[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Closed)

An all too brief adventure, all too quickly forgotten with the passage of time.

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The Wilderness of Cyphrus is an endless sea of tall grass that rolls just like the oceans themselves. Geysers kiss the sky with their steamy breath, and mysterious craters create microworlds all their own. But above all danger lives here in the tall grass in the form of fierce wild creatures; elegant serpents that swim through the land like whales through the ocean and fierce packs of glassbeaks that hunt in packs which are only kept at bay by fires. Traverse it carefully, with a guide if possible, for those that venture alone endanger themselves in countless ways.

[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Closed)

Postby Aren on February 28th, 2012, 11:25 pm

4th of Summer, 499 AV - Dawn

The Sea of Grass, just outside Endrykas

The trio had met up without much difficulty, and had proceeded to commence their journey to Kenash without delay. They made to intercept the Kabrin road, which was the safest route to their destination. Before that, however, they would have to cross a sizable expanse of the grassland.

Aren liked to take point in any endeavor. He was usually the largest, most well armed individual in any party, and all other things being equal, there was no reason for him not to be the first one in danger. He simply tended to be the person most likely to survive any sudden... misfortune.

As he walked, his eyes continually scanned the grassland for any signs of potential danger. Shifting grass, spooked animals; all indicated that something wasn't right, that there was mischief afoot. They were still fairly close to Endrykas, however, so he didn't think there was much chance of that, but it paid to be cautious. Glassbeaks were very stealthy, very aggressive predators, and you didn't want to run into a pack of these unawares. Well, you didn't want to run into a pack of them at any point, but getting caught by surprise was definitively grounds for forfeiting your life.

"How far do you figure the Kabrin road to be?" Aren asked, ceding knowledge in this field to Patros. Endrykas' constant movement around the Sea of Grass always confused him whenever he passed by, serving to distort his sense of direction.

"I wouldn't want to traipse through this grass for too long..." He added, always keenly aware that this was the natural habitat of some of the deadliest beasts he knew to exist.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Meera on February 29th, 2012, 5:55 pm

"We're likely to meet up with it tomorrow." Patros had been keeping an eye on his surroundings as well, but he was thankful for the Akalak's company. He was taking the young Meera on her maiden voyage as it were, and though she was on a horse of her own she certainly couldn't bring it up to a gallop, let alone a short trot. The young filly Meera was riding was a roan beast with blonde hair, and Meera had been happy for it because, as she put it, "their hair matched". He smiled at Meera's serious face while she rode. Usually so childish, he was quite proud at her new manner with the horse. She easily recognized the importance the horse had with their culture.

Meera sat at her slow pace, clopping along behind Aren. Her mind had little in the way of perceiving potential dangers, though she was already aware of the danger the Sea of Grass could be. Her father had died in the Sea of Grass, after all, but the excitement of seeing it for the first time, riding her own horse - which she named Miss Filly - had her brain thoroughly preocupied. Of course, Meera knew that Patros would look out for her. Sana, the First Wife of her father, wouldn't have let Meera go with him otherwise, right?

"Though it is Summer, I can assure you that I've made this trip countless times with little incident. Now that I have my ward, Meera, I certainly intend on making it to Kenash without any trouble."

Meera adjusted the bow and small quiver on her back. At the sound of her name Meera looked up at Patros and gave a flash of smile. Over her shoulder Endrykas was a dot on the green grass.

"Are we close to Kenash?"

"Meera..." Patros began to chide. Meera sighed heavily. Speaking Common was hard.

"Kenash? We are beside?"

"Are you asking if we are close to Kenash?" Patros corrected.
"...Yes." Meera thought for a moment, her eyes turning up into the cloudless sky and her lip pursed and lifted itself before she answered.
"Then ask it again."

"Are ... we," She pointed in a circle to the three of them. "Uhm, close to Kenash?"
Patros flashed a smile at her, knowing she mainly parroted his words.

"No, child."
Meera pouted and did not speak anymore, knowing Patros would refuse to speak Pavi to her as much as possible. Patros sighed, then cut his sigh short when he heard a small sound. It was carried on the wind from a great distance.

A great distance did not mean much when they were talking about the call of the glassbeak. Even a bonded Strider on Cyphrus land could not outrun the large birds.

"Best stay quiet. May be that they are too far away, could be that they are headed in the opposite direction, but I am not inclined to stay here to find out, not when she's so young." Patros warned in whispers.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Aren on March 1st, 2012, 12:30 am

Aren trudged along, flattering grass with every footstep. He envied Patros' success rate when crossing the Sea of Grass, as he simply did not share the man's ability in making the trip, or perhaps simply his luck.

"Maybe it's just me, but I seem to run into trouble every time I come this way," the akalak noted, shrugging at the apparent possibility that there could simply be some force out to get him.

As Meera practiced her common, he got to thinking, "If it's not a glassbeak stalking me, it's a- hey... you don't think maybe I smell good, or something? I mean, to them?" Aren asked, wondering as to the reason for his typical misfortune with this infernal place.

Suddenly, the blue skinned giant thought he could make out a barely audible sound in the distance. He looked back, briefly, only to notice that Patros had caught the same thing.

"See what I mean?" Aren whispered, now suspecting that maybe there was some kind of scent on him which attracted the creatures of the grassland, usually in the form of glassbeaks.

"I'm starting to think that you might have been safer without me..." the akalak added, in hushed tones, even as his mind tried to ascertain the nature of the sound he had heard.

Given his track record, Aren was certainly well within his rights to question his decision to come on this trip. He might have been putting Patros and Meera in the very danger his presence was meant to ward against, he realized. That was, of course, if his wild assumptions of a mystical, glassbeak attracting scent on his person were right.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Meera on March 1st, 2012, 5:16 am

It wasn't Patros' first time out into the Grasslands. He had been in this situation before, and his gut was usually right about this sort of thing. Keeping quiet and moving slow would be the best course of action, but the calls of the Glassbeaks were becoming frequent as they marched their horses and Aren walked. Patros was hoping for a quiet first leg of their trip, and was a little surprised that they were likely to encounter something so soon. He frowned at Aren. He liked the man for his personable, talkative nature but right now he just wished Aren would shut up. Could he be serious in thinking he smelled good to the most formidable foe in all of Cyphrus - if not all of Mizahar?

Meera was oblivious to Aren's ramblings, keeping her thoughts mainly to her horse. Patros' horse was a gallant thing that could run to Riverfall from Kenash in two days - or so he had boasted - and Meera was stuck at her snail's pace and it was infuriating. Tempting fate and her skill, she kicked her horse's side to egg it to a trot. It was successful, but it only served to gather Patros' worry which resulted in a sharp sound of his dissapproval.

"Meera!" He sharply whispered to her, but it was of no use. The horse's steps were quick and loud on the green grass, and to catch up with her, Patros had to nudge his horse to match her speed.

"What the petch are you doing, child? Don't you hear? Glassbeaks. Slow down, keep quiet!" He scolded. Meera did not hear, but she also didn't quite know how to slow her horse. Patros pulled up on his rein, to demonstrate. Meera tried to replicate the action, but Miss Filly had no intention of slowing. It seemed Miss Filly and Meera were of a similar mind - it was fun to run!

Meera tried to slow Miss Filly again when she really heard the sound of the large birds, and the horse finally conceded, putting a twenty foot distance between herself and Patros and the blue Akalak.

Glassbeaks grew louder now, and Patros turned his head to search for them. He readied the bow from his back with an arrow and saw one. Perhaps Aren did have some arcane power over the Glassbeaks. Patros cursed as he saw Miss Filly get spooked. The filly certainly had never seen a Glassbeak before, and Meera's face looked ghostly white.

Her horse reared up in its panic. Meera held as best she could onto the yvas, but she was much too small and weak in the change of angle to hold on. Meera was thrown from her horse. It didn't bode well for her future if on her first major trek she was thrown from her ride, but Patros would deal with that later. Most important was getting Meera onto his horse, up and away from Glassbeaks.

Ah! there it was - a red blob bounding across the plains with no real talent for stealth. He fired two arrows, missing both times.

Meera sat on her rear surrounded by tall shards of emerald. She had a child's bow and arrow she was learning, and she mimicked Patros, nocking the arrow in the bowstring. She hadn't nearly the talent nor the skill to quickly aim and draw, so she lined up her shot. The bird was still rather far away, but it was getting closer. She ran down a list of her stance, - realizing she was still sitting down and rather breathless from her fall she had to withdraw the bow to stand. Once her stance was perfected, she raised her bow as Patros fired off another arrow as his horse walked closer to her. She aimed at the bird, coming at the group in a full out run.

"I don't see any others, just the one. This could be alright." Patros assured. He felt it too, in his gut. They would be okay. If anything, they might distract it with the riderless filly. Meera was certainly still small enough ride with Patros when she would tire of walking.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Aren on March 1st, 2012, 3:26 pm

Aren had done this dance enough times to keep his cool, even under the most dire of circumstances. Meera's recklessness took him by surprise, however, as he galloped ahead of the trio. The akalak grimaced, knowing that the glassbeaks that stalked them would pounce on her the moment they realized that she was straying from the safety of the herd, so to speak. Unfortunately, he couldn't do much to to try to help her, far as she already was. Fortunately for the little drykas, her guardian was on top of the situation, giving chase immediately.

When the the girl was thrown from her mount, that seemed to signal to the predators that she was simply too stupid not be eaten. At this, a blazing shape revealed itself, as it darted across the grassland on eager winds. Aren spotted it immediately, as he ran up to join Patros and Meera. The old drykas noticed it too, but the akalak was not convinced that the creature was alone, as he was.

"No, no... there are always more," the blue skinned giant half-whispered. It wasn't always true, of course, but it was generally the assumption you wanted to be operating under.

Aren looked around, daring to take his eyes off the running beast for a second, attempting to discern whether the creature had brought it's friends to the party. He couldn't see anything, infravision or not, but that didn't necessarily put them in the clear. For now, however, he knew they needed to deal with the more pressing concern of fending off the glassbeak they could see.

Unstrapping his scythe, Aren stepped a few feet in front of the drykas child, weapon soon in hand. He didn't really give much thought to the fact that he was putting his life on the line for strangers. That was just who he was, much to his Other's eternal chagrin.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Meera on March 1st, 2012, 8:23 pm

Aren should count his lucky stars that Meera was so intent and focused.

It was dangerous to walk in front of a child with a weapon aimed in one's direction, but to walk and stand, prepping himself for his own battle?

Was he planning on... protecting her? Meera dropped her bow and cocked her head to the side, to demonstrate with body language the question she asked herself. Standing up she barely reached Aren's thigh, but she would not stand for this. Meera was an Ankal's daughter! She killed before she was even born! A giant, as creepy as his eyes were, would not be her defender.

She charged at Aren and in a stroke of "genius", without any planning, darted around his legs, raising her bow. She fired an arrow, making a show of it for Aren's benefit.

At the same time, Patros had fired his -- and an arrow lodged itself in the weak knee of the Glassbeak, causing it to stumble and roll, a fury of squawks and gobbles before righting itself. Meera beamed proudly. That was her arrow, she was sure of it. The crazy Drykas child even dared a step towards the Glassbeak. In a flash Patros was dismounted and scooping her up. She got a savage slap to the back of the head as she was mounted on his mare. An icy gaze from Patros usually warm eyes gave her pause, but she would still fire her arrows atop the horse. She was pouting, upset that the men didn't think she could defend herself. She was a daughter of Zulrav and Semele - the earth and wind. You could not stop the wind from blowing no more than you could stop the mountains from reaching the sky, and no one could stop fearless Meera.

Patros was mumbling in vague Pavi as he joined Aren's side.
"Remind me to buy you perfume." Under the loud, close, calls of the Glassbeak still charging towards them, Patros could hear a secondary call. He cursed - loudly.

Meera shot an arrow, missing the Glassbeak entirely, but it did not falter her courage or pride. She continued to fire, despite the tightness in her shoulders and the bruising in her ribs from her fall. Patros had to smile at that. The girl was relentless. At least Patros managed a few more hits with his arrow before the other one bounded into sight.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Aren on March 1st, 2012, 10:59 pm

As Meera just barely stepped into his field of vision, Aren eyes went wide with disbelief. The damn child had stepped between him and a glassbeak, leaving him unable to do pretty much of anything with his cumbersome weapon while, simultaneously, presenting a perfect target for said glassbeak.

The akalak was about grab her by the scruff of the neck and force her to stay behind him, when Patros did it for him, adding some pain for good measure. As his gaze returned to the charging beast, he noticed that it had taken a nasty tumble, courtesy of an arrow to the knee.

Aren nodded his acknowledgement of Patros, something that was not easily given, only to realize that they were not out of danger by a damn sight. The glassbeak soon found it's legs again, and the sound of another of the winged monstrosities didn't bode well for the situation.

"I thought this was going to be one of the good days..." Aren said, cursing his own damnable fortune.

Patros continued to connect on the powerful body of the first of the giant birds, but the creature seemed to weather the attacks fairly well. His friend was likely going to try and flank them, tried and true as that glassbeak tactic was.

The akalak braced himself for the inevitable attack, doing his best to keep an eye on both of the fast moving predators. He could tell which was the injured one (which was the one they should focus on), despite them both looking pretty much the same to him, because it was also the slowest one. Glassbeaks had a sort of animal cunning, but they weren't smart enough to fake an injury in order to confuse their prey. At least... Aren seriously prayed to all the gods whose names he knew that they weren't.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Meera on March 1st, 2012, 11:20 pm

Meera was shouting. It was nonsensical, and in half-Pavi, half-Common. She was of the mind that shouting things was going to better her aim or skill, shooting off her arrows with hopes and prayers. A second one was on its way and Meera was running low on her quiver. She couldn't get her stance right, naturally because she was on a horse, and she kept shifting her weight in the yvas, trying to adjust her posture, and thus her aim. Patros' mare was getting frustrated, unsure what the young one was trying to tell it.

Where as the first Glassbeak, the injured one, was coming for them head-on, the second one was making its way to the side, almost behind Meera. She certainly couldn't aim behind herself, and nudging the horse as she tried to settle herself did move the mare's legs, and Meera quieted, much to Patros' relief, to hold gently and politely coax the mare to turn around.

Patros was getting better. Two more lodged themselves into the feathers and meat of the bird, and blood was dripping with more fervency now from the wounds.

"Finish him, Akalak. That other one is --" Patros turned to the direction the bird had gone to flank them, and found it much closer to Meera and his mare than he liked. Patros gave a loud, shrill whistle and both mare and filly approached the elder Drykas.

Meera reached into her quiver and found her last arrow, aiming at the close bright bird of orange. If she could shoot it in the eye, that would kill it, right? It was a shame she hadn't the accuracy for something like that, but it would be really awesome if she could do it. She knew when she grew up she would tell this story differently. She would definitely fell her first Glassbeak with an arrow to the eye at fifty yards. No! Ninety yards!

She loosed her final arrow, praying to who ever she could remember. Zulrav, to ensure the winds stayed strong and carried her arrow far; Semele, to crumble the earth underneath its feet, and to those gods and goddesses Meera had yet to learn she mainly wished much death upon the glassbeak - by her hand. May the sun burn his feathers! May his heart stop, dead!

Patros fired his arrow moments later. Meera's naturally missed, but had managed to get surprisingly close enough to graze the bird. Patros was running out of arrows. Aren had best hurry the petch up.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Aren on March 2nd, 2012, 1:58 pm

Aren knew that the best thing to do was to finish off the one that was wounded, but he realized that if he went off to do that, then he would leave his companions in danger from the other one. In a split second, he made his decision.

"No! I'll take care of the other one. Take Meera... and go," he wasn't asking, he was telling.

The akalak knew that the wounded glassbeak wouldn't be able to catch one of those drykas horses in it's condition, but his friend certainly would have been able to. So, in his mind, his task was simple: kill, or at least deal a similar wound to this second glassbeak. If he did that, Aren thought, he would have succeeded. On top of that, if he were to be killed and subsequently made a meal of by the two giant birds, then that would mean they were not likely to give chase to the ones that had gotten away. This had been an easy choice to make, for once.

Aren darted off to intercept the second glassbeak that was incoming on their flank. Scythe out in hand, he hoped that the first thing the beast tried to do was take a snap at him on the run, because he was going to separate it's legs from it's body if it tried to do that. Unfortunately, the winged bastard was smarter than that, recognizing that Aren was a threat best not rushed towards.

The creature slowed down in it's approach, recognizing that it's flank had failed, and that it needed to rethink it's stratagem. Being an animal, however, it's list of tactics were not all that diverse and it soon decided that blue was as good a color for meat as any.

As the glassbeak charged, Aren knew that letting it pass was not an option. If the beast missed him, it would certainly continued onward toward his traveling companions, and there would be no way for him to catch up to it.

The akalak himself charged forward, trying to catch the creature by surprise. Certainly glassbeaks were not accustomed to their prey running toward them, instead of away from them, he thought. The idea seemed to have merit, as the bird slowed slightly, it's head rising in puzzlement. This delay lasted for only a moment, however, before it figured that a free meal was not something you turned your nose up at.

As akalak and glassbeak met, Aren juked to the side, jutting his scythe out in front of the beast's legs. The creature, confused by the maneuver, found it's long craning neck and it's body gong in different directions. It's head snapped at it's prey, it's razor-sharp beak clipping him on the cheek, but it's momentum carried it forward into Aren's waiting scythe. Fortunately, for the bird's sake, it's foe's tactic had not been completely successful, and the creature merely tumbled to the grass as it's legs met the barrier at it's feet.

The plan had been to slice at least one leg clean off the glassbeak, but it merely sported some cuts and bruises as it rolled around on the ground, squawking madly. Aren growled at his failure, but all was not lost yet, as he had proven to the beast that he was a threat that simply could not be ignored.
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[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Meera)

Postby Meera on March 2nd, 2012, 3:48 pm

Patros' mouth was in a hard tight line across his face. His eyes had narrowed into slits as he stared at Aren's fight with the glassbeak. Aren had some courage, Patros realized, to fight so close to a beast of their calibre, but at the same time --

"Patros! The other one! It's not dead!" Patros shot a glance up to Meera on the horse and then quickly spun around to see the glassbeak. Quite slow, yes. Patros could send the horses away and he could meet up with them later, but no. Meera had to witness the devastation of the glassbeaks. She had to learn what they were capable of. The child may never fear them because she was foolish and headstrong, but she would be made to understand how much of a threat they were. Sending her away from the fight would only serve to show her to run and hide, and that was not Patros' message.

"Stay up there and just watch!" He ordered, disobeying Aren's order. While it was true the Akalaks had to defeat their first Glassbeak at fifteen, it did not mean they were particularly skilled at it, Patros was sure. After all, Aren had neglected the kill of a wounded beast so they could fight two birds instead of one. A wounded Glassbeak was just as dangerous as one at full strength, and even still dangerous when they were dead.

He loosed an arrow, managing to lodge it in the Glassbeak's neck.
"Thank Zulrav," he spoke softly, praising the god that kept his arrow straight. The beast bled heavily but still it lumbered forward. The noise behind him was loud and distracting, and he cast a gaze to Meera to ensure she was still as she was a minute ago.

Meera was leaning forward, practically prone on the mare as she watched Aren tumble with the orange beast. She was so interested in the back and forth, until she heard the twang of Patros' bowstring again. The bird was shot in the neck, the knee and lower on his chest. The bird's calls were hollow and wet sounding as the bird's lungs filled with blood. Now that was iinteresting.

With morbid curiosity she watched as the bird lost its hold on life, wings twitching, jaw moving for silent calls. Blood flowed at a slowing pulse from the orange bird five feet away from Patros and the mare until it finally drained, not concerned for pulse or throb to help it bleed.

Patros turned back to Aren to see how he was faring. Aren did not appear gravely injured, or injured at all from what Patros could see, which was good. Patros would not leave him behind in any case. Since Patros didn't trust his skill with the bow as Aren fought close, Patros reached into his small sheath at his side and removed his jade dagger, ready to brawl with the sharding beast. The dagger was maybe ten inches in length and a gnarled, almost serated looking blade of jade. The hilt was hard leather and iron and it gave him a solid, reassuring weight in his hand. He would simply wait until Aren provided him with an opportunity to join the fray.

Up on the horse, Meera cheered as Aren fought.
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