May Syna Smile on the East (Quest/Closed)

[Ximal]

One shot, one chance. could tis day get any bleeding better? Still this wasnt the time for that xi glanced around him, it was right now he wished he'd learnt for more about anything and everything. As Xalet pulled out his crossbow xi was struck with inspiration. as he removed the rope from his pack and spoke to xalet. "Xalet can you tie the end of this rope off on your arrow ? Ten aim for this big metal flying petchers eye, it's the one place i'm sure it's weak, but it's a long shot and a very difficult one too so...I'm putting a lot of faith in your skill. Please don't let me down." xi had a plan, the big eagle's weak spot should be it's eye but it being metal he didn't know if ANY of it would be weak. after all it was a giant bird made out of steel. Now there was one more person he had to work out a plan with. "Master pikkle, whatever you used to catch my sorry behind whilst i was falling could i trouble you to use it again to help us get rid of this bird." Interesting, your not letting this go are you? your nt going to break and run like a scared little child ? Good now show me what you can do, when i'm not there to hold your hand through everything. You can petch right off liro now is not the time. Xi motioned towards the back fo the roup to give pikkle and xalet clear shots at this monster. Bit touchy today are we ? Well never-mind, i suppose it's the stabbing pain from you relocating your shoulder. Still you need t o something to help get that birds concentration. if that boulder doesn't fall then your in trouble. Don't you wish you were up there with them now? Liro i believe i told you so shut up. So shut up. Xi had enough on his plate right now even without the melodramatics and irritations of liro. still there had to be better option than simply standing there and waiting for the inevitable. Even if pikkle and xalet were the only two useful ones xi would need to do something...anything. But what could stp a giant metal birds which can slice through mountains? how culd he use what he had to help, if that rope was attached then perhp he could help them with his strength. Likely not, as pikkle would have that covered. Right now xi was feeling about as useful as a bucket of water thrown on a forest fire...

[Xalet]

"Tried it seasons ago, didn't work. Too much drag on the shaft." Xalet attempted to explain, although he didn't exactly have a great deal of time to work with, and most of his attention was focused elsewhere. What he had talked about was his attempt to turn his crossbow bolts into miniature harpoons in order to catch fish in a stream near Syliras. The Akalak had watched longbowmen do something similar, but learned through his own error that the vastly shorter shaft of a crossbow bolt was unable to carry a length of rope without grossly canting off target. That was the physics portion of the problem, which could potentially be overcome with skill. The second portion of the problem was Xalet's skill limit, which could not yet overcome the wild nature of extra weight being placed upon his crossbow shafts. The Akalak had thought about attempting to strike the creature in the eye, but even that felt like something nearing impossible. The Syliran could hit a target for certain, but picking out difficult shots like that were more left to luck than the consistency that came with such great ability. His tapered ears picked up the calls of Lila quite well, his senses staying fairly sharp even in the heat of a focused combative situation. Seeing the bolder was a bit too difficult, considering his steel colored eyes were locked on the similarly colored, mutant sized bird of prey. The sounds of the crumbling rocks pattering downward gave him some indication that the striking zone of something that large was going to be relatively broad, and potentially right where he was standing. He had to take the shot though, even if the bolt didn't pierce the creature, disorienting it enough to ground it would be a significant improvement in their current battlefield position. "Pull me after I take the shot. Please." were the only words that followed the sad tale of his former exploits involving crossbow bolts and rope. The timing was going to be too close, and even with all of his training Xalet was unsure of his alacrity in moving backward to avoid the falling rock in time. In order to aid in any chance he had the man channeled his focus inward, pulling faith from the mark that rested upon the back of his neck. Wysar had bestowed upon him the ability to sense the movements of that which rested within the sphere of his sixth sense, and he would need it to strike the creature as solidly as his training could allow. Finger nearly cramping with the pressure of the predicament, Xalet could only watch as the cord slid forward along the groove in a blur, releasing his bolt at his singular metallic foe.

[Stigandr]

As he ran past his companions, he turned his head to the side slightly, the positioning of his eyes and their horizontal pupils letting him watch behind him and in front of him easily. The bird was gliding after him in a way that made him feel he had no chance. The bird's wings glinted in the light as they just held steady, the creature gliding. Stigandr did not stop moving as he ran, one eye watching the front of his running path as the other watched behind him, watching as Ximal and Xalet went about doing something with a crossbow while his beloved bondmate was on the cliff in her Dhani form shoving at the boulder. As the boulder broke free and began to tumble in a cascade of smaller rocks, Xalet fired his weapon towards the bird. Stigandr was not sure what the purpose was. It was a small weapon against a creature that cut through solid rock with it's wings, but he hoped it would work because he was feeling the pain of running. His body was covered in lather from the forced exertion for so long, his chest was pained from trying to keep the airflow required and his legs were beginning to weaken. Coming to a stop, Stigandr turned to face the group and the bird, his eyes locked on the boulder, on the bird, on his companions as they reacted after the bolt was fired, waiting to see what would happen.

[Phoenix]

It had all been a long shot and the tension was palpable. Mister Pikkle gave Ximal a firm shake of his head when the man requested a repeat show for earlier, but the little Pycon had no chance to explain why, his hand snapping out in front of him with his tiny palm opened outward. Ximal flew backwards as if he had been punched in the gut, a chunk of boulder twice the size of his head slamming into the ground where he stood almost moments before. The boulder, successfully pushed loose by the combined efforts of those above, fell straight down from its former resting spot, only Kalila’s warning came a bit too late, the sharp crack of her voice echoing throughout the ravine just a moment after Ximal would have been pulverized.

A tinny screech stabbed at the ears of the group as the metal bird spotted the massive falling rock and beat its wings a few times, shooting forward and ensuring that the boulder would fall harmlessly behind it. The caw was almost a jeer, as if the creature were laughing at the groups attempts to fell it. It’s prey had also stopped to watch, another caw shaking loose stones from the ravine walls as the hawk adjusted it’s course to dive upon its now stationary pray.

Though the hawk might have been cleverer than a normal raptor, it couldn’t predict everything. Xalet, in all his daring glory, stood beneath the falling boulder and released his arrow at the last possible second. With the help from his friends, the big Akalak would be pulled free of the crash, but it would be close and the resulting shards from the boulders impact would cover the big man in a myriad of cuts. The hawk was taken off guard, swerving as the bolt shot straight towards it, the tips of its metal wings gouging more rock from the ravine walls. While the bolt didn’t slay the creature, it did slow it considerably and that is when luck joined the traveller’s side.

Having fallen straight down off the side of the cliff, it was only a matter of time until a bit of the wall stuck out a little bit too far and clipped the boulder on its decent. With the sheer weight of the thing and the speed at which it was falling, the boulder didn’t shift much out of its original path… but it was enough, since the hawks avoidance of the arrow put it directly back in the boulders path.

Quiet Master Pikkle was the first to shout, a surprisingly loud and deep sound from such a small creature, as the great hunk of falling stone collided in mid air with the metal hawk. Another tinny shriek rent the air and the thing dropped into a lazy-looking spiral, its right wing completely crushed and unable to maintain flight any longer. It crashed, still flapping, to the earth not far from where Stig had skidded to a halt.

“GRAB IT!” Centroc bellowed from above, pointing frantically as the fallen bird managed to regain its feet and started to hop up and down as if trying to take flight once more. Stig, being the closest, would have to find a way to trap the creature to the ground while the others rushed over. Kalila, in pure frustration over being trapped up top with no other way to help, would slither off away from the edge of the ravine and into the dense forest surrounding them. Once there, it would be impossible to miss the dozens of vines that hung over head, thick, strong and practically begging to become rope. It seemed like she had something to do after all. Ximal and Xalet would be left to help Stig subdue the bird. Though it’s feathers were razor sharp, there were a ton of large, handy rocks nearby that were just perfect for trapping something someone would rather not touch.

Those stranded on the top were able to finally climb down thanks to Kalila’s discovery, and when they were all reunited and gathered around their fallen attacker, there was complete silence. The strange bird looked much like it did in the sky, all metal and nothing else. Its crumpled wing revealed nothing more than shreds of steel. It clearly was nothing born naturally, or possibly even truly living.

“Look at that…” Master Pikkle murmured, nodding his head towards the creature they were all already staring at. He wasn’t, however, talking about the creatu itself but it’s actions. For something that hunted them so surely and even carried off one of their companions, it seemed desperate to get away, hopping and tugging against however the group managed to pin it down, cawing helplessly off in the direction that its companion had flown. “Where do you think it wants to go?”

[Xalet]

Sometimes the Gods were just on your side, that was what it was to have faith. Whether Priskil's light shined down upon the attempts of the group to subdue this strange machination or they just got plain lucky as shyke, Xalet could only watching past the hand shielding his face from the countless jagged pieces of stone and rock that came showering down upon him as the creature was finally grounded. A brief survey of the field of combat allowed him to notice that they were still down a member of the party. It was the other woman. Tucking his wooden crossbow around to his back, Xalet approached the injured slab of bird shaped metal in an effort to subdue it. For the first few moments Xalet thought of a hands on approach, but watching as the remaining mobile wing cleaved a gouge into a nearby outcropping of rock made him re-evaluate this decision. Better to just box the thing in for the moment. What a creature, this wasn't the type of opponent a fighter could deal with in melee combat, and it wasn't like anything he had seen before. Syliras had it's fair share of strange and wondrous creatures, especially up in the elevated regions of the Cobalt Mountains, but something about this avian appeared...fabricated. "Thank you! Can you get down!?" Xalet shouted simply toward the top of the canyon as he started to manipulate the landscape as best he could in order to keep the creature from escaping. Pikkle appeared to pick up quickly that the direction of escape appeared to be very focused. Instead of simply attempting to maneuver toward the most open space, the metal bird hobbled in a definite direction. "Hard to say. I have seen golems before, but nothing this complex. Is there programming at work? If we followed it, would it take us to our missing party member?" It was only a warrior's assumption working at this point, but after an attack the logical next step for any combatant was to rendezvous and have a debriefing about the success or failure of the attack. Such a thing may not have been applicable when involving creature's like these, but the desire for the thing to struggle to move in the same direction as the bird that had flown off seemed quite telling. "I do not believe nature made these. It may be trying to get back to it's creator." the Syliran finally determined, trying to keep a careful eye on the struggling beast so as not to get caught by a stray blade-like feather.

[Ximal]

Slamming into the rocks Xi coughed up the air within him on impact. Shaking his head from side to side. He saw a boulder replace his footing. Gods damn it. I'm going to have a discussion with that petching little bastard. Still regaining his senses he almost didn't notice the huge bird crashing down not far from the place where he once stood. Shaking his head from side to side he tried to refocus his eyes. and before he knew it the bird was on the ground pinned beneath a huge boulder if only just. But no it was freed. When would luck be on his side again? Which ever of you gods are listening give us a hand, right now were in a bad situation. Xi new charged at the huge bird Xi lifted the boulder next to him off of the ground, now he didn't care. Forcing his djed into his arms and legs he ripped the boulder off of the ground before hurling it at the big bird. He didn't hurl just one. No he tossed at least three, hoping that at least one would hit it's mark and pin the bird down or perhaps even break something within it. But that was all he could manage before fatigue caught up with him. "Pikkel thanks for saving my back side but how about you actually give us another hand, pick up some of those heavier rocks and drop em on it." Xi heaved his breath trying to gain a second wind, he'd used barely any djed in lifting the rocks but the sheer weight of them was tugging on his shoulders. Damn this bird. Damn it. Xi stumbled over to xalet, stig and pikkle. Staring down at the huge bird like monster. How in the name of sylira himself did they manage to pin this thing. "Follow this thing? if we let it free odds are it'll try to kill us again. i say at least get it to an obedient state. Get the wings off of it. and then tie it's beak shut. Else wise were all in the sticky brown stuff. And i don't know about everyone else but personally i'm inclined to just kill this metal beast here and now."

[Sahashkalila]

The next events seemed to happen in slow motion for Kalila, her anxiety only seeming to build as her hands dug into the rock in frustration. She could only watch helplessly as the boulder fell, narrowly missing her companions to fall onto the bird with a resounding boom. While some of the tension seemed to leave her body, her frustration only seemed to build at her inability to do anything about their situation. She watched as they attempted to capture the bird, hissing angrily before slithering off into the nearby woods, her tail slashing angrily behind her. Something hit her in the head in her antics, causing her to look up and realize it was a vine......a thick vine. There were hundreds of them, enough to a fairly decent rope....she gasped in the realization and quickly reached up to tug on them, straining to pull them from the trees. "Ssshurk!"she called frantically, relieved to see the large Jamoura respond quickly to her call. "Help me pull thesse down! We can usse them to to climb down into the ravine!" In no time, the two had pulled enough down and braided them together to make a thick rope, enough so that they could climb down into the ravine to join the others.

Kalila then hurried back with Shurk with the rope, grabbing her pack and stuffing her clothes inside and slinging it over her shoulder without bothering to change back. Shurk then grasped the braided rope in his large hands, assuring her and Centroc once again that he could hold them and motioned for her to go first. She took a deep breath and eased herself over the side of the ravine, her tail wrapping around the rope tightly as she began to slowly make her way down, Centroc following behind her. She didn't look down the entire way, so once her tail felt solid ground once again she breathed a sigh of relief, quickly moving out of the way from Centroc and finally Shurk to make it back down. They then moved to join the rest of the group, Kalila remaining several feet back from the creature.

IT was a frightening sight to see, this creature that seemed to be made entirely out of metal. If there had been a flock of them, their entire group would have been decimated, and Kalila privately agreed with Xalet that it couldn't have been made naturally. It was too...astounding, too unnatural to be something that came from the natural world. However that didn't prevent her from feeling grip of fear as she stared at it. The only sign of her agitation was the swish of her tail, continuously curling behind her. This was her natural enemy, a bird of prey. The part of her that was a snake reviled this creature, and another part of her felt sorry for it. It was frightened for its like, like any other vreature would be, and now they were stuck with the problem of what to do with it."Perhapsss we sshould let it go," she said, slithering forward afer a moment to finally look the creature in the eye. "Incapacitate it and let it go, then sssee where it takesss usss. I for one, do not think that thisss iss jusst a rare coincidence. A party iss missssing, and metallic birdsss grace the sskiesss....that isss not natural."