain. They were like fuzzy shapes, moving in confusing patterns as they looked for openings, vying for confidence. By the snarling, the grunting, and the clack of gnashing teeth, they were clearly ravenously hungry.

Posted: **Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:04 pm**

¤

'A rathor? Of course.'
Moop had leaned over to inspect the mage more,
'Seven feet? Good CORE that's quite the monster.'
"I have never heard of Rakura but there is much I have never heard of regarding the broader veiw of Ransera. It's a reason why CLUGS exists, to learn and travel as well."

The conversation continued on and Moop considered the other's words.
"Mage lords...."
Was all she said, lost in thought about her mission as an envoy and having to speak to nobility soon enough, if she could eventually find her way to a major city. All hope was not lost though, this one would take her to a town-- or so they said. With pleasantries considered and completed, they were off. Nuraku the snake person noticed nearly immediately what Moop had done, not that she was trying to hide anything; forcing Moop to admit the existence of her sister.
"Yes, my twin. She took off on her pony shortly before you arrived."

They traveled onward through the scrubby succulents and other palms, cactus, and weird growths. Moop was tired of this landscape, over the novelty of open air. She yearned to grill the snake more about their life and things relating to travel-- but did not. She kept her mouth shut and focused on any landmarks she could see, but without Joop, her naturalist and wilderness guide, she was quite hopeless. The snake-mage finally spoke, asking to be picked up. They seemed tired. Moop gulped and was thinking through obliging when the cackles of hungry hyena rang through the air.

Nuraku began yelling, commanding Moop to be the distraction and make noise. Her pony brayed and tugged on his reigns but didn't break them. She did her best at calming him before following through with the command.
"Eeeeiiieeee!!"
She trilled, clapping her hands and waving, jumping up and down. Nuraku seemed to be in a trance, body coiled in some strange symbol as they incantated. When finished, shadows appeared darker than the darkness, growling and gnashing back at their oncoming assailants. Moop felt the rush of adrenaline surge through her body as she trilled again, speaking in her own language then in expletives. She wanted to construct a weave to protect herself, possibly needing to compel or impel a rabid hyena-- these nasty things she had avoided for so long with Joop. Without knowing this mage well she could not, it was well known that her magic was feared even among mages for the implications in which it held. She would keep this secret to herself long enough to know if this Nuraku-snake-mage was safe and until then would defend herself with her staff, which she ran to grab from the uncovered cart the pony was pulling.

Staff in hand, she brandished it above her head shaking it at the sky, then brought it down in front of her waiting for any hynea that may get past the mage's summons.

Posted: **Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:30 pm**

“A pity,” remarked Nuraku to Moop about her friend. “It seems unwise to split up over a large expanse. Generally, you split up to cover more ground in more confined areas, intending to meet up later--the meeting up part is hard when you’re both lost.” The little snake had paused to look up at Moop with those beady little eyes. She’d wanted to offer her help, but the hyenas were more of a pressing matter that tore her mind away in an entirely different direction.

...

Irothar...

Give me your bird of flame! Your Caru!

A golden glow began to flicker up between her coils as she contracted with the otherworldly creature, its wings unfurling as it blossomed within the center. It chirped and began to beat its wings, like a small finch hopping up and taking flight. It zoomed through the air in a loop-de-loop, a glowing orb like a firefly in that dark night. Nuraku controlled it with the tip of her tail, performing an implicit gesture to direct its actions.

Thwack. Nuraku turned her head to see a hyena get beat by the business end of Moop’s pole. The creature recoiled with a snarl, but others began to circle around, paying Nuraku little heed. The biggest among them, which Nuraku sized up, lingered yet more in the shadows.

There.

Nuraku gave the gesture, and her summon raced down from the air above the place and collided with a booming intensity. A deafening crack followed, the light blinding as yellowish-orange flames erupted forth. Utterly immolated, the gigantic female among the hyenas began wailing as flames spewed from its jaws. Another got caught in the explosion, howling into the night. The leaping jaws of an inferno billowed out, licking at the adventuring pair’s cheeks with an intense aura of heat that Nuraku found oddly comforting given the fire burning in her soul.

The other hyenas were spooked instantly, scrambling back into the darkness, eventually running off with their stubby little tails tucked. Even the one Joop had hit was now running full speed away with its pack, terrified for dear life. Nuraku slithered up to the pair of burning beasts, pitying the struggling, still-burning hold-out--the matron was dead, but the other was squealing like an injured dog.

“They make such... harsh noise,” Nuraku complained. “Do you have a way to put this one out of its misery? It’ll survive, but only enough to die a slow death from the burns.” She looked to the matron. “Their alpha has been slain, so their ranks have been broken.”

If she could have smiled, she would have, albeit with a bittersweet undertone--she did feel for the animals. “You did good providing a distraction. I wonder if hyena steak is palatable to a gnome... if you’re hungry?” Nuraku had no qualms herself, but then she wasn’t quite so hungry, having been foraging as a boar for such a long time.

When the encounter simmered down and the hyena pack didn’t circle back, Nuraku got back to what she was saying initially. “If your sister does not catch up to us, I will, tomorrow, become a bird and search for her. The magic of Molding a new form is draining and as I said... harder to see at night.”

Posted: **Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:32 pm**

¤

Hardly noticing the conjured bird, Moop was much more preoccupied with the sizable beast coming at her, it approached slowly while snarling until it took its leap. She rose her small staff up to meet the beast and hit it right on the nose, knocking it to the ground, but it did not run just yet. At first pawing at its whacked upon snout, it snarled after it shook off the stun and ran back into the circling pack, doing it's angry chortle. In the darkness she could barely make them out, the shapes of the lumbering beasts darker than the night, doing their dance of intimidation, sizing up all three feet nine inches of her.

Another came out from the deeper shadows and saw fit to attack her, she brandished her staff again and yelled loudly, it recoiled and leaped back away. Moop felt toyed with and desperately wanted to use her arcana but no, she would not until she was sure of this Nuraku being. A larger one came from behind her, startling the pony which kicked his stout legs back, nailing the beast in the neck. It wretched and floundered for a moment before Moop ran towards it with her staff and pounded it again with an overhead swing. Alas, she had chosen a nonlethal weapon for a reason, seeing fit to stun rather than kill. In an instance like this though she wished she had instead chosen to learn the sword. Lifting her leg she made for another attack, using her leg to follow through with the strike, this one was aimed right at the crown of the head but the beast had learned her tricks and quickly moved out of the way.

That was the moment when the small "firefly" that Moop had disregarded burst into a brilliant flame, stopping her from attacking again and causing her to recoil with her arms over her eyes. The heat burned her skin and she could smell something terrible, burnt flesh and hair. Disgusting, disturbing, irredeemable smell that she was sure would never wash off her skin. The circling pack scattered, screeching and laughing in the night. The one that was left, caught in the splash of fire, writhed and made an ugly noise. Moop felt no pity for it, it would have killed her. Still at Nuraku's words she nodded but said,
"I'm not sure if this will help. I have on me no knives except for eating. I can try to crack its skull with the butt of my staff."
And so she did, using the blunted end of her staff she drove it down to the cranium of the horrible creature, sending out a teeth clattering "crack" of bone that was unlike no other. It twitched for moments and then no more other than the smoke which came off its body trembling in the nights air.

Shrugging at the offer of hyena steak she said,
"I have no qualms about meat. I'm sure it's truly exotic."
At this point anything would be better than those rabbits and snake-stew. On some level she was repulsed by the stench of the air, but food is food when you had been lost as long as she had. If Joop was here she could cook, perhaps even make a feast.
"Thank you for your offer, I greatly appreciate it. Tomorrow is a new day. It was foolish, but we went separate ways so Joop could have privacy while foraging. In any case, I will follow you for five days-- unless we cannot find her, in which case I will have to leave. She is an experienced survivalist, knows much about hunting, but I need to have my sister with me. Her name is Joop."

And with that, they ate hyena meat and slept until daylight. There was no sign of Joop that sunrise.

Atharen, A Fantasy Roleplay Forum

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