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Post by Lord_Fartknuckle on Mar 6, 2015 0:35:20 GMT -5
It moved through the thick green underbrush like a fish through. The thorns and branches sagging under the weight of their leaves did nothing to slow It’s pace. It glowed eerily white in the shade of the trees around it. Perhaps that was not a such a good thing as the shouting of men, having gone on for quite some time, seemed to intensify coming from behind intensified.
Undeterred it broke through the thicket and into the a large clearing. It flashed all the brighter in the light of the sun for just a moment before suddenly dropping down a hole covered by twigs and leaves. The air calmed as only the rhythm of a birds soft whistling and the gentle rustle of the trees carried through the area.
The breaking of twigs and a more violent rustling quickly put an end to that. Three men emerged from the underbrush, panting and sweaty. Through their patchy red-brown cloaks they walked over to the pit, stooped over and tense. The one between the other two walked in front of them by a small margin, looking rather stern about the whole affair. Their mud-caked boots at the edge, they looked in. It was a small hole; about three feet wide and six feet down, though it was more five and a half now with the net covering the sides and the leaves filling it after they‘d been sprung. At the very bottom the thing they’d been chasing glowed shined as bright as ever back up at them. The middle man’s grimace turned to a combination of a small smile and biting his lip.
“Got the fucker.”
“Before Darrin did too.”
“Course we got it before Darrin. He’s got 20 men searchin’ for the fuckin’ thing. “
“Pickwood folks said it was magic.”
“Aye, magic, an’ chased into a hole just as well by three instead o’ twenty.”
“Not so magic then, eh?”
“Best not to mention it.”
The lead hunter bent over with some effort to grab one end of the net. He motioned for the other two to take their grab their respective sides as well. They all grabbed the net by three points and started to pull up. No sooner had they begun when the earth underneath them fell away as if it was sand. With a synchronized yelp, they plummeted into the enlarged hole. They found themselves a half foot away from the bottom staring down at a large, glowing rock.
One started to talk, though in stuttered manner. “ Duncan.”
Finding himself crammed in with two fully grown men in the darkness of a small hole, the leader spent his time staring at the rock in bewilderment rather than answering his comrade.
“No deer. “
Torrence came from behind a bush into the clearing, a swagger in each step. His cloak seemed to break away from the leaves and the branches as he came forward. He walked up the new edge of the hole and peered down, a wide smile plastered firmly on his face.
“Good morning, Noble hunters. I see you’ve caught some game.”
“Who?” One started.
“Imagine how it must have felt when it fell in that whole of yours. Completely petrified! Though I think I see a flaw with your trap. It works too well.”
“issat a boy? Boy! Get us out of here.” another rasped.
“Oh, but alas!” The young elf cried dramtically, throwing his arms out wide for the amusement of no one but himself. “As you said I am just a boy and you men. I fear lifting you would prove too much for these twigs Cosmos mistook as arms.”
“Get help then! Hurry boy!”
Torrence bowed low. “ I’ll run down to the village as fast as my legs may carry me.”
He then decided to head back to Pickwood with all the energy and enthusiasm of a slug.
As Torrence walked through the forest he thought about the situation he’d gotten himself into. The elf had stopped at Pickwood to ask the usual ( if they’d seen a young woman with red hair or if a mysterious band of man with strange supplies had stopped by) when he’d found that the town had a peculiar problem with their wildlife.
A glowing white fawn had been spotted recently in the forests surrounding the town. That in itself wouldn’t have been a problem, but the next morning the woods began to behave irregularly. The villagers awoke to trees bearing down over their town, growing through their windows and any other openings in their house. All through the day they all worked to chop down and de-weed the area. The next day the forest had sprouted back, according to some, worse than before. Only burning away the foliage worked well and even that did not last; the trees coming back after three days.
Torrence wasn’t all too surprised to hear the humans, as nature fearing and superstitious as he’d come to find them, believed the sighting of the white fawn and the sudden growth of the wilds were not coincidence. What’s more, most of the town leaned towards the belief that the fawn had caused it.
So a call was put forth to all who would hunt the monstrous baby deer, offering them a bounty of a hundred gold . Many had answered, a little less than fifty, all of widely disparate skill and enthusiasm for the hunt.
The three Torrence had encountered were somewhat skilled, but in nothing more than probably hunting the average deer. A simple combination of his earth and illusionary magic tricked them into believing they were on the trail of the magical creature instead of a moving chunk of rock.
Torrence himself had decided to take up the hunt, although in a different way than what he presumed the villagers imagined. Letting a creature such as this fawn die because of an assumption didn’t seem right to him. He’d resolved to find the fawn and discern what was actually happening while ruining the machinations of the other hunters.
Feeling a little self-righteous, the young elf began to whistle a tune he’d heard from a bird.
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Post by Quinnred on Mar 6, 2015 20:03:00 GMT -5
Although still very foreign to him, Neahs feels some familiarity with this forest. Its cooler, drier, and quieter, but the trees appeal to his old arboreal life style. As his prehensile toes and strong claws grasp at branches, Neahs ponders whether this place may be the home for the spores he carries. Its more barren than his homeland forest, but perhaps an oasis lies within.
His thoughts cease as he hears voices. Clambering to the tree top, he seeks cover amongst the leaves, which he does quite well for such a tall creature. Scanning below with his wide dark eyes, Neahs spots a group of humans, and judging from their gear hunting humans. But what do they hunt? Although he assumes deer, Neahs stays his distance. His race is poorly regarded and little known of, revealing himself may scare them and cause a conflict.
He carefully traverses the trees, attempting a silent leave of the area. Unfortunately he misjudged the strength of one of the branches, loudly snapping it apart with his hefty foot. The hunters immediately notice the Chennlak as he attempts to flee, breaking more and more weak branches, each one stumbling him.
"The 'ell is that?!" "Its the fawn! Quick Ozie! Hit it with the crossbow!" "Im perty sure fawns don climb like that." " JUST HIT IT!"
The first iron blot smacks Neahs right in the ankle, causing him to tumble down before grabbing another branch. The next strikes his hand, and another clocks his head, and although his shell protects him, the shock knocks him unconscious. Neahs lands harshly upon the earth, luckily something hes naturally built for.
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Post by Lord_Fartknuckle on Mar 6, 2015 22:25:08 GMT -5
A decent ways away from where he'd left the hunters Torrence's whistling was drowned out by frantic shouting. The elf turned his head up sharply and took off his yellow, straw hat. The calls sounded as if they were some distance away from him and of adult men. He couldn't make out what they were saying; nervousness set in all the same. His mind went immediately to hunters and the white fawn.
Torrence listened a bit more and then went the direction he felt the sounds were coming from. He stooped over and ran with care to avoid bushes and dead sticks that might give him away. The healer caught himself before he could curse the forest for being so thick. He could barely see six feet in front of him.
The forest abruptly cleared and two figures stood in front of him staring upwards. For a moment, Torrence didn't understand what the group was doing. The image of men pointing crossbows at the top of a tree to hunt a deer seemed simply wrong. Then the strangest thing Torrence had ever seen fell out of it.
The thing's plate covered back crumpled the grass it fell on. It's bird like next shot back as soon as the back hit the ground, revealing a head like a cat's though covered in a shiny blue shell. A pair of long arms and legs followed in a tangled mess. As the strange creature settled, Torrence found time to make his first coherent thought about it; and that was that it wasn't the fawn.
Breaking from the slight trance the creature's presence had brought him under, Torrence realized he'd stopped running and that the two men were now staring at him.
"who're you then?", the shortest one asked, taking a commanding step forward. "Sod off!"
The man pointed his crossbow at Torrence threateningly; though Torrence didn't find it the least bit intimidating. Probably because it wasn't loaded.
"What are you doing Ozie?", a much cleaner one asked.
The man named Ozie turned to his companion, suddenly looking unsure. "Gettin 'im ta sod off!"
"Get a hold of yerself Ozie. Just wants to see the fawn Prob'ly."
Torrence pointed toward the creature. "I don't think that's a fawn."
"I tol' 'em! See Izzy. I tol' you it wern't a fawn!" Ozie exclaimed turning himself to face Izzy with his crossbow now aiming at his comrade.
Izzy raised a finger between both Torrence and his friend "Magic fawn.", he declared, putting emphasis on the word magic. "Magic fawns might look like that."
Ozie shrugged his shoulders. "Got a point."
"The villagers said it was glowing white. That doesn't describe this creature at all."
Izzy snorted. "It's white enough. Grey isn't too far off from white. could be a man mistook it for white then said it glowed so it'd seem more magic like."
"Cosmos be praised, it's lookin' whiter to me the longer I'm lookin' at it!" declared Ozie seeming to get more excited with each word.
The young elf suddenly got the feeling that at least one of the pair wasn't interested in whether the creature they'd caught was the fawn they'd caught. He thought for a moment to tell them that taking a chance that would would waste time where they could be catching the real fawn and would most likely earn the ire of the people of Pickwood. Then he thought of something that had proved a favourite solution for him as of late.
"You know what?" Torrence said slowly, carefully. " I'm not really convinced, but you know what would remove all doubt of that being the fawn?"
Izzy moved a step closer, listening intently. "What."
Torrence waved his hand out. "Ask it."
Izzy suddenly seemed perturbed, leaning back and holding his hand out. "Ridiculous."
"Yeh.". Ozie chimed in. "Fawn's can't Talk. Thas stupit!"
"Magic fawn.", Torrence said, putting emphasis on the word magic. "Like you said. I know for a fact all magic animals talk. I wouldn't leave it up to chance that the villager's didn't this as well. They'll probably ask it for it's name as soon as it wakes up"
The lead hunter's eyes narrowed. He took another step towards Torrence and lifted his loaded crossbow up ever so slightly "How d'you know this?"
Torrence smiled and hoped that small twinge of nervousness in his stomach wasn't showing. "I'm an elf.", he reminded them, tapping his pointy ears." Elves know lots of things. In fact I was hired on by the mayor of Pickwood as an adviser to this whole debacle. Anyone who wants the reward has to get through me. I'm Delyle Sweetstuff by the way."
"Awful young for a advisor." Ozie pipped up.
"Elves look young when we're a hundred. I don't find that particularly awful."
Ozie looked over to Izzy to find his companion had shifting uncomfortably where he stood. Torrence could tell he was surprised and perhaps even a little skeptical.
"Go ahead." Torrence prodded with a sudden air of authority about him (or at least he imagined so). "Ask it."
The man shuffled in place for a few seconds then went to the unconscious creature beneath the tree. He crouched down to it and started shaking it roughly.
"Wake up. Wake up! You're the fawn right?"
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Post by Quinnred on Mar 6, 2015 23:41:22 GMT -5
Neahs jerks awake with adrenaline, screeching in the man's face, causing him to fall back in shock. Neahs scrambles to his feet and instinctively displays his height (easily dwarfing the two hunters and elf) and flashes his bio-luminescent markings bright red.
"I ang Neahs!" he growls in his broken, animalistic common tongue. One hand wanders under his deer pelt poncho to ensure the small jar of spores is safe, while the other hand prepares for a possible fight.
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Post by Lord_Fartknuckle on Mar 7, 2015 11:04:25 GMT -5
Torrence was taken aback by the creature rearing up so suddenly, surprised by it's dominating presence. The thing that identified itself as Neahs reared back. It occurred to the elf that it was very indicative of warnings an animal might take on instinct, though the creature was certainly not wholly without intellect. Perhaps a bit of both.
Izzy had fallen as soon as the thing had stood up and was too preoccupied with scrambling backwards to fire his crossbow. Ozie, judging from the resounding click, had already pulled the trigger of his as soon as their was any movement though without a bolt it was to little effect.
Torrence didn't waste anymore time and gestured with his hand. The dirt beneath Izzy became dust. The last thing Torrence saw of him was his dumbfounded face as he quickly found the bottom of the hole.
"Wot!?" Ozzie roared as he started to load a bolt into his crossbow. "Sneakin' lyin' soddin' elf!", He continued with a few more expletives as he started to back up.
After a lot of growling and swearing he managed to reload the crossbow. He raised it and began to wildly point it back and forth between Neahs and Torrence. "Get back, the both o' you. Prob'ly in cahoots you are. Thiefs is what you are I bet!"
Torrence didn't want to chance bringing the earth out from under this one. Chances were he'd press the trigger as he fell.
The elf turned to Neahs and looked to him a little pleadingly. He wondered once if he should trust a creature he knew next to nothing about or if it would really trust him. At this moment probably, he thought, surely if has the mind to talk it can figure out a shouting man with a weapon is a more pressing issue.
" A little help?."
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Post by Quinnred on Mar 7, 2015 12:01:46 GMT -5
Neahs, though confused on the situation and a stranger to any of these men, decided best to side with the elf rather the slurring hunter.
He jumps into action, his foot darting towards the weapon and tearing it from Ozzie's thick, stubby hands. The man's right arm was audibly tugged out of its socket due to the great speed of the Chennlak's grab.
"AHH! TEH FUCK MATE!"
Neahs smashes the weapon on the ground and replies "It eel healah." (It will heal)
Ozzie plops unto the ground, groaning as he tries to nurse his dislocated arm, cursing with gritted teeth.
"Something always fuckin breaks when I go on these trips. Last time it was my toe, than my jaw, now my arm and bow! Fuckin hell! Argh!"
"I kan eand ain ish yah wiesh." (I can end pain if you wish) Neahs places his foot upon the man's neck and curls his long toes around his neck. "It whaunt healah thuh." (It wont heal though.)
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Post by Lord_Fartknuckle on Mar 8, 2015 0:12:30 GMT -5
Torrence stood there, trying to put together what Neahs had just said. His foot at the man's throat, Torrence realized, didn't leave much room for doubt.
"No!" he shouted, stretching out his arm as if to stop him.
"No one needs to die."
He took a few steps over to Neahs, tempered with some caution. He slowly knelt down to the pinned Ozie and signaled for Neahs to remove his foot from the mans throat.
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Post by Quinnred on Mar 8, 2015 0:41:56 GMT -5
Neahs looked at the elf and back at the pudgy, helpless man, then back again.
"Ai, is righ." (Ai, he's right.)
Neahs gently removed his grip from the man's neck which was followed by a relieved gasp from Ozzie.
Neahs stoops his head, a display of apology. "I an sarrie." (I am sorry.) His markings glow green, signing his regret of his aggression.
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Post by Lord_Fartknuckle on Mar 8, 2015 13:32:57 GMT -5
Torrence breathed a little easier, relieved that the situation, for the moment, had been disarmed. He grabbed Ozie's crossbow, gingerly took the bolt out and loosened the string.
He studied Ozzie's dislocated arm. Immediately he could tell it was anterior in nature and rather confident in his immediate calculation, didn't bother with checking again.
"Take off your jacket."
"I'm not lisenin' to no lyer."
"Take off the jacket or enjoy carrying your friend out of here with one arm." Torrence shot back more firmly.
Ozie stared daggers at his impromptu doctor then used his good arm to open his jacket. Underneath was a shirt that needed to be removed as well, causing the hunter to complain some more.
Torrence took the man's arm at the shoulder, touching it gently. He began carefully rubbing it till the muscles started to relax. The mage lifted the arm out wide, his left had holding the wrist and his right hand pressing down on the shoulder.
He gave the arm a careful tug. "Watch it you slag!" Ozie growled.
Torrence pulled the arm again, less carefully.
Ozie screamed. "Fuckin' bitch!" and the arm popped back into place.
to finish it all off, Torrence concentrated on his right hand. A green mist sluggishly emanated from his palm. A healing aura, meant to get the hunter's arm back in working condition.
Torrence stepped away from Ozie, standing up in the process. Ozzie slowly sat upward, rubbing his shoulder tenderly.
His expression was dour and it made him look older than before. Any excitement or desire that might have been clear in his face seemed to have gone.
"I don't you'll be catching that fawn anytime soon." Torrence casually remarked.
"Naw. No sir. I reckon we'll be goin' now." Ozie didn't even look up as he spoke. Torrence didn't doubt it was true.
The elf then turned to walk further into the forest.
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Post by Quinnred on Mar 9, 2015 18:44:39 GMT -5
Neahs followed the stranger, both out of need of information and curiosity of the situation.
"Elth! Thank yah tha helking I. Whuat was tha chattah ahout a hawn?" (Elf! Thank you for helping I. What was the chatter about a fawn?)
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Post by Lord_Fartknuckle on Mar 9, 2015 21:03:44 GMT -5
The mage swiveled his head back to find Neahs following him. He'd completely forgotten about the creature as he was attending to the hunter. He found it almost impossible to believe that he might pass over someone as strange looking. Even now Torrence found himself put to task just figuring out what to say to it.
"Oh, you haven't heard. I mean, it's been going on for some time and no one's exactly quiet about it. I'm Torrence by the way." He replied, keeping his pace.
On instinct he put his hand out to shake Neahs' hand. Torrence suddenly recalled Ozie's sore arm and withdrew the gesture.
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Post by Quinnred on Mar 10, 2015 17:30:31 GMT -5
"I ang not arang nast holk tah hearah hwuch things. Ing wahsaolly shene as anihal, sho I keek ny distance." (I am not around most folk to hear such things. Im usually seen as a animal, so I keep my distance.)
This had been the first time in a while Neahs had talked with anyone, something quite releaving for a social creature such as him. Perhaps this could be an actual friend, unlike others who had attempted to take advantage of his trusting nature.
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Post by Lord_Fartknuckle on Mar 11, 2015 17:11:42 GMT -5
Torrence nodded. "The whole speech situation probably doesn't help either."
He tilted his straw hat to the right so that he could better scratch his head, pausing to figure out where to begin.
"There's a white fawn in this woods. You'd think that would mean there's more than one, but the villagers say that's all there is of them. I guess when there's magic involved nothing is certain. Although they seem very certain that it's connected to the forest growing wilder. I think it's happened before, the way they're so certain about it. Anyways, they put a bounty on the animal and now the area's infested with hunters and judging by how much regard they show for the laws, never mind basic civility, I'd wonder whether they've doomed themselves more than the fawn ever could."
It became clear to Torrence, as he caught his breath for moment, that he'd been going on for too long. "So I guess I won't let them catch that fawn is what I want to say."
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Post by Quinnred on Mar 11, 2015 21:57:32 GMT -5
"Ah. Hawn gring horrest tah lish eh? Hrn. Nahey yah ang I hak connin gal, ai?" (Ah. Fawn bring forest to life eh? Hmm. Maybe you and I have common goal, ai?)
Neahs had an idea. Maybe if this fawn could cause a lush forest to develop, he could use it to create a location of which he could complete his life's goal of saving his tribe. The burden of the spores could finally be lifted.
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Post by Lord_Fartknuckle on Mar 12, 2015 23:32:18 GMT -5
Torrence looked at the huge creature skeptically. Trusting people had never been his strong suit. His mother had nurtured a healthy skepticism in him, especially towards those he'd only just met.
Still the offer was not an easy one to dismiss. Although the elf was confident in his abilities, he recognized they only went so far in combat. A few words could halt an attack and a few illusions in the right places could have an army running themselves ragged, but if that failed then he had no martial skill to rely on. This strange creature was, perhaps, the only help he would get.
"Perhaps." Torrence exhaled, tipping his hat forwards. " First we'll need to search for the fawn, or find a way to get the hunters out of the forest. I think searching for the fawn will be more likely and probably less time consuming at that. Then again we know what we're dealing with when it comes to the hunters. For all we know the fawn shifts between plains and intends to stay away for another century."
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