Flashback The Witch and the Serpents

[Tinnok]

The Witch and the Serpents
2nd of Summer, 512 A.V.

This thread follows the events of In the Deepest Darkness

The sound of a laughing eagle echoed above Tinnok's head as she marched through the jungle, feet quietly padding over soft soil and around leaf beds. Even in the broad daylight, she never missed an opportunity to practice sneaking through the undergrowth. Her body found the dappled shadows cast from Syna's light, only the balls of her feet touching the ground in order to create the smallest area and hence the least amount of noise she could make with one motion. Her longbow hung comfortably against her back, Scimitar banging lightly against her right thigh init's sheath, daggers strapped tightly to her belt.

She often wondered about barbarians outside of Falyndar. She had heard stories about the legendary warriors there only mastering a single weapon, or perhaps a sword and a shield, a lance upon some shining white horse, or giant blue men with swords not much bigger than her daggers. It seemed folly. How was one to prepare for all forms of assault with only one or two weapon knowledges in their head? Certain weapons would have significant advantages against others, some just as heavy weaknesses. Tinnok knew she had to learn a long ranged weapon like a long spear to round out her own skills, her dagger knowledge growing by the day, but her scimitar skills severely lacking. It didn't help the weapon was foreign to most Myrians, and there was no one that could provide solid training for the strange sickle-like sword, leaving her to learn its nuances on her own, and usually in dangerous situations instead of practice runs.

She cursed as her careful rhythmic padding was interrupted by a twig cracking under her feet, and suddenly she heard a bird whistle to her right.

"We have you surrounded snake-spawn. Why have you returned to Dark Water lands?"

The voice came from low, as the whistle had come from up on high. Tinnok rotated slowly to face a young female, though not the same one that had sliced open her palm with blood that night before she and Eagle had left the village to report back to Taloba.

Tinnok folded her arms over her chest. She didn't want to show any fear, but neither did she want to appear wary, and hiding her hands meant she couldn't easily go for her daggers without them seeing, showing she had no intentions of hostility. She assumed several others had bows or slings aimed at her this very moment. She blinked and straight faced, began to speak. "Have you gone back into the cave since our departure?"

"Only to collect the bodies of our fallen and yours."

"You have not burned the Dhani?"

"We are letting them rot."

Tinnok snorted and the female's eyes narrowed, the bone piercings in her ears quivering. "You lands were tainted by the death that has been spilled here, just because the priestess is dead, does not mean it will stop."

"And that is why you have come?"

TInnok now took two long steps, drawing even with the female and rotating to show off her Gnosis mark. She did not like to flaunt her gift from Caiyha, for it was a treasure beyond imagining, but there were times where it got her out of trouble, and this was simply another of those.

"I come not as a solider of the Taloban Army, but a Servent of Our Green Mother, to restore the land to it's fullness. This will not happen overnight, but by cleansing this cave of it's filth, along with that horrid water supply you call a river, new life can begin to return to your lands."

She did not ask, but told, the Army had told her that much at least. If you wanted people around you to believe you were the superior in any one area, you had to act the part. And Tinnok was done kowtowing to everyone who thought they were so much better than her because of their blood.

The female stared long and hard at the Gnosis mark, her eyes widening as she saw the creatures up in the branches of Tinnok's strangler fig moving, the leaves blowing in a gentle breeze. "This we can allow if it will help."

Tinnok heard her voice hitch, though whether this was from surprise or reluctance, Tinnok couldn't be sure. The female raised her arm, making a form up circle with her pointer finger, and then beckoned to Tinnok, leading her back through the forest into the heart of Dark Water lands.

The Witch watched as the grass and ferns dried as they went, as if the farther they went in, the less water and sunlight they were actually getting. Strange black patches appeared on trees that spoke of how long this place had been tainted, and how long it's people had chosen to ignore all of the signs. They were fools, but Tinnok could not blame them. The secret this clan had been harboring, blindly or no, had been horrible by Myrian standards, something they had all probably known, even if they couldn't admit it.

It was weakness, and folly, but she could understand it. The woman did not bring Tinnok into the town, for which she was grateful. Despite her aid, no Myrian was ever happy to accept help from one of her tainted blood, it would be best if she went into the cave, and went out with as few knowing about her presence as possible.

It took half a bell before the foliage cut away in the presence of the sluggish river, and the opening of the cave was revealed.

"You will go in alone." She stated, and Tinnok only nodded. In this case others would only slow her down.

"Thank you." That was not a response the witch had been expecting, but she simply nodded again, then made her way down into the damp darkness, memories returning unbidden into her skull of the last time she had descended into these unfathomable depths with two fangs, only one being from each emerging alive.

[Tinnok]

She proceeded cautiously, the floor was wet and slippery, as it had been the first time she had entered these caverns. The place stank, the strange moss grew along the walls. It felt empty, however, not like when she had been surrounded by bodies and it seemed as if something was going to lunge at you after every turn and wind and in the tunnels. It stank like death as well...bad.

Tinnok covered her nose with a hand, but realized she wasn't even near where the pile of mangled Dhani and Myrians would be, and instead ripped a strip of cloth off of her shirt, tying it around her mouth and nose. The farther she walked the more she realized this was a temporary solution at best, for the smells of rot, and death only grew. First she entered the large room where they had encountered the massive piles of Dhani feces, which by this point were little more than fertilizer for the underground plants. A thin shaft of light filtered in from above, and there a strange twisted black sapling had begun to grow. She tentatively climbed the small mound of rock and decomposed fecal matter, placing her palm around the base of the tree to see what thoughts it contained. It was unhealthy to say the least, its thoughts sluggish even compared to a normal tree, whose processes were so much more meandering than a bug or bird or mammal. So life was attempting to re-constitute itself, but was being prevented. Tinnok took this as a good omen, if also another sign of how badly this place needed to be cleanses.

Deeper she went, and slower she walked, trying to accommodate to the all powerful stench that overwhelmed her senses. Twice she help back her gag reflex, but when she finally entered the room where the tigress had been tortured and killed, where she herself had brought Eagle at knife point in front of that pale priestess whose voice slid into her ears like claws on a chalkboard, she couldn't resist it any longer. Ripping the cloth off of her face Tinnok bent down and retched onto the floor, the entire contents of her stomach coming up and spilling over the stained stones. It did not make breathing any easier, but knowing her stomach was empty helped with the task at hand, for it would not be the last time she retched today, only the last time that her stomach would turn anything up other than spittle when she did.

The bodies of all Myrian warriors had been removed...or at least most of them. What lay in this tomb now was a mixture of Myrian body parts and entire Dhani corpses, setting in with rot, eaten by maggots, water condensation, and time, but still mostly formed, a few weeks not long enough even in these stinking caves to fully decompose such massive bodies.

The witch still wasn't sure precisely how she was going to cleanse this area. She had contemplated starting a fire, but she would need to make a hole in the roof of the cavern in order to do this, which seemed like a steep price indeed, and potentially impossible with just her power if the ceiling was too thick. Before she tended to these bodies, she decided to explore the rest of the caverns, which hadn't been on her mind when they had finished their battle for survival in these tunnels not so long ago. One more path led on from the strange room where they had been kept back down the way she had came.

This was new territory, so Tinnok stayed weary. She highly doubted any Dhani remained in the caves, but that didn't mean other things couldn't lurk in the shadows. She moved slowly over slick ground, the tunnel narrowing so as to be barely big enough to fit an adult Dhani form. The path twisted and curved, opening up into a large chamber with stone beds for all of the disciples, completed with stony trunks at the foot of each one to keep things...perhaps somewhat dry. An altar sat in the middle of the room in front of a much larger bed which Tinnok assumed belonged to the pale priestess. A roughly hewn carving of a Dhani female, probably Siku, raised a ceremonial sword up into the air. Tinnok walked briskly up and kicked it with the heel of her foot, sending the large carving toppling and shattering to the floor. She didn't usually go out of her way to disrespect deities, but even if Siku's presence had once been here, it was surely long gone now.

She noticed another tunnel led out to the side of the Priestesses stone bed. This one was only large enough for a human, and was just dirt and rotting wooden spars holding the haphazard thing together. Tinnok questioned even going down it, but there was more going on here than just the rotting bodies, and perhaps this last place was truly where the source of the great illness of the area lay.

She ducked, and carefully padded down the damp hall, afraid to so much as brush the walls lest they collapse upon her. Tinnok didn't consider herself particularly claustrophobic, but she could feel the weight of the earth above pressing down on her, and didn't like the feeling one bit.

This tunnel led steeply down, but ended abruptly, opening up into a massive cavern. The path widened somewhat to allow two or three human forms to stand upon a ledge that led straight down into a great chasm of darkness. Tinnok could hear the echo of water droplets falling into some great pool far below her, and had an ominous feeling in her gut. She glanced around, and found a iron torch fastened to the end of the wall. Wrenching it from it's socket, Tinnok wrapped some padding from her pack around the old head of the torch and tied it on with another strip of cloth. She then sat for a few chimes, slamming flint against steel to get a spark that would catch the dried cloth in this moist and oppressive cave. Finally taking, Tinnok knew she didn't have much time, and threw the torch over the ledge, looking down as she did so.

What she saw, made her retch again, some stomach acid dribbling out of her mouth.

Below her must have once been a beautiful clear natural spring cradled like a precious infant in the bosom of this cavern. It must have provided fresh cool water to the village, streaming out in the form of rivers, and a few streams, perhaps filling up with each monsoon and constantly full.

Now it was filled with rotting bodies from what must have been...centuries. Skeletons old and new stuck out of brackish black water, strange and horrible white eyed creatures feasting off of the death, breeding disease and filth in their wake.

The light landed upon the chest of a half decomposed Myrian female whose eye hole stared out like bottomless holes up towards the ceiling, praying for salvation before the light promptly snuffed out, hiding the rest of the horrors that Tinnok hadn't the time to calculate with her eyes.

The half breed turned slowly from the death, facing the dark tunnel that would lead her back into the strange temple of death and sacrifice.

Then she ran. No longer cautious of the unsettled earthen walls she sprinted through that tunnel, then the next, slipping on the wet floor, but refusing to fall as she careened out of the cave like a bat seeking the freedom of the night. Her heart pounded, her eyes streamed with tears, and hate, and only when she was out and across that river, that looked deceptively clear did she allow her to retch one petching last time, before rubbing off the wetness around her lips and marching with purpose back toward the Dark Water village.

She was wrong, she couldn't do this alone.

[Tinnok]

This was the moment she had been hoping to avoid. Eyes stared at her forlornly, children were taken out of sight, and nearly violent looking stares were thrown her way step by step. She might have played a part in freeing their village of the scourge that had haunted them for...much longer than Tinnok had imagined, but it had been a bittersweet event, and she would get no thank yous, or praise.

The female form before was the first to approach her, eyes suggesting that she had better have a good reason for disturbing the peace of the village. Tinnok wondered if she would believe her, and decided that she would just have to hope so. When she spoke, she spoke loudly, they all needed to know.

"The taint is much worse...worse than I expected." She watched the gazes, none of which showed much emotion one way or another, then continued. "I think this cult...whatever they were, has been doing its work for a very long time, as evidenced by the entire cavern filled with rotting remains that sits in what I can only assume, was once the clean and clear water source of this village's river."

That got their attention.

"Burning the corpses won't work, there are too many of them, and creatures that have grown and fed off of them for...I am not sure how long."

She paused.

"The cavern has to be destroyed, utterly."

"And how do you propose we do that?" The voice rang out from the porch, she was an older woman, perhaps the matriarch of the clan. her earlobes hung low with giant golden rings, and though her form looked frail, Tinnok could still see the definition of wiry muscles under wrinkled skin. The half breed cleared her throat.

"We have to find a way to collapse the cavern."

"I repeat my question."

"Do you have any magic users in your clan?"

"No."

"That was a fast answer."

"Well it's true."

Tinnok growled under her breath. "Look, I understand your hesitation, your animosity, but your land is sick, your section of forest low on wildlife because they can sense the death here as well as I, and your luck will continue to drain out of this place as long as that mountain of rotting abominations continue to soak into your main water supply."

She looked around, glaring at the faces.

"So what'll it be?"

"Tillin..." A hesitant voice called out. "There's the-"

"SILENCE!" The older woman yelled, and silence fell upon them. Tinnok swore even the few insects around the village were quiet as well. A couple chimes passed with Tillin starring long and hard at Tinnok, as if evaluating her options.

"Elders come into the main lodge, we have things to discuss. Snake, you can wait there. Do not move." Tinnok grumbled, but sat herself down upon the ground, folding her legs and preparing for a long weight. Any decision made by elders larger or small always took a long deliberation, back and forth, constant bickering just for the sake of it, just to counter a favorable argument. As if old people had nothing else to do...which Tinnok decided, they probably didn't.

She shivered every now and then, for hiding on the dark side of her lids were the hollow eyes of that half rotted woman, staring up at her, pleading to be freed from her prison.

But she couldn't...not like she had hoped. The idea of asking help from these people nagged at the witch. Was she really helping if she needed the power of the village for her task? She sighed and leaned her forehead down upon an arm, resting it there so the petchers still standing there staring at her couldn't see her eyes.

[Tinnok]

Three bells she sat outside, legs folded together, head hanging over her shoulders. Her body was stiff and sore from maintaining the position, very muscle quivering with the chance at freedom. No one spoke to her, nor offered her any food or drink. She did not speak to them, nor ask for food or drink. It was clear how each party felt about the other, and though Tinnok knew the stares did not stop, perhaps not for the entire 3 bells, she returned none of them, simply focused her gaze upon the ground, and utilized her hidden face to take a short nap as well.

When Tillin and about 6 other elders came out of the great lodge, she could hear not only their feet, but the shifting of an entire clan, all waiting to hear the verdict. Tinnok's neck cracked from under use as she craned her head towards the Village leader, her dark eyes looking everywhere but at the Witch.

"Our clan has fallen upon hard times, the weakest among us, taking treacherous paths in hopes to right them. They have paid for their foolishness with their lives, and so we seek to rise again from the ashes of our failure, and renew our clan's place among our brethren. But we cannot, not yet, not while the taint of our misdeeds still lingers in that Goddess forsaken cave, as the witch says." Tillin put her bony hands around the railing of the lodge's porch, leaning forward. "Our clan is the Dark Water, which stands for our keen eyes, our ability to brave the jungles at night, and the treacherous depths of the rivers and ponds around us, but we are also crafters, of poisons, acids, materials which this land has given us, which we share with our own, and send to Taloba. This is our pride, our duty." now the female's eyes were upon Tinnok, addressing her directly. "We cannot collapse the cavern, destroy it, and the water that is our lifeblood, but we can eat away at the rot and filth that you have found within. Guide us into the cave, and we shall bring our acid, harvested from the plants of our lands, made by the careful hands of our philterer's, and we will destroy what we have wrought."

A determined silence fell over the Dark Water clan then, and Tinnok nodded. Acid, they would need...much, but perhaps the Dark Water clan was not so idiotic as it had seemed, nor as complacent. They had been waiting for this time, she could see, and already several people were moving over to the far lodges with backpacks, and carts. Tinnok rose slowly.

"You will most likely need all of your current supply to destroy the filth that has collected in the water basin I found." Tillin nodded.

"Then collect your things, and I will show you."

It took another bell to collect the vast amount of acid, which had been stored in metal flasks, jars, cylinders, and barrels. It was clear the Dark Water clan did specialize in deadly and acidic compounds by the amount of metal they had in their village, much more than she had ever seen outside her mother's smithy. Twenty Myrians followed the witch, who loaded her own backpack up with a few more metal flasks of the stuff, leading the Dark Waters out of the village and to the cave as Syna fell through the sky. Torches were lit and stationed at the caverns entrance, as well as across the river, where Tillin and the elders would wait until the rest of the party had returned. Getting the great barrels across the river was the hardest part, but once the entire procession was across, the trip down the tunnels was fairly easy. Tinnok warned them all of the smell, but few believed her until they themselves were emptying the contents of their stomachs in the room with the remaining Dhani. A few members stayed behind here, and began their work, taking only a few flasks of acid to start decomposing the Dhani.

Tinnok led the rest down past the bedchambers to the strange dirt tunnel. Another warning was spoken about it, and this time was heard and received. Spare wooden planks collected in a corner of the vast stone room were taken along with them, the majority of the acid left outside of the tunnel.

Here Tinnok formed an assembly line with the Dark Water clan, taking a few warriors into the passage first, and throwing down one of their torches to show the damages. She was glad she wasn't the only one to turn green around the gills when faced with a veritable mountain of death, and looking upon it again she closed her eyes. Did they have enough?

[Tinnok]

More grueling of a process, Tinnok had never experienced. It wasn’t just the weight of the barrels, flasks and containers of acid that were passed assembly line style down the rough cut passage to the great pit. She was already tired from her trek through the woods, tired of looking upon this place again with all of its foul memories, and it didn’t take long for the weight of the substances they passed to also begin to wear on her.

It wasn’t the grudging stares, mixtures of mistrust and confusion. After all, why would one person do this for another clan? Even though she wasn’t doing it for them, or even for herself, but for her Goddess.

It wasn’t even the horrid sound of the acid when it hit the water, the crackling that it made when eating bones and the ear piercing shrieks of the blind carrion feeders when it first started dripping on them that soon turned into a dull roar of white noise they all had to work through.

It was the fact that she quaked with the fear that they would get the last barrel, small vial, medium metal flask, throw it down and the mountain of bodies, bones, and filth would still be there, looming just as great as ever, un touched by the Dark Water clan’s acidic provisions. The idea of her leaving without having completed her goal, failing in the eyes of Caiyha, and leaving this land to rot under the perpetual stench of death and rot that had collected in the land. She simply couldn’t bear the thought.

But she worked through the exhaustion, the penetrating screams of the dying creatures below, and even the stares that came every time she turned to take or hand a container onward up the line. She did not ask how many supplies were left, or how progress was going, for they had agreed to keep the cavern dark while working so no one else would have to suffer the sight of that much death. Syna had surely fallen outside, but still they worked. Only once did someone in the line take a break to go piss, but it was not her, and after the disruption no one else dared delay the process any longer.

Her arms were burning from the exertion of lifting several barrels in a row when she was passed a metal orb with a cork stopper, held carefully so the acid wouldn’t eat away at the cork, and the voice next to her whispered uncertainly into her ear.

"That’s the last of it."

She spoke this to the one she passed it to, who told the next, who told the next, who told the female who had guided Tinnok to the city, whose name she still wasn’t sure of. She just referred to the clan save for Tillin, collectively as the Dark Waters, and perhaps it was better that way.
All eyes turned toward the open blackness that represented the end of the tunnel leading into the dark cavern.

”Everyone file out, carefully, Witch, come back with me.” Said the younger female. Tinnok had to leave the tunnel in a single file line before returning back through it, due to the narrowness found there, but she complied, carefully walking. They hadn’t made the tunnel collapse yet, but she didn’t want to jinx herself either.

She approached just as the woman was lighting a new torch, half a pile of the empty receptacles, most of which had been passed back down the tunnels, sitting next to her. In her free hand was clutched that last metal circle that had contained the last of her clan’s hard made product, of which she could only assume would take season, perhaps even years to re-supply. And now they found out if it would help them or hurt them. Either way the water supply would still be unhealthy for at least a season, this had been agreed upon and accepted as a necessary risk. They would have to go elsewhere than the river to find water, but eventually the acid would not sink in and set into their environment like the leeching of nutrients from the water had.
Tinnok could see fear and uncertainty in the woman’s features as the torchlight flickered against the dark walls of the cavern. She looked once to Tinnok, then stared out into the expanse and threw the torch. The half breed was taken for a moment by the beauty of its arc, how it left a trail of light behind it, and looked like a beacon amidst the darkness and death.
Then it hit the water with a splash and fizzled out immediately.

There was a moment of silence as the female worked to light another torch, looking at Tinnok curiously. ”Does that mean it worked?” Her voice held an edge of desperation that she was sure neither of them wanted to here.

The half breed shrugged. “It could mean that, or simply that we burned away the bodies upon the surface, and there are still many beneath.” She didn’t want to give the village false hope if this turned out to be naught but a lie, but on the same token, the witch felt the seeds of such a feeling rising in her own chest. After all, the screams of the creatures had gone as well, which could mean they had all perished in the toxic state of the waters, which meant that most of the remains should also be succumbing to the acidic properties of the supplies dumped into the water.

The female merely nodded, eyes becoming hooded, and they both left the tunnel. Inquiring looks went unanswered as the female ordered all empty containers retrieved and brought back to the village. They marched out, passing the bleached and partially eaten bones of the Dhani in the sacrificial chamber, holes eaten out of the rocks surrounding them as well.

The members of the team emerged from one darkness into another, though this one was lit by stars and a sliver of Leth’s light. Tillin and the elders still waited beneath torches, as if they hadn’t moved since the troop had entered the cave. They did not ask what had happened, only brought them back to the village where Tinnok was permitted to enter the massive rounded lodge that stood as the main meeting place of the Dark Water elders. Here she and the female were brought in with the six eldest of the clan, and they sat upon straw woven cushions in a large circle around a central pit that could be lit with a fire, though it was empty at present.

“So?” Tillin inquired.

Tinnok decided she would take the floor from the female. “We do not know the extent of the acid’s job.” She saw the eyes of the elder’s widen in confusion and anger, and continued swiftly.
“Once the content of the acid had been utilized we threw a torch into the pit, but it was immediately swallowed up by water. This means that at least in part the plan worked, for the cavern was previously filled with bodies so that you could barely see the water. I believe that the amount of substance used was also enough to eliminate the carrion feeders that had bred in the depths as well, whatever they might have been. The acid might still work through the water, cleansing the area as well.” She paused, thoughtfully. “Might I be allowed to give a suggestion from where to move forward from this event?”

The elders looked among themselves for a moment before Tillin nodded for Tinnok to proceed. She cleared her throat. “I believe that the worst is over, but I think that the cavern should be utilized by your clan. It is the perfect area to create more of your product, and it will act as a tool of learning for the future as well. In addition, the reservoir of water, can be fully formed, and you can set up a monitoring station within the cavern in order to finish cleaning whatever remains within, setting up wooden pulleys and perhaps even stairs leading down into it. I know that you have suffered much, but if that area can be cleaned, in the Summer monsoons next year new water will fill your cavern, and new fresh water will fill your lands and replenish your village and its people. I am sorry I was not able to help more, as Caiyha’s servant it is my responsibility to tend to her great domain, but I feel as if I did not do-”

“It is one thing for a solider of the Taloban army to storm into a village and risk life and limb to eradicate the Dhani. That is something that is done day in and day out, in hopes that someday we might be done with their plague, it is something else entirely to return to a village that you know despises your actions, no matter how right or wrong, and to help them, however you can, once again.” The young female’s voice rung with confidence and a beautiful tenor that Tinnok could envy.

“Elders, I believe the Witch has done enough, and that the task of restoring our village from here, is ours alone, but I would ask permission to grant her leave to return here in a year’s time, and whenever she might be in our land, to survey our progress, and be welcomed as a guest, instead of reviled for her blood, would that be allowable?”

Along pause followed her words before Tillin spoke. “Leave us Nari, and take the witch with you. Give her food and bed for the night, and we will discuss things in the morning.”

Nari nodded and rose, then showed Tinnok to a mostly empty lodge, which she got the suspicious feeling had belonged to the traitors that had died in the depths of the caverns with most of her and Eagle’s fang. She was given a simple meal of flatbread and a strange purple bean with a haunch of meat and a wooden cup of Tamarind juice. Tinnok ate gratefully, not realizing how hungry she was until she remembered puking up everything in her stomach that morning. Despite Nari’s confidence and chattering to the elders, she did not speak again to Tinnok, and only nodded when, as she was leaving the entrance of the empty lodge, Tinnok thanked her for her words.
Left alone in the building, Tinnok lay down on her cot and blew out the lantern left for her, wondering what fate would meet her and the village in the morning.

[Tinnok]

She rose before dawn, finding it hard to sleep in such an empty and open area. She walked quietly out into the main circle of the village, seeing a few other Dark Waters up and beginning daily tasks. Hunting parties were rallied and sent out, scouts going to take up positions in case some danger was encroaching upon the village. Tinnok sat down upon the hard packed earth and closed her eyes. She remembered her rage, boiling up inside her when the Dark Water members had come upon the last remains of their fang down in that sacrificial chamber. She had thought them her saviors, only to see them murder what was left of them save for Eagle. She remember her bitterness and anger, if not for her, then for Eagle, whose pain she could practically feel through her skin when the tattooed warrioress had fallen bleeding to the ground, her death completely unneeded. She remembered the pain and aches that sank into her bones when they clambered out of the cave, and perhaps most of all she remembered Eagles gentle hands washing the blood off of her back and shoulders outside of the cave.

She had hated the clan so much, had blamed them all for the cave, but now that she had seen them, met them, spent time with them, she realized their guarded nature was not because they hated her, at least not entirely. They had been prepared for her to rip them apart, to call them traitors or vermin, to bring them all back to Taloba on trial, they had just been protecting themselves, and now all they wanted was to restore their people, their name, to themselves if no one else, and Tinnok could respect this sentiment more than most. And Nari, who had seemed to hate her just as much as the rest...had stood up for her, the half breed, and complimented her and her strength. She could not find any hate for these people anymore, only pity and sorrow at their condition, which she knew would be unwelcome, so instead she fostered a small sense of pride in them, and just hoped the elders would do the right thing.

When a secondary hunting party was being sent out, Tinnok practically leapt up, dashing over to them. Curious glances were thrown her way. "Would you mind if I joined you? I do not like sitting around being useless."

It was a simple sentiment, but one that was shared as a whole among the Myrian people, and she saw a few small understanding smiles. The wiry male leading the hunting party nodded and told her to form up. Longbow in hand Tinnok ran into the forest with the Dark Waters.

They ran fast and far to get out of the sick land, curling plants and limp looking trees. Tinnok felt the dull throbbing in her Gnosis mark, but closed her eyes and willed it away. This land would heal, that she knew, but it would take longer than she had imagined. Trees lived long lives though, and animals would return in time once they realized the nourishment available. The Dark Waters still had a ways to go, but they were on their way.

Their pace slowed as the sounds of birds shouting their good mornings heralded a return to normalcy in the jungle wilds. Tinnok was given position on one end of the half circle of individuals marching slowly through the underbrush. Tinnok made sure to watch her footing, not wanting to be the weak link in this hunting party, and crouched low to the ground, distributing her weight carefully as they continued, moving branches slowly out of her way to prevent them from snapping. She was the one to spot their prey sitting up in the Understory, three fat Curassow perched and soaking in the morning light upon their branch. Tinnok gave a low keening whistle of a morning dove to signal her find, and slowly the party moved into place around her, readying their bows. Tinnok drew hers in time with the Dark waters, arrow brushing softly against her cheek, and when the signal was given in the form of an owl hoot, 7 arrows glided through the air, three piercing the center bird and two sinking into the birds on either side. All three fell, already dead to the ground, where the hunters retrieved the food and TInnok was even allowed to carry the heaviest one, a grand honor by all accounts, the Dark Waters said stifling laughs, all the way back to the village.

The Curassow and a large male peccary were stripped of feathers and flesh and roasted over spits as the rest of the Dark Water clan bustled around. Men wove baskets, Women sharpened swords and fletched arrows, and a few other even sat upon a table, crushing up separate ingredients that would go into making new batches of the clan's signature acid.

They all ate together, though the elders were conspicuously absent from the rather restive atmosphere that came around the fires that morning.

Just as everyone was finishing eating they emerged from the hut, and at once a hush fell over the clan and the witch in their midst. Tillin and the elders found their spots in the circle of the clan and then the wiry woman began.

"The state of the cavern is under question. At least in some part our idea worked, but the extent of what is left in the reservoir is questionable. Starting today we will begin a project within the cavern, creating a base and structure that will enable us to reach the water and fully cleanse it of the rot that has sunk into our lands for longer than some of you remember."

Nods, and determined eyes met these words, and then Tillin's eyes turned toward Tinnok. "We have the witch to thank in part for her efforts. I heard she also helped with today's hunt?" The hunters that had been with her nodded in affirmation, and Tillin smiled a bit. "The Dark Water thanks you, witch, for helping us in more ways than one. We would ask you to leave now, not out of impatience, or hate, but simply so that we can begin our work, which as Nari said last night, is ours alone." Tinnok nodded in respect, unable to refute such a sentiment.

"That being said, the elders have agreed that despite your actions in the name of our Goddess of Nature, we wished to bestow a gift upon you. Come forth, Witch of Caiyha." Tinnok rose nervously, but knew better than to try to turn away such a gift whatever it might be. One step at a time she found herself standing above the circle of elders, a sign of respect in and of itself. Tillin reached out a closed fist, inclining her head for Tinnok to put her hands below whatever she clasped in her hand.

Palm open a small weight dropped into it. There in her hand sat a metal medallion, perhaps fashioned out of steel. Perfectly round it was stamped with an intricate scene, a sillouette of a figure in a boat upon the water, clouds hanging overhead with a sliver of a moon peeking out behind them.

"That is the symbol of our clan, a boat upon Dark Waters, which we brave no matter the circumstance. With this medallion, all of our clan, whether present today or not, will know you for an ally of our people, and it will remind us when you next come into our lands, not to shoot you down for those snake eyes you have." A few chuckles went up around the fire at this, but Tinnok wasn't smiling. She stared in awe at her gift, and slowly and reverently put the leather cord of the medallion around her neck, fingering the cool steel.

"Thank you." She said, feeling that those two words were highly inadequate. "I am eager to returning and seeing the land returned to its full glory."

She turned to the rest of the village, giving a low bow, then strode out through their ranks and back into the woods, thumb and forefinger still clutching the metal which was now warm between her skin. She had to return to Taloba now and report back the status of the clan, and it would be her last act as a solider of the military, then she would truly be free. Except...she couldn't stifle that feeling from rising up into her throat nevertheless, and truly couldn't wait until the next time she saw these lands.

[Soliloquy]

Tinnok

Experience:

• Stealth +1
• Persuasion +1
• Hunting +1
• Spelunking +1
• Meditation +1
• Weapon (Long bow) +1
  
  Lore:
  
  
  • Layout of the Dark Water cave
  • Tillin: A prideful but willing to accept one's mistakes and correct them
  • Dark Water Lands: Will heal with time
  • Dark Water Village: No longer the hatred but accepting

Additional yummies: One Dark Water insignia medallion

Additonal Notes :

Nicely done and enjoyable to read as always.

If one has any questions or concerns associated with your grade, send me a PM and we can work out the details.

c