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DraconicFeline rolled 11 100-sided dice:
24, 98, 82, 92, 71, 45, 21, 44, 79, 20, 92
Total: 668 (11-1100)
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 Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 6:09 am
 Character: Suluksati
Stage: Khehora
Luck: 31
Creature:
Serenia Hastar (Lvl 18, LUK 12) x 11
Success Rate:
6-100
Win x 11
Total:
+ 198 EXP
Needs 3300 words
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 6:45 am
Day 1
Suluksati knew that the well-equipped, Hastar-riding group that set out into the Eowyn desert was trouble. She knew they were hunters, and it wasn't hard to tell what they were hunting.
Dragons.
They were mostly Orderites, with a few Dovaa and bonded Khehora with them. She stayed at a safe distance, trying to remain unseen.
They looked powerful, like they could take on a whole host of Aedaun dragons at once, and were equipped for more than one day in the wilderness.
A hunting party, out for dragon blood, meant that they would find said dragons and spill said blood. Suluksati shuddered at the thought. These people were capable of so much death. Rivers of blood, clouds of ashes, rains of orbs... She felt her rage grow inside her, as brilliant as the sun in the sky. She would not allow it.
She waited until they camped for the night under the open, starry sky. Then, low to the ground, she snuck into the camp. She wasn't going to kill anybody, certainly. She had never killed a magescan before, and was not thinking about breaking that fast. Her intentions were more intellectual than usual... Sabotage. If she made it difficult for them to progress into the desert and the mountains, then maybe they would give up and go home, back, likely, to Serenia.
She sniffed for their water supplies - important in this barren, dry wilderness, and listened for footsteps. She heard the snarlings of the Hastar - Serenian of scent - as they prowled against their leads, and snippets of conversation reached her ears.
"So, we'll be circling back?"
"No. We wouldn't be able to get a legitimate transport to Soldul. Haven't I told you this?"
Soldul? Orderites and Dovaa going to Soldul?
"So... the Diabi. How are we going to get them? They don't come this far south..."
"We're not using Legitimate transport. I made a deal with the wild tribe smugglers. We're going to embark on a beach. Thats why we're going through the Terra Expanse..."
"Thought that was just for Ysali and Gaili orbs..."
"Ysali we can get at home... Well, not your home. My home. My point is, I explained this to you."
"I just don't get it... This is an awful lot of trouble to go through..."
"For dark dragons? Not at all. Now shut up and get some sleep."
Diabi. They were hunting Diabi.
Suluksati found the water supplies and began to drink her fill - waste not, want not - that was her motto, and she was quite thirsty.
She heard - and smelled - bonded khehora patrol nearby - a peisio and an Ayrala by their scent and, thirst sated, knocked over and spilled as much as she could.
The camp erupted in shouts and she escaped, Khehora in close pursuit. She fired a bolt of light at them - not lethal, but meant to disorient and blind - and fled into the sands. She would find them again in the morning.
(501/3300)
(0/11 hastar dead)
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 10:29 am
Day 2
They had hunted her in the night, but hadn't caught her. Sleep had eluded her as she had eluded them, and morning came to a sleepless night.
She was used to going long times without sleep - they weren't. On silent wings against the bright sky, too high for her scent to reach the bonded and hastar below, she listened to their grumblings.
There were Peisio in the group aside from the bonded khehora, and they had managed to salvage and replenish some of the water supplies, but not all of it. They had wasted precious magic and time. She was pleased with herself.
The hastar seemed to feel it more than their magescans, their share of the water reduced so that their masters might drink in the blazing sun. They were fatigued and unhappy.
The group seemed to want to rest and attempt to finish refilling their water supplies, but that was not a possibility: they would lose time and energy in the hot, dry wastes, and they needed to reach the mountains as soon as possible.
So they pushed on, Suluksati following them, watching them. They would have seen her - a white speck - against the sky if they had bothered to look up, but they didn't. Their focus was on the endless sand and on their unseen destination, the mountains beyond. From her vantage point she could see them cutting into the horizon, a streak of stony brown among the heat haze, and - to the north - the glow of the fire mountain itself.
A golden streak on the sand caught her eye, and she saw - with some dismay - a group of Kiandri dragons stalking through the sand, hunting a pack of colorful birds - argaroo. Their path, she realized, would set them upon the hunters in a matter of hours. There would be deaths on both sides, but - judging from the strength of the adventuring party - the dragons would likely be wiped out completely in the encounter.
She clenched her claws. She could not let that happen.
She swooped in closer to the group and, with a flap of her wings, dove down, ringed by a nimbus of offensive magic. She shoved one of the magescans off of his mount forcefully, digging her claws into the shrieking, startled hastar before, with a powerful beat of her wings, dragging it up and into the air. It was heavy, though its struggles soon ceased as it bled out, and she knew she couldn't carry it far. Already, her wings strained from the effort.
She bit into it, swallowing some of the blood to ease her mild hunger and thirst, before dropping it and flying. The hunters were in hot pursuit, now, the bonded khehora and those of the party that could fly took to the air after her, those that could not fly following via the ground.
Yes. Follow her. That was her intent. She turned, leading them away from where they would have run into the dragons, using every advantage she had in the air to stay ahead of them and outpace them.
Soon, though, they were very close - the khehora almost nipping at her tail - and she knew that she could not keep this up for long. She growled, calling on her Aedaun magic and, with a flash of light, became a ball of light magic and shot away, darting every which way to confuse them. The mountains were near at hand, now, and she hid behind a rocky spire as she transformed back into a physical form. There, she rested, waiting to see where the cards would fall next.
(1113/3300)
(1/11 Hastar Dead)
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 7:17 am
Day 2 pt 2
Suluksati preened in her hiding spot. Preening was not a mere vanity, though it did keep her feathers looking pure and soft and beautiful and gleaming white (and green). Preening was essential. The condition of her wing feathers effected how she flew - both how well and how fast, and also how quietly and efficiently she could fly. The feathers were often damaged with use, their thick, strong-knit edges marred and their smoothness cut. Regularly, she had to go through all of her reathers, making sure they were arranged properly and closed into tight planes against their central rib.
Or, if they were too damaged and out of place, removing them carefully so that other, new feathers could grow in properly.
She had already amassed a small pile of feathers on the ground from her hygeinic work, when she heard the sound.
Flapping.
It was loud and, being in a cave, her first thought was Dunkel. She growled, teeth bared. She did not want her blood taken by those beasts. It was disgusting.
But then she smelled it.
Magic She flew up into the air, flapping awkwardly out of the cave as it suddenly began to fill with pure, fresh water.
The moment she left the cave, she saw - out of the corner of her eye, a shape hurtling towards her. She spun, snarling, to meet them.
It was one of the bonded Khehora from the hunting party, the Ayrala, and it engaged her, their fight becoming airborne. It was as comfortable in the air as she was, its magic aiding it as it dueled her. She was stronger, and larger, due to her feral heritage, but it twisted the air around her, forcing her to focus on flying right and keeping her balance. She knew it would kill her - its gleaming, determined eyes said so, and in the life or death situation, she felt her conscience and higher functions slip away into the intense focus of battle.
No. She fought to keep her wits. She knew he hadn't come alone. As she had watched him before, she had noticed that the ayrala was rarely without...
The other bonded
She dodged out of the way as a gout of water arced up towards her like a spear, alien in the arid foothills. She screamed a challenge at them both. They would not take her.
She dug her claws into the Ayrala's side, her teeth slipping into the bonded's neck even as her civilized sanity, too, slipped away. She clawed at the base of his wings, hoping to drive him down and to his...
Death.
Gods, what was she doing?
Pain sprouted at her back, and she heard, belatedly, the twang of a bowstring. Stupid! Bondeds were never far away from their bonded magescan. She looked down, seeing two young orderites riding Hastar below. Both were aiming bows at her, though she could see that one had an ornate sword.
That was all she had time to see before the Ayrala struck back. Its claws and barbed tail grazed her side, blood and feathers dripping below and staining the rocks a ruddy, raw color. She attacked back, tearing at it, and they fell together, bloodied.
One of the Orderites began to scream, and she felt another arrow pass through the feathers of her wing as she turned to face the other bonded. The peisio let out a mournful wail as it came towards her, its eyes wet and its charge bold. It had abandoned all semblance of strategy and, as her magic healed her deep injuries - save for the arrow wound - she had the advantage in the air. She wove circles around around the Peisio, a deadly dance of red and white in the air. It came for her, and there was no room for the hope of it surrender. She slashed at it, her claws glowing with holy light, and, powered by its own momentum, she leapt forward onto its back, biting deep and forcing it into a glide unitl it was too late for it - with its less agile wings - to bank. She let go, flying straight up. It crumpled into the face of the mountainous cliff, keening as it fell down, its magic already working to heal the breaks and pain.
And then it stopped completely as an arrow struck it.
The other orderite began to scream. "No!" they shouted. Suluksati could see tears glittering in their eyes as they lifted their bows to her. Their shots, aimed by shaky hands and minds, were far short of their mark.
Her battle rage subsided for a moment, and she felt pity for them. With a flap of her wings, She banked around them. She flashed with blinding light as she rammed into them, tackling them and their mounts to the ground. Alighting, she tapped them, gently, on the heads with the back of her claw, ensuring - with her magic - that they fell into unconsciousness.
She sat down, panting with exertion and pain as her feathers and skin shimmered with healing magic, and looked over the battlefield. Too much death. So much death. And if they had found her, the rest of the hunting party would too. She had to leave and find a new place to roost.
She heard snarling behind her, and knew there was one more thing to deal with. She turned to the two Hastar, their teeth bared as they stalked towards her. She had to deal with this first.
She attacked, clawing and biting like a fury, taking out her pain and rage and horror on the creatures until they both lay, bloody and broken, at her feet. Glaring at them - as if it were their fault - she stretched her wings and powered away.
(2079/3300)
(3/11 Hastar Dead)
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 6:36 am
Day 3
Suluksati had come to her senses as she cleaned the khehora blood off of her feathers. She felt sick. She had just killed her own kind - had murdered them. There had been no mercy in her heart, then, only fire and light and rage and fear. And she had murdered them.
It had been them or her, her or them, and she knew that. Gods, she knew that. But had she had to kill them? The answer, she knew, was no. She could have left those khehora alive. She could have flown away, dodging arrows that their bonded flung at her, and found another place to hide. A safe place.
She had killed her own kind and let the magescans live. She had let those foul dragon hunters live. She laid down, feeling the world and her own actions lying heavily on her soul.
Why had she done what she had? The khehora were bonded, yes, and killed in the ferocity of the moment. She might, she thought grimly, forgive herself for ending their half-lives. But the magescans... she had let them live. How? Why? Suluksati didn't understand her own mind anymore. She didn't understand herself at all.
She lay down, preparing to rest, too exhausted mentally and physically to be able to think about what to do next. She didn't even twitch when she heard the clattering of wheels and carts overhead, and the grunting of animals.
Her place of safety was a ledge. Above must be a road of some sort she thought, blinking languidly as her eyes slid shut.
She heard voices.
"Are the boys allright?"
"Of course not. They just lost their bondeds. That can shake anybody up."
"Should we send them back...? Do you think they can handle the hunt anymore?"
Laughter, harsh and not mirthful at all. Suluksati recognized it. It was the hunting party from before. Strange that they should take the road right above her. She was too tired to care, or do more than curl up a little in the shadow of the ledge.
"No. They'll recover. Besides, its a long way back, and they wouldn't be able to make it alone. We would have to cancel the whole hunt. The whole expedition - do you understand what that means? All that planning and preparation and money and time would be rendered useless in an instant, and we might not even be able to make it back."
"I see your point... My question is, why didn't they lose their lives? Just Lucky?"
"I don't know, and they don't know. You saw the mess that the Khehora beast made of their bondeds and their mounts..."
"Yes. Do you think that they killed it?"
"In the state they're in? In the state their beasts were in? Not likely. I think they may have injured it, though, and it had to flee without killing them. Maybe it smelled us coming."
"Are we going to hunt it down?"
"Of course... but, and you have to keep quiet about this..." the voice from above had been steadily moving away, and now it was quiet. Sulusati almost couldn't hear its whisper, but the echoes of the mountains brought it to her. "We can't stop yet. Once we get out of the mountains, kill a few dragons, morale will be enough to go after this monster..."
Suluksati's tail twitched, brushing the rocks beneath her. Yes. Monster. That was her. She tried to rouse herself and listen to other conversations, but the words swirled into echoes, and soon became meaningless noises as she slipped into a deep sleep.
(2679/3300)
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 7:26 am
Day 4
Suluksati awoke, slowly and stiffly, on the hard stone. The sun had not touched here, and it was cold and damp from evening dew. She rose, shaking the moisture and dirt from her feathers as she walked out into the valley-filtered sun. It was quiet now, only the wind and the echoes of the wind for company. The hunting party had moved on.
The conversations of the group as it had travelled above her were jumbled and garbled, half dream and half memory, but one thing was clear in her mind.
They were still after dragons, and so she had to stop them.
She stretched her wings, which ached horribly, and leapt up onto the road above, a well-travelled part of the Terra Expanse, beaten into a solid and flat path by the hooves and claws and feet of many wanderers.
The sky was clear, and she was tempted to take to it, but the Terra Expanse was enormous. If she took wing, she might lose them on the uneven ground. Instead, she added her claws to the dust of the path, following it by foot as it wound its way through the mountains. She would be able to keep track of them this way, by scent. They had certainly left a lot of distinctive scents behind.
The trail was far from cold, but it was lonely and Suluksati wondered if she would catch up with them. Still, there were many branching paths and valleys, and she knew that if she took to the wing, she would have even less of a chance of knowing where they had gone.
It was late afternoon when she heard the roaring, like stone on stone, echoing like a sudden storm through the slopes of the expanse. It was a dragon's roar.
Suluksati lifted off, checking first behind her to make sure she had not been ambushed - she hadn't. The dragons were not behind her - they were in front of her. Screams and shouts reached her ears, magescan in nature, and she powered towards their origin, her heart pounding.
Had she found the group?
Was she too late to stop them?
She flew swiftly, and soon the battle was revealed to her. The magic of the dragons - five Gaili, it seemed - cracked and sundered the land itself, shuddering under their powerful rule, and she watched as the magecan's beasts - their masters levitating or flying out of harms way - fell into chasms that opened beneath their feet. The land healed, too, under their command, and the chasms then sealed themselves.
A dragon fell as she watched, succumbing to wounds deep in its side before dissolving into ash and a single, brown, gleaming orb. She could see that the dragons were injured and, though they fought with all the fury of the land beneath them, She knew she had to act, lest they die.
As a dovaa mage in the group raised his ornate staff, gathering shimmering ice crystals around them into a deadly spear, she struck.
The ice glittered then broke as her beam of holy light struck it's weilder's mount, and the hastar fell, screaming, into a chasm as its master staggered and fell to the hard ground. The dragon was soon upon them, and they were dead before they could even scream.
Suluksati found that she didn't care.
Chaos - if there was ever order - erupted beneath her as the hunters became the hunted. She threw balls of blinding light indiscriminately at them - light meant to hurt not heal - and they soon were in retreat.
The dragons followed them, and Suluksati - having no desire to fight the dragons - turned into a ball of light and darted away before they could follow her too. She alighted, in her physical form, on a mountaintop, and followed them with her keen eyes as they evaded the dragons in the valleys and gorges. They were on foot, she realized, all their hastars dead and gone, killed by her claws and magic, or entombed in stone. Or eaten by the dragons.
Suluksati found she didn't care about this either.
Perhaps now, she thought, they would give up their hunt and return home. She decided to, at dusk, investigate them and see how dangerous they truly were now.
(3499/3300)
(11/11 Hastar Dead)
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