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Post by Da Pwny on Feb 3, 2008 2:37:08 GMT -5
Muldreina perked up, sensing something wrong again. She rushed outside, closing her eyes as she changed to her natural form and peering into the forest. Muld saw destruction, a village being attacked... "The village!! Oh no!"
She sped across the forest, her mind racing and everything going by in a blur. When she reached the village, it was too late... the bodies of slaughtered Salin laid all around, and the fires from the stick and twig houses were catching flame to the trees and foliage around them. The fires were too big and numerous for her to put out alone, and she doubted that there were enough people in the entire forest to help her put them out. She sat down in the middle of the village, crying... she'd taken weeks out of her life to help the Salin build their town, and now it was all in ruins. Abruptly, she heard a scream from one of the bigger houses; without even thinking of herself, she rushed inside to find a woman clutching her child, the roof of the house caving in above her.
Thinking quickly, Muldreina called upon thick vines from the ground, which acted as supports as she helped the limping mother out the door. Still, they wouldn't hold forever, so Muld rushed the door after the lady was gone, making it out just in time as the house collapsed. Looking around, she used her special vision to see inside the homes around her, looking for more survivors...
An hour later, and there were at least twenty survivors, less than a fifth of the original population; some were badly wounded, others barely scrapped on the knees. Everyone pitched in to heal their wounds and comfort those that had lost everything and more, and Muldreina created a temporary aqueduct system, pulling water from a nearby river into the town to drowse the fires. When there was nothing left but smoke and embers, she was turning her attention to getting rid of the smaller fires when she remembered Arden... whoever did this was looking for something he had, maybe that egg? If that was true...
Muldreina thought and thought about the problem... Finally, she knew she needed help from outside of her forest. "Cenilia? Cenilia'Undine!! Are ya somewhar nearby, honey?" A transparent head popped out of the waters behind her, saying "I thought it quite odd that some of my energy would disappear so suddenly. What trouble has my dearest younger sister gotten herself into this time? I certainly hope you remember-" Interrupting the voice of her overly-proper twin, Muldreina said "Mah friend es in trouble, Cenilia, and I don't know where hae is. I need ya t' do a fava' for lil' sis Muldy haer..."
(feel free to play as the water spirit... she's sorta an NPC until later, my guess here at least...)
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Post by Mirshaan on Feb 3, 2008 2:56:53 GMT -5
The tranquil paradise of the Salin Village had suddenly burst into mass panic as people ran this way and that. Terror ripped through the small lakeside abode with the ease of a fish through water in the wake of such meaningless violence. Great hooded beasts twice the size of any Salin and clad in a strange black shell tore into homes and structures at random, nothing seemed to survive the savage onslaught. Some brave Salin tried to fight back with rocks, swords and spears, but to no avail. The tiny creatures were merely crushed under the stampeding beasts. Selron, one of the Village elders, could do little but stare and watch from her home as the beasts drew closer. He wanted to run and hide but her feet were refusing to move.
Huddled in the corner of his bakery, Arden’s master cowered between his ovens with his wife and young daughter Petal. It had taken two of the great beasts to lift the roof of the bakery, and suddenly their hiding place was exposed. Petal screamed and ran in fear as fast as her legs would carry her as her parents called out for her to come back. Their calls caught the attention of the beasts though, who picked up the elderly baker by his feet. Then the most curious thing happened. One of the beasts spoke. The old man was stunned, probably not helped by hanging upside down from his boot laces, but he had no idea at all what the great lumbering creature was talking about.
“Wa.wa..what…ba.ba.ba..bag?” He stammered out of pure fear. His wife, who had been crying and screaming herself out of anger at the beast’s heavy handed approach reached into a cupboard and pulled out a hand full of small blue bags. She practically threw them at the beasts. The action only served to anger the beasts though, and the baker was discarded without thought to where he might land.
On the far side of the lake Arden was oblivious to the destruction of his home, the village was far out of sight now and his thoughts were only on what lay before him. He stood beneath the two great arched trees, the sky light of the day was quickly fading but he wanted to admire the great landmark for a few moments, taking a mental painting of the place in all its splendour. He smiled with pleasure then pulled out a small loaf of bread to nibble on before starting off again. By all rights he should have stopped to take high tea, but the light would soon be dark and the forest even darker. He surmised that if he couldn’t see his way through the forest in the dark he would likely get lost and never make it to the home of the forest spirits by dinner.
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Post by Da Pwny on Feb 3, 2008 9:19:55 GMT -5
Celinia finally saw a rather small creature near the edge of her sister's forest, but very much still close to her waters. Silly younger sister seems to have panicked for no reason... ah well, a promise is a promise, and must be kept. she told herself. Coming to the edge of the water but no further, she whistled in a low tone so as to only catch the ears of the Salin. "You must be the one my sister calls 'Arden'... Please, I mean you no harm; I am only here at the request of my younger sister Muldreina. She calls you a friend; a friend of my sister is a friend of mine, as well. The child is quite flustered at the moment, and cannot concentrate well enough to search for you, so I ask that you please come here to me so that I can take you to her."
The water spirit fully expected there to be some resistance, and she was prepared to give evidence to prove her claim. If he continued resisting, she could always call upon Kyldta to help her bring about a storm that would drive the young Salin into the forest. But she would rather he come of his own will, and not have his hand forced. She awaited his answer with the patience she'd come to perfect...
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Post by Crow on Feb 3, 2008 10:34:29 GMT -5
Dante sat down, not willing to complain about the time he had been given to rest. He fell asleep several seconds later.
Down at the village the bruteish man growled at the seeming stupidity of the creature. "The red bag! the one with the letters etched into it! where is it?" To emphasize his point he tossed the thing onto the ground and put his boot on the things chest and pulling out his sword.
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Post by Da Pwny on Feb 3, 2008 11:20:43 GMT -5
At about that moment, an extremely vengeful Muldreina appeared behind the man in her warrior form, having already "taken care of" the guards, in the more violent sense. She was now taller and larger overall, over six feet tall, and her form overall was different; her chest was fuller, although now covered by foliage and leaves, her feet looked more like tree trunks, with roots and bark running the length of her legs, tapering off at the waist into bare, green skin. Her eyes burned a bright, poisonous green, and her left hand was now a cross between a wooden spear and a sword, with a long rounded body but possessing a knife-like edge on one side that ran the full length of the weapon. This was the true protector of the forest, and she used it only when either all other methods of resolve had failed, or when all else seemed impossible.
"Unhand the Salin" she said in a deep growl, her spear-arm poised to pierce straight through the man's back. "I do not wish to harm you, but I can and will kill you if you do not comply." Her cute southern draw was long gone, replaced by the voice of a killer who had taken many lives for the sake of her forest. Her breaths were slow and methodical, smelling of those plants poisonous to most life, which only added to her frightening demeanor as she impatiently awaited an answer from the imputant human...
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Post by Mirshaan on Feb 3, 2008 11:22:42 GMT -5
Petal had kept on running and running until her legs could barely carry her another step. She'd made it into the woods and safety from the beasts in the village, but could do little more than collapse at the foot of a tall tree where she began to weep. She had not seen what had happened to her parents and she hoped they were both okay. A sound close by startled the young Salin though and she jumped to her feet, wiping away the tears with her sleeve. She listened and could hear a voice not to far away. Carefully creeping closer Petal approached as far as she dared. What she found seemed like something out of one of the old stories the village elders told on special occasions.
There sat a massive winged creature with black scales, a long neck and a long tail. The creature had four long legs, each as long as wide as a Salin was long, with huge claws on each foot. Next to it was a curious looking hut that the beast seemed to be guarding. Through a window Petal could see the voice belonged to a hooded beast that looked vaguely similar to the ones that had attacked the village, though this one wasn’t wearing one of their shiny shells. For some reason the beast seemed to be saying the same words over and over again as if it was saying some sort of spell like the wizards from the old stories.
She liked those stories, when she was younger she always asked her father to tell her stories, but he wasn’t very good at it. She had liked Arden’s stories the best, she had sat day after day in the bakery listening to the ones the apprentice had told her, they were all about spirits that lived in the great forest and in the lake and the sky. She knew he was just making it up, but he had a vivid imagination and told the stories very well. She thought he was cute too, though she would never admit as much to anyone. She watched for quite some time. Eventually the beast sat down and fell to sleep. She was still thinking about Arden when a twig snapped beneath her making loud crack that echoed around the woods.
Arden stopped at the sound of the voice. He was but just one set from crossing into the great forest. He’d done it before, but this time it felt like he was crossing a threshold into something new and wonderful and the world behind him was doing everything it could to prevent it. He frowned and dropped his wheelbarrow, its contents jumping as it landed on the soft ground. Arden turned round and tried to smile, he knew of Celinia, Muldrine had told him many stories about the water spirit.
Leaving the wheelbarrow where it was, Arden walked back to the waters edge but didn’t get too close, he didn’t want to go back to the village even if Muldrine was there.
“Celinia, this is a surprise, your sister speaks very highly of you but I can’t go back with you. There are some very mean beasts that are after my egg and I need to get it safely to the home of the forest spirits before they find it. If I go back they will find me and probably kill me.”
He couldn’t tell whether what Dante had said was true, but it sounded like a convincing argument and he really wanted to continue his adventure. Cancelling it now because his friend had asked for him seemed silly to him. He thought it better not to mention Dante or his Dragon as he figured Celinia wouldn’t believe him.
“Tell Muldrine I’m sorry, but I’m rather too busy to play with her at the moment. I’ll find her when I get back and make it up to her, I promise.”
He gathered Muldrine was probably just bored having shoed Dante away, or had some newly adopted critter for him to look after. He enjoyed such things but this really was bad timing. He waved goodbye before Celinia could argue the point and rushed back to his wheelbarrow. He waved again when he got there then picked up the barrow and pushed it confidently across the threshold and into the Great Forest.
(appologies for the long post)
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Post by Crow on Feb 3, 2008 11:26:20 GMT -5
He tossed the thing, "Kill me if you will, kill all of us! only more and more will come! Seeking the masters favor! All we need is the red bag and the item inside of it, and you'll never see another of out humans again!" He said, obviously convicted to what he was saying as turned around to face her, not shying from the spear in the least.
Sabre heard somthing snap in the distance. He made a low growl and moved over to the source, more annoyed than angry. He easily caught and picked the thing up with an unusually dexteritous claw, and then, satisfyed that it wasn't a threat set it back down. Stalking back he almost wished somthing interesting would happen when he noticed the smoke. Figuring he had nothing better to do he turned and headed to the village.
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Post by Da Pwny on Feb 3, 2008 13:17:18 GMT -5
Celinia tried calling for Kyldta, but she didn't get a response... Trying several times, she realized her silliness and ceased; the Salin was walking straight towards the Great Forest. Indirectly, she'd complied with her sister; satisfied, Celinia simply said "Have your way, young Salin. However, you will be dragged into the conflict ahead for all of us, whether you wish to be or not..."
And with that bit of foreboding prediction, she disappeared into the waters she had come to call home, leaving the Salin to whatever fate and her sister had in mind...
Muldreina sighed, shaking the body from her spear-arm. "The more of you that come, the more people I have to hurt... and I hate hurting people, but my home must be protected, along with anything in it." She felt like crying, but she couldn't at the moment; there were more important things to be done. Changing back into her normal form, she sat down, exhausted... she'd been feeling more and more tired as of late, and she knew something was definitely wrong.
She felt like sleeping, but she felt that her sister was near to Arden on the far side of the lake. Muldreina needed to speak with him, even if only for a short while. She was the youngest spirit, but by no means a fool; she knew when to speak, and when to keep quiet. This was not a time for silence... she needed to speak with him, and to tell him that she would need to leave for some time very soon... Arden... if only your tiny mind could understand just how dangerous your journey is. Things are in motion that we can't stop, or even slow down... We need Mother's advice now... So much to do and so little time... Arden...
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Post by Mirshaan on Feb 3, 2008 17:27:45 GMT -5
If Calinia had been calling after him Arden didn't hear it. The interruption had served only to slow his progress, but this was his adventure and he wanted to have it. He'd walked for quite some time along the path through the dense forest. Here the sky light barely broke through between the trees making it particularly dark, and there wasn't much sky light left either so he had pressed on without resting until he came to where the path split in two different directions. There he sat down under a tree and pulled out his map to check which way he needed to go. He knew the home of the Spirits wasn't far, but in the dark he wasn't certain which way it was. He pulled the map from the wheelbarrow and looked at it closely. It pleased Arden that the map told him he was also not far from the edge of the world, probably another two day's walk at most from the Spirit's home. If he went the wrong path though he might end up there sooner than planned. Maps definitely have their uses. Talking of which, here it is: The map as mentioned earlier had been made by Arden's Great Grandfather and passed down through the generations to him. He wanted to explore all of it, but that was for later. He checked the map, and then looked down the path. After all the times he'd been here, he still couldn't remember which way it was, but the map made it clear to him, it was left. He pulled himself back to his feet and put the map back in the wheelbarrow. He was just getting ready to start off again when he saw something big coming towards him. It was dark and the beast was large and black, but light seemed to shine from its long sharp front teeth. This beast was smaller than Arden in hight, but long standing on four legs all covered in hair. The beast also had a long whip like tale, and an awful, rancid stench. The beast charged headlong towards him and Arden felt fear pound through him. He reached for the sword, but too late. The hairy creature pounced over the wheelbarrow and dug its fore claws into the young Salin as it landed and rolled out the other side. Arden stood up to see the beast was also pulling it's self back to it's feet. His shoulder ached and his cloak was torn, but he didn't seem to be injured. He pulled the sword from its sheath and stood ready for the beast to come again. It did, and more quickly this time. It ran full pelt towards him, pouncing from distance, it's claws outstretched and its teeth barred in anticipation of a meal. As it came close, Arden thrust his sword out and up, connecting with the things furry skin as it came down on top of him. Arden lay pinned beneath the great furred creature, unable to move. His sword impaled deep through the head of the beast, which slumped over him.
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Post by Crow on Feb 3, 2008 23:25:33 GMT -5
Sabre walked into the small village, seeing a survivor of the forest spirit's attack only worryed him. How could he get this many men here so soon? He stepped on the man in frustration as he continued his walk around the village, eventually finding the forest spirit laying on the ground with an impaled man laying a few feet away from her. Was that Saddler? he thought as he lifted the spirit into the air and onto his back. He headed back to the hut, thinking it would be better having somthing that can talk when he comes back.
Back at the hut, Dante yawned and streached. "well, that was a good nap....she's healing well....but where the bloody hell is that dragon?" He mumbled, stepping outside and looking around.
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Post by Mirshaan on Feb 4, 2008 9:05:34 GMT -5
In the Great Forest, Arden wriggled and pushed and crawled his way out from under the corpse. It had been a heavy creature and it's stench was worse now than it had been before. Once free he pulled his sword from the thing's head and cleaned it before re-sheathing it by his side. He looked at the great beast and a sudden pride washed over him as he realised what he had accomplished. He had survived... but his wheelbarrow hadn't. Arden found his belongings scattered everywhere, but worst of all he found that the wheel had come off. He collapsed onto the upturned wheelbarrow, exhausted. He would have to carry his stuff to the home of the Spirits now, until he could find some way of fixing the wheel. Wiping away the tears welling in his eyes, he stood up and set about collecting the scattered items. He soon found his pots and his bowl, which hadn't gone too far. His fishing rod he found in a nearby fern, hooked around it's leaves, and his bag of food was lying in the middle of the path. The blanket was under the wheelbarrow with the map and the red bag that the egg was in.
But the egg wasn't in the bag. Arden tried not to panic, it must have just rolled out, but he couldn't see it. He looked under the wheelbarrow, and searched the path. He checked in and around the ferns but it wasn't there either. He was growing more and more panicked, the darkness had to be hiding it somewhere from him. He decided to use the large red bag to put all his belongings in, and slung it over his shoulder as he continued his search. He didn't want anything else to get lost. When he eventually found it he breathed a huge sigh of relief, the egg had rolled up and nestled between the exposed roots of a massive old tree. It was safe. Arden picked the egg up and was about to put it in the bag with everything else when he noticed a small crack in the egg's shell. He frowned. The egg had been damaged and it was all his fault. He should have taken better care of it, he knew. Eggs needed looking after, and he'd let his get broken. The egg would never hatch now. But as he stared at it another crack formed, then another and another. Joy filled the heart of the young Salin. The egg wasn't broken after all, it was hatching. His egg was hatching.
(A discussion thread has been started in the appropriate area. Feel free to add comments and ideas there. Feedback on previous posts is also welcomed)
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Post by Da Pwny on Feb 4, 2008 9:39:08 GMT -5
Muldreina awoke, feeling awkwardly bent over a rock... she hadn't been sunning before, so what was this? Soon, she realized that, not only was the rock warm and fairly smooth, but it was also moving... "Hey!! Put me down!" she yelled, realizing that someone was trying to carry her off. She hadn't heard back from Celinia, and she desperately wanted to know what happened. She pounded her tiny fists against the creature, but it was in vain... she couldn't change forms while she was being held, so she accepted her position for the moment, crossing her arms and fuming for a while...
Celinia peeked her head up, and wasn't very surprised to see Muld gone. Shrugging her shoulders, she disappeared back down under the waves. She'd wait, as she always did... her sister was a hyper and simple-minded child, but she was the one dearest to Celinia, for more than her cute qualities...
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Post by Crow on Feb 4, 2008 13:12:55 GMT -5
Sabre growled, feeling somthing hitting his back. Muld had a feeling he had said somthing along the lines of, "Calm down." He walked back to the hut and set her on the ground next to Dante before he growled again. "What are you talking about, you saw that streach of dessert, there's no way he could have gotten anyone across with out a dragon, and the one that came out the egg he snatched won't be that big for at least 200 years!" Sabre growled again, "Yes yes...i'm aware of aging magic, and it's nearly impossible without a strong enough mage! And he barely knew magic himself in our last fight! So how the bloody-" He was interrupted as a fair sized shadow passed over them. Not a dragon, but somthing almost as bad. Wyverns.
Dante immediately jumped onto Sabre's back and pulled somthing out of a saddle bag. It looked loke a small pole made of silver before he started chanting again. The pole soon became a lance that was made of what looked like silver. Sabre sat on the ground and watched them pass by, set on somthing else. Each one was only half the size of Sabre, though they looked vary large at so close. They flew right by, heading in the direction the young Salin had taken earlier. Dante cursed loudly and Sabre kicked up into the air, quickly closing the distance.....
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Post by Mirshaan on Feb 4, 2008 18:31:25 GMT -5
The top of the light blue shell lifted to reveal a head, and then a long neck. Arden put the egg down to watch the hatchling emerge. The creature looked remarkably similar to Sabre, though much smaller and its scales were a bright array of soft light colours. The creature slowly uncurled its self from the egg, stretching out first one wing and then the other. Arden was overjoyed, and looked on with wonder at his magnificent Dragon. He was quite amazed at the size of it, the egg was only half his size, but the hatchling within now stood a good foot higher than the tiny Salin. Arden watched on as the Dragon stretched to its full height and dried its self in the warm air of the evening.
Arden stepped towards his Dragon with a caution, admiring the creatures beautiful scales and long wings. The creature was checking its self over, using its nose to nudge bits of shell from its body. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have found such a wonderful thing. A Dragon. His Dragon. Eventually the hatchling lifted its head tall and proud and let out a long, loud roar. The sound startled Arden who took several steps back. The movement caught the attention of the Dragon, which looked down to get a better look at the young Salin. Arden smiled coyly, trying to hide the surprise that occupied his face. His Dragon in turn looked Arden up and down, then let out a small puff of smoke from its nostrils, turned its back on the Salin and started to walk off down the path in completely the wrong direction.
The Dragon built up quite a pace as it walked, using all of its four legs to stride away from Arden who was somewhat confused by this turn of events. He ran after his Dragon, ignoring the huge bag bouncing on his back. As he started to catch the Dragon, the Dragon increased its stride until it also was at a run. The hatchling raised its self onto two legs and stretched its wings out to full length as it headed down the path. Arden was catching though and just as the Dragon left the ground he grabbed its tail in both hands. With the Salin attached to its tail the hatchling struggled to make any height, it looked back to see if it could shake off the extra weight. It was to no avail, Arden was holding on tight and as hard as the tail shook he didn’t let go.
The Dragon was fast though, very fast in fact as it covered ground that would have taken hours for the Salin to walk, and they were heading towards the edge of the World. Arden probably would have been pleased, had he not been hanging from the tail of a flying Dragon. Arden’s father had always said ‘its not where you go, its how you get there that counts’. The thought crossed his mind that this would make an interesting story one day, if he survived to tell it. The Dragon flew low, trying to use bushes and tree branches to dislodge the young Salin, and by the time they came to the river at the Northern end of the World Arden was starting to loose his grip. He was slipping further and further down the tail, the bag feeling heavy on his back. The Dragon flew low over the torrents of water that flowed rapidly towards the World’s edge. Eventually Arden’s strength gave out and he lost his grip, slipping feet first into the white water below.
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Post by Crow on Feb 4, 2008 19:23:02 GMT -5
The dragonlike creatures shrieked and growled in anticipation of the fight. They looked like much smaller versions of sabre, but with brownish scales and a more primal look to them. In human lands they were known for their dragonlike qualities, but lack of the usual abilities like intelligence, breathing fire, or even the strength of a true dragon. Sabre put on a quick burst of speed, gaining a bit of altitude before diving down allowing Dante a clean shot with his lance that was taken to devastating effect. The lance went down through the wyvern's neck before Dante ripped it out on the pass, nearly severing it's head at the neck. Sabre came around for another pass but was stopped short by the extended lance of another "charging" wyvern rider. Sabre dodged to the side and engulphed the things head in a column of emerald fire. Dante's shoulder was clipped as another Wyvern clawed him on a fly over. He raised his lance and the thing started spilling it's guts on the way to the ground. Another one had gotten behind the duo, putting on a burst of speed so it's rider could stick his lance into one of the two. Sabre got some height on them and suddenly stopped in the air as the two sped past. Sabre managed to tail whip the man off of his seat as the ascending wyvern was speared by Dante's deadly lance. The last one began flying away, wanting only to get his egg and leave. He made a good run, getting a third of the way there before feeling himself and his dead partner begin to fall.
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