Yeah, I mean the reason Meri might think Nym hasn't used the wish yet is possibly because someone might not be sure if the player remembers they had a wish anymore :p

[Private to Nym: Hehe, little does Meri know...  I do find it funny that you do tend to have a use it or lose it policy with forgetting about resources, and the character is forgetful too, so the fact Nym doens't mention her wish anymore won't actually be suspicious at all!]

[Private to Meri: Something to consider - if The Shadow Meri interacted with last (the one from dreams, not the one from the stone) was the true Shadow, then Nym no longer has access to a wish, or at least not one freely gifted. That Shadow apparently was pulled back to the gods due to being put in to the spotlight.

Of course, if the stone Shadow is the correct one, then Nym would indeed still have a wish, one she could just use the stone to get. But I think Meri was worried about the stone Shadow? Or both?]


Maggrath looks to Nym as if considering the words. "Well, the berries sound like Plipp Berries, but I did not know they grew anywhere but in the Freeholds. Have you bee nthere." She seemed less familiar or confident about the other items. "Well, perhaps tomorrow we can be on the look out for those others. I might have more work than expected tonight..."

Farren, meanwhile, kept his next comments to himself, clearly though curious about Meri's 'traveler'.


Geekaar was bustling, gesturing for the experienced guards that had emerged with the deer carcases to put them somewhere not near him yet near the pot yet not near the guests. It was a request that seemed very difficult, given the contradictory nature of it, and Maggrath had to be the one to stand up and find a spot near the camp chairs where the carcasses could be placed. Apparently she had already anticipated this, and that area was covered. She took a knife form somewhere, and then started directing the experienced guards to help her carve up.


"Ugh, a disgusting business, eating. This is why I try to be vegetarian whenever my stomach will allow it. Which is not too often. Ah, such is the price for being a thinking savage, a once predator in distant nature whose hunting is more material in nature now."

Geekaar then looked around to Sarah. "So, did you see any more bears," he asked gleefully.

Sarah's expression darkened, but she said nothing to the possible jibb. It was instead Jessa who piped up, "The deer were acting weird! She said, Sarah said, they were staying near the edge of the forest in a big huddle, and didn't move away from the hunters, and they didn't even run too far when the arrows started flying, that's why the others managed to get enough, why would thye do that, not run and stay close to where we are, isn't that odd-"

"Oh, nonsense, I'm sure the weather is strange and leading to strangeness, is all. There is thunder in the air, and I suspect that perhaps a fire or two has started from lightning further away from us."

"No fires, too damp" said Stark, but he said it so quietly that perhaps only Meri and Nym might have heard, as Geekaar seemed to be chuckling at Jessa's comments and the sense of his own rebuttles.

Nym cocks her head at the talk of odd deer behaviour.

"Hmm...maybe there was something they were more scared of than the hunters." she says. "Something really scary. I mean, I don't really know what, but...ahh, it's a shame Ryn's not a birdy any more - she could've flown up and checked or something."

She glances over to where the fluffy critter that is Ryn is still sat idly watching Meri and Farren.

[Private to GM: Hehe yeah, I don't think Meri knows, either IC or OOC, that I've used my Wish, does she? And I don't suppose she'll have any reason to think so, or to realise what I wished for, unless the situation arises that she's being targeted by the Other alongside at least one other person (in order to notice that it's affecting them and not her). Was it the Other I wished about? Or the Shadow? Or both? I can't remember specifically, or even if both are the same entity...though I suppose a wish that covers one will therefore automatically cover the other...]

OOC: Yep, was an OOC suggestion about the wish, I doubt Meri herself would recommend using it ;)


Meri seemed to have fallen silent again, looking towards the conversation between Geekaar and his guards, though she didn't seem to react to it.
Her gaze moved to settle on Ryn then back to looking into the fire again...

[Private to Nym: Meri might have realised Nym had the opportunity to speak with The Shadow (one of them) when she was holding the clear stone, while she was unconscious. I'm not sure if Meri would then suspect Nym having used the wish then, or any other time.

It was indeed The Other that Nym wished to have Meri protected from. So if The Shadow grants that wish, then you know it was the correct Shadow. And if it doesn't then you know it was the incorrect Shadowm, and really The Other.

And yup, that's the problem with the wish, you have no idea if the wish would even work and went to the right Shadow, and if it is working, then how to know it's working. :D

To be fair, the game speed has slowed down considerably right now, or else maybe... jsut maybe... you might have the answer to that question by now. As always, you guys steer the story, so even now I can't promise that the opportunity will definitely come up soon.]


Dott chose that moment to return, hustling towards Geekaar. "Master... the the horses. They... they still seem skittish."

"Then tend to them," said Geekaar. It was such a quiet, simple sentence, said boredly. It even had a dismissive flick if the hand. The trouble was that it was so emotionless, and flat. Geekaar wasn't angry, nor verbally dismissive, nor paying attention to anything but the wood. It was said in a tone of someone who very much did not see a continuation in the conversation, as they could not imagine why their will would not be carried out. With all the control of the situation that implied.

It also did not hurt that the four other guards, his own personal guards, slowly looked towards Dott giving the man the attention their master was using elsewhere.

It seemed that Nym's comment had stopped Geekaar from mocking Sarah, and instead he was looking speculatively to the woods. Jessa had even stopped speaking. The other retainers looked around nervously. Maggrath then got back to her cutting.

"Told you coming back was a mistake, near others," said one of the more experienced guards - it seemed to be one young but weathered man speaking to a more beaded young man who, in the right light, was clearly his twin. The other merely shrugged and held a leg of a deer carcass to let Maggrath keep on working.

The more unnatturaly and unspeaking guards of Geekaar's turned their attention to the woods too.

Dott staggered away, but with a guge burst of courage did not immediately move towards the horse,s but moved close to Nym. "Can...can you do you thing with the scents again? Over by the horses?" he whispered with a stammering, terrified tone of voice.

Obviously, perhaps Nym could do the scent thing here instead, to not have the scent of deer and deer blood near the camp if there is something more predatory in the woods. Just a thought. Many choices!


[Private to Meri: It wont affect anything right now so post or react how you like, but feel free to roll me a Perception check for...some time soon :p

Obviously, you can roll any other checks or specific Perception checks you like in addition to the one I've asked you for...]

Nym brightens as Dott addresses her.

"Oh, good idea." she says, smiling at him. She glances around at the clearing. "Actually, maybe I could do it a bit more widely this time. We don't want any more hungry thingys turning up to try and get our food, do we?"

She walks partway toward the horses but then stops and starts waving her arms about, making pushing motions as though attempting to push the air away from herself.

Prestidigitation to make the grassy scent again, also to kind of...waft it around as much as possible toward the edges of the clearing (or at least, the edges which are currently downwind). And on glancing through my power list, I've actually had another idea for something I can do based off Nym's previous mention of Ryn not being able to fly up and look around - I can probably do a much leser version of that myself, though not sure how effective it will be. But I'll do that after I'm done wafting ;).

Feel free to discuss it now. Roll me a Nature check to see how well Nym managed to marshall her cunning plan with Prestidigitation.

Meri continued to stare into the fire, apparently deep in thought.
Occasionally she glanced up, looking around at the goings-on in the camp, or at the surrounding forest, but quickly returned to her silent thoughts...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Rolled 30 (16 + 14) for Perception...  I can see the universe! :D

By the way, could Meri figure out how to create a silencing enchantment for the bells and write it down for someone else with a focusing object and the required knowledge to make use of?
Even though she can't make it work herself, she's still not one to leave such a challenge untouched, despite not really caring what Geekaar thinks of her (she's still got SOME pride when it comes to her craft!)
So thinking she could figure out how to do it, and, since he's rich, he could easily commission some wizard or someone to actually implement the solution for him :)]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Thu 01 Mar 2018.

Okies...Nature roll...oooh, 29 (one off a crit) :D.

Dott followed Nym, being quiet so as not to disturb her antics. The air, and the currents it created being wafted, were quite tricky to control in order to keep the scent from drifting. It took some measure of counter-chaos, it seemed, where the wind simply was spun in self perpetuating eddies. Setting up many of these around seemed to keep the aur stable. It helped that the area they were in was reasonably sheltered, and the air heavy with moisture.

Eventually Nym made it over to the horses. The other horses seemed skittish, even after the scent of grass filled the air. Geekaar's horses weren't so much frieghtend as restless again. Clearly none of the horses were happy being tied up, and kept shiying away from the


Ok, so very good Nature roll, so despite the difficultly the scent of blood has been masked / stopped from drifting, to a certain extent. The horses are also calmed as much as can be expected when Everything Is Fine.


Clearly there will a mechanical limit to what you can accomplish with a renewable at will power, though a very good roll helps. What was your other idea?


[Private to Meri: The real question is, does the universe look back...

Yeah, regarding the Silence enchantment, she could just write down a crafting recipe for someone else with more money to follow. I'm going to assume with enough time Meri will be able to do it, so roll me an Arcana check only to represent how well she can communicate it on whatever scroll she's gong to write. If you can think of a different skill, especially if the idea will be to make it be easier for Geekaar to see the value of it (and trust a high level mage will get your meaning anyway) then roll that instead :)

Meri noticed that Geekaar was still very focused on the woods, just as concerned as his personal guards. His retainers except for Maggrath appeared worried over Geekaar's worry. Samel didn't appear to sense anything, and merely appeared anxious and confused.

The less experienced Blacwood guards had gone in to a huddle to speak amongst themselves, but it seemed to be mostly Sarah simply fending off questions sullenly and Jessa talking away happily about various theories - the current one being undead deerfolk using bear costumes. It seemed to be some sort of odd reference to a play or song or legend that everyone knew. Or perhaps Jessa simply imagined it was, and the rest were not correcting her.

The more experienced Blackwoods guards were still helping Maggrath carve quickly, though the two male twins - who looked barely alike - kept stopping to check on the woods themselves.

Farren was looking to his rodent friends, but it seemed that although they, too, were skittish, they were not quit able to communicate their concerns to the revenant.


It was hard to tell sounds over the fire and subtle bubbling of the pot, but there seemed to be less nature than expected coming form so close to the woods. As the light was starting to wane with the storm clouds growing and dusk approaching, owls should have been audible. Or birds. Or the movement of small animals on a branch.

There were birds around - there was a very large flock of something like blackbirds in the distant sky. However, they seemed to have departed the forest, and were dancing in a pattern far away. And a few small birds alighed in the air far away and also moved away too.

Something just felt...not right. There was a tiny, tinny, unpleasant taste in the air. Something like the feel of static. But like her own static... some feel of magic hinted at in the air. However, Nym's dancing and wafting removed the sensation almost as quickly as it came to Meri.


Hehe, you can always ask Nym to stop doing the cool protective thingie, or move closer to the edge of the woods if you prefer :p]

]

Oh, it involved using my long-distance-vision thingy to get a lookout from above the trees. It only has a range of five squares, though, so not nearly as good as falcon-form Ryn ;).

"It's okay, horsies." says Nym reassuringly as she gets near them. "See? Nice smell for you..."

She then casts her eyes upward, toward the trees.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can see anything..." she mutters.

Might as well try it, actually - see how high up I can get my vision to look down from above and as far out as I can...so probably not very, and I imagine the tree canopy is kind of in the way. But Nym will try it anyway. And also try the same thing on the level, seeing how far out I can look in various directions from the edge of the clearing. It's an At-Will ability, so there's no limit on how many times I can do it :).

Fair enough, roll me a Perception check, and I'll simply take in to account your vantage points rather than give you a straight bonus when giving results later.

As time went by, Meri's occasional glances around became more frequent.  At one point, she even sniffed at the air a few times and frowned slightly.

She reached for her pack, pulling it onto her shoulders while Timur quickly grabbed hold of it and scrambled up onto her shoulder.  The crystals in her staff flickered into life as her hand closed around it.

Leaning in close to Farren, she whispered something.
[Private to The Altweaver: "Just going to check something out.  Something isn't right here, there's some kind of strange magic in the air, and it isn't Nym's..."]

Getting up, she glanced around a few times before moving towards the edge of the forest, peering into the trees...


OOC: Just going for a stroll, nothing the matter whatsoever ;)

Okay then, one Perception check coming right up...oooooh, crit, yaaaay! Total of 29.

Farren gave a stiff nod to Meri but seemed concerned. He whispered something back. [Private to Meri: "'Danger' is all I can make out from them," he commented regarding his rodent friends. before trying to calm them once more.]

Geekaar noted coming forwards, and restrained his guards from their own movements as they seemed to want to stop Meri. Geekaar, however, did not move forwards to offer any aid to Meri's own movements. Instead, he fell backwards as if to ensure whatever Meri might provoke with her investigations did not affect him first.


[Private to Nym: From Nym's slight vantage point, it suddenly bacame more obvious that there was a decent storm brweing now far away. There was the occasional flash of most likely lightning that was not quite noticeable on the ground as the light had not dulled to that level yet. However, against the background of the darkening cloudy sky on the horizon, it was far more obvious.

Oddly, Geekaar had mentioned counting to get a feel for the distance between seeng the storm and hearing the storm. Nym did not hear the clap of thunder. Was it that far away?

Something spoke otherwise - there was some burning leaves on the tops of some nearby trees. Despite the start of the rain, it seemed that the woods were still dry enough to have been caught by an errant lightning strike and set fire to. How much of the woods might get affected? The smell of smoke was currently masked by the open fire of the camp, but it looked as though the wind may well be blowing in this general direction given by the swaying of the canopy. Which would not be good long term.]

[Private to Meri: Meri could still smell the scent of the camp fire, as if it was clinging to the air, which was annoying. Perhaps Nym's efforts had pushed the smoke out to the edges of the camp. However, Meri was freed from the other effects of Nym's magic, and so she could now smell the magic in the air. It was still faint, but here was definitely a source. Something in the woods, as it was clear the wind blowing scents from the woods. It felt like something raw and arcane, like Nym's magic. Or like The Shadow's...

There was also a new smell. A very, very animal smell. Very strong. And then Meri saw the movement in the wood. It took only a moment to resolve it. Deer. Running at speed. Directly out of the wood, and most likely in a panic directly through the camp!]

Wow, what a dull update, hardly anything posted at all :p
This message was last edited by the player at 16:18, Sun 04 Mar 2018.

Meri paused at the edge of the camp, sniffing the air again then tilting her head slightly as if listening intently.
She raised her staff, tapping on several of the crystals on it in a sequence she hadn't used before, although she didn't seem to finish it before something distracted her, causing her to look up at the forest again.

Her eyes widened and she quickly began to run back towards the camp.
"Look out" she called.  "Something is causing the deer to stampede straight for us!"


OOC: Uh oh...

Nym, who has been standing still with her eyes out of focus, suddenly blinks.

"Oh." she says quietly, though it apparently seems to be a reaction to something other than Meri's warning. She turns to look at Geekaar and edges toward him. "Um. There's, um, some...fire. Kind of...over there..."

She gestures.

"It might get blown this way. I think some lightning struck a dry tree. I think the storm's going to get here soon. Which I suppose is okay, if the rain puts out the fire...but, um...I don't know how long that will be...and I can't make blowy-magic big enough if the whole forest gets all burny..."

Well, I guess cause and effect are out in the open now :p

Meri's warning was slow to cause a reaction, the oddness of it perhaps breaking through people's discussions.

Geekaar turned to look at Nym, clearly her words interrupting his thoughts about the deer warning. However, then his brows knotted together.

"Move!" he yelled, as he backed away from both the camp and the woods. However, it seemed as if he was more yelling ot his four personal guards, whop strode forwards and formed a protective wall between the woods and their master.

He did not really pay much more attention to the rest of the camp. His green robed retainer was slower off the mark to try and stir action - apparently not knowing which way to act to such a strange occurrence.


Then, as Meri warned, the herd of deer burst from the undergrowth and shadows of the woods, and careered directly outwards - with part of their path directly through the camp, and even through some of the campers.


Ok, so time to be heroes! A great mass of scared deers are about to snash through camp, and who knows if they might injure someone - or themselves - doing it. Are either of you going to do anything about it as a whole,or protect anyone in particular?

Geekaar is currently protected by his four guards, but the guards might have very violent means of stopping any deers that come their way.

Farren is at the back of the camp with the ratties and Many. He probably has enough time and skills to react to the current situation, but watch out for catching him unawares if you do something too weird.

The four skilled Blackwoods guards are close to the woods, along with Maggrath who was on the mat cutting deer. So they might be the most vulnerable, though they are also at least partially skilled.

In the camp proper, you have the three retainers siing closest to the woods, then the six other guards in two lumped groups (the two older and the four younger) sitting near the cooking pot.

Don't worry too much about complex plans, etc - after all, there's not much time to react. Just go with what you think is a cool idea and cross your fingers. And go ahead and roll dice if it's appropriate.

Nym looks around, sees the approaching deer, and leaps toward them.

"RRAAAAARRRR!" she yells, puffing up her fur as much as possible, raising her hands in the air, and making little flames run along her hands. She also makes her robe light up, shining brightly with all colours.

Basically trying to startle the deer into running in a different direction that doesn't involve trampling anyone, if possible, but not trying to get them to go back the way they came. Just kind of trying to "push" them sideways or something. If I had any powers that could make a sudden loud noise I'd use them, but I think I'd need Ghost Sound for that.

Feel free to either roll Bluff or Arcana, depending upon which aspect you want to play up (sadly you don't have good INtimidate). Or roll an attack roll if you have a big fire spell, even though you won't be planting it anywhere close to the deer themselves.

Also, will won't be able to cover everywhere - will Nym be going centre to block out the main body of the camp (but might drive some deer towards Maggrath and Geekaar), or will she stay on the right hand side, save the older guards and the deer from Geekaar's guards, and let Meri deal with the left side if she can?

Meri glanced back at Nym's gesture and quickly darted towards the other side of the camp, raising her staff in the air and jabbing at three of the crystals on it, channelling a crackling purple energy from end to end.  At the same time, her gloves began to glow, igniting with a bright orange flame.

Skidding to a halt, she let out a loud yell, bringing her staff down and planting one end firmly on the ground in front of herself.  At the same time, the purple energy and the fire from her gloves merged, becoming a whirling storm of fire around her that emitted a deep rumbling, like thunder about to strike, the sound seeming to amplify Meri's own voice...


OOC: Aiming for the left side of the camp then :)  Had the same "scary display" idea


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Using Thundering Armour on Meri, and adding in the fire effect daily from her gloves.
She's not actively targeting any of the deer with it though.
Just hoping the visible fire + the thunder noise might remind them of what they're running away from and convince them that the same danger is around the campsite.

Attack roll if needed:  20 (11 + 9)
Damage roll if also needed: (6 + 5) 11 (thunder) + 4 (fire) + push effect.
Since it targets an adjacent square, can say Meri is targeting the square directly in front of her, maybe cause a small eruption of dirt or something to add to the visual effect?]
This message was last edited by the player at 13:07, Wed 07 Mar 2018.

Ha, cool. Great minds, and all that, eh? ;)

I suppose I could technically use Burning Spray or something to create fire to scare them, or use the light-burst thingy on my cloak, but Nym wouldn't want to hurt anyone and even if she was in "combat mode" right now, no-one around here is currently considered an enemy so she still wouldn't want to hurt anyone ;).

Anyway, I suppose I'll roll Bluff, since that's my highest skill. And I'll aim my display to cover the part of the camp that Meri isn't :). Now, here's hoping my current "high streak" isn't over quite yet...ha, nope, it's still good. So that's a total of 31 for my Bluff roll (and no, it wasn't a crit) :D.

Woohoo, the power of teamwork!

The two mages made quite the pair, Meri's stance suddenly like the classical mage she rarely came across as. Stamding proundly, fire and strange lighting thundering around her blasting turf around with her as a calm centre.

Meanwhile, Nym was more like the embodiment of nature than the wild magic she usually represented. The flare of her robe and her predatory form seeming like some primal deity manifest.

Whatever mundane fire that had perhaps startled the deer was no match for such a terrifying sight. Most of the deer on Meri's side tripped and turned, flowng around her flank. It was enough to miss Maggrath and the guards in that area, and they all tripped over themselves to back away, while looking around dumbfounded.

Geekaar seemed to be made of sterner stuff, and his guards were focused on the deer. However, Nym's actions ensured they flowed smoothly around that side too. Whatever emotion Geekaar's personal guards might have had to not being able to strike at their 'foes'. theysimply stood by passively as the mass of the herd danced aroudn them and rushed off.

The two mages still had a small gap between them and their effect, and parts of the herd tried to directly scarper through the camp anyway, Luckily, the chaos on each side was such that both parts of the herd ran in to each other first, slowly themselves down and tripping each other up, before as one moving through the camp.

This gave the retainers closest the chance to dive aside, and the four younger guards amble time to back away behind Meri's explosive displays.

The two older guards around the camp were slower to react, startled, but Farren used the time to simply rushed forwards and pull them sideways. The three fell as a mass over the seats, but were happily unharmed.

The cooking pot faired a little worse, struck once or twice by startled deer. The deer managed to avoid harm on the campfire, but one managed to knock the pot to the ground, and the boiling water poured in to the grass, steaming away with spilled vegetables.

Noooooooo! The steeeeeeeew!

One of the younger deer bounced in to an older deer as they were avoiding the pot, and seemed to panic on the ground trying ot get back up. Many darted forwards from where he was, and tried to coax the little deer to get up. He might have been trying to use his 'make friends' eye, but it most likely wasn't working. Still, the sight of the little bobbing beholder was enough to make the deer roll and find its feet, and it rushed off. Many laughed as if he'd succeeded anyway, and waved by to the deer unafraid.

I figured you both rolled so well - or Nym rolled very well, and Meri rolled well plus used a daily - that I didn't have to bother rolling any NPC / Farren rolls to see if anyone got hurt. Good job team! Danger avoi-


The was another movement of the trees, and a large, furred shape appeared from the left hand side of the woods nearest Meri.

It took a moment for the long, powerful shape to resolve, but it was easy to identify, especially when Sarah yelled out in a half-scream.

"Be-BEAR!"

The shaggy brown form was larger than might have been imagined, and the snout that protruded under small, dark eyes was slavering. The jaw opened too wide, and the bear gave a deep, thunderous roar in answer to Meri's own magical explosions.

And then the bear, too, simply ran sideways down the edge of the camp.

Huh, well now you both are sa-

A second form, another dark crackling shadow, burst out from the right hand side, closer to Nym than Meri but between both of them. It was clearly bigger than the first bear. This fact exaggerated by it standing on its hind legs in challenge. It was not moving off.

It seemed as tall as a tree as it extened its body upwards. Perhaps extending itself a little more than a bear should be able to. The matted fur was wrong, it seemed too slick and occasionally looked feathered. It raised out two arms in answer to Nym's challenge, yet the arms were too long for normal bear arms, and too muscly. The shoulder joints were almost bulbous, and asymmetrical, and the arms themselves almost appeared to be inside out. Many of the sinews of its arms snaked over its fur and back into its skin again. The thing's face was bear like, but lopsided and the maw trancated with too many teeth. One eye was far larger than the other, and rolled around unable to focus on anything. [Private to Meri: Meri could smell the foul, overpowering odour of arcane magic on this thing. It had been twisted and changed by some wild sorcerery.]

The other focused with seemingly too much intelligence on Nym. It opened its jaw with a 'pop' to be near displocated, hanging by sinews. And it bellowed like a mocking demon.


Aaaaaand that would be the end of the chapter. Join me for the next chapter, which is a heartwarming tale of a Mutant Bear who scares all the other inhabitants of the forest, perhaps even its own bear friend. However, it then discovers some new friends, and it gets to happily play with these new friends for the rest of their short lives.

To change the subject completely, please also roll some Initiative for no good reason. Don't feel you have to post anything else other than the roll, except maybe a small verbal / physical reaction. Certainly nothing more than can be ruled as a free action anyway:p

I'll set the heartwarming scene in the next chapter to properly react to. You know, once we know the timing of the heartwarming scene. That isn't a combat. I'll close this chapter off once you've posted rolls, etc. and open the new one.

OOC: Fumbled the Initiative roll somewhat spectacularly...  5 (2 + 3).
Should have an extra +1 AC until the end of my next turn though, if that little display counted as a turn, not sure how long that persists outside of combat.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:15, Wed 07 Mar 2018.

Nym looks first happy that the deer seem to be moving off safely and without getting hurt or hurting anyone, then somewhat despairing as the carefully-cooked stew goes all over the ground, then surprised as the bear appears bu then dashes off, then more surprised as the other bear...thing...appears.

"Oh. Hello!" she says, getting a certain sort of playful gleam in her eyes that only shows up when nearby lives are in danger, be they her own or her allies'.

Okay then, Init roll is a whopping 9 (aaand we're back in the crap rolls again, it seems :P). And I'd like to make a knowledge check to see what this beasty is. I suppose it might be Aberrant if it's all icky and with stuff the wrong shape, but maybe it is just a Natural creature anyway. I'll try Nature first, anyway...hmm, 20.

It had been in an extended hibernation when the disturbances of the world had interrupted its slumber. It felt different, for it was intelligent enough to distinguish that its mind was not the same as when it was last aware.

There was an Itch in its mind. Urging, demanding, making thoughts yet making those thoughts hard to comprehend. The Itch was pulling at their instincts and body, forcing them to bend to It's Will rather than follow their own.

It did not have a chance to enumerate the changes to its own body before it was driven to seek the scent of prey. Something abominable was close, something touched by The Other. Something it had to tear apart at all costs. There was no arguing with The Will gripping it. There was no reasoning when The Itch was removing reason.

Lesser creatures fell away from it as it smashed through the woods - there were woods now? It had not been aware of woods when it had fallen asleep - and focused only on closing the distance on the two creatures. One, it knew, was its true prey.

There they were...


The bear, twisted and mutated though it was, was still recogniseably a creature. It was therefore surprising when it made its threat display again, and this time not only was Nym's challenge answered, but Meri's too. The ground around was blown apart by a blast of lighting, despite no rain nor clouds being close. The air reaked of ozone, but with a tinge to it magical in nature, as a mage could detect.

In retrospect, the intelligence in the mutant's bear eyes could be seen, some added twinkle and awareness. Suddenly, what seemed like a threat display could instead be seen as something else.

A warning.

There had been no thunder after the lightning strike, but the crack of the lighting had echoed oddly afterwards. Echoed and echoed, as if the cracking was instead the cracking of snapping of branches, the twisting of tree trunks...

Something large broke out of the canopy of the woods, the darkness of the wood and the large bear having blocked sight of it. The mutant bear arched its back and howled another demonic howl, though this one seemed in pain. A few talons broke the surface of its chest. With a booming sound, it raised up in to the air, wind and dust exploding from it as it lifted up and up...

"The bear..." said Sarah aagain, though this time it was a soft whisper, almost in sympathy. She seemed to have focused upon the strange sight of the bear rather than the dark shadow that had burst from the woods. A large black shadow with clawed hand on its powerful arms  arms that lifted the mutant bear with ease. A dull serpentine shadow with emmense wings that buffetted the camp as it easily took to the air with its prize.

A blue demon that raised itself in to the air and hovered. It had not been seen before in the lifetimes of any that observed it - not even Farren - yet its outline  was still immediately recogniseable, even if it was hard to comprehend its existence in this simple, small place.

The Dragon looked on. The Will of the Dragon Queen Tiamat Herself mocking reason and nature.


Oh yes, that was the actual ending to this chapter. I knew it'd missed something :p Go on, admit it, you knew this was going to happen and this is absolutely not a surprise here. Anyway, join me in the next chapter for, you know... posting a reaction. It seems to be delaying at the moment. Might be best not to provoke it, though :p

[Private to Nym: I will give you a roll result eventually, it still actually matters  :)]