Closed All the Lonely People

You never know who you'll meet in the Northern Reaches

(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy roleplay forum. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

Encompassing a vast wilderness filled with flora and fauna of immense proportions, the Northern Reaches include all the Talderian Forest north of the Suvan and stretch into the vast permanent tundra and ice fields outside Avanthal.

All the Lonely People

Postby Sliver on November 14th, 2012, 9:38 pm

All the Lonely People

23rd of Fall 512 A.V.


“We do not encourage going out alone into the wilderness, but you must be able to survive in the wastes without aid as well, so what does that tell you?”

Everyone loved to be cryptic when she brought up Wilderness Survival in the icy tundra. She knew she would undergo her wilderness trial at some point, perhaps not this season, or even the next, but eventually they would throw her out there to make sure she could do it. Sliver had made it to the Everwinter City almost entirely by herself and with little aid along the way, but regardless of the stories she told on this note it didn’t mean she got to bypass this rite of passage, nor did she wish to, and now that she had gotten rather settled into the city the idea of being alone for several days was not the most appealing one. So what better way to make herself feel better about this singular event than by going out, not too far, but far enough and spending a couple nights out in the wilderness?

She packed lightly, after all survival wasn’t about packing as much food as you needed it was getting on without it. She took some flint, a knife for skinning, an extra set of clothes in case she lost the set she was wearing currently, and a single strip of dried meat just in case. The day was windy, but relatively clear despite the fact the sky was a deep grey that could lead to any sort of weather.

The Kelvic took in a refreshing lungful of air and while she started at a brisk walk, once the city was behind her she broke into a casual jog. She purposefully didn’t keep track of her location or progress in order to make a more challenging return on the homeward trip, but she did try to keep appraised of the smells. She had learned rather early on in the icy environment that sounds could trick you, sounding closer or farther away than they really were. The wind enjoyed whipping noises around on you and confusing the senses, but despite the fact that smells eroded faster in the harsh landscape, they could always be relied on. Today the air and the ground where she stopped to check an indent that might be a track, were relatively clear. She picked up faint hints of animals, but it was the most cursory of smells. Of course she was still close to the city and Icewatch patrols kept a large number of animals at bay, so there was still ground to cover before she would find anything of interest.

She had made it to her first set of forest just as the sun had passed its zenith in the sky. She appreciated the fact that while the landscape was generally a white blanket interrupted only by chunks of icestone, it was not so barren as to not offer the most topical form of protection in the form of copses of trees. She slowed her jog back down to a casual walk and stopped at the edge of the trees, cautiously placing every foot. The crunch of snow became quiet as snow less battered by the wind made for softer steps.

A couple of partridge, disturbed from their perches, fluttered off, offended at the stranger in their midst. Sliver continued forward, slowly, nose scrunched up and trying to catch any tasty scents that might lead her to a meal. Most of them were faint and old, this spot of woodland wasn’t good for much more than a temporary resting spot, and didn’t provide too many places for creatures to hide. That being said it wasn’t clean of tracks. Bending low Sliver brushed her finger absentmindedly across a set of small paw marks, belonging to some small rodent, perhaps a vole or lemming, and not far from these were larger ones, suggesting ermine origin. That was when her eyes drifted upward and met with two wide eyed black orbs of a dusky colored squirrel.

Each animal had their own intent gazes, Sliver’s hungry, the squirrel’s panicked. Each one knew that one of them had to make the first move, which would lead to an answering response from the creature they stared at. In the end it turned out to be the panicked squirrel. It would only take a couple moments for the creature to dash up a tree and be out of reach. Even if she followed it, the branches were close enough together that Sliver would only be playing a losing game of tag with the rodent. She dashed to one side then another running not so much to catch the creature as to lessen its tree options. When it finally found one to scramble up, it was barely more than a sapling. Lunging after it before it could leap to a connected bough, Sliver grabbed onto the tree with one hand, pulling it back and letting it snap like a catapult outward, sending the squirrel flying. While this kept it out of the trees a bit longer, it also increased its distance from the Kelvic, and she dashed after it, jumping bodily on top of the creature before it had a chance to recover. She sat, small creature struggling to escape from beneath her stomach. It wasn’t elegant, but with one swift maneuver she was sitting cross-legged and one hand had the squirrel by the throat. Severing the spine with a swift crack of the bones the wolverine took the time to skin the creature before digging in to its flesh.

The meal didn’t leave anything to spare for later, but it filled her for now and would keep her as long as she didn’t shift in the near future. She relaxed in the grove for half a bell then rose and continued her journey. She was still much too close to the city and had to push forward into the tundra. Even as she emerged she saw a larger spot of woods in the distance, a good spot to aim for when night came.
Image
User avatar
Sliver
Do I look like a woman who exaggerates?
 
Posts: 459
Words: 358206
Joined roleplay: May 11th, 2012, 6:26 pm
Location: The Wilds of Mizahar
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Medals: 5
Featured Thread (1) Artist (1)
Overlored (1) Power Fork (1)
2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

All the Lonely People

Postby Sliver on November 15th, 2012, 3:41 am

She made the larger forest in good time with several bells of daylight to spare, so Sliver took this time to find a good tree to sleep in. She didn’t much like setting up camp on the ground when the safety of a tree was so close and considerably more comforting to her. Finding a nice pine where she could put down her gear and lay down across a couple of overlapping branches, Sliver left her supplies up there and lowered herself down to see if she could find anymore tracks. The smells she could pick up here were substantially more recent than in the previous patch of woods, but it didn’t exactly make it easier since there were several overlapping tracks and smells to sort through. Regardless of the exact times the animals she could find traces of had passed through, most of them seemed to be on the small side, and no predatory smells of wolves or sabre teeth hung in the area to her relief.

She walked slowly through the forest, wind whistling through the trees and giving her an eerie set of back ground music for her stroll. She enjoyed the serene and peaceful quality this bit of trees held. As she let herself relax a little, collapsing onto her back into the snow she let the feeling of freedom wash over her. Though she would always be tethered to the city, the ability to escape to the cooler and harsher climbs outside of it, to test herself as well as escape more human oriented rules made a smile come to her lips. This was what she needed. Several chimes she laid there, staring up blankly at the sky, mind drifting like the grey clouds in the sky, slowly and without any true purpose.

After that relaxing spell Sliver leapt to her feet. Though her stomach was still content from her midday meal, she would need to obtain more food to tide her over, and stockpiling a bit wasn’t a bad idea. She returned to the crossroads of tracks and scents she had come upon before and sat down to assess the layers she found there. Rabbit, fox, squirrel, mice: They were just some of the track makers in the area, and that was only the tip of the list. Many of these scents were far from fresh however, like the foxes and rabbits, and the mice weren’t worth the time to pursue.

As the Kelvic glanced around, considering which trail to follow her eyes fell upon a collection of plants growing in a semi-circle around one of the spruce trees not far from her. She walked over to investigate. One bush held a series of white berries with blue leaves. She picked two, rolling them around in her fingers, and though she couldn’t place the name of them, something in the back of her mind warned her against eating them. Another plant, however, with sword shaped leave popping out of the ground she recognized. Removing her mittens the Kelvic dug through the ice and snow the hard ground below, using her sharp nail to clear away the earth surrounding the plant. Once she had moved enough out of the way, creating a neat pile to the side, she gently but firmly pulled at the plant’s roots, seeking to pull it up without damaging the part of the plant that she was quite sure grew underground. It took several moments, sure she was going to break the leaves off and dig the contents up herself, but with a satisfying popping sound the Kelvic was able to obtain the whole of the plant. She was unsure of what it was called, but recalled finding a few in dire circumstances before. Whatever the plant was called it grew underground where it was protected from the extreme cold, forming tubers that could be cooked and eaten. In an environment where not too many plant forms thrived, the plant seemed to do quite well though it required areas like this miniature forest, using the protection of other plant’s root to take seed in. She spent the rest of the day roaming around and collecting as many of the plants as she would benefit her on her trip, for she had no need to deplete the supply and prevent them from growing back.

As darkness fell on the woods Sliver took the leaves of the tubers, which made for excellent kindling, as well as some wood she collected while roaming around and decided to start a fire. If worst came to worse she could always dash up into her tree to avoid any immediate danger.

She carefully arranged the wood so as to create a pyramid with the easily lit leaves in the center, small sticks and twigs angled over the leaves, and large sticks angled over these, she then took her flint and steel and spent several grueling chimes trying to make a spark emerge. The clouds had lowered themselves and turned into an all-consuming fog, making the potential of a spark difficult to manage. Though her wrists and fingers were sore by the time she succeeded, eventually a spark jumped out and lit the tuber leaves, flames turning a brilliant green blue as they ate at the plant before moving onto the wood and returning to warm oranges and yellows.

Sliver cleaned the dirt covered tubers using bits of ice, and then scraped off the outer skin with her knife before placing the vegetables on sticks and leaning them out over the flames. She paid close attention to turning them all evenly, not wanting to burn her hard earned meal, fingers caked with dirt and bleeding from digging through hard earth and ice. She wished she had brought some spices to give the tubers a bit of flavor, for they were rather bland, but the upside of her discovery was the food was very filling and it took only three of the oblong baked veggies to fill her stomach. The four remaining tubers were stowed away in her pack in the tree and she put out her fire with some snow before ascending into her perch within the tree, lying down in her elevated bed and using her pack as a makeshift pillow. Stomach full, body tired from a long day of running, she easily drifted off to sleep.
Image
User avatar
Sliver
Do I look like a woman who exaggerates?
 
Posts: 459
Words: 358206
Joined roleplay: May 11th, 2012, 6:26 pm
Location: The Wilds of Mizahar
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Medals: 5
Featured Thread (1) Artist (1)
Overlored (1) Power Fork (1)
2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

All the Lonely People

Postby Sliver on November 15th, 2012, 3:28 pm

Morning came, and the wolverine stretched out on her makeshift bed like a content house cat before sitting up, gathering her supplies and lowering herself back down to the ground. She took a bell to re-kindle the embers of her fire and cook one out of the four remaining tubers for breakfast, then fully covered the miniature fire place and set off, continuing in the mostly northward direction she had chosen for herself.

She wrapped her arms tightly across her torso as she left the shelter of the forest and the wind whipped viciously against her flame. She wondered how many prospective Icewatch members had undergone their lone survival in the wilderness absent of Morwen’s mark. Surely there had to be some, since she had seen other Kelvic (usually flying) that were not Dire Polar bears, but perhaps these creatures too had been born with their snowflake, already outfitted for the icy tundra. It was something she would have to inquire about on her return.

She did not run today. She wasn’t positive of how far she was from the city, but she had kept at a steady pace and didn’t want to increase it by too much since she would be turning around in the morning and retracing her haphazard steps back to Avanthal. Sometimes she would increase her steps into a light jog to get her blood flowing, but this was usually only for a few chimes before she returned to her slower walk.

A light and fluffy snow started just after daybreak, and the wind lessened somewhat, creating a very picturesque journey for the wolverine. If there was any reason for outsiders to come to Northern Taldera apart from seeing the wonders of Avanthal, it was for days like this. She was proud to have returned to her natural climbs and a feeling that the world was aligned as it should be struck the wolverine smartly, putting a smile on her face.

With this frame of mind one can understand why she took her time in the next section of woods she came to. These were larger than either of the one’s she passed through before, perhaps extending for several miles. Sliver noticed a set of hills, and perhaps their placement had allowed for a greater expanse of trees, sheltered by much of the weather, to grow uninhibited. Deciding to keep on the lookout for more plants instead of animals to hunt, Sliver crept around the edges of the forest, looking for any bushes or flowers that might be of interest. The new blanket of light snow seemed to absorb all noise, and though she could hear a few bird calls the forest was doused in silence. Even the normal crunch of her feet was deadened by the powder beneath her feet, and for this the wolverine was glad. The snow covered pines looked like a Skyglow landscape painting come to life, and Sliver wasn’t keen to disturb the peaceful quality of the area here by shedding any blood when perhaps there was no need for it.

She tried to sort out these pacifist thoughts floating through her brain. They were only temporary surely, she was a creature that could chase down rabbits and leap on adult caribou, but there was just something about this place that dampened her desire for immediate death. Deciding not to overthink her stance, the wolverine continued silently through the woods. She found a massive and gnarled oak tree not too far from the edges of the forest, and since she had spotted something that seemed to be like the tubers, she decided she’d save herself some pain by digging them up in wolverine form as opposed to her human one. She removed her clothes and shifted in a small and noiseless explosion of smoke and glowing lights, digging out a spot in the earth where she buried her clothes and supplies. Nose snuffling lightly she set off, feeling a bit like a prized pig searching for truffles.

The wolverine was immensely disappointed to discover the plant she had thought would lead to more tubers, was more of an arctic weed that had leaves of a similar shape and color. Getting down close however, she could see the sword shape of the plants found the previous evening, were more defined and had had light purple veins running through the leaves, whereas these plants were a solid aquamarine color. She discovered more of the white berries that she knew she shouldn’t eat, and a beautiful violet flower with crystalline leaves that she refused to discover if it was edible because of how pretty the plant was.

Sliver was utterly surprised at the amount and variety of plant life Taldera seemed to maintain. Just like the animals and people that had adapted to survive the unforgiving climbs, the plants seem to have taken it in stride as well, and Sliver was delighted to discover all sorts of plants that she was sure any Talderan botanist would scoff at her for not being aware of. Many of the flowers she discovered appeared just too tiny and delicate to maintain themselves, yet here in these patches of woods, they were mostly protected from the wind, and it seemed none of these plants required vast amounts of sunlight.

Enthralled with her findings the stocky wolverine ambled from bush to bush, tree to tree, playing a sort of scavenger hunt of find the new plant. She was well aware she would forget most of these breeds by the time she returned to the city and found someone more knowledgeable on the subject, but at least it would aid her if she ever found them again, faint memories sinking into the back of her mind. She only halted her little game when she heard a familiar snuffling coming from an area she had not yet traversed.

The noise reminded her of when one of the Dire Kelvic was about to sneeze, so the wolverine began ambling over, and sure enough she heard the snort and cough of a bear sneeze just as passed a large tree to reveal a small clearing.

Instantly she realized the bear was no Kelvic. Apart from the fact that she could gauge one of her own kind on sight, the bear was much too small to be of the dire variety, leaving him at being just a regular ol’ polar bear. That didn’t make the creature small…at least not when comparing it to her, but Sliver had never seen such a small white bear before and it made her curious.

Of course this was not the strangest part of the equation. That belonged to the man standing in front of the bear, eyes locked with the creatures. The bear sat on his hind quarters, snuffling like a cub in front of the figure…who was wearing almost entirely black clothing. For someone who had made it out this far, and thus clearly knew their surroundings, the idea of wearing such dark colors seemed preposterous to the wolverine seeing no advantage in it. He had rather long dark hair and pale skin. She wondered if he was a Vantha, though his height suggested he was, she couldn’t immediately see any telltale streaks and the coloration of his skin was closer to hers than the relatively darker skinned people.

Appearance and clothing choices aside, Sliver was most curious about what in Morwen’s name the man was doing. He and the bear seemed to just be having an intense staring contest with each other. Occasionally a faint smile would come across the man’s face, but other than that both creatures remained nearly motionless during the exchange. Sliver sat there for about a bell, trying to discern what was going on before the man said something verbally to the bear and inclined his head a little. The bear nuzzled the man’s chest in an affectionate manner then lumbered off into the woods. Once she was sure the large creature was gone, Sliver walked out past the tree and began making her way over to the strange man. He noticed her when she had crossed about half of the clearing’s distance, and she decided to take a long look at him. His eyes were a calm green moss, and his expression was unreadable as he approached. His gaze locked with hers and she got the sense after a few moments that he was attempting to do to her what he had been doing with the bear.

She just stared blankly at the man, and she noticed the corner of his lip twitch.
“Not much for talking, aye? I can understand that.”

And those were the only words she heard him speak the entire day. The wolverine was utterly confused by the man. He carried a longs word, but his intentions didn’t seem to be to hunt, so she decided to follow him around and discover exactly what they were. Though he threw her a couple of odd looks, he did not protest, or really say anything at all. He traveled through the forest, light on his feet, following tracks that even she would have been unable to follow. His eyes were clearly trained for this sort of thing. She tried to pay attention to what he did, how closely he studied the ground, and smirked inwardly when he lowered himself down just as she did in human form, to get closer to certain smells. Birds would fly down from trees and perch on his shoulders, and any animals he came across be it rabbit or deer, would not run in fear, some would ignore him, others would move out of his way, but others some of who he called by name, would come up and share the strange eye gazing thing, or he would give a passing pet or stroke to an animal before continuing onwards.

Several times his gaze returned to her, and that intense stare would be trained on her, but after a moment his head would turn away again, sometimes his lip twitching in amusement, other times that stoic look would just remain on his features, eyes becoming flecked with yellow in confusion at the creature deciding to follow him.

Now Sliver was perfectly comfortable with the strange man interacting with creatures that were quite harmless to her, apart from the massive bear none of the animals he spoke to or stared at posed any threat to her at all…until he met up with the wolf pack.
Image
User avatar
Sliver
Do I look like a woman who exaggerates?
 
Posts: 459
Words: 358206
Joined roleplay: May 11th, 2012, 6:26 pm
Location: The Wilds of Mizahar
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Medals: 5
Featured Thread (1) Artist (1)
Overlored (1) Power Fork (1)
2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

All the Lonely People

Postby Sliver on November 15th, 2012, 6:54 pm

Sliver’s hackles rose. There were seven of them, massive specimens, and they surrounded her and the man. A few growled at her, but most of them were focused on him. He knelt towards the ground, singling out a a large wolf whose coat was so light of grey it was nearly white. Observing from her lower position, Sliver realized it was a female and she came forward as if all she required was a polite word. The rest of the pack backed up, though a couple were still eyeing the wolverine with glowing eyes and lolling tongues. She gave a warning growl, but still no one made a move. What she had seen before, what this man could do, it hadn’t seemed so foreign to the wolverine. If he spent much time in the tundra and never hunted a creature, perhaps those animals in the area had gotten used to him…had…she wasn’t sure, but perhaps saw him as a part of the forest, but this? A pack of wolves that wouldn’t attack him or her though they were clearly outnumbered? That was like magic, though not any magic she had heard of.

After several chimes, the almost white wolf turned back towards her pack and growled and snarled. The wolves looked first to her, then to the man, and he caught each of their gazes, holding it for an instant before they turned and disappeared into the forest, leaving the young female.

She snuffled and grunted disconcertedly, but neither the man nor wolf were done yet. He lay a hand on her fur, rubbing it gently, and whispering words to her. Sliver was struck by the fact that the wild creature looked like nothing more than a domesticated dog then, and when they were done the wolf playfully nipped the man and he rose from the ground, petting the wolf fondly on the head and walking back the way they came. When he passed by the wolverine he gestured for her to follow, and Sliver found herself walking beside the light colored wolf, the young female barely giving her a second glance.

It was getting dark by that point and the man returned to the central area of the forest, collecting wood as he went, he removed his pack, taking out a small pot for boiling water and set up the beginnings of a nice fire in the woods. Deciding to contribute Sliver ran off, tracing her steps even in the failing light back to her tree where she dug up her supplies and carrying her pack in her mouth returned to the clearing where the stranger had started a nice fire and was…talking to wolf. He was still not speaking, but Sliver could only imagine he had to be communicating with these animals in some way, whatever magic he was working it was allowing him to communicate and tell them he was no threat. It still baffled the wolverine who was familiar with many of the magic families given the place she had grown up in. He broke off whatever kind of strange thing he was doing with the wolf, his eyes turning a grey blue of confusion at the sight of a wolverine dragging a pack.

Nosing open the bag Sliver reached her paw in and rolled the tubers out, bringing them one by one and placing them by the fire. When she looked up, his calm gaze had turned to an orange yellow of what she could only assume was anger.


“What are you?”

Each word was firmly enunciated and filled with anger as if she had purposefully tricked him. His body was tense, and all of the relaxed and serene expressions that she had seen him express over the course of the day were gone, as if forgotten. Since the jig was up as it were, Sliver removed her clothes from the pack as well and in one swirling instant of transformation was sitting naked in her human form before the man. He glowered at her.

“Kelvic.”

The word was spat out like poison and Sliver’s eyes widened at the sudden hostility he posed towards her. The female wolf, though clearly confused, was not half as concerned with her as this man was.

“Did the Icewatch send you to spy on me?”

Sliver was utterly confused, about how he deduced she was in the Icewatch, as well as the paranoia and anger that now seemed to radiate off of him in waves. His eyes glanced over her naked form, but didn’t seem to actually take anything in except the reality of what she was. She dressed swiftly and sat back down.

“Yes on the Kelvic, No on the spying. Is there some reason the Icewatch would want to spy on you?”


His harsh gaze just turned away and his only response was sullen silence. Sliver blinked.

“Because of your gift with animals?”

His gaze was trained on her all of a sudden, eyes hard, all the orange gone leaving a wolf like yellow in their wake.


“You will not breath a word of what you saw here to anyone, understand?”

Sliver blinked again. “Why not?”

Clearly the wrong answer, the man got up and with two swift strides crossed the distance between them, face inches from her, yellow eyes glowing with rage. Though his voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke, his intent was clear, and that single word held a threatening tone.


Understand?”

Sliver did not care too much for this man, and was severely put off by his accusatory look and the attitude which seemed to place her as apart from his wonderful animals. When she replied her tone was emotionless and uncaring, though he had sparked a nerve for her as well.

Fine.”

And that was that. The man went back to his cooking, using her tubers and several herbs and plants he must have picked up in the forest and made a sort of broth, chopping up the tubers and mixing them in. The food was delicious and the spices he used were the exact thing her previous night’s meal had been missing. The three entities sat in silence. At one point the female wolf, silent as a shadow, went off to hunt and Sliver didn’t notice her absence until she returned with some kind of fowl and set to tearing it apart. Once they were done the man promptly lay out a sleeping pallet and facing away from her went to bed, Sliver lay out her tent in a similar fashion and joined him, though she didn’t fall asleep until several bells afterward, seething with confusion and indignation.

When she woke in the morning the man was already gone, fire doused and any trace of he or the wolf were gone. Sliver searched for tracks for several chimes, but found absolutely no trail of the man other than a faint musk that she recalled since he smelled more like animal than man. He must have swept up their tracks to prevent her following him, and this made her even angrier.
Image
User avatar
Sliver
Do I look like a woman who exaggerates?
 
Posts: 459
Words: 358206
Joined roleplay: May 11th, 2012, 6:26 pm
Location: The Wilds of Mizahar
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Medals: 5
Featured Thread (1) Artist (1)
Overlored (1) Power Fork (1)
2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

All the Lonely People

Postby Sliver on November 15th, 2012, 8:39 pm

Fueled by this string of events Sliver set out when Syna had not yet risen above the horizon at a dedicated run, legs pumping to return to the city. She took breaks along the way, usually for several chimes, and then continued on. She found her curiosity to discover exactly who this stranger was, clearly a Vantha, worked as perfect fuel to carry her onwards.

Her trip that had taken about a day and a half one way at her slower pace, was made back in about three quarters of a day with her increased speed, and though her legs were complaining and sore, Sliver kept reminding herself that tonight she would be able to sleep in her bed in the barracks.

She checked in with the guards at the gate and decided they were a good place to start. She described the strange man with the longer dark hair and the fact that he would have come in with a wolf. Every guard nodded in unison at her description, and that was when she learned the man’s name: Farren Frostfawn. After she learned of his usual location, selling rare animals in the menagerie, a lot of things began to make sense, but not quite enough to satisfy her, so she began asking around.

The saying goes that everyone love to gossip, but no one can gossip like a Vantha, and while there were plenty of people and events to talk about, Sliver soon discovered that Farren Frostfawn was a favorite of the communities. Many suspected he was Kelvic who had a Vantha parent which would explain the green tint to his hair and his eye changes. Though no one could really hazard a guess at what animal he was as a Kelvic, it was definitely a favorite of people to explain why he was so anti-social and possessed so many traits that ran counter-intuitive to the average Vantha. From there on in the rumors only got crazier and more of a myth like quality than anything that had a base in reality: Some people said that other members of Frostfawn, jealous of Farren’s ability to train and tame such wild and rare creatures attempted to follow him to discover his secrets and he killed them. Another story which was virtually the same didn’t have the fatalities, but claimed that he was so good at surviving in the wilderness his tracks just disappeared after a certain point and couldn’t be found. Other people said he didn’t tame the animals himself, but just bought them off foreign sailors and took the credit for them, though most didn’t lend this theory much credence. Some said he wasn’t Kelvic, but had been raised by wild bears, and other people claimed Talderan sabre teeth. Sliver had reached the end of her capacity of belief when one old man said that Farren made sacrifices to Rhysol in order to get these animals, which didn’t even make logical sense.

As she was walking away from this last story an elderly Vantha woman, her hair a light grey with streaks the color autumn leaves put a hand on Sliver’s shoulder. The Kelvic stopped and smiled politely at the woman.


“I know a different tale of the man.”

Sliver prepared herself for something like the Frostfawn was a werewolf or equally ridiculous nonsense, but the serious tone of the woman’s gaze made her pause.

“Some say that he would spend days in the wilderness, becoming beaten and bruised, dragged back by herbalists, but one day he came back with a bear and a wolf at his side and sold them at market, tame as kittens. They say Caiyha blessed him and he talks to his animals.”

Sliver chuckled.

“That is better than most the stories I’ve heard today.”

The woman smiled, showing a couple wooden teeth.
“I know. I’m the one that started it.”

Sliver smiled and thanked her for her time, the smile on her face fading immediately after the woman had left. Of course it was Caiyha. She knew little of the goddess, but she recalled her time with the Drykas, and a grassland witch blessed by Caiyha, a kind old woman who spoke to the horses, spoke of maintaining balance with the earth. Farren seemed like a feral version of that kind old woman she had met, yet it made perfect sense now that the Kelvic thought about it.

The real question the Kelvic had left, however, was why he was so concerned about hiding it? To end her adventure she walked to Menagerie, looked at all the animals, individual vendors talking to clients or feeding and talking to their creatures. There in the center she saw a tall woman for a Vantha, looming over the rather short Farren, and stroking the ears of the wolf he had brought back from the tundra. She wagged her tail slowly, tongue lolling, eyes closed in contentment at the woman’s touch, just like any dog would. Farren spoke something to the woman that Sliver was much too far away to hear, payment was given and the woman led her new companion away without so much as a collar on the creature, Farren gazing into the creature’s eyes for a brief moment before the wolf turned away to follow the woman.

Sliver stood, hands on her hips, openly staring, and for a moment Farren’s gaze met her from across the way. Their eyes locked for an instant, and then he settled into the shadows of his stall, back towards her. Sliver snorted and turned around, heading back to the barracks, somehow unsettled by this whole series of events.
Image
User avatar
Sliver
Do I look like a woman who exaggerates?
 
Posts: 459
Words: 358206
Joined roleplay: May 11th, 2012, 6:26 pm
Location: The Wilds of Mizahar
Race: Kelvic
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Medals: 5
Featured Thread (1) Artist (1)
Overlored (1) Power Fork (1)
2012 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)

All the Lonely People

Postby Valkyrie on November 24th, 2012, 5:34 pm

Image


Sliver :
Experience
2 Wilderness Survival
4 Observation
1 Hunting
2 Tracking
2 Botany
1 Interrogation
1 Cooking
1 Running
1 Investigation

Lore
Packing for Time Alone in the Tundra
Sleeping in a Tree is Safer then the Ground
Recognizing the Leaves of the Cobalt Potato
Nosing Through Plants for Something Familiar and Edible
Farren Frostfawn: Strange Man With an Affinity for Animals
Farren Frostfawn: Caiyha Blessed?

Other
+Inventory: Dried Leaf of the Cobalt Potato

Notes: This was an interesting thread and I liked it a lot. You did a good job of explaining how Sliver made important decisions that aided in her survival which earned you Wilderness Survival experience. I’ll award appropriate lores concerning the cobalt potato since it is in the Community Development thread and I gave it a pretty good look over already but in the future please try to avoid using something in a thread before it’s been approved. It can get messy if changes need to be made to the original concept. Other than that this was a really fun thread and I enjoyed all the rumors Sliver came across while she investigated who Farren was.



You Will Be Collected if Worthy
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out. :)
Image
VanthaAvanthalHoldsIcewatch

I will not be accepting new moderation requests at this time, I apologize for the inconvenience.
User avatar
Valkyrie
Let me in! It's cold out here!
 
Posts: 755
Words: 353067
Joined roleplay: June 20th, 2012, 9:44 pm
Location: Avanthal
Race: Staff account
Office
Scrapbook
Medals: 2
Featured Contributor (1) Donor (1)


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests