Completed A Good Hunt And A Myrian Snack

[Kalesserimamoru]

Timestamp: 1st of Summer

It was another wonderful day in the world of Mizahar, and all was right with the world. The animals in the jungle went about their lives as they always did, seemingly with no knowledge or care for anything other than their day to day needs. The Myrians in the camp near the nest were doing what they normally did, talking about their Goddess and how many bones they could fit through their nose and how much of their bodies they could ink up. The Dhani were snug in their nest, still acting bold and prideful as if the world didn't know they spent all their time hiding in a giant whole because they were too afraid of the Myrians to come out.


When the day had broke, when the light of the world was quickly fading into darkness, leaving a strangely red sky over the lands, Mamuro appeared from one of the openings from the nest that the Myrians didn't know about, or simply weren't guarding at the moment. He appeared dressed in midnight black robes that muffled the sound of his movements. He would appear as a shadow for anyone or thing that didn't possess a heighten sense of sight, or a lit torch. Mamuro didn't fear the Myrians as others did, and preferred to spend a lot of his time on the surface. With his magical ability to morph himself and with the added use of the mark from Ionu, it wasn't likely that he would be discovered, or in the least, placed in a situation that he couldn't get himself out of.


It had been a fruitful night for some and the exact opposite for others, a few Dhanis had left the nest earlier looking for food and were caught by the Myrians. There was another slaughter, the Myrians easily best the Dhani and would feast that evening on Dhani stew. But it didn't all go as well, one of the Myrian hunter's injured his leg and shoulder after he chased one of the dieing snakes off away from the main fight and finished it off. He now lurked near still water, kneeling beside it as he cleaned his wound. He was spotted, Mamuro had been close by and saw him as he started to patch up his leg and shoulder.


The dhani, even in human form slithered about, bold golden eyes peering from the shadows as he watched his prey. He used the bulk of the trees and the shadows surrounding them to move about, but he didn't go any closer. Once the Myrian was done, he stood up and headed off to find his group. He carried no torch for Syna had been with them even at the climate of the battle. It wasn't until he wandered away from the corpse that the darkness came. The injured warrior made his way back through the forest to find his kill and Mamuro followed several paces back.


The dhani didn't follow closely and only moved when his prey was close to being out of his sight. If the Myrian would sense something, or hear the breaking of twigs or the brushing of leaves, Mamuro would stopped quickly and cling to the shadows until the human moved on. It wasn't about speed, but the hunt for the kill, Mamuro slowly crept through the forest walking with his heels raised to muffle his movements even more. He waited until the Myrian had found the body of the slain dhani before he finally made his move.

[Kalesserimamoru]

Mamuro crept forward a few feet and urged his gnosis powers to reach out and touch the dirty human. He created an illusion that caused all of the trees closest to the Myrian to appear a lot more similar than they were. Creating this illusion would be it harder for the man to figure out which way to go, and where he had just come from. But the crafty dhani didn't stop there, he continued to follow the Myrian and create the same illusion over the trees that he moved towards, until the Myrian finally started to get frustrated and circle around. He changed the illusion at this point to shift the look of the tree to a clearer path that led the Myrian in a circle and right back around to where he had killed the dhani.


The Myrian was completely lost now, and just stood in place while he tried to figure out what to do. He was already injured and even more tired now that he had wandered around in a circle. That's when Mamuro made his move. The sly dhani slipped from behind the tree that had shielded him so far and moved outward. He was snake-like in his movements as he slinked around the tree trunk to rest his back against the wall of bark. Looking out into the grass, he calmed his mind and willed forth his djed to rise and focus into his eyes and his mouth. Hypnotism was still a new magic for him, but he would put it to use here, even if for only mere amusement.

"No humanses could ssurvive,...your woundsss are too sseriouss." he spoke in his best common.


The Myrian jerked around, quickly lifting the hand ax from his belt and reading himself to strike. He stared out into the night, finding it hard to pick up on exactly where the voice was coming from. "Who is there?" he asked boldly while scanning the area.


Mamuro smiled, continuing to focus his djed into his eyes and mouth and spoke to the human once more. "Youss wander for a long time now, youss mussst be ssoo tired that even youses can't see it. Youss iss losst...dying."


The injured human roared, jerking forward in the direction of the voice and cocking his hand which firmly held his ax. "Who out there? Show yourself or die!" He could feel something within him, a sort of doubt growing, but the hardened Myrian wasn't about to give up.


Mamuro started to cackle, an almost whistling sound of hisses escaping his lips, before he could regain his composure. "Youss iss losst, wandering the forestses, talking to sshadowss. Ssurely, yous seess it now. Youss gone mad."

[Kalesserimamoru]

The Myrian jerked forward again once he was able to find the dhani's figure resting against the tree. "I'll kill you for the glory of Myri!" the human roared lifting the ax higher in his hand.


"Myri?" Mamuro cackled, "Your Goddessses hass abandoned yous. Left youss alone to your madnesss, your..inssanties." the dhani continued to work his hypnotism, trying to lure the human hunter off guard. He willed his thoughts, feelings of lost towards the man in hopes of getting him to believe that he was indeed lost and and dying.


"Doess yous even know, whatss iss real and whatss iss not?"


"Doess you know who yous be...?"


"Who I be?"

The dhani licked his lips, bold eyes peering out of the darkness as he slowly lifted his hand to reveal the naginata that had been slightly concealed by the robes that he wore. Mamuro released the illusion he had placed around the Myrian and concentrated this time on his weapon. The hand ax suddenly appeared to change from an ax to a coiling snake right in front of the man's eyes. The illusion snake snapped at the man's face, causing him to act on instinct and throw it to the ground and stomp on it.


Mamuro cackled inwardly, but there was no time to slow, the game had just gotten that much more fun. He willed his gnosis power again, creating the illusion of flames engulfing the blade of his naginata. With a loud and somewhat constricted yell, the dhani dashed forward and took a wild swing at the Myrian. The human was taken off guard, unsure of what kind of magic would allow a weapon to blaze in fire. He jumped back, quickly ducking and dodging the dhani's wild and un-timed swings. Luckily for him, Mamuro wasn't very skilled with the weapon and his swings were easily enough to predict.


It was the illusion of fire that kept him at bay, and although he couldn't feel any heat from the flames, the Myrian remained cautious. Mamuro continued to strike at his opponent. He thrust his naginata, swung it left and right and even attempted a very wild overhead attack. The Myrian continued to duck and dodge, keeping himself away from the flames on the blade. Slowly, the dhani began to tire from all of the swinging and his human opponent saw this and took advantage of it.

[Kalesserimamoru]

Mamuro continued his attack, slashing with a slowed speed with a bit less strength. He slid his hand further down the shaft of the naginata to allow him more reach and went to work on his opponent. The strikes were now even wilder given that he had less control, but they were still serious threats. The Myrian jumped back, ducks and dodged as he did before. Finally the dhani attempted a heavy overhead slash that was all too easy to pick out. The human hunter slipped to the side to dodge it then dashed in for a hard kick to Mamuro's gut.


The dhani squealed as he was winded, which also left him open for a right hook from the Myrian. Mamuro's head shook hard from the punch and he released the weapon without even realizing it. Now the real pain would begin, the hunter slugged him right, then left, knocking the dizzy dhani for a loop. He tumbled backward, barely standing on his feet just as another kick slammed into his side, followed by a hook towards his jaw. Mamuro fell to his knees, and the Myrian took his time pounding on his new punching bag for a good chime or two.


"AGHHHHH!" Mamuro cried as he tried to block his head from the viscous blows of the hunter. Even injured and unarmed the Myrian's were fierce and the dhani was learning just how much. Suddenly, he gave a hard shove to the body of the human and sent him tumbling backwards from the force of his push. However, the Myrian wasn't finished and quickly raced forward to continue the beating, but Mamuro was ready. The Dhani sprung up, wrapping his arms around the waist of the human and squeezing him tightly, he arched his back and shifted his hips as he picked up the man and slammed him hard onto the ground.


He was dazed, but Mamuro held tightly to the Myrian even after they had fell and pulled him closer, and stood back up to slam him down onto the ground once again. They were both dazed now, and slowly backed away from the other, their hands reaching out to find a weapon. Upon standing it was Mamuro holding the hand ax and the Myrian with his naginata. The killing field was even now, both combatants facing off with a weapon they knew nothing about using.

[Kalesserimamoru]

Both men charged in, they ducked and swung their weapons at the same time looking to get the upper hand. There was a loud clank that echoed into the tree's from the clash and another as they continued. Mamuro swung and slashed at the Myrian with the hand ax, making somewhat criss cross strikes towards the man's body. The Myrian reacted, positioning his hands away from the strikes and turning the staff to try and block, before he swung out with the blade end.


Marmuro jumped back with a wild swing of the hand ax to block and moved back in for another round. The two clashed again, weapons clanking together as they battled it out. The dhani frowned, eyes narrowed and as were that of the Myrian's. Mamuro jumped back again then darted forward, he swung from the handle, the shaft of the weapon hoping to nic the hands of the Myrian and force him to let go.


Both men were tired now, panting but no one was about to give up. Mamuro realized that the fight wasn't going in his favor and decided to try something else. He called upon the power of his gnosis once again to create a final illusion. The naginata that the Myrian held would suddenly transform into a long snake that snapped at him as the other had before. The hunter jerked his head back out of instinct, but he didn't drop the weapon. But this was all that the dhani had needed, and in the moment of hesitation, Mamuro brought the hand ax across the throat of the hunter ripping it open.


Blood sprayed out from the large wound as the man began to choke and dropped to his knees. The Myrian released his hold on the weapon and grabbed at his throat quickly while hacking up more blood. Reaching down, Mamuro picked up his weapon, and in a oddly formed arch, he swung outward and slashed across the hunter's chest also knocking him onto his back. The dhani smiled wickedly, licking the blood from his lips.


Who would have known that besting a Myrian would feel so good? Mamuro breathed out heavily and stood for a time to catch his breath. Once he was ready he would drag the corpse off into the forest and feast on the hunter, the hunter who had become the prey.

[Limey]

Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Stealth 1 Muffling Your Footsteps Observation 1 Befuddling With Illusions Naginata 1 Playing With Your Food Hypnotism 2 Using An Unfamiliar Weapon Wrestling 1 Using Illusions In A Fight Hand Ax 1 Additional Notes : Welcome to Mizahar, and a fine first thread, Kal! This was a good read, all in all, with just a few pointers and corrections Id like to make. Firstly, could could have padded out the initial skirmish that led to the Myrian being wounded and alone. Ah, that reminds me: Myrians have known for centuries that the Dhani are nigh-unbeatable in one-on-one combat, especially in half-Dhani form (though you were in human form). Thus, they use strength in numbers to combat them. You might find one alone in the jungle far from Zinrah, hunting for his clan, but that close to Zinrah, the soldiers there would NEVER go ANYWHERE alone. Probably at least a group of three or four. The use of illusions was STUNNING, and I loved he inventive way you used that gnosis, especially giving you that crucial advantage in the duel. You didn't make it all too easy for you, either, which I appreciated. There were a few grammatical and spelling errors, easily corrected from now on if you give your thread a read through. But overall? Damn good job, dude. Happy to have a new snake in the pit. Any questions or queries, please PM me.