Shelter for the Day (Solo)

[Scorn]

37th Summer, 512 (late night) Scorn was exhausted, not to mention lost. She had lost track of how long it had been when the storm of storms had taken her sister away, and she had left to find her. Crossing that great big pool of water had been an adventure in itself; with no place to land she hadn't been sure she'd make it across. Also, something about having to hunt down every single meal by herself was just starting to take its toll. She was thoroughly lost, and didn't think she could make it back to her colony even if she tried to turn around. It was more out of weariness than curiosity that one night she finally landed in front of a large, strangely shaped rock. But then the rock spoke, and curiosity was in full force. The words were out of her mouth before she could think to stop them. "Holy petch a talking rock!" She did not think about its question right away; the phenomenon of a piece of dead stone that could form words was fascinating enough in itself. And it was definitely stone; however alive it looked, it had no scent beyond that of the moss growing on its face. She flew around the rock, inspecting it from every angle she could get to, but she could see no place from which sound might originate, could detect no hiding place for a human to play tricks from, could neither hear nor smell anything that could have spoken those words. She was disappointed that she had not uncovered the mystery of the talking rock, but she could not think of what else to try. In any case, it was getting late, and the sun would rise before long. That opening below the talking rock should make a decent shelter. She landed in front of the opening, peering inside. The tunnel was long, straight, and abandoned. She walked in a ways, and after realizing that no patch of stone was different from any other, shrugged and plopped down onto the floor, where she slept the day away.

[Scorn]

38th Summer, 512 (early night) Like most evenings, Scorn awoke alarmed to not smell her brethren surrounding her. It took a few moments for her to remember: she had left them to seek her lost sister. A few more moments and she remembered the events of the previous night, the funny talking rock and the little cave. She stood and stretched, deciding to explore the eerily smooth tunnel a bit more before hunting up some breakfast. Before long, she emerged into forest again. She thought the tunnel had just led through the hill there a bit, but then she heard the familiar voice of the rock. She spun around; sure enough, it was the same rock face, or at least an identical one. The Zith girl sighed. She must have gotten turned around somehow. Oh well. She could explore again later, but for now she was getting hungry. She took to the air with powerful beats of her wings, getting high enough to see for miles. She looked down and made sure she would be able to find her way back to the giant stone face; it was a safe place to rest, and she was not quite finished exploring its mysteries. It was so strange, hunting just for herself. No matter how long she did it, she would never get used to it. She struggled to find game that was the right size to fill her up, without being too big, because now there was no one else to finish the rest. Rabbits were too small, and quick; fun to hunt as a child, but not something she wanted to waste her energy on tonight. Deer were more meat than she could finish, and she did not really like hunting such boring and predictable prey. As she glided above the forest, she heard a yipping sort of howl. She smiled to herself as she recognized a food source that she wouldn’t mind eating. She flapped her wings a few times and steered toward the source of the sound. The coyotes were some distance off, and after a chime, she wasn’t quite sure she was moving toward them anymore, but luckily, they howled again, and this time she was close enough that she could pick out the heartbeat closest to the sound. There were two of them, obscured beneath the trees, but now that she could hear them, it was easier to spot movement in the sparse gaps between the leaves. She maneuvered herself downwind to more easily track their scent without being detected herself. Catching one might be tricky though. She was used to hunting on the plains, where she could swoop down and rake her prey with claws before they had a chance to react, but there was no room for her to do that this time. She landed in the upper branches of a tree, trying to get closer without making herself vulnerable, and plotting her next move. Unfortunately, she landed rather awkwardly, causing the leaves of the tree to rustle loudly. The coyotes’ ears pricked up, and the hurried away from the possible competition-or-predator. Scorn released a subsonic growl of frustration before deciding that she may have to follow them on foot. These stupid branches were getting in her way too much. She dropped with a heavy THUD to the ground, only barely managing to use her wings to slow herself down enough to prevent injury. She set off on foot after the coyotes, wincing at every snapped twig. They would hear her coming miles away. Keeping her attention on the coyotes’ scent, she trained her eyes to the ground, finding places to plant her feet where there were fewest dry twigs or leaves. In her impatience, she still stepped quite heavily, cringing every time she did so, but from the sound of the not-too-distant heartbeats, she could tell she was slowly gaining. She finally made it close enough that they were within her sight. She began salivating at the thought of tasty meat; it had been a little too long since her last meal. Carefully taking very light steps, she crept closer to the pair, who appeared to be sniffing around for their own dinner. But one careful step was a little too careless, and the coyotes easily heard the crunch of a particularly crisp pile of dead leaves. Being about ready to kill something, possibly the leaves for making so much noise, Scorn gave up on sneaking and sprinted full-tilt toward the pair. The coyotes were both frightened by the big monster coming toward them, but they reacted in different ways. One took off running at top speed, and the other stood its ground, hackles raised, hissing and snarling. With a feral grin, she targeted the one who was foolish enough to not move. She barrelled into it, slashing at it with her claws. It tried to fight back, it’s own scrabbling paws sending thin ribbons of red down Scorn’s limbs. When it went for her throat, she barely put her arm up in time, so that its jaws clamped down on her wrist instead. She shoved herself forward, trying to knock the beast off-balance. Balancing herself with her wings, she stuck with her clawed feet, attempting to disembowel the animal. The thing yipped in pain, but did not let up on it’s grip. Finally, the Zith just grabbed it by the throat, squeezing with her clawed hand until it’s jaws slackened. When the coyote stopped struggling, Scorn sat down to enjoy her meal. She ripped the skin off the animal in shreds, not liking the fuzzy taste of fur in her meat. She devoured the beast’s flesh ravenously her hunger not sated until she had left only the absolute least-appealing morsel’s behind. Covered in blood and feeling satisfied, she left the coyote remains where they were as she took flight, shooting up through a thin place in the branches to get to the sky above. Now all that remained to do was find her way back to that strange rock...

[Scorn]

She tried to remember what direction she’d come from, but she was completely turned around. She was paralyzed with the fear that she would never find her way back. Any direction she chose could be the wrong path, and she’d never find the landmarks she’d so carefully picked out. Suddenly, she had a brilliant idea. Search ALL the directions! If she flew in circles, going slowly outward she should find something she recognized eventually! A few bells later, she hated this plan. She had been flying around for AGES, not sticking to her planned search pattern very well at all, with no idea where she was. She was starting to feel sleepy. She was about to give up and drop out of the sky, when her eye caught a sight she had committed to memory. She dove toward the strange face-rock in excitement and relief, almost not pulling up in time. She plowed into the ground, sending up a spray of dirt and leaves, but she managed to slow herself down before she slammed into the rock itself. A rosy tinge was starting to grace one corner of the sky as Scorn moved toward the rock which would serve as her new shelter. The sound of a voice emanating from the rock startled her awake, and it took her a moment to remember that the rock had said the same thing yesterday. Why was she here? With a tone of annoyance, she snapped, “I’m just looking for shelter, stupid rock.” Then she entered the tunnel, trying to find a good place to sleep. She wandered in, deciding on a whim to go farther back than she had before. She was gripped by a sudden curiosity to see what lay on the other side...

[Fallacy]

XP Award! Name:Scorn XP Award: Investigation- 1 Hunting- 3 Tracking- 3 Unarmed Combat- 2 Lore: Alvadas Gates: The Talking Stone Hunting for Oneself Stalking Prey Notes: Be careful in Alvadas. They are not exactly trusting of Zith, especially one that is still covered in the blood of last nights meal. I enjoyed the parts of the hunt, and if you want more Unarmed Combat xp for fighting the Cyote then feel free to add more description to the fight. Otherwise, it was a great story and good first thread. Welcome to Alvadas. Any questions or concerns about the rewards gained please send a PM