It's The Little Things in Life[Private]

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon sat crouched around the entrance of the cave, peering into the darkness as if trying to gain the very sight the Akalak men were blessed with, but to no avail. Eldon's spear, though proved lengthy enough to require two Pycon to carry, was not so wide as to not be carried into the darkness. Sunkiss groaned lightly as he stood up, stretching his neck slowly as he did so. He was experiencing an interesting feeling of sleepiness and wakefulness at the same time. Eldon looked around at his hunting companions, a despairing grin was plastered to his face as another shrill scream echoed from beneath the hole's dark depths, a chant of victory or cry of excitement no doubt. Eldon offered another groan. "Anybody know what in the world those things were?" A Pycon was something new to the Reimancer, yet now had nothing but negative feelings towards it. "At any rate, they... it, whatever it is... it stole my spear." Eldon gave a slight chuckle, though it was so heavily drenched with subtle anger that he almost sounded ill. He reached down to pick up Vanator's ax, and offered it to the owner of the weapon. "And this." Eldon crouched again as he gazed down into the black small cave, it was so small, made sense why the creatures would hide in there. "So... Ladies first?" Eldon glanced at Raylin and offered another crude forced chuckle, he was doing his best not to explode in a manner of cursing and uncontrolled rage, although he did want to get his hands on those things. Without so much as a wait for anybody to speak, Eldon did indeed move into the tunnel first. Taking one of his smaller axes, meant more for throwing than hacking away at something in point blank range, and crawled inside. Crawled, since it was pretty much the only way he was going to fit inside such a place. How embarrassing. "If I die, tell everyone it was the Glassbeaks that got me." Eldon whispered behind him, to anybody that, hopefully, followed him. This time, the darkness would almost completely hide his grin.

[Raylin Sunsetfeather]

Raylin sleeply strached her head trying to think if she had ever seen something like the creatures that had taken thier things. She had a very vague memory of something that looked like them from when her family was traveling from Wind Reach to Endrykas. The things name started with a P. P,p,p, py. Pyke, no that wasn't it. Pyco. "Pycon!" she said after she finaly figured out the name, "I think thier made of clay or something like that. I saw one when I was younger."

When Eldon invited her to go first she said, "One secound, I'll be back with a lantern." With that, Raylin quickly ran over to the camp site and grabed one of the lanterns that was near the fire pit. She came back to find out that Eldon had already went ahead. "Couldn't wait for me could you?" she said with a sigh as she pushed the lantern in a bit then crawled in, pushing the lantern foward.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam woke up from the most pleasant of sleeps and appeared to all from Dymphna's tent, tugging up his pants and running after everyone barefoot and bare-chested, stopping only to pick up whatever weapon might remain for him. Self-defense was paramount. Hardly the first to arrive at the cave, he didn't even have time to assess the situation before Eldon was diving into the cave after the ... Pycons? His cousin was so brave. "Wait, wait," he said to Raylin, and anyone else near enough to hear and listen. "Well, all right. Some of us have to stay and guard what remains at camp. I'll... I'll do that. I'll stay and guard with whatever we have left to us." He looked down to his hand then to see which weapon he had scooped up, his other hand still trying to fasten his pants so they would stay on.

[Dymphna]

Dymphna was soon to follow Sam out. She thought she’d been pulled from sleep first, but she’d taken the time to put on her split-skirt. One couldn’t fight if their pants were falling down. Of course, she’d lost her dress… Somehow. She thought she’d grabbed it, but it seemed she’d managed to put on Sam’s shirt again – And she was frantically trying to get the top buttons fastened. “What took the weapons?” she whispered towards Sam as she came to a stop next to him, looking around at the situation at hand. Then she paused, nodding slowly at what Sam said, “Yes, two people should stay and protect the camp… I can stay too…”

[Kayiri]

There was one simple rule that went through Kayiri and his close group of friends. It was unspoken, but anyone who knew him would know it. Sadly, the Pycons did not appear to be graced with that sort of knowledge, and they would pay for their ignorance. Pay with their lives.

No one. EVER. Takes Kayiri's bow. The last three whom were so bold lay dead in Din, their chests torn open by a certain slash for a longsword, hands severed from their arms. No one took Kayiri's bow and escaped with all of their limbs and their lives. Not a small clay man, not a Zith, not even a God! The warrior was first up onto his feet, and he dashed after the miniature men, adrenaline surging through his veins. He would catch them! They would not have his bow if he had a say! His legs, however, were tired, and could not carry him quite fast enough to grab the last of the fleeing creatures. However, he was not going to let them get away without trying everything. His legs pushed him forward in a reckless dive, sliding to a halt at the mouth of the cave with a single hand groping into the darkness.

Whilst Eldon had some sort of self control, that little that Kayiri possessed was lost when his bow was involved. Screams of pure, unfiltered rage and hatred rang through their ears. "You PETCHING midgets!" Kayiri screamed, red in the face. His entire body shook with anger as he watched them disappear from sight. He wouldn't let damned midgets ruin his hunt! "I'll kill every last one of you! Crush you to dust! Smash you to pieces! None of you will draw breath once I get my hands on you! None!" his screamed echoed down that cave. Eldon beat him into the small entrance of the cave, but that didn't discourage the young Drykas. A meaty hand wrapped around Eldon's calf, quite literally dragging him back out of the tunnel.

Memories of the Winter before flashed into his mind. Images of corpses, of blood, both his and that of his foes. The most prominent of these images was the one that had sparked his anger, the moment the Zith had defiled his bow by pissing on it. He wouldn't let that happen again! He wouldn't let these... these... MIDGETS defile his bow! He would kill them all! Every last one!

If anyone caught a glimpse of his face, they would see that he was possessed by an inhuman rage. With Eldon out of the way, he went into the caves at lightning speed, sword on his hip. Considering the position he was in, the next couple of cries were oddly hilarious. He was hobbling along at high speeds on his hands and knees, like a baby crawling after their favorite toy, which was rolling away from them. "Every last one of you! Dead! I'll kill you all!!!" his screams echoed back towards the group even as his form faded away into the darkness.

[Vanator]

Vanator was a bit befuddled. In all his years surviving in the Sea of Grass, with its myriad of deadly denizens, he had never seen these little....things. He arrived at the cave with Kayiri just in time to see the last little man drop his battle ax and flee into the darkness. He peered into the hole, than back at his friend with a puzzled look. Eldon appeared, the Watermaker moving to the entrance. Vanator took the offered battle ax with a grateful nod, sharing another curious look with the lean muscled man. He shrugged at his own ignorance of the nature of the thieves, "I have never seen the likes of them before." Just then Raylin arrived, and all turned their gaze to the half-blood as she revealed the culprits' identity. Pycons...people made of clay. Magical beings? Van watched Eldon dive into the dark opening, only a hand ax in his grip. Raylin returned with a lantern, its warm glow illuminating the cave opening, as well as the approach of the last two members of the party. Vanator had seen Sam exit from Dymphna's tent, still struggling to fasten his pants, a wry grin adorning the older Drykas' face as he saw the woman followed close behind, wearing the boy's shirt. At the suggestion the two of the guard the camp, Van piped in. "Yes..." He looked at Sama'el and Dymphna with a knowing eye, "...good idea..." Vanator's sentence was cut short as Kayiri finally snapped. The swordsman ranted like a madman, more so than Van had ever seen. Kayiri was an over-the-top type of person, but this was way over. "Kay.....Kay." Van tried to get his attention, to try to talk him down. When he reached down to pull on Eldon, Vanator slapped a heavy hand on Kayiri's shoulder, trying to stop him, his voice barking now. "Kayiri, stop it, you damn fool!" The last thing they needed was a fight amongst themselves. He prayed Eldon would remain level-headed and not retaliate against the raging Kay. Eldon was dragged out of the tunnel and Kayiri flung himself in. It was a wonder the man wasn't already dead, so impetuous, running headlong into everything he did. Sighing, Van met Eldon's eyes, then looked around at the others, the displeasure he felt apparent in his face. "He gets a little hot headed. Maybe we should just let him clear the way for us." Then the barefoot and bare chested man jogged back to his tent to don his boots and tunic.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Pycons," he said quietly to Dymphna, patting her shoulder when she arrived. Then he noticed she was wearing his shirt, and then Vanator gave him an omniscient look that made him feel rather sheepish. Half-dressed as he was, he didn't even have clothes to hide behind, really. In any case, he knew barely a thing about Pycons other than they were supposedly created by some old wizard with the same surname. Clay people. It didn't seem logical to him; wouldn't they require a source of their own substance to keep from eroding, and a near constant source of water to keep them from drying out. He was a sad example of a Sapphire Clansmen if he so little understood magic. It seemed that things had been decided, nobody calling him a coward for wanting to stay behind and guard the tents and horses, nor calling into question the necessity for it. Knowing Eldon was too mature a man to get truly angry at Kayiri, so he didn't worry that they would begin to fight amongst themselves, but he nodded approval to Raylin's light. "We'll look to see what they left behind and... yeah..."

OOCSorry for doubling up. Just wanted to tie up some loose ends before Baku cuts a bitch.

[Raylin Sunsetfeather]

Yelling, a hand grabing Eldon's ankle, pullling. Next thing Raylin knew, she was pushed up against the wall and Kayiri was rushing past her yelling profanitys.
"Wait up Kay!" she yelled down the tunnel. She quickly grabed the lantern and continued down the tunnel. She let out a sigh and a shake of her head at the older drykas for rushing down so fast. Putting a hand on her hip she made sure her dagger was still on her person.

It was a special dagger that her mother had made for her. The blade was tiped with a special glass that wouldn't break. Raylin charished it almost as much as Kayiri charished his bow. She eventually was able to see the drykas' feet.
"Kayiri you need to not go down the tunnel so fast with out a light or your going to end up steping on something sharp." she said with a sigh.

[Baku]

Indeed, Kayiri should have paid heed to other’s warnings, especially the one about rushing into a dark tunnel with no torchlight. Had he done so, he might have been able to miss the first caltrop that pierced through his right hand as crawled within the first eight feet inside the cave. As light began to filter in from the lantern Raylin held, Kayiri would see down the cave further. Numerous caltrops lined the cave floor for at least another ten feet down. Just beyond them was a bend in the cave that veered right, the entirety of it remaining just as confined as the entrance, showing that any who followed would have to do so crawling upon hands and feet. As Kayiri looked up from the jagged shard of iron that pierced his hand clean through, he would soon see at the bend of that cave the silhouette of something peeking from behind the bend. As more light was shined down, another small Pycon stepped out from behind it, standing close to seven inches tall. “Say hello to my little friend!!” The Pycon then yelled before raising a hand crossbow to his shoulder. The crossbow itself looked to be modified, the grip removed and in it’s place sitting something that allowed the little clay man to rest it along his shoulder. The guide where the arrow had originally rested had a small half cylinder made of iron, and a sphere of some sort rested at the end of it. Before Kayiri could react in any way, the Pycon pulled the trigger as the string vaulted forward, sending the small projectile that was loaded into it towards Kayiri. It hit, and eventually Kayiri felt the dark, soft substance spread over his eyes and face, a swelling pain entering his nose as the small rock at its center collided with the bridge of his nose. As blood began to trickle out of his left nostril, Kayiri may not have been able to notice, but Raylin would definitely catch the scent of Olidosapux dung that now covered Kayiri’s brow and eyes. The Pycon laughed for a short moment, sitting along the ground after the recoil from the hand crossbow knocked him down. He pointed to Kayiri. “Big Drykas, so angry he don’t know what he is stepping in.” The Pycon said before quickly getting to his feet and turning around. A slight bend forward was then given as the Pycon slapped what would have been its butt before it began heading back behind the bend yelling out, “RELOAD!”

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon was probably himself only feet from taking Kayiri's place in the brutal series of event targeted directly at the prideful Drykas. Instead, however, Kayiri found it necessary to grab Eldon by the legs and drag him over the rocky surface underneath him, caused several scratches and even small tearing in his skin. His chest, once he stood up, looked like it had been mauled by a litter of kittens that were in a very playful mood. Eldon was only moment away from rushing in there to bash Kayiri's head against the cave walls, yet when Vanator stepped up and spoke too him, Eldon felt his anger somewhat subside. He was still furious, but he could save his fists until this whole ordeal was done with. He nodded quickly, but did not go in the hole after Kay and Raylin, he instead took to paces around the Pycon-territory, hugging his body. His chest stung, and unfortunately, he was shirtless in his sleep. There was not enough time to dress before this either. "Alright, alright. I'm fine, I won't kill the imbecile yet. But you saw that! I owe him, just one." Eldon tightened his fist as he glared into the hole, and that was roughly the time Kayiri found a caltrop forced through his hand. He heard a shout of pain, or anger, or perhaps maniacal victory shouts, either way Eldon found his anger instantly squelched and his worry, inversely, bursting into full force. "Kay! What's going on in there?" Eldon shouted back into the hole, hoping for something along the lines of 'I just crushed a midget!' in response.