Team Fauna: Thread 2

[Pegasus]

20th Ymiden, 717

They took the moment to move, behind the plinth containing the water ~ the moment for Tio to yell his instruction and for Kali'rial to comply and dip her arrow in the water before she fired. All of these things, each of these things took time and it was time that one of them, maybe more of them, simply did not have. Kris moved, not hiding behind the water-bowl, because there was no room to do so, but it was not him that the moss-woman shot. As her arrow flew, the moss-creature snarled and let out a roaring, yowling sound of triumph. It impacted and broke through "Kitty's" skin on her neck, piercing it easily and moving through before the head of the arrow was outside the other side of her throat. There was not a sound from her, just a look of surprise as she opened her mouth and blood poured from it. As she saw that the others had moved, realised that they were not where she was any more, she buckled at the knee and fell.

Kris, meanwhile, had moved at the same time as the other two, but not in the direction that they did. He, instead, had moved towards the creature. If he survived, he might have something to say to them both but in that moment, he just charged and drew his sword.

Kali dipped her arrow in the water, then fired it. She was an expert with the bow she used and the arrow flew straight and true. As Kris sliced the zombie-like creature's arm literally off, they discovered a few things. Firstly, the way that the moss-covered woman screamed was more than enough to set their teeth on edge in an entirely unnatural way. Second, as her arm fell to the floor, a hundred thousand insects started to pour out of the wound. There was no blood, just bugs.

Kali'rial's arrow embedded in the moss-creature's bright blue eye and, from there too started to pour forth bugs. Insects from all over the world, some of them recogniseable, others completely unknown and they swarmed, all of them, towards the pair currently behind the bowl containing the water.

Or most of them did. A few thousand took a little moment to swarm over Kris. Kali and Tio heard his screams, but he fell to the floor within a few trill, covered by the things.

OOC Info

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Ok guys - as soon as you two have posted I'll post again. No placeholders, please. Very much in combat - you have very few seconds to do something marvelous. Please don't control the NPCs, feel free to direct things to them - they'll respond in my next post Please pm me with any questions.

NPCs

Your archaeologist companion is a male Sev'ryn called Kris

► Show Spoiler

He's covered in bugs

Your guard was a female mixed-blood called Petra. You lost her!

[Kali'rial]

"No, no, no!" Kali'rial yelled as Kris ran towards the creature and sliced it's arm off, shock on her face as her arrow released and bugs from all over Idalos poured from the creature like a swarming mass of destruction. Immortal's, and the slave had been hit too, the brunette seeing from the corner of her eye that her throat was pouring blood.

Too much. Too much at once.

Why!?Why hadn't they moved? Why had he charged?

All of these thoughts ran through the Sev'ryn with a blinding rage as she made a snap decision, scooping a handful of the water in the chalice to her lips even as she shoved hard in the attempt to knock the heavy vessel over and spill its contents across the ground and hopefully to Kris. As she did so, the brunette was still yelling, hopelessly at the mercy of the Immortal's now.

"Great Moseke, have mercy on Your children. We need your light Mother, we need you, please! Help us!" She pleaded desperately, her heart racing even as she drew another arrow and backed up, for what good it could do against a swarm of bugs. The bleeding slave, dying on her guard on her watch, it was too much to focus on now. Kali could only hope Tio had moved to help her.

Too much, it was all just too much.

"Help me Mother, please help me." She cried out in a broken voice, hoping Pash had made it out the other side alive. Immortal's she wanted to see him again, more than she'd realised.

[Tio Silver]

The arrow from the rot-creature flew through the air, zipping over Tio's head faster than his eyes could follow, and with a gut-wrenching fleshy thud hit Kitty straight through the neck. There was no sound from the slave girl, not so much as a whimper, as a look of shock crossed over her face, and just for a second an unconscious part of Tio's mind thought that maybe by some miracle she was okay. But then a gush of blood erupted from her mouth, shattering that illusion, and like a marionette with its strings cut Kitty crumpled to the ground.

For a second Tio froze where he was, dumbstruck by the scene before him. Not ten trills ago Kitty had been fine, able to walk and talk and be happy just like anyone else. But a moment later she was dead, struck down by nothing more than a single arrow. Now Tio was no stranger to violence, he'd been in bar fights and scuffles with guards quite often before, and at his worst had attacked people with the intent to grievously harm them, but they never ended in death! The sight of a human life struck down in an instant was new to him, and he had absolutely no idea how to react to it.

But while he was paused the others were not. Kris had charged the rot monster, only saved from an arrow to the face by the fact that the creature had chosen to target Kitty instead of him, and lopped its arm of at the same moment Kali's arrow found purchase in its eye. From both wounds a multitude of insects of a hundred different species burst forth, enveloping Kris like a wave and bringing him down to the floor screaming. Luckily Kali seemed to have figured out that the water was special, and after taking a quick sip of it herself shoved the stone bowl over, sending the water splashing in Kris' direction.

The crash of the stone bowl hitting the ground was enough to snap Tio out of his frozen state, and with a start he realised that he needed to act! Kali was doing all she could to help Kris after his reckless charge backfired, but someone needed to help Kitty! In his shock a part of him assumed that she was dead, but if that wasn't the case then he was the only one free to help her right now!

He ran over to the slave girl's side, putting his shaking hands over the arrow wound as gently but firmly as he could. He was no doctor, but common sense dictated that the best he could do right now was to try and stop the bleeding as best as he could, and putting pressure on the wound was the only way to do that. It was tempting, sorely tempting, to try and pull the arrow out, but the logical part of him pointed out that the arrow was probably the only thing stopping the worst of the bleeding.

"Listen to me, you're going to be fine, okay? I promise you, you're going to be absolutely fine. Just don't talk okay?" He whispered to Kitty, trying but failing to keep the note of panic out of his voice. Damn it, where was that medical kit! Was it Kris or Petra who had it? He couldn't quite remember, but in both cases there was no way he'd be able to get to it right now.

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[Pegasus]

20th Ymiden, 717

In the seconds afterwards, it was quiet.

Not even the sound of their own breathing or the beating of their hearts, for those who had them broke the silence in the few trill after. After all, what they had seen in this place, it was enough that they would never forget it.

Kali had pushed the water bowl on the stone plinth with a yell of strength and determination and the water had poured out. This had happened as Kitty looked at Tio and tried to answer him, but she had been unable to speak and had, instead, died there in his arms with her warm blood pouring over him. Meeting his gaze, the slave died in his arms and as she did, she smiled.

He might not notice that, though, because of what the water did.

Where the water met the moss, nothing happened except maybe the moss grew a little greener, a little brighter, a little more vibrant. But as Kali tipped the bowl, she also drank from it. As she did, as the cool water touched her lips, the Sev'ryn huntress felt better. Not nauseous or unreasonably angry, she no longer cared about the room. The water poured and then it continued to pour, like the bowl was a source of water, rather than a bowl of it, the water flowed out. When the wave of liquid met the wave of insects, Kali'rial and Tio heard a scream.

Or rather, a thousand.

As the insects which had poured out of the moss-covered-zombie each melted away, they screamed and then, as the water touched the zombie, it too started to scream. It didn't so much melt as fold in on itself and crumple away. Just the touch of the water was enough.

And so, in the silence that followed, Tio was kneeling in the water which filled the floor of the room with a dead slave in his arms and Kali was standing and looking at the skeleton of Kris, bones picked white by the insects which no longer existed.

And it was quiet. They might notice that there wasn't even thunder or rain any more.

OOC Info

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Well. That's more or less it. Congratulations on stopping the "moss monsters of Lisirra".... for now. One more post, and then we're done.

NPCs

All dead.

[Kali'rial]

Silence.

Sometimes the utter and sudden lack of sound was louder and more overwhelming than noises themselves, a sort of rushing abyss of nothingness that threatened madness if you listened long enough. Kali'rial stood staring at the scene before her in the aftermath of those mere seconds that would be burned into her very soul till the end of days, the screams of the dead echoing in her mind. The fact she didn't feel anger or illness or the need to go back to that damned room didn't even register as her periwinkle gaze remained focused on the clean white bones of the elder Sev'ryn.

Shakily, she lifted a hand to drag it through her dark tresses, trying to maintain some form of togetherness in the face of the horrific finale. Tearing her eyes away from the ever flowing water that caressed the skeletal remains, she looked over at Tio and Kitty. Alaiwa. The slave. The dead slave.

The blood.

Dropping her bow with a soft clatter on the mossy stones underfoot, the huntress stumbled as she tried to turn away from the mess, struggling desperately to get herself together as she trembled with despair. Staggering, she dropped to her knees as her wide blue eyes brimmed with tears that spilt onto her cheeks in the silence. Her breathing was coming in rapid panicked pants as the brunette teetered on falling apart or staying strong, hands pressed to the cool floor.

They were dead. All of them except herself, and the thief.

All of them.

After a few bits, Kali closed her eyes. Immortal's she could see their deaths over and over again. She took a deep breath in through her nose and blew it shakily out of her mouth. And again. And again. Climbing to her feet with a far-away haunted look on her face, the Sev'ryn moved to pick up her bow before speaking, unable to turn and look again at Tio and the girl in his arms.

"Ti-" She tried to speak, but her voice broke and caught in her throat. Swallowing the huntress tried again.

"Tio, we have to go." The southerner said softly, pulling her bow over her shoulder to nestle on her chest and glancing once more at the remains of the Elder.

"Olorijori Moseke's alaiwa ceaji ke’ua ìṣọtẹ bex tä anou bansha'awa." Kali'rial said, her voice flat and low, before turning and moving over to the blonde man to place a hand on his shoulder.

"We have to go." The Sev'ryn all but whispered, staring down at the vacant eyes of Kitty that would forever see nothing more.

Xanthean Translation

May Moseke's light bless your journey back to the cycle.

[Tio Silver]

A cacophony of shrill screams filled the air as the countless hundreds of insects melted away, dissolved into nothing by the mystical water. It was a noise that made nails running over chalkboards sound like the strumming of harps; a sickening wail that grated on ears and made hairs stand on end, and a fitting sound for such a vile creature to cry out with as it died.

Yet Tio didn't notice it.

Death was a cruel and, in his opinion, completely unnecessary part of life. It was something he'd spent years of his life already finding ways to run away from, and because of that Tio had always thought he'd known death pretty well. But this... this was different. He'd never seen somebody die right in front of his eyes before, never watched as the light in their eyes turned glossy and faded. He could feel beneath his hands the very last pulse of her blood before her heart, beating quickly with shock and fear just moments before, grew still and quiet. This was what death really was: messy, unfair, and so sudden that all the preparation in the world couldn't brace you for its arrival.

She hadn't deserved this. This nameless slave had deserved better than the wretched life of forced servitude that she'd had, and deserved better than to be struck down by that... that thing! If he had the power to Tio would've snatched her soul back from Vri's cruel grip and given her the chance to start a new life on her own terms, but alas he was nowhere near powerful enough to do that yet. If only he could do that would he feel less guilty? After all he'd treated most of this expedition like either a joke or a treasure hunt, if he'd taken things more seriously would events still have played out this way? Wasn't he to blame for her fate?

No, no he wasn't. But somebody else was!

Something cruel and dark knotted itself together in the pit of his stomach, something that brought the anger he kept buried deep down roaring to the surface. A little bit of red tinged his vision as an icy rage settled into his blood, forcing away the ache and exhaustion from the journey they'd been on to get here. Lisarra! This was her fault! She'd created that vile creature that'd ended the slave girl's life, in fact she was the one orchestrating whatever madness was going on here! The blood of everyone who'd died here was on her hands, and if the chance ever presented itself to him Tio swore to himself that he'd make her pay for it! The victims of her schemes needed avenging, and if he ever got the chance he was going to remember that last smile the slave girl had shown to him as he stabbed a blade into Lisarra's back!

But not today. As much as he hated to admit it whatever chance they'd had of finding Petra and stopping the evil going on here had died along with them. Normal weapons like swords and arrows hadn't done a thing to stop that rot creature, in fact as Kris' fate had evidenced it only made them even more deadly, and there was still a whole horde of those creatures waiting for them further in. The only thing that they knew could harm them was Moseke's water, and the stone bowl was far too heavy for the two of them to carry around with them. They'd come to this island as explorers, not warriors, and were woefully unprepared to continue the search when it was just the two of them. As sad as it was, they had no choice but to leave Petra to her doom.

Gently lifting up the slave girl's head, Tio snapped off the head of the arrow sticking out the back of her neck and then pulled the arrow out of the wound. Then he hooked his arms underneath her and carried her over to the puddle of water still washed across the floor, and once there set her down and washed as much of the blood from her mouth and wound as he could, washing the blood from his hands and lifting the stone bowl back up to its original position as an afterthought. When he picked her up again he winced slightly at how much colder her body already seemed to feel, and turned to look at Kali with an icy look in his eyes

"Agreed. This isn't over though. We'll tell Jo'ne what happened here, find a way to make those bug sons-of-bitches burn, and come back with proper soldiers! We'll do whatever we can to find Petra, and most of all we'll make Lisarra pay for this! Preferably in blood!"

The look in his eyes softened slightly as his gaze turned to the pile of bones that remained of Kris. "Take Kris' remains with you, these two deserve to have proper burials somewhere far away from here. And..." he looked down at the body in his arms. "...we'll put the name you gave to her, Alaiwa, on her tombstone. I think she'd like that."

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[Pegasus]

The Review

Kali'rial

Overview

I really love how you write Kali'rial. Your writing with her is honest and you aren't afraid to show her flaws or strengths. I could really feel her inner turmoil throughout this thread - you portrayed it beautifully. I think what impresses me most about your writing is how well-balanced it is and how well you juggle description, thoughts and speech. You manage character focused without self-indulgent and basically, you write beautifully. I love the pc and I adore how you portray her!

Points

XP: 20 (moderated event)
Fame: +20

Loot

Kali'rial has been infected (and cured) of a strange and unnatural disease. This has impacted her immune system. The impact will not be apparent until Vhalar, when the colder weather starts. Kali'rial has developed a sort of "winter hayfever" and in the colder seasons she will experience an almost constant runny nose, sneezing etc. It's not debilitating, just annoying.

Knowledge

Detection: Scouring for details
Detection: Carvings can provide clues
Detection: Trying to pinpoint sounds
Detection: Sudden movements
Discipline: Fighting an unnatural fury
Discipline: Remaining calm in the face of unreasonable behaviour
Discipline: Overcoming compulsion
Discipline: Acting in the face of grief and shock
Endurance: Fighting nausea
Endurance: Continuing on whilst feverish
Interrogation: Asking questions with kindness
Investigation: Use the environment to gather clues
Investigation: Determining which Immortal(s) a place is dedicated to
Investigation: Working out risk
Leadership: Sometimes, orders are necessary
Psychology: The toll of slavery
Psychology: The feeling of religious rapture
Ranged Weapon: Shortbow: Keeping your bow trained on your companion
Ranged Weapon: Shortbow: Firing from behind cover
Ranged Weapon: Shortbow: Clearing your mind
Ranged Weapon: Shortbow: Aiming at small targets

Tio

Overview

I have to say, I adore Tio. He's such a fun pc, such a great and well considered character. You wrote him incredibly well throughout this adventure, from carefree to grief stricken and a lot in between. Excellent work, superbly written. Your pc is a pleasure to write with and a joy to moderate. Thanks so much - I enjoyed it!

Points

XP: 20 (moderated group event) | 10 of these points may be used for Domain Magic (Necromancy)

Fame: +20

Loot

As a Yludih, Tio fought off the disease and so suffers no ill effects. After Famula's "soul day" on Scalvoris, he starts to notice things out of the corner of his eye. They never come to anything, but every now and then he'll get very cold, suddenly. Tio has a soul attached to him who he can't see but who makes themselves known in slight things - glimpses of movement out of the corner of his eyes, small items moving, sudden inexplicable breezes etc. If he pays attention to it, strange and noticeable things (slight movements etc) start happening if he's doing something... .. morally dubious. (Would he, though? Surely not!). This is an NPC you now can write, although Tio has no notion of it - but keep in mind that this soul would like it very much if Tio did good things, nice things, not "bad" or "morally dubious" things. Enjoy

Knowledge

Deception: Appearing chipper when you feel awful
Deception: Not showing your worries
Detection: Spotting items of worth
Detection: Examining items for clues
Detection: When people are behaving strangely.
Detection: Noting clues in your environment
Detection: Noting fleeting facial expressions
Detection: Clues to mood in facial expression
Discipline: Staying calm in the face of infection
Discipline: Hide fear in sarcasm
Discipline: Being clear about what to do, even in a difficult situation
Discipline: Not looting when you really really want to
Discipline: Dealing with shock
Interrogation: Asking pertinent questions
Interrogation: Clarifying own perception with others
Investigation: Determining the worth of clues
Investigation: Prioritising what you investigate
Investigation: Identifying actions which were not the brightest.
Investigation: Noting important differences in perception
Investigation: Use those who have knowledge as much as possible
Investigation: Putting together clues
Persuasion: Explaining freedom to someone with no concept of it.
Persuasion: Breaking a lifetime of belief
Persuasion: Telling people why they should leave somewhere they don't want to
Persuasion: Using fanaticism to persuade
Persuasion: Explaining why a companion doesn't want to shoot you in the face
Psychology: Attributing stress as a cause of strange behaviour
Psychology: A conscience is a demanding aspect of your psyche
Stealth: Light steps to avoid noise
Stealth: Tiptoeing
Stealth: Taking cover
Tactics: Use every resource available to you
Unarmed Combat: Use your environment


Lisirra: Moseke's sister
Lisirra: Plague bearer
Lisirra: Fights Moseke
Moseke: Lisirra's sister
Moseke: Life giver
Moseke: Fights Lisirra

Amaris

Overview

What little we saw of Amaris in this thread was great fun, as always. I love the way you write Amaris' deadpan delivery. Unfortunately, you didn't post the required three times nor did you write the 1,500 word requirement, so your rewards are limited. Hopefully, next time!

Points

XP: No XP from this, I'm afraid. You did not meet the 3 post requirement, with only 504 words.

Fame: +5

Loot

None

Knowledge

Leadership: Giving commands
Tactics: Prioritising your actions

Arwel

Overview

Arwel is such a sweetie! It's a shame that you didn't finish the adventure with him, but I hope he gets to return to Immortals' Tongue and avenge Kitty! As always, Arwel was very concerned for others, very sweet and shy. Cute and adorable.

Points

XP: 15

Fame: +10

Loot

None

Knowledge

Caregiving: Making kind offers
Caregiving: Putting others' needs before your own
Detection: Signs of infection
Discipline: Speaking up even when shy
Leadership: Giving orders when necessary
Persuasion: Explaining to a slave why you want them to be free
Psychology: The toll of slavery