Solo Lost in the Storm

A little girl gets lost during a storm, and Lian is determined to help find her before it's too late. Another work thread.

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Not found on any map, Endrykas is a large migrating tent city wherein the horseclans of Cyphrus gather to trade and exchange information. [Lore]

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Lost in the Storm

Postby Lian Windrunner on November 29th, 2013, 6:39 pm

Timestamp: 45th day of Fall, 513


Lian studied the shaft of the arrow he was working on carefully. It was straight for the most part, but there was some bend in both ends. The wood was somewhat bendy, but Lian didn't think that it was too bendy to use. And the grain ran the length of the shaft, which he knew was a good thing. Deciding to use the shaft he had chosen, Lian took his knife and began to cut it. Since he wasn't very confident in his skill, he cut the shaft a few inches longer than the proper draw length for his bow. That way he would have some leeway if he made a mistake.

When that was done, Lian picked a small piece of wood out of his fletching kit, and carefully cut a V notch into it with his knife. He stuck the shaft into the notch and wrapped cord around it. Then he inserted a stick into the cord, and twisted the whole thing tight. Lian eyed the grain at the esposed end of his shaft carefully. Finally, he took his knife and slowly began to cut across the grain in order to create the nock that the string of his bow would fit into when the arrow was finished. Lian knew that he had to cut across the grain because he remembered his father telling him as much when he was a child. Doing so would prevent the string from splitting the shaft. As Lian made his cut, he attempted to keep it as vertical as possible.

"Lian!"

Lian jumped, startled by the sudden shout. As he did so, his knife bit deep into the shaft. Lian swore, fearing that the shaft had been ruined.

/This had better be important./ he grumbled to himself as he emerged from his tent.

"Lian, please, I need your help. One of my daughters is missing! She ran off after her mother scolded her earlier today. At first I thought she was just sulking, but I can't find her anywhere! She's not in the tent, or visiting with any of her friends...none of them have even seen her today. She isn't at any of the places she likes to go when she's upset or needs to think, either."

Lian frowned.

"What about the market? Have you checked there?"

Lian knew that Aramei loved looking at all of the shops even though she rarely had any money to buy anything.

"Of course I did. Someone over by the Feather Run said that they overheard a girl of her description saying that she was going to go hunting."

Lian frowned again. Aramei was fascinated by weapons of all kinds, the short bow most of all. It wasn't at all surprising to hear that she'd been hanging around the Feather Run looking at all the weapons available for sale. Still...

"Hunting? In this weather?"

The sky was already growing dark, and the wind was picking up. All the signs were thers for a fierce storm brewing. But even if it had been a perfectly calm day, a nine year old girl who had no weapon of her own, and barely knew how to draw a bow had no business going out into the Sea of Grass alone.

"I'll help you find her." Lian said quickly.

The relief was plain on his neighbor's face as he thanked him profusely.
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Lian Windrunner
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Lost in the Storm

Postby Lian Windrunner on November 30th, 2013, 4:31 am

Lian told his neighbor to wait for him outside, then went back into his tent; he would need peace and quiet in order to enter the trance that would allow him to access the web, and having a fretting parent in close proximity wasn't going to be peaceful or quiet. Knowing that time was of the essence, Lian forced himself to take the time he needed for this to work. If all went right, he'd only need a few minutes to enter a trance like state. But if he tried to rush things, he'd fail, and that could lead to disaster. So he made himself comfortable, and closed his eyes. Lian breathed in deeply, held the breath for a few moments, then exhaled slowly. In and out. In and out. Before long, he had fallen into a deep trance.

Lian saw the glowing strands of djed that made the web. But this time he didn't need to focus on them. Instead, he thought about the child he was trying to locate. Memories of a bright, cheerful young girl who had a stubborn streak a mile wide flickered through his mind. Gradually Lian began to get a sense of her. Shortly after that, he got an impressing of direction - southeast.

Lian followed the strands of the web in the direction he felt pulled to go in. It didn't take him long to find a small glowing dot roughly a mile from the city. The girl was moving slowly, but she was moving away from Endrykas rather than towards it. Either she was even more stubborn than he'd given her credit for, and was still trying to hunt...or she was lost. With Aramei, both possibilities were equally likely.

Having located the girl, Lian quickly woke from his trance, and opened his eyes. It took him a moment to get his bearings. Then he stood, and ran from the tent.

"I've found her. She's roughly a mile southeast of Endrykas, and moving away from the city."
"Then let's go get her! The storm's going to hit soon!"

The two men ran for the southeast edge of the tent city, and whistled sharply for their striders. The two horses arrived within minutes, but by the time Lian and his neighbor had gotten their gear on the striders, the storm had begun in earnest.

Rain fell from the sky in torrential sheets as they rode at a brisk trot. Bolts of lightning could be seen streaking across the sky in the distance. Lian struggled to stay on Talise's back, and moving at a trot. His riding skills were sadly lacking at the best of times, and this was far from ideal riding weather. But he was determined to find Aramei and bring her to safety, so he perservered.

Their progress was slowed by the fact that Lian had to stop every ten minutes or so and enter a trance so that he could access the web and make certain that they were still moving in the right direction. Aramei changed directions several times, indicating that she was probably lost rather than trying to hunt. The changes in direction made Lian's task more difficult, but he kept them on the right track.
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Lost in the Storm

Postby Lian Windrunner on November 30th, 2013, 3:59 pm

The wind began picking up, and the rain grew steadily heavier. Bits of grass and dirt carried in the raging wind stung the two men as they were hit by the debris. It was difficult to see because the rain was so intense. Peals of thunder deafened Lian and his neighbor each time they rang out across the sky, and lightning flashed with alarming frequency. By now, the glowing dot that represented Aramei in the web had stopped moving. Lian wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, it meant that they'd reach her sooner. But on the other hand...well. Lian could think of all sorts of reasons why the girl would have stopped moving. Few of them boded well for her.

As the wind changed direction, Lian caught a whiff of something strange. It smelled burned, or charred. This disturbed him because no one in their right mind would attempt to build a camp fire and cook something in the middle of this terrible storm. Could one of the flashes of lightning they'd seen struck something, and started a fire? It seemed nearly impossible with all this rain, but the smell was coming from nearby, and it wasn't too far off from the direction they were heading, so Lian altered course so they could investigate. A few minutes later, they found the source of the smell. It was a bird that must have been startled into flight. The creature had been struck by lightning, and its corpse was completely charred.

Lian entered the web briefly to check on the girl's location once more, and they were off again. By now, both men were cold, and weary. As a result, they were both less alert than they should have been. It was for that reason that a sudden high pitched scream of agony froze them in their tracks. Lian looked around wildly to see what had caused the unexpected sound. Lightning flashed, lighting up the sky around them. This allowed Lian to see further than he'd normally be able to with the rain. Not too far from where they were standing, a stupid deer had stumbled into a glassbeak that must have been trying to take shelter from the storm.

Panic made Lian's heart pound in his chest, but sheer force of will kept him from giving in to it.

/It is...was...a young deer. The rain likely affected the scents in the grass, and confused it./ he thought as he and Talise backed away from the deadly predator slowly.

The glassbeak was intent on the deer that had stumbled into it. That reason alone allowed Lian and his neighbor to survive the encounter; the deadly predator was too focused on its prey to notice them. As soon as they had gained some distance, they fled as quickly as they could.

/We were lucky./ Lian thought grimly as he steered them back on course.

Several minutes later, Lian heard sobbing on the wind.

"That's Aramei!" his neighbor cried.

The two sped up their pace, and within moments, they had found the object of their search. The girl's father was off of his strider in a flash, and beside the girl. He quickly checked her over for injuries, but she seemed to be fine other than being cold, soaked, and frightened. The short bow she had "borrowed" from her father to go hunting wasn't so lucky. The string had snapped, and the bow itself was broken.

The girl babbled apologies about breaking the bow. Her father shushed her as he gathered her in his arms, and placed her on his strider. Then he mounted up behind her. Lian was just relieved that the girl was alive and safe. When Aramei was settled on her father's strider, they turned back to the city and headed home.
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Lost in the Storm

Postby Taylani on December 1st, 2013, 2:11 am

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XP Award!


Lian Windrunner:

XP Award:
  • +1 Fletching
  • +1 meditation
  • +2 webbing
  • +1 riding

Lore:
  • Fletching: cutting too deep in the shaft ruins it
  • Storms affect animal’s senses

Notes:
Comments :
Nice little solo. don’t forget to edit/delete your grade request.

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