OOC: It's sort of past the point of being able to defend itself, so that strike is going to be a Fantastic result, and with a +2 for the spear, over your strength, as well.

The spine-wolf tries to lift its head to snap at Kalath, but it's too feeble at this point to really intercept her.  Her spear plunges down into its back, skewering the beast's heart.  It thrashes once, its barbs scraping along Kalath's arms, and then shudders and goes still.

As Kalath stands panting over her kill, she hears first a single voice yowl and snarl from somewhere above her, and then a second, and then a whole chorus.  Hunters.  She looks up and around, and sees, in the empty windows of the green pillars around her or on their summits, Hunters crouching or clinging to the branches of climbing plants.  Normally, so many Hunters all around would strike fear into Kalath.  But she gets the sense that none of these is challenging her for her prey, nor, at the moment, preparing to spring down upon her as the prey in their own hunt.  She feels in a weird way their approval, and their welcome.

In this exultant moment, Kalath feels that she's more alive right now that she has ever been in her entire life.

Meanwhile, some distance away, Trav is scanning with the sonic to try to figure out if any of the inhabitants might still be around, and how she might go about locating the library.  She hears voices go up, animal cries in a great chorus that echoes around the fallen city.

Standing over her kill; she then lifts her own head, and cries out; as much of a howl as her vocal chords permitted.

However, despite the glory of that feeling, she did need to return to the city; with her kill. It wasn't just for her; and this would be good eating for a few of them.

"Oooh. Gotta check that out!"

Trav happily tromps off towards the source of the disturbance, while scanning the area with her sonic. She's checking radiation, biosphere, the works - like she did when she had glasses and a big butt. People like Roy Fokker and David Bowie would usually have to chase after her.

Score story points for Impulsive -and- Curious? :)

OOC: Okay, 1 shiny new story point.  Don't spend it all in one place. :)

The Traveller heads off through the ruined city.  The sonic is confirming the verdict of the TARDIS databank -- no nasty pathogens, no hazardous radiation -- and residual echolocation is helping her to narrow down the probable origin of the sound.

She comes to an intersection, and she sees her first real sign of life.  A young woman in clothing of fur and leather, with a bow and spear slung across her back, is working to prepare a carcass of some sort for transport, and rigging up a travois to haul it.  The body is sizable; the woman must be strong if she's going to move it a great distance by herself.

***

Kalath looks up sharply when she hears the newcomer's careless steps crunching through the ground cover.  She's surprised: she has never seen anyone who looked quite like that.  The blond woman's clothing is spotless, in bright solid colors.  Among the Stronghold's few treasures from the Old World are a handful of books that the elders use to teach young ones the letters and signs that still give some help in navigating around the city: this woman looks like she might have stepped straight out of the faded pictures in those books.

Perhaps she's one of the sorcerers.

She was in a tricky situation. She had to get the kill back to the others; so they had food. But it wasn't quite ready to transport yet; and she didn't want to take on a potential sorcerer.

She dropped to her haunches, not doing anything just yet. Maybe she hadn't seen her yet?

"Hi, I'm looking for a library. Could you direct me to the local library? I'm looking for a book." The woman smiles sunnily.

Library... meant nothing. Oh books. Well that was different. She was still wary; but she couldn't leave her alone. She'd be easy prey for predators.

"You'll need to speak to the elders. Give me a moment, and I'll escort you."

Kalath is vaguely aware that the Hunters have vanished.  Back into the hiding-places of the buildings, back out of sight on the rooftops?  It's not clear.

But the woman seems to have no notion whatsoever that there's anything to be cautious about.  Strange behavior, for a sorcerer.

Trav extends her hand like she hasn't a care in the world. "Thank you. Hi, I'm called the Traveller. What's your name?"

Trav looks around, as the sounds of nature surround them. She closes her eyes and breathes in deep. "This beautiful place smells like tragedy and sadness."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:27, Tue 24 May 2016.

Kalath just finished setting things up, and then prepared to haul the body back to the city.

<Yellow>"Kalath." She seemed quite short in response. "This place isn't beautiful. It's dangerous. Could be lethal for the likes of you."

</Yellow>Her feeling that this woman was a sorcerer was fading.

Trav nods. "Babe, you don't know. Danger is an old pal of mine. I'm new here, from far away. What dangers should I be aware of? I'd be grateful if you told me." Trav's gait spoke of someone who might not be from around her, but absolutely was familiar with danger.

"Tell me a little about you. Are you a huntress of some kind?"

She grimaced.

"Well, we could start with the obvious." Gesturing at the corpse of the spine-wolf.

"But that's not the real danger. Hunters. A lot of them about. We rarely go to these parts; as this is where they live." She then hissed. "I am -not- a Hunter."

Trav is not a dope. "I assume that what you mean by hunter is different than simply a normal person who hunts animals for food, yes? Is this some other form of animal? A tribe? Some kind of other danger?"

Trav motions to her pieces. "I'm not exactly helpless, myself. Of course, this is your home, I defer to your experience and knowledge."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:03, Tue 24 May 2016.

She grunted, and was quiet, finished rigging up the transport, and started off.

"You're no sorcerer." She muttered. "Coming?"

"Nope. Tried to learn magic for 200 years, and nada. What qualifies as a Sorcerer round these parts, anyway?"

As Trav follows, she snerks a little. "The Sorceress. I could dress in all those clothes Stevie Nicks left aboard."

She motions for Kalath to wait. "I have a pair of companions who may be joining us. Can your transport take two more people? If not, we can use my ship."

Trav gets out her phone, and rings up Stanley. "Stan! I met a native and have a lead. It's dangerous around here though. I'm about to go meet some Elders. Are you and Smoke Alarm coming? There's some sort of dangerous fauna around here or something."

Back to Kalath: "What should my comrades watch out for?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:57, Tue 24 May 2016.

"I pull the body in that." Gesturing. "As for transport? We use feet." A shake of her head. "We will wait, if you insist. But they need to be wary of... of the Hunters." A pause. She could explain this, without going into details. "Humanoid cat-figures."

Trav puts her fingers together. "Humanoid cat figures. Are the sapient? Do they prey on people like us for food? To make us slaves? For sport?"

"Not people like you. People like us. All of us. If your friends are coming, they will need to be quick. We can't waste too much time with a fresh kill sitting there."

Now that she has said it aloud, Kalath is growing acutely aware that the two of them are standing in the open.  She's somewhat surprised that no Hunters have moved on them already: if they watched her take the spine-wolf, they'd know that she is capable of putting up a fight herself, but this strange woman (who seems remarkably oblivious to basic facts of life) seems like she would be easy meat for Hunters.

Mind, that simply means that if it came down to cases, Kalath could probably make her escape....

OOC: Kind of holding events here until Smoke Alarm and Stanley are outgoing, or until you make a definitive decision on moving.  Trav is aware that the direction that Kalath started to haul the carcass is vaguely away from the TARDIS.  OTOH, doubling back wouldn't be very Curious or Impulsive.... ;)

OOC: I want to give Stanley a chance to respond. I don't know his likely posting times as well as yours and Smoke's.

"Your friends, they be quick, yes? Or they stay where they are if it's safe, and we go?"

She is clearly on edge.

Trav gets back on her phone. "You guys coming? There's hostile fauna here. Come on, outgoing!"

She looks to Kalath. "Is there cover we can get to?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:46, Thu 26 May 2016.

Smoke Alarm pokes her nose out of the door of the TARDIS, arrowgun cocked and ready.

What she sees is remarkably disturbing for such a claustrophile: streets and Towers all choked with green.  It's not like being in the park on Draconia, where it was obvious that no dogs were permitted, nor even on the jungles of ancient Earth, where there were just perfectly ordinary trees and vines, after all, once you got past the terror chickens.  This is all familiar: even rows and built lines and tall geometric shapes.  But it's like it all has been devoured by the forest.

She is, nevertheless, a Hero of Draconia.  So maybe that will be enough.  Still, when she takes a few cautious steps forward, leaving the room for Stanley to exit the talkiphone box behind her, she could be forgiven for overlooking the shape on the distant streetcorner.  Stanley is the first to notice it.

It's motionless, all draped in white, an obviously female form.  At this distance, though, it's hard to make out any features.  What is clear, though, is that it has been watching the TARDIS.

Smoke Alarm liked a city like Arsuran, all shiny and fancy and grand. Smoke Alarm even liked a city like Paradise Towers, all run-down and broken, but at least lived-in. At least those cities were alive. This city was unalive, a rotting carcass of a city, like a long-dead dog, broken bones sticking out of the crumbling ruin, all shrouded in dirt and mould and green, All the familiar straight lines and right angles, which she found so sound-and-safe, were blurred by the wild green chaos of the forest. This city had died, the gardens had escaped and taken over. The animals footed freely.

Smoke Alarm felt cold and small inside, but remembered all the ways she was brave and bold, and checked her arrowgun again. 'This city's unalive.' she warned Stanley, 'Ware dogs and cats.'