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Thread: Blood Red Trees

  1. #21
    Legend

    EXP: 59,606, Level: 10
    Level completed: 51%, EXP required for next Level: 5,394
    Level completed: 51%,
    EXP required for next Level: 5,394


    Stare's Avatar

    GP
    150

    Name
    Avis Tsakaka
    Age
    16
    Race
    Kenku / Tengu
    Gender
    Female
    Location
    Corone
    Inside she found a small chamber, with a further door from that. There were no windows, and there was very little belongings. Only a rough blanket, a pile of fabric that was likely clothes and a basket with dried foods. Her eyes scanned around until she saw movement. And when she focused Stare saw that it was only a mouse, in the basket. It squeaked with surprise on seeing her, grabbed what it could in its mouth and ran swiftly away, disappearing through a hole in the other door. Through it came soft, natural light.

    Stare blinked, then nodded. Pressing onwards past this dank sleeping place she went to go take the door handle. Though it was dimly lit here she could plainly see the latch. Lifting it up she prepared herself, took in a breath and -

    Opened to the outside world.

    The room Nevin was in was very dark, with no lights inside. All that came into the room was light from the ritual chamber. This room looked like a small sleeping chamber - in one corner was a pile of blankets, heaped up on top of a small wooden cot. They looked like they hadn't been used in a while though. The only other thing of interest was the low wooden desk shoved in one corner of the room, with a mat beneath it to sit only.

    On top of the desk was a pile of notes, loosely bound together. Nevin made his way over, eyes piercing the gloom and watching for any threats. When he saw none, he knelt by the desk and started looking through the papers. They were the scrawl on scribbles of a man gone mad - talking of how a strange worm had bitten him, and after that he had begun to hear voices. Anyone else would have thought the writer utterly mad -

    But Nevin knew that the poor man had been infested by one of the thread worms. As the voices got stronger, the man had likely been losing more and more of himself as the thread things replaced his body, using his meat and blood to fuel the creation of more of their ilk. Aside from charting a depressing fall into a fate worse than death, the pages did mention an urge to hunt things, more and more powerful creatures.

    The final pages, stained with blood, were half. Incoherent, illegible. Nevin was able to figure out a direction - and a mention of a bull, or a snake, that the man had been hunting before - before the voices got too strong and he lost himself. Nevin stood up and moved away from the desk, staring sadly toward the bed. Whoever the man had been, he didn't deserve this fate.

    The alchemist left the study, and saw no sign of his friend. He frowned and went to check the other room - and found the door to the outside, with Stare standing in the threshold. He cleared his throat.
    Crows: Old nursery rhyme "One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a funeral, Four for birth, Five for heaven, Six for hell, Seven for the devil, his own self."

  2. #22
    Senior Member

    EXP: 61,139, Level: 10
    Level completed: 65%, EXP required for next Level: 3,861
    Level completed: 65%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,861


    Nevin's Avatar

    GP
    3,657

    Name
    Nevin Aimaparapoiitis
    Age
    22 / 37
    Race
    Human (Godling)
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    “I think we've found all we can. How do we destroy this hell hole?”

    Stare was frowning when he came. She heard the, hrrm, hrmm of his throat, but she did not turn around. Of course, she knew that he was trying to catch her attention, but her focus was elsewhere, for no sooner had she come outside than she had started to see the tracks.

    The tracks of a long, worm-like beast trailing away from the church. A large, heavy body, but one that slid along similar to that tentacled thing. The track in the rusty brown dirt was hidden, but for eyes that saw much it was clear. Without so much as a warning Stare took a step forwards and hunkered down by a tree trunk. Extending a hand she touched a place where the bark had been rubbed and worn down by a wide body, passing. Looking further ahead she noticed a continuous path veering away from the right and further up a short hill - broken branches and crushed leaves her signs.

    “Look,” she nodded to the tracks. “Something else has come and gone, possibly another one of your worm things.” Angling her head back she looked at Nevin. “If there another one out there, then we should surely hunt it also.”

    Nevin stared, silent, at the tracks, his eyes wide. A tremble ran along his body - he had not thought of that, had thought that all of the creatures would be there to defend the ritual to open a portal. But these bastards were survivors and cowards - one running away made sense. The size of these tracks was disconcerting - but at the same time, it absolutely had to be dealt with, she was right.

    The blood mage closed his eyes, concentrating on the singing of his magic. There was - there was a strange note to it now, a feminine tinged voice that sang in rage and anger, but it was just one more part of the unearthly chorus. He set that concern aside for the moment, unsure of where it had come from but with one of these things fleeing, hunting it down was a more immediate issue. There -

    There was something, an odd note in the pulsing of his magic. It was nothing like the taint of the dark blood magic though. This sang of promised power, and of injury. Nevin’s dark red eyes snapped open and he pointed - off the trail that was in front of them, slightly to one side, deeper into the woods. “There's something bleeding in that direction. It's powerful - and I think it was trying to throw us off with a false trail.”



    “Injured?”

    Stare tilted her head, brow ridge hanging low over her eyes. Looking over in the direction he proposed she took a moment to look, frowning. It was not that she was poor at tracking - no, even the one that had been faked was not obvious. Rather, the creature - whatever it was, for Nevin had seemed unsure as to it being one of the bloody worms - had intelligence enough to hide himself.
    - "We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood; Fear the old blood."

    Nevin: Formal, thoughtful, nurturing, bearer of tropey tentacles.

    "More threads! More! Threads for the Crimson Thread King!"
    A member of the NevCrew:
    Nevin: Thread count: please, don't try.
    Erik: Thread count: five or six. Maybe seven...
    Huntsman: seven. Maybe eight. Shhhhhhh.
    Telli' thread count: zero. I just can't get into writing the little hellion.
    Ronnel: Not even approved yet.

  3. #23
    Legend

    EXP: 59,606, Level: 10
    Level completed: 51%, EXP required for next Level: 5,394
    Level completed: 51%,
    EXP required for next Level: 5,394


    Stare's Avatar

    GP
    150

    Name
    Avis Tsakaka
    Age
    16
    Race
    Kenku / Tengu
    Gender
    Female
    Location
    Corone
    She straightened and fixed her eyes down there, shifting through the various stages of her sights. Dark vision did not help, neither did auras - the only creatures to see the energies of were bugs. And they had few souls between them. She came to heat, and narrowed her eyes as she tried to skim past the obvious few tiny heartbeats of rats and birds around them … but if there was something, it was still too far away.

    “We should go find it,” she decided, setting off.

    “Injured, or full of blood magic. Or just really powerful. Not sure which.” Nevin began following after her, frowning in thought as they went. He looked up at the sky, thinking about those random notes that he had found scrawled. Thick flow, he couldn't tell the direction they were traveling through these trees. So instead he stayed quiet, following after Stare as they pushed through the tree line, heading in the direction that the beast seemed to have gone.

    Following its trail worked for the most part, and Nevin stayed silent as they moved through the trees. He was not a hunter, not primarily, and when he went after creatures they were normally mundane things to get blood from. He trusted Stare’s eyes far more than he trusted his own, so he just kept a passive bit of attention on the source of that feeling, seeing if it moved at all as they went through the trees.

    Nevin was beginning to think he was going mad though, as they moved through the trees. Whatever it was seemed to be closer, but for the sake of Crimson he could not see it in the trees. He began checking the branches, to ale sure it wasn't hiding as another blood drinking vine - but he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

    “Stare, do you-” The alchemist’s voice was quiet as he spoke, his eyes scanning the trees around them.

    “I don't see anything, no,” she whispered, the sense of heat still active. A lot of this forest was dark and cold, with only the odd green for a plant that made its own heat or the flash of red and pink for a bug or rodent. As she turned to look at Nevin she saw his bright scarlet form vivid and bright.

    Taking a break from the strange colours she pulled herself out of it for a moment and grabbed for her water skin. Tugging out the stopper she threw back her beak to chug the cool liquid at the same time as keeping her eyes aware. Patient and careful was she so that she did not lower her eyes.

    “There is-”

    But then, of course, as soon as she began to speak, she saw it. A lithe, swift form to the side of her vision. Quickly, she spun, lowering the skin and shoving the stopper back in as she did. Eyes bright she kept them clear on the trees where she had seen the movement, hastily throwing down the waterskin to the ground and grabbing for her knife.
    Crows: Old nursery rhyme "One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a funeral, Four for birth, Five for heaven, Six for hell, Seven for the devil, his own self."

  4. #24
    Senior Member

    EXP: 61,139, Level: 10
    Level completed: 65%, EXP required for next Level: 3,861
    Level completed: 65%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,861


    Nevin's Avatar

    GP
    3,657

    Name
    Nevin Aimaparapoiitis
    Age
    22 / 37
    Race
    Human (Godling)
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    There was nothing for a moment, then -

    A pale, hissing and sliding movement again, further in.

    Her eyes gleaming she began to walk, quick and focused, stepping right into every rock and puddle that came in her way.


    Nevin tried, but unfortunately he could not keep up with his friend as she slipped through the trees, pursuing whatever it was that she had seen. He stooped down and picked up the water skin that she had dropped in the ground - even if she didn’t think of this now, she might need it later. So he hung it on his belt and pulled his whip loose as he continued after Stare.

    He didn't know what she had seen, but whatever it was, they were both moving quickly. At some point the thing picked up speed, probably trying to escape the pursuit. But that just made it clumsier, and made it easier for the Kenku and the - the failed avatar - to follow it. Branches broke ahead, indicating where the beast had gone, and Nevin picked up his pace - if Stare needed his help, he didn't want to get there too late.

    He broke though the treeline into a decently sized clearing. The creature they were hunting had chosen this place wisely for its attempt to face them. Hungry, flesh eating plants lined the clearing on one side - hitting one of those would be fat more painful that it might seem like. Nevin was treated to the sight of Stare glaring at one of the weirder creatures he had seen in his travels.

    “what…?”

    And there it was. Right here. Amongst other tracks of many beasts who had passed through this place over the past few months. Some clearly had been swallowed by the surprisingly large amount of carnivorous plants, by not he. For some reason he, like many, had come to this hidden church and was now resting beneath the sun.

    It was not a worm. Instead it was a huge snake body, massive and thick about the width of a stallion. Turtle-skin brown it was made of hundreds of scales, every one the size of a fist, lined up one after another in the same direction, flowing towards the tail. It was still, the soft breeze rushing over the hulk of the body with no effect, not even to the upper back of its - his - form.

    A massive humanoid torso, covered at the head and shoulders in brown fur. The head itself was that of a bull, with great curling horns coming from his skull. He breathed into the air, and had his eyes closed as he cradled an arm. Stare saw that a huge gash was in the shoulder - the injury Nevin had spoken about …

    He was here. Right here. One of them, an Ophiotaurus, the creature Vitruvion had sent her to kill.

    My gods

    One god, came the voice of disbelief, and awe. Me. This beast's guts will end our enemy.

    She looked to Nevin, grabbed him and pulled him down behind the foliage. “That,” she gestured, “Is why I am here. I have to kill it.”
    - "We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood; Fear the old blood."

    Nevin: Formal, thoughtful, nurturing, bearer of tropey tentacles.

    "More threads! More! Threads for the Crimson Thread King!"
    A member of the NevCrew:
    Nevin: Thread count: please, don't try.
    Erik: Thread count: five or six. Maybe seven...
    Huntsman: seven. Maybe eight. Shhhhhhh.
    Telli' thread count: zero. I just can't get into writing the little hellion.
    Ronnel: Not even approved yet.

  5. #25
    Legend

    EXP: 59,606, Level: 10
    Level completed: 51%, EXP required for next Level: 5,394
    Level completed: 51%,
    EXP required for next Level: 5,394


    Stare's Avatar

    GP
    150

    Name
    Avis Tsakaka
    Age
    16
    Race
    Kenku / Tengu
    Gender
    Female
    Location
    Corone
    Nevin looked at the massive creature, the twisted thing, and raised an eyebrow. It was almost like a Naga or Lamia, serpent torso but humanoid head - in fact, staring at it, Nevin felt a chill. This thing was clearly very powerful, a mixture of Minotaur and Lamia, each in their own powerful creatures. The blood soaking its fur on one arm sang to Nevin, a triumphant crescendo that spoke of exultation and victory if he could just reach out and seize it. His mouth went dry as he slowly turned his gaze back to Stare.

    “Well. A tall undertaking for two people. But neither of us are exactly normal, are we?” Nevin pulled a pair of small, hard red tablets from a pocket and rested them on an upturned palm. The tablets broke apart and swelled, slowing out and upwards into a slowly expanding orb of blood.

    “I - well. You can see I learned a few new tricks, but haven't had to use them yet. Do you have any plans on how to approach this fight?” Nevin didn't know how effective magic would be against such a powerful magical being. If he was right, and it was bred from not one but two unnatural creatures, just how much strength did this thing possess? And why did she need to kill it, if it didn't look like it had left the first in some time?

    Stare steeled herself, flexing her gauntleted hand. Focusing in on the creature she narrowed her eyes before nodding slowly to herself. “I have learnt some things too. But just simple ones. Nothing as fancy as you.” And she had her teleportation stones. She was sure that they would come in handy, in the most desperate of moments.

    Looking back down to Nevin she indicated right. “If we flank the creature it will be better. It is like a snake, cold blooded, but any standard attack will weaken it. It is also obviously injured so we should force it to use that arm.”

    She balanced on the claws of her feet, ducked down as she was and prepared herself. Carefully she slid out a light blue marble from her pocket before handing it over to Nevin. “This will teleport you three feet in a direction of your choosing. I need it back after, but it is in case of emergency. Now, I will go right, you go left and we will kill it together.”

    And not consulting with him on the plan she began to move, stalking through the grass like a predator.

    Nevin slipped the marble into his pocket, already deciding that he would only use it of he absolutely had to - he wasn't one to enjoy teleporting, the sensation left him queasy. He watched, and waited, as she slowly moved to the right, and he began slipping to the left, moving slower than she did - he was not trained in stealth, so it took more time for him to move into position.
    Crows: Old nursery rhyme "One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a funeral, Four for birth, Five for heaven, Six for hell, Seven for the devil, his own self."

  6. #26
    Senior Member

    EXP: 61,139, Level: 10
    Level completed: 65%, EXP required for next Level: 3,861
    Level completed: 65%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,861


    Nevin's Avatar

    GP
    3,657

    Name
    Nevin Aimaparapoiitis
    Age
    22 / 37
    Race
    Human (Godling)
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    As he moved, Nevin pulled more of the blood tablets out of his pouch, preparing to expand them back into their liquid state and use them as more ammunition. The man was slow and methodical as he studied the injured beast - freezing when that large bull head slowly swung in his direction for a moment. Nevin prayed that its eyesight was terrible - wasn't the minotaur of legend meant to hunt with sound? - and stood stock still until with a loud snort the ophiotaurus looked away. Right. That had been mildly terrifying, but it seemed the immediate threat was past.

    Nevin concentrated, scanning the beast. He was in the same side as its injured arm - which meant that that was going to be his immediate target. Force it to defend itself, or get hurt more, and possibly debilitate it. His hand under the orb of blood lifted up, reaching up almost as if he was holding on to the hilt of a javelin, his fingers not quite closing underneath a large jagged spire of red. The bull-serpent was distracted, looking away, and Nevin took the time to break another tablet and add the blood to the weapon - but this time, hardening and condensing the very tip, giving it additional weight. Then he waited, arm tensed for -

    Motion, movement from Stare. She was beginning her attack. She burst from the treeline, shrieking loud cries - her native tongue, and probably insane curses at that. As the creature started to swing to face her, Nevin launched the spike of blood, hurling it for the beast’s wounded arm, aiming slightly towards the center of mass.

    He was already breaking apart more of his condensed blood, getting ready to pelt the thing with more bullets of blood.

    As the javelin aimed for the injury, Stare finished the decline of her war leap. High into the air had she leapt, and now she came to land with extended foot claws on the shoulders of the bull-serpent ophiotaurus. The one whose guts were said to be able to kill a god.

    She hoped it would at least damage one.

    The bull head reared back, shrieking out a mighty bellow. Tipping up its - his - face he hissed and stared the kenku right in the eyes. A deadly mistake. Roaring, he had both pain at his arm and a terror above. He clutched at his arm, roared at Stare. Another javelin hit him, but he seemed more bothered with her. Underneath him his great body began to writhe, swift and wriggling and struggling to throw the kenku off, but her eyes already had him in her sights.

    Hate.

    Racing, she summoned every kind of detest she could remember, thinking of the first time Vitruvion had taken her, raw and cruel. Not allowed her any choice, simply stolen her virginity and her life in one go.

    That hate for him in that time she threw at the ophiotaurus. Fury mixed in, but it was the hate that was the core of her attack. Right there, still atop the monster she balanced despite his thrashing and froze him in place. Stunned.

    “Again!” she roared at Nevin.

    She could only hold the creature for so long.
    - "We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood; Fear the old blood."

    Nevin: Formal, thoughtful, nurturing, bearer of tropey tentacles.

    "More threads! More! Threads for the Crimson Thread King!"
    A member of the NevCrew:
    Nevin: Thread count: please, don't try.
    Erik: Thread count: five or six. Maybe seven...
    Huntsman: seven. Maybe eight. Shhhhhhh.
    Telli' thread count: zero. I just can't get into writing the little hellion.
    Ronnel: Not even approved yet.

  7. #27
    Legend

    EXP: 59,606, Level: 10
    Level completed: 51%, EXP required for next Level: 5,394
    Level completed: 51%,
    EXP required for next Level: 5,394


    Stare's Avatar

    GP
    150

    Name
    Avis Tsakaka
    Age
    16
    Race
    Kenku / Tengu
    Gender
    Female
    Location
    Corone
    Nevin charged in, feet pelting the earth as he raced forward. With each step spires of blood were thrown - until he ran out, jagged red spikes jutting out of the creature in nearly a dozen places. It was already beginning to break free from her hold, and it looked like his attacks had weakened it, but they weren't enough. So with a grunt of exertion, Nevin pulled, ripping the spikes of blood free. He lifted both hands above his head as the bull began struggling more - and all the blood that was splashing the ground, and hovering in the air, began swirling together.

    With a cry of effort, controlling this much blood was draining him rapidly, Nevin swung his hands down, bringing what was effectively a massive weight of blood with a single, hardened edge down onto the ophiotaurus. Even as that attack fell, he ripped his whip free from his waist and lashed out for the injured arm - the Plynt barbed whip would start drawing out more blood from this damn thing as soon as the barbs sunk in.

    The ophiotaurus bellowed in agony and fear as he was bitten a dozen times and more by Nevin's darts of death. Hissing he curled and recoiled his body, trying to shake off the kenku from his shoulders but she dug down with the constructed barbs on her hind claws. As the huge wave of blood came crashing towards the beast she clung on with feet and gauntlet, gripping as the once stunned monster was assailed mercilessly. It had a harsh, sharp edge that stabbed into him from the front and she felt the beginnings of his fall. Allowing herself to dig her claws out of his back she ducked fast and then launched into the air. Beneath her the ophiotaurus fell onto his back, crushed by Nevin's power.

    She landed, but she did not let this finish yet. He had to die to be of use to her. After coming into contact with the earth she twisted back around and began to stab at where his torso met his tail, conscious not to be too near the abdomen, where his guts that she needed were. Using her eyes as much as her dagger she began to send jolts of pain through him, her aim to keep him down. Her logic followed that as she was attacking the place where his weight was centred he would have more trouble getting back up. As she kept it up she hissed back at Nevin.

    “His neck. Avoiding hitting the stomach.”

    His neck, hmm? Nevin let his man-made whip fall slack to the earth, it's barbs still slowly drawing blood from the beast. As Stare kept the creature at bay, locked in pain, Nevin decided exactly how he would end this. Even a mighty beast such as this had to breath.

    Foot upon foot of red threads sprang from both of his arms and wrists - some wrapping around his limbs, the rest twirling together into powerful whips. Beneath his clothes, more threads wrapped around the rest of his body, reinforcing the man as he darted forward, shooting past Stare with a loud cry.
    Crows: Old nursery rhyme "One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a funeral, Four for birth, Five for heaven, Six for hell, Seven for the devil, his own self."

  8. #28
    Senior Member

    EXP: 61,139, Level: 10
    Level completed: 65%, EXP required for next Level: 3,861
    Level completed: 65%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,861


    Nevin's Avatar

    GP
    3,657

    Name
    Nevin Aimaparapoiitis
    Age
    22 / 37
    Race
    Human (Godling)
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    The creature swung its head to look at him - just as Nevin launched himself into the air, boosted by the increase in strength from his crimson threads. His hands lashed out, the whips anchored to them and his arms snaking around the bullish throat as he shot through the air. There was a strangely wet crack as Nevin hit the end of the length of his whips, the crimson coils snapping tight as they tightened around the throat.

    The blood mage swung around in an arc, anchored to the ophiotaurus by its neck. His feet drove into its shoulders, the force of the impact breaking its skin. As he stood there, planted on the creature’s back, he hauled back on his whips, drawing them tighter and tighter around the bull’s throat. As it began to choke, it started trying to buck powerfully, the fear of death overcoming the bursts of pain from Stare’s assault.

    But it was too much - Stare kept it from moving too much, and what it could do just was not enough to dislodge the man on its back, slowly strangling the life from it. Large meaty fingers scrabble at the red cords around its neck, trying to pry them free - but that just ended up with it wasting breath as its fingers lost the edge of their skin and flesh.

    With a soundless bellow, its arms reached out in supplication to something - to anything. But no help came. The last of its strength was spent, and it collapsed to the ground, the earth shaking as the enormous creature fell. Silence fell over the clearing, but Nevin kept up his strangling hold for a full minute and more - ensuring that this creature was dead. Then he turned his gaze to Stare, an inscrutable expression in his eyes.

    Madness was in her eyes also, born of a creature who had been six months in the Hollow making. Ever since she had come from that place, reborn as Stare and not Avis a fury had overtaken her, and a lust for death. Vitruvion's first gift, one might say, before her powers and before the cuff and before …

    All the myriad of intense feelings pumped still through her body. Right now she was concentrating on anguish (memory: being beaten after her attempt to escape the Hollow did well) to build a series of concentrated skin abrasions. The necrosis still ate into the ophiotaurus’ flesh, digging down like tiny maggots, eating at what it could get. Chest heaving she gazed at Nevin, her beat open in panting, her tail feathers, short as they were, shivering with excitement of the blood sport.

    Her eyes grinned, and she stood to share in his joy. The ophiotaurus was still alive, but barely, and her final task would end it.

    With a look away from Nevin she bent back down and lashed out with her gauntlet at the belly. A single long gash appeared, though shallow and she laid a second perpendicular to it. Then taken knife in hand she dug carefully deeper, the blood and flesh oozing out. She paused when she got to the beginning of the sign of the guts of the ophiotaurus.
    - "We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood; Fear the old blood."

    Nevin: Formal, thoughtful, nurturing, bearer of tropey tentacles.

    "More threads! More! Threads for the Crimson Thread King!"
    A member of the NevCrew:
    Nevin: Thread count: please, don't try.
    Erik: Thread count: five or six. Maybe seven...
    Huntsman: seven. Maybe eight. Shhhhhhh.
    Telli' thread count: zero. I just can't get into writing the little hellion.
    Ronnel: Not even approved yet.

  9. #29
    Legend

    EXP: 59,606, Level: 10
    Level completed: 51%, EXP required for next Level: 5,394
    Level completed: 51%,
    EXP required for next Level: 5,394


    Stare's Avatar

    GP
    150

    Name
    Avis Tsakaka
    Age
    16
    Race
    Kenku / Tengu
    Gender
    Female
    Location
    Corone
    She paused, then grabbed her cloak that was still around her neck and dragged it off to lay it on the floor before the cut. Then, as she had learnt in the wilderness of Akashima many times during her life as a classless kenku, by her father, brothers and mother, she began to gut the creature. Pulling out all the entrails she made a neat slop of mess that seeped into the cloak but would do for now. Feet upon feet of guts spilled out.

    Watching his friend disembowel the creature was… An experience, that was for sure. She seemed almost to revel in slaying the mighty beast, and while Nevin himself relished the opportunity to get his hands on some of its blood - speaking of which he began gathering blood and condensing it down into hardened tablets again - he didn't know if he could react to it with the same almost manic glee that she was displaying.

    Not for the first time, Nevin was reminded of the fact that Stare’s psyche had been damaged. His friend handled it well most of the time, but every so often it slipped past. Her power didn't help in that regard actually from what he knew - she had to draw up emotions inside of herself to be able to throw them at others, which meant re-experiencing the situation that had generated them in the first place. And none of her eye based powers came from benevolent or happy emotions.

    He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he continued to clean up the area, gathering up the blood that spilled from the mighty carcass. As she worked on separating out the creature’s in testing - and why did she want those almost to the exclusion of other things? - Nevin was examining the corpse, walking around it in a slow, methodical circle. His original estimation that it seemed to be a crossbreed of magical animals seemed to be correct - the lower serpentine half leading to a humanoid torso matched what Nevin knew of Lamias and Naga breeds, while the furred torso and bull head matched up descriptions of minotaurs.

    They had gotten lucky in this fight, essentially blitzing the beast and killing it before it could really react to their assault. If this fight had gone on longer… Nevin shuddered and shook his head, instead turning to watch as Stare gathered up the intestines of the beast. She was wrapping them in her cloak, tying it up as well as she could. If he wasn't passively pulling all the blood away, the mess would have been far worse than it was. But even with him doing that, there were plenty of other fluids leaking from the meat and soaking her cloak and the ground.

    “I ... Take it we have what you came here for then, Stare?” His voice was soft and steady, one eyebrow raising up.
    Crows: Old nursery rhyme "One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a funeral, Four for birth, Five for heaven, Six for hell, Seven for the devil, his own self."

  10. #30
    Senior Member

    EXP: 61,139, Level: 10
    Level completed: 65%, EXP required for next Level: 3,861
    Level completed: 65%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,861


    Nevin's Avatar

    GP
    3,657

    Name
    Nevin Aimaparapoiitis
    Age
    22 / 37
    Race
    Human (Godling)
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Swinging her eyes around to look at him she fixed him with a long gaze before shrugging and going back to the cloak. It was sodden already, great oozes of liquids seeping out from the broken guts. She glanced at the ruined carcass before her, making sure she had got everything possible, and then she stood, satisfied. Her curiosity went a bit further and she ended up starting on a piece of the snakeskin for herself, slicing and slivering it off for that just in case moment.

    Done, she sent an image of the long body before her and the package, thinking of them as clearly as possible. Her hands worked to drag off the snake skin, which peeled like orange peel, smooth and neat.

    There was a long pause, then a murmur as he continued to look through books. Indeed, he said quietly. Bring it back here. We. Will keep it in the basement until such a time that it is needed. I will have Druss prepare one.

    She frowned, her brow creasing as she severed a few pieces of scales from skin.

    In the house? You want it so close to you?

    Stare, it is better to have it close by than not at all. Besides, unless a person actually knows they are ophiotaurus guts, then they will be useless. Naturally I will weave a binding enchantment to make the smell be negated and for it only to be opened by certain people. He made it sound like it was entirely obvious.

    ’Naturally,’ she semi mocked. Then she straightened and looked over to Nevin.

    “Burn the church and then head back?” She rolled the skin tightly into a scroll before stuffing it into her pack. Then, bending down, she tried to heave the cloak of entrails into the air.

    They were very heavy. She figured out quickly she would have to drag them.

    “Agreed. We can use that cold flame they had around the place to burn it to the ground.” Nevin watched for a few moments as she struggled to lift the guts, before stepping to the other side of the cloak and lifting up. They were heavier than he had expected, but with the two of them - and with him cheating and using his threads to help spread out and carry the load - they were able to lift and bring the organ filled cloak back with them to the temple.

    The alchemist carefully lowered his end to the ground and stepped past Stare, one hand tightening into a fist, the knuckles showing through his skin as he clenched his fingers hard. He lifted up one of the large, heavy braziers, wrapping threads around both his arm and the metal pole. Up came the cold flame, waving in the night air as he grimly marched inside.
    - "We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood; Fear the old blood."

    Nevin: Formal, thoughtful, nurturing, bearer of tropey tentacles.

    "More threads! More! Threads for the Crimson Thread King!"
    A member of the NevCrew:
    Nevin: Thread count: please, don't try.
    Erik: Thread count: five or six. Maybe seven...
    Huntsman: seven. Maybe eight. Shhhhhhh.
    Telli' thread count: zero. I just can't get into writing the little hellion.
    Ronnel: Not even approved yet.

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