Closed More Than Just Survival // In The Shadow of The Wizard

[Kamilla]

Kamilla Circe Gordon

Still hiding with only a bush between themselves and the large creatures, Kamilla had been hoping to convince the savage man that attacking the dangerous looking animals would be a bad idea. Unfortunately, his determination had not even wavered as he spoke, his voice lacking any hints of uncertainty. Admittedly, the female mage wasn’t surprised by his answer at all, having only spoken in hopes that it might work. It looked like she had no real choice.

Brown eyes moving to observe the unusual creatures a second time in search of any obvious weak points or anything that stood out as something to be especially cautious of, Kamilla was caught off guard by the savage as he turned to lock sights with her. The intensity of his emerald gaze as it met her own was unexpectedly alluring, the mage noticing the man’s handsome masculine features for the first time. Not that it changed anything, he was still somewhat of a savage in her eyes.

Apparently, he’d turned to give her a short lecture or crash course on hunting, or perhaps fighting in general, using his emerald res as an aid for the lesson. Most of what he said seeming fairly obvious to Kamilla, though she’d admit that him pointing out that the maiming was higher on the priority list than an instant kill, despite the latter being the end goal. Of course, it made complete sense, especially against creatures so superior in size.

She had noticed how his common had suddenly improved, assuming he was putting a lot of effort into his little team hunting meaning.

”Well, I did take down a glassbeak once... with some help.” She supposed that it counted as a fight, even if she’d only survived because of the beautiful morphing warden Kinapak’s perfectly timed rescue. Still, she had handled herself well enough and was now far more skilled with her Reimancy than she had been back then. She could do this, without a doubt.

”Earth, air, water... and ice.” Her answers were quick and concise, the hunter’s current predator like demeanor proving somewhat contagious as they drew nearer to the fight. He want her to use earth spikes? Simple enough, after all, earth was her first element as well as the one she was most comfortable with. Though, ice was just as deadly with the added benefit of being lighter.

Choosing not to say anything more, Kamilla simply nodded in acknowledgment, the nervous and excitement of the hunt beginning to settle into her skin. While the mage may not have been keen on trudging through the undergrowth and killing for sport, she was entirely on board with attempting to put her magic to good use. It was her best chance at improving further as controlled practice could only do so much.

Once again peeking through the bush at the large long legged creatures, envisioning her attacks before it was time to actually try them.

It was because of this newfound determination and state of mind that Kamilla was caught entirely off guard by the man’s next words. He’d given her both the option to leave and the direction in which she should head. If she wanted, she could simply stand up and head back to Syka without so much as a word spoken. If he’d given her the option only a chime earlier, Kamilla was certain she’d have taken it without batting an eye, but now things were different.

She would stay, for several reasons, some of which were entirely her own.

The man giving her the option to leave after dragging her along this far almost felt deliberate, he could have been free of her several chimes ago if he’d only pointed her in Syka’s direction sooner, but had chosen not to. Because of this, his sudden nonchalant attitude toward her leaving felt very suspicious. Was he doubting her abilities? Looking down on her? Did he think her incapable? All of these thoughts were triggering something deep within the mage. She’d come to Syka for a fresh start, to escape her failures and pave a new path with successes. She’d already gotten into the mindset of a hunter, or at least that’s what it felt like.

”I’m staying.” Those were the only words spoken as she clutched the gauntlet containing Yennefer closer to her body with one arm as glistening lavender res began to pour from the other. She’d prove to both Quzon and herself what she was capable of.

[Quzon]

Quzon watched the way Kamilla clutched the pet stuffed gauntlet to herself.

"Good."

He expected one of two reaction similar to this.

Jabbing at a persons pride was a fickle endeavor that spurred many Myrian into action, but it often had an opposite effect on humans. However, Quzon felt like the female Mage would want to prove herself after being forced to trudge through the jungle. He took it as a good sign that the hunt was suppose to happen.

"I don't expect you to fight a Glassbeak," Quzon retorted with an amused grunt, a grin curling the corners of his lips. "Although, a Grassbear... maybe." Imaginary hooves ran through his mind as he thought back to his own adventures among the nomads of the Grass Sea. Quzon was not eager to get chased down by something the near size of a Grassbear again, so he used that situation as something to learn from.

He held out a hand to summon forth a stream of diaphanous glowing liquid Res. It arose from a long faded scar on the Mysurian's palm as if a metaphysical wound left untended to bleed out his magic at will.

The res began to coagulate above his head with the consistency of a thickened gel, absorbing the small piece of res he'd previously produced into the the rest of it. The amount of the res that gathered amounted to the volume of liquid he used to craft a small closet in stone. The same amount he used when building his home in Syka. Half of it was more than enough to create some type of element to disable a beast of Nandhai size if used correctly.

Quzon turned to peak through the bush toward the river. It was close enough for what he needed to do as he used the gesture of a hand motion to send his liquid res to the river and into the water. "I'll use the river to hide res since Nandhai look to be eating land bug, but travel near the river. As said, Quzon will strike leader. Once Quzon move, you strike.... then we attack the last together. Retreat only if need."

Quzon shifted from his crouch into a low stance so he could get in to range, and the predator in him was now out for blood. He moved as slowly as he could parallel to the river, staying behind the trees and vegetation. Quzon tried his best to get close without catching their notice, however his burly form shook a bush as he tried to move passed it.

It caused the three Nandhai to instantly howl in his direction. "Skurak." Quzon exclaimed under his breath. Well that blew his plan to strike in secret. It wasn't how he wanted to start things, but it did not end his plan as he stood up to walk towards the rivers edge in open view of his prey.

He would use himself as a distraction. The creatures were about ten meters away from him, so if they were focused on him, he could attack the leader from the side with his res. It would hopefully give Kamilla a better chance of hiding where he failed.

All of the Nandhai started to shriek and roar, clearly not interested in Quzon's company at all. He kept an eye on all of them as he watched the leader step forward with the other two flanking from behind it. Quzon stood tall as he willed his rest to slither within the water until it was directly flanking the head beast from the river.

Quzon waited half a chime to give Kamilla time to prepare her own attack, then pulled his res into a puddle to remove it from the river. It slid along the ground like a moving puddle close to the front Nandhai.

He took a step closer to the creatures to provoke them into keeping their eyes on him. It was an action that proved effective as they each started to slam their massive hooves into the ground threateningly.

It was an intimidating sight to be stared down by three behemoths, but for Quzon, it only caused his blood to boil with excitement. He split his res in half, causing his blackened res to pool at the immediate right side of the creature. It did not need to be so close, but Quzon was cautious and did not want to miss.

The Myrian gestured his diagonally upward in a striking gesture.

Quzon lashed out as he disturbed the calm surface of the well of djed within him. The puddle of Res erupted from the ground at an angle. Powerful as the earth, resolute and patient as a mountain. The tip of his res that lashed out formed a heavy point as it transmuted into a heavy stone. It was a very similar earth to that of the stone found in Riverfall's mines. He had spent so much time around the specific type of earth that it affected his own craft. Before that, his earth was that of the stone that made many of Taloba's buildings.

He'd practiced with the earth in the mine so much his summoned earth took on its properties.

The weapon he conjured was no a simple spear or a rod. No, It was a pillar as thick as a barricade. One like those that encamped warriors might build on the edge of a camp to stop a mounted cavalierly charge. It was a four inch diameter, five foot long stone pike that jammed itself into the beast from the belly up at an angle with the tip just poking out the upper midsection of the beast that caused it to make the most horrible of gurgling howling noises.

It was beautiful to Quzon's ears.

To say that the leading creature was locked in place would have been an understatement. It caused the other two creatures behind it to howl in shock as he reached back with his gauntlet covered hand to retrieve his axe as he waited for Kamilia to strike. He did not want to waste the other half of his res still hidden in the water on Kam's target, but would if he had to.

[Kamilla]

Kamilla Circe Gordon

Having decided to stay, Kamilla couldnt stop herself from rolling her eyes at Quzon's response to her glassbeak comment, he'd been the one to ask if she'd ever been in a fight, she'd simply answered. She also had no idea what a 'grassbear' was and doubted that it matteted. Apparently the savage could talk about pointless things but she couldn't give detailed answers to his questions. Shrugging the annoyance off, Kamilla turned to check on the unusual creatures the savage had called nandhai, noting that they hadn't seemed to notice herself and the savage just yet. Good.

Offering a simple nod inresposne tongis plan and watching as the savage, Quzon's, sickly green res drifted off towards its target,  Kamilla followed suit sending her own glistening lavender res in the direction of her own target, spreading the substance thin as it crept along the ground in mist form and gathering it together into a liquid blob once it was almost beneath the target. She'd produced slightly more res than Quzon's, not wanting to be the one that failed to execute their plan,  the savage had already made it clear that he had no confidence in her abilities and proving him wrong was one of the reasons she'd stayed.

Now focusing on keeping track of and controlling her own res as well as remaining as quiet as possible, Kamilla was almost as startled as then nandhai when the giant spike thrust upwards and into the largest of the creatures,  far more of a sharp pillar than a spike. Thankfully the other two seemed too shocked by the sudden attack to flee just yet and Kamilla realised it was her time to act, clenching her fist to compress her ball of res tightly before quickly opening her hand as if gesticulating an explosion.

Her own res shot upwards from the ground, forming three thin spears of ice which pierced the flesh of the poor creature, even going so far as to poke through the other side. Kamilla had to wince at the sight of her own spel's effects as the creature struggled in pain,  it's front legs unable to reach the ground as it struggled to dislodge the ice impaling it, which it eventually did.

The sounds of the loud cracks had Kamilla forgetting concern for the pain she'd caused and worrying for the potential failure she was facing as she watched the creatures front legs hit the ground as it attempted to flee with all three ice spikes still sticking out of its sides. The creature did not make it very far before finally dropping to the ground, much to Kamilla's relief.

By now, the third had been so startled, terrified and traumatised by the sudden attacks that had come, seemingly out of nowhere,  that it wailed in what could only be described as horror. The cries made her hair stand on end and a cold shiver run down her spine, helped along by the knowledge that she'd been partly responsible for it. Having seen what it had, the nandhai had clearly realised it was in a bad situations and Kamilla could already see that it was making to flee,  cursing herself for having not produced more res.

Pushing her own limits of res production, Kamilla expelled a quick puff of gaseous res from her mouth in one big breath practically ripping the res from herself and immediately firing the small cloud in the creatures direction. The force of the rushed res production stung the back of her throat leaving it feeling raw and painful. The cloud flew towards the creature picking up moisture from the stream as it did and expanded in front of the creature's face, turning to a thin icy mist, in hopes of disorientating and delaying the creature's escape, while Kamilla herself was left coughing as a result of the sudden pain in her throat.

[Quzon]

Quzon weighed his options carefully when In battle despite what his outward savage nature would dissuade. He summoned a mass of res, but only used half to keep the other hidden in the river for a reason. To remove djed with unfocused haste was the bane of all reimancers. The unnatural sounds of coughing in the jungle led him to believe Kamilia had done just that.

For some reason she lacked the prosper teaching of restraint along with res forethought in use of reimancy. Unfocused use and surprise were the downfall of many a reimancer. However, those were thoughts for another time as he watched the icy mist form around the last Nandhai’s head. That was an advantage he couldn't let pass him by as he raised his left hand to point the flat head of his hand axe at the Nandhai.

Quzon took a step backwards in preparation to throw the hand axe so that his left foot became his lead leg. The pointing of the axe was used to line up his shot, keeping his eye on the spot where he wanted his axe to go as the creature turned around. He was aiming for the left back leg of the beast as paused for a single moment of confusion to run away. He swung his left arm forward as powerfully as he could, using his fully body weight to send the weapon flying as all his weight shifted to his lead leg.

In the middle of his swing, the tattoo of a stylized blade began to make his heart beat as if a shot of adrenaline through his body. It was his mark of Prowess gifted to him by Myri that to some instinctual degree adjust his aim. He knew that without the use of it he’d have surely missed this attempt as axe arched slightly thorough the sky with a twirl before sinking an inch into the creatures left rear leg.

The Nandhai kicked back its hove with in slight pain from the minor flesh wound inflected upon it. It looked more annoyed with the hand axe now stuck in it, but still terrified of its attackers. In a way, that was Quzon’s way of showing praise to Myri. Because what Myrian didn't want to draw blood with a weapon during combat at least once?

Now with his Myrian pride indulged, Quzon lifted his right hand to will forth his res from its hiding place in the river. The only thing he had to worry about now as staying in range of the Nandhai as sent his blackened res to float along the back of its body. All it took was a moment of resolve as he focused on the earthen transmutation to expened the rest of his summoned res as it stretched out into a thick sheet with a narrow end on one side; like a large axe head. He propelled the thick sheet of bladed earth downward diagonally towards its neck.

The earth blade removed the Nandhai's head from its body like that of an 'earth guillotine'. It continued its momentum onward before slamming down into the ground as its head rolled towards the rivers side. The charging headless Nandahai slammed into the rest of the earth guillotine protruding from the ground which broke it into pieces before the body collapsed to the ground.

The hunt had been a success. He walked to the beast that had his axe, then pulled its blade free from the leg. It was more than enough food to share with others around Syka.

"Female."

He called out to Kamilla while retrieve the head of the Nandhai that had rolled towards the river. Quzon held it by the snout as it dripped fresh blood from the neck. "Good hunt. Enough for many in Syka Lets take them to the commons." As he spoke while heading over to Kam with the head. "Here." He said as he offered the woman the freshly severed Nandhai head.

[Kamilla]

Kamilla Circe Gordon

Kamilla could only watch and hope as the small icy mist surrounded thr creature's head, hope that it would be startled enough not to flee while simultaneously hoping that it would. They didn't really need to kill all three of the poor animals did they? Already she could feel a small unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach after seeing how horrificly the first two had died, now she was subconsciously rooting for the third to escape.  Unfortunately, her cheering proved not to be enough.

Still clutching the feline filled gauntlet tightly to her chest, Kamilla watched as the creature was indeed startled by her mist just long enough to give Quzon time to hit it in the hind leg with a thrown axe. It was an odd, bitter/sweet moment as she watched her own spell succeed, the creature suffer and the final blow delivered by the savage and his reimancy.  A stone slab with an edge was formed and like a guillotine, fell upon the last nandhai's neck, effectively separating it's head from its body in one blow.

At this point it was undoubtedly clear that Quzon had spent alot of his time learning to effectively use his reimancy as a weapon, obviously he had succeeded. In comparison, Kamilla felt as if her own uses lacked in precision, something she compensated for by using more res, which only created a different weakness in the form of higher res consumption than was needed. Besides her attempt at bird shaped res projectiles to help with movement, she hadn't been very creative in combat techniques, she saw now that it was a mistake, but at the same time, combat was far from the only use of the elemental magic. Regardless, she would certainly give combat and creativity more thought from here on.

With the third nandhai's head hitting the ground followed by its body, all the tension and excitement in the ear dissipated to be replaced by a morbid silence. The hunt had ended just as suddenly as it had begun and the only question on Kamilla's mind as she watched the, admittedly talented, savage bring the creature's unwanted head to her was... whether or not they could head back to syka now that they were done. With a look of confusion as he offered the bleeding head to her, contemplating the situation, Kamilla forced herself to actually take it in her free hand, holding it a good distance from herself and Yennefer who was hissing uncomfortably at it. She'd only participated in the hunt to prove the savage wrong, she wasn't about to sabotage herself with one perceived rude move.

Thankfully, it seemed it was indeed, finally, time to head back to Syka. She could not have been more relieved by the man's words, especially after her entire ordeal, but she would try not to make it too obvious to Quzon. "Okay... let's go then." She did her best to sound nonchalant but a hint of enthusiasm crept through the cracks in her little facade. It could not be helped, she was not an actress.

[Quzon]

“We can go after, just need, harvest.”

Quzon removed the backpack he wore under his hunters hide, setting it on the ground by the headless nandhai. He then removed his bears hide to leave him only dressed in the boots and loincloth; he didn’t want to get his hide dirty from what was about to happen.This was where his work got bloody as he held the haft of the hand axe tightly. There was literally nothing magical about the way he lined up the axe to the back of the beasts hips. Lifting a hand to slam the blade down against its body.

None of the cuts went though with a single chop, needing teen fells of his axe to sever a limb. Once a leg was removed, Quzon glanced to Kamila with a smile at the harvest they obtained. It was just thick enough to be able to fit within the opening of his backpack. To anyone who didn’t know, one might wonder how he was going to fit the limb inside of the back. But as he fed the leg into it, it quickly vanished into the bottomless backpack.

Quzon repeated the process with all of the legs and each trunk like arm. It took him quite a while to do before moving onto the bodies. It was like he was a butcher who did not want any bit of the carcass to go unused.

His body was soaked in blood splatter. “Pieces we not eat can used by fishermen. The extra meat can be distributes around the Commons. Every can eat well tonight. You can keep the bones of one. I’ll takes bones from the others.” A loud snapping sound could be heard once he returned to his harvesting. He slammed the axe down just below the ribs, then jammed his hand into a Nandhai to remove its thick, bleeding heart. Quzon sniffed at it before taking a bite from it. It tasted rather nicely, but lacked the tangy nature of Vantha heart.

The back of his free hand rose to wipe the blood from his mouth as he set the heart into the backpack. All that was left of the headless Nandhai was the blood on the jungle floor. Once he was done, he repeated the process with the other two Nandhai. It took him quite a while. He was one man seemingly butchering three cows by himself. Although, with very little finesse. Once he was done, he went to the river to see if any predators were around. Or snakes that loved to linger before attacking. It was a habit formed from his days in the Taloban Army.

He only entered into the water once it was save to wash the blood off himself, quickly entering up to his knees and rinsing the blood off. Quzon got out of the water fairly quickly, knowing that something in the water would come looking for where the blood came from.

"Lets go." He grunted towards Kamila, heading towards the shoreline to take her out of the Maw. "Give gauntlet back once at settlement. No need cat escaping." His tone of voice was much lighter now that the hunt was over. He spoke about her can in a way that almost sounded like he was joking with her.

[Kamilla]

Kamilla Circe Gordon

"We can go after, just need, harvest."

The words almost drew a groan from Kamilla's lips, almost, but she managed to hold it in and use an exaggerated eye roll in response,  purposefully hiding the reaction from the savage.  Of course. Of course he needed to 'harvest' it was the opposite of what she wanted but also logical, otherwise the creature's lives would have been ended for what? A trophy head? She supposed, for the nandhais' sake, it was best if he did indeed harvest.

Shoulders sagging as she realised she was going to be waiting for a while, Kamilla glanced back in Quzon's direction  just in time to catch and wince at the first swing of his axe, almost flinching at every swing that followed. The sounds were unpleasant at best and she wasn't in the mood to watch the mutilation the corpses, so instead,  she took a seat on a nearby rock, placing the gauntlet nearly between her thighs.

From her spot inside the gauntlet, Yennefer looked up, large green eyes watching Kamilla curiously while no attempts were made to climb out of the, apparently cozy, piece of armor. "You seem to be enjoying that aren't you Yen... despite being the reason we were in this mess in the first place." As she spoke, Kamilla scratched the purring yowlwing behind the ear, grateful that she was safe.

Wanting to assess how much longer she'd have to wait, Kamilla glanced over at Quzon and saw only gore, reacting with another wince at the bloody scene. "I'm acting like these hands haven't butchered all sorts of creatures already." She mumbled to herself,  remembering her time on Sahova,  apprenticed to the twin ghosts Erikur and Erikus, one of which used we body as a tool to cut, chop and slice all manner of creatures into more convenient 'parts' for his malediction. It annoyed her that he hadn't learned more about the magic at the time, but it was hard to concentrate while sharing your body with another spirit.

Before she even had time to delve deeper into her reminiscing, Quzon began to speak again,  forcing Kamilla to listen incase he was saying something important or... relevant. He was still busy mutilating the first of the three nandhai so knew they were nowhere near leaving. Though she did wonder how he planned to carry all three of the giants back to the settlement.

"Okay." Her only response, she didn't know what else to say to his explanation of where their hunts would go. As for his generous offer for bones, Kamilla had no idea what she'd do with such a wonderful gift. Once again she cursed her lack of knowledge about malediction.

Snap!

The sound almost made the mage gag, though her comstutution only held out long enough for her to watch as the savage raised the creature's bloody heart to his mouth and took a big bite. A loud dry heave escaping Kamilla's lips as she was forced to imagine the taste and texture of the raw organ. He really was a savage.

Having learned her lesson, Kamilla did her best to pass the time by playing with Yennefer while refusing to remove her from the gauntlet and producing two hands full of reimanctic water with which to rinse her face of the remaining mud until such time that Quzon was finally done with his meticulous butchering. Good. He'd soon realise that there was far too much meat for them to realistically carry home, though he proved her wrong a tick later by shoving an entire leg into his backpack, which was clearly more than it appeared. Now she was intrigued but all she wanted was to get home, so she remained silent instead of distracting the savage by forcing him to attempt to form sentences in commoner. Anything to get home sooner.

For the remaining chimes, Kamilla kept her eyes glued to Quzon and his seemingly bottomless backpack as he stuffed piece after piece of butchered nandhai into it with no end in sight. It was without a doubt, a magical object, but eventually the savage was done and they were ready to leave. "Don't worry, I'll give it back, I don't want it." She responded, holding the gauntlet up to estimate that it couldn't have worth too much. She paused for a moment, contemplating the giant man's previous offer as she stepped around a puddle of especially green water. "I think I will take those bones though." While she didn't have any uses for them at the moment, but who knew what the future held. For the time being, she'd simply find a spot on the beach in which she could bury them.

For the rest of the trip back to Syka, Kamilla remained quiet, surprisingly exhausted after the days ordeal, suffering a sore throat and her gaze locked on Quzon's magical backpack in an attempt to unravel it's secrets. All things aside,  she couldn't wait to wash the jungle off of her.

[Ambrosia Alar]

Grades!

Kamilla

Skills

● Acting +2
● Animal Husbandry +2
● Detection +1
● Hunting +3
● Intimidation +2
● Investigation +1
● Land Navigation +1
● Logic +1
● Observation +5
● Persuasion +2
● Planning +3
● Reimancy +3
● Socialization +3
● Stealth +2
● Tactics +4
● Wilderness Survival +2

Lores
● Syka: Bordered by dangerous jungle
● Animal Husbandry: Keep pets close to prevent their escape
● Wilderness Survival: Wear long clothing in the jungle to protect skin
● Intimidation: Don't betray your own fear
● Quzon: A "savage" reimancer
● Intimidation: Standing your ground
● Reimancy: Reabsorbing djed
● Wilderness Survival: Hiding one's scent
● Quzon: A hunter or warrior
● Land Navigation: Follow a river downstream to reach the coast
● Stealth: Watch your step
● Nandhai: A Falyndar insectivore
● Planning: Knowing your odds
● Tactics: Looking for weaknesses in your enemy
● Tactics: The element of surprise
● Tactics: Disorient an enemy to delay their retreat
● The results of a hunt: An unpleasant shame
● Socialization: Reading the intentions of a someone from a foreign culture
● Myrians eat the heart of a kill
● Hunting: The need to harvest a kill

Quzon

Skills

● Food Preservation +1
● Hunting +4
● Intimidation +2
● Land Navigation +1
● Observation +5
● Persuasion +2
● Planning +2
● Reimancy +3
● Socialization +3
● Stealth +3
● Tactics +5
● Teaching +1
● Tracking +2
● Weapon: Handaxe +1
● Wilderness Survival +2

Lores
● Stealth: Watch your step
● Stealth: Use cover
● Treshal: A bird and a Myrian delicacy
● Common: Using inflection to phrase a question
● Kamilla: A reimancer
● Intimidation: Use stature to your advantage
● Wilderness Survival: Travel prepared
● Land Navigation: Following a river to the coast
● Persuasion: Using knowledge as leverage
● Tracking: reading disturbed plant life
● Hunting: Masking your scent
● Izurdin: A belief in building stronger people
● Nandhai: A Falyndar insectivore
● In a hunt or fight, it is acceptable to reserve the killing blow
● Persuasion: Poke at a person's pride
● Tactics: Provoke a target to distract them from an ally
● Tactics: The element of surprise
● Tactics: Saving res for later use
● Butchering: Harvesting a kill

Comments

Great thread, both of you. It is fun to see the clash of both culture and personality in this thread. I like seeing the demonstration of varied uses of magic in a single thread as well. I feel you both have great command of your characters, that you truly understand them and the way they think and operate. I will always feel new to grading and this is one of the longer ones I've done. I'm almost certain I've missed something, so if you feel I've missed lore or experience or if you would like lore rephrased, just send me a PM. Thanks for the read.