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Post by Stage on Mar 25, 2018 0:28:49 GMT
As night fell across southern Migma, deepening the black of the dark pine groves that stood at the foot of the Wyrmsmoke Mountains, a shadow emerged from its lair. Creeping out of a simple shelter constructed from fallen branches and disguised by sheets of evergreen needles, the shadow checked its surroundings carefully. It was thin and humanoid in frame, but seemed to have some sort of tall shell or armor on its back, hunching its wiry figure. Its clothes, hair, and an intense pupil were the color of coal. Only its pale skin and the white of one ghostly eye made it stand out from the dim of the evening.
Gangling forward on thin legs, the shadow swept between trees and tall growths of shrubs. Its steps were light and its movements swift, but each time it found a haven, its sole healthy eye swept about for signs of potential threats before it moved to the next. Going, then stopping, going, then stopping, the shadow shuffled its way south. Or rather, away from the north.
In truth, the shadow did not know where it was going.
Only that she had to leave Alisdre.
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 26, 2018 1:45:42 GMT
A chilling wind blew through the night air, rustling the leaves of nearby trees and bushes, followed by a low whistle traveling through the air. The darkness had crept all across the region near the Wyrmsmoke Mountains, leaving the wilderness little more than the moon to aid in the journey of those who traveled late at night. The shadowy figure could hear the rustling of small creatures in the underbrush, moving to evade her presence out of fear. The hooting of owls and the howls of wolves prevented the bleakness of the night from overwhelming the figure.
But suddenly, the liveliness of the night stopped.
The area around the one-eyed figure grew eerily silent, as if life itself had ceased. The hoots of owls was replaced with eerie whispering; the howls of wolves was replaced with painful moaning. The sound of a thousand voices seemed to swell up with the wind for a but a brief moment, before they fell silent once more. With each swirl of the wind, the voices seemed to speak, as if the woodlands themselves were breathing and alive all around the figure.
Strange figures moved about in the shadows near the figure, as gleaming yellow lights seemed to appear and disappear within the darkness of the foliage. It was if something waiting here... watching...
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Post by Stage on Mar 26, 2018 2:08:59 GMT
The figure froze, like a black cat that has heard something yet unseen. Its pale hand rose towards its hunched back, but seemed to hesitate, so instead it dropped to its waist and reached into the folds of her clothes. Its companion joined it.
"Ktu tem?"
The voice of the thing was that of a woman, though age made it lower and huskier than many. Her language was harsh and bombastic, complimenting her deeper voice.
"Who is there?" she repeated in English, knowing it was the most common language across Lemuria. Two eyes, one black like a coal, one white like milk, stared at the dark landscape...
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 26, 2018 2:23:01 GMT
The woman received no reply. The rustling continued unabated, followed by whispering. The voices seemed to be holding a conversation among themselves as they observed the feminine figure, their eyes occasionally gleaming in the darkness.
A brush of cold was felt by the woman behind her, like a layer of ice had been placed upon her spine and shoulders. She heard a voice whisper into her ear in an unidentifiable language. As soon as she had heard the whisper, the cold sensation vanished. The tone was harsh and menacing, almost like a growl rather than someone speaking. The message was clear: she was not welcome here.
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Post by Stage on Mar 26, 2018 3:13:22 GMT
The woman whirled. A knife materialized from her pocket and slashed at the empty air behind her. A shaft of moonlight passed over her back and revealed that she was not shelled or armored, but carried a large bedroll. A broad lock of what appeared to be horsehair swayed from one side of it. She was concerned when realized her swing was fruitless, but not overly shocked. Her world had no magic, but she had heard enough stories from across the continent to know the supernatural thrived here.
"Leave me!" she barked. Force seemed of no use, so she attempted bargaining. "I am a traveler. I shall not return once gone. Your solitude shall soon be restored."
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 26, 2018 3:36:29 GMT
The voices seemed to stop for a few moments, leaving only the wind to act as a break for the night's silence. A collective whisper rung out after a while, before the rustling seemed to stop. However, she could still see the occasional amber light glisten in the dark. It seemed as though they would suffice for watching...
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Post by Stage on Mar 26, 2018 4:56:11 GMT
Slowly putting the knife away, the woman continued her trek, though with even greater caution. She never paused, worried doing so might offend the territorial beings, whatever they were, but her other hand stayed glued at her hip, where it held an object tucked against her waist with great purpose.
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Post by Executus Gira on Mar 29, 2018 5:00:27 GMT
The woman didn't get too far along her way. The ground shook, a light tremor that almost wasn't detectable, save for the swaying of a few leafs. Then, another shake two seconds later, harder this time. Then a third...
This shaking, which nearly put the woman on the ground, was accompanied by a low, grumbling rumble which seemed to intensify in pulse like waves after every shake. Several birds flew from their nests in the trees , fleeing in the direction the woman had been coming from...
Something was coming, something big.
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Post by Stage on Mar 29, 2018 5:48:34 GMT
Eyes narrowing, the woman stepped into a thicket of pines, lithe body stooping low in the hopes that her dark clothes, black hair, and the shadow of the grove would hide the reflective paleness of her face. Her hand emerged from her pocket, a pistol, albeit an archaic one by the standards of the lands to the south, gripped tight. Her other hand rose slowly, brushing the raven swatch of hair that hung from her bedroll. Here, it hovered, fingers curled and ready like ivory hooks.
Ready to spring into action if needed, the woman waited and hoped she did not have to. She knew of only one inland creature so huge, but it was too temperate here for a czorol unless it was desperate, near starvation, seeking fresh hunting grounds.
The other possibility, of course, was that it was one of the many horrible, otherworldly wonders that stalked Lemuria.
Neither possibility sparked much hope in her.
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Post by Executus Gira on Mar 29, 2018 5:59:08 GMT
The answer to the arrival's identity came as a large tree groaned and cracked at the base. The tree fell and crashed to the ground, sending plumes of dust and leafs up in the air.
From the shadows, head held low to the ground, emerged a large bipedal creature with a long worm shaped neck and head. Its main body was shaped like the head of a squid, supported on two clawed pillared legs. It was 14 meters in height, far larger than the woman or anything in the immediate area.
The low pulsing rumble blared out again, as if being sent as a sonar to detect the world around it. The creature moved forward, its head lowering to the numerous leafs from the downed tree. Several tendrils extended from the opened serrated maw, and drew back in the vegetation for consumption. Yet, the head kept swaying back and forth, as if trying to detect something nearby...
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Post by Stage on Mar 29, 2018 6:43:38 GMT
The thin, pale, chapped lips of the woman tightened, forming a razor-like line of concern. Not good. She had been prepared for something she did not know, but the size of the beast, eight times her height, was unexpected. The only creatures she had seen larger were the veritable titans that roamed Lemuria, like the drake that haunted its northernmost coast, and each she knew was a beast of the sea or sky. This terrestrial giant was an anomaly to her. This was troubling. Because it was unknown to her, so was how to proceed with it should she be forced to confront it.
Deciding it was best to be prepared if she could not be savvy, the woman in black risked an attempt to retrieve what was stored in her bedroll, thin hand sliding slowly into the spiral of wool and rubber ...
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Post by Executus Gira on Mar 29, 2018 6:51:35 GMT
The creature continued to feed from the leafs in the tree. With one clawed foot keeping the tree secured, it ripped the branches off and swallowed them and the leafs whole.
Yet, it as well stopped. The underside began to shine in a vibrant array of colors, starting with a pale green, then shifting to flushing reds and yellows. The head of the monster turned, to the direction of the woman, and its tiny, primitive eyes stared blankly through the shadows. Then it stepped forward, swallowing the last of the vegetation in its mouth. This time, a near deafening, almost mechanical rumble bellowed from the maw of the titan...
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Post by Stage on Mar 29, 2018 7:42:52 GMT
"Chirt," the woman cursed before angling the pistol at the tapered head of the beast. One of her delicate fingers curled, and a round shot was slung towards the eyes of the creature at three-hundred feet per second...
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Post by Executus Gira on Mar 29, 2018 21:03:28 GMT
The bullet hit true, and the beast squealed in pain as the right side of its face began to bleed a deep blue blood. Its head thrashed to the left and to the right, trying to shake off the pain that it felt, its feet stamping the ground with enough force to fracture and crack the earth. Its wild thrashings cracked and snapped the trees around it, and a kick uplifted an entire mound of dirt and rocks, and sent them raining in the direction of the woman.
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Post by Stage on Mar 30, 2018 0:44:07 GMT
The woman ducked away from the arcing landslide, putting the stand of trees between it and herself. The pines stopped most of the rubble, but some made it through and winged her brow, throwing her to the ground, crimson splashing onto the black needles below. She grunted in pain as she forced herself back up. Her aged body- the blood dribbling down her face had revealed several deep wrinkles hidden by the night, flowing through them like red rock gorges- told her to stay down, to drop and not to rise again, but she refused. She had endured worse.
Staggering to her feet, the woman made a mad dash away from the thrashing beast, weaving between and through clusters of tree. She knew the creature had the power to topple them, but hoped it would at least slow it...
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Post by Executus Gira on Mar 30, 2018 1:14:54 GMT
The drops of blood were all the creature needed to identify where the assailant was... and its prey at the same time. Letting out a trumpeting bellow, the monster charged forward, and slammed right into the pine grove. The trees cracked and splintered, but they held... at first.
Suddenly, the creature's powerful legs sprang out, and the monster leaped over the grove of trees, and landed on the other side. The landing was a far harder shake than the woman had felt prior, and the entire forest seemed to sway and topple from the impact...
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Post by Stage on Mar 30, 2018 1:37:51 GMT
The tremor launched the woman into the air, but she had already been in mid-stride, so she merely came down from an especially long step rather than took a tumble. Pushing against the unexpectedly high step, she changed directions and tactics.
She had noticed the strange beast had no tail, and remembered the hunting cats. In her youth, the woman had spent a year in the service of the Attni, nomadic slavers from her homeworld. They had traveled the badlands between her birth country and Lexia, where game was rare and often not very large, so they employed powerful felines, larger than house cats, smaller than wildcats, to help catch rodents, hares, and birds. Hundreds of times the child that would become the woman had seen the hunting cats twist through the air to catch fleeing prey, pivoting around their tails. If this creature had no such tail, perhaps it was unable to maneuver quickly?
Praying to Leyid she was correct, the woman purposely chose a straight, relatively clear path to flee the beast, baiting it to chase her and build its momentum...
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Post by Executus Gira on Mar 30, 2018 1:52:59 GMT
Primitive eyes locked upon the fleeing woman, the creature charged once more. It built up speed surprisingly fast, and its massive strides quickly cut the distance between it and the woman. As it closed in, the tentacles from its mouth extended out, each arrow tipped and serrated, ready to wrap around or impale the woman...
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Post by Stage on Mar 30, 2018 2:33:29 GMT
When she felt the air pushed by the monstrously broad trunk of the creature touch her back, the woman lashed out, not at it, but at a passing treeling. Hooking a knife around the thin trunk, she reversed herself in an instant, imitating what she hoped the beast could not: the agile hunting cats of her youth. Her wrist was sawed open by bark, spilling red onto her black sleeve, and her shoulder screamed, nearly wrenched from its socket, but she endured, just as she always had. A pale hand plunged into her bedroll and finally retrieved what lay there.
Like a shard of the night sky itself, a sword, black as space, pearl shining from its guard like a star, emerged and bled into the woman as if it was a part of her all along. Fair hand and face now bloodied, the woman was black from hair to blade, like a melanistic mantis finally showing its claws. The ebony weapon glided silently towards the legs of the beast as its wielder ran passed them....
She knew to clip the wings of an airborne creature and to slash the fins of a sea beast, so it only followed to cut out the legs from beneath a land creature.
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Post by Executus Gira on Mar 30, 2018 2:46:47 GMT
The blade cut through the legs of the monster with surprising ease. Bright vibrant blue blood spilled down the open wounds and onto the woman. The creature, lacking the agility and precision to match the woman's grace, buckled and tripped. It toppled face first into the earth, a resounding boom echoing through the forest before it grinded to a stop.
Yet, it wasn't dead. Its back buldged, and the powerful legs slowly moved to bring it back upright. The small head on the end of the long neck whirled back to face the woman, its colors now changing from a bright flashing yellow and red to a far darker black and bright yellow. The ground beneath it cracked and shattered as it began to rise back up...
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