More Than Rocks and Valleys(Naama, Tabernac)

[Naama]

oocSorry it's short, didn't have much to say. Naama followed them in silence, the hem of her vest gently tugged by the scrawny hand of the boy, who stood beside her at every turn, occasionally shivering in his layers of wool. The wild woman was no concern of hers, as it were, for she seemed far more interested in her new acquaintance than herself. All's well, at least I can slip away if things go sour. She glanced toward Jaeden, "An animal lover and a hunter? How convenient." But the Myrian had nothing else to say, and awaited what the witch wished to do next.

[Tabarnac]

The witch ignored them, moved among some trees, touching them and murmuring to them in some language nobody else present knew. When a gust of wind or an alteration of volume brought a phrase or syllable to their ears, there was something strangely familiar about it, but not something upon which they could put a finger if they tried. The horses, though, their ears pricked up, and even Red paid rapt attention to her. It took some time for the sleeping trees to respond to her, but respond they did, shifting around, roots, boughs, until they formed a sort of ring. Tightening roots pulled some earth aside until a vent of steam arose, and where the snow melted around it, dormant grasses began to sprout tender greens. The little boy, less civilized than the adults, understood first, "A stable!" Fortunado whuffled Jaeden's hair, then led Naama's horse into the natural stable that the trees had provided. It was clearly the coziest spot hereabouts, but the humans would not enjoy it. Red took the saddle from Jaeden and ferreted it away with the horses. He was going to need to be less encumbered where they were going. Without words, the witch led them down through the pile of rocks, which, with some squeezing on Jaeden's part, found them in a tunnel. Here it seemed she had worked her magic with roots, which had pulled the dirt aside that they might travel down, and the phosphorescent glow of various fungi made enough light to see by, their decomposition of dead roots warming the air at least enough to take the edge off the winter chill. Any questions asked were not answered; the witch seemed less human than Red, less civilized than the horses. She needed them, and so she had revealed herself, but it was the necessity of nature, not of a woman. They came at last to a large opening, their path disappearing into a dark abyss. The glow of the mushrooms could not illumine this great space. But the witch began to sing; it was not a human song, but it made the blood pump in primal response. Jaeden's bow, too, began to tremble. She pointed. In the distance, an iridescent ring. "Shoot it, bowman," she grunted. Then to Naama. "Swords out. Guardians await."

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden felt the shaking of that long piece of wood that remained fixed between his back and backpack. To most, and probably Naama as well, it likely looked to be nothing more than a tree branch. Something Jaeden might use as a walking stick from time to time when he was out in the wilds. To those who knew Jaeden, and likely Caiyha’s acolytes, it was know to be something so much more.

Jaeden’s shoulders drooped slightly when he heard Karhu instruct him to shoot it, once again calling him “bowman” as Woodland Wrath’s trembling and her label of him soon coincided and her purpose for bringing him there was soon revealed. His gaze slowly shifted towards Karhu then, his hand slowly reaching over his shoulder and grasping the branch. “Did “She” tell you I was around or something?” Jaeden said, a smirk crossing his lips. “Just hope she told you the rules for it this time around.”

Jaeden then pulled the branch free, holding it in his left hand. His right hand slowly moved up towards the top end, grasping a knot in the would found there between his thumb and forefinger. “I’ve already used up one year back in the fall.” Jaeden said as he then slowly pulled back along the knot, the piece of wood coming free as vine began to grow out from the branch with the knot. Longer and longer I grew until Jaeden touched the knot to the other end of the bow and it grew into the wood there, fusing with it. The vine then slowly began to recede back into the top of the branch where it had originally been growing out, tightening and bending the branch slowly until it finally curved in Jaeden’s hand, as if taking on a life and sentience of its own, taking the shape of a crude looking bow fashioned in simple couple of chimes. But it was so much more than that. “Would hate to waste another year if this ring I’m shooting into wasn’t a summoning or something who’s origins exist outside of our world.”

Vines then slowly began to grow out of the divine artifact known as Woodland Wrath, slowly encircling and cover the entirety of Jaeden’s left hand and forearm where he held the bow, acting as both a wrist guard for firing Woodland Wrath, and anchoring the divine bow to his hand so that his aim would be steadied more, and it would not fall from his grasp so easily. If Naama or Squirt looked closely enough, they would soon see the ends of these vines pushing back Jaeden’s sleeve along his left forearm as they encircled it, covering it completely, and by the time they had grown out completely, the ends of the vines seemed to sling into the flesh of his arm itself, almost as if fusing with it, linking itself to Jaeden and becoming one with him. This invasion into Jaeden’s flesh by Woodland Wrath did not seem to cause blood to poor from where they had grown into him, nor did any registration of pain or even noticing it appear on Jaeden’s face as it happened. Jaeden’s right hand slowly began to reach for the shaft of Woodland Wrath now, as a stem sprouting several leaves began to grow out from the shaft just about Jaeden’s left hand. “Naama, please do draw your weapon. Shooting this bow will leave me pretty exhausted, and if there are opponents coming, I won’t be at full strength right away to help you fight them. Squirt, I suggest you get either back a little ways so you don’t get caught up in this, or get behind Karhu.” Jaeden then pinched the stem between his thumb and forefinger, pulling back as the stem thickened and began to grow as Jaeden drew it back, a long, slender and strait forming, completely covered in bark like its bow counterpart. It continued to grow, until the end with leaves met the vine bow string, tiny vines growing out and encircling the bowstring tightly as the forming arrow became anchored, or notched as the term goes. “Head is already begining to spin very slightly.”

Jaeden’s breath felt as though it was being stolen, the rush of adrenaline soon began to counter the effects slightly, but the counter effect would wear off and eventually Jaeden would feel as though he had been running full out, for over a mile, non-stop soon after. The other sensations he felt couldn’t be easily discribed as the bow as soon drawn all the way back, the leaves at the end of the arrow brushing along his cheek as he rested his thumb along his jaw, just below his ear. Jaeden had remembered once trying to explain it to Red when she asked, close to a year ago. He remembered that aside from the physical fatigued it caused, there was also almost a bit of a chill in a way, as the bow drained a year of his life. It took all that energy, all that djed that made up one year of a Human’s life, channeled it through the bow to grow that one arrow. That one arrow that had the single purpose of eliminating creatures from other worlds and dimensions(save for Gods). That chill, Jaeden had described, felt like someone dipping their finger into his life force, his soul, and swirling it around for a short time before finally bending forward and drinking from it for a time. Jaeden himself couldn’t think of any other way to describe it. He drew Woodland Wrath, something capable of bringing down a Journeyman in likely one shot, and he aged a year. It was, as with all things with Caiyha, the balance for that power.

Jaeden’s breathing became deeper for a moment, and slowed as his eyes narrowed. Then, as the initial effects of drawing Woodland Wrath soon passed, Jaeden’s focus finally coming into view as a barbed arrow head of wood formed at the front end of the drawn arrow, Jaeden leveled his aim at the iridescent ring Karhu had pointed out, leveling Woodland Wrath at its center. Then, with a final exhale, he loosed that year of his life, his fingers straitening as the arrow was vaulted forward, traveling at least five times faster than any normal bow would loose an arrow. It traveled so fast that most wouldn’t be able to keep track of it with their eyes as it traveled quickly towards its target.

Jaeden’s knees began to buckle the moment the arrow was released, his legs shaking. And for the first time since acquiring Woodland Wrath, cosmetic physical effects of firing the bow began to show as hair along Jaeden’s head and face began to grow out. His beard becoming bushy and thick, and his hair growing out to almost shoulder length. Fingernails soon grew out until they were over an inch long, and Jaeden could feel his toe nails beginning to push along the edges of his boots before the effects soon stopped. “You gotta be kidding me?” Jaeden said, breathing a little heavily as he tried to regain his breath and recover.

[Tabarnac]

OOCOkay, it's been almost two months. I will write around Naama from now on.

The witch stared back at him as he asked his questions, not disdainful, but merely observing, as if the questions didn't register as being asked of her. She might have said that Time was not a care of hers, or spoken with a priestess' wisdom about the nature of sacrifice, but she did none of these things, but instead turned to look back at his target, the enchanted ring with a sort of inevitable purpose. She was no crueler than nature, but none of the familiar trappings of civilization and politesse were about her. She watched the arrow speed along through the dark, faster than any arrow had a right to travel, watched it disappear within the circle. Perhaps it was the dim lighting or some magic unknown to them, but she only glanced back at him to take in his strange transformation. The vines and all did not perturb her, but his shagginess, his fingernails, those were new. The last bowman who had sacrificed a year for something she required had not changed physically, though there had been a sudden emptiness within him, the potential of a year lost. His had been a loss of vitality, a snipping of the thread of his fate toward its end. This bowman seemed to actually experience that year within a moment, and the stench of him made her wrinkle her nose. All the toxins his body had to process in a year, sweat out and lining hair, caught under fingernails. But the woman with her desert eyes appeared useless, so Karhu slipped under his arm to hold him up. Her own smell of hibernating bears, moldering leaves, and snow could hardly overpower him, but there she was. Fox and Squirt stepped back from the edge, watching wide-eyed. From their ledge and the ledge where the ring burned hotter and brighter now, vines were whipping out, growing larger, braiding and twining among themselves, reaching toward the airy middle to form a bridge. That strange lichen bloomed across every stony face, lighting the entire room except for the darkness below. It must have been quite deep. He had sacrificed, so she would call in reinforcements. While supporting him, she turned her face away and let out a high pitched keen that soon rose into the inaudible. From hundreds of fissures in the cave walls and ceilings flew clouds of bats. She knew what was likely to come, and she had been thoughtful enough to ask the bats not to fly directly overhead. Nobody wanted to go through life covered in guano. "Can you walk?" she asked.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden started breathing heavily, fatigue still wracking his entire body. A cold sweat dripped from his brow, despite his skin still feeling clammy, that complete and utter feeling as though someone was walking over his grave as messy and tangled hair hung, obscuring his face as much as the thick bushy beard. Slowly, the vine from Woodland Wrath began to recede, withdrawing themselves from Jaeden’s flesh as small puncture wounds bled lightly over his forearm. The vine making up the bow string of Woodland Wrath then suddenly detached, the shaft Woodland Wrath going strait for the moment before the vine withdrew back into where it had grown out of. Jaeden’s ears slowly twitched at the sound of fluttering wings, hoping he hadn’t been hearing the movement of Zith before hearing Karhu pose her question.

Jaeden slowly slid Woodland Wrath between his back and pack. Vines began growing out from the entire length of the shaft, entwining themselves around Jaeden’s body, securing itself to it’s master, as if a sentient awareness of the divine weapon knew that it would need extra precaution to not be separated for the one it was intended. “I feel as though I’ve just ran twenty miles without a breather.” Jaeden commented in reply to Karhu’s inquiry. “Considering the circumstances, though, I think I can still walk.”

Jaeden then grunted, his left hand hanging over his right knee for a moment as he began to push his body upward with it, his legs carrying him the rest of the way into a stand. His right hand moved towards the hilt of his longsword, pulling it slowly free as his legs visibly shook slightly under his own weight for the moment. “It will take me a few chimes before I am even remotely recovered.” Jaeden said as he gripped his sword as tightly as fatigued muscles would allow.

“What else can we expect?” Jaeden then asked. “And as well, and I want you to be totally honest with me on this: Does this beard make me look fat?”

[Tabarnac]

The humor didn't seem to touch her, as though the things that made her human had been leeched out of the human form. Whether she felt compassion for his weakness and sacrifice or merely practiced expediency, she waited silently for a few chimes while Red held herself close and Squirt tried to catch a passing bat out of the air with his hands. It was strange how the Kelvic seemed more drawn to the witch than to her bondmate, but there was divine magic afoot, and that could change all the rules. "Treasure," she said. "Terror. Mother has swallowed many things until their time comes again. Be ready for anything." When he seemed a bit stronger, she began to walk across the bridge of vines that was strong as any wood. It flexed a bit beneath their combined weight once Jaeden and Red were walking too, but Squirt's cry brought their attention back around. A vine had wrapped itself around his leg, and another had disarmed Naama in her attempt to free him. "Stop," the witch commanded. And then in her own language she spoke to the vines, which loosened and fell away. "You stay here. Guard. Bandage that cut." Naama's hand was bleeding, but her weapon was not lost. As they continued on their way, there was a definite sound coming from the black depths below, a malevolent rumble, but it did not manifest. "The bats hold it at bay," Red whispered, eyes wide. Karhu only grunted. They crossed the divide and Jaeden could see how the vine came out of the wall, presumably where his arrow had landed, passed through the glowing hoop, and down to form the bridge. The witch did not glance back before descending into a dark cave mouth, her strange song bringing the lichen to life, to glow faintly, but enough to maneuver. The world went dim, though, his shot from the divine bow taking more out of him that he had realized, perhaps. He came to in darkness. There was a scratching from somewhere, a murmuring. He was otherwise alone.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden laid sprawled over his pack along his back, his head swimming for a moment. Eyelids slowly slid back as his vision moved from darkness and focused into darkness still. He couldn’t be sure when he had blacked out or why. A shot from Woodland Wrath had always left him drained, but it had never caused him to black out before in previous uses. Even when he had first been gifted it by the Goddess of Nature, Caiyha. He had felled a Journeyman with two shots in that encounter, and while the divine bow had left him entirely spent, but hadn’t caused him to lose consciousness. Though he suspected if he had fired a third it would have easily. However, the cost of using Woodland Wrath had never manifested physically before now either, at least not so dramatically. It had caused his mentor, Olevar, to age. The woodsman looking to be near ninety years of age when he was no older than his mid to late forties, at best. But hair growth, nails, body processes? There had been none of that. Still, Jaeden suspected that Woodland Wrath was only part of the reason for his blackout.

The blackness that had surrounded his vision wasn’t blindness. While Jaeden could see nothing of his physical surroundings, he could still spot the slight sparks of waking that floated across his vision whenever he woke up. There was just absolutely no light where he was, not even the faintest glimmer for his vision to take advantage of in order to capture the surrounding landscape. And what was worse, was that he seemed to be by himself. He couldn’t hear Red asking for him, calling out to him. He couldn’t heard his guide in this little endeavor, Karhu, speaking in her broken common. Of course, that didn’t surprise him much, considering she hadn’t exactly been the conversing type. The only thing Jaeden could hear was a scratching, a murmur of sounds, which could be anything in the end. It could have been the bats hanging above, to simple faint squeaks they would make. Jaeden let out a small grunt as he exhaled, his left arm swinging over his body as he rolled off his pack and onto his right side. His legs began to bend before he rolled his body onto his knees, pushing himself onto all fours. As more coherent thoughts began to swim around his head, his first instinct was simply to reach out, let his emotions swim as they took a conscious search reached out for that bond he shared with Red. More than anything, he searched to see if it was still there, to see if she still lived. Everything else for him was a distant second at the moment for him. He wanted, needed to know that she was still alive.

When he had received his answer, his hands then began to move along his body, blindly taking inventory of what he could feel. Belt and pouches, quiver and arrows, bow, even the vines of Woodland Wrath wrapping around his body still remained intact, and he had known from waking that he had still had his pack on. His hand lightly dabbed up and down along the ground, searching there for one more thing until fingers felt the cold, hard steel. He had his sword drawn before blacking out, and it was not far from him when he had woke. It was strange, however. If something else had caused him to black out, it had not taken advantage of his vulnerable state. Perhaps Karhu’s comrades had been keeping his safe up until now. Still, in the end, he could do nothing in complete darkness. He couldn’t fumble around blind. There were too many known dangers of doing so in a cavern system, to say nothing of the least of the unknown. His hands moved more directly at that moment then, first slipping off his pack as he left it to rest in front of him.

His right hand then moved along the right side of his back, feeling the thick wood, before hands slipped around the shaft of one of his torches. He had only needed to use torches on one other occasion, but had never discarded them from his inventory of assets. Olevar had always told him that he could never tell when one, despite not likely using a torch for years at a time, might come in handy. The torch was laid along his lap before his left hand moved along the left side of his pack this time, feeling along the small pockets that rand along the side there. Three pockets up, that is where he hand left it as his hand reached inside, pulling out a small flask from within. Oil. He would not need much for the torch as he laid the flask down between his legs next before slipping the backpack back on for the moment. Uncapping the flask, Jaeden slid his hand along the torch until his fingers felt the rough cloth at it’s end, and then began to pour some of the oil over it. He could only hope that the place he currently rested in the cave wasn’t filled with some sort of flammable vegetation, or barrier of foliage that Karhu had erected for his protection as he rolled the torch head along the cave floor to evenly spread the oil over it.

With the oil applied, Jaeden re-capped the flask, slipping it into his belt pouch which housed his snares for the moment, his hand then traveling one pouch over as a flint and steel were retrieved from it. The torch itself laid along the cave floor for the moment, its handled end pinched between his knees as Jaeden slid the flint along the shaft of the torch until he felt the end of it hit the base of the torch head. Hunching forward, Jaeden the pressed the steel along the flint and with high pressured, quick strokes, ground the steel along the flint itself. Course, scratchy sounds echoed out where he was as tiny, bright flashes of sparks danced in his vision for a moment, causing spots to dance across his eyes. Finally, after the third stroke of the flint and steel, one of the sparks had done its job as the oil along the torch head ignited, quickly causing flame to spread over the head of the torch, giving that light that Jaeden craved at the moment. With his torch, and a small dab of oil along the cave floor where the torch had been resting, burning now, Jaeden slipped the flint and steel back into its rightful pouch before searching along the cave floor for his sword, picking it up. He the slowly came to his feet, holding the torch out in front of him for a moment as he began to search and take in his surroundings, taking that moment to let his eyes adjust to the newly acquired light as he began to familiarize himself with where he was as best as the torch light would allow. One thing he did know not to do, however, was call out loudly. He had no idea what laid within these caves. Something could be a mere ten feet away from him, and if getting the torch lit did not announce his presence, he would not call out and have his voice do so instead.

[Tabarnac]

Any chance to see by the light of the phosphorescent lichen was burned away by the garish light of the torch, but then one couldn't know how far away the next patch would be. But Karhu had disdained fire, and so perhaps there were other reasons to avoid it. Humans had a need to see, though, even if their sight was not so keen as most animals. Foolish creatures, humans. The scratching stopped, but as Jaeden traversed the torturous twists of the cave with no clear idea whether he was heading back the way he came or after Karhu and Red, a growl stopped him. A creature gradually became visible at the edge of his torchlight, humanoid, with cracked skin and dirt and rock covering what skin there was and in between the cracks. It watched him for some time, growling, and then that scratching came back. It was only then he saw it's leg was trapped under fallen rock. Certainly he could leave it there, or try to get past it. Or he could try to help, but altruism was generally considered a fatal flaw by the wise.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden slowly crouched down, the torched being raised over his head as the glare of the flickering flames were kept from direct view, giving him a better look at the pinned humanoid. His distance was kept relatively safe, just short of his sword range. It was a neutral distance, one that kept him from being directly struck from the humanoid, but also a distance that let it know he hadn’t come in to range of striking it himslef.

He observed the humanoid’s leg for a moment, seeing it pinned beneath the fallen rock, judging how easy it could be moved, whether any of them were to large for him to move on his own. When the growl echoed through the cavern again, Jaeden looked the humanoid in the eyes, a relaxed expression on his face. “Can you speak?” Jaeden tried in common, and then in both Kontese and Pavi after if he got no response initially, seeing if this humanoid was some creature that lurked beneath the caves which the world above had forgotten about or had no knowledge of, or if it was one of the man races that was part of the world, but he couldn’t recognize strait off due to it being dinged and dirtied by earth and rock.

“I have no real intention of harming you,” Jaeden then continued, again trying in each of the languages he knew how to speak at the off chance that this humanoid understood and could communicate. “However, if I can’t determine your intentions towards me, either through communication or some other means, then I won’t feel comfortable freeing your foot. The growling shows hostility, and it doesn’t convince me that you wouldn’t attack the moment I tried to help.”

[Tabarnac]

The thing, well, he as it was decidedly male under the grime and gravel worked into its skin... He snarled defensively at Jaeden's approach, but as soon as it was clear Jaeden was making no violent moves toward him, he began to whine in a piteous, high voice: "Yuuuuuuk, yuk yuk. Yuk." He shifted and something flashed in his side, a rash of glittering amethyst, as if it had rolled around within a geode and come away with its insides. There were other bits, strangely colored, that might have been raw gemstones, but being as Jaeden was no jeweler, he couldn't be certain. And so it appeared he had a few choices: attempt to help, attempt to pass, or attempt to kill the strange beast of a human.