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Dead animals are found in the jungle, strangely untouched.

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Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

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Dead Silence

Postby Ixtli on January 13th, 2018, 8:33 am

31, Winter, 517, a bell after sunrise
Ixtli's claim


The fire had died during the night. Ixtli stood by her poorly dug pit, its sandy edges slowly crumbling towards its centre where the dirt drowned the last embers from the burnt logs. She frowned at her uncared hearth; it would have to be rebuild and replenished today. She sighed, unfolded her arms and stretched out to the sky, easing off the sleepy stiffness in her muscles. The dark-haired woman felt her joints cry and creak under the tension and welcomed the popping sensation in her bones, feeling more flexible and awake afterwards.

The air was crisp and not overwhelmingly hot, at least not yet. The Myrian knew it would remain that way for a few more bells before the winds died down and allowed a humid, heavy heat to settle over Syka. She walked back to her tent to grab her kukri and slid it in her belt, still sheathed. She also took two empty waterskins and her backpack and set out towards the fringe of the jungle in search of firewood and water, clad in a simple white tunic and barefoot.

The morning sun warmed her and the breeze gently caressed her neck. It felt like this day was off to a great start.

Until she realised something odd.

The jungles in and around her claimed land were awfully quiet for that time of the day.
Usually the winds carried to her the singing and chirping of numerous birds, the rustling of monkeys high in the trees or the rummaging of small animals in the underbrush, but today no such sounds reached Ixtli’s ears, or they seemed to come from a much further distance.

The Myrian stopped a couple of feet before the first rows of trees, wary. She unsheathed the kukri and half-crouched, walking slowly and carefully in order to not reveal her presence. Whatever had caused the jungle to go silent, she didn’t want it to spot her before she spotted it.

She crept along some palm trees, keeping her back to the beach and her gaze focused on the forest, on the lookout for any sign of movement coming from the bushes. Moving in just a little deeper when she was certain the path was safe, Ixtli made sure to tread as silently as possible, avoiding to put her bare feet on dry twigs or leaves that would screech under her steps.

She advanced this way for a few more chimes, but discerned no suspicious shape watching her with hungry eyes behind the thickness of the shrubs, only this strange absence of sounds and songs; the air felt empty, lacking the usual signs of the wildlife normally filling it.

Ixtli found herself uncertain of what to do next. Where had all of Caiyha’s creatures gone? As her gaze swept the area once more, a flash of bright colours caught her sight from the corner of her eyes. She walked up to the small shape lying on the floor and squatted down to study it.

A jungle bird laid there, its wings half-spread around its body, displaying all the shades of yellow and green with a red beak. It was completely still, unnaturally laying on its back, and the Myrian quickly noticed that the animal was dead. She examined the body, wondering what could have cause the ending of its life, but it was free of wounds, no bite or claw mark that would make it the kill of a jungle predator.

Looking up from the parrot and all around her, she spotted rather quickly another one of its kind, then two, three, and many more, dotting the jungle ground with vivid splashes of colours easily seen through the underbrush. A wave of wariness and unease washed over her; what could have caused such an outbreak of sudden death, then left its victims in its wake? She sent a short but comforting prayer to Caiyha and set out towards another part of the forest.


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Dead Silence

Postby Aladon on January 14th, 2018, 9:43 am

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This was the first day in a long time that Aladon got to sleep in and wake up past sunrise. The Isur took few days off from his work during the season, and when he did take the day off, the Isur tended to do something to better himself either working on his weapon training or wood carving, but today, the blacksmith would look for a good place, close to the beach, in the jungle of his parcel land for a good place to build his new home. The Isur was excited to build one for himself, but he needed to survey his land first. The blacksmith put on his leather armor, put on his boots, packed up his backpack with his compass, filled water-skin, two days of balanced rations, flint and steel, one torch, and a blanket. He didn't expect to much danger since he was staying close to the ocean, so he strapped his bastard sword and scabbard to his right side of his waist and the kukri to his left side of his waist, and decided to leave his shield in his tent. Lastly, he put on his wide brim hat to protect his head from bugs and the elements

The Isur walked to the edge of the beach, and he looked into the jungle. He could feel his heart start to race with anticipation. He decided that he wouldn't go to far into his parcel. He will just go as far as he could hear the waves of the ocean and turn around. The Isur knew that he asked the for one quarter of his land to be beach front while the other three fourth of his land be jungle. He walked to the edge of his property and saw a branch of driftwood by the shore, so he grabbed the end of the small log and dragged it to the edge of the jungle. Using his Isur arm, he bent the branch like molding clay into a triangle shape. Breaking off a small dead branch from the long, he put the branch in the middle of the triangle. Holding the small branch with his right hand, he used his left hand to squeeze each end of the middle branch like clay into the triangle make a A for Aladon. Standing back, he smiled to himself and said in Isur a soft prayer to Izurdin, “Thank you my Lord for your gift and for the opportunity to explore this new land in your name...”

Looking at the jungle, Aladon pulled his kukri from the scabbard on his waste and cut away some thick vines blocking his way into the jungle. He took out his compass flipped the lid to see that he pointing in the direction of north. Putting his compass back into his backpack, he slowly started to cut the vines with his inside of curve of his kukri as he walked north into the jungle. The Isur's eyes and ears stayed alert as he cut and worked through the vines. It was slow moving, and the Isur stumbled a few times through the uneven ground, but he made it about twenty feet till the land was finally clear of vines. Looking back behind him, he saw low hanging branch, so he used his Isur arm to mold the wood into a triangle shape. Pulling out his compass, he checked his bearings again and saw that he was still traveling north. He could still hear the ocean behind him, so he figured that he could move deeper into the jungle.

Putting his compass back into his pack, Aladon looked out into his surroundings. The land around him was full of undergrowth ferns, palm bushes, and baby palm trees. He occasionally saw woody taller trees, but they were about thirty feet away from him. He made a mental note of his surrounding, and he continued walking for another twenty feet before using his left arm to make another triangle in a low hanging branch. He made it to the other side of the clearing of ferns and palm bushes. The clearing gave way to less large palm trees to larger woody trees with vines hanging down from them. The Isur had to admit this was slow going because it took him half a bell to make it through forty feet of jungle. Most of his trek consisted just clearing vines and marking his path with the Isur made triangles. The Isur could still hear the ocean at his back, but it was starting to get fainter. Surprisingly, he heard nothing else. There was no sound of birds or primates screeching or even insects. Nothing seemed to making a sound. It was kind of unnerving.

Aladon started to cut at a vine, but the surface of it seemed smooth and red liquid was starting to seep out of the cut. Aladon stepped back and asked himself if it was a strange vine. It didn't move at all, so he pulled the vine down, and it came down with little effort at all. Suddenly, the whole thing came down, and the vine wasn't a plant. It was a large dead snake. It came down hard onto the ground in front of him. It must have been ten feet long. Aladon didn't want to admit, but he let out a loud yell as the dead snake fell into a pile onto the ground. Startled, the Isur jumped back into a awkward combat stance because he wasn't sure if it was alive or dead, but the corpse of the snake didn't move on the ground. Kicking it with his boot, Aladon noticed that it didn't move at all. However, he wasn't going take the chance, so he took his sharp kukri and stabbed the corpse behind it's head. Not sure if blood attracts animal. He decided to wipe his kukri blade clean of blood on the corpse of the snake.

Looking at the dead snake, Aladon wondered what killed it because he didn't see any wounds other than his stabs wounds and lacerations on it's body. The Isur walked to another woody branch and molded with his Isur arm into another triangle shape to one of the branches. Suddenly, he heard rustling in the underbrush in the jungle outside of his parcel, so he knelt behind a large palm bush and waited for whatever large animal to emerge. Looking around the bush, he saw a tall woman with a braided mohawk. When she got closer, he noticed that she was the savage looking woman from the Tidepool Bar the other day. He didn't talked to her on the first encounter because she seemed kind of standoffish, but maybe she knew why the snake was dead. Sheathing his Kukri, he stood up from behind the bush with his hands up showing he was unarmed and said in common, “My name is Aladon Blackforge. I am a resident of Skya. You must be my neighbor. I was just starting to survey my parcel...” Putting his hands slowly to his sides, he said with a friendly smile, “Sorry may I ask you your name?” Pointing at the dead large snake by the tree with all the vines, “Also, do you know the reason why this large snake just died. It strange because it wasn't attacked by anything..”
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Dead Silence

Postby Ixtli on January 22nd, 2018, 6:49 pm

In the unusual quietness of the jungle, the sound of flowing water had been a lot easier to notice. Ixtli remembered the two empty waterskins in her backpack and decided to leave the dead birds for a few moments and make her way towards the water she heard. She made sure to take note of the direction of the beach, behind her, and opted to carve a small “x” in the nearest tree to note that her camp was only a few feet away when she would be on her way back. The blade bit into the brown bark easily, scarring it at eye level and exposing a brighter underlayer that would be easy to see, as it contrasted with the darkness of the trunk.

Satisfied, she turned to what seemed to be the direction of the flowing water and began to hike her way through bushes and shrubs, pushing branches and vines out of her way and making sure to watch her steps. Some leafy limbs whipped at her legs and arms as she made progress on her path but the Falyndar-raised woman cared little for the “”insignificant scratches they left on her skin; she had treaded through jungles all her life and knew that her Myrian blood protected her against the dangerous plant poisons.

The rainforest was quiet still and despite her inquisitive gaze glancing all around Ixtli did not encounter any animal, save for a brightly-coloured frog and a line of ants crawling up a large ebony tree. Ixtli could hear the stream more clearly now: the soft song of freshwater flowing over stones guided her to a small rivulet, no larger than a couple of feet, and as she walked along it looking for a deeper area where she could refill her waterskins she encountered a short drop in the course of the stream. Water falling onto a lower level caused the sound she had heard and created a miniature waterfall before flowing its way onward under lush bushes. Ixtli knelt by the cascade and pulled the containers out of her backpack before holding them under the fall to fill up, then stored them away, satisfied. That was one task done today.

The Myrian felt a shiver of discomfort slip across her skin as she stood there alone, surrounded by this unnatural quietness in a world usually so full of life. The unexplained lights flashing in the night sky, then the jungle creatures vanishing? Strange things seemed to be at play in this new settlement of Syka, and she wondered what other mysteries awaited the residents in the future.

She decided she had been far enough from her encampment for now and turned back towards the direction of the beach, making sure to remember the position and surroundings of the small stream should she need it in some other time. On the way back, her sharp eyesight proved useful to spot traces of her own trail and find the direction she had come from; trampled stalks, broken twigs on some of the lower bushes, she had left a clear enough path through the jungle.

Eventually she spotted the cream-coloured cross mark she had left on the tree and adjusted her trek toward it. The birds laid there still, untouched even by flies and bugs and Ixtli’s curiosity tickled her mind again. What had happened to those birds for other animals to leave their corpses intact, for no scavenger to feed on it? What if these deaths had to do with the fire in the sky? She pondered on the possible auras and power of the bodies for a moment, weighing risks and possible outcomes… Then decided to just pick one up, but not with her bare hands. Searching around her, Ixtli found a plant with leaves large enough to wrap around one of the parrots, so she sliced at the base of one with her kukri before using it to grab and envelop the nearest bird. Making sure her package was securely folded she put it in her backpack with the waterskins.

Suddenly, a loud scream echoed in the distance, coming from a part of the jungle she had not explored yet. Ixtli jumped up in surprise, startled, and unsheathed her only weapon in a trained reflex. She crouched low against the nearest tree, heart pumping and waiting for someone, or something, to manifest itself. But a few chimes past when nothing else could be heard, no more calls or cries, so the Myrian stood up slowly and waited, still alert, eyes glancing all around.

Something shuffled in the underbrush a few feet away. Ixtli prayed to Myri, a ritual prayer for strength and courage usually uttered before battles, and shifted in her fighting stance, ready to take on whatever the gods would send to her.

As the man stood out from the bush, hands up in the air and greeting her cordially, the Myrian woman almost gasped in surprise, eyes widened; the blacksmith with the odd-coloured arm was about the last person she expected to encounter here, startling her with his hidden approach; her arm dropped as she put her breating and heartbeat back under control and listened to his casual chatter.

"My name is Ixtli," she answered simply as he asked about her name. "I remember you, blacksmith. I guess we are neighbours. I was just looking for water."

Altough she shrugged at the question, her eyes lit up at the mention of the snake and she squinted to look at the body through the foliage. The morning light gleamed onto the smooth, leathery skin, the large body resting on the ground in a puddle of dark crimson.
"I have... No idea why it's dead. But I found other dead animals, look over there, and there." With the blade of the kukri she pointed at the bright green spots on the jungle floor where the small parrots laid. "They don't look like they have been attacked either... I just found the birds laying there, lifeless. No idea of what happened."

Ixtli walked past Aladon to kneel by the dead snake a few feet away. There was a large wound at the back of its head and several cuts on its body which blood was slowly starting to clot. The Myrian turned to the man, a brow arched skeptically.
"You said it wasn't attacked by anything? What's with all the blood and the cuts everywhere? Any idea about that?"

oocSorry for the delay, just got my computer back from repair

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Last edited by Ixtli on February 4th, 2018, 10:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Dead Silence

Postby Aladon on January 29th, 2018, 6:34 pm

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Aladon was surprised when the strange silent woman from the Tidepool Bar emerged from the foliage. The Isur was surprised at how tall the women and graceful as she walked through the jungle. She told him that she was out looking for water, and they were neighbors. The Isur relaxed knowing that he wasn't in danger from her or anything else in the area. She knelt down next to the snake, and he did the same as she explained that she found animal dead mysteriously with no signs of trauma or struggle. When she mentioned about the blood and cuts on the snake, Aladon face turned slightly red in embarrassment and said sheepishly, “...I sort of panicked when I pull it's lifeless body from the tree. The cuts were the result of my fear of it being still alive...I was worried it would turn around and attack.” Taking off his hat, the Isur ran a hand through his sweaty hair, “I was surveying my parcel, so I was already anxious about heading into the jungle alone. I am not used to the wilderness since I lived in cities all my life.” The Isur chuckled to himself, “So I killed a corpse. I am such a brave warrior...”

The Isur thought to himself that it was strange that a large snake would just drop dead. Maybe it was a disease, but she said that she found dead birds too, so a disease that would effect birds and snakes at the same time wouldn't make any sense. The Isur wondered if she was native to the jungle because she seemed to carry herself with confidence through it. Aladon decided to ask her about the snake, “Do you think a disease could of caused the snake to just drop dead? However, it wouldn't make sense if you found lifeless birds on your land too...” Putting his hat back on his head, he rubbed his chin trying to think of a possible cause of death and said, “By Izurdin's arm, I have no clue. Ever sense I moved to Syka nothing made sense...”

Aladon knew that he could spend all day trying to figure out the reason for the snakes death, but he barely made a dent exploring his land. Ixtli seemed to be looking for a freshwater source, and he was curious were the creek leads too. He was hesitant of getting water out of the creek in the mangrove forest because of the crocodiles and snakes. If they could find the creek away from the mangrove than he could figure out where to put a more permanent home since he would have easy access to water. Ixtli was probably thinking the same thing, and it would make since for neighbors to explore their territories, so he decided to suggest, “I know a freshwater creek flows into my parcel because the mouth of the creek drains into the ocean on the south side of the jut. I am pretty sure if we are neighbors. The creak will flow into your parcel too if you want to try to locate it, Ixtli.” Taking out his water-skin, he took a drink of water and said simply, “We could follow it from my parcel onto your parcel, so you can get access to it from your lands too.”

Aladon knew that he could follow the creek from the mangrove forest, but he wasn't ready to deal with the inhabitants of the unique habitat. From water and tree snakes to large crocodiles, he was not sure if Ixtli wants to deal with the animal either. However, he decided to mention it, “I would suggest following the creek from the ocean, but I seen a large saltwater crocodile swimming up the creek into the mangroves the other day, so I doubt you would want to encounter him or her in our trek for a water source.”
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Dead Silence

Postby Ixtli on February 6th, 2018, 4:44 pm

Ixtli's expression turned into a mild smirk when the blacksmith blushed and mumbled an explanation about his fear of the snake being alive and him stabbing it in the neck. His embarrassment was amusing for the Myrian, and she said nothing but stared at him silently for a few ticks before letting her face lighten up.
"It was the right thing to do. Not the panic, I mean, but making sure it stays dead. You can never be too careful in these jungles, especially if you're new to this environment." Turning her attention back to the dead reptile, she poked and turned it around with her kukri, examining the body. She opened the mouth cautiously and found a few rows of sharp, backward-oriented teeth.
"This one doesn't look venomous, it doesn't have any long fangs..." She muttered, as much for herself as for Aladon. "This is your parcel of land, you said? If you don't mind, I might want to come back and pick up the snake's body later on. I'd like to... Study it a little more." The Myrian didn't say anything of her intention to practice her Malediction on it, but the thought of the power dormant in its bones awoke a spark of envy in her heart.

She stood up and thought silently for a moment before answering Aladon's question about the snake's death.
"I've never heard of anything like this," she finally said, shaking her head. "But it's the first time I see this type of snake, and to be honest I don't know much about animal diseases either. We should talk to someone who does. Maybe see the people at the Panacea... Or that woman who studies plants and jungle beasts. Anyway, it's odd that no scavenger have fed on the body. Even the bugs don't touch them." Internally, she agreed with the blacksmith when he said nothing here made sense: Syka's jungles were different from Taloba's, and unsettlingly so. Between the strange lights and the animals dropping dead, there were reasons to be puzzled. But she would not let her concern show, not to a stranger hailing from a faraway city, so she shrugged and looked as though she was turning back to the beach side when the man spoke again, this time mentioning the water running through both her land claims.

"Oh yes, I have found a small stream, it's just a few minutes walk into the jungle. I'm guessing it flows onto your parcel as well." She shrugged. "I've already refilled my waterskins for the day. If you don't want to go alone I can show you the way tomorrow, otherwise feel free to go through my land to find it. You have my permission."

The Isur continued speaking, mentioning a mangrove by the seaside on his parcel and Ixtli stopped. Crocodiles and snakes? Now those would be great hunting trophies to practice her Legacy... If only she had brought her spear. All she had right now was her kukri, and that would be of no use against caimans and other large reptiles. Maybe she could at least scout the area to come back for a hunt later. Turning to the shorter man, her expression softened.
"Actually, maybe I can help. How about we try to find this creek on your land? I know the general direction on mine, it can't be too far." She extended an arm to where she had come from, encompassing the jungles around them. "And in this silence, it'll be easier to find. Easier to hear if something is trying to sneak up on us as well. If you're ready, we can start searching now."

Her gaze took in the armour and boots he wore; in Ixtli's eyes, all that equipment was really unnecessary for a task as simple as gathering water, but Aladon had explained he was new to the jungle, so the Myrian guessed it made him feel safer. "You must be boiling in those clothes," she simply observed. "I'm not sure how long you'll support the temperatures here. But let's go."

As soon as he would agree, Ixtli would start making her way deeper into the jungle, treading through curtains of vines and pushing low branches out of the way. She would walk ahead and turn around every now and then to make sure the Isur was keeping up.


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