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[Sayana]

OOCParticipants of the star quest (Sahova) may join, but preferably near the end of the thread. Please PM Sayana and Faradae prior to joining.

Spring 29th 517 AV – Sylira Wilds

Sayana tried to keep her footsteps light as she stepped through the winding trails of the forest. But despite her best efforts, there was a distinct crunch of leaves and twigs especially when she found herself climbing over logs and ducking under branches. She had left her horse back at the camp with the others, and even volunteered herself to find some fresh meat to add to their supplies.

That was a bell ago.

What she hadn’t counted upon was the noticeable lack of animals, or at least ones that weren’t hiding. Sayana had noticed deer droppings here and there and even little holes in the ground which she suspected housed rabbits but the most wildlife she had seen were sparrows and birds high up in the trees and the occasional squirrel.

The trees began to open up into a clearing of sorts and as the Eypharian drew near, she finally spotted something to make her efforts worthwhile. On the ground, not too far from the edge of the treeline were two birds about the size of chickens but with very different colourings. Excited by her luck, Sayana ducked behind a tree and peered curiously at the birds. One had more brightly coloured feathers while the other was impeccably bland with greys and browns. But that didn’t matter, she now had the chance at a meal.

For several ticks, she stood motionless behind the tree, then prepared her plan of attack. All she needed to do was catch their gaze and assert a hefty dose of hypnotism towards them. Then she’d be free to strike them down with ease. The Eypharian moved carefully from one tree to the next, always keeping her eyes on the birds and steadily growing closer to her prey. Her daggers were in her hands and ready, and she crouched behind a large rock waiting for the birds to look her way.

But her timing couldn’t have been worse. There was a loud noise followed by a flurry of feathers and wings as the birds took flight in haste. In frustration, Sayana let fly a dagger, only to embed itself into the ground where the birds had been just ticks prior. However, in her annoyance, she didn’t consider what might have been the cause of her prey taking off in such a hurry.

Credit: Shimoje

[Faradae]

Faradae Faradae had been travelling from morning until well after noon, with only a very brief break to drink and bathe herself in a local stream. It was early spring, but at its highest point, the sun burned surprisingly hot onto her dark feather tips. Now that it was cooling down a little, the aguja began to feel slight hunger rumbling in her belly. She decided to take a longer break, hunt a little and settle down for a meal before she resumed her journey. It would refresh her and allow her to fly faster afterwards. She had a lingering feeling that she was getting closer to where the falling star must have come down, but she could not be certain. The idea of reaching her destination soon filled her with excitement. Letting herself drop a little lower and beginning to angle into a wide circle, she focused on the treetops below and what had formerly been an undefined flood of green turned into thousands of individual leaves and buds, sun-kissed and light green. There was birdsong, but not much of it. Most songbirds knew to avoid a bird of prey and as soon as one of them spotted Faradae in the sky, they warned one another and fled. A single lark remained oblivious, but Faradae did not bother to try and find it. It was much easier to pick out small mammals closer to the ground. Her sharp eyes could spot them through the gaps in the foliage, but theirs were not developed enough to determine her shape and their imminent doom from above. She was in luck. Below a bramble thicket, a family of rabbits nibbled on leaves and seeds. Rabbits were naturally very careful animals, but this group did not seem to notice her. Maybe there were no other birds of prey in the area and they had gotten careless. It did not matter to Faradae. She folded her wings close to her body and dropped down in a typical dive, reducing air resistance and increasing her speed to almost four times her horizontal average. Three rabbit heads moved simultaneously, but it was too late. There was a flashing reflection in her eyes that Faradae liked to think was the realization that one of them was about to meet its end. It made her feel mighty, something she liked about being the predator. She sank her talons deep into the back of the largest rabbit, allowing the other two to flee. It was a rule of the wild never to take more than one needed, and a single rabbit was more than enough to feed her. The kill was a success, but she had underestimated her momentum. Claws stuck in rabbit fur, she tumbled to the ground herself, toppling over before landing in the brambles. Her left wing hurt and she could feel thorns poking through her feathers uncomfortably. One of her talons was slightly twisted and she had to keep herself from screeching as she retracted it from her prey. She was not sure how to untangle herself from the brambles without hurting herself. While she was still considering whether moving her right leg was a good idea, she heard something. Fox! Instead of fleeing the ruckus she had made, the vile creature had come to investigate. It looked starved, not a very accomplished hunter, then. That meant it was probably hungry and all too happy to feast on an injured buzzard. Employing an entire human habit, Faradae swallowed. She was supposed to be on top of the food chain! A larger member of her species might even have chosen a fox for its prey. Right now, however, she wasn’t in the best position to fight. The rabbit lay forgotten. Flight it was, then. Her efforts to free herself from the thicket had suddenly climbed on the importance ladder. Beating her wings into the thorns and ignoring the pain, she tried to take off into the air, but she couldn’t quite push off the ground and her wings were hopelessly entangled, too. If anything, she became more stuck instead of free and lost some feathers in the process. The fox regarded her with interest before coming closer, the snarl around its muzzle promising death. Faradae considered shifting, but that was a last resort. She’d end up with scratches all over and doubted a fight with the fox would be any healthier in human shape. She could try to shift, free herself, run to a spot from which it was easier to depart and shift back to bird form. She could not be certain that the fox wouldn’t be faster, of course. With luck, it would be startled by the shift and run off. In a last attempt to get away, she shrieked with effort, and finally, her wings came free in a rain of feathers. She kicked off the moment the fox realized it had waited too long and pounced. It reached her tail feathers, forcefully dragging her back to the ground. This was not going well.

[Sayana]

It was only when movement caught her eye followed by sounds of a scuffle, did Sayana realize there was more going on. She immediately froze, her dagger forgotten on the ground, and turned towards the source of the movement. She had other daggers and movement could mean another animal - another source of prey.

Crouching slightly, she crept towards the large thicket where she had seen the motion, and spotted the orange red fur of the fox. In the same moment, she realized what it was after: an injured eagle. A few thoughts flew through her mind as she swiftly drew another pair of daggers. Were foxes and eagles edible? Which was the better kill?

In the next tick she came to the following conclusions. The eagle was already in a compromised position and would likely be easier to kill. However, if her dagger only managed to injure the fox, she could chase after it, but if she injured the eagle it might be able to still fly away. Lastly, the fox probably had more meat.

With her decision finalized, the Eypharian emerged from behind the thicket, sidestepped for a clear line of sight, then released a smooth overhand throw towards the fox. She cursed under her breath as the animal moved sharply as it continued its attack on the bird. Sayana quickly followed up with a second throw, this time from her less dominant high left hand which struck the fox soundly in the upper back leg.

There was a sudden yelp of pain, as the fox realized it no longer had the upper hand. Sayana dashed towards the fray, but the fox’s instinct to flee was already kicking in.

Credit: Shimoje

[Faradae]

Faradae When the fox realized she was still trying to get away, its assault became more relentless. It was not hesitating any longer, well aware that Faradae would use any break to flee. She dodged another paw that had aimed for her head, but she could feel her strength dwindling. It was then that someone else stepped on the clearing and Faradae send a small prayer to Eywaat to preserve her. The new arrival had too many arms, some of them armed with small daggers, and she was half-hidden in the brambles, behind the fox, but in Faradae’s sight. Faradae had seen people like her during her time in Alvadas, but she was too busy trying to survive to be particularly surprised, anyways. Judging from the look on her face, she could not tell that Faradae was no ordinary eagle. She also did not seem to feel much pity for her; in fact, it looked like she was trying to determine whom to stab first, the fox or the bird. Faradae breathed deeply when the Eypharian made her choice and flung as shining blade at the small red devil. It missed by a hair and she had to struggle wildly to escape the fox’s gaping jaws. A second dagger flickered in the sunlight and caused the fox to yelp in pain. It stopped to attack Faradae that instant, moving its head sharply until it spotted the source of its misery. It judged the six-armed woman too hard an opponent to take on and turned on its heels to flee. Faradae was left with two choices. She could shift to human to make sure she would not become the next target it the woman failed to catch the fox. Alternatively, she could take a moment to unwrap herself from the brambles and help the woman corner the beast. That would serve it right for attacking an eagle. As the fox bolted for the forest, she carefully pulled her left wing through a loop in the brambles and plucked her right from an assortment of thorns, wincing a little at the pain. The act of freeing herself did not take very long, but she could not have done it while under assault. The rash movements she had been forced to make earlier had drawn some blood, but apart from a bruise and a few scratches on her human body, she doubted she would feel much of this later. Except if the newcomer changed her mind and stabbed her. Time to hunt that fox. The vile animal was almost gone from the clearing, its white tail-tip seemed to wave goodbye at her as it vanished into the shadows. Faradae did not think so. With a throaty croak that translated to “murder”, she took off and dove into the forest, to where the fox had limped. She was certain that the woman with the daggers would follow. Smaller birds of prey like herself usually did not take on foxes. It happened, but it was a rare occurrence. Usually, they preferred smaller prey, songbirds, mice or rabbits like the ones she had hunted earlier. With speed, sharp talons and beak and with the fox already injured and on the run, the tides had definitely turned though and there was a realistic chance she could take it down, especially with some aid.

[Sayana]

The moment the fox turned heel, Sayana was after it. She knew just how easily she could lose the creature and was sprinting across the small clearing to make sure it stayed within her sight. The fox was fast, and as it darted into the forest undergrowth, Sayana pushed branches out of her way to continue the pursuit. Sticks cracked under her heavy footsteps, but a sudden unseen log in the midst of the vegetation caused her to stumble and nearly trip.

As she looked wildly for a hint of orange she instead spotted the eagle, almost certainly the injured one, flying through the wooded terrain. It was only as her gaze followed the eagle’s path did she catch sight of the fox again which was limping off between a couple of trees. With renewed effort, she leapt down a small hill and dashed off towards the fox.

The Eypharian had already used three of her daggers, all throwing daggers, and only had three left – two regular and one throwing. As she armed herself with the regular ones in her mids and the smaller one in her right high, she found she was finally gaining on the fox. However, the dark bird of prey also seemed to be hunting down the fox, or at least following it, despite the bird’s injuries.

“Git! Get away! This is my kill!” Sayana shouted at the bird and waved a couple of her hands at it, one of which she even held a blade.

She wasn’t even sure if the bird was big enough to fly off with most or even some of a dead fox, but it was the Eypharian’s reaction nevertheless. In her brief moment of distraction, she was suddenly much closer to her prey. The fox’s injuries were catching up with it and the flight for its life was not something it could maintain indefinitely.

Perhaps the fox sensed her lowered guard or perhaps it was finally out of options, but next tick had the animal lunging at her with jaws snapping. Her arms raised in reflex, receiving scratches and bite marks, but in the next moment she skewered the creature with two daggers plunged deep into its stomach. With only a single spasm from the fox, the creature's life fled its limp form.

OOCHope you don't mind Sayana completing most of the hunt, since I figure Faradae is still dealing with her injuries.

[Faradae]

Faradae The woman was gesturing and calling at her as she moved in on the hunt and Faradae was ready to dodge a flying dagger if needed. Perhaps chasing after the fox had not been the best idea after all. The six-armed woman wanted her to leave, since this fox was her kill. Faradae was sure she would have scared it with what sound she was making as she strode through the forest below long before she managed to aim a dagger at it, had it not been so occupied with harassing an eagle, but she would not mention that when she thanked her for the rescue later. She did not have much use for an entire fox, anyways. It was more than she could eat in one sitting, she had no means of carrying it around and she still had a dead rabbit laying on the forest floor where she had left it; she just needed to find it later. The fox was slowing down and the woman chasing it sensed it, too. She appeared to be more than capable of taking down an injured animal, and her exclamations and the precise throw she had taken at the fox before had taught Faradae not to interfere, especially not while that woman was armed and Faradae was tired. She rushed closer as the fox turned around for its last stand and landed on a branch while the huntress overcame its defence and finished her kill. While she lodged her daggers firmly in the fox’s abdomen, Faradae let herself drop to the ground. Maybe this woman had friends. Maybe she still thought a fox and an eagle was more food than a fox alone once she remembered Faradae’s presence. Better to be human when she did. Behind a large fern with spiky fronds, Faradae changed her form into that of a young woman, then crouched down for a moment to examine her bruises and scratches. Her arms hurt a little as if she had bent them too much or lifted a weight that was too heavy for her muscles to properly support. Her hip hurt as well, but she was still warm and figured it would get worse and turn into a large spot of blue one she found time to rest. Apart from a few bloody spots where brambles had pierced through her feathers, she was fine. There were no clothes she could don at the moment, but the woman would be startled by her sudden appearance anyways, so what difference did a little bit of nudity make? Faradae figured it was better not to step out into the open right away. She did not know how many daggers this woman had up her sleeves, and surprised people tended to throw them faster than she could dodge. Instead, she snuck a few steps away and shifted from one foot onto the other, quite audibly stirring the leaves on the ground. She was not in clear sight of the other woman, which would hopefully keep her from being stabbed right away. “Hello?”, she called tentatively. “My apologies if you’re alarmed right now, but I mean no harm. I’m just another person. May I come out or will you send a dagger my way if I do?”

[Sayana]

It was both exhilarating and messy as the fox’s life spilled forth. By this point Sayana had forgotten about the dark eagle chasing the same prey, since at some point it had vanished into the forest. There was obvious pride in her work, despite the less elegant form of hunting. She even had lingering doubts as to how good a fox’s meat actually was, but meat was meat and they were running low.

There were a couple of lingering twitches from the dead animal and Sayana gave an extra twist for good measure. This, of course, brought additional blood running down the length of her blade and she soon pulled the dagger out to wipe it upon some ground vegetation. She repeated the process with her other dagger and put the carcass momentarily on the forest floor.

The sudden voice surprised her and she immediately slid into a battle ready stance, two daggers aloft and her last throwing dagger at the ready just in case. However, the voice was tentative and addressed her momentary sense of alarm right away. The Eypharian squinted through the trees, scanning and trying to locate the source. Unable to spot the woman right away, Sayana made a quick grab for the fox carcass using her low hands and attempted to avoid getting bloodstains on her garments before calling back.

“You can come out. Unless you try to threaten me or steal my catch, I don’t have any reason to cause unnecessary harm.” Unless you’re a zith…

Her unspoken words were an ingrained prejudice, although not unwarranted. However, upon second thought, she didn’t feel so intently inclined to cause harm even should a zith emerge from the trees.

When Sayana did finally catch sight of the nude woman, and nude without wings, everything seemed to click. Although she may have exhibited marginal surprise, what dominated her face was understanding. She had certainly seen kelvics before. Mostly as slaves but a few free ones, such as in the city of Syliras. Her thoughts immediately jumped to the first relevant animal in the vicinity and realized the dark eagle was no longer to be seen.

“Are you the eagle?” Sayana asked rather bluntly. Her eyes scanned the nude woman shamelessly as she looked for any evidence of injuries to confirm her assertion.

There was a second moment of realization. She glanced down at the fox she was holding and dropped it unceremoniously to the ground.

“Hope that wasn’t your friend.”

[Faradae]

Faradae The other woman seemed to recognize her as the eagle she had seen before almost immediately, which surprised Faradae. It was a rare occurrence that people placed her so quickly and guessed her race correctly. Then, of course, she had made most acquaintances in heavily populated cities where humans were the most common sight ad where she blended right in. In a forest with no other soul in close vicinity, the dots were easier to connect. “You’d be correct”, she replied carefully and tried to relax her stance, slightly tense at the sight of multiple drawn daggers. Despite the warning she had given, the woman appeared to be ready to stab her if she made a single wrong move, and six arms were a clear advantage when it came to multitasking and mobility. The realization that she was a Kelvic did not seem to upset the stranger, but she still had to be careful. Many deemed Kelvics a lowly race fit to be enslaved and she preferred to reveal herself only to people she felt she could trust. She did not have much of a choice with this one and having to hope for the best was not exactly a most promising perspective. “I’m the eagle and my name is Faradae.” She glanced down as the fox slid to the ground with a muffled thud and could not help but flash a smile. “That bastard most definitely wasn’t my friend, though. Thank you for helping me out of those brambles. They were a most uncomfortable resting spot.” She was talking without thinking too much, eager to break the ice and ease a tension that she wasn’t even sure was mutual. Perhaps she was the only one feeling it, and the fact that she was rather exposed contributed to the feeling. “A good catch, but the fur is pretty useless”, she pointed out, gesturing at the blood staining the fox’s auburn coat a more crimson shade and giving it a sticky texture that anyone who didn’t regularly hunt would likely have called “gross”. “I suggest you’re careful when eating it, too, or cook it really well first. I heard foxes spread rabies. Except if you’re generally very warm, like me. There are rabbits in these woods that probably taste better. I caught one before that little fleabag got me, actually, and I don’t think I’d have much trouble catching another. You could do it to, if you stepped a little lighter…” She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I’m rambling. If you aren’t going to stab me, mind to tell me your name? Why are you hunting in the middle of nowhere? I can tell you don’t do this for a living.”

[Sayana]

Sayana relaxed her daggers a little as the kelvic spoke. It was clear that the bird, Faradae, was still rather nervous and uncomfortable. That alone suggested that the kelvic wasn’t a threat. Additionally, to have gotten herself in such a tight situation with the fox was further evidence that she was lesser in combat skill than Sayana.

The Eypharian cracked a similar at Faradae’s description of the fox. The bird seemed eager to praise and also find fault in Sayana’s hunting ability. The latter, she swallowed a bit stiffly but it was clear that Faradae either knew what she was talking about or did a good job at pretending that she did.

At last Sayana sheathed her three daggers, prompted by Faradae’s comment. “My name is Sayana and I’m hunting in these parts to gather supplies for my traveling party. Whatever you might think of my ability, I’m still better than my companions at finding food. And I did manage to kill this fox.”

She paused a moment, considering how much she wanted to tell the bird. “We’re out in the wildlands searching for… a relic. Do you live out here? Or are you just passing through as well?”

Finally the Eypharian seemed to soften up. Her gaze wandered over Faradae’s nude form once more and she removed the dark cloak she had been wearing about her shoulders. “Would you like to borrow my cloak? Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold or have your beautiful skin further scratched up by twigs and brambles.” She gave a soft smile and offered to drape it over the kelvic’s shoulders.

“I also have some medicine back at the camp to ease the pain of the cuts. But first things first, you said you caught a rabbit back there? I also have some weapons I want to retrieve.”

Her change in demeanor may have been a little surprising, but she now viewed Faradae as a potential asset, even if only to share a single meal of rabbit and fox. She was still alert, but only in her eyes. Her body shed its earlier battle stance and her movements were almost graceful as she picked up the fox once more and began to search out the daggers she had thrown earlier in the hunt.

High hands easily pushed away branches that impeded her path and she followed the frantic trail of the chase, marked by turned up leaves and dirt as well as broken twigs. While the kelvic might just choose to take flight at this point, Sayana hoped that the offer of medicine would keep the woman from leaving, and that the offer of the cloak would keep her in human form so they could continue to converse.

“So, have any tips on hunting rabbits?”

Credit: Shimoje

[Faradae]

Faradae Faradae gratefully accepted the offer of a cloak to wrap herself into. She pulled the purple garment over her shoulders, and while the linen was not especially warm, it kept the wind out and shielded her from view. To the offer of medical treatment, she shook her head. “I don’t think that will be necessary, please save your remedies for when they truly are needed. I’ve had my fair share of scratches in the past and they all healed without interference.” They would certainly sting a little for the next few days, but it was nothing she could not deal with. The bruises she would probably start seeing the next morning would bother her more, but she was almost certain Sayana’s tincture for the cuts would do nothing to help with those. On top of that, she did not want to use up the supplies of a group she hardly knew. There was no telling what the forest had in store for them. For all she knew, they might regret handing out treatment to strangers later. Still, what Sayana had told her about her mission was interesting enough to help Faradae forget her tension. Her shoulders visibly dropped a few inches while she accompanied the eypharian back into the direction of the original encounter. “I didn’t mean to insult your abilities,” she clarified first, while stepping over the entrance of an old rabbit burrow. “You’re obviously doing fine. It’s just not as routined as I’d expect from a full-time hunter. To tell the truth, I doubt I could do any better in human shape.” She shrugged. “I haven’t really tried.” The walk back to the bramble spot took longer than she had expected. Either the rush of the earlier hunt had made her ignore time and distance earlier, or they were making a detour. She could never quite tell when she tried to track back a path on feet that she had originally taken by wing. The perspective was confusingly different. “A relic, you said? That’s curious. I was on my way from Alvadas to Nyka and made a convenient stop in Syliras. While I was there, I heard that an interesting phenomenon was sighted in the north – something that looked like a star crashing right down into the face of the world. Did you see that? It must have been quite the sensation. I missed it, so I came to see whether I could find traces of it.” She was entirely oblivious to the interest such an occurrence would spark in the leaders of different factions and city councils, and to the secrecy an investigation would require. To her, it was merely a personal spark of curiosity. Up ahead, she could see a trail of destruction Sayana’s boots had left in the undergrowth when she followed the fox. They were on the right trail after all. The smells of fox and rabbit reached her nose and the sight of eagle feathers spread all over the thicket made her swallow. It looked worse than it had felt. At this rate, she might turn into a literal bald eagle sooner rather than later. The rabbit was right there, discarded like a toy and a bit dusty from the struggle between Faradae and the fox. She fished it out of the greenery by the ears and held it up. “Granted, it’s seen better days, but here we are. And since you asked me about hunting them… Hm.” Most tips she could give for hunting applied to birds, obviously. The benefits of striking from above and doing it both fast and silently were ones the average humanoid did not possess. As was the sharpness of her eyes. What she could share, however, was what little she knew about rabbit behaviour. “I’ve encountered most rabbits during twilight,” she said. “Just an observation, maybe I’m mistaken. Most of these hobblers are out at dusk or dawn for a meal, but that doesn’t mean any other time won’t work. Some of them are always out for food and in a dense forest; it’s always a little dim, anyways. Oh, and they are usually well camouflaged. I’ve got good eyes, but if I didn’t, I think I’d need them to move to spot them. So unless you’re going to use traps – I’ve no idea how to set traps – you might want to scare them up. Perhaps if you didn’t hunt alone – one could scare the rabbit into another one’s arms? I think something like that would work.”