[b]The Night-Walkers, Population 41 (21 in Khlin, 13 in Imlona, 8 in Kaaba)

Age of the Awoken Darkness, Night of the Second Flame

Techs: Trapping (2/3)

Kaaba[/b]

Kiebal looked up to the sky in concern. "On a night like this, dangers abound," she thought to herself. A night of this kind was when the flame was closest to victory, and its creatures can be dangerous at such a time. The servants of the flame come out at night only at a time like this, where the holy moon is enveloped in a circle of flame, transformed into the second flame. As much as the Heart-Tree protected them from many large predators, Kiebal was still nervous. The fight between that worker and her on the topic of dangers in working spawned an idea in her head. "With the Twins of the Moon living here now," she thought to herself, "we cannot take foolish risks." She had tried to cover up the areas where the more dangerous predators could enter, but it had failed once. A worker was wounded and had to be temporarily taken to Imlona for healing. It was now obvious that something had to be done, or it might be worse next time. Kiebal's second attempt was to set something up that would injure the creature, hurt it so that it would keep away. She had set up a series of arrows, buried into the ground so that the heads were the only pieces that stuck out.

Kiebal was going over this new plan in her head when the scream of a Night-Walker was heard, followed by the screech of panther. She ran down in a panic. She wondered what happened. Had the trap worked? Had it worked on an unwary Walker instead of a predator? She reached the bottom and found a Walker on the ground, still alive but stunned by the sight. A panther, one of the mighty servants, one of the great enemies, lying dead, puncture wounds on the paws and arrows protruding from its sides. "Vile flame," she said to herself, "this works. I wonder, though, could we actually kill one of these demons?" She smiled as the archer who was on guard walked up to the panther and dragged it off to be butchered for the next night's feast.

[b]Camp in Grasslands[/b]

[@Shoggothought]
Near the borders of the Wasteland, the End of the World which contains the village known to its inhabitants as "The Settlement", Haixun and his band of scouts made their camp. Haixun was once again trying to figure out exactly what happened in this strange land. They had arrived, only to be taken to a pale, tentacled being that was unlike anything they had ever seen. In this tent, he seemed to appear out of nowhere, speaking words that they only half-understood before being sent away to another one of their leaders. What did they call their chiefs? Matrs, Haixun thought. He had sent them to another, Matr Thought. That much, they understood. After entering, it was revealed that there was a great crowd of these tentacle-beings, woodmen, and the corpse-creatures. Unlike Matr Death, this one was a woodman. He seemed to send everyone off after seeing the group. Then, after introductions with this yellow-robed woodman, he started asked a thousand questions with a single breath, none of them making any sense. Thankfully, the moon brought a new one of these strange creatures. This one was named Matr... what was it? Matr March. That was it. He took them outside and spoke quickly, the scout group barely able to follow any idea of what he was saying. Matr Thought then came out and spoke something that made no real sense and gave an object to March. March then gave it to Haixun and promised to send someone. Someone to teach, I think. And what was up with their thorns? March had a crown of thorns, Death had bracelets. It looked incredibly uncomfortable.

With that, Haixun began observing the object that they gave him. The... "Hims?" What does that mean? Its a strange object that can be separated. When separated, on the strange material are stranger symbols. Some seemed to reappear many times, while others are less common. And it seems to be written in some red substance. Like red sap, from some desert tree... but there are no trees in the desert. Could it be blood? Haixun shook his head, this "Settlement" seems to have a strange obsession with pain. What could it be? What could it possibly be used for? It looks like it would be very hard to make. What is its purpose? These questions plagued Haixun, but he decided that he would wait for the promised "visitor".

With a grin, Haixun said to his group of scouts, who were in their own conversations and thoughts, "What a strange day!" They all laughed, excited to see what other wonders this great world holds.