[Cobalt Quest] Spreading Your Wings (Avi)

[Gossamer]

The creature's eyes widened as Avi thrust the spear at it. She could have probably killed it far easier in her kelvic form, but the thing was wounded and not at all as big as the one she'd had to lug out of the water. The spear thrust, while well done, was dodged slightly by the creature and instead of going through her thick skull and bill, pierced her throat. The creature gave a gagging noise, twisted sideways, which only lodged the spear deeper. Avi's grip ended up twisting slightly as the creature struggled on the end of the spear, tearing it out of her own neck as she fight. Blood gushed, not not the normal crimson of Mizahar's creatures. Instead, it was a pale gren substance that oozed forth, almost like a gel more so than any free-flowing substance through the creatures body. She staggered, violently, and collapsed, revealing something gruesome. Her back end, by the wasted leg, was gashed already, horribly wounded. It looked as if the creature was only holding on by a bare thread of life... if it hadn't been dead already. More thick substance congealed as the creature died, its beak moving almost as if it were trying to speak. No words came out though, its body not centered around language enough to make a sound. Still bleeding out the green substance, the creature flopped onto its side, convulsed, and was gone. Avi's spear started to steam, the metal tip hissing and smouldering as the substance in its blood burned at the head as if acid was etching the metal. Plants around the animal turned black immediately, though none of them were much to speak of being weeds and stray grasses sprouting up from the rocky lake bed. The entire corpse began to flatten, collapsing in on itself, much like the larger one under water had once Avi dragged it ashore. There looked to be no more signs of danger - no more animals or people in the area. And Avi cold smell nothing but the acrid stink of burning flesh which concealed any other smells around. The activity of the afternoon had left three corpses, a completely destroyed summoners circle, a knapsack, and a familiar alter off in the distance which Avi knew to be Caiyha's from before. There was nothing left to fight, and certainly it didn't appear anything was left to threaten her.

[Avi]

It had been a bit of a wrestling match as she sought to keep her grip on her spear, and was twisted by the beast's death throes. Once it had ceased moving, ceased breathing, she worked the spear out and stared at it in abject horror, offering a silent prayer to her father's father. Avi's gut had told her to keep her poor talons far from these creatures. And considering the fluids oozing from the female creature, and what they were doing to her spear, she had been right. Goddess only knew what would have happened to her feet if she had grabbed at the creature with her talons, much less carried it up and dropped it to kill it on impact. The results would have been disastrous. Quickly, she made plans - her ruined gloves would have to be burned, and she couldn't just leave these creatures here, either, because eventually they'd seep down into the lake. No, that wouldn't do. And then there was the man.

If the wildlife ever came back, it might find him appetizing - even the flies had to eat, and they could lay their eggs in his body... but she had come to understand in Syliras they burned bodies in order to prevent disease. What if this man had some disease that could make the rest of the place sick, or toxic, just like these creatures did?

No, he was going to have to go as well. There was nothing for it. She scythed at the blackened weeds with her spear, using the tip to guide the dead foliage on top of the dead creature before gathering the dead wood and vegetation closest to the lake. The toxic water had killed plenty, and Avi gathered all of it before going into the broken bush, pulling at what was already dead and broken and beyond repair, bringing it back to the creatures, and beginning to pile it. "I am sorry, Wild Lady," she said in the direct of the altar, "but I can't just leave them there... else nothing will ever heal." Once she had cleared her path to the man, she grabbed him by an ankle and pulled him out of the thicket, over to the pile, stopping short in order to pull off the man's pouch and the pendant, checking him over to make sure she hadn't missed anything, before pushing him over to the makings of her bonfire. Her next trip produced the backpack and the sword, and the rest of the broken and fallen wood that she could find. She set the scavenged goods by her own for now, and grabbed her flint and tinder from her bag, striking them until the sparks caught. Safe enough there, she felt, that unless Zulrav had a wild hair, the fire likely wouldn't burn everything else to ash. Once the fire caught, and was burning strongly, she sunk her spear, at least, what was left of it, a safe distance from the bonfire and headed up to Caiyha's altar.

She was never a fan of leaving a fire by itself. Accidents happened that way, they got out of control, and they became messy and impossible to stop. But the altar wasn't too far away... and it was on a sandy, rocky beach. Surely, surely it wasn't going anywhere, not with all the heavier branches piled on top. She made her way over to it, and stopped, bowing low at the waist of the altar in the grotto before sitting on the bench, touching it carefully with her fingers, her hair pooling around and underneath her. "It had to be done," she told herself as her nose crinkled at the smell of burning hair and flesh, "so that this place could start anew. I don't know how to fix the water, shy of flying over it and scooping out that many-eyed fish, amongst other things. You wouldn't have any advice, would you?" she spoke to the altar, unworried of who might hear her. However that man got up there, she didn't know, but Avi was convinced that she was alone right now - there were no further threats - just a bonfire to tend, the man's belongings to sort, and time to get her thoughts in order while she tried to figure out how to purify the rest of the place. It needed to be fixed, it needed to be healed.

[Gossamer]

"I have always offered advice to those that seek it. This place needs much healing, and for someone who is not one of my children to attempt it without my gifts is astonishing to me. It always startles me when I have failed to notice someone who has so much potential, as much as you do little witch. You have a big heart and mind, big enough to match the form you were unnaturally given. I do not often mark your kind, Kelvic, for I find them unnatural in my eyes. But you are different, stronger, and you've tried blending in with my world far more than your kind normally do. My advice to you Avi is to become one of mine. I would ask, but I see into your heart already that this is what you want." The voice materialized out of nowhere, as too did the woman who stood suddenly beside Avi. Long green hair fanned across small shoulders and framed a face that was etched with thin lines like the growth rings of a tree. Strikingly beautiful the Goddess Caiyha reached out and touched Avi's forehead. Her leg burned and suddenly. If Avi looked down she'd seen an elegantly wrought scene now suddenly painted on her leg. A giant pine tree rose to the sky etched in her leg. An elk curled around its base with rabbits frolicking in between its hooves. A giant owl perched in its sheltering limbs while wolves played in the distance of the scene howling at a moon that shown over a forest that existed only on Avi's leg. Caiyha smiled. "With my marks comes my requests. Stay here, speak to the plants and animals. Heal this lake, this land, and make sure the scars of the summoner are erased forever. When it is healthy, then move on and forward, going to where you are needed the most. I understand your nature, so if you take a bondmate that is fine. But this is your first task, your one task I will ask you until you see if the life of one of my followers suits you. You have a lot to offer this land, Avi. You will be happy here, for a time." Caiyha said, then released her touch on Avi's forehead. Stepping back, the Goddess smiled. "Thank you. If you have need of me, simply open yourself up to my light and speak to me in the language you now know." Caiyha said, then stepped back one step, then another, then vanished leaving Avi all alone.

[Avi]

Avi started when she heard the soft words, sounding to her like everything that was nature - bird songs, roars of the Forest Cats like Nya, the howls of the wolves, the lowing calls of the elk and bison, the screams of challenge from other hawks, the hoots and cries of the owls, the growls of the bears. Her eyes were huge, shifting from purple to gold to green to violet as emotions and joys surged through her as the Wild Lady, the Goddess of Nature, gave her the greatest gift she had ever received in her life. “It had to be done,” she said earnestly. “I couldn’t leave it like that.” How could anyone who was close with nature, who loved it with all their heart, see the chaos, the destruction that the... summoner, she’d said, summoner... had wrought on the once-beautiful lake? To not bother to stop, investigate, or try to fix it might have been prudent, but Avi wasn’t necessarily prudent.

She didn’t look down, not until Caiyha released her touch, and Avi checked out her leg with its burning sensation, taking in the beautiful scene etched on her limb. It was better than any sort of tattoo Avi had seen in her life - and what this one meant to her, she could barely put in words. “Thankyabigbig!” she told the green-haired Goddess as she actually launched herself at her to try to hug her. “Thankies, thankies, thankies. I will, I promise.” The words may have sounded glib and frivolous, but Avi meant every word of it. She was young, headstrong, and stubborn, all of which the Goddess surely knew. Avi didn’t give promises lightly, or swear herself to anything without thinking it over. But as Caiyha had said, this was in her heart. It required no additional thought, no deliberation.

This was something she could commit herself to. She wasn’t Vantha, though her parents were, even though someone somewhere had made a child with a Kelvic and went from there whoever knew how many generations ago. As much as she loved Avanthal, and she had enjoyed Syliras with Nya, Avi loved the wild, open skies and the freedom that came with flying. When you were as big as she was, travel wasn’t so hard if you flew high enough, and if you were careful enough and imposing enough... it wasn’t so bad. Being outside the walls was danger itself - but it was all in the knowing. The worst out there was nature itself. But when you were nature, and you were one with it... when you got so deep that people, normal two-leggers couldn’t penetrate, you were safer than most. Not that she would ever begrudge a bigger and badder hunter their chance of making a meal out of her. That was the way the food chain worked. But she preferred to be on top of it. “I’ll make it better,” she promised Caiyha as she beamed up at the woman, letting her go as she vanished.

I promise! she projected it in Nura to where Caiyha had been, and turned with a flourish, bowing low at the waist to the altar, her hands together in thanks, her eyes closing. She wouldn’t let the Wild Lady down. With her long hair flying behind her, the summoner’s bag in hand, Avi was going to get started.

[Gossamer]

. Character: Avi Experience: +5 Observation, +4 Rhetoric, +5 Spear, +5 Cleaning, +2 Deduction, +3 Logic Lore: Silkwater Lake Geography and BIology, Cobalt Mountains Geography, Coming upon a crime scene, figuring out what needs to be done, disposing of bodies, identifying, fighting, and killing alien creatures, Caiyha's physical appearance and the sound of her voice, Being guardian of Silkwater Lake and the surrounding Cobalt Mountains, Identifying Summoning Circles, Identifying Summoners. Items: 1 Pitted and Ruined sword. Gemstone Medallion - Symbol of Rhysol on it.. value 100 gold Small Pouch – 400 GM Pack full of Books and Supplies 2 blank journals 5 quills 1 pot of ink 1 book summoning 1 book voiding 1 book maps of Sylira Small Pouch filled with tobacco and a lovely ivory pipe 1 Change of Men's clothing 1 eating knife Summoner's Tool Kit Additional Note: You now have been awarded 1 Gnosis Mark of Caiyha, along with that comes an automatic fluency in Nura. Becareful using Nura on sentient creatures, it tends to freak them out. Great thread! .