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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jun 19, 2014 3:18:40 GMT -6
Nayru didn't respond to Hayle immediately, distracted by... something, she wasn't really sure what. She held the one kama she still had in hand up to inspect it as if that would give her some clue, but that accomplished a grand total of nothing. Something was - changing about her body, she was pretty sure of that, but had no reference whatsoever as to what. She was pretty sure it wasn't akin to puberty in humans, that would just be weird considering she was already an adult and all, but there was definitely something going either very right or very wrong with her body.
It seemed like the feeling had started sometime after her and Veigue's battle against the assassins and Zarius, but as far as Nayru could tell, she was neither relapsing emotionally nor was she gaining any new abilities, which left her unable to ascertain the details. More of a vague sense of discomfort in her body, maybe, was about the best she could put it. Not in her appearance so much as a vague sense of - Nayru gave up; in frustration, half wishing Aerious was still around so she could ask but not that desperate to know. She'd figure things out as she went, and if she was turning into the first dragon-Bael hybrid, she'd just have Veigue put her down before she started growing extra legs.
Aaaaand that was disgusting. The dragon shook her head in silent amusement at her twisted mind before quelling the sensation immediately to focus on the situation at hand. "Yeah. Fine." And she was, outside of feeling a bit weird. That was totally something she wanted to discuss with a couple human males. 'hey guys I'm going through something sorta akin to human puberty, except not at all like puberty, any ideas?' Nnnot happening. The whole Bael thing was starting to get pretty worrying, though. Nayru didn't know that much about the origins of the creatures, but she knew god damn well that Baels and all their kind were supposed to be completely extinct - Salvation Point's little skirmish might have been a fluke, but two encounters that far apart, in both Sacae and now Lycia... "Why are they here, too," she murmured, completely lost on how to react. Ironically, it was actually probably pretty similar to how humans would react to dragons returning.
At least the forest wasn't on fire, she supposed. Or raining Baels. Or pegasi. Sneaking a guilty glance upwards as if half expecting Elly's accursed monster of a creature to land on her, Nayru took a further step from the fallen Bael as Veigue showed interest in it, not particularly wanting to step in any green goo. At least no one had gotten hurt here. But she had the feeling that this was but a precursor to the real issue. She couldn't hear that much in the forest outside of what seemed like the natural swaying and groaning of trees... but these creatures could maneuver quickly and quietly, and she certainly hadn't heard this last batch coming. "That went well. ...Too well."
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Hayle
Archer
Posts: 55
Profession: Lone Traveller
Affinity: Wind
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Post by Hayle on Jun 26, 2014 22:42:03 GMT -6
Clearly, something was up with Nayru. It was likely just post battle adrenaline, but one could never be too careful.
Hayle sighed and let his shoulders relax. Giant man-eating spiders were not exactly what he signed up for. Heck, they weren't even in the travel brochure. Either they were a new attraction to Lycia or someone hadn't been doing their job.
"So... what now? Do we stay here for the rest of the night or should we pack up and move on in case more of these things are around?"
The question wasn't really aimed at anyone in particular but it needed to be voiced. Neither option really sounded very appealing but sleep could and would have to wait. Unless he wanted to do it inside the belly of an ill tempered spider.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2014 11:41:25 GMT -6
Yeeeah, looking at this Bael anymore than necessary was going to turn his stomach upside down after a while. Veigue couldn't seem to piece things together too well, so he decided to just stand and forget about the thing for now. It just kept biting at him that he's never seen such a creature before. It was an unsettling thought, as who knows what other kind of monstrous beings were out there. Mutated rats? Actually, that seemed pretty amusing, but would likely scare the living crap out of people who had phobias of rats. Elibe still seemed like it held many more secrets and he was at least interested on that side of things. However, he should have expected some monsters to be apart of the secrets as well. Guess there was nothing he could do but try to avoid monster contact as much as possible until he felt like he could handle them.
He looked past his shoulder as Hayle gave a question, but wasn't looking directly at him. Nayru was also disturbed by something, but he held no kind of words to approach her about it. Instead, he just went with what he could respond to at the time. "Yeah. It'd be wise to try and get out of this forest. We're bound to be attacked again if we spend the rest of the night here." He crossed his arms as he began to ponder and take a look at their surroundings once more. He still had that feeling that it was all too easy. "...I also have a feeling that wasn't the last of them. Even as we escape, there may be more lurking around here. We'll have to keep our guard up regardless."
He couldn't help but go back to the possibility of something other than Baels being in this dead forest. Something to consider and try to be mentally prepared for. Veigue sometimes believed he thought too deeply into stuff, but at least it was for the benefit of everyone here other than himself.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jul 3, 2014 17:59:03 GMT -6
"And where would we go?" Her words were not cruel, but there was a harshness to her tone that belied their seriousness. "Those creatures were mere children, and precious few of them at once. They were spawned, nurtured. These woods are under the thrall of their greater brood, and we have but robbed the cradle."
Salvation Point was starting to feel very familiar, but this time Aerious was not here to save her, nor were those strangely intense humans, the grizzled warrior and the pegasus rider... yes she was supposed to be assuming more responsibility for this group and all, but by the earth-mother she had nearly died in that Sky-forsaken chapel, buried under the countless tiny creatures and the horrific might of the elder Bael. Nayru was much more confident in her fighting ability now than she had been at the time, but then she had been surrounded by people as strong or stronger than she. Now, it was up to her to both protect these two and quell the tide.
There had to be a hive, or nest, or whatever the proper term wold be for the home of monsters drawn from Elibe's darkest nightmares. Here there was light, open area; perhaps Veigue and Hayle could escape the night if she drew the creatures' attention wholly in an assault on their nest? But she had no idea where it was, or even how to find it, and thrashing about in the woods blindly would only lead to her own swift death without anything to show for it.
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Hayle
Archer
Posts: 55
Profession: Lone Traveller
Affinity: Wind
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Post by Hayle on Jul 9, 2014 18:25:03 GMT -6
Clearly the situation was not as easy as he'd hoped for. But with risk of death in varying forms, pretty much all of them in some way related to giant spiders... well, it was clearly time to try and plan out something smart.
Of course, the first thing that sprang to mind and left his lips was...
"This is about the time where your pegasus riding friend swoops in and causes a forest fire or something, right?"
...not the smartest, best plan ever and liable to get them all killed and really, the chances of that happening were slim to none. But it might be funny and it'd beat ending up in the gullet of a spider.
"In all seriousness though... Is there anything you know that might help us? You seem to have some prior dealings with these things. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that staying alive and uneaten should be our top priority right now."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2014 13:20:02 GMT -6
Their priority was mainly exiting the forest entirely, not really too sure on why Nayru was being extra careful all of a sudden. She obviously knew more than the both of them did about these Baels, but he did know that in order to get out of this alive, they had to remain calm to think straight and rely on each other more. He chose not to respond immediately, pondering their situation a little more to himself. One big problem was just staying here. The rest of the pack that's out there already knows where they are and sitting here any longer was going to invite a whole new party for them to deal with. These creatures ruled this dead forest, but they had to outsmart them somehow. If there were more bigger ones hanging around, there was no way for them to take them head on. It was just a suicide mission than even he wasn't bold enough to attempt. Maybe if he was stronger, but in his current state...nope.
As Hayle asked his question to their ally, he folded his arms while he silently agreed to himself. Anything else they could learn about these things, the better. It was more useful than just blindly finding an exit without an escape plan. However, he didn't really have much time to spare. "The main thing we have to do here is just remain calm. Escape seems like our only option, but if we think of something with cleared minds, we can pull something efficient off together." He then looked toward Nayru from the corner of his eyes, maintaining his composed tone. "If we want to get out of this in one piece, we'll have to work together more than ever before. If you have anything else we should know, please tell us. It'd be a huge help for a plan."
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jul 11, 2014 19:04:48 GMT -6
"Staying alive..." Nayru trailed off, considering Hayle's words as she listened to Veigue's. Yes, it was important that they both stay alive. Neither of her companions deserved to die because she hadn't been paying enough attention. But how? If they all stayed here they would just be attacked until they were overwhelmed, and they couldn't all make it as a group through the dark forest, their combined movement would draw the entire brood to them, and in the darkness and confined spaces they would succumb sooner or later. At least in the clearing they could see their assailants. "Yes, you are correct. Staying alive is your top priority."
She turned to face them, trying to figure out how to string her thoughts into words. She had a vague plan, shouldn't be too hard to convince them. "The two of you will stay here where you can defend yourselves. Escape is impossible tonight; they have found us and will return in force soon. I will attempt to find their lair and exterminate their broodmother; I cannot allow this infestation to grow until it threatens humans outside the forest. My actions ought distract the hive and leave you unscathed until daybreak, at which point you should flee without looking back."
Lying to friends was something she did not like to do, but the dragon steeled her nerves to do it anyways, excising any hesitation she could detect from her voice as she continued. "I will join you outside the forest when I complete my task." She wouldn't, of course. The best she could hope for was to succeed in killing the broodmother, and even that might be stretching it. But they didn't know that, and she had to do SOMETHING for their sake.
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Hayle
Archer
Posts: 55
Profession: Lone Traveller
Affinity: Wind
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Post by Hayle on Jul 14, 2014 4:27:19 GMT -6
In any other setting, the crickets chirping after what Nayru just said could be written off as merely a convenient background noise added for the same of drama... but here it was just normal forest sounds resuming in the aftermath of the spiderpocalypse.
"Surely you jest. Go into the heart of the nest? In the pitch black and alone besides? You may be able to deadlift a pony-sized spider, but not even your accident-on-wings friend would try that.
Hayle was well aware that he was getting a little heated, what with the voice rising somewhat and the wildly gesturing arms but Nayru was making what sounded like a really bad joke. At least, he hoped it was a joke.
"I mean... that's just suicide. And not even a good way to go at that.
No. If you're going in there after the leader then I'm coming with you.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2014 12:11:48 GMT -6
A frown instantly crossed his features at Nayru's plan, already knowing how this plan would turn out. While the fight just now wasn't long, this was something tough. Even for her. And taking on an army of those critters alone would be suicide, just as Hayle said. He somewhat sensed the meaning behind her wanting to go through with something like this, and that was enough to express his disliking of the idea. He knew her well enough by now. They all needed to get out of here together, not have one stay behind while the other two book it the next morning for an exit. That, and he wasn't going to lose Nayru, definitely not like this. There had to be a better approach that didn't involve one of them inevitability getting eaten alive by a mob of spiders. So much for remaining calm...
"He's right. Don't throw your life away just for our sake. We'll get out of this together...and I'm sure Hayle would be in agreement with me when I say that it wouldn't rest well on our conscience if we got out of here and you never returned." His upset tone spoke for itself, but shifted it almost entirely as he smirked a bit. "You don't have to be alone. That's what you told me before, right? Don't go biting back on your words...otherwise, how am I supposed to believe in them?"
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jul 23, 2014 10:48:10 GMT -6
"I-" Nayru tried and failed to retort immediately, instead biting her lip as she instead wrestled with her emotions. Nooot a good time to be crazy murder lady. Being told no was not something she had ever been good at, and even now that she wasn't just a stubborn kid anymore, she still hated to hear it.
Maybe the worst part was that, as much as she wanted to argue, she knew they were right. It WAS stupid, and that galled her more than anything. She had been trying to pick up the mantle of leadership in the absence of Aerious and only succeeded so far in constantly being reminded of how unfit for it she was. She really couldn't think of a better solution though, letting Veigue and Hayle die wasn't something she was willing to do, and what else could they do but cower in the light as the shadows closed in around them?
Being a tactician would be pretty nice right now.
"Then what are we to do," Nayru hissed, uncharacteristically and obviously emotional as her high-strung emotions proved impossible to hide. She jerked her left hand upwards to point at the largest spider's corpse. She wasn't - angry, exactly, but there was a clear element of frustration in her tone, evidence of her lack of satisfaction with the situation. "Far greater foes than that beast stalk this forest, and if they are not exterminated, they will only grow in quantity and voracity alike. We cannot well leave them be lest they come to plague human civilization in the surrounding area."
Ironic that she would be judging other mindless beasts for killing humans, but one living plague was bad enough. And there was motion in the outskirts of the clearing, muted sounds in the vicinity, that suggested they did not have much time remaining to argue about this.
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Hayle
Archer
Posts: 55
Profession: Lone Traveller
Affinity: Wind
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Post by Hayle on Aug 4, 2014 7:38:27 GMT -6
"Hmmm..." Hayles' eyes unfocused slightly as he rubbed his chin pensively, lost in thought.
"Well... regardless of how intelligent these beasts might be, they're still just beasts. So, we have 2 options. Fire or trickery."
Of course, both ideas required a certain degree of stealth and silence and if he was to be honest, neither were really long term solutions either. But with such a small group and limited time at their disposal, it was risky.
"The way I see it is, we can either use fire to scare them, make them retreat until daybreak. Or we try and trick them somehow into fighting among themselves. Either way, I think we'd better act fast."
"Of course, the other option is to high-tail it out of here, find the nearest castle and hope they have enough soldiers to help."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2014 14:26:05 GMT -6
He stood there as he listened to the both of them, pondering himself on their options. That was until Hayle's ideas weighed considerably on the mind. "Actually, both of those options sound very workable..." One hand was on his chin as he rubbed it a bit while thinking. Had to keep reminding himself that he doesn't have a beard, but who cares? It still relaxed and helped him focus. "The only issue I see with scaring them with fire would be time consuming considering we don't have much to work with already, but..." He trailed off, wishing things would be easier and a magic user would magically appear to help them out. That would save them the time of making their own flame. But life wasn't that easy...so wasn't this.
"...Trickery on the other hand is something I could get behind entirely. As you say, no matter how powerful and intelligent they are, they're still beasts. I've noticed while fighting them that they tend to be very aggressive...and easily irritated. Just me throwing my sheath at the big one's head was enough to send it into a blinding rage. Having them fight against each other could be manageable." He still had to remind himself of how amusing that was when he did that, but now wasn't the time. Whenever they were out of danger of being eaten alive, he could laugh about it later. He was usually good with trickery in his normal combat, so pitting them against each other was a solid plan.
He looked around in all directions, as it still seemed like they were in the clear at the moment for more spiders to jump at them. "What if we just resort to all of the options in some form? We can still attempt to retreat as Hayle suggests, but at the same time, if we encounter more Beals as we escape, we can use their violent nature against them. We'll be dead anyway if we don't try to get out of here, and fighting these things head on is suicide. Alone, there's nothing we can do about their evolution. As best as it is to eliminate them before they harm others, we lack the power to do so...without sacrificing anyone. And I'd like all of us to come out of this alive."
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Aug 4, 2014 16:02:35 GMT -6
"Fighting... among themselves?" Her tone was dubious, but also curious - Nayru honestly had no frame of reference for responding to Hayle's suggestion, and her uncertainty showed as the frustration bled away into confusion. Was that even a thing? That worked? It sounded fanciful and ridiculous, but she had never even heard of it being tried, so it was... theoretically possible.
Everyone was making a point of rubbing their chins. She felt kind of left out, and thought about mimicking the gesture, but it seemed very derivative. The lady dragon settled for shifting which foot she was standing awkwardly. This talk of... running and leaving the beasts to their own devices did not sit well with her, but she hesitated to argue. Had it been her alone, Nayru would have gone for the root of the problem without a second thought, but with Hayle and Veigue here, she no longer had that luxury. Maybe she could help them get out, then go back in.
...Which would end in Veigue arguing with her and then following her in no matter what she said. He was just a helper. Nayru settled for resting her hand on her forehead in an attempt to stave off the inevitable headache. It didn't work, but at least she could imagine bashing her brains in and escaping this ongoing nightmare without further ado. "...Perhaps you are right." Running away didn't sit well with her, but she had no other options to ensure these two idiots didn't get any fool notions in their head about coming to "help" her and getting themselves killed. "Makeshift torches could provide illumination, and if we move quickly and manage to sow enough discord, we may only have to worry about navigating a war, rather than taking part in it."
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Hayle
Archer
Posts: 55
Profession: Lone Traveller
Affinity: Wind
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Post by Hayle on Aug 7, 2014 19:48:43 GMT -6
"Very well. We'd better get started then. You don't happen to know if the spider ichor is flammable, do you Nayru? You are our resident spider expert after all."
Things needed to happen pretty fast if they wanted to maximise their chances of all escaping safely. Without something to burn though, they would be stuck using flaming sticks. Which in all honesty... did not last long enoguh to be that useful as torches. Probably get them killed easily at least.
"Of course, if we have any oil and spare cloth, we wouldn't need to worry about using spider parts for torches. Whatever is easiest and fastest, I think."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2014 21:07:41 GMT -6
Well, snatching a spider limb sounded pretty daring, and it didn't seem like they had enough time to snatch off a branch, either. Well, they probably did. And this was a forest, so broken branches were bound to be lying on the ground. He'd have to keep an eye out for the ground as they escaped as well. He didn't have any immediate ideas, but they'd just have to worry about their source of flame when they could. While the two were finishing up with discussing the idea of the spiders, Veigue took the time to brace himself for the upcoming escape. Swords are still there and ready for action...except, he can't really use the other yet. He could just say screw tradition and unsheathe Kenji now to cut through these spiders much easier compared to his basic sword, but as it was always told to him, he'll just have that feeling when the time was right. Right now...that feeling wasn't present. If that was the case, he just had to have confidence in his abilities.
Guess it wouldn't hurt to come up with some ideas with the trickery while he had a little bit of thinking time left. Since these beasts were quite easily irritated, anything around luring some of them to collide with each other works well. Of course, he had plenty of moves he could use to cause some discord, so he didn't have to ponder about it too long. After all, he didn't have the time for that.
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