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| Once upon a time on the Shepherd Fields...; Atzolek | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Wed Jan 15, 2014 1:31 am (2,375 Views) | |
| Atzolek | Sat Feb 8, 2014 9:21 am Post #16 |
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Atzolek hadn't expected the gully to be that easy to fall into by accident, but now that he was there, he completely understood how that could be the case. In fact, he realized that he might have fallen in himself if he hadn't been ready for it. Now that he was looking at the place, he could see how it was considered dangerous. There were many places down in Benner's Gully that looked treacherous. At that point, he saw movement, followed by a sheep being killed by a rather large wolf. The wolf looked quite dangerous, though he felt that he would be able to bring down the beast with his sword, although doing so was definitely not without risk. He placed a hand on Norta's shoulder and said, "I'll make sure you don't get hurt." Then, knowing what he'd set out to do and intending to complete it, he started to make his way down into the gully, although he removed his cloak first, leaving it next to Norta. The path was narrow, but it wasn't difficult at first. It was after he'd made it about a third of the way down that the going became more difficult. Despite the difficulty, he continued to pick his way downward, still sticking to the path. Suddenly, the path fell out from under his feet. His hands immediately grabbed for anything they could hold, and he was lucky enough to grasp a stable bit of rock with his left hand. His right hand-hold crumbled away, so he placed that hand next to his left. With both hands secure, he looked down for a foothold. He could see the pathway continuing about a foot to his left, so he slowly moved one of his feet up and over to the ledge. Slowly, he placed his weight onto the path. Fortunately, it was secure, so he continued down into the gully. He was more careful the rest of the way down and didn't have any more close calls like that, although the going was anything but easy. He soon reached the bottom of the gully. He didn't see the wolf, but he had a good idea of where it was. The perspective was different down here, leaving him with visibility of only about fifteen feet in either direction down the gully's bottom due to the twists, turns, and obstacles. He pulled his large two-handed sword from his back and held it in a ready position. With the weapon ready, he began to walk along the gully's bottom. When he spotted it, it was still feasting on the sheep, but it instantly noticed him. About an instant later, the creature rushed at him. He moved his blade to intercept the beast. He had his weapon well-positioned, and it left a good sized gash in the canine's mouth and nose, but the creature was too big and heavy to be stopped by his weapon. It leapt at him and managed to get its teeth to his throat as it threw him to the ground. He managed to get free of the canine as he fell and gave it a good shove as soon as he hit the ground. He was completely aware that if he'd been a normal human or elf, he would have been dead, but the dragon scales on his neck had just saved his life. Even so, several of the scales had been pulled off, leaving his throat more vulnerable. These would regenerate fairly quickly, but not quickly enough. He somehow managed to regain his feet before the wolf recovered, and he stepped toward it with his weapon. He hadn't thought he'd done anything, but he realized that it must have been injured somehow when he fell. The canine rushed at him, but noticeably more slowly than before. This time, he used the point of his sword to block its charge. The large canine still had enough momentum to throw him from his feet again, but this time that same momentum caused it to become impaled upon his sword. He got up slowly, knowing that he'd just killed the beast behind all of the problems. He then went to pull his weapon out of the wolf's body. It wasn't easy to remove, but with some effort, he managed it. He wiped the blood off the weapon onto the creature's hide and then returned it to its sheath, which was strapped to his back. He then made the climb back up. Going up was easier than going down, and with being careful when climbing up the path, it didn't take him too long to return to where Norta was standing (or sitting, as the case may be). He didn't say anything right away, allowing her to speak first. It can be noted that his neck scales had completely regenerated by this time, but he had some visible scrapes on his arms and small rips in his clothing. |
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| Norta | Sun Feb 9, 2014 6:51 pm Post #17 |
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ooc "I'll make sure you don't get hurt." That snapped Norta out of her daze faster than a bucket of ice water. She shot a dirty look at the elf's back as he started down the narrow path, then rose and brushed off her skirts. She could take care of herself. Just the same, she let Atzolek go down the path first. She new from experience that the rock in Benner's Gully wasn't much for taking weight. You went down the narrow trails one at a time, if at all. Atzolek was about halfway when the rocks under him crumbled. Norta's heart jumped and she started down after him, but slowed to a crawl when she realized he'd managed to grab on to something. She waited, sweating in her winter gear, as he managed to get his foot on the lower path and start back downwards. Then she breathed a little sigh of relief. But about a two and a half feet of path was gone and the far side of the gap looked none to stable. It was doable, yes, but it wouldn't be easy. She was still trying to figure out a way to get across the gap when Atzolek met the wolf at the bottom of the canyon. She froze. It was a brief, brutal fight. The wolf jumped the elf and nearly, quite literally, ate steel, but it's size and momentum saved it. It wrapped it's jaws around the Atzolek's throat. For a moment, again, Norta felt her heatbeat falter. There was no way... But with a wrench, the elf threw, threw, the wolf off him. If Norta hadn't been so shocked, she would have cheered. The wolf lurched to its feet and charged again. This time, however, it met the point of Atzolek's blade. The impact knocked him flat and Norta waited, vaguely worried, until he rose again. Then, as he was cleaning his weapon, she started back up the ledge. She was waiting for him when he reached the top a little while later, her face solemn and the wind tugging at her cloak. She had his cloak draped over one arm. He didn't look injured - just a little scratched up. Just the same, she lifted his chin to get a better look at his neck. Golden scales glinted in the sun. Her face broke into a smile. She raised herself up on tiptoe and planted a warm kiss on Atzolek's cheek. "Thank ye," she murmured. |
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| Atzolek | Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:06 am Post #18 |
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Atz didn't notice that Norta had started following him down until he was making his way back up the gully, at which point she was climbing back up. She seemed to have a bit of trouble getting down, but no incidents. He was aware, though, that he was significantly heavier than her, mainly because he was tall. Regardless, she was back at the top by the time he made it up. Once he made it up, he saw her holding his cloak. He made no move to resist when she placed a hand on his chin and lifted it, and he was fairly certain that he knew what she was looking for. He had little doubt that she'd been watching the battle and wanted a closer look at the scales that had kept the wolf's fangs out of his neck. Her smile all but confirmed this. The kiss she planted on his cheek came as a surprise to him. Without really thinking about it, he wrapped an arm gently around her shoulders. He responded softly, "It's not a problem," and then kissed her forehead, a gesture that was considered to be an acceptable greeting to a female friend or tribe member where he came from. After a short time (assuming Norta did no more than hug him back), Atz released her from the hug. He said, "We should maybe head back, though you know that better than me. If you want to stay in this area with me for a while, it's up to you." |
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| Norta | Mon Feb 17, 2014 2:44 am Post #19 |
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Norta hugged Atzolek back. It was...nice. Definitely nice. "We should maybe head back, though you know that better than me. If you want to stay in this area with me for a while, it's up to you," he said after he released her. "Well naew," she said with a grin. "I suppose I need t' tell me brather that he dinna have t' worry about t'Wolf. An' me clan, seein' as how it be t' fastest way to get it around t' hills. But..." she tilted her head to the side. "We dinna have to hurry back, ye ken?" |
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| Atzolek | Tue Feb 18, 2014 7:48 am Post #20 |
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Atz replied, "Makes sense to me. People should know that the wolf is gone." Atzolek's intention was to make people aware of the wolf's demise so that they knew that they no longer had to worry about it killing their sheep. He was, however, aware that he was likely to get something out of this. If nothing else, the people in this area would look at him more favorably. "As to getting back, I say we start walking back, but we don't need to walk quickly or anything like that." Atz was enjoying this woman's company, so he figured he might as well not get back too quickly. However, he knew that it was likely that he wouldn't see her again after he left this area. He considered staying, but that wouldn't exactly fit his plan to go see what the world away from his clan's territory was like. |
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| Norta | Mon Feb 24, 2014 3:56 pm Post #21 |
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Norta turned and started to head northwards, opposite of the direction they'd come, explaining: "Tis way will drop up on tae the road. Twill-" She stopped abruptly and snapped her fingers. "Nae body'll believe us if we canna bring the wolf skin with us. Silly, I ken, but folk around here can be silly. Tae much time spent with sheep, methinks." She took off her own cloak. "I can get it - lots o'practice skinning, ye ken?" She dropped on to the path. As she edged her way down, she had to admit that hadn't been an entirely true statement. She'd had plenty of practice skinning all right, but mostly food animals - rabbits, squirrels, fish. The biggest thing she'd ever skinned was a sheep and that had been when she was twelve. It hadn't gone too well either, if she remembered correctly. And she'd never, never skinned a wolf. But, hopefully, Atzolek wouldn't know that. She felt that she ought to contribute something to this venture. After all, she'd gotten them into it. Perhaps she what she should have been contributing was her attention. She wasn't devoting all of it to where she put her feet. About three fourths of the way down, the stone underneath her dissolved in scree. There wasn't time to grab anything - she let out a slight yip and plunged to the bottom. She tumbled to the gully floor in a cloud of chalk dust. The impact knocked most of the air out of her, but she managed to crawl out of the cloud, choking and gasping, eyes pouring water. She propped herself up against a rock, hacking and mentally cursing. |
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| Atzolek | Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:04 am Post #22 |
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Atzolek thought Norta's idea that the wolf pelt would be required as proof was a good thought. Of course, Atz had left the wolf's corpse at the bottom of the gorge, which meant that getting it would be difficult. Before Atz could offer to go down there, Norta was already climbing down, apparently wanting to make herself useful. She was doing okay with her climbing until she made it around three quarters of the way down. She had a similar problem to what he'd had, but in her case, she fell to the base of the ravine. Atz could see that she was injured, but he didn't know how badly. He hadn't tried flying down into there earlier because of all the obstacles, but now he saw that taking the risk might be his only chance of getting to her in time. He removed his cloak and his sword, leaving the items next to a bush not far from the gorge. He then spread his wings and jumped off the edge. He took control of the fall, gliding down the gorge a little ways, looking for a good place to land. Before he found that, he flew around a bend, about ten feet above the base of the gorge. As soon as he saw around the corner, he knew that he had no chance of making it around a pillar of stone. He reacted quickly, taking the impact to his stomach. He dropped to the ground, reacting again so that his dragon scale-covered back would hit the ground first (his wings were not solid enough to affect the fall or be harmed by it). He wound up having the wind knocked out of him and taking a few scratches, but beyond that, he was not hurt. He walked back along the gorge and found Norta. He right away started into a sequence of incantations and gestures, completing the spellcasting by touching the woman, releasing healing energy into her. Once he was satisfied that she was okay, he found the wolf corpse and carried it back to her. He said, "You're going to be best off skinning that down here. I'd rather not carry the entire thing back up. Are you doing well enough to take care of it?" He didn't know how badly injured Norta was, so he was considering the possibility of needing to carry her back up. The way he saw it, the only possible way to do that would be to fly. It would be risky, but now that he'd made it down, he thought he had enough of an idea of what it would take to make it back up. His wings would be pushed to their limits, but he thought he would be able to clear the obstacles he'd seen. |
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| Norta | Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:26 pm Post #23 |
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"Aye," she coughed. "I nae be hurt naew. Thank ye." It had hurt falling down those rocks. Hindsight being perfect, she should have left the frying pan at the top of the gorge as well. Bouncing off that hadn't felt good. But now she felt...well, pretty good. There was magic involved in that, she was certain - there had been an unpleasant buzzing in her forehead right before she'd felt better. Her grandmother was a witch, she'd gotten a bit of the ability, but not much. The magic itself was probably Atzolek's. She supposed you couldn't be half elf and half dragon without getting some ability. She sneezed. She was covered in chalk dust - head-to-toe white. She tugged off her kerchief and wiped her still streaming eyes with the underside of it, leaving a raccoon's mask of clean skin on her face and a triangle patch of ginger hair on her head. She tried to brush off her arms without much success. She gave a shaky laugh. "I looked like a ginger-haired ghost naew." She looked Atzolek over. "Ye look a wee bit white yerself." She chuckled. "Have o'bit of a hard landin'?" |
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| Atzolek | Fri Feb 28, 2014 3:09 am Post #24 |
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Apparently, the healing spell had done its job, such that Norta was no longer injured, or at least not enough to matter. He didn't verbally respond to her thanks, but he acknowledged them with a smile and a nod. She then commented about looking like a ghost because of all of the dust. He had to agree with her assessment of herself, and then he looked at himself and saw that he wasn't a much less dusty himself. "Yeah, I hit a couple of things on the way down and didn't exactly land properly. I'm fine, though. We might want to get this wolf skinned and get ourselves back out of here before anyone decides to go ghost hunting." He smiled at her, partly in response to his own joke. He didn't really expect someone to think they were ghosts, but he realized after he said it that it could be a real possibility. |
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| Norta | Wed Mar 5, 2014 4:59 pm Post #25 |
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Norta laughed, but quickly sobered. Mistaking them for ghosts would be exactly the kind of mistake some idiot around here was likely to make. Still... "I dinna think we have much t' worry about," she said as she stripped offer her mittens and rolled up her sleeves. "They dinna go t' the Laird's Men fer ghosts - they go t' a hag an' hags are well nigh cleverer than most folk. Mind ye," she added, turning away from him for a moment, "there are a few mad hags, but I nae think they'll be trouble." She put one foot on a rock and delicately reached up her skirt to get at the knife strapped to her thigh. She started stripping the dire wolf of its skin. Her movement were a little uncertain at first - it had been a looonnngggg time since she'd skinned anything bigger than a rabbit - but soon memories and body memory kicked in and she proceeded with a little more confidence. But it still took time. A dire wolf is a big animal and Norta's knife wasn't a skinning knife. It was the better part of a half hour before she finished and by then she was soaked in blood up to the elbows. All and all, it hadn't come out too badly though - she'd lost one of the animal's ears, mangled the tail pretty badly, and put a few rips in the pelt, but it was still an impressive specimen. She folded the legs and head in and rolled it up, then handed it over to Atzolek. She stretched and popped her shoulders, then looked around. On top of the cliffs, large black birds were already gathering. Vultures - hopefully. Sometimes the nastier things that lived in Calmonah came out on to the plains and they ate anything, not just carrion. "Come on," she said to the elf. "Let's find a way out o'here." |
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| Atzolek | Tue Mar 11, 2014 5:21 am Post #26 |
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Atzolek watched Norta as she skinned the animal. She didn't look the most skilled at skinning the animal, but she managed to do it, despite using a less than perfect knife. Of course, Atz knew, he probably wouldn't have done it as well as she did. He watched the surrounding area, but for a good portion of the time, his eyes were on her. He did notice, however, the birds gathering, waiting to turn what was left of the corpse into a meal. Once Norta finished the skinning, Atz accepted the skin. It took a couple minutes of messing, but he was able to attach the item to his sword-belt, which looped over his right shoulder. He then said, "I'm not seeing a good way out of here. Unless you see something, I might have to fly us out of here. It won't be easy, but if I do it right, I think I can get us out by flying." The way they'd come down had partially collapsed when Norta had climbed down, enough that it didn't look like a viable route back up. Of course, he wasn't about to start pointing fingers at her; she wasn't really at fault, and trying to pin blame wouldn't get them out of here. |
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| Norta | Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:24 pm Post #27 |
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"T' Gully tapers off at t'far end - quarter mile thataway," Norta said, pointing north. "Get's shallower - an' there more flint in the chalk." She wiped her arms and knife on her skirt. "Sometime's ground more stable there, but all the chalk causes rockslides an' there nothing mare dangerous than a flint rockslide, ye ken?" She started off in that direction, more to get away from the looming black figures on the gully edge than out of any desire to climb out of the gully. A short way up from the corpse she climbed on a rock and looked back at Atzolek. With her ginger hair coming out of her bun, blood on her arms and skirt, and the rest of her still covered in chalk, she looked like the banshee out legend. "Unless ye think ye really ken fly out, then - DUCK!" Something dark and gaunt with wings like a bat and a head like a rock pick dove at Atzolek from behind, it's mouth open to reveal a two rows of sharp teeth. It missed him by mere inches and flew at Norta. She reached her hand back, grabbed the frying pan, and smacked monster upside the head with a resounding clang. |
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| Atzolek | Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:03 am Post #28 |
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Atzolek was starting to think that Norta's suggestion to climb out the other side of the gully might be a good one. He knew that flying out was probably within his ability, but he didn't think it the best option. Just then, Norta yelled for him to duck, and duck he did. A rather mean-looking bird flew where his head had been, narrowly missing him and receiving a good smack with Norta's frying pan. Needless to say, the bird didn't last very long. Atz didn't want to know what would have happened if that bird would have hit him. After having seen that, he didn't want to be attacked by birds while climbing a possibly unstable cliff. At the same time, he didn't want to be attacked while flying, but he thought that the nature of his wings would deter birds from attacking him. He decided that his best bet was to pick up Norta and fly out of there. He said to her, "I'm going to pick you up and fly us out of here before any more birds attack us." Unless she resisted, he bent down a bit to place an arm near her knees and then lifted her into his arms. Once he was holding her securely, he jogged back a short distance to get himself a better position. Once he was ready, he started running and quickly took off into the air. |
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| Norta | Thu Mar 20, 2014 11:05 pm Post #29 |
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Norta had never flown before. She'd never even given it any thought. She didn't even really give it any thought when Atzolel grabbed her, beyond that she was certainly not going to object to getting away from those leathery bird things and whatever else Calmonah or the Hauntwood had decided to spit on to the Plains. But once they left the ground, flying took on a different and immediate presence. "Eep!" Norta squeaked and buried her face in Atz's shoulder, closing her eyes and trying not to think about how far away the ground was. I'm all right, she thought. I'm all right, jest try not t' think aboot fallin'. He'll dinna drop me. It didn't help. All of the things that could go wrong, all of the things that might go wrong, where wrapped up in her head like a ball of string, all bundled up tight and winding themselves tighter. |
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| Atzolek | Fri Mar 21, 2014 7:10 am Post #30 |
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Atz could tell that Norta wasn't comfortable with flying, but now wasn't the time to worry about that as long as she didn't do anything that compromised his hold on her. He was just coming up to the pillar that he'd hit earlier, but this time he was just high enough to clear it. Behind the pillar was about forty feet of straight gorge, followed by a tight bend. He gained as much altitude as possible in the straight section, straining his wings to push as much air as possible. He banked sharply into the corner, seeing that it was sharp but not actually knowing what was around the bend. He rounded the bend only to find himself heading into a wall. He continued turning. It was almost enough, but not quite. To keep Norta from being hit, he stuck out a leg toward the wall. His knee took a hard impact which bounced him off and away from the wall. It took him a couple seconds and cost him a few feet of altitude to regain full control, but he managed to do so. He then beat his wings hard, bringing himself up to just a few feet below the gorge's top edge for the next corner. Between his height and an easier corner, he made it without incident and then cleared the gorge's side, flying over a difficult-looking corner by just a few feet. He brought himself up about twenty feet above ground level to give himself a comfortable height before turning around and following the gorge back to where they'd entered. He landed by descending to ground level and slowing to a running pace and then using his feet to deal with the remaining momentum. The landing bounced Norta around a bit, but he was never at any serious risk of falling or dropping her. Once he was on the ground, he set her down, placing her on her feet (if she wasn't comfortable with standing, he would gently place her in a sitting position or face up on the ground). He then said, "We made it." For the moment, he stayed with her, giving her time to react to being back on solid ground. He also needed to pause for a few minutes because of the strain he'd just placed in his wings and the hit he'd taken to his knee. As far as he was aware, his knee wasn't seriously injured, but it certainly was painful. |
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2:37 PM Jul 11

