Gemma stared at the flames, trying to process the mans answers to her questions, they were sparse and not at all detailed answers. Though she did wonder how this man knew anything about "summoning" circles. May was right, it did sound like it was from a science fiction novel. Were they all brought here for a reason? If the man was correct, that didn't bode well with Gemma at all. It really quite frightened her, because surely the purpose to gathering them all here must be nefarious?

Gemma was silent for a bit before answering May, getting lost in her own thoughts. She finally looked up when she realized May was still speaking to her and shook her head to clear it.

"No, luv. It's alright, you did exactly what you had to do. If another situation were to arise I would expect you to survive and that means running from those beasts."

Gemma's smile faded a bit and she glanced back at the flames. "The other man who stoppped to help me up ended up saving my life. The monster caught back up with us and tackled him, which gave me a chance to run. So he saved me... at the cost of his own life."

Is this what would eventually happen to all of them? Would they be picked off one by one, or would they get through all of this? Gemma looked at May and then at the others. Strangers she didn't know but who she would have to eventually trust in order to survive.

As everyone settled into the night their senses dulled, they did not have the wildness of their ancestors and so did not know of the dangers of the dark. While the beasts had eaten several of them they were not satiated.

Susan Bly left the group without notifying them as she went into the woods to do her business. Embarrassed because of the zero privacy this place provided, she told no one to watch out for her. The others conversed around the fire and readied themselves to sleep never hearing the silent screams of the woman. They were strangled by the blood that poured into her throat as one of the panther beasts took her by surprise and was quickly joined by a group of others.

Mia Ellis was closer to Susan than the others as they were both girls and Horace had kept his distance when they first appeared. When she did not see the woman around the camp, noticing her absence for more than five minutes, she began to worry and quietly stood up from her corner of the leafy bed and started to go searching for the woman.

Like a storm, for panther lizards attacked the group at once. One managed to tackle Mia down, but bit into her shoulder instead of her throat. Mia screamed in agony and fear rousing the others from their growing sleepy stupor.

One of the panthers made a straight line for Sasha, lunging to pin the man down. The other two made a pincer strike heading for Horace and a second seemingly going for Sasha as well. Sasha had killed one of the panthers before, maybe the blood on his hands, a reminiscent essence of the kill, remained and it presented him as the largest threat of the group. Horace was just unlucky to be close to the man making him a target as well.

Mia was dead, at least to Horace, that left aiding himself and then Sasha. Without a second thought, without a moment of hesitation he lunged for the small fire pit. He had seen the panthers rush the group before Mia was tackled and had reacted in that instant. The others were later to react by mere seconds, sometimes that is enough to decide whether you live or die.

Horace took thick log at least as thick as his wrist that was at least three feet long with the tip glowing red with embers. It would serve as his weapon in the fight to come.

"To the lake!" Horace cried out. "The water! To the lake!"

He hoped the others would follow. Inside the water the beasts would be slower and easier to repel.

He charged the panther that rushed him fully intent on delivering a good wack to its eyes with the ember lit tip before rushing towards the water.

Ysran bolted upright. There was a scream, and it was close. To close. As he scrambled to his feet, Ysran saw the same Panther-Lizards that they had just eaten attacking the group, one was had already gotten to one of the girls, and there were four more, two going after Horace, and another going after Sasha, with another close behind.

"To the lake! The water get to the water!" It was Horace. He was holding a long burning stick, facing against one of the Panther-Lizard, and began to charge it. Ysran grabbed the rock knife, just in case.

Running towards the beach of the lake, One of the Panther-Lizards going after Sasha started turned his attention to him. Sprinting towards the beach, the Panther-Lizard eventually caught up to him, running side by side to him Ysran took this opportunity to shove the rock knife into the Panther-Lizard's eye. The Panther-Lizard fell to the ground roaring in pain.

Ysran had finally made it about knee-deep in the water when something slashed the back of his leg, looking behind him he saw several fish almost... circling him. While distracted, the Panther-Lizard jumped onto Ysran, knocking him down, just barely above the water. As the Panther-Lizard kept it's claws on his shoulders, Ysran could only slowly hold back the gaping maw of the Panther-Lizard as it slowly brought it's snout onto him. Ysran could think of only one thing to do. Ysran stared deeply into the remaining eye of the Panther-Lizard, the rock stuck still in the other. Using all of his concentration, Shouted with all of his might: "QUASABA PAR!"

The fish swimming around him had now jumped out of the water, and onto the Panther-Lizard. Slicing the leg of the Panther-Lizard gave Ysran just enough time to grab the rock knife out of the Panther-Lizard's eye, and straddle on top of it. He then used his knife to slice open the Animal's throat and stab it repeatedly. As the fish devoured the Panther-Lizard and Ysran added his efforts, the Creature eventually roared one more in pain and collapsed. Now for the others.

Sasha rolled over, his eyes flying open when he heard the commotion. He was just in time to keep the slobbering, wet jaws of one of the local predators from tearing his face off. Weaponless, all Sasha could do was hold the cat thing back as it viciously tried to tear him apart. Sharp claws dug into his bare torso. Finally, Sasha hurled the thing away from him, making it land on it's side right beside him.

The cat thing scrambled to get back up, but Sasha was on it in an instant. Lacking a weapon, he snatched up a rock and held the thing down by the neck as he bashed its head in several times. This earned him a few more cuts as the the creature flailed beneath him. Another one was rushing up to his side.

Sasha turned and met the next one head on. He threw the rock, cracking it over the forehead to slow it down. He than grabbed another rock and rushed the beast before it could get it's whits back. He slammed the rock against it's head, tossing it to the side. That seemed to piss it off more as blood oozed from the wound by it's ear. The cat lizard lunged at him, but Sasha refused to let himself get pinned again. He aimed another strike at the cat's head, this time putting all of his weight behind it. The cat thudded to the ground, and he used the rock to smash it's head as well.

By the time he was done, the lacerations on his torso had bled all down his front side. He staggered a bit, looking around at the rest of the seen with a bit of a dazed look. What the hell was going on here? Why were these cat things so determined to kill them? Was there not anything bigger and dumber to eat in the forest? Certainly humans didn't make the best prey.

There were still one more beast left, prowling back and forth as it stared hungrily at the people in the water. It seemed to be considering it's options as it paced the bank. Sasha moved towards the fire pit, his gate a little staggered. He doubted that these beasts, like most animals, weren't too fond of fire. He picked up a burning log and started making his way towards the creature, holding the log in one hand, and trying to put pressure on one of the deeper lacerations on his side with the other.

When the screaming started Gemma tensed up and her mind seemed to fall miles behind her body. Like the men she reached to the fire and grabbed one of the burning logs, not caring about the embers stinging her hand. She gripped it between both of her fists and turned to May. "Run! Get to the water with the others!"

Gemma looked around and saw Horace running toward the bank and one of the other women lying dead on the ground. She saw Sasha fighting and then one more panther creature left. She ran full speed toward the thing and swung her burning log right into its ribcage. It fell to the ground yowling and before it could regain its balance she jabbed the burning end of her stick into its eyes then beat it over the head repeatedly, screaming all the while, till it lay still. Chest heaving, she looked toward the water and saw nothing else moving.

She ran closer to the water to check on the others. "Everyone alright?"

"Just peachy," Sasha grunted through gritted teeth. With the last beast dead, he dropped the burning stuck and eased himself into a sitting position. He had several lacerations across his chest, but the deepest was on his side, just under his left arm. He held it tightly with one hand, but the blood was quickly running all the way down his side.

He cursed to himself as he realized that his team medic was no where to be found. Along with any medical supplies. In this kind of setting, a wound like this could easily be fatal. That would be a bitch wouldn't it? Survive the wars and battles only to be killed by an overgrown gecko.

Ysran scrambled back to land, and back near the fire.

"I'm... Mostly fine." He pointed to his shoulder wounds. "I'll be fine, but Sasha, you need medical attention. Fast. Perhaps there's an herb or something we can use? I know a Spider's web can help with wounds. Anybody know anything about medical plants?"

Ysran glanced over Sasha's body. There were claw marks all over his chest, but none were very deep. Those would likely heal in time, but the wound on his side needed to be treated quickly, he was losing blood fast.

"I suppose as a last resort we could try to cauterize the wound, but... I don't think it'll work to well..."

Horace was surprised with Gemma's berserker battle fury, she killed the very beast he was aiming to take down.

Once the dust settled down he waited to see if there were going to be any more of the creatures attacking them, when no more came he eased himself out of the battle adrenaline and started to asses the damage. Sasha was going to need to be taken care of, his wound was going to kill him if it wasn't immediately worked on. The others were somewhat more or less fine without major injury.

With the battle high dying out everyone would soon be entering a daze and that was going to be counter productive.

"Anyone know medical practice well enough to patch up Sasha?" he asked the group giving them something to work on to keep them going. "Ysran you seem somewhat practiced with cutting things up, can you patch up as well?"

Horace was referring to how expertly he had dissected the fish, he hoped Ysran's skills varied well enough to save a life though he did turn his eyes to the girls to see if they would pitch in. Maybe one of them was a nurse or something.

"I know I can't help him so I am going to go look for the other woman and check on what happened to her," he said leaving the group taking his burning stick with him. It was terrible lighting as it constantly dimmed but some lighting was better than none.

He walked in the direction of the beasts and was not surprised to find Susan in a pool of her own blood, her corpse was still eerily warm giving the feint of life. He closed her eyes and for a moment his eyes wondered over her body, such a shame the woman had been a looker. He thought about burying her but that would be a time consuming exercise, instead it would be better to cremate her, it might attract other predators, but they would be tight for time regardless and finding food and shelter tomorrow would take greater precedence.

He grew distracted by the corpse and found himself passing a hand over it feeling the wounds created by the beast, the femininity of the woman was compelling, but his interest was in how precise the beast had been. She had been delivered a fatal blow almost instantly, such a surprise attack was incredible. The beasts had not proven difficult to deal with once faced head on, but this level of attack suggests that they were capable of greater coordination. Maybe what they had killed were unseasoned hunters.

Sasha slowly sunk from sitting to laying. His already pale skin was even paler, and his whole body was beginning to tremble. He was cold to the touch, but it was hard to tell if that was left over from the chilliness of the night, or from the blood loss. Probably both.

As precious seconds ticked by, he seemed to be slowly losing his connection to the living world. He felt like he was drifting, like a tiny raft in the sea, and it kind of made him want to hurl.

Ysran looked around him, there weren't any strange looking plants that would hopefully conveniently have healing properties. Looks like there was only one thing to do. Running up to the fire, Ysran grabbed a red-hot stick. Walking back to Sasha, he gripped it as close as he could to the hot part, and sat down. "Alright. Anybody have any objections? Speak now or forever hold your peace."

May watched in horror as she stood in the water behind Gemma. She wasn't aware that her new found friend was capable of such hands on brutality. While she was greatful, she still found herself rather alarmed especially after watching the longer haired man fight his own battle. She wasn't sure how to feel about what was going on or what to make of it. All she did know was there was a more pressing matter: Sasha.

"I do!" May shouted. Quickly stepping out of the water and making her way over to Sasha, May examined the wound on his side. "Here, let me put pressure on it. I'm sorry if this hurts," May said as she knelt next to him and pressed both of her palms against his wound. It felt odd to be touching a stranger and such a way. Them being naked and him being a man didn't help, but she tried to ignore the awkwardness as best she could.

"Hey, if that water looks clean, can you guys bring some over here? We need to clean this," May said to no one in particular. She could only imagine what those beasts had been walking around in and what could have infected him when they struck him. "I feel like spider webs would be hard to find in the dark. Do you guys remember where you found those berries? I imagine that the leaves of an edible fruit probably aren't poisonous." May could only think of a few exceptions from some of her cooking classes, but she hoped that the majority rule would win out here. "We could try to use them to cover the wound and then longer leaves like tall grass could be used to tie them in place."

"You need to seal it first," Sasha said, his voice much softer than ever before. "Use a hot rock to burn it shut." That was about all he could manage. The rock, unlike the stick, wouldn't leave debris inside the wound. And cauterizing it was their best bet to get the heavy bleeding to stop.

Sasha winced when one of the new woman came over her help. Her hands replaced his to hold pressure on his wound, letting Sasha's finally fall to ground in front of him.

Gemma looked around, she felt oddly shaky after her strange bout of fury when she killed that creature. She spotted one of the hides and grabbed it and lay it flat in front of the fire. Then she grabbed a stick and used it to roll a decent sized rock onto the hide. Then she tucked it in like a baby in a blanket, leaving the burning top exposed and carried it over to Sasha and Ysran.

"Here's a rock. Stopping the bleeding I think should come first, then May can clean it and bandage it using her suggestions. I'll gather the leaves and things."

She placed the rock in Ysran's hands, carefully so he wouldn't get burned. Gemma figured she could probably do it herself but she really didn't want to. There was enough blood on her hands already. She left the group, not caring or feeling too much, and went to find the berry bush May mentioned and the leaves and grass May would need to dress Sasha's wound.

She found the berry bushes a ways into the forest and picked several handfuls of leaves, tucking them under her arm. Then she picked as many tall reeds of grass as she could when she found them tickling her calves as she walked. Gemma happened to be looking up when she spotted a tree with large, umbrella like leaves that she thought might hold water. She grabbed five of them and then headed back to the camp.

Without looking at Sasha or Ysran she gave May the berry bush leaves and the tall grass. "I found these, I'm going to see if they will hold water. Be back in a jiffy."

Gemma waded into the water with the large leaves and held one under the water. When she lifted it it broke and she cursed under her breath. She put less water in the next one and lifted it carefully upward. It held this time. "Good," she mumbled to herself. She let the leaves float next to her for a moment while she washed the blood from her hands, trying her hardest to ignore the tears streaming down her eyes.

"Alright, here goes."

Ysran pressed the openings of the wound together and put the hot rock on it. Sasha, understandably, cried out in pain, kind of, as the red-hot rock sealed his wound shut. After a minute or so passed, Ysran checked the wound. It was sealed shut, but with a few burn marks. Sasha had quite a few scars, so hopefully he wouldn't mind a couple more. Checking the wound further, he confirmed that the bleeding had indeed stopped, but now came the matter of cleaning and dressing it. All that was left to wait for Gemma.

Horace returned to the group but did not say anything about his findings, they were tired and had too much on their minds already. There was no need to add more stress to them right now, tomorrow would be a new day.

Sasha looked like he would make it so he let the group continue as they were taking a squat near the fire tending to it. He wondered if they should skin the beasts, but he didn't say a word.

Sasha bit back to cries of pain that desperately wanted out. He clenched his teeth together to quiet himself as best he could. They couldn't afford getting the attention of more predators. When the rock was pulled away, and the wound was mostly sealed, the nasty burn left behind was sizable. It looked quite a bit like the massive scarring on his back.

Sasha resigned himself to laying still on the ground, to weak to get up, and hurting too bad to move. The smaller wounds across his chest still oozed slowly, and the drying blood was starting to flake off.

May thanked Gemma and leaned back as Ysran came by with the hot rock. May couldn't watch, though she considered forcing herself. She knew she was probably going to have to get used to stuff like this soon. This place seemed to be filled with such horrors.

"O-okay," May quavered as she repositioned herself next to Sasha again. "L-let's get ypu cleaned up." The burn looked as stomach turning as it smelled. Taking the leaf full of water from Gemma, May carefully poured it over his wound. "I'm sorry," say blurts out while watching for a reaction. The water washed away most of the fresh blood and some of the dried. Slowly and carefully, May uses a few of the leaves to dry the area before using the rest to cover it. She then enlisted Gemma's help to support him so she could wrap the long grass around him. Some blades had to be tied together to make it all the way around, but they did the job.

Once Sasha was all patched up, May gave him his space, but stayed close enough to keep on eye on his condition. "Get some rest," she advised, giving him a weak smile. "I...I think I'll be staying up for rest of the night." May felt the tiredness settling in, but the stress of it all made it hard for her to even imagine sleeping.

"Well, that certainly could've gone better. But at least we're alive, right?"

Suddenly Ysran was struck by a question: What time is it? Ysran looked up to the sky. The sun wasn't visible, but a little bit of light could be seen on the horizon. Day would be here soon.

"I'm going to guess none of us are going back to sleep, huh? 'Cept maybe Sasha."

As Gemma helped May turn Sasha, so she could doctor his wound, she grew more weary by the minute. His injury looked terrible and she almost dry heaved at one point. If she had had any food in her stomach she would've surely lost it. She looked up when Ysran spoke to everyone.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you but I'd like to try and sleep at least a wee bit. I'll try and sleep as close as I can and still be comfortable to Sasha so he won't get too cold and lose body heat."

SHe curled on her side and scooted her body so that her back was against Sasha's unwounded side. Modesty be damned, she thought, survival had to come first and she didn't want anyone else to die tonight. She closed her eyes and tried to let sleep sink in.

?Berry Trees
5x Pantherian Lizard Hides
4x Pantherian Lizard Corpses
?Fish from lake
?Fresh Water From Streams
1x Stone Knife
1x Fire Pit



Sasha fell victim to a high fever and could not be moved keeping the group locked in place. Having no way to move him and keep him warmed to help him in his struggle against the debilitation of both fever and blood loss the group resorted to building a moderate shelter near the lake. There were moderate size stones around the lake and in the streams, some well enough shaped to act as stone axe heads while their blades lasted. Thin trees were cut down and using these makeshift axes and used to build a satisfactory shelter.

Taking advantage of the structures of one cliff the tree logs were stacked around an indentation that provided enough room for three individuals to stand comfortably or enough space for everyone to rest within. The total time spent on the shelter was no more than two days, most of the daily labor was spent on gathering and sorting the logs into position. For the moment food and water were in abundance within the wilds of the forest.

Only once did the Pantherian Lizards return, by this time Horace had fashion wooden spears and the feline lizards were repelled, none of them were killed on either side.

The skins were fashioned into loincloths for the men, one of the skins was wasted in the attempt to learn how to cure and treat leather. An acceptable and very basic method was discovered and used on the rest of the hides, though the leather had a lingering smell and was not as soft or as comfortable as would be if done with skilled hands these hide derived clothes would have to do. The process to do this was simple, they used sandy water and rough rocks to wash away the fat and other excesses on the hides then sun dried them before wearing them as skirts. Thin leather straps were cut and used to crudely sew the hides into a sort of hide skirt. Another Thin strap was used as a sort of belt. Unfortunately the straps would last no more than a week before drying, wearing out, and snapping, but for the moment they would serve their purpose.

The women did not have enough hide left over to cover their breasts, Sasha's own loincloth would have to wait for another kill. Due to the fact that the beasts were half feline and half lizard only part of the hide could be properly used with what skill they possessed, the rest was waste.

The group had more free time to do other activities such as exploration and gathering once the shelter was finished. Sasha required only momentary check ins to keep him alive and going. His body was both sturdy and strong and would out live his wounds.


-Discovering a method to keep the loincloths functional.
-Developing better weapons and gear.(Every Day items can be very useful when you have nothing)
-Begin turning the area around the shelter into a permanent settlement(nomadic venturing is an option as well).
-Developing relationships. (this can be anything defined as a form of bond relation to one another)


Time limit of two weeks.



SASHA REGAINS HIS STRENGTH - After two weeks time Sasha is mobile again, fully able to move around though his strength is reduced to a quarter of maximum. Able to perform minor tasks that cause minimal strain. Able to venture, but cannot climb above a limber walking speed, jogging will cause damage to his wounds.

Debilitation: 2 weeks more.