Mathilda wandered around the hotel. After making it in and settling down, she had checked herself over. She was pleased to notice no scratches on her coat or pants. Anywhere else she could handle just fine, but if she got cold from a hole made a verdammt bird, she was going to be wearing a bird coat instead. Well, maybe not a coat, with the bird feathers being metal. But maybe some knew knives. Shrugging, she sat down on a nearby chair, gazing around and listening to the chatter surrounding her. After a while, a hesitant looking villager approached her, writing their hands. Motioning to the seat next to her, she watched the villager sit down. Quietly, they spoke.
-
After the villager walked away, Mathilda sighed. Fighting the birds was annoying, but finding out that people were missing made things a lot worse. There was no telling how worse conditions were near the mountain, or if there were any traps laid. The person had claimed to not know how many were lost, people were still frightened and confused, so that made things a bit difficult. Fighting was her style, not finding. Especially in this type of weather, finding bodies was going to make it a lot harder, camouflage clothing or not. She would need someone to go with her, be her second set of eyes.
Grinning, she thought of a certain wild life photographer. Glancing around the hotel, she spotted the dark haired Artemis chosen.
"Liebchen!"
Running over to Tara, Mathilda smiled. Some of the villagers balked at her happiness, but she really couldn't care.
"Listen, apparently some villagers are still missing, and we gotta go find them. I could use your skills, both weapon and eye sight. You in?"
Mathilda almost added 'could be fun', but birds. Gott, she hated those birds.
Kaefaux
wc: 303
There are three parts:
Part 1: Running through the birds
Each of you rolls 1d4. If anyone in the thread rolls a 3 or 4, you successfully make it through the swarm outside the hotel. If no one participating succeeds, you each take 3 damage and have to start over. Repeat until you succeed.
Part 2: Searching the mountain
Each of you rolls 1d8. If anyone in the thread rolls an 8, they find 2 people. If anyone in the thread rolls a 6 or 7, they find one person. Otherwise, you're mobbed by birds that force you back inside before you can find someone, each take 3 damage, and have to start over at Part 1.
Part 3: Bringing the lost civilian(s) home
Each of you rolls 1d4. If anyone in the thread rolls a 1, you're viciously attacked and your rescued civilian(s) runs off to hide again while you fend off the birds. You each take 3 damage and have to start over at Part 2. Otherwise, if everyone in the thread rolls a 2+, you successfully bring the civilian(s) back through the mob of birds and back into the safety of the hotel.
If you complete Part 3 with a minimum of 500 words you will receive 10 XP each. Please make sure to post, at the end, a tally of how many people you rescued!
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2016 10:40 pm
Tara jumped when she heard the term of endearment, but it was with relief that she turned to see Mathilda heading towards her. Oh other people could shove it, this was stressful times and seeing a friendly, familiar face was good for the mind and soul in such times. Her grin was wide as she quickly walked to meet the other woman. "You made it in, oh good good."
Not that she was surprised by this, but it was still a relief to see Mathilda in one piece and not sporting bandaids like Tara was. But she shut her mouth quick and listened when Mathilda began to explain another situation happening around them, and the shorter girl nodded her head quickly. "Of course! I'm all set to go, if you are. Um--..." She paused, hesitating a slight moment. "Just be careful with these birds. They've been attacking people by tossing their dung and their feathers like throwing knives."
Yeah, yeah. She got it. Mathilda was far more experienced in combat than she was--really, Tara's eyesight was her most useful contribution to this seek and rescue mission, far as she was concerned--but that didn't stop her from being wary on her friend having to be up close and personal to slash the aerial opponents. "And it's definitely not normal gross bird poop."
Like anything else about them was remotely normal anyways.
Making sure her arrows were accounted for, and in easy reach, she strung her bow. Adjusting her grip on it, and fixing her hood to try and keep it from falling into her eyes, she gave Mathilda a grin as she started for the door. "Did you get any other details about where these villagers might be? Or are we just gonna have to hunt around in the snow for clues? Minus the birds, could be fun--nice scenery, at least!"
Smiling at Tara, Mathlda chuckled at the girls happiness. 'Good', she thought, 'we need some happiness around here. Can't have it be both cold and depressing.' Hearing about the birds, Mathilda growled.
"I hate those stupid birds. If I never see a bird again after this, I will be the happiest person alive. I managed to make it before they swooped down, but that still doesn't mean I like them."
She nodded at Tara's declaration of readiness, and patted the girl on the head.
"Don't you worry about me, dear. We'll both be fine. There is no shame in needing to backtrack if things get hairy."
However, when she heard about how volatile the birds were, she groaned.
"Seriously? I hate these birds!"
-
Trekking out the door, with Tara at her side, Mathilda did a mental check over herself. Nodding, she opened the door, to birds. She hated these birds, she really did.
-
Sliding under a gap in the birds, Mathilda yelled to Tara.
"Keep calm! Look for an opening! You can do it!"
Kaefaux
Kaefaux rolled 1 8-sided dice:
7Total: 7 (1-8)
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 11:49 am
Tara was definitely relieved she was heading into this with Mathilda. She nodded, appreciating immensely the other woman's acceptance in things like retreat if necessary. "Fingers crossed this goes well. This isn't good weather for people to be out in about in for long, even without the birds."
Mathilda's exclaimed hatred of the creatures made Tara laugh, patting her arm in sympathy. "Sooner we get stuff fortified, and get people back to safety, we can hopefully start figuring out what the heck is going on around here... and why these creatures are doing this..."
What. Why. How. All those big questions.
Bracing herself, she stepped out of the hotel, wincing at the caws and screeching of the metallic birds. She heard Mathilda moving ahead, and Tara trudged through the snow, trying to follow her while still ducking beneath diving avians. Hearing the advice, she paused, looking around her for that opening... and one actually appeared! She half-dove for it, quickly scrambling to get through the diving birds.
She was only too relieved to be able to catch up to Mathilda and press on towards the mountains.
It took a while before Tara really began to notice any signs of anything other than the Chosen running through the snow trying to avoid the birds, or fighting them off. It was a cover of broken debris from a shed or other small building, that the tracks lead them to. A boy, early teens, finally came out from the small makeshift burrow in the snow he'd carved out, afraid to press on towards the hotel with the birds around. The kid was more than willing to stick close to them when Tara explained they were here to get him back to safety.
Though he looked less than impressed by their weapons, and she was pretty sure she'd heard, "You don't look like military..." from him at one point.
Mathilda breathed a sigh of relief as Tara made it through the birds. They had no set pattern and would attack anything that moved. When Tara got closer, Mathilda patted the girl down, checking for injuries.
"All good! Let continue on then! I'll keep guard, can you be my eyes?"
The two trudged along for quite some time, avoiding birds and other such traps, it was a while before they started to notice traces of the other Chosen.
Continuing on, Mathilda stopped when she noticed that Tara had stopped. Turning back, she notice a person, crawling out from a makeshift snow building.
A child. A child, no older than fifteeen maybe. The boy looked scared and ready to leave, and he had no issues with following them back.
After hearing the boys' comment, Mathilda laughed. To herself, she spoke.
"We be the cavalry."
-
Mathilda happily sighed as they made it through the birds. The birds seemed distracted, so they were able to sneak by and move quickly toward the hotel. Mathilda decided to take the back, in case any of the birds decided to follow them.
Kaefaux
Kaefaux rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3Total: 3 (1-4)
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 8:03 pm
Tara was relieved the kid was in one piece--not frozen to death, not sliced up. Though she was a bit upset that they weren't able to locate anyone else. With so many people lost out here, from the sounds of things in the hotel... they'd likely have to trudge back out into the snow soon enough.
She'd been amused--but compliant!--with Mathilda's check-over after getting past the birds, and now the commentary on being the calvary... she laughed a bit out loud, grinning and feeling far more enthusiastic about the whole endeavor than previous. Even the kid cracked a smile, even if his was far more hesitant.
With Mathilda taking up the rear, Tara took the front with the boy running somewhat between them as they made their way back towards the safety of the hotel. She'd had her bow and arrow at the ready in case one swooped in, but she was surprised to see the birds were distracted by other things, or at least enough for them to slip past.
Breathing a large sigh of relief, Tara ushered the boy into the building and looked back to Mathilda, a triumphant smile on her face. "Least we've got one success out of this."
Glass Pomegranates
Safari crashed and took my almost done tag so here's this bitter sobs
Mathilda smiled as they made it inside the hotel. It was good to be finally be away from the snow and those stupid birds. The boy was off and trying to find someone he knew, and Mathilda and Tara were unscathed.
"Yes, we did. No damage either."
Dropping herself in a chair, Mathilda saw the look on Tara's face. She knew that look. Seen it a dozen times.
"Hey. If you wanna head out again, I'm game. Let me know. It's good to go out in pairs, plus it's training. Let me warm up, then we can head out. You good with that?"
Though Mathilda felt like she didn't know anymore about these birds, helping find more people trapped in the snow might give her some clue as to what is going on. Hopefully, someone around here knows what's going on.
Kaefaux
wc: 804
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 6:04 pm
Tara was more than happy to see the kid returned, safe and sound, but well... As Mathilda observed, it was written clear on her face. She was nervous about others out there, caught in this weather. Caught by the birds...
So when Mathilda spoke up, Tara was startled but... quickly let out a sigh of relief. "Yes, definitely. We can't leave people alone out there if we can help it." But... the idea of resting a bit first. Smart. Required.
Tara pulled another chair over and settled herself into it, trying to warm up a bit and cool her head. Wouldn't do to get over anxious and then risk screwing up out there. Still, she smiled to Mathilda. "Thanks, by the way."
