[Flashback] Multiple Armed and Dangerous (Tshaka)

[Vanator]

Timestamp: Early Summer 508 AV Location: Remote area of Cyphrus' coastline Tag: Tshaka re Hrafa To a man who spent his life landlocked on the grasslands, there was nothing like a breeze off the sea. Vanator had only experienced it once before, nearly two years earlier when he came alone to Cyphrus' coast. His wife had been dead less than a year, and he had made the trip to see the ocean that the two of them had dreamed of visiting together. It had been the first time he had seen one of Mizahar's large sailing ships. The Drykas had met Nel Sayo, a Konti and her brother, who professed to be pirates, though they seemed too hospitable and friendly to be the kind of bloodthirsty buccaneers he had heard about in trader's stories. Now, the horseman had returned to the sea, needing a respite from the nagging of his family and their line of prospective wives, the lure of women who were more than willing to ease his troubled mind in the privacy of his tent, and the persistent emptiness of Tamar's absence. The salty air was proving a fine balm for his soul, and all these things were far from his thoughts as he looked down the beach at a small longboat pulled up onto shore. Zura stood faithfully behind him, the Strider too seeming to enjoy the fresh breeze that stirred her dark mane. "Looks like we have visitors Zura." Vanator's eyes drifted out past the surf to a large ship, or large in Vanator's mind. It was similar to the one he had seen before, and he wondered if its crew was as congenial as Nel and her brother had been. He strolled closer to the beached boat. There was no one in sight, but the grasslander could see a number of footprints leading off from the small vessel. A set of smaller prints lead off in another direction. Van leaned down to examine them. They were smaller and not as deep as the group leading off the other way. Female? Maybe. His curiosity piqued, Vanator again scanned the beach around him, before turning to face the smaller tracks. With Zura trailing behind, Vanator followed the trail to the outlet of a large stream. Whomever left the prints had gone along the bank of the stream, and the man and horse followed the footprints to a small sandy area a couple hundred meters upstream. The tracks appeared again in the soft earth of a low bank and into the small bushes and stunted trees that lined the waterway. Pausing, the Drykas listened. No sound but the babbling of the water and distant sea birds could be heard. Wary, Vanator reached to Zura's yvas and slid his battle ax from its loop in the harness. he treaded forward cautiously, eyes peering into the foliage lining the small beach.

[Tshaka re Hafra]

Tshaka was on one of the three shipboats that left the trade galleon. She sighed, her group was on boatwatch duty, where as the other two were on supplies gathering. The ship got caught in a squall and the supplies would not last the rest of the trip. They arrived at the beach, and the two gathering groups went into the woods, while Tshaka's group began the standard protocol. First they moved two of the boats into the foliage and hid them very professionally. They then hid the tracks of the other two groups. They wanted anyone who came along to think the group was smaller than it actually was. Her group consisted of five members. One proceed to lay in the shipboat to hide, another buried most of himself beneath the sand next to it. She had one hide in a tree to watch over the boat, and the other to follow her. Sheselected this man because of the whole crew he was the only one who's taste of flesh was only satisfied by other men. They found a stream that became a small waterfall, the waterfall fell six feet and crashed into a large flat rock at the lip of an alcove. The alcove was clearly hidden behind the falling water. It overlooked a pool of clear water that trickled out in a small stream. She looked at the man and he quickly scaled a tree and hid from view.

She dove into the clear water, making sure her spare arms held a tight grip on her scimitars, and one hand held a dagger as well. She swam beneath the surface, not seeing anything dangerous in the water. She pulled herself out of the water up on the lip of the alcove. She made her way behind the waterfall, and found the alcove was small, pretty much big enough for one to two people to stand close together. She put her scimitars down, leaning them within easy reach on the rock floor. She removed her sarong, chain belt, and bikini top and bottom and hung them from the rock wall. She stepped into the waterfall, enjoying the rushing water that passed over her bare body. She ran her hands over the wet, tan female form removing the grime that comes with being on a boat for weeks at a time.

After finishing her cleaning she was merely enjoying the water. Then she heard her scout in the tree give a gull call. She knew that meant the scout from the tree at the beach had spotted someone. It was then followed by a higherr pitched gull call signalling he was coming to their location. She knew the next gull call would mean he was within distance of seeing her. She bent down and picked up her scimitars and moved herself so only her top shoulders, a bit of her back, and her legs could be seen. No need to give away the fact that she had four more arms than most people in this area and that three of those had weapons in them. Her top two arms were busy appearing to wash out her long blond and black hair. The gull call sounded, so she merely waited to see if the stranger would wait. Not only was she fairly capable in combat but her scout would nock and draw his bow when the man was out of earshot of him. He would shoot if she gave the signal. And he was a fairly good shot too. So, she waited.

[Vanator]

Vanator scanned the bankline, unable to find the tracks once they reached the foliage, nor any sign of their source. Zura huffed curiously, and the Drykas turned back towards the Strider. Reaching the horse's side, Van stood still. Over the sound of running water and the sea birds, he heard a soft rushing noise. It came from upstream and Vanator peered in that direction, seeing the waterway disappeared around a bend. The Drykas looked back towards the mouth of the stream where it flowed into the sea, then back up stream. Battle ax still in hand, Vanator made his way along the stream's edge. The surrounding terrain rose higher above the water as he neared the turn, and the grasslander kept glance along the bank for any movement. The mare nickered again. Strider's were intelligent and perceptive, and the horseclans never took their behavior lightly. Zura put her master on edge. Somewhere another sea bird cried out. Cautiously, Vanator turned the corner. Immediately the sound of rushing water grew louder, its source now easy to see. The stream plunged a short way to a small pool before surging past him on down the groove it had cut in the landscape. A collection of trees and underbrush lined the bank around the falls and pool. Waterfalls were not common in the Grasslands, at least any of significant size. Finding one was often believed to be good luck. This one, however, was most rare. Within the water spilling over the edge to the rock below was a woman, bathing. The Drykas froze in his steps, his first instinct to look away, his second, and stronger, was to watch. It was a most unexpected and strange thing to stumble across. The woman was alone, it appeared, with no weapon or stitch of clothing in sight. The cascading water concealed the more intimate parts of her body, but the Drykas assumed she was washing disrobed. Unsettled, Vanator looked around again. In the grasslands, one was never really safe. And one certainly did not stop to strip and bath alone in the wilds. Either she was ignorant of the dangers, or she was not whom she appeared to be. either way, he could not stand there and gawk at her. The man could have turned to leave, but curiosity tugged at him, and he edged closer to the pool and woman washing in the falls. "Hey!" He called out, not wishing not to startle her by his sudden appearance, but the roar of the water must have drowned out his voice. Van cupped his free hand near his mouth. "HEY!"

[Tshaka re Hafra]

Tshaka heard the man call to her but didn't show any sign of it. She heard two quick gull calls signalling that the man was armed. She lifted her left heel telling the scout to not fire. She wanted to see what type of man it was. So she devised a mischevious plan. If he had some decency he would come to her, if not then she would have her scout shoot.

She stepped into the alcove so she was completely out of sight to the man. She then put her clothing back on and put her into a quick simple braid with her knife woven in. She put her scimitars on her belt and covered them with her sarong. She then let loose a gut wrenching scream and ran out of the waterfall and, purposefully flailed into the water. As she hit the surface, she took a breath and held it as the force pulled her down. Then her eyes grew wide as she realized her horrifying mistake, as she fumbled for her dagger.

Makal, the scout watching over Tshaka, saw the situation shift from bothersome, to interesting, to downright scary. He knew of "the test" that Tshaka did when they stopped at this and a couple of other waterfall ponds around the world. But then he saw the mudbanks shift, and four large alligators, or crocodiles, who could tell. These four beasts had been hiding in the mud, and now slid into the water. He let loose an arrow at one but it barely pierced the skin. He let out a shrill whistle signaling the need for back up. He knew he would have to stay in his position. He let loose arrows as leathered skin surfaced, but knew unless he caught an eye it was futile. The creatures were massive in length and muscle, all nearly fifteen feet in length. And all heading toward his group leader.

[Vanator]

The bathing woman did not hear Vanator, and she soon disappeared behind the wall of water. The Drykas waited, now realizing there must have been a small cave or depression in the earth behind the waterfall. Dressing he assumed. Not wanting to draw near and frighten her, nor willing to walk away from the situation, Van simply stood by, eyes continually scanning the area. The horseman did not forget that there were other footprints by the boat, and certainly this woman did not come ashore alone, though she appeared to be without her companions at the moment. Suddenly the woman appeared through the waterfall, dressed in a long Eypharian style garb and her two-toned hair woven into a quick braid. Little more could he gather about her, for soon she was stumbling on the slick rock and careening into the pool of water and disappearing beneath the surface. Surely she could swim, for she had made it to the falls to bathe. But he started in alarm when he too saw the large reptiles slip from the muddy edge into the pool. Adrenaline and instinct took over, and Van raced around the edge of the pool closer to the woman. An arrow appeared from above to glance off the hide of one of the beasts. Glancing quickly upwards, he identified the tree where the scout hid, though the man was still unseen. That explained the confidence she had bathing out here. These thoughts took but a breath, and quickly switching the ax to his left hand, Vanator tugged free the hand ax in his belt and flung it at the nearest croc. It too glanced off the tough skin, but opened a wound in its neck that compelled it to turn away from the woman towards him. The axeman stepped into the water, yelling something in Pavi. Back along the stream, Zura began to gallop into the water near the outlet to the stream, whinnying and creating a disturbance. The Strider was quick, and Van knew she could escape the shallow water there. But she could lure away some of the creatures long enough for an escape. The croc he had hit spun at him, its maw wide baring an impressive collection of sharp teeth. Its attack was lightening fast, quicker than the Drykas anticipated, and the beast clamped its jaws on his riding boot. Van growled in pain. The thick leather prevented the beast from snapping off his foot, but its bite was painful, and it tried to yank the man off of his feet. Van raised his battle ax and managed to bring it down with full force on the croc's head before he stumbled and fell backward into the water. The reptile let go immediately, the ax blade having split its skull. It rolled and thrashed in the water, coloring the water crimson as it suffered its death throes. Vanator saw one of the shapes slither along the surface towards Zura. Two still threatened the girl, and the grasslander struggled to his feet to lend her aid. His foot gave out, wounded worse than he had first believed. using his ax to help get footing and balance, Van waded further into the water towards the woman and remaining two crocs.

[Tshaka re Hafra]

Tshaka saw the four lizards slide into the water. She saw two head off in another direction but two remained interested in her. She wanted to float to the surface, but knew she would have a miniscule more disadvatage than she already had. She struggled to remember what she had learned over the years, because salt water crocodiles were a threat to sailors.

Her mind flashed to a moment with Stumpy Stefan. He told tales of how he lost his arm to a crocodile and how he'd studied them every day after. He eventually went on a revenge spree killing hundreds of the reptiles. He said they would slowly swim close, then in a lightning quick motion, would shoot forward, take a large bite of whatever they could. If on the shore they would first try to pull it into the water, constantly shaking it's head to sink it's teeth in further and to throw the creature off balance. When the crocodile had it's prey pulled into the water, it then began the death spin, often breaking an animals back or neck, drowning it, or pulling a large chunk of flesh and bone out. 

Stefan's stories also told of how to avoid dying and of how to kill. Crocodiles when coming directly at you were very quick to turn left, right, or upward. However going deeper was often slower and awkward due to the air in their lungs. He also said if you managed to avoid the initial bite, then to try and clamp the creature's mouth shut. It would thrash and had sharp foot claws but the mouth was fairly easy to keep shut. Stefan thought it might have to do with why they can bite so powerfully. He also said eyes, nose, and stomach were all sensitive areas to a crocodile.

Her eyes flashed back to reality as the lizards moved in for the kill. She had her dagger in hand and she began to dive deeper, kicking and swimming with her arms as fast as she could. She felt the shadows pass over her, they were circling slowly lowering but now coming at separate intervals. The first came slowly, and as it neared, a flick of it's tail sent it darting toward her. Tshaka pushed downward and laid flat as the creature moved over her exposed stomach. She wrapped five arms around it, now hugging it stomach to stomach, and began attempting to stab at it's eye with her dagger. The creature panicked and began flailing it's claws, leaving shallow, painful tracts in her thighs and arms. She kept on stabbing, then the creature entered a deathspin to try and shake her off. When she failed to let go, it tried it in the opposite direction. She plunged the dagger one last time into it's eye and the creature stopped moving. 

Her lungs burning, Tshaka swam to the surface unable to see the second crocodile. She took in a lungful of air as the water about ten feet away rose up and moved toward her with astonish speed. Tshaka, without hesitation, quickly removed her chain belt and swam sideways. The creature followed her movement, and it's jaws opened. She had an insane idea and stuck her hand out with the dagger blade pointed up. The creature bit down, it's teeth breaking her skin, but it had little grip on her arm, since it had a knife imbedded in the roof of it's mouth. However at the speed it was swimming it crashed into her painfully. It began to flail about to shake her loose. Using two of her other arms she grabbed the chain belt, wrapped it around it's snout and cinched it tight. She relaxed her bitten arm and slid it out, blood flowing generously. The creature continued to thrash as she swam toward shore, seeing a man cleave one creature open, and the other heading toward his horse. The rest of her group arrived and had bows at the ready, while one came over to help get her out.

[Vanator]

Vanator shoved past the twitching body of the croc to make his way to the girl, only to find her delivering a final death blow to her reptilian attacker.  In the fury of splashing water, the Drykas swore he saw more than two arms wrestling the beast. But the woman remained mostly submerged as she swam to shore.  Vanator then noticed the third croc's carcass floating belly up nearby, riddled with stab wounds. Glancing curiously back at the woman, Vantor shook the water from his hair and made his way to the pools edge, limping slightly on his injured foot. A group of men had gathered on the bank near the falls, wielding bows.  Their intent was unclear, as some aimed their weapons at the water while a few pointed their arrows in his direction.  They were most likely the woman's companions, as one moved to help her from the water. But the new arrivals were not Vanator's immediate concern.  Zura was still in danger. The Drykas spun around to the sound of splashing hooves.  The strider galloped along the water's edge towards him, the sleek form of a croc close beside her out in the water.   Vanator spread his feet, grounding them in the mud.  Taking the battle ax in both hands, he raised it up and back, coiling himself for a strike. The horse reached his side as the reptile launched itself out of the water towards the strider, mouth agape.  The horse reared and screamed, and Vanator uncoiled his body, putting every muscle behind his ax.  The wedge-shaped blade struck the beast in it's open maw, hacking it's way in a bloody spray through the creature's skull. The croc crashed into the mud, a dead heap. The momentum of the attack threw Vanator backwards into the mud and water. With a wince, the Drykas rose slowly to his feet, favoring his good one. A hand was raised to calm the frightened mare, Vanator gently petting her neck and uttering soothing words to Zura in Pavi.  Only then did he turn back towards the strange group gathered behind him. The men were a motley crew, dressed in mismatched styles of garb, but the most strange was the woman.  He saw now the arms that had been hidden beneath the sarong, six in all.  She was eypharian.  Vanator marveled at her.  He had only seen two of the desert people in his life, both traders and both men.  The woman was both beautiful and unsettling to look upon. And apparently she was no helpless damsel, proven by her ability to quickly dispatch two giant crocs.  The two curved swords visible beneath the wet, clinging sarong also hinted at her lethality. There was a moment of awkward tension, the blood-splashed, drenched horseman clutching his ax and the strange visitors staring back at one another. Then Vanator broke it with a greeting delivered in a firm voice and heavy accent.  "I am Vanator, of the Drykas."

[Tshaka re Hafra]

The men in the group all pointed their bows at the horseman, an intensity in their eyes. Tshaka gracefully stepped through their ranks to get a closer look at the man that saved her. Her eyes showed thankfulness with a bit of mischevious hiding in behind. She placed her fingertips on the man's chest lightly, lowered her eyes then looked back at him in an exotic manner the Eypharian women learn when they are young. In a graceful melodic voice, ladened heavy with mystery and sexiness, "You saved me?" Another of her hands gently alighted on his shoulder. Her first finger sliding as she walked around him. "Your axe swing was very impressive." A third hand began playing with his hair, as she continued the circle around him. "Very brave, strong." A fourth hand gripped his bicep. "Polite and unfearing" a fifth hand rested on his cheek. "A perfect man." Her sixth hand rested on his lower abs teasingly. 

She stared into his eyes showing curiousity and desire. All of her hands grew a bit firmer as she pressed her lips to his, soft yet unyielding. A few seconds later she broke away, and stepped away. "You should come with us to our ship, we have a doctor, food, and entertainment. We leave at dawn. We even have supplies to take care of your steed. I could give you a personal tour of the finest galleon at sea."

She flicked her head at the beach as they left him standing there, none of the men saying a word. She arrived at the beach and gave out a couple orders. One man quickly departed and returned with firewood, the other three had gone to the lake and began hauling the corpses of the crocodiles to the beach. When all four had been dragged the men began work on slicing them up. The skin would be saved, treated and sold. The teeth would be passed around to the crew as souvenirs, for many had children back home in Zeltiva. The guts they removed, diced up and put in barrels as fish bait. The meat, the majority was cut up and wrapped and placed in crates, to feed the crew. They left enough to cook for all three boats and the newcomer should he so choose. The bones were cleaned and packaged to be sold to bonecarvers, bonegrinders, or medicine men. By the time they were done the meat of the crocodiles was cooking in the fire and nothing remained unused. 

She sat there smiling as she thought of the new man she had met, while her personal scout began healing her with his gnosis. The claw marks were shallow so easily taken care of.  She hoped the man would join her. "Dont worry, a fine man like that wouldn't be able to resist you. He is quite good looking, if he doesn't want you maybe he'd want me?" her scout said jokingly.

[Praetorian]

Your Diligence Has Been Rewarded! Vanator Observation +3 XP Weapon: Ax +3 XP Soothed by Salty Sea Air A Battle By the Waterfall Location: Waterfall Near the Coast Notes : Really liked the concept for this thread! Shame it didn't go further. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to PM me.