Closed [GST] The Trials of Travel

[Imass]

Winter 32, 515 AV

Through pure flight instinct, Faradae was able to escape the treacherous bog full of Yukman to the west of Nyka. In the midst of being ambushed, she shifted into bird form and flew away. Alas, she was not able to dodge danger without dropping a single parchment in the mud, consumed by the bog never to be read by mortal eyes. Hiding in the trees north of the bogs, Faradae was able to find shelter high in the canopy for the night.

The following day, the bogs continued for fifty more miles and the Kelvic would have to stop for rest in the trees to stay safe. Down below in the mud, Yukman roamed during the hottest part of the day, usually killing each other or wandering until they sank back into the bog from which they came. Once the Yukman were gone the avian species returned to feast on what little remained or eat eels and deformed fish.

On the tail end of her second day flying, Faradae finally passed over the bogs and found herself into a thickly wooded area with rolling hills and shallow valleys. To the south the thick black clouds and lightening could still be seen, but they seemed to be moving along with her (westward). Other than the change in landscape, nothing of note occurred on the second day traveling.

On the Kelvic's third day flying, she reached the point in her journey that she needed to begin flying south, according to her memories of the maps. The clouds were steadily blowing west and if she squinted really, really hard she could see a sliver of gray sky far to the east on the tail end of the storm. Pausing for a break in a tall oak tree, Faradae thoughtfully made her next move.

oocNo worries, I am totally alright with that Great post btw! In your next post try to focus on Wilderness survival and navigation skill points. My post is meant for you to make a survival/navigation decision on wether to fly into the storm, wait for it to pass, or continue westward further towards the coast.

[Faradae]

Faradae Luck was on Faradae’s side and it was only its random favour that allowed for the bird to escape the moor’s icy grip. She fled west, into the lurking presence of dusking sunset. She turned slightly north to find a safe haven for the night, landing on the highest branches of a tree in an area where the wetness of the ground had given way to withered grass, undergrowth and crooked trees. The greenery was sparse in the middle of winter, but she made do with it. There was much to consider. Was journeying worth the trouble, the heartbeats and the fear? Was this journey worth it? She could still turn back, she was only a day in. But there was something that made her urge to go on. If a single day of wilderness was enough to eliminate her spirits, she was not worth living in the safety of town, and she could not imagine stepping back into her parents’ home, admitting easy defeat. No. She had gotten away with little more than a scare and the loss of one third of her delivery, which hurt more than any scratch she might have caught in the frenzy. She was troubled when night fell, and she squinted into the darkness, sleepless. When nothing stirred, there were a few hours of closed eyes and slow breathing, but at dawn, she did not feel recovered. Her dreams had been unsettling. The next day and the night that followed, she kept to the trees for rest. She had not forgotten about the moving foliage she’d seen the very first day and the thought kept her vigilant, but up to now, the trees had done less to harm her than the rest of the environment had. She remained unharmed. As she ventured further, she kept clear of the creatures she saw below, more Yukmen and some specimen she could not identify. When hunger began to gnaw at her insides, she sought the trails of smaller animals. There weren’t many she could track, impaired both by the coldness of the season and the presence of the monsters in the area, but some small animals hid in the reeds, and her familiarity with the marshland helped her notice a small irregularity towards the end of day two, when she was nearing the southern end of the forsaken marsh and trees began to fill in the spaces between the shrinking puddles, standing at first like crooked scarecrows in an abandoned field. It was a small opossum that had strayed north, frantically searching a way back into its forest. Its whitish-brown coat hardly stood out against the greyed environment, but its movements caught Faradae’s eye, and she did not hesitate to dispatch the poor creature, hungry as she was. At a different time and in a different place, she might have called the mammal “cute”, but there and then, she was a hungry buzzard, and hungry birds did not care whether their food was soft and cuddly. They cared whether it was edible, which the opossum was. She was well into the rolling hills of Western Sylira around noon of the third day. It was time to fly south, into the general direction of the continent’s name-giving city, before she passed over the Talderan border, especially since a fortunate breeze had sped her flight westwards, saving her a bell or two of struggling. She regretted leaving the helpful wind behind, especially since she’d have to consider some drift when she crossed it, but anything was better than a storm to blow into her delicate face. A storm. The moment the thought crossed her mind, clouds began to gather on the horizon and the wind increased, like a denial of her hopes, like an omen of hopelessness. She landed in a large tree below, leafless and scarce. A decision was due. Would she try to go on, or would she rest and wait for the weather to pass? After a bit of consideration, she decided for the former. She could not see any lightning striking within the storm clouds, and she could deal with a bit of rainfall. After all, she’d be soaked anyways, even if she sat down and waited. The naked trees would not grant her much shelter, and she tried not to spend too much time in one place after what had occurred back in the marshes. The wilderness required quick learning. If the rain became too much for her to spread her wings and fly on, or if the flurry threatened to throw her hat around, she could still land. Into the storm she flew, hoping for the best, trying not to think of the worst that could happen. There was a small, silent prayer, too. She was not sure it would do her any good, but she felt like this situation was bound to raise some complications, no matter her decisions.

[Imass]

Deciding to keep moving forward, Faradae flew into the fray of the storm. Within a bell of flying southward, the temperature began to decrease sharply. Ahead of her the humongous black clouds twisted and rolled like Laviku's most treacherous waves. The wind began to pick up, blowing westward. If she as to keep on a southern track, she would have to fly vigorously to not be overtaken by winds. She could hear the thunder now too. The splinters of lightening could be seen rather vividly now, dancing amid the blackness. From her vantage point now, she could not see much hail or snow, but she would soon be in the thick of it within a couple Bells.

Faradae took pause once again in the branches of a tree to get a breather. The sky all before her was black, though it was not raining or snowing. Behind her, fleeing sunlight and white clouds could still be seen. Suddenly, an ominous, other-worldly cry could be heard to the south (in the storm). The vibration was carried by the wind and slowly trailed off as the wind died down, ceasing for a moment.

Things were starting to get very real with the storm, but she still had a chance to escape back north. Would it be worth it? Maybe. Nothing could be certain in the wilds. She would have to add two days to her trip if she doubled back, which would make her more susceptible to danger. Or would she face the storm head on?

[Faradae]

Faradae The bird of prey breathed as deep as her beak would allow as the considered her options. she could head back, certainly, but she saw no point. The storm might catch her anyways, if its night increased further, and she would have to pass south eventually if she ever waned to reah Syliras. Going back would certainly cost her time, and with small shock she realised that she had no time to lose at all, thanks to the bargain she had made with the innkeeper back in Nyka. The scream she'd heard had unsettled her, of course, but basing decisions on the sounds she heard out here would be foolish, or so she told herself. The first time she'd been surprised by foes, nothing had told her to be beware beforehand. Back north, just as much danger might lurk as it did here, and as long as she didn't know what was filling the air with such unpleasant tones, she forced herself to ignore it and go on. The lightning was more of a problem. She knew that high objects tended to be struck by lightning, her parents had warned her not to stray into the fields during storms often enough as a child. She'd heard enough gruesome stories about people being fried to death to beware of the simple power of nature. If she'd been capable of clenching any teeth, she'd have done so. Instead, she cluched the now-slippery leather of the letter casing a bit stronger, fluffed up her down feathers, shook the water out of her face and took off again, keeping lower than the crowns of the trees, constantly evading the bony frames of the once-green forest. After a few more bells of flapping against the the storm, a blast threw her slightly sideways, and the first flurry of snow stuck itself to her breast and face, a most unwelcome experience. She shivered from the cold sensation, even her feathers couldn't block the temperature completely. A thought crossed her mind, 'At least I'm not burnt.' Unlike what she'd seen in Nyka, this snow seemed completely normal, and she could only hope it would not increase in strength. She'd heard a couple more frightening sounds, and in a corner of her mind, she feared that whatever was causing them was aware of her presence in its domain. She silently prayed that she was only imagining it. Next came a wet thump, and the horrible realization that the letters had escaped her slippery grip.

[Imass]

The thump that hit Faradae sent her package hurtling away down below. Luckily for her, the weight of the carrier container was enough to keep it from flying away into the wind.

The bird of prey needed to flap really hard to gain stability again in the torrential winds. A bolt of lightening struck the ground below her. For a single second she was able to see in ultra clear definition the scene: below her she saw exactly where the letter carrier had landed, because there was an awful creature picking them up. For a split moment, she saw a terrible humanoid with huge bat like wings stoop over and get them. It was wearing thick hairy fur and was clad with a longsword at it's hip.

Another bolt of lightening struck and she saw the the Zith was looking into the letter carrier now. Darkness came over again and the shrieking sound occurred once again, this time from up above her. More lightening illuminated the sky this time for a few seconds. The Zith down below now had the carrier around his neck. It drew it's longsword and was staring directly at Faradae (or perhaps right past her). If she chose to look behind her, she would see nothing but darkness.

The screaming was getting closer now, the Kelvic needed to make a move.

[Faradae]

Faradae Faradae was not too sure what on earth (or beyond) the creature on the ground was, but she was certain that it wasn’t her ally. Much like Pearly and his friends, it was a sight to behold – A flash of lightning revealed its grotesque form, almost humanoid, but also an animal, both human and bat. Much like a Kelvic, the thought crossed her mind, but somewhat stuck in between. The way the creature moved was feral, but the sword at its hip indicated intelligence, which was bad. Outrunning brute force was one thing, dealing with a skilled and smart opponent who happened to have snatched her delivery was a whole different story. Muttering an internal curse, Faradae stopped in her tracks. Fighting against the storm had mostly lost its appeal, even while flapping with all her strength, the currents drove her backwards rather than moving her forward. It was exhausting, it was useless, it got her cold and soaked, and right now, without her letters, she was headed nowhere anyways. Another shriek pierced the sky, shrill above the storm. She instinctively turned her head, but the storm clouds hid whatever had caused the scream. She guessed for it to be a second specimen of the fellow who’d found her letters, if it wasn’t something worse. Maybe it was better to not see whatever lingered above. She somehow doubted her luck, but there was a faint chance that its eyesight was no better than her own and that in turn, it would have as hard a time spotting her as she had spotting it, at least as long as no lightning conveniently struck a tree below. She glided to the ground as silently as she could, which was harder than expected with what little weight she had to put against the wind. She had little choice if she wanted to regain her valuable letters, she could either charge right ahead or try to communicate with the beast, she latter of which she decided to equal suicide. So while the Zith extracted the first letter from the case with interest, she surged forward, diving with all she had, with more force than one would expect such a little bird to have, and tried to snatch the leather object and its precious content out of the horrible beast’s claw-like fingers before it even realized she was coming.

[Imass]

Faradae barreled down to snatch the container from the Zith. As she plummeted, darkness filled the sky momentarily between the flashes of lightening. In one flicker, the creature was far away and the next he was right up against the bird of prey. Because Faradae did not take this into account she crashed into the Zith. Luckily for her though, the Zith cared for the Kelvic not in the slightest.

"HUUUH" The Zith exhaled as he thrashed Faradae aside and continued to ascend, albeit much more slowly than the bird of prey.

Darkness ensued again and the loud clash of metal could be heard. The sky was lit once again in an epic, brilliant display. Faradae could now see two Zith's duking it out with long swords above her. It was a truly terrifying thing to witness as they were surrounding by thunder and lightening and fought savagely. There was a heated feud between them that Faradae new not of. They fought for merely a chime but the energy from their encounter filled the whole area with incredible heat.

Darkness over came the area again and nothing could be seen. Suddenly two thumps could he heard, one after another. When the lightening flared up again, two Ziths laid motionless on the ground...

[Faradae]

Faradae The eagle swayed precariously as the black monstrosity cast her aside, careless as if she were a dry leaf. For a moment, she struggled to keep her altitude, but she was running out of strength, and performed another unglamorous landing. And while the Zith fought above her head, she slowly picked herself up, folded and unfolded her wings once or twice to check for bruises, shook her head in a failed attempt to clear the headache that was beginning to pulse at the inner walls, then craned her neck to witness the fight for a tick when lightning struck again in ferocious beauty. One of the Zith, presumably the one that had stolen her pouch, hissed wordlessly as its opponent drove a sword well into its side. It didn’t look like it would last much longer. Its opponent didn’t seem to be much better off, though – one wing was badly severed and its movements had visibly slowed. Faradae tore her eyes from the view and concentrated on getting away from the danger zone by hopping behind a cluster of crooked trees. Under any normal circumstance, they would have provided little shelter, but she could not hope to find anything significantly better in her current condition and the injured creatures still fighting above might be too busy with themselves to pick up on her, if they cared to in the first place. It was her best bet. If they grew hungry from their little battle, and the wounds didn’t keep them from looking, she would probably end up as their meal. With a shudder, she shook the thought away and instinctively crouched into a ball as small as she could muster. She did not have to hold out for long, but to her, the chimes ticked by slow as maple syrup. After a small personal eternity, she heard a thump, followed shortly after by a second. She opened her eyes and extended her neck, carefully peeking from behind her scrawny shelter. The opponents lay motionless, but her instincts told her to run nonetheless. For all she knew, they might have been well awake and ready to strike at anything that came too close, helpless eagles included. It was with much unease and great caution that she finally inched closer, after staring at the bodies for a full five chimes, ensuring that they did not move by a whisker, ready to back away if any danger arose. The letters were very important to her, but she decided that her life still had priority. She could always fly to Syliras, never mention the letters and simply not return, as much as she’d resent that. The letter case was still around one creature’s neck, she had missed it the first time, or had been cast away before she could tear it off. There was no way she could move the beast’s head without shifting and even if she had been able to, something kept her from touching the Zith. Instead, she pecked at the leather strip securing the container and destroyed it faster than she herself had expected. At least her beak was useful for something. Snatching the leather object in her talons, she fluttered back into the ghostly forest with great effort and did not look back. She had taken nothing else from the Zith, nor tried to get a closer look at the fearsome creatures. She just hoped that they would not wake and remember her. Half a bell later, later than she cared to know, she finally found a relatively dry spot in the hollow trunk of a dying oak, where she would wait for the storm to pass. Wet and tired, but with the small victory of having recovered her delivery, she fell into a shallow sleep.

[Rufio]

G R A D E

xp

Observation +5
Wilderness Survival +2
Running +1
Endurance +2
Hunting +1
Logic +2
Tactics +2
Stealth +1


lores

Vysia Prakmat: Stern, but courteous, innkeeper
Finding a dry place to land amid swamps
Sylir: God of peace & civilization
Tactics: Changing forms to escape a foe’s grasp
Yukmen: Monsters spawned of land
Endurance: Keep going by refusing to admit defeat
Hunting: Identifying an opossum by sight
Flying in a storm
High objects tend to be struck by lightning
Tactics: Diving on a foe to surprise attack from the sky
Stealth: Hide in the brush
Zith: A race of vicious, furry, winged humanoid beasts
Wilderness Survival: Find shelter to wait out a storm

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