• Closed • [Grimvale] The Great Hunt. (Yrmellyn)

[Nir'wei]

55th of Vhalar, 716.

Everyone has a specialty. Something unique, whether it be a rare talent they were born with, some talent they'd picked up along their life experiences. For Nir'wei, even his specialty was a bit special, because his revolved around his way of life; he was homeless.

Most would consider this a disadvantage, and of course they'd be right. He arrived every day smelling like crap, his clothes were often dirty and occasionally he'd arrive late because a particularly strong wind had ripped his tent from its pegs and he'd spent the better part of the morning chasing it down again. But this was the Skye Verath Lodge. Everyone smelled like crap, often because they shovelled crap or generally worked within very close proximity of the stuff - if you didn't end the day smelling like you'd spent the better part of it with your head shoved up a Volareon's ass, and your clothes weren't caked in at least a few layers of grime and dirt, you were called lazy. That only left the positives of being homeless. He was constantly on the move. Without a house, without an apartment, now without even a wagon to sleep in, he moved around to wherever he could find a safe, comfortable spot to sleep for the night in his little two-man tent with all of his belongings. If some emergency happened that couldn't be handled directly inside Andaris, Nir'wei might not have been the first person they called, but he was at least involved in some way - because, for him, moving around to where the problem was, wasn't a problem. It was just another place to set his tent for the night.

Which explained why Gaspard wanted him to track down a Jacadon somewhere along the outskirts of the city and not any of the other handlers. "I think we've already learned from previous experiences that I am not well-versed in bringing down Jacadons whole single-handedly." Unfortunately this wasn't the first time he'd had some involvement with a wild, unbonded Jacadon but every single time it'd happened, it'd gone unsuccessful. "The best I can do is... is possibly track it down to its origin and then come back and inform someone else." To be honest, if what Gaspard was explaining could be believed, he doubted it'd do any good if word was brought back to the city regardless. The Skyriders didn't exactly have the full military potential they once did, what with the shadow-monster attacks, the brief yet costly civil war and countless other problems appearing and disappearing every single trial that demanded at least some appearance. They didn't have enough manpower to go after a rogue Jacadon attacking farm animals, trampling crops and causing trouble all down the northern reaches of the city's outskirts.

"That's more than we'll get from anyone else." Gaspard passed over a small bird, almost like a skinny little pigeon, held in place with its wings bound. "Take this. Homing bird. Feed it well, but don't let it out of its bindings until you find wherever it is, because it'll fly straight back here. Write as much detail as you can on the little piece of paper attached to its leg and I'll pass it straight along to the Skyriders." He'd never cared for a bird... nor had he gone on such an active hunt, by himself, in search of a dragon. "Good luck. As always." He'd received a clap on the back, a few whispers of advice on how to track it down from the expert himself, and that was it. A few trials of paid leave to go out and hopefully bring back information on this elusive creature - that apparently had caused more than its own weight's worth in private damages across the season.

Archailist described the conditions perfectly, as Nir'wei gathered up his supplies and distributed them evenly between shoulder-mounted packs and his horse's saddlebags. "Boy, hunting down dragons with obvious aggression problems. Really, I see nothing wrong with that." For a little spirit squirrel, he sure talked a hell of a lot of snark. "The only thing thought out even better than this is trying to ride a horse you've never ridden before without any experience doing it, nor even a saddle to ease the journey."

He'd seen plenty of people do it. All he needed to do was climb up the side of a wall and use the leverage to hop over its back, easy as pie. "Well the only other alternative," he grumbled to the spirit, "is walking the entire way myself, taking considerably longer and being a lot harder, too. Unless you want me to go and collect the scrap wood that remains of my wagon. Now, if you don't have a better idea, shut up." He climbed up a free-standing stone wall, wobbled... and immediately regretted his decision the moment he tried to swing a foot across the horse's back. With weight settled unevenly it stepped to the side, trying to compensate... and in doing so, it nearly ripped Nir'weis legs into the classic gymnast's splits pose. He toppled over backwards and landed solidly on his back, knocking the wind from his lungs and leaving him stunned, in the dirt, contemplating his life choices until he found the strength to sit up again. "... Walking it is," he wheezed.

Man, it was gonna be a long walk down to the fields surrounding the Grimvale.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Nir’wei wasn’t the only one who headed north that day. The painter Yrmellyn Cole was deeply interested in everything that was said to offer mystery, unknown powers and invisible wonders. This included nature and it’s phenomena. The tales about the forest named Grimvale, north of Andaris city, had intrigued her for years. Among other things, the forest was said to be completely silent.

The first time she’d heard about the place had been back in 711/712 when she’d visited Rynmere for the first time. That time she’d never found opportunity to do anything about her interest for Grimvald, but now she had decided to go there, in the hopes of finding something interesting to paint. Her passion for art and painting was always on her mind, and it motivated her more than most people could understand. It was forever intertwined with the magic of attunement, which had merged a small entity of the painter Mariuz Arbin’s ether with her own.

Using attunement on a subject while painting it could bring dimensions other painters couldn’t even dream of to the art. She had seen this in the paintings of her teacher Mariuz Arbin. She hoped to one day be able to paint that way too. But it wasn’t easy to use attunement on human subjects. Most people tended to be scared by the mere idea of magic of any kind being used on them, and she didn’t fancy the idea of using her abilities on unwitting people. Then again, some of those who weren’t scared tended to want to be initiated instead, and those could become insistent and even threatening in their tries to get what they wanted. Yrmellen wasn’t keen on being at their service. It wasn't like she knew everything about Attunement and she was worried about doing harmful and irreversible mistakes. She had learnt from Mariuz to be careful and mostly keep her secrets to herself, and she found it justified to keep to this principle. But when she painted nature and animals it was different. This was easier, as nature with it's trees and earth and stone was very stable compared to humans and animals were pure and easy beings, most of them. In nature, with it's easier conditions, she was able to indulge herself and try to use attunement on what she was painting, without needing to fear the ramifications.

She had started out really early this day, as she was walking on foot. The bag on her back contained her painting kit and necessities like the waterskin, and some bread, cheese and fruit. The easel was folded and strapped to the bag. She was planning to return to Andaris city in the evening, or maybe next morning. Yrmellyn assumed it would be possible to sleep in a barn on one of the farms along the way, and maybe get a ride with a wagon if they would transport crops to the city next morning. Maybe she could get a bed and breakfast in exchange for a speed painting of farmer’s family? She didn’t really know if this was realistic, but she imagined that what seemed logical to her would also be logical to others. She thought she’d find somewhere to stay in case she would need it.

When she walked along the mud road between the fields of the farms north of Andaris, she saw a small group of armed men with grim facial expressions, standing outside a farmhouse very near the road. She watched them warily as she passed by. The men seemed to be totally focused on the discussion they were involved in though, and nobody paid attention to her.

Yrmellyn scorned herself silently in her thoughts. Of course they didn’t care. She was dressed like a man these days. It made wonders for travelling unnoticed and avoiding meaningless trouble.

The small group of men didn’t look like proper soldiers, but also not like mercenaries or anything else she found easy to recognize. If it hadn’t been so ridiculous she would have guessed at farmers and hunters playing soldiers. Vigilantes. People who were taking the law into their own hands. Though what farmers could have to deal with in a militant way was beyond her to even guess at.

The group of men spoke in loud, angry, upset voices. Yrmellyn caught fragments of their conversation. “Kill it!” one said. “Ruined my crops, one whole field! Put an end to it, before it ...” said another member of the group. A third one said: “Are you sure the poison will work on such a big ...”.

Finally one of them, with a deep voice that was easy to hear, assured the others that yes, the poison would for sure work, as the dose had been calculated from what was needed to kill huge number of rats, and if it wouldn’t be enough to kill, it would still serve to calm and slow down, perhaps put to sleep ... Yrmellyn didn’t hear anything more and she certainly didn’t feel compelled to ask what was going on. It seemed like the kind of activities it was best to stay out of.

Amazing, she thought. Those farmers are preparing for a war against an army or rats, it seems. You never know what people are up to in the countryside!

Yrmellyn walked on at good pace, and as she was alone on the road she sang to make the walking easier. She had a good singing voice, although she had never been schooled. She had even been the singer in a group of jesters for a few years, in her early teens. This was over long ago, but she knew many songs, and learnt more songs whenever she could. Now she amused herself by modulating the volume of her voice between low and loud, while she alternated between singing in a clear voice and a raw and somewhat hoarse. Sometimes she made the intonation soft and warm, and then she changed it to a colder, harder tone. She sang soft and lyrical songs in a soft and lyrical voice, and other war tunes in a strong and powerful voice. She made her voice deep, and she made it light, and everything between. Yrmellen dared to sing this way and play with her own voice the way she wanted, because nobody was there to hear her. As a young teenager the lack of schooling hadn't bothered her. Nowadays she was aware that she had no education in singing to speak about. Many who were more professional might find her a total amateur, but when she was on her own she felt free to use her voice whether her singing was good or not.

Eventually she reached her goal. The fringes of the forest were quite silent, but it wasn’t as soundless as she’d expected Grimvale to be. Feeling a bit disappointed, she followed a path in among the trees in the fringe, until she came to a glen where she decided to stay and paint a bit. Obviously this day wouldn’t become the mystery and adventure Yrmellyn had expected, but a colorful forest in fall would still be nice to paint. It would also be possible to attempt to apply attunement on the landscape. She made her painting tools and colors ready, grabbed a brush and started to tune in on the surroundings the way she personally used to do it. It was questionable of it was meaningful to call it “used to” though. Attunement took time to learn, and to Yrmellyn every time was still a new experience, unique and different. To her there was no such thing as a repetitive way to attune. She was aware that this could actually be a sign of ignorance. There was no way for her to judge her own level. After Mariuz death she had been left to experiement on her own based on the knowledge he'd had time to give her, and slowly find out how to do.

There were some recurrent elements. These could happen in a sequences or in parallel, and in variable order, with a multitude of different reactions along the process. She didn't know if this was always so, for all practitioners. This time, Yrmellyn relaxed and slowly opened her awareness to surroundings. Although attunement would sometimes be described as "seeing with an inner eye" it wasn't really seeing in the same sense as seeing things with her physical eyes. Attunement was something else; it was magic, and not the same as normal vision. This time, the beginning of the attunement was a bit like listening to music that wasn’t really music but something else. Was this normal? Yrmellyn wasn't sure, She experienced this the way she did, as a kind of listening, though not with her ears, and tried to adjust her own inner rhythm to the rhythm of the world around her. This was maybe not what really happened, but it was how Yrmellen thought of it at her current level of insight, and those were the insufficient words she was able to put on a magic phenomenon that had no language.

At the pace her synchronization with the surroundings grew a little bit, other sensations emerged and she felt like she became one with the wind, the sound of insects in the grass, the fragrance of the forest, and the colorful foliage that surrounded her. Her awareness spread out, but slowly and not far. The range was very limited. She felt only what was immediately nearby. She knew by earlier experience that sometimes, if she continued she might also start to get a kind sight impressions, like vague pictures or color sensations in her mind, and after this a feeling of knowledge could emerge.

The memory of her teacher and lover Mariuz Arbin whispered inside her mind: “Attunement is knowledge.”

And knowledge she gained; unexpected knowledge !

There was something nearby, something huge and alive and definitely not human. The moment she sensed a whiff of this presence, a primitive fear interrupted the attunement. When the jacadon entered the glen, blind instinct told her a monster had arrived. Panic made her leave all her things and just run. Her own breath and the sound of her boots against the soft path was all she heard as she rushed back along the path at maximum speed. If she had been thinking logically she would have realized she wasn’t being followed, but “run, run, run,” was all she thought. She kept her gaze on the ground in order to not stumble on roots, and ran for her life.

OOC: There's no description of attunement in the Lore at the time I write this. I have tried to keep it to what I "think" could be possible for the level, for example insecurity, somewhat randomized process, short range, easy environment, not seeing the jacadon until she saw it with her normal eyesight ...

[Nir'wei]

On the long walk, Nir'wei tried two more times to jump on Onka's back. Walking was a sad, tiring ordeal and he knew that while riding would hurt his arse, like so many other animal riders complained of during long journies, it'd at least conserve his stamina for when he'd need it most. The first jump was met with failure. He thanked the Immortals that falling off Onka's back hadn't broken something yet, although frequent toppling was starting to make bruises over his shins, and one ankle felt a little swollen. The second try, though... he was met with success. "Woah woah woah!" It wasn't an easy one, or a clean one. Nir'wei had spent the better part of half an arc not riding the horse he'd brought - mostly just hitching it to the front of his wagon and training it to be a driving horse, not a riding horse. To be frank, inexperienced with the finer points on horse species, he didn't know whether Onka was more fit for riding or driving, or something else entirely. But he wasn't about to indulge in another wagon, as well as all the costs and effort to keep it functional.

Onka seemed unsteady as Nir'wei mounted, reeling from left to right to try and find balance. Probably compensating for Nir'wei, because he couldn't find his balance either. They bounced and jogged on the spot, Onka nearly reared when he tugged hard on the reigns, tugging Onka up until the weight of the saddlebags became too much and it went back to all-fours with perhaps a little too much force. "Now really isn't the best time to accidentally break your horse's leg," Archailist advised. Nir'wei could hardly agree more, if only he knew a way to stop that from happening! In the end he straightened himself up, stopped tugging and simply let Onka do as it wished. Within bits, all was calm. Given control, Onka stopped all the fussing and straightened up as well, found an easy balance and with a light tap they were off at a slow, but steady pace. "Not as easy as you thought, huh?" He'd never been more happy that Archailist was right.

With a slower but undoubtably easier pace, the Grimvale was visible within only a few breaks. He remembered the route from the last time he'd been. What he didn't remember were the fields. Apparently land expansion was much more prevalent than he'd first thought. Even riding all the way down to the near-outskirts of the dead-silent Grimvale, well-worn mud roads and fresh tracks of heavily-laden wagons were still scraped through the ground, along with what looked like the beginning of a new house in construction. All abandoned, of course. The stonework in progress looked pretty trashed, rocks scattered loosely and some of them cracked open entirely. The beginning of new crops to be ready by next Vhalar dug back up by long talons and trampled to pieces by familiar footprints. Nir'wei slid off his horse to kneel down and examine them closer.

"Three-taloned. Wide spread, definitely not a mammal." That was basic understanding though, just one glance at a wolf's paws or a bear foot was enough to realize they'd never have a footprint so wide, yet so narrow at the toes. The prints were marred in the mud and trampled remains of crops as well, so it left a good mark behind. Next to it, a pile of dung. "Put your finger in it." Nir'wei opened his mouth to protest but his jaw just kept flapping in disbelief. "There's no telling how old this is. Could have been here breaks ago, could have been bells. Gotta test if it's fresh or not." He wrinkled his nose. "I know you were thinking it too." It was true, he'd spent more than enough time scooping up Jacadon remains to know that when it was fresh, it was warm... but that didn't mean he wanted to shove a finger in it and see what temperature it was! But... then again, it was what circumstances demanded. Turning his head, closing his eyes and trying not to think about what he was doing, Nir'wei knelt down next to the pile of crap and brushed his fingertip against it. Warm. Not steaming hot, but warm. He couldn't guess how long it'd been sat out here in the cold but it meant he was pretty damn close.

Just vaguely following the trail of Jacadon prints led him into the outskirts of the Grimvale. An excellent tracker could have probably followed the giant dragon-like creature footprint-for-footprint all the way through the forest and snuck up behind it with ease. A good tracker probably could have followed at least far enough to notice that he was going on the wrong side. Nir'wei was neither of those things... and for his reward, he practically fell straight into a small girl running for her life. Both of them had their eyes on the ground, for very different reasons, and it was nothing short of miracle work they didn't collide and knock one-another straight to the ground. There was no time for proper introductions, though. "Did you see it?" There could be very little doubt what she was running from - either bandits, thieves or other layabouts trying to use the forest for cover... or the Jacadon he knew was somewhere nearby. He guessed the latter. "I need you to show me where it is, now! Please!"

[Yrmellyn Cole]

The down to earth style of the man made Yrmellyn come out of the state of blind fear.

She started to calm down as she realized she wasn’t being hunted by the jacadon. She heard the question, but wasn’t able to answer at once, as she was still breathing too hard to speak. She could think though. The man had asked about “it”, not “him, her or them”. It. The word “it” sunk in, and by the time she was ready to speak she felt convinced that “it” could only mean an animal.

“If you mean the ... “ she nearly said dragon, but it wasn’t the first time she was in Rynmere and not even the first time she had seen a jacadon. She knew how a jacadon looked.

“...jacadon,” she continued. “It’s in a glen a bit further down this path. It barged in ... well, barged in is perhaps too much said ... it entered the glen all of a sudden, so I ran. So. Maybe it’s still there.”

The slim man in the baggy outfit looked like he’d not taken a brush to his hair in a while. He was slim and quite short, but looked hardy. His hairdo, or the lack thereof, also made him look a bit wild, though not in an unpleasant way. He had a natural kind of wild looks that matched forest around them. The pair of dark eyes she was looking into were intelligent and not unfriendly. The way he spoke made her conclude he was a man with an urgent mission of some kind, though it puzzled her why a man who was in such an obvious hurry would be leading the horse instead of riding on it.

Maybe she was totally mistaken and her own unexpected experience in the glen had nothing at all to do with this man’s plans? Yrmellyn felt a bit sheepish for having jumped to conclusions. Maybe she had just been carried away with the shock of her own encounter with the jacadon, and taken it for granted that he had meant an animal. “It” could be something totally else. She thought about the men she had overheard when she passed by the farmhouse near the road earlier that day. There could for sure be lots of things going on there on the countryside. This man's errand could be anything.

Yrmellyn wanted to smooth over her possible gaffe, so she didn’t wait for the man to answer.

“But I don’t even know what you are looking for” she said quickly.

“I just assumed it might be the jacadon that ran into me. But that’s just me. I mean, there can be so many things going on here. I can show you where I saw the jacadon if that’s what you want, but maybe you meant something totally else? If I understood things right there’s some kind of rat killing campaign going on today. I heard some people speak about it, earlier ... it seemed like they were preparing to poison an onslaught of rats that had ruined their crops! Well. Yeah. It’s true that I panicked, but as the jacadon didn’t follow me it's maybe not as dangerous as I thought ... I don’t know what to think about it. Anyways there’s a jacadon around, so you may want to be careful. I hope it has gone away though! I’d like to retrieve my things from that glen. ”

At this point she realized she had lost her hat too. Crap. Yrmellyn wasn’t keen on meeting the jacadon again, but she wanted to get her hat, her painter’s kit, and her backpack. She watched the unkempt stranger. If it turned out that he really was looking for the jacadon, she supposed he would also know how to deal with it. In that case she might come with him so she could pick up her stuff. But this was only if she would feel sure he knew what he was doing!

“Do you know anything about jacadons?”

[Nir'wei]

Looked like his assumption was right after all. He'd... well, he'd not done anything really, but regardless, they'd found the Jacadon with plenty of time to spare. A glance over her shoulder confirmed nothing else was there, and no wing-beats overhead either, although it was rather difficult to hear with Yrmellyn's heavy breathing mere inches from his face. They'd not alerted it, yet. Even if it flew away, it wouldn't get far enough to make chasing it down too much of a challenge for a team to spread out and follow, burdened as they were. Even accounting for the flight time of the messenger bird and the time that it'd take for the 'reinforcements' to arrive, unless they were dealing with a particularly young and spritely creature, it wouldn't make it far enough to take any longer than... hmm. A trial? Two trials? To think that it'd barely taken him more than a few breaks to narrow the surrounding territories of Andaris all the way down to a single glen.

His confidence was swelling, but faltered at Yrmellyn's quick interruption. "It's the Jacadon I'm looking for. It was a Jacadon right? You've seen them before, big, reptilian, wings like a bat?" Her eyewitness testimony could stand reasonably well; if he sent out the messenger birds and she was wrong, he could blame the incident on her, mostly. Really, he had to see it with his own eyes before sending out an alarm, but if he alerted it now and it turned out to be anything other than the Jacadon they were searching for, the chances of finding it for real would disappear into thin air as the high traffic of Skyriders flushed it out and sent it off fleeing. "... Alright, nevermind. Show me where you saw it, but please, please be as quiet as you can." The more he talked, the quieter his voice became, until it was barely above a whisper. "I'm... wait. What?"

He'd tuned out to some of her talk. Not because he wasn't interested. Not that he was. There were just bigger things to focus on at the moment, like trying to work out how to approach this situation without ending up turning himself and an innocent bystander into dust under a Jacadon's claws. "Last I'd heard this spot wasn't ruined by rats, it was ruined by--" Jacadons. Specifically this one. Nobody could be stupid enough to actually try and poison a Jacadon, surely, but then again even the possibility was enough to speed his slow pace to a near-sprint straight back into the Grimvale, a hand around Yrmellyn's wrist tugging her along behind him. "Okay, you need to show me exactly where you saw it right now. I can explain everything that's going on later but for now I really need to find that Jacadon before some idiots decide to get themselves killed and piss off the most dangerous creature known to man-kind and get a whole lot of other people killed." His speech had gone from the slow, methodical tone he'd used to calm down Yrmellyn's frantic emotions to just as frantic, if not more so - to the point that his words were starting to slur together.

It became so bad that Archailist had to intervene and roughly slap Nir'weis brain until it rattled. "Get a grip!" Nir'wei couldn't help it. His mind was rushing a mile a minute. What was supposed to be nothing more than a gruelling, likely-to-fail hunting exercise where the biggest risk was running out of food had now turned into a dangerous game of chicken between them, a dragon and a load of farmers who thought they could poison it. To be honest, he didn't even know what would happen if they succeeded... but if they failed, they could end up just enraging it even more and putting plenty more people at risk than they already were... and of course they could get themselves all killed at the exact same time. Things really couldn't get worse than this. "Shut up," Archailist said with another slap, "and stop thinking about that. Focus on your breathing. Clear your mind." He really didn't have time to meditate about now! "If you don't shut up and calm yourself down to at least a reasonable level you're going to make a stupid mistake and put yourself and everyone around you in danger." That only made him feel even more stressed. "Then you're not concentrating on your breathing!"

[Yrmellyn Cole]

“Yes, yes, it was a jacadon. But I have no idea where it is now ... perhaps it just ran away into the forest?”

She sure hoped it had !

The man looked at her intently, like he was thinking hard about what to do next, but soon he said : "... Alright, nevermind. Show me where you saw it, but please, please be as quiet as you can."

The more he talked, the quieter his voice became, until it was barely above a whisper. Yrmellyn took the cue; this wasn’t the time for unnecessary chat and in particular not in a loud voice. She didn’t know, but she guessed it meant jacadons had good hearing and the man didn’t want to alert the animal if it was nearby.

"Last I'd heard this spot wasn't ruined by rats, it was ruined by--" the man started to say thoughtfully. Yrmellyn itched to start to speak about the gang of supposed ratcatchers again, but she suppressed it in favor of common sense, and waited for the unkempt man to continue. She heard him out when he told her to show him the way to the place where she’d seen the jacadon, and said he could explain everything, once they had found the animal. He seemed competent. Yrmellyn followed when he speeded up the pace, and they nearly sprinted back into the Grimvale. She had no other choice, as the man’s a grip around her wrist was resolute and strong, but she didn’t mind. She went willingly, as she wanted to collect her things. Besides, the stranger had started to intrigue her. At first sight he’d looked like a messy wildling, and he still did, but by now she’d had time to notice that despite his sloppy appearance he seemed intelligent and able.

Once they were running towards the glen where the jacadon had surprised her she found reason to question her compliance though. Yrmellyn had to watch the terrain in order to avoid stumbling over roots or run into low branches, so she saw it only in glimpses, but she was under the impression her company’s behavior was suddenly... quite odd. He seemed to be reacting to something, and to judge from his facial expression she would have thought somebody had hit him, if there had been anybody else than themselves around. He had sounded so calm and trustworthy when he’d said he would explain everything, but she started to wonder ... the calm he’d shown seemed to have left him and now he seemed to be all nervous urgency. Perhaps it had been stupid to come with him. The grip on her wrist was firm though, and there was no way back.

The best way to deal with the situation seemed to be to simply run to the glen where she’d seen the jacadon and then see what the man would do next. She might get a chance to gather her belongings, if the jacadon had left. This thought inevitably led on to a new thought: What if the jacadon had NOT left? What would they do if it was still there? Yrmellyn realized she would need to alert the wild looking man before they reached that glen! Otherwise they might barge in and bump into the jacadon. She didn't need to know a lot about jacadons to understand that it could be the end of them both. Any animal that felt attacked would fight back, at least such big and powerful animal as the jacadon.

She had been warned for speaking too loudly though. It wasn’t like she’d be able to shout out a warning when they were near the glen. She was in fact not even totally sure of where it was, just that the path would lead them there eventually . Glancing around desperately for landmarks she finally spotted her own hat, dangling on thin branch, not much more than a twig. Assuming this could mean they were now very near the jacadon glen - this was how she thought of the place now - she put her heels into the soft ground of the path, grabbed the thin branch with her free hand, and half-whispered breathlessly :

“I think we’re nearly there ... at the jacadon glen. “

[Nir'wei]

In a way, Nir'wei hoped the Jacadon had run away too. At least he wouldn't be put on the spot. On the other hand, if it disappeared now, there was no sure-fire way of knowing that he'd be able to find it again. Either way, there was no way of telling whether they'd find a very much alive, very angry Jacadon... or they'd find a poisoned, dead one. Or a combination of the two. Of course there was the entirely reasonable possibility that they could encounter a live, healthy and happy Jacadon with absolutely no interest in attacking them and more content to just roam the lands as they had done for many, many arcs... but personally, Nir'wei found it better to prepare for the absolute worst, so that he wouldn't be surprised if it happened.

"Right around here? You're absolutely sure?" Noticing the sudden tug on his arm as Yrmellyn paused, he ground to a halt and glanced left and right, checking the coasts, listening for movement. He'd never been particularly observative, but Jacadon were pretty unmistakeable creatures. If one was skulking about in the woods, they'd probably be able to hear it long before they saw it; and it wouldn't hear them or see them, as long as they made less noise and made sure to be aware of their surroundings at all times. "Alright..." He swallowed some excess saliva and took a few more deep breaths, to try and slow his heavy breathing and calm the hammering in his chest. "Can you, can you tell me anything about it? How tall?" It was pretty obvious on the run here that she really didn't want to be here and if they were in any other situation, he would have told her how much he appreciated that she didn't just turn tail and keep running instead of voluntarily returning to the site.

That said, he guessed there was little chance that they could be ambushed here. The trees were thicker, closer together, leaving ample room for a human but not much for anything bigger. The branches overhead created a thick knot of shade; even a Volareon would have significant difficulty squeezing into such an enclosed space. Even knowing many of the dragon-like creatures had no lacking in the amount of strength their bodies held, he could say with confidence that they were safe in the little enclave. So imagine Nir'weis surprise and worry at hearing the unmistakeable footfalls and noise of a nearby creature. "Shh!" Instinctively he ducked down, one hand pressed against the wet soil, trying to make himself smaller. The faint whistle of the wind made it difficult to say where the noise was coming from, but it sounded like...

"Those voices sound familiar?" Nir'wei asked as he turned to Yrmellyn with a face of concern.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Yrmellyn was breathing heavily as heavily as Nirwei, and she felt she needed to calm down and take control over her voice before she spoke, lest it would come out far too loud. She just nodded when he asked her if this was the place. It sure was. She nodded, and she signed with her hand and tried to say “it’s here” in common sign language, in case it would be understood.

After few really heavy breaths that felt like they burned in her chest, she was able to breathe more normally again and she found her voice. It seemed best to speak in a very low voice, so she leaned closer to Nir’wei as she whispered her answer to his questions about the jacadon.

“It’s huge ... but to be honest, the surprise may have made it seem bigger than it was ... now I’m actually wondering if it wasn’t much smaller and thinner than they use to be, not that I’m totally sure what’s their normal size.“ Yrmellyn’s visual memory was particularly good. As a painter she practiced every day at memorizing what she had seen, so she would be able to make pictures of it. Although she hadn’t memorized the jacadon intentionally, habit had kicked in, and automatically made her form a reasonably detailed memory. The attunement had left her with brief extra mental impressions of the animal as well. She recalled these impression the same way she did when she painted anything she had seen.

“It’s big, of course it is, but if I’d paint it I’d paint it as ... a somewhat small and thin and scrawny jacadon with big clumsy feet and an air of confused randomness about it. Eagerly and mindlessly, it barges straight into a glen where something fun seems to be happening and there’s a promising smell of possible food.”

She could see it now, in her vivid inner vision. It was ridiculous, but when her attunement impressions merged with the visual memories, the conclusion seemed inevitable ...

”I think it can be a young one. I’m not sure how fast they grow, but somehow it didn’t impress me as fully grown. I know so little about jacadons, so please forgive me if I’m saying stupid things. But if it was a human I’ say it could be a kid, or a “teenager jacadon”.

Luckily they were standing in what felt like a safe and sheltered place, surrounded by trees with thick and solid stems, the branches forming a roof above them. The jacadon wouldn’t be able to squeeze itself into the limited space ... she hoped. She didn’t feel too safe. Her vivid imagination had no troubles telling her a thin and scrawny jacadon would maybe not find it so hard to run around on the paths of this forest, at least if it kept to the bigger paths.

It seemed wise to be vary, because even as she spoke the man hushed her, and she fell silent. She could hear ... footfalls, noice, human voices. She immediately followed Nir’wei’s example and crouched on the ground.

At this point somebody shouted “Eat it then, you bloody beast, eat it, EAT!” This was followed by a “Noooo, not THAT ...” the shout ended in one unintelligible scream, a choir of shouts of other voices, followed by a loud crashing sound, then a mix of smaller and more distant crashing sounds, and a blur of upset voices.

Yrmellyn couldn't see anything, so she allowed herself to attempt to attune to the surrounding in order to try to take in some kind of vague information. The circumstances were far from ideal, but the unpleasant wibes she caught made her want to stay away from the people in the glen. She shook her head slightly, breaking the attunement.

Finally the sound of one calm and controlled male voice rising over the others: “Calm yourselves. Norton, stop whining! If you hadn’t behaved like such a fool ... but now you’ve made the jacadon rush into this cursed labyrinth of a forest. Well, you can't go anywhere with that leg, you’ll need to rest here and wait. We’ll pick you up on the way back. Put him on the grass over there boys. We have a jacadon to hunt. Bring the prepared meat. Oh, and those sandwiches it seemed to prefer. I have more brew in case we need to try and give it something else to eat. Never mind those other things. I have no idea why a Jacadon would try to ... paint? I can’t even ... it just doesn’t make sense! Perhaps it just happened to look that way? But we aren’t here to solve animal mysteries. Come on! “

“I heard that voice earlier today” Yrmellyn whispered to Nir’wei. “It’s a man who spoke of killing rats. They were a bunch of farmers dealing with a rat attack. Or so I thought. Now it seems like I was mistaken, and it’s the jacadon they are going after.” She paused, unsure of if she would say more, but decided to add: "It feels safest to wait until they have left. Then we ought to speak with the man they left behind and see what he can tell us."

In hindsight Yrmellyn regretted that she and Nir'wei hadn't taken the opportunity to interrogate the injured man the hunting party had left behind. But this hadn't been their priority at the time. Nir'wei had told her the best was to get reinforcements now when the situation had become even more dangerous than before. Yrmellyn had listened to him and done as he said. She had quickly gathered her belongings and put them into the backpack, and left. They had left in a hurry and when they were back in Andaris she had said farewell to the animal handler and went home. She didn't know what he did after this, or if the Jacadon was caught or not. This irked her for ages, because once she got around to tidy up in her painter kit, she found "the print". On one of her parchments there was a green print of what looked like a hand, the size of a girls hand, not particularly big. Yrmellyn knew she hadn't painted it. Feeling creeped out, she recalled the words she had heard in Grimwald, something about a jacadon who liked sandwiches and messed with paint.

For a moment she thought of seeking the animal handler out and show the print to him, but she decided against it. After a watching it for a few bits she decided to simply think of it as art. It was a found object, unexplained and incomprehensible. A mystery. She named it The Jacadon's Hand.

[Kaladis Anar]

Treasure Time!

Name: Nir’wei

Knowledge:

Acrobatics: The Day Gravity Defeated you and Squirrel Snark was Right.
Detection: Noting Changes in Tone, Facial Expression and Nervousness.
Hunting: How Warm is their Trail? Their Dung can let you Know.
Hunting: Knowing when you Have Cover from a Larger Quarry.
Investigation: Asking for the Vitals of your Target.
Intelligence: Few Beasts Want to Kill People All the Time.
Logistics: Explaining the limits of the Hunt.
Logistics: Distances and how Far Reinforcements Are Away.
Mount: Starting from the Wall doesn’t always Work out Well.
Mount: Going Easier on the Reigns.
Navigation: The Route to Grimvale has Changed in Appearance.
Sociology: You Can Smell when someone’s done a Good Day’s Work.
Socialization: Communicating can be Difficult with Danger Nearby.
Tactics: Assessing Your Manpower vs Your Target.
Tactics: When to Call in the Cavalry and When to Wait.
Teaching: Clearly Explaining how to Handle a Carrier Bird.

Archailist: The Squirrel Snark!
Location: Skye Verath Lodge: It Always Smells This Way.
Jacadons are big and reptilian, with wings like a bat.

Loot: None
Injuries: None
Fame: +3 Total
+2 Solve Mystery | +1 General Good Deed
Devotion: None

Story: 5
Collaboration: 5
Structure: 5

Magic: These points cannot be used for magic.

Comment:
I followed along easily here, no problems. The Squirrel Snark is a fun addition to have a back and forth between them. I liked that he couldn’t automatically ride, and you played in the soreness that he might feel from trying. Mistakes always make the character believable.

Name: Yrmellyn Cole

Knowledge:

Attunement: Music, Unlike any Melody you have ever Heard Before.
Attunement: Synchronizing with Your Surroundings for Understanding.
Attunement: Is less Helpful when it Merges with your Existing Memories.
Disguise: Dressing Down Avoids Attention from the Opposite Sex.
Etiquette: Knowing when to Speak and When to Listen.
Hunting: Knowing when you Have Cover from a Larger Quarry.
Investigation: Questioning an Assumption and Piecing together the Possibilities.
Logistics: Planning Where to Sleep and your Method of Travel.
Painting: Attunement is your Muse and the Legacy you Follow.
Psychology: Most People Fear your Magic, those that don’t Often Want More.
Rhetoric: Tone and Appearance can Imply Urgency.
Running: Keeping the Ground in Mind.
Singing: Modulating Your Voice’s Volume.
Storytelling: Tales of Grimvale and its Mysteries.
Tactics: Seeing the Markings of an Irregular Soldier, Mercenary or Vigilante.
Tactics: Better to warn them Before the Vicious Maiming can Start.

Common Sign: It’s Here!
Mariuz Arbin: A legacy to Inspire You.
Jacadons: Are big and reptilian, with wings like a bat.
Jacadons: Can be Painters too!

Loot: A Jacadon's Green Hand Print.
Injuries: None
Fame: +1 Total
+2 Solve Mystery | -2 Act of Magic | +1 General Good Deed
Devotion: None

Story: 5
Collaboration: 5
Structure: 5

Magic: These Points Can be Used for Magic.

Comment: I love that you’ve mixed a magic skill with a non magic skill to create artistic flavour. I am doing this myself with singing/music/bonesong gradually. Really adds life to her character and an almost unique twist that you don’t see elsewhere, because our magic domains are unique to the site. Great read as before!

Any questions, comments or feedback please pm me.

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