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Red Lodge
Topic Started: Jul 31 2016, 11:23 PM (287 Views)
Karas
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Level 5 Commoner
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
Tair awoke with a start, a hand flying to his swords before he remembered where he was. The burning knight removed his hands from their hilts with an irritated hiss, inaudible over the hiss of the flash-boiled snow that he lay in. It had been a week since they'd come to this place, the cabin in the snowy wastes. He'd only almost burned the place down once before they came to the decision that he should sleep outside, the snow would blunt the heat should he be disturbed in his sleep.

It was still irksome. He shook himself free of the slurry and aggitated water before making his rounds. It was still barely light, the sun only just coming over the horizon. He was careful to keep his distance from the traps they had lain, conscious of the dangers his heat might bring if they disturbed the snow around them or the traps themselves. There'd been no sign of the monsters he'd feared they would find, but other wildlife had made itself known.

It had been quiet even with those occasional disturbances. The girl was... she was odd company. Comforting and awkward, but at least she seemed to have gotten past any fears of him. For the most part, at least. He hadn't had another episode, and Tair was very conscious of the fact that should he have one here she would have to run. But She had been quiet. It was almost relaxing.

He'd forgotten what it felt like to relax.

He settled on the porch, lowering himself to sit on the step with a metallic thud. He was content to watch the sun rise, he doubted that Mandy was awake just yet. The girl was a rather heavy sleeper.
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DarkSavior77
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I Am The Undying One
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Cold. What was cold this time? Did the blankets shift too far off after a small roll sometime in the night? She cracked an eye open to survey the room she was in. Slightly dark, just beginning to lighten. The fireplace in front of her was dark and cold. Mandy reached down to tug the blanket free from around a leg to cover herself properly, curling into a ball and shivering. It was too cold, never warm really inside the cabin unless the fireplace was lit. And even then, the corners were always cold. Only in front where she was sleeping on the floor ever stayed warm. The fire probably went out earlier last night when she slept. She thought she had fed it well enough to last. Mandy brought her head under the blanket to warm her ears and nose as well as heat up her body with her trapped breath. Murk was lucky. At first, maybe not so much with all the metal in him. The first thing to seize was his knee. It rendered him to a permanent limp while he was there. But he complied, dealt with it. His left hand went numb. He had to remove the piercings in his ears or risk frost bite. And then the headaches. They came with a vengeance. And no thanks to the metal plate in his scalp to reinforce his skull over his right ear. The voices, the anger, all the effects of his possession doubled. It actually took a bit of begging from both Mandy and Murk to get him sent back to archives. And that just left her and Tair. She wanted badly to handle the invasive species issue but...
So damn cold...
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Karas
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[ *  *  *  *  * ]
The sun had crested the horizon finally when Tair decided to check in the house. The door opened smoothly and, more importantly, quietly. He didn't want to risk waking the other occupant. That was when he noticed that the house was frigid, or at least he noted the absence of heat. It took him a bare minute to realize that was a problem, so used to being immune to the cold that he didn't even think of Mandy until he noted the frost on the table.

Quickly as he dared without making a ruckus he entered the main room, noting the bundle of blankets in front of the dead fire. Wordlessly he grabbed fresh logs and set them in the fireplace, holding them in place as his gauntlets heated to become red hot. The logs caught after a moment and Tair remained crouching in front of the fire to make sure it stayed lit. Couldn't be sure in the cold places of the world.

Once he was sure it would stay lit, he reluctantly turned to set a hand on where he thought Mandy's shoulder was, looking her over to make sure she wasn't freezing.
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DarkSavior77
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Mandy thought she heard something, or maybe she was hearing things. She kept her head ducked down tightly against her, washing over herself with hot breath to fill the void under the blanket with her in a half sleep. It wasn't until she heard more noise, like cracking and hissing, that she began to stir. The fire had been dead. She smelled smoke. That was the sound of fire catching.
Did something break?
Mandy threw the blanket off in a rush, sitting up quickly and cursing the cold that instantly rushed in to sap the heat from her. Did an oil lamp break? What caught fire? The girl stood there, blanket falling and pooling around her feet from being flung up, fully clothed. More than clothed, she was wearing the heavy jacket and a smaller one under it. it was probable that she even wore two or three different socks and her flannel pajama bottoms under the thick olive green cargo pants she wore. Her arms dropped to her sides as she felt the worry and tension in her body suddenly leave her in a slightly dizzied state.
"Thought the cabin caught fire," she muttered.
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Karas
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Tair chuckled at her muted tone and patted her shoulder, "No worry, just warm." The knight turned his head and stared into the flames, willing them to burn hotter and suffuse the room with warmth. Between his presence in the room and the burning fire, the room would be toasty in only a matter of moments.

Tair settled back after that, carefully adjusting to sit with his legs tucked under him as he watched the girl. He wondered just what to do now, even after the time they'd spent he hadn't gotten any better at interacting with her. He tried to think about what to say, what to do... he didn't know her morning routine, or whether he could help with any of it.

So he sat there, watching and providing warmth.
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DarkSavior77
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Tair laughed at her and gave her shoulder a pat as she shook off the scare.
"No worry, just warm." he said. Mandy let out a heavy sigh of relief before bending down to get the blanket off the floor. She crossed the room, folding it to put it in an old arm chair til night fell and she'd need use of it again. The rising heat inside the lodge prompted her to shed one of the heavy coats she was wearing as she dug through provisions for a can of food. She settled on a large can of peach halves in syrup, grabbed a fork, and a hand turned can opener. Mandy returned by the fireplace and sat down with a grunt as she hit the hardwood floor hard before fitting the opener to the edge of the can's lid and began to crank away.
"I thought killing these invasive monsters would be easier, given how aggressive they are. Thought they'd be all over us to try and swarm us. This is taking too long. I miss spring," Mandy muttered as she turned the thumbscrew in her hand to grind away at the lid. She used the fork to peel away the jagged lid to make room to spear away at the peaches inside.
"I miss proper meals too. Feels like I'm back living on the streets this way," she added as she shoved half a peach into her mouth. If Tair wasn't going to try for conversation, then she would.
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Karas
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Tair listened to her grousing with interest, as always listening more intently to how she spoke than what she was saying. Her accent was still alien, though not as odd as he had initially thought. It was lighter, less guttural than his own tongue. Pleasant, in a way, though still off to his ear at times. The sound of the... what had she called it, a can opener? That was less pleasant, and he resisted the urge to snarl at it.

"Are still only animals," he pointed out, "Aggressive, maybe, but only animals. Will be hunting for shelter, food. Not rampaging and destroying at random." The fragur had been aggressive, very aggressive, but it made sense after he thought it through. They had come when he had, and as with any animal a sudden change would alarm them. Fragur were most dangerous when scared and in pain. In truth, he was glad. The things that might wander this part of the world were far worse than mere fragur.

"Could hunt," he pointed out when she complained about the meals, briefly catching the scent of the... fruit, he assumed, she was eating. Sickly sweet, it would've set his stomach on edge had it still operated normally. He didn't like sweet things. "Would be better food, look for quarry as well. Unhgosh seek smell of decay."
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DarkSavior77
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"Are still only animals," he pointed out, "Aggressive, maybe, but only animals. Will be hunting for shelter, food. Not rampaging and destroying at random."
"Yeah but I was betting on them being animals to seek out another predator to try and get rid of competition. I'm not a plain pure human. I pissed here and there outside too- see if it got them angry," Mandy mumbled off a little as she cornered and speared another peach half. They were so sweet that each first bite made her cringe.
"Could hunt. Would be better food, look for quarry as well. Unhgosh seek smell of decay."
"Would be nice. I need protein. Damn, this canned food shit sucks," she grumbled as she scraped her fork around the inside of the can. Seemed there was nothing left for the can to give. Mandy poured the rest of the syrup down the sink drain and left the fork there for cleaning. The can was tossed into the bucket for her to compact later. The sub adult sighed as she checked over herself, making sure she had everything she wanted to bring. Cussed about how all the extra clothes meant more stuff to recover if she needed to shift forms. The last thing she grabbed was her walking stick by the door.
"I'm ready now if you are."
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Karas
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Tair waited by the door while she got ready, nodding once she was and wandering out. The biting cold didn't even come near his armor, the heat rolling off of him melting the snow as he moved into it and shrouding him in steam. He hauled back on it as best he could, the steam turning into a simple cloud of warm vapor. The armored man rolled his neck and sighed in irritation.

"Hate snow," he grumbled within his helmet, pointing into the woods, "If no sightings yet, likely avoiding cabin. Best chance of finding game as well, further in where there's cover."

He paused for a moment and shifted almost appearing embarrassed before gesturing to the cloud around himself, "Would be best if... if didn't lead. Give us away."
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DarkSavior77
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Mandy didn't think there'd be a noticeable change between inside and outside considering how frozen she was when she was sleeping. But soon as the door open the air was face numbing. It was ten times worse than at night in the cabin. It made her breath stall. Mandy gritted her teeth, pulling the warm fringe of her coat up to cover her mouth and nose. Tair looked like he had been engulfed in a cloud. The wind licked at it, swirling and pushing the steam around him in errant directions. Sometimes he was visible through it, and sometimes he was not.
"Hate snow," he complained. Mandy smirked under the coat fringe.
"How can you hate it? Can barely see it," she said, bouncing on her feet a little at the humor she found in her joke.
"If no sightings yet, likely avoiding cabin. Best chance of finding game as well, further in where there's cover." He suggested pointing ahead. Leah scanned into the trees with silvery blue eyes. A stream of hot air puffed around her face from the fringe before getting blown away.
"Would be best if... if didn't lead. Give us away."
"Oh I'll do that plenty. First thing; get far from the cabin. Then we get all sneaky sneaky," she said. She lowered her grip on the staff so it would be held off the ground.
"Ready? I hope you got good stamina!" Mandy warned. The mutt took off into a straight run into the woods, crashing through a brush in her way as she plowed through the snow. Branches tore at her clothes and dusted her with fresh white powder from the disturbance, but all it did to Mandy was cause her to jump or trample through it with abandon. Rocks were climbed with a few long strides as she used them to jump out further over the deep snow.
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Karas
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Tair snorted at her bravado, rolling his shoulders to loosen them. She wanted to know if he could keep up, that was... amusing. She would likely be faster, but he could go for days if need be. When she took off, he was directly behind her, following her steps and ignoring the seeking fingers of the brush and branches.

The first rock was interesting, large enough that he clambered over it with the scream of rock on metal. The second he avoided entirely, disappearing mid-step only to explode back onto the Plane in a burst of flame and ash just in front of Mandy, turning his head in an almost taunting manner to gaze at her over his shoulder before suddenly slamming his feet down, skidding to a stop and dropping low.

He held up a hand to stymie her inevitable question, just wordlessly pointing. They'd almost passed it with their breakneck pace. A fresh carcass, a deer. What was left of the shredded corpse had been impaled on a high tree branch, already drained of blood but leaving entrails and strings of meat hanging like a macabre decoration from the tree.

"Not good sign," Tair spoke low and quiet, "Very not good sign."
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DarkSavior77
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Mandy blinked for a second when Tair showed up suddenly in front of her. She almost swore the metal had shifted to a smile as he peeked over his shoulder at her. Mandy lowered her head, ready to put more energy towards her run and pass him up when he suddenly came to a stop. Mandy dug her heels in and put her hands out, grabbing hold of Tair's back and stopping her from slamming into him.
"What?" Mandy asked, letting go to come around the front to see what was the hold up. Her eyes traveled upwards along the bloodstained tree to the carcass.
"Whoa.." whatever put that there was either tall, strong, or both.
"Not good sign," Tair spoke low and quiet, "Very not good sign."
"Would our foreign friends be responsible for that?" Mandy asked Tair about the beasts they were hunting. She walked closer up to the dead deer hanging on the tree branch and grabbed a leg. The mutt tugged, trying to swing the body off the branch slowly. Inching it along until it slid off and fell bodily in a heap in the snow. As gory as it was, Mandy started to put the body in a sort of natural setting to inspect. The blood was all but gone, and organs left untouched aside from being pulled from the body cavity. She traced along large claw marks with her hand carefully, following the angle of the blow. A wide sweeping attack. Something with long arms.
"Normal M.O. for Unghosh?" Mandy asked Tair.
"M.O.; Method of operation. What they normally do. It's certainly a display. A territory marker? It's a terrible way to secure food and keep it from scavengers," Mandy added on in case he got confused.
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Karas
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Tair watched her as she inspected the kill, moving closer himself to eye the surrounding snow. He watched her out the corner of his eye while following the signs. Trampled snow, the tell-tail drag marks of its heavy tail. He saw a slightly more distant tree that had been carved deep, marks left by scythe-like talons. No mistaking the signs, and those were not good.

"Yes, territory marker," Tair spat to the side and moved back to her, kneeling down to point things out to her as he went along, "Head ripped off, swallowed whole after being crushed in jaws. Chest, belly opened, left to hang out. Legs stripped to bone and tendon, snacks whenever it passes by. Full grown male. Not good."

He stood and pointed to the trails leading further into the thicker parts of the woods, "Den likely that way, most traffic. Hopefully only the male, will be more violent if it has a mate."
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DarkSavior77
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"Yes, territory marker," Tair agreed as Mandy rubbed her hands in the snow and then together to wash them of blood. It stung but she rather not be coated in blood that could be a signal to the beasts of their position.
"Head ripped off, swallowed whole after being crushed in jaws. Chest, belly opened, left to hang out. Legs stripped to bone and tendon, snacks whenever it passes by. Full grown male. Not good."
"Joy. So he has to be the apex in this area. Wont be another male inside his territories then right? Wonderful," Mandy grouched. She kicked some snow on top of the deer as she looked over where he was pointing now.
"Den likely that way, most traffic. Hopefully only the male, will be more violent if it has a mate."
"And if that's a thing, depending when they mate, young. Hooray; super aggressive. We should stick to where we see its path but remain off it. Being on a game trail makes me feel twitchy," Mandy said, flexing her fingers to keep them from numbing up because of snow. She stuck them in her pockets and ducked her head down behind her coat collar to shield her face. She made her way into the thick of the brush, running parallel to the Unghosh's tracks. So long as she saw them, there was no need to follow right over them. Keeping quiet, one foot in front of the other slowly, Mandy kept her body low in a half crouch and used her staff to move branches delicately out of the way of her face. There was no telling how close the den was, or if the male was around or not.
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Karas
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Tair kept after her, staying low and sucking in as much heat as he could, but the damnable heat haze wouldn't go away. He'd have to hope the beast didn't see them before they saw it. She was moving quickly, that was good. The marker had been days old, but he spied a fresher trail, blood still glistening on the snow. He reached out careful to take her shoulder, pointing to it and gently orienting her with it without stopping them.

Even fresh as it was, it was tens of minutes before he heard the grunting, guttural huffs and sound of tearing flesh and cracking bones. No doubt she'd heard it before him, then. A small bank of snow shielded them from view, for now, but he knew the moment that he got close to it that would change. Instead he moved to the side, lowering himself even further to the ground with his hands on the hilts of his blades, tightening when he saw it.

It stood maybe a head shorter than the girl at its shoulder, a titanic mustelid covered in thick fur that ranged from ruddy reds to almost coal black. It wasn't good camouflage, but unhgosh did not hide. They were the apex predators of their mountain ranges. The large, thickly furry tail swayed behind it, brushing snow away from the hindmost of its six legs, the foremost pair of which were holding the carcass of a mule deer down while its massive head went to work ripping chunks out of it and crushing meat and bone with impunity.

It grunted and looked up from its kill, sniffing at the air briefly before returning to it, jaws fastening around the animal's spine and ripping it free with a wet tear and a sound like twigs underfoot.
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