[The Northern Pass] Entering Falyndar (Siiri, Revy)

[Siiri]

OOC Note :

Dhani do not look like human in their true form. They kind of look like this, except much more thickly built.

Garou struggled to get up but too much damage had been done to his face and body and he collapsed back to the ground, spreadeagled and exhausted. From his prone position, the scout only had the strength to spit out a tooth that had been dislodged from the brutal beating he received from the Dhani. He could not resist quipping at the constant taunts Revy was directing to their enemy, however.

"Kotakbil..." he muttered. "If yer g'na kill t'darned thing, best do it quick!" He pulled another bone dagger from his belt, the last one he had, and tossed it weakly in Revy's direction.

At the same time, the Dhani had recovered enough to manage yanking out the mercenary's blade, and it gripped it in one of its over-sized hands, wielding it rather awkwardly. Despite its inexperience with the weapon, it knew it could still do considerable damage with it. It leveled a murderous glare at Revy, and it propelled itself forward to engage with her. Blood pumped out of that stab wound on its tail, and it would not be hard to miss on Revy's part how much its slithering movements had slowed. Revy's attack must have hit it on a sensitive part.

The creature was but a few feet away, its weapon hand raised to deliver a vicious downward chop on the human, when Siiri and and the mounted Carsten burst out from the east. The Dhani froze, eying the newcomers with rising panic in its expression. It knew it was outnumbered, around from the weapons the new arrivals brought to bear, clearly outgunned as well. It regarded Revy with its reptilian eyes, and the human had to wonder if the creature was debating whether to attack her one last time before turning tail to run.

==/==

Siiri had charged headlong into the jungle in an effort to keep up with Onna, who traveled much faster overhead leaping from branch to branch or swinging with the aid of thick vines. Heedless of any other danger that may be lurking just out of sight, desperate to reach her fangmates and aid them in whatever threat they may have run into, the Snapping Jaws warrioress cleaved through the foliage with her greatsword, Slayer shearing through leaves and low-hanging branches with ease and leaving a wide enough swath for Carsten and his horse to pass through.

She stumbled into the clearing as she finally ripped through the last of the obstacles before her. Her emerald eyes blazed in fury at the scene before her where a Dhani, with a blade in its hand, was stalking towards an obviously injured Revy with murderous intent. The sight of both Garou and Kai laying motionless on the ground only fueled her rage.

Without thinking, without even ordering Onna to check if the others were dead or merely knocked out, Siiri let out a blood-curdling scream and rushed at the serpentine form. The only thing that mattered to her was to rip the creature apart - with her bare hands if she had to.

It was clear that the Dhani was too close to Revy for her to help the human in time, however.

Revy/CarstenApologies for the late reply, I haven't been feeling well today.

Also, if one of you wants credit for killing the snake, better make a move now before Siiri gets there. There's no stopping her once she has a Dhani in her sights.

[Revy Hiroe]

Revy heard Garou and glanced his way for a second to see him throwing a dagger. She caught it rather stupidly, her hand closing around the blade part. It cut into her flesh, not too deep, but more then enough to let blood flow freely. But yet again, it didn't hurt. The look in her eyes went completely crazed for blood. Now that she had a weapon again, that serpent would wish it had finished her off faster. Throwing the dagger up for a little, she then grabbed it properly. "Say your prayers, you overgrown serpent.", the mercenary taunted lowly as she charged at the Dhani. She hadn't noticed Siiri at all, her view had narrowed into a tunnel where she only saw the Dhani. If the myrian wouldn't watch out, she'd be hurting Revy as well. The woman aimed low, straight for the place where the body changed into the tail of a snake, making sure to keep her body tensed up like a spring so she could react fast enough to dive out of the way of her own blade. "Petching piece of shyke, I'll kill you. No one uses my blade against me, NO ONE!", she thought.

[Carsten]

Carsten knew he had to act. He could see the Dhani considering its options; it might even try to retreat. He wondered if the Myrians would take them on a long hunt to kill the Dhani, but from what he could see, the creature had taken down Garou, and he suspected Siiri would want revenge. Revenge… So pitiful. Like killing the one that killed your friends or family would bring them back, no, it would only make it even worse. Still, the majority of people swore by revenge, and he wondered how many people had sworn their life to avenging someone they knew. It was impossible to say, but without doubt far too many. He did not want to be dragged through the Jungle by the Myrians on a hunt, so he would have to make sure it ended here.

Before he finished his line of thoughts, he started to rapidly advance. The advance was not a head-on charge like he knew many warriors preferred, it was far more elegant, utilizing his technique. One foot was always ahead of the other, this made it easy to retreat as well. His rapier was in his right hand, extended in front of him with a slight bend in his elbow. He moved quickly without wasting energy, and when he was close enough, he fleched. His back foot was brought in front of his other foot, and his body leaned forward with the arm extended as far in front of him as he could. Then he charged towards the Dhani, with the intention of stabbing and running past, who would have to move out of the way or be stabbed by the rapier in his chest. Carsten had practiced the move against many other creatures, and he knew that if it evaded his rapier, he would still be past him, and a counter-attack would not be possible. If he did not hit him, the Dhani would at least be distracted, so that the other human could take it down, and if it was not, Carsten would have an open way to stab it in the back.

[Siiri]

Revy and Carsten had beaten Siiri to the Dhani. The mercenary's low lunge had allowed her to escape the awkward retaliatory slash the creature had aimed too high using her own longsword. The longer blade hit nothing but air, while Revy's borrowed dagger found its intended mark. She would feel an initial resistance to her down blow, for the Dhani's hide was think, its scales providing it with excellent natural armor. But her own momentum, coupled with her whole weight behind the blow, was enough to force the bone dagger to dig in deep into the Dhani's abdomen. Revy would feel the creature's blood gush out onto her arms, even as its fetid breath blew into her face, forcefully expelled by the force of her blow.

From the aside, Carsten's own longer and thinner blade bit deep as well. The Dhani had turned away from him as it met Revy's charge, but still almost half of his rapier's length slid in between the creature's ribs. If it had been in pain before from getting its tail stabbed by Revy, what it felt then from the two successive blows would be many times that. Its intestine ruptured and at least one lung punctured, it knew it was grievously wounded. Perhaps even mortally. Weakly, it tried to ward off any more incoming stabs from Carsten with Revy's sword while it desperately scratched and clawed at the human mercenary in an attempt to dislodge her, and the blade she had buried deep into its stomach, from its serpentine body. Its movements were beginning to slow, and no doubt it would expire soon even if it suffered no further injuries. The blows dealt to it by the two humans were just too severe.

"GET THE PETCH OUT OF MY WAY!" came the scream from Siiri as she finally caught up with them. The cry was immediately followed by a raging shriek as the Myrian took a running leap for the last few feet to close the distance between her and the Dhani, her greatsword raised high above her head in anticipation of cleaving through her target. A crazed glint lit her emerald eyes, and it was one that foretold doom to anyone and anything in her path. She did not seem to care, or even notice, that Revy and Carsten were still too close to the dying Dhani. If the two humans did not get out of the way quickly, they and their weapons might feel the bite of her greatsword, the Serpent Slayer.

[Revy Hiroe]

The blood combined with the breath of the creature made Revy nauseous. Didn't they ever work on their breath? It's smell wasn't just bad, it was HORRIBLE. It took quite a bit of willpower for Revy not to throw her food out. "Petching beast, get something to improve your breath if you gonna exhale it all over me. As the creature started clawing for her, the mercenary let go of the dagger. She couldn't lodge it out with her hand all slippery from the blood anyway. But even though she staggered backwards, she couldn't hold back a smirk as she then saw the blade of the other human also buried into the creatures flesh. It was perfect for that animal. Breaking her arm like that, biting into her wrist and even wanting to use her sword against herself. The woman then heard the shout of Siiri and noticed her approaching as well. She quickly dove out of the way, to the side from where she'd land her blow. That way, if Siiri cut with an angle, she wouldn't get hit with the blade. But in doing so, her right arm moved alot again, causing her sight to go a bit blurry as the she was quickly approaching the border of the pain suppression.

[Carsten]

Carsten knew the Dhani would go down when he felt his rapier slice up its internal organs, and noticed how he tried to fight both at the same time. It was a grievous mistake; Carsten twisted his blade to try and injure it further, and evaded a cut from the Dhani’s sword. Then he ripped out the rapier, and Carsten saw that the creature was in great pain. He feebly tried to stab Carsten, who easily parried the attack, and just when he was about to riposte, Siiri moved in with her sword raised and a cry coming from her mouth.

Carsten quickly retreated a few steps to avoid getting cut down by Siiri, he would allow her to finish the creature off, though all it required was one blow. The Dhani was bleeding from his stomach and chest, his internal organs were badly sliced up and he was tired as well, clearly just waiting to die now. He slowly turned his head towards the other human, only now getting a good look at her. She looked badly beaten up, but he could see that she was a warrior. Muscular and with legs that were made for running and moving quickly, he could see on her body shape that she was no fencer. Still, maybe one used to dueling, or at least single combat. He noticed her height as well, she was tall, always an advantage. In fact, he believed she was taller than he himself. It did not matter, he would have to get to know her to better before he made up his mind whether she could become a friend in Taloba.

He sent one look over to Siiri to make sure the Dhani was dead, before he made his way over to Garou to see if he was still alive.

[Siiri]

The two humans moved out of the way just in time before Siiri's massive weapon bit through the Dhani's left shoulder, the weight behind it causing it to crush bones and rip muscles open until the blade was about halfway down its chest. It could not go down any farther, seeming to have gotten lodged between the Dhani's spinal column. The fiend stared at the enraged Myrian before it, that stunned look in its face a hint of its realization that it was dead, and that what it was looking at was the one that quickened its meeting with Dira after the two humans had inflicted to it the most excruciating of pain.

Even as the Dhani started to fall forward, its life having left its body, that maddened look on Siiri's face remained, an expression so twisted that she appeared to have gone insane. The warrioress released her hold on her weapon, allowing the corpse to topple towards her, but before it was halfway into its descent, her fist connected against the Dhani's underjaw, throwing it back upright. More furious punches followed, Siiri's fists issuing loud thuds against the dead thing's head. Even as it finally fell to the ground, Siiri followed it down, mindless of her injured arm as she rained blows upon the Dhani's corpse. Amidst the dull rapport of her fists against the scaled flesh, the occasional crack could be heard. Whether it was Siiri's fingers cracking or her injured arm breaking again from her furious assault, or the Dhani's skull caving in under the pressure, none of the others present could know, for Siiri showed no reaction to it at all, her face still a mask of fury.

Garou himself had recovered, having been checked on by Onna, who had climbed down from the trees when she realized that her arrows would not come into play in the fight. The Myrian archer had moved on to look into the fallen Kai's condition before finally moving to Revy to bandage the human mercenary's arm and put it in a sling. The only male Myrian in the group, Garou passed a look at the only other male among them. Carsten would see from his expression a hint of chagrin - perhaps from realizing the fact that he had to be rescued by two humans from the Dhani's heavy blows - to one which Carsten would realize as embarrassment as the Myrian's gaze flicked over to his commanding officer. Siiri seemed like a clockwork machine then, fists still rising and falling in perfect rhythm to punish one who could not feel them any more.

"Ye can tell the boss lady has issue wit'em," he said to the Ano cultist as way of explanation for Siiri's behavior. "Fer most o' us, tis jus' duty, killing 'em snakes. Her? Tis much more personal."

The man struggled to his feet, and then limped away to recover the feral piglet he had dropped earlier, as well as the larger pig that Revy had downed. The beast had finally bled to death sometime during the fight with the Dhani. He dragged them over to Carsten, one bushy eyebrow raised in question.

"Yer horsey mind carryin' our meal? Meself ain't in no condition t'carry 'em at th'momen'," he told the human.

In the background, Siiri continued with her beating on the Dhani's corpse. Its head was a shapeless mass now, its face bloodied by a combination of its own blood and Siiri's, its jaw shattered, and some of its fangs protruded at weird angles out of its ruined mouth. The Snapping Jaws warrioress' bloodlust and rage did not seem to have been satisfied by her gory display of the corpse's defilement, however. Growling with every action, she gripped the upper part of the Dhani's skull, heedless of the cuts she suffered from its sharp fangs, and then stomped on its underjaw before yanking the part she was holding as far back as it would go. Vertebrae behind the Dhani's skull cracked as its head was forced too far back that it was used to go. When the skin on the side of its mouth prevented it from opening any farther, Siiri pulled out one of her serrated daggers and sawed through the corpse's face until she almost yanked its skull off. With the Dhani's throat now exposed, Siiri plunged her left arm into the hole, her fingers searching for something in the corpse's chest cavity.

Onna had forced Revy to lie down on the ground, going so far as to apply pressure on the woman's arm to make her comply faster. She was much gentler on it once she applied bandages to set the broken bones in place. For the snake bite on Revy's arm, she pulled out a small gourd from her pack and poured its contents directly on the wound. From the sting and the pungent aroma of the liquid, Revy would know that it was vinegar. A poultice made from mud and herbs that Onna had just chewed was spread over the puncture marks before it was wrapped over with a strip of cloth. Despite its unhygienic appearance, the poultice actually felt cool against the wound and on Revy's skin. She would start to itch where it was applied to once it had dried up, however.

"Don't scratch," Onna advised in her broken command of the common tongue. "Means medicine is working." She busied herself making a makeshift sling of Revy's injured arm.

"Brought plenty in case Siiri breaks arm again. Good thing," she said to the human, her tone almost conversational. "You brave or plenty stupid to face snakeman. But you saved Kai, and I am -"

Onna would have said more but she was interrupted by Siiri's frustrated shrieking. "Where is it?" she said repeatedly, her words coming out quick and her tone rising with every word. "I can't find it!"

She had pulled out her arm from the hole that was the Dhani corpse's throat, the flesh of the limb covered with blood and gore and half digested bits of the Dhani's earlier meal while her other hand tugged manically on the braids of her cornrows. The woman began to pace along the length of the Dhani's corpse, her eyes never leaving it. She had barely completed a circuit when she forcefuly yanked her greatsword from the corpse's chest, stomping and kicking at it a few times before should could finally free it from whatever bone had trapped it in place. Replacing the weapon to the scabbard on her back, Siiri then unclipped the heavy mace hanging from her belt and, holding it in a two handed grip, brought it up high over head head before slamming down on the corpse's chest. The cracking of ribs from the onslaught echoed all around them, and Siiri continued her brutal beating for a good chime or so after the sharp snapping of the corpse's bones faded into soft and squishy thumps.

It was at this point that Siiri pulled out a dagger, a steel one this time, and ripped large incisions all over the Dhani's chest. Blood oozed out from the wounds and would come out into a spray when Siiri plunged her hand into them to pull out (and throw behind her) pieces of ribs. Her fingers finally closed around the organ she had been searching for earlier and she ripped it out from the corpse's chest cavity. After the blunt force trauma she had dealt to it, the Dhani's heart was a disgusting mass of misshapen tissue now. Siiri jabbed it to the sky a grisly trophy.

"Another one of them dies, Siku!" she screamed at the heavens in a crazed and throaty voice. "By Myri, I swear I won't rest until I've feasted on each and every one of your children's hearts!"

And then she lowered her bloody prize to her lips before tearing out a chunk of it with her teeth.

EditAdded the part where she retrieve Slayer. Forgot about it earlier.

[Revy Hiroe]

The mercenary looked, without the slightest hint of shock on her face, at the spectacle unfolding before her eyes. She had seen it often that people lost themselves in their rage, mutilating corpses so badly that they couldn't be identified anymore. The myrian should have a problem or two with them. But that wasn't of her concern, she was an outsider. As Onna had forced Revy down, her adrenalin levels had dropped quite a bit already. Her pain was returning and in it's full force, making Revy's breath a bit forced. She just bit through all of it, the setting of her bones, the stinging of the vinegar and as the goo, or whatever it was, got spread on her wrist. That same goo felt cool, almost painrelieving. The woman looked at Onna as she got treated. There was nothing to thank her for. After all... it was her fault to begin with. If she had payed more attention, she might've been able to dodge that snake, or even save Garou from the pummeling he got. "There's nothing to thank me for, it's my fault to begin with. Should've payed more attention.", she said, ignoring Siiri completely. As Siiri tore out a chunk of the heart of the creature, Revy heaved a sigh. "Don't eat too much, or I'll have downed that pig for nothing. And in turn, gotten my arm broken in a pathetic way like this.", she shouted at Siiri, hoping to snap her out of it a bit. "And thanks for the help", she then said to Onna, as she turned her eyes to her. She then started to feel her left hand burn and raised it a bit to see what was wrong. Upon seeing the cut that the dagger made as she caught it, Revy let out yet another sigh. "Great, that's going to leave a mark. I enter this place and the first things that happen are me getting hurt multiple times and then not just light wounds. Aargh, so frustrating.", she thought to herself as the mercenary started to get annoyed with herself.

[Carsten]

As Carsten observed the way Siiri was tearing apart the Dhani, he started wondering if the Myrians treated all their enemies like this, but he could see that the hatred was not normal. The other Myrian did not act like that, but had simply patched Garou up and moved on to Revy before Carsten reached the former.

”Yes, I noticed that. I presume that something happened between her and the Dhani?” he asked, as he studied Garou. Though he still seemed uninjured, Carsten might have suspected that his pride was more injured, were it not for the fact that such a thing would be foolish. What did it matter that he had been beaten by a creature that was simply too much for him? For all of Siiri’s ferocity, if the Dhani had defeated two Myrians and one Human, he doubted she could have killed it alone. Her rage would be a hinder, not a plus. In her rage she would make a mistake. “The warrior that keeps his head cool will always defeat the warrior that looses himself in rage” he quoted to himself from a book he had once read, but he could not remember what its name was.

Turning to regard Garou again, he nodded as answer to his question. ”If I manage to distribute the weight correctly, and no one rides him, he should be able to do so. Let me help you, and we will see if we can fasten the carcasses.” he said, and grabbed the largest pig.

Dragging it over to Diego, he quickly relocated his backpack to the side he fastened the small piglet, and fastened the larger pig on the other side. Using ropes and the saddle to fasten them, he hoped the weight would be relatively equal. With a careful nudge he urged the horse forwards to see how he moved. ”How does it feel, boy?” he murmured to the horse and stroked his mane. The walk looked right, at least. ”He should be able to carry it like this.” he said to Garou, and watched with curiousity as Siiri bit into the snake’s heart. It was an impressive vow she made, there were a lot of snakes out there. The number of Dhani he was not so certain about, after all, who knew how large their nests were? She acted like she would keep it though, that was good. Carsten respected that; one should not vow something and not try to go through with it. Unless, of course, there were benefits from abandoning it.

[Siiri]

Onna had a strange expression on her face at Revy's words, one that was a cross between amused and patience, as if she was being tolerant of the human before her who did not understand the ways of her people. Her mouth worked for a few moments, as if she wanted to say several things but decided against them. At last, she settled for a simple, "A lesson is learned for all."

The human's outburst directed towards Siiri had the Myrian's brows creasing into a frown, but it was gone the moment Revy's eyes returned to her. She shrugged at the mercenary's words of appreciation, but Revy if knew how the Myrian's mind worked, it was not because Onna thought her thanks as inconsequential, but because she did not have a choice in the matter.

"She wants you alive," Onna said, nodding her head towards her leader, as if that explained it all. She stood up, examining her handiwork one last time before turning her attention to the still-recovering Kai.

"Do not move too much," the Myrian said in parting. She probably meant it so that Revy did not aggravate her wounds any further, though it could probably mean that she should not stray from the clearing as well, lest she attracted more of the jungle's dangerous denizens.

Carsten had been more useful during his brief interaction with Garou. The man assisted the Myrian scout in carrying the pig carcasses towards his mount and then showing Garou how to evenly distribute the load so that the horse will not be unbalanced by the weight of his burden. Garou watched him closely as they worked together, and the scout seemed amused by it all, and even Carsten's reaction - or lack thereof - to Siiri's display of brutality. Despite the contusions that pockmarked his face, he grinned at the Ano cultist.

"See shyke like this often, then?" he cackled, before stopping abruptly to spit to the side. His spittle flew accurately to hit a large frond dead center. If Carsten looked, he would see that it was flecked with blood. Whether it was from the beating Garou had received from the Dhani or a sign of some wasting disease of the Myrian's lungs, he would never know.

"Maybe y'ought to ask her yerself," he quipped at the human's curiosity for Siiri's rage. His manner of delivering those words made it evident that he was playing with Carsten however, and that actually following his advise might just be bad for his health, considering Siiri's current mood.

"Think I'll tell her she missed a rib, eh?" He winked at the human, before hobbling towards his fang leader.

Siiri, lips stained with the blood of the Dhani and her knuckles skinned and bleeding from all the punches she had rained down on the corpse whirled at Garou's approach, sending her braids flying. Her eyes were a pair of fiery emerald orbs, and the jagged scar that ran down the left side of her face lent her a malevolent disposition. Her gaze flashed past the scout, roving the rest of her surroundings and stopping for a long while on the forms of the two humans in their midst. Many trespassers who had found that gaze upon them before had died grisly deaths at her hands and those of her fangmates. Siiri had to struggle momentarily to remind herself why Revy and Carsten remained alive by her orders. The warrioress closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, letting it out in short, rapid and ragged puffs until she could take in no more. Her expression was much clearer when she reopened her eyes.

"Orders, girlie?" Garou asked in Myrian once he got Siiri's attention.

The question needed a bit of thinking. The trail leading towards the Northern Pass was supposed to be their last stop, and they should be hurrying back to Taloba to rejoin Eena's group. Siiri knew her Myrians would not hesitate to march off if she gave the order, doing so without complaint, but she also knew that the injuries they had suffered were rather serious, especially Kai's from her fall, and rushing their return might just expose them to more dangers if her troops were distracted by their pains and aches. She also had the two deyhan guests she had to consider. Much explaining had to be done about them once they reached the city, the most important being why they were still alive in her company. She wasn't bringing them there as sacrifice either, not unless one or both of them did something stupid enough to warrant such. Siiri really was going to escort them to Taloba as guests.

"Camp," she said at last. "Here is a good a place as any. That Hiroe woman would need more rest than she probably cares to admit."

And that was it, nothing further needed to be said. Garou only shrugged and Onna, her head turned halfway towards them as she listened, nodded once to indicate her understanding. Knowing their roles well, the two went about what they should be doing - Onna resuming her ministrations on the concussed Kai while Garou drifted back towards the horse, luring it with a bit of fruit from his pack until the piglet carcass came within reach. This he began untying from the horse and once that was done, her would skin and dress it in preparation of roasting it for their meal.

Siiri moved towards the two humans, her entirety the very image of a savage her people were known to be in the cities outside of Falyndar, with the many weapons lining her body, the bloodied lips and fists and the torn Dhani heart in her hand. This last one she presented to the humans, sawing it in half with one of her serrated daggers. She offered each of the pieces to Revy and Carsten.

"Take it and earn its strength. It's much more your kill than it was mine." She said this somewhat grudgingly, as if she wanted nothing than to claim the Dhani's death as hers, but still she gave respect where it was due. The humans did beat her to it, after all.