Author: Mammonn, Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:11 AM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Girshu glares at his enemy, wary of its unpredictable nature and its sharp claws. This was certainly going to be his most serious opponent today, and one that might wound him dearly if he wasn't careful.

The wild badger bears its teeth at Girshu and its claws scrape over the ground that he was standing on. Nasty critters, they were. Their claws were just sharp enough to give the kind of papercut that would be soooo annoying all day. Girshu clicked his own claws against one another, ready to strike back. He wasn't going to use any magic here, not when this badger would certainly be his ownly true enemy encounter today. The only moment of change and eventfulness in the otherwise monotone travels that his days would once again be reduced to.

The badger screeches and Girshu lunges forwards. The badger tries to retreat and run away, but Girshu is just a bit too fast and grabs it by the tail. The badger scratches at his claws and screams fearfully, its defiant nature immediately gone once it couldn't intimidate the much bigger and more dangerous foe into leaving, but it's in vain. Girshu grabs the creature by the neck and his cold radiates into the warmblooded critter. And then it wasn't warm-blooded any more.

Girshu looks at the fur. Simple and motley, not even worth the weight. He flays the badger without concern for the pelt and soon extracts the better parts of the meat from it. Taking out some of the bear meat, Girshu sits down and has some late breakfast. The badger meat replaces the eaten bear meat, and Girshu quickly brushes off any leftover frozen meat from his robes and skin. The bloody stains that were once the badger are left for what they are, for the vultures to pick clean. Girshu wouldn't concern himself with that folly.

They were probably already around, ready to fight over the scraps once he would leave. He had already heard the crows caw, and there were presumably also other vultures about.

Girshu looks up, frowning. That's right, he had heard crows before. And the rustling of wind. And sound in general. But now, now it was quiet. Too quiet.

As Girshu becomes wary with all his instincts on high alert, he looks around and heightens his awareness of his surroundings. He feels some strange tremours in the ground, but hears nothing. As in, nothing. Literally nothing.

A shadow suddenly grows from his peripheral and quickly spreads out to cover his own shadow wholly, casting a looming presence over Girshu. The tremours that got louder with each vibration stopped, and for a moment there's nothing but silent.

Slowly, warily, in fact a bit scared and intimidated, Girshu turns around.

A great tree stands behind him. One that was definately not there before, nor the kind of tree that Girshu would forget. Something that looks vaguely like a human face is staring right at him, though so unmoving that he was unsure whether it was truly a face.

Girshu's lips depart, forming some words. But he says nothing. He doesn't even produce a whiff. He then frowns and says something else. "Ah, an area of silence spell. That's how a tree managed to sneak up on me." He thinks while his mouth forms the words that he doesn't speak out loud.

The tree's branches raise. Girshu gets up. The branches slam down with clear intend of him being between them and the ground. Girshu forms some unspoken words.

The ground trembles as Girshu dodges the initial attack warily, splinters and pebbles flying around from the massive force of great violence, but all of that in complete silence. Unnerving silence. Girshu quickly gets back up and turns to the tree. He throws frost at it, and the aura around the tree seems to brighten. A strange sensation that he can only describe as spring weather radiates from the tree and seems to interact with the frost, weakening it. It doesn't seem to affect it fully, and the attack is therefore not completely nullified. Snow flakes and condensation form on the tree, but the damage is far from the severity of the intended attack. Against a large tree like this one, such paltry damage wasn't going to do anything.

Girshu curses, which is of course censored by the absolute silence, and looks around. There was not much room around, and he could see the roots and branches of other trees move slowly. This tree was clearly weaponising them against him, which would make it very problematic if Girshu would take some distance from the centre problem. But his magics were massively inhibited by this stupid area of silence, as his more potent spells all required verbal components to be cast.

And the stupid anti-winter enchantments weren't in his favour either. Stupid magical tree.

Girshu turns to the big tree and runs forwards, increasing the frost in his claws to create shivering touches and icy claws. The tree lashes out at him, putting a nasty gash on Girshu's cheek but otherwise being relatively easy to dodge. Its attacks were devastatingly powerful, but a tree was still a tree. Slow. If Girshu was more manuevrable and dexterious himself, this foe would be no challenge.

With his freezing claws ready to strike, Girshu jumps onto the tree. At this distance, that stupid anti-cold aura should be worth nothing. He could feel it flare up and burn his skin with the sensation of a pleasant spring day, but his frost was definately doing more damage. Frostbite quickly formed where his claws were embedded and the cold of his touch was bypassing the aura and reaching into the core of the tree.

The tree didn't shiver or react, however. Girshu couldn't hear if there was an audible reaction, but he could feel none. Damn it, this thing was probably animated. And if it was animated, it didn't have vitals or a sense of preservation. Which immediately changed a lot of things. Girshu had assumed that the tree wouldn't bash into his own trunk, but…

Just in time, Girshu lets go of the tree and jumps away. A big branch leaves a dent in the trunk and a few splinters pierce into Girshu as splash damage. Girshu scuttles away awkwardly to get some distance. Damn it, those attacks could be single hit fatalities if he wasn't careful. And in a match of brute force and atropy, this thing would certainly hvae him beat. Forget about the other trees, Girshu had to get some distance from this damned foe.

Girshu starts to run away as fast as he can, firing at the ground in front of him with frost to harm the roots before they can harm him. The tree immediately gives pursuit, not letting him get away that easily.

……damnitdamn itdamn it damn it damn it damn it!!!

Oh, I'm out of the silence zone. That's something, I guess. Next thing on the agenda; not die.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 2:46 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Hefeydd yawned, stretching up as tall as he could and surveying his surroundings. He had fallen asleep at some point, but before that he had been doing something… Working on something… What had that been? Scratching at his hairless chin he walked along the branch he had fallen asleep on, using his wings to help him balance as he approached an apple, hanging right there, begging to be eaten. Oh yes, Hefeydd would help with that, yes he would. He grew to his full impressive height of ten inches tall and grabbed the huge apple, twisting and tugging at it until it came loose. Too late he forgot he would need to use magic to strengthen himself if he had a hope of holding onto it, instead watching it sail down to the ground below. Curses. Now he would have to go down and get it… A tiny shape, followed quickly by another and another dashed out of nowhere and swarmed over the apple. Hefeydd puffed up his chest and jumped off the branch. Oh, he wasn't going to be taking this! He could see what they were, even from here! Scavengers! That's what they were! Waiting for others to let something slip and then pulling it apart. Hefeydd landed loudly behind them and all the naughty little forest sprites turned as one to look at him.

"That's MY apple! Hands off!" he cried out in his high little voice. The sprites began to back away, they were like little fairies really and Hefeydd shouldn't have been shouting at them. But for some reason he was feeling a little cranky right now. Why was that? What was he forgetting? The bravest of the sprites stepped forwards and looked down shyly. "But… But sir, you said you had need of us and would get us an apple…" Oh. Well… Did he? That certainly didn't sound like something he would do. Why would he need the help of sprites when there should be real fairies around here somewhere? Hadn't he been waiting for fairies to come find him? Weren't they meant to be helping him do… Something? He pulled at his silver hair and tried hard to think. What was he forgetting? And why would he have promised to feed these little people? They must have made a bargain with him. He would need to be clever about this, he didn't want to be tricked into something. He needed to channel all his craftiness into his next question so that he wouldn't reveal how lost and confused he really was. "What… Did I ask you to do?" Perfect. Genius. Hefeydd was proud of himself. He had done it! The sprites didn't seem to care too much about the question, though. "Ah, well, you said you were having trouble with a kobold and your own people weren't around." It all came rushing back to him, then.

Castus had been running all night. He was exhausted, disoriented and he was starting to suspect that he wasn't going to make it much further. He had lost his weapons and couldn't remember where. The undead menace had terrified him, reminding him of the stories he had been brought up on of things that lay deep within the forest. He had thought the fairy's tale of a dangerous lizard was bad enough, and then the troll had decimated his hunting party. Now there was a necromancer loose within the forest, corrupting everything it touched. So many things were going wrong right now, so many dangers that his people needed to be warned about. By now they would know about the lizard but they would have no idea what else was lurking about. He needed to get back but to do that he would need help. Right now, though, he had no idea what to do. He was far from home, and getting further. If he was right about where he was then he was pretty close to the outskirts of the forest. Within a week of it, even. His injuries and the lack of sleep were trying him, making it hard to concentrate, hard to come up with a plan. There was a druid, not far from here. A wise old man who had made this area his home. Perhaps he would have some ideas. Perhaps he would be able to do something about his wounds, too.

Hefeydd gave strict orders to all the sprites,having them scatter once he was done. He needed them to send messages, give orders. They were his own little fleet of messengers. He didn't ask them what else he had promised the night before, he was sure he would remember it soon enough. Maybe he had even written it down, had it somewhere in his robes. Not that he was going to look for it right now. He had a satyr to find, first of all. The satyrs were a good people, always happy to help the little folk. There was a smart one around here who still owed Hefeydd. He had been meaning to come back here and make demands of him before now but now he needed it he was happy he had forgotten. Hefeydd smiled. Fate, yes? 

When Hefeydd came across the old satyr he was drinking and playing around with some dryads. This was actually quite perfect. Dryads were nice and friendly too, but could be relied upon to help Hefeydd out. He landed in the center of the glade, ready to make his bargains.

Author: Mammonn, Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 11:47 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Girshu stretches himself out, trying to get the out discomfort of the rough ground he had slept on. It seemed that none of his alert spells or frost runes had gone off. Which was good, because it both meant that nothing had tried to attack him and that he hadn’t slept through the blaring alarm and the literal frost explosions that they caused. From the other hand, it was a waste of energy to lay this many of them when he wouldn’t be disturbed all night long.

But, it was definitely a warranted expense of energy. Even though it was now much less likely, there was still the chance that the spellcaster and their familiar were following him. Or the troll, though that was much less likely. The beast was stupid and direct, and thus unlikely to give chase at all. He had the bear, and Girshu was probably already nearly or completely out of his territory.

Girshu gathers his belongings and then slithers over the circles of runes. Should he drain them? The amount of energy would be paltry, but existent. And it was good form to not leave these death traps lying about for an unaware wanderer to walk into. Girshu laughs at his own joke. Good form, peh! Stupid human traditions. No, he’d leave the runes for anyone who would be following him. The energy would only last for a few more hours anyway, so only someone stalking him would run into them. Girshu reactivates the runes, which he temporarily disabled to leave the centre where he had slept, and the light blue runes fade into invisibility.

That would be a nice surprise for whomever would follow him. Which was probably no one at this point. Yesterday’s problems with the humans, the spellcaster, the bear and the troll, they were yesterday’s problems. Today would probably be like the week before again, uneventful and simple.

***

Castus jumps up, gasping for air and drenched in cold sweat. Sweat, and blood. His own, he hoped. Yes, most of it was, probably. The wound on his head was still throbbing, and the other wounds weren’t feeling too great either. But he could still feel that some of the blood belonged to one of the fawns. Young Beolen. Too much of the foal's blood was shed upon him when the troll has struck the poor youngster.

The troll had slain them all, and they had been powerless to do anything against the monster’s regenerative abilities. It had been mad with rage, and they had been too overtaken by surprise and the beast’s brute assault to react in time. If Castus would’ve been there just a few more moments earlier, perhaps he could’ve called for a retreat in time. If they would’ve all been veterans, then the command wouldn’t even have been necessary. Because with their weapons, without either fire or acid to use, they stood no chance against the troll at all.

But no, the foals didn’t realize that they should’ve fled, and the veterans couldn’t leave the foals to their fate. It was only because Castus was the only one left, that he had eventually fled. The wound on his head had prevented him from going far, but his tenacity had fortunately pulled him through just far enough to get away from the troll. Just far enough before he had fallen unconscious. He lived, though barely.

Castus forces himself to get up. He had to… to…

What did he have to do again? He knew that he would have to return to his people, and that he had to do something about their quarry, but…

The quarry? Their hunt? It wasn’t the troll. It was a lizard of some sort. But Castus couldn’t get a visual image of the beast, of what they were hunting. Why? Because… Oh right, he had never even seen this prey of theirs. But that wasn’t what was urgent, what he had to do. He had to-

Castus notices the man standing nearby and quickly turns to them in a startle.That was right, this man's appearance had instinctively woken him up and got him to high alert.

The man seems a bit boyish and at the same time very old, with his grey hair and wrinkled skin. The skin was grey too, and riddled in black veins. The man’s eyes were black with bloodshot irises, with broken and bend glasses still hanging from his nose, and black ichor drooped from his mouth and ears. His leg stood out, being swollen and bloated where the rest of his body seemed shriveled.

The man makes a gesture, and Castus watched in horror at this monstrous deformation of a man. It seemed like the kind of horror that might crawl out of one of the dungeons that human civilisations could leave behind when they fell. The man, more annoyed this time, repeats the gesture. Then, he seems to realize something and he produces a cracked and wheezing voice.

“Oh, you’re. Not dead yet? Are you?”

Castus backs away warily. This man was a monstrosity, even worse than the frost beast that they were following before. Behind the man, the forest was withering from the blight.

“My mistake. You look even. Worse off than me. Surprised that you’re. Even alive with. Those wounds. But worry. Not, I’ll fix that. Real quick.”

Figures appear from the darkness behind the man. Castus’s eyes water up when he sees the foals and Ramean stumble towards him. They too were drooping with black ichor and covered in black veins, but there were clearly not conscious and sentient like this man. No, just like the humans that were walking with them, they were but zombies now. Only Arabis was missing, probably damaged too badly to be raised.

“Don’t worry, centaur. You will serve. Your purpose as. Hunter well. I too seek. The damnable cold. Lizard that you hunted. Left me for. Dead. I’ll leave him for dead. Forever. As my thrall.”

“But first. You.”

Castus quickly dashes away, as fast as his wound allow him. The wound on his temple immediately begins to throb as his blood begins to rush, but he bears it. He was strong, and his wounds weren’t as bad as he thought. Guess that a lot of the blood was Beolen’s after all.

***

The ancient spirit walked in the path of frost, slow and lumbering. The fairy was right, this creature was a menace to the forest and easy to track because of it. It was a being worth his time to hunt down and exterminate.

In the tree’s path, the forest was slowly recovering. Magical energy usually reserved to protect the forest and its inhabitants from winter and wake them up from its frosty touch in spring was sprinkled thinly over the lizard’s path. It wouldn’t completely heal the forest, but it would give these trees a fighting chance.

And the path before the great tree’s arrival would remain as it was, unfortunately. Animating himself like this required a lot of energy, more than he could spare for a hike. Other forest protectors like the dryads might see to its repair, though.

The great old spirit senses frost magic ahead. Unnatural cryomancy, not related to the winter. To think that even the foul unseelie court’s magical touch would be preferable, it was quite incriminating to this creature.

He implores the trees around the clearing to scutter away for a bit when he comes across three circles of magic. Traps, a lot of them. Not lethal to him, but they'd slow him down and certainly bother him. They were undetectable to others who looked with their eyes, but obvious to one who saw with their mind and surroundings. He felt the slight effect that the frost had on the grass it was written on, invisible or not. He wouldn’t fall for these traps, instead he would just go around them.

The trees that moved to make way for him return to their original positions as if the old spirit had never passed, and the spirit continues its path. Its focus briefly turns to somewhere else, catching a whiff of something of a whole different evil. Something familiar, but he wasn’t sure what and why.

It quickly hid its presence again, however, clearly not keen on being noticed. The spirit decides to ignore it for now, and focus on the other intruder.

***

Zachery looks at the centaur gallop away quickly, and his undead begin to give chase. One of the centaurs, the bigger and buff one, stops near him. Zachery climbs onto its back and it begins to ride. These creatures were a lucky find, walking with his disproportionate leg is awful. To think that he would be the one slowing the horde down, despite being just as unyielding and untiring as the rest. They had marched all night, but barely caught up with the lizard.

Zachery looks at his withered hand as he and his undead march forwards. Withered and weak. So ugly. So imperfect.

He had worked towards this transformation for so long. Studied necromancy and gathered the ingredients needed for his rebirth for so long. Saved up money working that ungrateful alchemist job for so long, saving for the money that he needed.

So many months he needed to work before he saved up all the advance payments of those men he hired to protect him from the dangers of Virens forest. And in the end they were all useless, nay, a burden to him. Especially the quack who claimed to know all the dangers of Virens and the ways around them. He was the most expensive one of them, and one of the least useful.

Yet here he was. Thwarted one ingredient before he would’ve finished the potion. One damned rare flower before he would be a necromancer. And what a powerful necromancer he would’ve been. He might’ve blighted the whole forest before anyone could’ve stopped him.

This form, this despicable form, was so much weaker. So much uglier. Its transformation didn’t just lack that last ingredient, but it lacked all the rituals and proper ways of applying. If Zachery had performed it back at home, he would've been so much stronger. But this, this was a sloppy, accidental, hasty and desperate transformation that just as easily could’ve killed him.

He didn’t know what beast had led him and the buffoons he hired astray, what kind of being had seen to preventing his glorious rise to power. But he knew that the lizard had seen him in his most dire hour and completely ignored him, despite not knowing of Zachery’s true intentions. If only he would’ve helped Zachery even a bit, then this form could’ve been so much better. But the beast had left him to rot, for the crows to feast on.

He would see to it that the lizard would suffer. And after him, this whole damned forest.

For a moment, Zachery wonders whether he should go get that bear corpse. It was a powerful beast, much more ferocious and powerful than these centaurs. Bigger too, which meant he could lay his leg to rest on it more easily.

But no, the bear was already being dragged away by the troll when they arrived. And Zachery didn’t have enough zombies to spare against such a beast yet. Not that it would be worth the effort, trolls could even regenerate back from being zombified. Nah, let the monster have the dead beast.

***

Girshu slithers on, ever following the sun that guided his path. He’d leave this forest eventually. And he was in no rush, considering his newly filled rations and proper water supply.

Yes, things were going smoothly. Not a cloud in the sky and not a problem in the air.

***

One of the spiders clicks to the other spider in their strange arachnoid language. There was something coming, presumably their prey. He felt it coming from straight ahead.

The other spider felt it too just moments later, his webs being pulled very softly by the creature’s movements when it moved past. It was approaching, headed straight for them.

The spider quickly pulls some strings to alert the rest of their brood, drawing them all to their location and letting them know the distance and movement speed of their prey. They would envelop the lizard-like being in a circle formation and attack from all sides.

Yes, the fairy’s demands would be met. The humans that the annoying critter had given them were very tasty and full of blood, and the only demand that he had made was for them to hunt down and kill yet another beast wandering around. More blood for their queen, good. The next generation would be healthy and strong.

The first spider clicks to the second, saying it was about time that the creature showed up. The fairy had said that the lizard would be here tonight. Or was it that they should’ve attacked the lizard at night? Neither remembered, the humanoid languages were so vague.

Unbeknownst to both, the confusion lied in that they were supposed to creep up on the lizard, rather than the other way around. Something that their language didn’t even have words for, as spiders would always set traps and lie in wait. Going towards another creature, potentially falling for its traps, and then fighting fair and square was a foolish idea to them. Even if the creature was asleep.

But it wouldn’t matter. Between the webs, the venom and their physical weapons, the spiders would bring this creature down. It stood no chance.

Something pulls the strings again, something much bigger. The first spider quickly clicks to the other, who feels the massive pull too at the same moment.

Something else was coming, and it was big. And strong. They instinctively knew what it was, it was the great and powerful tree spirit. Its essence was conducted through their silk, as a greeting. They were not to interfere with it, not even their queen would. Not that it had any blood to consume anyway, so it didn’t matter to them. But they would avoid its path.

The spiders quickly pull their webs to inform the others, who respond in kind with knowledge that they shouldn’t engage it.

With that said and done, the first spider returns his attention to the first prey. What were they doing again? That’s right, an enveloping maneuver.

The second spider clicks to the first, saying that this creature felt unnatural. Too cold. Poisonous, in a way that they couldn’t digest.

The first spider thinks and agrees, the blood of this creature would kill rather than sustain them. They shouldn’t hunt this creature for its blood.

The first spider stops to think for a moment, feeling like he was forgetting something. The first prey, the big spirit, the enveloping maneuver, something about a fairy. The fairy thing was the oldest, and thus starting to fade from his memory. He only had room for three subjects at the same time, after all. Their queen was the one with the long-term memory.

What did a fairy matter, though? It barely had any blood to suck. They had recently caught a few humans, which fed the queen royally. Their next generation would be strong and healthy.

The creature that was approaching felt cold, unnatural. That’s right, it was probably poisonous to them. The first spider pulls some strings to tell this to his brothers, to break off the enveloping maneuver. They’d let the first creature through, then quickly make way for the big spirit, and then restore their barrier.

It was a strange place for them to set up an ambush though. So random and far away from their nest, beyond even the communication strings to their queen. It was surprising that there was even one creature, let alone two, going through this specific spot. Would there maybe be a third for them to catch? The spider didn’t know, he trusted his queen to have thought of that.

And if they would have to return, the queen would send another spider to tell them this. Until then, he and his brothers would stay here as she commanded. He quickly begins to unfurl and untangle the spider webs that were spun to catch any passerby. They wouldn’t want to catch the poisonous cold creature in it, for it would break their traps and give away their ambush to other prey. And they certainly didn’t want to be in the great spirits way once it would arrive.

***

Girshu slithers on, completely unaware of the now disabled spider traps he slithered through. Completely unaware of the sets of eight eyes staring at him from the shadows. The spiders had no ill intend to him, and thus didn’t set off any instinctive alarms of bloodlust or stalking up on him.

Still confident that today would be a calm and uneventful day, Girshu continues traveling further eastward.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Sun Sep 9, 2018 8:14 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Hefeydd indulged himself, watching from the trees above as the centaurs approached where the Giant Kobold should have been by now. That was if Mr Bear hadn't taken care of him. Or the nasty, smelly troll. If one of them had succeeded then Hefeydd would be forced to keep his end of his deals with them, tedious things that would take all the fun out of tomorrow. If they had failed, though… Well then Hefeydd would be freed of his obligations! Neither of them had thought to ask about what would happen upon their deaths, so sure they had been that they would be the ones doing the slaying. If both had failed then that made things more difficult, and yet more fun. The Giant Kobold would continue his unchecked rampage through the forest, killing all that came into it's path. Hefeydd would be forced, for a while longer at least, to follow and make his best efforts to stop the monster. It was an unspoken agreement. He was a fairy, this was a forest. They took care of each other. He put on a little burst of speed as he realised the centaurs were getting ahead of him while he had been twirling around in the air. No need to worry about anything yet. Not until he knew for sure, one way or another, what was going to be required of him. He pulled at the shadows around him, blending in and disappearing from sight. Or so he hoped.

Castus could sense the disquiet of the forest around him, the pain of the trees that had been frozen and killed. He blood began to boil with rage at whatever was doing this. Whatever it was, it would pay. He would make sure of it or lay down his life in the attempt. There was a frozen path before them, an obvious trail leading on. Judging by what the fairy had told them there was really only one direction to follow, the path behind would just lead them back the way the creature had come. They had that much in their favor at least. If the creature couldn't help the mess it left in it's wake then there would be no hiding from Castus or the other hunters. Castus himself was considered one of the best hunters in the tribe, a seasoned warrior with years of experience. The hunting party had been a mixed bunch. Castus and two other veterans with three foals, teaching them the way of the forest. It was a dangerous place and needed to be respected, even by those who lived within it. He made the hand gestures that would signal his intent to the others. One pair would remain with him, in the rear, bows readied. The other pair, a younger and older hunter together, would move on ahead with spears drawn. They would be the tip of the attack, drawing out whatever danger lay ahead while he and the other two would keep at range to fill whatever it was with arrows. He had an uneasy feeling as they fell into formation. He wished he had his armor, and weapons suited for combat instead of these tools meant for hunting. A hunting bow or spear could take a boar with ease, but they were toys compared to a war bow and spear. They would make do, though. It was one lizard creature, how tough could it be?

Safely tucked away in his shadows Hefeydd caught up to and overtook the centaurs. He wasn't equipped mentally to deal with holding back and waiting to see what would or would not happen. He needed to know! So it was that he found himself looking down on an awful mess. There was blood and bits of meat strewn everywhere, centered around a discarded mountain of… Was that… Hefeydd froze in place as he recognised the mess for what it was. That was Mr. Bear. At least, it had been Mr. Bear. He was in a terrible state right now though. Hefeydd had a feeling that he wouldn't be required to hold up that particular deal. Had there been a Mrs. Bear back in  that cave? Little Bearlets? Who knew? Who cared? Not Hefeydd. Too bad for Mr. Bear. That meant it was all on the troll and the centaurs! He spun in place to watch the centaurs catch up and saw the block of quickly thawing ice. There was something inside the ice… Hefeydd drifted closer and closer, drawn towards it by his own curiosity. There was something familiar about that shape, too. The ice began to crack and Hefeydd stopped where he was, just a few feet away. The sound of clip-clopping drew his attention away from the ice. The Giant Kobold wasn't here. The troll wasn't here. Mr. Bear was dead. Well that was a shame and meant Hefeydd had a couple more stops to make before it got dark. He knew of two other places he could easily reach today. Mr. Bear had let him down and he wasn't going to trust everything to the centaurs.

Just up ahead Castus heard the vanguard, such as it was, coming to a halt. He wanted to call to them. Find out if they were okay. But to do so would give away his own position. Instead, slowly and painstakingly, he and the others made their way forwards. They had arrows at the ready, all three of them. All it would take now was for that fairy to fly down or trick them somehow and they could very easily end up shooting their own people by mistake. Now there was a thought. He had heard of a centaur being driven mad, within the last century, by fairies who had taken a disliking to him. He had been a great warrior but had been tricked into making many grievous mistakes, ending with him slaying his own wife. Fairies. Castus couldn't help but spit at the thought. If this was the case then that fairy would find them harder targets. Castus knew things about this forest, things that would terrify even the fearless little folk. There was a sudden crashing sound from up ahead, some kind of explosion of sound that rang out through the forest. Birds took to wing all around them, fleeing from whatever had made the noise. A terrible roar followed, chased by the sounds of surprised cries from the throats of his own people. Stealth forgotten Castus charged forwards, his companions following suit. The scene ahead was one of chaos and confusion. There was chunks of ice everywhere, ranging from the size of a head to much, much larger pieces. There was a mound of meat, massive in size but bloody and ragged, just to the other side of a troll. A troll? There was a troll that lived in these parts, that was true enough. But it had always been on peaceful terms with his people. They kept well away from each other and were all much happier for it. Now, though, this one seemed to be in a hell of a rage. It had a block of ice in it's hands the size of a boulder and was just bringing it down… Onto Arabis. The veteran tried to back out of the way but had been caught by surprise. He was crushed, the sound of bones breaking and snapping filling the air. His cry of pain was short. The troll had already brought the boulder of ice down for a second blow and this one silenced Castus' old friend. The foal made a noble attempt at skewering the troll but was instead caught by a back hand blow that sent him stumbling to the side. Castus and the others loosed their arrows, drawing another and firing again. They repeated this,  again and again as it drew closer to them.

Hefeydd considered the time that was left in the day and what he could accomplish with that time. He had covered quite a lot of distance and didn't hear the sounds of fighting, though he did notice the birds flocking away. That was curious. If this had to continue until tomorrow, depending on the distance the Giant Kobold could cover, and the amount of time it would need to rest… The calculations fell apart in Hefeydd's mind. It wasn't his strong suit. He would just have to wing it and see what would happen. He knew of a spriggan not too far away from here that was indebted to Hefeydd already. That would come in handy, but he wouldn't be able to reach him until tomorrow. Then there were the dryads… Other animals of the forest were out of the question after Mr. Bear's failure. There was something else that lived in a cave, though… Yes, that could work. Deeper into the forest there were even nastier surprises. Hefeydd didn't want to go that far alone, though. If his fairy friends didn't arrive, would he risk it? He was the First Night, second only to one in the fairy court! He had no reason to be afraid! Why, then, did he feel nervous? He would see the spriggan in the morning and get some advice. Yes, that's what he would do. Up ahead, though, was the glade he needed. He could feel the well of power there already.

Hefeydd landed in the center of the glade, right up against the old tree that stood there all by itself. How lonely it must be for Mr. Tree all alone. Hefeydd would fix that, though. He knew the truth about Mr. Tree, oh yes he did. He called upon magic of the earth, bringing fresh roots forth from the older ones as he whispered encouragement to Mr. Tree. He spoke with him for almost an hour before he moved, having drawn forth whatever he needed from the earth to awaken himself. Two large black eyes opened slowly and limbs shook themselves off. The spirit that lived in the tree, animating the mighty oak was very old. Older than the tree itself and that had been alive longer than Hefeydd! Many centuries! Oh, Mr. Tree knew things. And he would be angry at what was happening to his friends, not too far away. Too bad for Hefeydd, Mr. Tree wouldn't be able to catch up with the Giant Kobold until early the next morning. That meant he needed to arrange another surprise for tonight. He spoke for a while longer with Mr. Tree and took his leave, looking for the giant spiders.

Hefeydd drifted a few globes of light around him as he moved, their pattern random so that nobody would figure out where he was all safe and snug and hidden in his shadows. He hated the spiders, that was true enough. They always tried to catch him in their webs! Today had been no different, despite the fact that he had given them a very good deal. He knew of another group of humans, hunting near the forest. He could draw them in so easily to those sticky webs of theirs. They had agreed, of course. There was much more blood inside the humans than in little Hefeydd. But they were spiteful monsters. Oh yes they were. He could hear their chittering and scuttling as they made their way through the trees in search of their prey. They would find the Giant Kobold tonight, lay their traps. Kill him? Hopefully. 

It hissed with frustration as it watched the proceedings. Awakening that spirit… How bothersome. The reptile would need to deal with it. It wouldn't risk itself in a confrontation with that. The troll had sated it's anger, killing all but one of the centaurs and then dragging back all it could carry to it's cave. That was two disturbances dealt with. It would watch the centaur that had survived closely. 

Author: Mammonn, Posted: Sun Sep 9, 2018 1:10 AM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

"Damn it, come on! Jusst freaking tear sstraight, you tough sson of a bitch!" Girshu mumbles, pulling and jerking at the fur of the mighty beast. This would've been a lot easier if he had serrated claws, or some kind of knife. "Jusst tear and sslice open, you sstupid beasst!"

With much effort, Girshu slices through the cave bear's fur. Pushing the massive beast over, he continues carving the line. He'd soon come to the belly, where the fur and leather were softer and easier to cut. And once he had the chest fur, he wasn't going to bother with the rest of this bear's fur. In between the effort that it took him to gather just this much and the weight that the roll of fur and the bear meat were going to burden him, he was already going to carry along a lot.

A crack sounds behind him, and Girshu immediately looks around. It was just one of the troll's fingers, defrosting enough to move a bit. The troll wasn't going to break out of his frozen cage any time soon, though. Girshu turns back to the bear and continues carving.

Once the bear has two long carves on his spine that circle all the way around his belly before returning to the spine, Girshu begins to carve into the outmost left side of the white chest fur. Once he managed to completely carve through it with his claws, he begins to slowly pull the fur off the skin. Eventually Girshu has a long length of bear fur that he rolls up and binds to his pack with some leather straps. Fur and leather were valuable goods anywhere, and such a thick and large strap of hide like this one should fetch quite a good price. All the fur around the bear's shoulders, head and limbs would be left where they are, it was too much of a bother to carve into this beast's skin.

Girshu smiles as he thinks back at the beast's assault. It had been a massive and ferocious creature, hiding its presence until it saw Girshu and charged at him directly. With its mighty claws (which were now in a pouch in Girshu's bag), the bear could've killed Girshu with a single swipe. Its teeth were so massive and great that it might've snapped off a limb with a single bite. And as it stood almost as tall as Girshu while walking on all fours, the sheer bulk of the beast was more than impressive.

That said, it was still surprising that it managed to survive the first ice spike that Girshu had thrown at it. As much as the beast would've been a challenge to any frost salamander who'd face it with a spear of trident, magic casters were beyond the danger and wiles of nature. Usually. This bear had managed to survive the first spike when it grazed off its skull, and almost got close enough to slam into Girshu. Things would've gotten real ugly if that had been the case. But, simultaneously fired spike #2 to #4 had struck true and felled the beast. One's size didn't matter when there was a spike of ice lodged into your left eye that poked all the way into your brain.

The troll was a bigger issue. Those damned creatures weren't as powerful in raw force as bears and lacked the stealthy approach that this one had, but their regenerative ability was a nuisance that allowed them to be more careless despite these differences. No matter how many times you'd attack or kill them, they'd always get back up and always got back to attacking you. They knew that they didn't have to be careful or tactical, that they didn't have to dodge or block, that they didn't have to prey upon the weak or defenseless. They knew that they'd always regenerate if things went south. Well, unless they were felled by a beast big enough to eat them whole and which wasn't bothered by their abyssmal stench enough not to eat them.

Girshu had heard of a settlement that his species had once had, specifically one in more mountainous regions. The settlement had been defended by a protective wall of ice, several men high. Just pure ice, but filled with trolls. Whenever a troll would enter the domain or harass the inhabitants in any other way, they'd catch it and encase it into the wall with the others. If the settlement would ever be besieged, breaking or melting the wall would result in the trolls breaking free and attacking the siege army. The settlers had even tested the principle at times, confirming that even trolls that had been frozen for decades would just regenerate back to life and attack the nearest opponent like it was nothing. They were repugnant, unnatural creatures, those trolls. So this one too would no doubt be up and running again soon enough.

Girshu looks back at the bear. The beast fulfilled a second very useful purpose, it would keep the troll distracted. It was almost as good a purpose as the first one; feeding Girshu. Girshu had already carved out some of the best parts of the bear meat and dined, but it was but a fraction of the meat and fat that the bear had. He had even filled all his bags that weren't used for something else with bear meat and disposed of any old and less tasty rations for the bear meat, and yet there was still so much bear meat left. He even had to leave the ribs, his favourite part of the bear, because he'd be wasting so much space and weight on the bones.

The rest of the bear would be for the troll, angry as Girshu got at the thought. But, it was necessary. Girshu already had to freeze the troll whole to stop him, a much more exhausting effort than slaying the bear required, and he'd have to freeze the troll again and again. Every time he'd defrost, he'd come for Girshu again. Every time, Girshu would have to freeze him whole again and continue his path, knowing he couldn't end that cycle. He didn't have any acid on hand to kill it indefinately, after all.

But with this bear, the troll would be oversaturated and still be straining to pull the leftovers of the beast back to wherever his lair was. Without hunger and with plenty of food left, he probably wouldn't hunt for weeks to come, only assaulting any invaders of his lair. By the time he would get hungry again, Girshu would be long gone. Unlike if there hadn't been a bear, in which case he'd chase after Girshu again and again with just hours of respite in between.

"It seemss like the godss of luck and travelling are with me." Girshu says, smiling. "Two threatss at oncse, and they sserve to nullify the other. Not to mention, there'ss no way that I'll be bothered by a third isssue any time ssoon, now that thesse two are dealt with."

Well, that was kinda true. Girshu knew that the mysterious being and their familiar were still about, and he was still suspicious that they were following him now. Perhaps the few hints of a malicious being that Girshu picked up on before had been them? But at least the locals shouldn't be too much of an issue now. In between the bear and the troll, this area should now be devoid of large predators that would either hunt of defend their territory. There was nothing left here to threaten him, right? Right. Except for the mage and his familiar of course. Or her familiar? Their familiar.

As Girshu goes over the troll again to apply a little touch of frost here and there and optime the time that it would take for the monster to defrost, the sound of hooves appear in the far distance. As these were not metal hooves nor of beasts that knew not how to traverse the woods efficiently, Girshu didn't hear them yet. His silent stalker did, and quickly found a place where they'd be undetected from all angles. Girshu begins slithering away, having to make some more distance between him and this annoyance of a troll before he'd unfreeze. Darn creature, at this rate he'd be travelling at night for some time before setting up camp.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Sat Sep 8, 2018 6:55 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Hefeydd gave up on the bird call as he heard the Giant Kobold moving away. That was frustrating. Maybe he just hadn't picked up on the right breed of bird, or maybe the Giant Kobold had gorged himself and was now full. Either way, Hed felt like a failure. He swung his legs as he thought about his next line of attack, barely paying attention to his surroundings so that the bird was literally right on top of him before he noticed it. He let out a tiny yelp and fell backwards over the branch. The talons of the bird missed him, just barely, but they sliced through the air and made his small heart race. Falling through the air he had enough time to scowl at the bird, a bright yellow one with which Hefeydd was passingly familiar, and then to flap his wings to halt his descent. The bird hovered in place a moment, seeing Hed's wings beating at the air and thinking him an intruder. Hefeydd though for a moment of trying to explain the situation to the bird, but decided against it. Why should he? The bird wasn't the boss around here! The bird would be lucky to fly out of here! The bird shot down into a dive, aiming right at Hefeydd. There were plenty of things he could do at this point… But what should he do? Fire? Ice? Shock it? Kill it? Hurt it? Hefeydd shook away the distracting thoughts in time to zip out of the way at the last moment. The bird pulled out of the dive and skated over the ground, turning back to face Hefeydd and prepare for another attack. He needed to keep his mind in this one! The pesky bird was becoming more and more of a nuisance! Narrowing his eyes, Hed drew in magic as he made his decision. He landed on the ground at the base of the tree he had fallen from. He whispered to it quietly, pouring his magic out. As the bird dove again, talons out and ready to strike, roots shot up out of the ground and plucked the bird from the air. They quickly descended back to the ground, pinning it in place. Hed strode over, swaggering with confidence and looked into the bird's eyes. "Listen up, you… You… Bird!"

Hefeydd flew through the air as he thought through his new plan. The Giant Kobold didn't want birds, and that was fine! There were better things than birds in the forest, and Hefeydd would use them all until he found what he needed. There were a few things nearby that could work, at least, according to his new bird friend. He had been forced to take a few feathers. Some poking. Prodding. A little bit of fire and ice. The bird had given in, in the end. Bowing to Hefeydd's vast superiority. Now the little bird was off doing the mighty fairy's bidding. A wide grin was spread across his face as he came to the cave he was looking for. He would need to find some helpers soon, if he was going to keep track of the Giant Kobold and bring along friend to play with. Luckily, this cave was close enough and Hed could easily find his way back to the icy path leading through the trees. He dropped his shadows, instead drawing on some light, creating a little ball and sending it floating ahead of him into the cave. He could see well enough in the dark, that was true. But he didn't want to be surprised. He had nothing to fear from the owner of the cave, not in a fair fight. But if it managed to get the drop on it then it was far too big and Hefeydd would surely be crushed into a beautiful paste against the floor. That was not what he wanted here. There was a low rumble as the resident was disturbed by the light and Hefeydd did not gulp with fear. No. Something was just stuck in his throat, was all.

Hefeydd was surprised. Negotiations had gone well. If things went well then Hefeydd was going to need to find some honey bees and entrap them somehow, but that was an issue for another day. When Mr. Bear had heard about the rampaging beast tearing through his forest, well, he had been more than happy to come out and deal with the intruder. Mr. Bear was big and brown, liked to be called a kodiak. Whatever that was. All Hed knew was… The guy was big. At ten feet in length he would have dwarfed any of those humans from before, and while weight had no real meaning to Hefeydd after you got bigger than he was… The bear was huge, muscles rippling under the fur as it got lazily to it's feet and began to exit his home. He allowed Hefeydd to ride upon his back, something he hadn't had to negotiate for. Not that he would have. What did he care that the fur was long and fuzzy, soft beneath him, and oh so cuddly as he sank into it. He became warm and happy as he snuggled into the bear's pelt and rested as it made it's lumbering way through the forest, meeting the path of the Giant Kobold and following it. Hefeydd would have to leave, very soon. Not that he didn't think his new bear friend wouldn't put up a good fight, but he needed to be prepared. Get ahead of this. Set some things up just in case, in stead of being behind and reacting to the slivering cold monster. Speaking of monsters, not far from here was a glade…. A glade where, if he was lucky, he might just find what he needed….

Hefeydd took off from the back of the bear, hearing noises up ahead that suggested the Giant Kobold was nearby. He hovered in place for just a moment, watching as the bear picked up speed. It was close to charging, but hadn't roared or made too much noise yet. He was a little disappointed that he wouldn't be around to see what would happen to the bear and the kobold. But things to do, people to see. He had two more stops on his list, before he could circle back around and see what had happened. He zipped through the forest, speeding along with the aid of magic to travel a greater distance in a short amount of time. If the bird was doing it's job, there would be some more fairies joining him soon. With more of his people, he was sure he would have more ideas. At the least it would mean he would have less word to do himself. That would be nice. Not having to fly around, being forced into making deals with others and… The smell hit him and he groaned. He was close now. The clearing would be just up ahead and the troll would be there. Stinking up the whole forest around him. He let out a long huff of frustration but continued onward. Trolls were big and scary, at least to mortals. Truly, Hefeydd felt less scared of this beast than of the bear. Troll were stupid.

"So… If I help you… I get… What?" Heyfeydd pulled at his hair, eyes rolling up as he sighed. They had been over this already! "You want treasure? I'll tell you where it is! You want meat, I can get you some delicious sheeps! Just tell me what you want and I can get it!" The troll stared at Hefeydd with those beady little eyes of his. He didn't seem all that upset about the intruder in the forest. If it wasn't coming towards him or his glade then why should he care? This was making Hefeydd upset. He buzzed around in tight circles while the troll thought things through. "Well… How do I find… It?" Hefeydd resisted the urge to fly over there and kick the troll in the face. There was a little too much intelligence i the troll's eyes and Hefeydd suspected that maybe, just maybe, he was being toyed with. If he did fly any closer to the troll, what would stop the troll reaching out and snatching him from the air? Hefeydd surely didn't want that. "Listen, I have somewhere else I need to be. Do we have a deal or do I find a someone stronger? I thought you would be excited to fight, but I guess you're just scared!" He poked out his tongue at the end of this, and turned in spot, ready to leave. He wasn't trying to trick the troll. But the troll growled anyway, making up his mind.

Hefeydd's final stop for the day, otherwise he would miss anything, was to another glade. If he was right about directions then he should be a few miles ahead of where the Giant Kobold should be. No fairies had found him, which was annoying. No birds come to find him either. You just couldn't get the help these days. Made him wonder, momentarily, if the bear and the troll were even going to make it to the kobold! What if they got distracted, wandering off to find something delicious to eat. Speaking of… If the centaurs held up with custom they would have to feed Hefeydd! Wouldn't they?

As it turned out, they did feed Hefeydd. Not because they felt obligated but because he was a nuisance that they didn't want to risk bothering. If the fairy thought they were snubbing him or insulting him in any way… Well, it would be a bother if not an actual threat. They were full of hot air but could do all kinds of things to make them miserable. If a group of them got it into their heads to torment them… Better just to feed the little guy and hear him out. What he said was worrying, something they should have heard about sooner. His words made little sense, but he described something large. Something reptilian. Something very, very dangerous. Castus looked at the others in his hunting party, five of them in all. One of them would have to go warn the others. Would four be enough to stop whatever was coming? Almost sounded like a dragon. May the gods protect them if it was. Castus allowed the fairy to ride upon his back as he and the other hunters left their camp, the youngest of them leaving to find their people. They galloped through the trees, the surrounding familiar enough that there was no danger of them tripping. Bows were readied, spears prepared. The fairy, who had been perched upon his shoulder for the whole ride, suddenly took off as they reached the path of ice leading on. They had missed it, but not by much.

It had been watching the proceedings, careful not to show itself. The humans were meant to be it's meal. They had been taken from it. The fae had then started messing with things. Things it should not have. When the fae had given the bird orders to find more.. Well, it couldn't have that. It had snatched the bird from the air, consuming it's life force. What was left of the bird was nothing but ashes. Just like the fae would be. Just like the reptile would be.

Author: Mammonn, Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:30 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Girshu ignores the mother bird that was fluttering away from him and focussed on the eggs. Plopping them into his mouth one by one, he ate them all. His claw rakes at the bird, but she flies further away to save herself. Seems like this mother bird didn't protect her eggs at all costs, instead prioritising her own life knowing she couldn't win anyway. Well, didn't matter.

Girshu climbs back down again and continues his path eastwards. An obnoxious bird begins to flute and chipper behind him. Girshu ignored the bird, knowing that only male birds defended their territory from other birds with their melody, or used it as a mating call. And he wasn't going to wear himself out by hunting for birds with either magic or his natural weapons, whether it be a male or female bird. The actual flesh under their feathers was too little to warrant the effort and the likeliness of the whole excersize to be futile. Girshu liked the eggs that wouldn't run at all, but would hunt some mammals that couldn't fly away quickly if he really wanted meat.

A colourful bird flies from up ahead, whistling loudly and heading straight for this sudden competitor in his territory. Or answering to the mating call. Either, neither, didn't matter. Girshu contemplates shooting him down, as the bird's trail was rather straightforward and predictable, but decides against it. He wasn't that hungry any more, not after the eggs. He slithers on, letting the sun guide him.

A few minutes later, he passes a small spring. It was but a little stream of water running through rocky soil riddled with the roots of thirsty trees, but it was clear and devoid of disentery. Girshu kneels down next to the stream and drinks his waterskin empty. With the leftover stale water gone, he then places it in the water, hooked behind a root to prevent it from being pulled away by the stream. Not that it could, the stream wasn't even deep enough to completely submerge a human's toes at most parts, but there was no reason to take any risks.

As the water flows into the skin, Girshu cups his hands and fills them with a bit of water. It immediately freezes over, and he breaks the ice into chunks. Girshu puts them into his mouth and begins to grind them down further. It was the best way for his body to obtain water without having to dilude it with antifreeze. And it wasn't as if he was amongst humans, who considered it rude and uncivilised to grind and chew on food so loudly.

Girshu looks up at the sky. There were a few more hours of sun left, so he should make some more headway before nightfall. As long as he'd only travel during the day, he shouldn't get lost or be led astray. And as long as the forest would be so meek and tame, he wouldn't have any trouble surviving in it.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:55 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Hefeydd was finally warm, though it had taken time. He had created a small ball of fire when he was sure that Giant Kobold was gone, hovering around it and cursing loudly and explicitly. Conjuring himself an apple had cheered him up, though. And shrinking himself down so the apple was giant made him happier still! His body taken care of, he had carefully made his way back through the forest, asking for directions as he went to make sure he was going in the right direction. A squirrel here, a bird there, a helpful tree or two. All of which led him to a frozen patch of forest. The trees here were dead, the ones closest were dying. The Giant Kobold sure was a meany. Remember the chilling touch of his magic, Hed tried to think of a what he could do to get revenge for the forest. Against something that size, and alone… He had some ideas. There were other things here, not just Giant Kobolds.

Hefeydd tracked the Giant Kobld, a task made easier by the destruction it left in its wake. What a careless creature it was. It was like it didn't even care about the forest! He spun about the trees, and heard a crashing from ahead. There he was, the nasty Giant Kobold. Clawing his way up a tree, attacking the poor animals. He pondered this for a moment, wondering what it was about the birds that the Giant Kobold seemed to hate. Maybe the hatred for birds could be used. Flying further into the trees, out of sight of the Giant Kobold, he sat down on a branch and began to make bird calls. He tried out a few different ones to see if any would work better than others. If he could find out what the Giant Kobold liked, he could lead it in the direction he needed.

Author: Mammonn, Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:20 AM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Girshu slithers towards the mephid, only for the familiar to respond with a fireball. He apparently hadn't seen Girshu yet, but Girshu still stopped in place. He quickly turned and watched where the fireball went. He sends a ball of frost after it, blasting away the flames that were starting to eat away at the leaves. Like hell Girshu was going to let them set fire to the forest and gain an advantage over him that way.

When he turned back to the mephid though, the little critter was gone. Girshu curses and moves towards where it had last been. Bits of frost showed where it went, and the small footsteps showed that it wasn't flying, but neither would last too long. Girshu slithers to the direction that the familiar went in, peering through the shrubbery. Someone of their size could easily hide in a hundred places in just the coming ten meters, so any further and Girshu would lose them. Which was he said to himself, while in reality he already lost any chance of finding the mephid.

Girshu curses and calls upon his innate magic. The water in the air immediately condensates on the nearest surface and the leaves grow more light blue. The condensation turns to frost flowers that render the entire area solid, and the area of effect continues to grow. Girshu looks around for anything to come out of hiding or produce steam breath in this new air. He doesn't see anything of the like however, and curses again. He now truly lost track of the damn familiar, and thus had no hope of locating their master. Continuing in the direction that the mephid fled to, he takes one last long shot.

As the seconds turn to minutes however, and minutes into hours, the pursuit turns into wary vigilance and careful awareness turns to basic caution. Following the guiding light of the sun into the direction that it claimed to be North-West like before, Girshu merely keeps the chance that the mysterious being was chasing him in the back of his head. But, it was equally possible that it was only interested in the humans, or easy prey.

Seeing something interesting, Girshu looks up at the bird's nest. He would've missed it if it weren't for the bird flapping its wings. Girshu licks his lips. He could eat, and didn't mind skipping the whole searching part of foraging.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 5:14 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Hefeydd holds his nose against the stink that start coming from the mortal. Foul magic, that. Looked like it was eating the mortal alive! While normally such things would be fun to watch, the magic being used to do it was foul. Dead. Disgusting! How could anyone handle such a thing? Well, luckily for Hed, he didn't have to. Giggling to himself, he floated up a little higher, begin another one of his lazy circles through the air. It was becoming obvious that the mortal wasn't doing this to himself, and didn't want it to happen. Also, it appeared he was powerless to do anything to stop it. How strange. There must be someone else nearby controlling the magic, but Hefeydd couldn't see anyone, or smell anyone, hear anyone, feel anyone! So that meant, there wasn't anyone!

Cold magic tore through the air, freezing Hefeydd in place as he watched it hit a bush. The irony of his previous thoughts were completely lost on him. Everything was lost on him. Hadn't he been in that bush recently? Or had it been another one? He looked down at himself, wings beating to keep him hovering in place, to check his shadows. They were still around him, weren't they? Yes. He couldn't be seen which meant he couldn't be hurt and he had nothing to worry about! There were others of his kind that liked to turn invisible, and it was something Hefeydd was capable of… But he liked his shadows. They made him feel warm and protected. They worked! The ice had not come for him, and now he had some idea of the direction the magic was flung from. Hadn't there been someone he had met recently that used ice magic? There was something familiar about it, something that was nagging at him but he just couldn't put his finger on it. There was the mortal under him, and before that there had been… Other mortals? Yes! They had met a Giant Kobold!

As Hefeydd began a little midair jig, wrapped up in his shadows as he celebrated remembering the Giant Kobold and dead mortals, he was blasted by a wave of cold air. The chill got into his body and his wings, startling him and causing him to drop from the air. With a burst of breath he hit the ground, rolling into a ball and spinning away. His shadows had been blown away by the impact of the magic and he was left exposed on the ground. His body temperature had plummeted, and he was shivering away violently. His eyes searched for the area he had thought the magic had come from. Had it been there? Of course, if he remembered it there then it was there! He shot a ball of fire in that direction, some eight feet away from where the cryomancer was actually standing. While the magic ball of flame was flying through the air Hefeydd was wrapping shadows around his own shivering form while he began to run through the bushes in the opposite direction. He would find his way back here soon, and get his revenge. For now, he needed to find somewhere to warm himself up!

Author: Mammonn, Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:37 AM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

A shadow approaches the kid as the grass withers around him. It was small and it was clearly unnatural, shrouding a figure inside. Or an illusion, meant to deceive anyone who thought that the being had come out of hiding. Yes, with such a small bundle of shadows, it was probably just a decoy. Girshu looks at it and the boy, and the way that the boy didn't react to its presence. Then the figure in the shadows kicks him, and the boy reacted. Hm, not an illusion after all. But judging from the reaction it was easily startled and clearly not that bright. A familiar?

This was intriguing. Whatever this was, it wasn't a simple monster of some kind. It might've made a pact with a… what was it again? Demon? Tanari? Fiend? There were a whole bunch of names for the interplanar creatures that overlapped and referred to a whole lot of vaguely established differences. But this creature looked like an imp, or maybe a mephid. The size was correct, as was the behaviour. Girshu couldn't tell, the sudden jump away from the boy had briefly taken the figure out of their shadows, but rendered them a blur to the naked eye at the same time. Greenish. So not an imp, but a green mephid. The chaotic kind of servant.

Girshu looks at what it was doing, and at what was happening to the boy. The foul smell of the stuff that spread over his leg and through the dirt, it was definately blight. Necromancy. Even Girshu had seen that vile form of magic with his own two eyes before, it being a rather common form of evil around the human lands. Though this specific application was unknown to him, he only knew the shambling corpses and the life draining touches that necromancers used. The solution was not just killing the grass, it was rendering the soil infertile for probably decades to come. And to his leg, the damage was similarly horrifying. The skin was cracking and falling off in scrabs, his blood was turning brown and thicker while it was still in his veins, his skin colour was turning a black-freckled grey and boils were rapidly forming. The boy looks horrified, grabbing at his leg and trying to wipe the necrotic stuff off. It only resulted in his fingers showing a similar deterioration. He scrambled back and seems positively at the end of his latin, not even seeming to notice the openly unnatural shadows floating nearby. It just observed him, probably amused.

Girshu wasn't, though. He was barely even interested. There were thousands of ways for humans to kill themselves and others, and this wasn't that much more horrifying than a great many ways that Girshu had already seen. It didn't seem as bad as burning alive, certainly. No, Girshu had already written the boy off as a lost cause. There was no way that the kid wouldn't lose his leg, and he was thus rendered stranded in these woods without any hope of making it out. Girshu certainly wouldn't be dragging him out. Instead he returns his attention to the familiar. The master didn't seem to come out of hiding, so he just had to use the familiar to find them. A familiar would always know where their master was hiding, and they'd return to them when they were hurt and panicking. Girshu smiles and comes out of hiding.

Aiming in the direction that the familiar came from, Girshu conjures up a whole blast of frost and hurls it that way. If he was lucky, the master had been careless and hadn't told the familiar to take a detour before coming out. The cone of cold turned into a volley of ice spikes, disappearing into the dark shrubbery and only making it apparent that they struck something by the dull thumps that they made. No screams of pain, though, shame. Girshu quickly throws a ball of frost at the familiar before they could flee, just enough to harm it proper but not to kill or immobilise it. That ought to make it flee back to hide behind his master's skirts. Somewhat quickly to not lose sight of his guide, Girshu begins to slither in the direction that the mephid fled to, ignoring the lad's soft whispers for help.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:22 AM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Hefeydd spun around in victory as he watched the mortal swallowed up by the grass. That had worked out extremely well! Now, he would go and find that Giant Kobold and see what fun he could have with it. Should he take it further into the forest, and get it lost somewhere with all kinds of nasty beasts? Or out of the forest, where there were all kinds of mortals that could be played with too? It was so hard to choose!

An acrid smell burned his nose, causing him to turn back to face the mortal's form, buried in the grass. Except, he wasn't buried any more, was he? All the pretty green grass was dying, revealing the body inside! No no no. This was terrible! Why was the hateful mortal killing the grass? How was the hateful mortal killing the grass? Was he magical, like Hefeydd? Or like those boring mortals who walked around, throwing magic at each other and everything else they came across, just because they could? Was there another mortal he had missed? No, of course not! Hefeydd would have known if there had been another. He glanced around anyway, just to be sure. Not that he was scared of mortals, oh no, not him. But he hated surprises. Nothing jumped out at him though, as he slowly glided over to the now uncovered body, still keeping his own tiny form shrouded in shadows. Best to be safe.

He hoped that the mortal might have been weaker and passed on while covered by the grass, but unfortunately that was not so. It had been a little much to hope for, he had been covered only a short time of course. He stood next to the body, fists on his hips as he tried to decide what to do about this troublesome mortal. He wasn't moving, which meant he would need to wait until the mortal was awake before he could do anything about it. He lashed out with a foot, not expecting to harm the mortal, but just out of mild frustration. The impact barely ruffled the boy's clothes, but at that moment he came screaming back to his senses. Literally.

The scream pierced the still forest air, making Hefeydd jump strait up into the air. Powered by his wings this turned into an upwards burst of speed, leaving him hovering in place five feet in the air. Hissing and spitting with anger, he glared down at the mortal as he began thrash and twist, tearing at the grass around him and scrambling away. Good, the annoying mortal was terrified, eyes bulging out of his skull as he stared around him, head whipping this way and that. Scooting along backwards, he finally backed into a tree which caused him to scream and spin around again. He was making an awful racket. What if the Giant Kobold heard and came back this way? Hed would need to do something fast to silence him, and take care of him once and for all. He was about to do something incredibly mean when he was struck by a thought. The mortal had killed the grass, somehow. Would he be able to harm Hefeydd? Growling, he stopped what he had been planning. Could he be patient and watch, before acting? Oh, how he hated to wait. He had an idea, then. He needed to test the mortal. It would keep him busy, and keep him safe. But it would also mean letting the Giant Kobold have him back for now. All was not lost, though. They could still be led. Maybe it would be easier to use the mortal as bait.

Author: Mammonn, Posted: Wed Aug 8, 2018 2:09 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Girshu looked at the young lad running off, unarmed and a bit too careless. This was the same scared boy who had warned him of some vengeful and murderous being, right? Yet he even forgot to grab the spear. Stupid boy. Girshu waits for a bit longer, his frost slowly creeping into the tree. As a few minutes pass, the cold seeps all the way to the tree's core and ensures it eventual demise. In a few days, the leaves above him would wither and die, then the bask would start to peel off and eventually the whole tree would become a mangled corpse waiting to be felled by a storm or forest fire. Not that Girshu noticed this, he was just leaning against a tree.

Once the boy's footsteps and general ruckus of traversing the woods got too faint to be audible, Girshu went after him. Following the clear trail of broken branches and muddy footsteps that the group of humans left, he easily caught up with the boy again. He didn't let himself be seen though, keeping his distance and avoided making much noise to evade detection by both the boy and whatever was haunting him. Girshu smiles. Because if there was one thing that all predators had in common, it was that they were drawn to the weakest specimen of the herd. Especially when it was separated from the rest. This young, lost and lonely boy was certainly weak enough to awaken that instinctive desire. And out of self-preservation, Girshu wanted to know what kind of predator might follow him soon.

He was disappointed to see that the monster didn't just reveal itself. Instead, it cloaked itself in shadows or hid by other means, despite this last survivor of the group being all alone. As far as the creature knew, there shouldn't be any bystanders. At least, Girshu hopes that he had remained undetected. Though this kind of behaviour also told some things about the predator, including that it was probably not a physically powerful being. Fast and stealthy, but not something that could take down a lone enemy in a single swoop, like a barghest.

Instead, the creature used it's mimicry ability again. The voice of that one guy echoes through the woods, speaking of Girshu murdering him. Did he really know that, or was it mere conjecture? The monster didn't seem too savvy of human motivations, though. If the kid saw Girshu kill four of his party with his own eyes and still insist on tailing him, what would the death of one more change? Girshu smiled, learning more and more of the creature's shortcomings.

The two were now screaming, and Girshu scowled. He hated human voices, especially when they were arguing. Props to the monster for imitating that annoying detail too. Girshu would be sure to compliment them for it when they were frozen solid.

The boy drops the gear he was gathering and makes a run for it when the bushes start to rustle. Girshu stays in hiding, knowing that it would be child's play for magic to make movement like that without the caster actually being in the general area. No, he had to wait for the monster to make its move. Now that the boy was panicked and blindly running, the situation was perfect for any predator to strike.

It didn't though. A vine wrapped itself around the boy's ankle instead and made him fall over with a rather nasty fall. He shivered and gasped, but he was clearly not in control of his own body any more. Grass began to grow over him, consuming him. Girshu waited, knowing that humans could last about three minutes without air. He wasn't going to rush in before he had to, and thus warn the monster of his presence. Not when that monster might present themselves first. Keeping his eyes peeled and his every sense trying to locate any movement around him, Girshu waits.

Then he notices a strange scent coming from the boy, who's almost coccooned in the grass by now. One of the bottles on his belt had shattered, spreading the thick liquid contents everywhere. It didn't seem to do much before, but now there was smoke coming from one of the drenched pouches as the liquid seeped through. The grass seemed to wither and die around the smoke, turning black and blighted at a rapid pace. Girshu stays in hiding, wondering what was happening but not at all intending to go check it out up close.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Wed Aug 8, 2018 1:09 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

He shook with laughter, falling through the air as he forgot to keep himself airborne he was so distracted by the unfolding events. It was even more than he had hoped for! Before hitting the floor he regained control of himself, hovering and finally landing to continue watching from the ground. The view was terrible from down here, but less dangerous! The Giant Kobold was just tearing through the mortals like they weren't even there! What a scary fellow he was. Hefeydd giggled, imagining the fun he could have with the Giant Kobold. The question was, how to control it. He began skipping around, turning the puzzle over in his head, completely missing the final deaths.

When things became quieter, screaming and shouting replaced by boring talking, Hefeydd stopped what he was doing to investigate. There was one mortal left, talking to the Giant Kobold. He wasn't close enough, and frankly didn't care enough, to try and eavesdrop. This wasn't right though. The Giant Kobold should be killing this mortal, just like all the others! Not chatting! Discussing the weather or what have you. He kicked a leaf, flipping it over as he watched their conversation continue. It ended with the mortal turning around and running off, back the way he had come. What had he missed? There must have been something. Hissing with frustration, Hefeydd launched himself back into the air and circled around, completely missing the destruction below him while caught up in his own rambling thoughts. If the Giant Kobold wasn't going to do anything to the mortal, then it fell to Hefeydd.

Course of action decided, Hefeydd flew off after the mortal. He hadn't gone far, really, despite his obvious efforts to make haste. Why this one had been spared Hefeydd couldn't fathom. He was the smallest of the mortal group, perhaps that was it. Maybe the Giant Kobold, remembering his little kobold family, had a soft spot for little people. If so then Hefeydd could see them getting along fabulously! All Hefeydd needed to do was remove the mortal from the picture.

He followed the mortal back to the camp. Once there the mortal wasted no time in tearing through packs and tents, gathering things up. He wasn't being very careful about it, some of the things he had gathered were spoiled or ruined, by Hefeydd himself.This thought made him preen for a moment as he continued watching the mortal do whatever it was he was doing. Rushing, from the look of things. Was he scared to be alone? A wicked grin split Hefeydd's face. He didn't have to be alone…

"He. Killed. Me." The voice of Roger, the first of their group to disappear came out of the trees his left. The boy froze in place, his heart hammering inside his chest. Could that really be Roger? They had been hearing his voice for so long now. Was it his vengeful spirit. Was that what had been tormenting them all this time. "Go…. Go AWAY!" he screamed shrilly into the woods.
"Boy. He. KILLED. ME!!" The voice became louder, much louder, and a lot closer now. No, this couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. He needed to get back to the creature in the forest. There he would be protected. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" 
The branches began to shake violently in the direction the voice was coming from. Whimpering, the boy abandoned everything he had been collecting, instead choosing to run away. Run back towards the creature. It might kill him, but he couldn't stand being here alone any longer. He made it three steps before something snagged his foot, sending him crashing face first into the ground. He could taste blood. He tried to move, to get back to his feet, but his body wouldn't respond any more. It was like he was paralyzed. His eyes, stuck open, could see the forest to the side of his body. He tried to call for help, but only managed a choked cry. Grass began to grow around him, and everything went dark as he was cocooned in it. 

Author: Mammonn, Posted: Wed Aug 8, 2018 1:39 AM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Girshu sighs as more humans rushed into the clearing. He was in an ancient, monster-infested forest, yet his encounters were still this unoriginal and common? How dull. Drawing his rapier and preparing for a fight, he prepares to defend and counter-attack. The humans didn't seem as madly aggressive as the last guy, though. One of them was already preparing to retreat, and it was clear that the others would follow once that happened. He didn't, though, instead yelping in pain for some reason and bumping into the guy in front of him. The biggest brute amongst them took it as a sign of them being ready and bloodthirsty, and shouted some orders.

Girshu takes a stance, preparing for battle. And then he waited. And waited a bit longer. The ones with bows hadn't kept them properly, the only sword wielder apparently allowed his sword to rust into the sheath, and one of the axes they had was rendered so dull it became a cudgel instead. The other's axe though, it made it clear that this was no mere human carelessness though. Not even humans would be stupid enough to put a toxicity spell on their own handle and then forgetting about it, even if they could cast something like that. And this guy neither seemed intelligent nor gifted enough for it.

So, there was something that was terrorising these travelers? Probably the same something that had driven the man from before insane. It seemed to like toying with their gear, trapping and cursing it. With magical means. Girshu couldn't tell whether the axe hilt was magic, but he could sense the cryomancy around the sword after examining it more attentively. Not that such simple trickery could bother him, not with his biology. Girshu's body temperature was so cold that everything he carried on him was frozen, so frigid that the warmblooded races would be harmed just by touching it.

One of the last two humans who hadn't been tricked yet shouts and points his spear at Girshu. Half expecting it to blow up, Girshu instead sees that the simplistic weapon worked as intended. The man rushed at him, only to fall flat when an ice shard struck him straight in the head. Girshu sighs, turning his attention to the man with the cudgel axe and points his claw at him. The man screamed and charged forwards, swinging the axe over his head. Two shards in his chest made him stop and buckle over, his club falling to the ground and red circles growing rapidly on his tunic.

The small clearing is draped in silence for a moment, the last four remaining humans silent and fearful.

"YOU! IT MUST BE YOU WHO CURSED US LIKE THIS, YOU MONSTER! RELEASE US!" The sword guy said. Picking up a big rock with both hands, he runs at Girshu with the intend of killing him in the most savage and simple way possible. The two bow wielders throw down their useless twigs and grab weapons themselves. One clutches an arrow in each hand as if it's a small spear or pick, while the other draws a dagger.

Girshu dodges the heavy rock with relative ease, the dehydrated man being way beyond his prime condition and the rock too heavy for his denutriated muscles. As the rock falls onto the ground and buries itself deeper into the mud with a soft ploof, Girshu grabs the man's head with one hand. The man screams with frightened eyes as the frostbite immediately turns one side of his face dark purple-red and slowly starts to creep slowly over his skin. He pulls himself loose, scrambles back and cludges his face with his muddy hands. Girshu looks at his hand with disgust, peeling off a chunk of already frozen solid cheek from it and scratching off some other parts of frozen human flesh. The two-faced man seems petrified, his former will to fight completely gone. So does the man with the knife, after seeing how his archery friend died unceremoniously to another ice shard that Girshu threw while otherwise occupied with his face grab. They turn around, running into the woods without any care for the companions and the gear they were leaving behind. If they had the fluid reserves in their body to produce urine, they probably would've soiled their pants too.

Girshu looks at the man who was having what was either the trip of his life or a brain-damaging seizure. With his fallen in cheeks and hollow eyes, this man was clearly not in a good condition, he was malnitricious like the rest and in no state to survive any serious poison. Girshu planted a shard of ice in his chest to put him out of his misery.

He then looks at the last man left standing. Or rather, boy. The lad looks at him with some semblance of calmth and civilised manners in his eyes, and raises his hands in surrender. He seemed genuine, in that he looked too scrawny and cowardly to attack Girshu, and so Girshu left him be. Examining the bodies and taking a few pouches with a shabby amount of silver from them, Girshu is disappointed to learn that these guys were as poor as they looked. The sword was of decent quality, but not decent enough to carry to the nearest merchant. The arrows were few and nicked, and Girshu had no eye for which ones were too crooked to be worth anything. They had a map, but Girshu didn't trust the navigational tools of a group who was this lost. Which only left the knife and the poisoned axe. Girshu took the first and left the latter, and turned to continue travelling.

"Uhm, sir?" The boy asked, trailing behind Girshu as he walked away. "If it's not too much of a bother, could I-"

He chokes on his tongue as Girshu looks around at him, a sight that always seemed to frighten humans considering his red eyes and long dark-blue teeth. The boy recollects himself and continues with a stutter. "Please, good sir. I- I need to get out o- o- of these woods. I can't…"

"Not my problem." Girshu replies. His ability to speak only seems to calm the boy though, and he quickly walks a bit faster to catch up with Girshu.

"Please, kind sir." The boy says, paling when Girshu glares at him again. "I mean, sir. Just sir. There is some kind of terribly cruel monster around here, who might target you next. They took great glee in torturing our group for an entire week, and are responsible for the deaths of two of us. Or well, all of us except for me, if you count your handiwork…"

"It just decided to follow us and torment us for no reason other than our presence in these woods, and it clearly has no qualms with killing us. Whether directly or indirectly." He says, looking at the poisoned man. "And it has led us astray, without any clue as to where we are or in which direction the way out is."

Girshu looks at the lad and studies him a bit closer. He was young, what humans called a teen, probably. His hair was messy and his bangs covered his eyes, but his clothes were more well-kept than the others. A bit more expensive too, and meant for the woods. There was a book strapped to his belt, with the lack of a title on the cover suggesting that it was a journal of some kind. There were also several small pouches with unknown content, and something that could be a wand of sorts. Not necessarily the magical kind, just something to either focus magic or some other simple purpose.

"I have stuff. And skills, sir. While I do realise that they didn't get my own group out of here, perhaps it would be-"

"Lesss talking, more factss." Girshu interrupted his endless babbling. 

"Of course! Of course! I- I-" The lad responds. "There's some valuable stuff back at our camp, if you'd be so graceful to oblige a minor detour. I'm a herbalist, or well, an alchemist. I can make some pretty nifty potions, and I was trying to find a rare herb around these woods. We had a map, and should've found the place that it claimed to have these herbs about five days ago. We should've been out of the woods already. And-"

"I hear more talking."

"Right, right. Sorry. I just want to get out of these woods, good sir. If you'll have me…"

Girshu sighs and turns around, pointing at the dead grass and dying roots left in his wake. "My body temperature killss whatever I walk over, creating a pretty clear trail to follow. There'ss probably ssome dead treess with frosstbite along the way too, to enssure that you're on the right path. Just follow thiss trail, and you sshould be out of the woodss in about a week or sso."

"Oh. A week. I don't think I can survive for that long, even if it weren't for the monster who follows me."

"And you call yoursself a herbalisst?" Girshu says, rolling his eyes. "Lissten, I don't know how long I will sstill need to get out of the woodss thiss way. And I'm not ssharing my food with you, human. Sso you're better of going the other way."

The boy looks at him, and Girshu knows that he's just going to walk after him regardless. He sighs, rolls his eyes very clearly and then looks at the boy. "Fine. Grab the sspear, even you sshould know how to usse that kind of weapon. Then go to your camp. Grab what you can carry and nothing more, becausse I won't help you carry anything. Get back here in fifteen minutes, because that'ss how long you'll have before I'm leaving. Need more than fifteen minutess, and I'll asssume you're dead."

The boy nods, relieved and grateful, and quickly runs off. Girshu sighs as he sees that the boy forgot to grab the spear first, but leans against a tree regardless. As long as the boy wouldn't prove too much of a hassle, he would make a good pack mule.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Tue Aug 7, 2018 8:59 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Hefeydd flew around in excited circled, clapping his hands together as he heard the mortals rushing forwards. He wasn't entirely sure what the lizard person was, it was definitely something new to him. Maybe it was a type of kobold! Hed liked kobolds. They were easy to lead down holes, into caves, off of cliffs. Yes, this must be some kind of kobold. It was much bigger, so maybe it was a giant kobold. Attaching a note to the creature in his mind, he labeled it a Giant Kobold.

What happened next was absolutely wonderful, everything happening much better than Hefeydd had hoped it would. The seven mortals charged into the clearing, shouting and roaring in their rough, angry voices. So much different from the musical notes of the fey. It made it hard sometimes to pay attention and fully understand them. As they stumbled to a stop at the sight of the Giant Kobold, they seemed to deflate, to become uncertain. One at the back actually began to cry, and take two steps backward! Well this would not do! If they ran, what would make the Giant Kobold chase them? Becoming faster, Ed tore a twig off a branch and shot around in a loop, diving at the mortal at the back and striking his neck with the stick then shooting back off into the trees. He had maintained the shadows around himself, or at least, he had hoped he did. Landing, he crept back, peeking through a bush to see what would happen.

The man he had struck had screamed, and from the looks of things he had run forwards into the back of one of his companions. After that, all kind of chaos happened, making Hefeydd skip and dance with joy.

The lead mortal, snapping out of his fear of the Giant Kobold, began snapping orders to his companions. Only seconds had passed, but it took the others a few more to compose themselves again. It seemed they had not been sleeping well, which led them to be slower, Hed mused to himself with a wicked little grin. Dancing from foot to foot, he watched as two of the mortals drew bows. The sting of the first had been loosened far too much to be of any use, by Hefeydd the night before, and the mortal cried out in dismay as he realised his weapon was useless. The other didn't notice that his bow string had been tightened until he was trying to put an arrow to it and draw back. Silly mortals! The leader was struggling with his sword, unable to draw it. Hefeydd was proud of this. On his way out of their camp the thought had struck him. Using a little water and some icy magic, he had frozen the blade of hateful metal within the scabbard. Obviously there was enough frost left to keep it trapped firmly. His little chest puffed out with pride. Two of the mortals had axes and were attempting to circle around the Giant Kobold, trying to approach it from two directions at once. Hed's tiny brow furrowed as he watched, trying to remember which had… Suddenly the mortal on the left dropped the axe and fell to his knees, swaying from side to side. A little sap and some poisonous magic applied to the haft of the axe days ago! He had been anxious he had done something wrong, thinking the mortal would fall days ago. This was much better! The blade of the other axe was dulled beyond use but the mortal didn't seem to know.

Giggling, Hefeydd checked his shadows and flew up and around the tree, circling it as he gained height before hovering in place to watch what would happen next.

Author: Mammonn, Posted: Tue Aug 7, 2018 1:43 AM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Girshu looks around, searching the branches above him for the kind of twig density that a tree wasn't suppose to have. After a few trees he found what he was looking for, and climbs up to the nest. Leaving frost marks on the bark that would severely harm or even kill the tree in due time, climbing the tree was relatively easy for him thanks to his sharp talons. This soft matter was child's play compared to scaling the polar ice that his claws were made for. Looking at the nest, the mother bird flapped her wings aggressively to protect her eggs. Girshu spat in her face, the -30 degrees antifreeze fluim killing her almost immediately. Girshu picked up her body and then turned his attention to the eggs. Picking one up, he poked and sniffed it to test the shell thickness and the taste. Probably good.

He plopped it into his mouth, shell and all, and swallowed it. The egg was a bit gruff, but small enough that it didn't get stuck in his throat. The other three eggs followed suit. Girshu looks at the last egg, which was a larger dark and freckled egg rather than brownish. His favourite, though the reason for the random appearance eluded him. Every once in a while an egg like this one would just be amongst those of another race of birds, like a rare drop. Girshu picked it up and swallowed it. He didn't taste eggs, but he liked how the smooth shell of this egg kind glided through his throat with ease.

Girshu climbs down again and looks at the mother bird in his claws. He breaks off the head, the rapid temperature shift ruined the taste by rapidly bursting the cells. He then begins to pluck the feathers and rips off the less tasty parts like the feet. Once done he gobbles down the fowl, this time chewing and tasting it. It was mediocre.

As Girshu eats, he hears rustling in the bushes. Much too loud for a predator, or any forest inhabitant in general. Girshu drops the last few bites of the bird on the ground, instead turning his attention fully towards this potential monster or intruder. The rustling comes closer, heading for him in a straight line. It saw him, and it wanted him. Well, Girshu would give it more than it bargained for.

When the human bursts through the brush into the small clearing that Girshu was in, a rapier is rapidly drawn and pointed at the man's face. Girshu almost immediately wants to sheathe it again, because the undead weren't intimidated nor too affected by piercing weapons. Before he can though, the man speaks and rejects the conclusion that anyone would take from his appearance.

His clothes were torn and filthy, clearly not cared for at all. The man's hair stood up on end, not even combed down to dull the appearance of a madman. He hadn't even bothered to remove the stray twigs and leaves from it, or from his clothes. His feet were completely black from the mud and soil and his hands were covered in streaks of brown and red. Claw marks were spread over his chest, presumably given to him by a bear. Some of the deep scratches were festering, and others were so muddy that they were infections waiting to happen.

The man's sanity didn't seem less feral than his appearance. His eyes were wide open and bloodshot, staring at Girshu with an intensity that went beyond any rationality. There was dried and clotted blood on his lips and in his beard, showing that his last meal was eaten raw like a savage vulture. Standing like an actor would when portraying a parody of a savage, the man seemed to be a brute with any civilisation he once had beaten out of him by mother nature.

"You!" He shouts.

"Me." Girshu says calmly, not at all aware of what the man is speaking of.

"You! Bring me! You! Back to! YOU! Return!" The man rambled and shouted eratically. Girshu merely frowns, not at all able to decypher the man's words. "You! Dancing lights! Yours! Lead me! Lost! Back! Do so!"

The man was frotting at the mouth from anger, his words becoming less and less coherent as he continued. Girshu looks at him with disgust, the man being what his whole kind was in essence, but without the veil of civilisation and manners. His rambling was starting to annoy him. "You! Voice! My voice! Stole my voice! Led me lights! Four days! Stray! Lost for! Four days! Return! Return me! RETURN ME!"

Girshu sighed and the man charges at him. He falls back as a gust of frozen wind hits him, shoving him against a tree trunk. Girshu's rapier pierces his heart not seconds after. Wiping off the blood on what little 'clean' cloth the man had left on his body, he turns away and starts wandering further in the direction he had to go to.

That was about… three days ago?

Girshu had made some decent headway since then. Using the sun to determine his direction and fortunately being blessed with few cloudy days, he was certain that he had been going North North West at least most of the time. He had been going in that direction more than any other, at least. He'd eventually make it out of the forests and into the grasslands beyond. Just a matter of time. And if he was lucky, without any complications or further headaches.

Luck was not with him, however.

As Girshu wanders, guided by the sunlight that shone through the gaps in the canopy, he hears a familiar voice. The voice of the man he killed a few days ago, though not riddled with insanity. A voice that called out for help, only to turn to a death scream when something got to it. Perhaps the man had a twin? Or just someone with a similar voice, Girshu could barely tell those humans apart anyway. It didn't matter. Any normal predator would gain plenty of sustenance from the body of a human, and thus have no reason to also stalk after Girshu. Contrary to what those superstitious humans thought with their simple mindsets, one was actually safer rather than in danger when they heard someone being killed by a predator.

What approached him wasn't a predator, though. The rustling was too loud, too clumsy and too direct. Similar to how the man had approached him before, only there were more than one this time. Girshu sighs, being bothered with this again.

Author: Hefeydd, Posted: Mon Aug 6, 2018 3:59 PM, Post Subject: [P] (Mis)Guiding Light

Hefeydd cackles to himself, flying quickly around the tree before landing into a rolling heap, rocking from side to side. His tiny voice echoes eerily around him throughout the woods, but it doesn't bother him in the slightest. He feels no need to be quiet, despite how close the mortals are. If anything, the sound he is making now will only further aid him in driving them mad.

He couldn't quite keep track of how long he had been leading the mortals through the forest, their days and nights were tricky. They didn't make a difference to Hefeydd, so why were they so important to the mortals? He had a feeling it had been a week though. That sounded about right. He had seen them travelling along the edge of the forest, trying their best to stay within sight of the edge. They had failed to leave an offering to him, though, which meant they were fair game. He didn't know why they chose to travel through the forest instead of around it, especially if they weren't aware of fairy customs. Perhaps they were hunting something? No matter now, he was certain they weren't going to be going anywhere soon. He had made sure of that.

The first night after he had spotted them he remained in the darkness, wrapped up snug in shadows, waiting for them to lay out a little piece of bread and milk for him. He would have taken honey, fruit, anything really! What was important was the gesture. Milk was his favorite though. He would have helped them if they had offered him milk. Maybe. But as time passed and the little fairy became more agitated, he didn't like to remain still for too long. It was almost as if the mortals were trying to disrespect him and his people. To add insult to injury, they were killing animals in the forest for food, and taking far more wood for fires that they didn't even need. No offering and desecrating the forest. That just could not be tolerated. He spent some time looking around their camp, then, and decided exactly how to have his fun with them.

The one standing watch was the first step in his plan. It filled him with pride as he plotted. Here he was, making plans! How impressed would the others be when he returned. He would be named First Day after this, he was sure. Once he was sure the other mortals were asleep, he flew off a way into the forest before making a small glow with magical light, making it dance. He was close to giving up on the whole thing, the mortal was taking a long time to take the bait, when he heard the footsteps. The mortal was making an awful racket. But that was fine.

The trick to leading the mortal was to make it seem like he was always close to reaching the source of the light. If it got too far away, he might abandon it. Too close and he would see it for the ruse it was. He needed the perfect balance. Luckily, this wasn't his first time. The man followed his dancing light further into the forest. Hefeydd was very careful about making the path veer, while making it seem like the man was travelling a straight line. He needed distance for this to work. The point was to keep him separate from the others, to give them something to look for. The time passed slowly, Hed concentrating hard. He became distracted a few times, and the man almost reached the light. It was so hard to keep this up. So boring! He kept having to remind himself of what he was trying to achieve, but it was becoming harder. After hours, he finally gave up his little game. This would need to be far enough. As the light winked out, the mortal cried out suddenly, calling out for the light. Calling out for his friends. Calling out for anything. A sound nearby alerted Hed to the presence of a forest creature nearby, attracted by the sounds. Woops, he hadn't meant for that. But oh well!

Hed made his way back towards the camp, blowing the signs of the mortal's passage away as he went. It wouldn't do to have anyone following the trail. He could move faster when not trying to lead a simple mortal, so he reached their camp again just as they were looking for him. He hadn't been able to erase all signs of the mortal's passage, but with a little luck, it would be fine. He zipped away into the trees, away from the direction he had taken the first mortal, but still leading deeper into the forest. Noisily, he disturbed the ground and twigs to make it seem like someone big and clumsy had been this way. He mimicked the way the mortal had been calling out earlier, copying the voice exactly. With pride swelling his chest again, he heard the mortals begin to follow in his direction.

The next days passed quickly, then. He used the same ruse as before, making dancing lights appear to attract the others. Using the voice of their missing friend, disturbing the undergrowth to lead them further and further into the forest. When they tried to make camp, he did all kinds of things to terrify and annoy them. The first night he stole the map and left it at that. He made animal noises from the direction they had come, to make them believe retreating was not an option. Backtracking along their trail, he made a huge fuss, making misleading trails leading in other directions. The noises also meant to cause worry and fear.

When he was sure they were far from where they wanted to be, he stopped with the noises. He focused more on causing strife between them. He slipped into their camp, taking items from one and hiding them with another. Spoiling their food, piercing water skin, fraying ropes and worrying at pack straps so they would eventually give. It took time, and it took effort, but the successes were there.He returned their map to them, leaving it with a random mortal - Just not the one he had taken it from. The following fight ended in bloodshed, the accused thief being left behind.

That led him to today. The mortals were well and truly lost, their food supplies gone, weapons missing or dull. All that was left was to leave them alone, his job was done. As he flew off through the forest he heard the sounds of movement from ahead of him. Curiosity led him in that direction, where he came across a large blue lizard person. His plan changed quickly, and a cheeky grin split his face. Changing his voice to that of their missing companion, Hefeydd began screaming for help, before trailing off into a drawn out scream. Stifling more giggles, he wrapped himself in shadows once more and shot off skywards to watch what would happen.