Shenjara's First Encounter

[hamnat]

She walked along the forest path, humming some strange, ancient, archaic tune. She found it soothing, it focused her, cleared her mind....

Slowly, tranquilly, she let the words, the arcane chant; escape her lips,
"Grashgo nmertocit yovginghen tolreschmen.
Alrichi freote malenon creschto twroyubinem, ænpromnot.
Ñoriç,
Alrichi ñoriç.
Bremnoytricgo sghartenma agrichetikre, alshugri nicremonti
Necroño antimathius."

Her head pricked up as her attuned elvan senses detected movement nearby. It seemed to be waiting for something.

Her elvan instincts and her survival training kicked in and told her that she was in an ambush. Luckily, her training had prepared her, and she carefully let her attacker think that he/she/it had the upper hand.

Quietly, she whispered the incantation which, when the trigger word was spoken, would evoke Torch.

"Bremnoytricgo nmertocit ailutishca reckña.
Shmeriche amni trescquio....." She omitted the last part to keep her spell from going off at the wrong time. Besides, if they weren't going to attack her, well, she was a pacifist.

She tried to focus on the encroaching...thing... in an attempt to find out what her attacker was, and how best to go around taking it down. Hopefully it would be a forest wolf, they were very prone to combustion, and Torch was indeed good at doing just that.

[hamnat]

After listening to the creature's movements, she decided it was a giant forest spider, which wasn't quite the next best thing.

Oh great. An icky, disgusting spider. And a giant one at that. Well at least it can burn a little. I guess I had better kill it before it "surprises" me.

"MAISHCE" Shenjara said, completing the incantation, her hand becoming a fiery globe at the end of its long green sleeve. She focused on the spider as she hurled it, guiding it along its path towards the startled arachnid.

Whuaaaah

Shenjara heard the small explosion as the burning sphere made contact, catching the hairy, eight-legged predator alight. She could hear its mandibles clacking together from the horrendous pain it must now be experiencing. She remembered a time when she had set her hair to flame, and she was surprised that it still held, if not more, the same splendor it had before. I guess I must have the favor of V'dralla. I doubt it though.

The spider, still singeing, began to charge towards its prey, confounded as to how it could have possibly discovered its presence, and angered by the horrible agony it was suffering from the scorching hair surrounding its body. It screeched as it skittered through the undergrowth, managing not to cause a forest fire as it came ever nearer to its little half-elvan meal...

[hamnat]

Shenjara began to chant a spell,
"Ekmartre amina
Fraio tukrestia memt
Aijina mutarol crerina
Wecrestcho unmaemt"

Her staff began to glow a dim red color as the skittering web runner moved ever closer, and she prepared for an attack. The spider jumped high, an act that, if successful, would pin Shenjara down and leave her helpless to defend herself. She had, however, learned of this technique of hunting and knew that there was no way to dodge it, but there was a way to counter it.

She bent low, bracing herself for the oncoming death-dealing blow that the spider would utilize. It was at the last moment, with the spider right on top of her, that she stuck the end of her staff up.....

The spider screamed in any way that it could, for the staff had erupted in flames as the two made contact. It ricocheted off the staff and down the path, its entire body in epileptic fashion, spasming uncontrollably from the pain. Shenjara felt pity for the forest predator and decided to end it as quickly as she knew how....

Shenjara continued down the path, after having ended the creature's agony and prayed for its soul. She cleaned any entrails from the corpse on the undergrowth near to the path. She felt slightly tired from the attack, enchanting always does that. She walked alone, she preferred it that way....

[streak101]

Banda climbed through the forest, from tree to tree, he didn't really care where they went, he just felt like being in the woods, especially these. The trees formed a roof over his head, and small insertions of light poked through the ceiling. The tree's were tall and the forest was dense the only thing visible in the forest was anything on the path or at least 3 feet away from it.

Hopping to each tree like a frog, Banda gave himself a pat on the back figuratively speaking, if he were too do that literately he would have lost his balance and fall from an astounding height. The cries of the birds flowed gently through the air, the forest was very peaceful. Or at least for now it was.

Banda's attention was caught by a stranger traveling down the road. Let's see old studies say it's half-elf, and by the looks of it she hasn't noticed me of yet. Alright I'll follow her until I reach the end of the forest, then I'll turn back and head to town. As the young half-elf walked the forest path Banda followed he did not have anything to do and he did to practice his escorting routine, and the half-elf made a perfect escortee.

As she continued down the forest path, she had stopped. Has she heard something? Sure enough the half-elf came across a forest spider. Banda drew his boomerang, but saw that this maiden was a spell user as well. She had started speaking in the magic language, some could recognize, uttering the final word, a ball of orange light, blasted the spider, it wriggled, and squirmed as it bursted with flames.

Charred, scarred, or ablaze, the predator of the forest continued it's assault coming after the half-elf if not slower out of pain, and fear of another ball of fire. This is my cue! thought Banda reaching for his boomerang, just as the spider sprang forth with it's attack, and Banda had pulled his arm back to throw the boomerang, a small light came from the staff, and the predator, became prey for the scavengers.

The half-elf continued to walk down the path, and Banda followed. He would not reveal himself this time for anything, for now he was someone looking down on the half-elf from above so to speak.

[hamnat]

As she killed off the spider, her elvan senses detected another very faint presence moving through the trees. Strange, if this spider had a companion, it would have been skittering along the floor, it must be a human of some kind, but I’ve never heard of such agility being possible in humans. Yes, very strange indeed...

"Bremnoytricgo nmertocit ailutishca reckña.
Shmeriche amni trescquio....." she whispered again, in preparation for another attack. She was beginning to wonder if there was an army out there, somehow avoiding her attuned senses. If so, she only had enough strength to cast Torch twice more, after that, her recently enflamed staff would have to continue its work. She wouldn't last long.

She quickened her pace, gradually speeding up in order to get out of the situation, if possible, without alarming the pursuer or pursuers. She was really scared now. Survival training had prepared her for a lot, but not encroachment by an army! Why does this kind of stuff happen to me? What did I do to these people? She found herself wanting again to char everything in range of the naked eye. Her power was like that of a phoenix. And the phoenix in her was overpowering her natural self. With these predatorious pursuers and the fear of them empowering her subconscious destructive wishes, it was a two-sided battle she knew she couldn't win, and possibly wouldn't survive...

She relaxed as she realized that she was letting her paranoia get to her again. There were only five things out there. The path, the trees, the charring spider corpse, herself, and this new, very agile human. She relaxed and spoke out to the forest, "I know you are there, human. Show yourself before you suffer the same fate as my little...friend....back there."

She kept that last word stuck in her mind, holding it back from her lips. She was already tired as it was, no point in finishing the spell if it would just waste energy. But these forest-goers were really getting on her nerves, and it was taking all of her will to keep it from slipping out.

[streak101]

He continued to watch her, he was starting to like the idea of being the guardian of the forest travelers. She continued down the path and stopped, she had sensed Banda. How could I forget her elven blood powers? Maybe I should've stayed a couple more trees away... Her head tirned ever so slightly, Banda needed to squint to notice the movement.

She had begun to speak in the magic tongue this time, without knowing, she was aiming for a friendly target. Banda couldn't blame her for charging her spell, in these dense woods, anything would jump you to survive, whther it be beasts for meat, or bandits for money. She had stopped speaking though. Did she change her mind? Banda could not say.

She then ran through the path, trying to lose Banda. Without speaking Banda continued to pursue, landing on any stable branch he could find, and grabbing every other branch too big for him. After spending countless hours before encountering the half-elf, Banda could move through the trees rather swiftly. She had stopped abruptedly, and Banda barely passed her. "I know you are there, human. Show yourself before you suffer the same fate as my little...friend....back there."

Banda made an evil smile, something he did not usually do, "I will not show myself to you half-elf, I'm having to much fun, and no worries I mean no harm to you. I am simply a man in the trees and I feel like protecting the passerby today. Besides, would you really attack me? I've seen your magic, and I can get out of this forest much faster than you can. I'm also in a tree, and your spell conducts fire. Now fire and trees do not mix very well and i'm sure the local folk would not like their source of lumber to be burnt down. Now rethink this: would you really attack me? I wouldn't."

[hamnat]

She grinned. This human had an elvan gift for witty-ness as well as agility. She liked witty.
"Take care that you don’t overestimate yourself. A blast of my little Torch here would be enough to knock you out of those tree limbs. And at that height, I don't think that running would get you very far. That and the fact that my half-elvan nature gives my a little head start, if you'll pardon the pun. Besides, I’ve been getting overwhelming urges to scorch this forest to the ground anyways."

She winced and realized that she may offend him instead of intimidating him. She could sense his relaxed state, indicating that he was either friendly, very confident that he could finish her easily, or very stupid about combat. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, “However, I trust you are not hostile. I will ask again, differently. Would you be so kind as to join me? I really would enjoy hosting a companion as witty as you," she said, giggling with her last few words.

"I am going to rest a while and gather some things. So if you do wish to join me, you have some time to make up your mind." She smiled. She had just noticed that there was an oak tree and paired willow trees on the side of the path. Right next to a little pool of water....

[streak101]

"Take care that you dont overestimate yourself. A blast of my little Torch here would be enough to knock you out of those tree limbs. And at that height, I don't think that running would get you very far. That and the fact that my half-elvan nature gives my a little headstart, if you'll pardon the pun. Besides, i've been getting overwhelming urges to scorch this forest to the ground anyways." the half-elf had stated. Hah! Well what do you know! She's got spunk! Ah well, I guess I should stop the act, playing the evil hissing bad guy, doesn't suit my conscience anyways.

Listening more intently after discarding the harsh tone, she had invited Banda to travel with her through the forest, I'll go missy, but just until the forest ends, then I'm going back the other to the end of this jungle, and get the hell out of here! He travelled down the trunk grabbing hold of branches to stop his fall along the way. "Wow! These tree's are taller than I thought!"

Strange part is, she giggled. Why would she giggle? Ah well, Banda you'll never know what goes on inside a woman's head. Still even I'm not that stupid, I still need to be cautious with her. "So much for being guardian from above." He said as he walked over to her. "Still I'm sure this will be fun too."

"The name's Banda Utako, mercenary extraordinary!" Banda bowed, and smiled cheerfully, he noticed that it was a perfect time to meet a new friend, A very powerful friend! "Hope we can get along miss er...what do I call you?"

[hamnat]

He's kind of cute she thought when she saw him. But focus, Shenjara, focus

"The name's Banda Utako, mercenary extraordinary!" He said. “Hope we can get along miss er...what do I call you?"

"My name is Shenjara. Shenjara Flamespire. But feel free to call me Shen. Most people do." She said as she began collecting willow leaves. She felt like making a potion. "So, Banda right? Where do you come from?" She finished collecting the leaves and crushed them up. Then she took her skinning knife out and walked over to the oak tree with which she started to strip off pieces of bark....

As she gathered the bark, she began to think to herself, wait a minute. Many humans despise half-breeds like me. Why is he so friendly? Very strange indeed. I shall have to keep my eyes on this agile human.
"So, how did you know that I am part elvish? It isn't like my ears are on display. It doesn't give to reason that a human would be so observant, or agile for that matter. Hmmm, maybe you are part elvish yourself?" She said this with a confused look on her face. Even for her flexible mind, this was a puzzle. With this puzzle came thoughts of her mother. The memory of that horrible night began to fill her thoughts.

*crackling flames in the background*(man's voice) Shen! Shen, please! Snap out of it! Shen! Shhhennnn!!! *falling wood and breaking glass* urk! (woman's voice) Somebody please help! No! Joran! Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

"Joran......" Shenjara whispered as a stray tear escaped her now quivering eye lids. "Joran.....why?"

[streak101]

The girl introduced herself as Shenjara, Strange name, yet rings a bell from somewhere I don't know... Shen for short, she had been collecting leaves and bark, which Banda thought weird, Just what is she going to do? Banda put this out of his mind when Shen asked him a question, "So, how did you know that I am part elvish? It isn't like my ears are on display. It doesn't give to reason that a human would be so observant, or agile for that matter. Hmmm, maybe you are part elvish yourself?"

Now that's a good question! "Well Shen, being a mercenary you encounter lots of people and animals alike. Now it's pretty common for me to come across a half elf, now and then." He walked absent-minded in a circle, this was a habit from Banda's youth. "Besides I've seen elves before, and your skin isn't as pale as theirs." There were other characteristics, but Banda didn't mention these, I got a feeling I'll get my ass handed to me if I mention them.

He kept talking trying to prove something, but stopped when he noticed tears running down Shenjara's cheek, she whispered something under her breath, "Hey why are you crying?" He asked to suddenly start crying was out of the ordinary. It's either trauma, or something I said...I hope it's not what I said, that spell of hers would torch me, ha! Wordplay is fun.