When Dekana had returned to the village with the Whale Fin that he'd obtained in fending off the sand whale, the villagers had immediately taken it away with knowing winks and soothing smiles as he flailed about, upset they were taking his trophy. He'd repelled a sand whale! They couldn't just steal the spoils!!
It wasn't until he'd burst into the workshop they'd taken the fin to that he realized one of their artisans was reworking some of the fin into a fishing pole, a big fishing pole. That could only mean one thing! Fishing! Dekana positively adored fishing! It would be a piece of cake!
Thus, when the old man came to speak to him about the need for fish oil, Dekana didn't even let him finish before agreeing and grabbing the bait bucket they'd offered. Pole on his shoulder and bait in one hand, Dekana set off in the indicated direction with a surprisingly spry step. He wasn't sure if the villagers were warming up to him but, he realized, he was definitely warming up to them!
It wasn't too much longer until he came to the pond the man had mentioned. Creepy, scummed over by algae and plants, he was pretty sure that was a skeleton of some sort sticking up out of the mud over there... and something circled occasionally, leaving a trail of bubbles. Familiar with the tactics of aquatic predators, Dekana stayed away from the pond's edge, understanding why the villagers had made a large pole rather then a normal one – he didn't want to end up something's snack.
Flopping onto the ground, Dekana sat cross-legged as he uncovered the bucket to find his bait. It was a tail... a slimy tail with a bulb on the end but a tail nonetheless. He frowned, what kind of bait was that? Did the villagers go fishing much at all? He chuckled and took the tail out and, using his talons, sliced it into multiple bits of bait. They wanted lots of oil... he needed lots of opportunities. The process was goopy and he started to smell a strange blend of fish guts and mud by the end but it was done.
Carefully, the wrapped the first bit of bait around the hook, affixing it so that the fish couldn't just n** it off and be gone... if it wanted the bait, he needed it to get the hook too.
Ready, he finally cast the line, out into the deep water, and began whispering, hoping whatever lived here fell under the power of his people – little fish swimming around the hook would help disguise it.
OOC
Character Name:Dekana Faction: Monster Student Appearance: LInk! Miasma meter 14 (Students: Every time you gain Miasma, multiply it by x2. So, in a prompt if you gain +2 miasma, it is actually +4 for you.)
Items obtained: Herbivore Egg, Wyvern Egg, Whale Fin Knowledge: Village shaped like an S.
He sat there for a while, bobbing the pole, content to sit on the banks of the pond and wait. Occasionally the float would bob but it wouldn't take and after a while, he reeled the hook in to find the bait gone. Whatever had taken the bait had been smart enough to avoid the hook! This was proving to be more of a challenge and Dekana liked it.
Again, he prepared the hook and again he cast it into the deep waters, drawing the line back a bit to make the bait swim. It wasn't ten minutes later before something massive surged through the water and yanked on his hook. The surprise nearly caught him off guard and he had to scramble to keep from losing his rod.
It was odd, being on this end of the fight, he decided. Usually he was in the water... not the one trying to drag the prey out. Their tug-of-war lasted a long time, one reeling, the other swimming, one letting the line go a bit, the other racing away. The pond was sloshing and foamy by the time the combat drew to a close and, with a deadly hissing, a six foot abomination lurched from the water to flop on its side, eight eyes rolling and fanged mouth sucking at air.
Dekana had never seen a spider fish before and his expression showed as much. The creature was more spider then fish... eight finned pseudo-limbs, massive mandibles, and eight shiny black eyes in a body of a vaguely piscine shape... it was bizarre, but Dekana decided, it was a fish. And a bit one at that. Good enough!
When he returned to the village, the spider fish in tow, the villagers thanked him profusely, dragged the carcass away and a man he'd never bet before pressed a rusted key into his hand. Dekana blinked, confused, but shrugged. Their rewards had been mostly stares and angry murmurs so far... a rusted key seemed like a step forward.
OOC
Character Name:Dekana Faction: Monster Student Appearance: LInk! Miasma meter 14 (Students: Every time you gain Miasma, multiply it by x2. So, in a prompt if you gain +2 miasma, it is actually +4 for you.)
Items obtained: Herbivore Egg, Wyvern Egg, Whale Fin, Rusted Key Knowledge: Village shaped like an S.