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 Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:47 pm
** Eat, ** Rook sent to Silhouette, holding the bit of ravvit out toward the crow. Silhouette disdained the meat, turning his head away and sidling about on his bird feet. He did not articulate his opinion, but he didn't need to; he'd prefer to let it rot for an hour, letting the sun finish setting before he ate.
Rook rolled his eyes and tossed the gobbet aside, cutting free his own bit with his flint knife. Vesper had eaten two days prior, and it would be tomorrow before the lanky wolf was hungry again, at which point they'd take down a blackneck or branch-horn. These were the thoughts that occupied Rook's mind while he ate, teeth tearing at the ravvit meat that soon filled his belly.
Before long, the Wolfrider's nose began to itch, and he rubbed it absently with his thumb to chase the sensation away. When it persisted, he began to realize that his toes tingled, as well. His hair seemed to stand on end, prickling him along his neck and arms, and when he swallowed a half-chewed chunk of meat he felt it stick numbly in his stomach.
Someone is using magic, he realized, recognizing the waking-limb tingle of elven arcana running along his skin. He rose to his feet, standing stock-still and reaching out with his Magic Feeling to determine the direction of the magic. Sun-Goes-Down, he decided, turning his head to peer off into the distance. The sun had nearly finished its descent, leaving a halo of orange light to bathe the horizon. As he honed in on the source, he began to feel the strangeness of the magic; not the warm hum of Healing or the rumbling groan of Stone Shaping, but an unfamiliar itch that hissed at his mind, sending an uncomfortable tingle along his spine.
Rook leapt into the air without hesitation. Magic meant elves, and elves meant survivors. Silhouette came fluttering after him testily, squawking once and flapping until he kept pace with the elf, and Vesper dashed along the ground below to follow them. A thin trail of smoke beckoned the trio onward, a hazy blur of pale space now that night had blanketed the land, and Rook tightened his grip on his spear as he saw it, determined to arrive swiftly. The grass began to thin and fade into mud paths at that point, and squat stone mounds became visible, contrasting with the natural terrain around it. Humans, he knew, eyes thinning. Only humans lived so jarringly against the land they inhabited. Humans were dangerous, and where humans and elves mixed, bad things happened. No sign of activity plus smoke could mean a human gathering ceremony, and that would not be a place where an elf would want to be caught.
** Stay out of sight, ** he warned his companions, running up a small hill to crest the rise and keeping low to the ground to avoid detection. Silhouette flapped off at another angle, and Rook knew he would be flying around and then toward the activity, looking innocuously for the humans. Vesper stuck to the woods, keeping out of sight but nearby. Rook crossed the distance easily on his own, still catching no sign of humans save their passage, and stepped around a tree to see a large pyre of wood and other materials burning at the center of a clearing. He leapt up silently to glide onto a thick bough, keeping his head down and moving to peer through the branches in order to see the source of the smoke.
That was when the smell hit him.
He had been unprepared for the stench, keeping his mind clear to run silently and breathing heavily through his mouth to draw in air. Now that he was again taking in air through his nose, the rancid odor hit him like a physical blow, filling his head with fetid rot. He gagged audibly, unable to control himself even to keep hidden, and put a hand out to steady himself on the bough. He had let go of his spear, which rolled aside and clattered to the hard-packed earth below. His cover of stealth completely blown, he was unable to even see what lay on the other side of the fire, his eyes watering with the effort of keeping down his recent meal.
So much for stealth.
OOC Note: This post was edited, as Blaze informed me that it was nighttime and they had dismantled all of the huts, both of which I'd forgotten in the time I'd waited to post. It would figure that my first entry would require serious edits, just like my first application. wink
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 3:24 am
Rook's timing couldn't have been worse. Blaze's shield failed, much in the way it had when Savith had suprised him on the beach. But this time, there was a lot more force involved. The blast enveloped him, and when it receded he was holding his hands over his eyes, temporarily blinded, and reeling in pain. Grinning like a hyena, the firery form threw itsself on him in an eerily loving way, then dissintegrated, no longer connected to the fire.
The same insane, estatic grin spread acrost his face, and a few ragged words escaped his throat. "Pushed...to faaarr... Weelcome...the new one." Then he fell to his knees, then hands, then collapsed alltogether, and lay still as death while the fire crackled and roared as if nothing had happened. His clothing sent up thin tendrils of smoke, and his exposed skin had been blackened by charcoal dust.
OCC: No harm done. whee
THERE'S irony.
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ChosenSavith Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:00 am
The whole fiery montage was incomprehensible to the glider. Never before had shapes danced and moved so wildly about. More than once, he had to fight himself to remain at the tree line with Starsong. The light, the noise, the smoke, and the stench of burning rot was making him ill at ease.
He wanted to lift up into the air, where the breeze was cool and the smell was pulled away on the wind, but uncertainty held him to the ground. Would the tiniest bit of magic that escaped his imitate person break Blaze's already tenuous hold on the flames? Savith did not want to find out.
But then the unnatural sound of gagging and the louder sound of the clattering of wood on stone, turned his head. He heard Blaze's voice, as if from a distance, and frown. Someone new and Blaze was down.
**I'll collect the Fire Starter,** Savith sent to Starsong's mind alone. And with that, Savith lifted from the ground and flew toward Blaze. The heat was intense this close to the fire, and Savith winced at it but did not slow or alter his course. He landed down at Blaze's side. What sweat would have formed on his brow at the exertion was lapped away from him by the pyre, and Savith found his throat growing dry and sandy.
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:46 am
Shine had disappeared once Starsong opened her eyes again. She had shut them as not to be entranced by the fire. Her mind needed to stay sharp. A feral send from her bond told her they were not alone and that he was tracking them. She slid from her spot and pulled her bow from her back, once she too heard the sound of near retching. It was faint amongst the snapping and crackling of the fire but it was noticeably distinct against the other noises. She saw blaze fall, and followed Savith to where he was, just wanting to make sure he was still alive. His clothing was smoking a bit, but she had other things to do apparently, eyes scanning the forest for Shine, or any other sort of movement. She stood and picked up her water skin, dumping the rest of the contents on Blaze to make sure he didn't spontaneously combust. She wasn't very gentle about it, just dumped water all over his face and upper body, then turned and headed into the tree line, she didn't like feeling so open in this clearing and readied her bow, following Shine's scent.
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Huntress Starsong Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:37 pm
At the cold wetness of the water, Blaze's chest heaved, and he coughed and sputtered violently. Rolling over onto his stomach, Blaze coughed some more, spat, and then tried to stand, but only managed a hunched sitting position. Again dripping wet, and with a murderous glare on his face, he looked over his shoulder at Savith. **What are you looking at?**
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 4:05 pm
**A piece of jerky if we don't get moving from this inferno,** the glider snipped in reply. **You can walk, or you can get slung over a shoulder like a piece of meat.** It was just far too hot near this blaze for the mountain-born Savith and it was making him, already fatigued, irritable.
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ChosenSavith Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 12:44 am
**Leave me alone. Go on, go help Starsong chase birds or something. This isn't much worse than the midday heat back in the sands, and it'll get me dry.** Already, thin whisps of steam curled up off his wet shoulders. **Besides, if I let myself get afraid now, I'll never learn to fully controll Her. I still have work to do.** Shaking a few stray drops from his hair, Blaze began to focus again on the fire, this time much more calmly. Internally, he was boiling with a mixture of shame and anger. He'd never lost controll that easily, even under attack he'd been able to effortlessly controll his fire. Whatever this strange sentience he'd been feeling in fires of any large size since the cataclysm was naggingly familiar, and he needed to figure out what it was. Untill he did, he would not be able to use heavy fire near anyone else; he would not be able to defend.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 6:00 am
Savith stayed a moment to study Blaze, knowing the toll magic could take on an elf, and yet he was unsure of Blaze's endurance. The heat, however, made Savith hiss through his teeth and he finally had to back away, without Blaze, and on foot.
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ChosenSavith Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:44 pm
The contents of Rook's stomach came up with a bit of prompting, and the Wolfrider had to put out a hand to steady himself in his perch or otherwise go tumbling free. When his stomach finally quit convulsing and allowed him to regain a bit of self control, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked over the branch at the tableau.
He couldn't get a clear image of anything beyond the fire, seeing only the blaze and what smoke it kicked up. Shadows danced in the clearing, but it was difficult to tell what was simply the fire's illusion and what was real.
A flutter of wings and a quick caw brought Rook's attention nearer, as Silhouette broke cover in order to point out motion within the underbrush. There between the leaves he spotted a form moving closer, and mindful of the fire and the scent of humans nearby, he pulled forth his bow and nocked an arrow. He waited there in his nook, prepared for a human hunter to burst through the brush and into the open, and would loose a distracting shot before bolting if such was the case.
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:40 am
As she circled where Shine had found the source of the sound up in a tree, she sent to him to use one of the many tactics they had perfected in their years of hunting together. Shine hid in some brush nearby and moved a bit to catch the attention of whatever prey it was they were hunting. She moved in from behind to get a clear view and shot of what it might be. She figured it was a five finger, but the leaves in the tree obscured her view, and the scent, though masked from the fire, was not what she was expecting... she hesitated. Then she saw something move, make a noise.. a bird. a black bird. Oh goodness did it look tasty. She nocked her bow and aimed for the bird, she was silent, stealthy... Shine still distracting them, she had a clear shot of the bird. She sent openly as she sometimes did, it helped the prey to stay calm and not move, or at least, in her mind it did. **Stay still little tasty birdy, death will come swiftly** Her fingertips moving to release the arrow that will surely kill the bird and bring a fine meal to herself and her bond.
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Huntress Starsong Vice Captain
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ChosenSavith Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:12 pm
Savith half-turned his face toward the direction of Starsong's send. Bird... equals fresh meat. Yum. Savith kept backing away from the inferno, turning as the heat lessened with the distance before he lifted off to get some cool air rushing past him.
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:24 pm
The unexpected Sending caught Rook by surprise, and as his slate eyes went wide, his right hand stopped holding so tightly to his arrow. The mis-aimed missile streaked into the brush, sticking into a nearby fern with an audible thunk. ** No/stop/bad/my bird/do not! ** sent Rook in a confused, tangled jumble of an open send, along with panicked, halted emotions to Not Do. Having caught Rook's panic, Silhouette cawed loudly and turned sharply upward, streaking beak-first into the brush and out of sight. ** That is my raven! ** sent Rook more coherently, still up in his perch and somewhat out of sight. ** Hunt something else, please! ** Almost as an afterthought, he added a very curious, ** Who are you, and what are you doing here? And what is that strange magic you're doing? And why is everything on fire? And where are the humans? **
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:29 pm
Despite his best efforts to shield his mind from distractions, Blaze had no hope of concentration with the combination of fatigue and the flurry of frantic sending. It was irritating; if there was one thing that bothered him more than being wet, it was having his actions interferred with. But the flogging Dancer had given about being rash him still was prominent in his mind. He kept silence, blocking his mind to deter detection on a whim. Shure, Rook was invisible to his eyes, but the heat of the living, breathing bodies of the hunters and the hunted against the cool night forest were like a neon signs to his heat-shaping. And since he had felt no aggression in the sends of the newcomer, Blaze was unworried, and went back to his fire shaping.
OCC: Gone for a few days, expect Blaze to continue tending his fire without trying anything spectacular again, and meeting/treating Rook in his usual rough, uncaring manner.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:05 pm
The open send that was not from a mind he was familiar with drew Savith's attention. From the sky, he peer in the source's direction, but was unable to see well with what little night vision he had being eaten up by the fire below. Instead, he flew toward it, replying in as tight a send as he can muster, ind finding only Starsong and the newcomer's minds, **We are Survivors, as we assume you, likewise, are. The magic is a gift of another survivor, BlazingRock, and it is waht is left of the humans in this area that he burns. It is the Huntress's hope that once the inferno has claimed the stench of their deaths, larger game will return.** There's a slight pause and then he adds, **And we should keep open sending to a minimum so as not to break the Fire Weaver's concentration.**
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ChosenSavith Vice Captain
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