Kaleeth nodded, then answered in a barely audible whisper. "Yes, but..." She began, taking a few steps toward the nearest body of water. She examined the muddy shoreline for a moment before pointing to a disturbance in the mud, which appeared as if something had slid across it. "...it is in the water. Very difficult to find underwater, and dangerous. Even Saxhleel do not fight crocodiles in the water. Need to get them to shore, or surprise it with an arrow."
Standing up, Kaleeth raised her snout in the air to try to catch the scent she detected earlier. With how overwhelming some more mundane scents were, it was very difficult to gauge distance or direction, but she thought there might be an ogre nearby. Perhaps it would be easier to go after a crocodile, but an ogre would provide far more meat, and would be a more challenging kill; certainly a better way to prepare and train her skills. She brought herself lower to the ground, then, with a subtle motion, signaled for Janius to follow. Without a breeze, she couldn't really use his advice, but she drew upon everything the Master-Hunter had been teaching her to move silently, and try to hone in on their prey. Some of the foliage did look like it had been disturbed relatively recently, and as Janius mentioned, there was some evidence in the mud that something had passed by.
As Kaleeth was familiar with the area, she had a suspicion of where their prey might be after they drew closer. They came upon a large hill with a steep cliff on one side, and a cave leading a short distance underground. She had explored the cave as a child, so she knew its layout. Her father, however, had stopped her from visiting it due to the fact that creatures sometimes used it for shelter, which she had a feeling was the case in this situation. She hid in the foliage within sight of the cave, then looked to Janius next to her. "See that cave. Ogres are smart, they like to use them for shelter. What do you think, should we look inside?" She asked.
When Sabine grabbed Tunxeek and pulled him out of the bush, he moved easily enough, but when he was out in the open, it revealed a rather gruesome-looking sight. His right leg was terribly bloody, with dozens of cuts and gashes. It looked like something had grabbed a hold of his leg with a mouthful of teeth and would not let go, tearing his flesh to shreds in the process. There was no indication of where the creature was or why it left, but there was no scent of a predator in the area. He looked up to Sabine with tears in his eyes, unable to form words for a few moments until he finally managed to say "help" in a soft, strained voice.
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Might be difficult for me to write this without giving Tunxeek too much dialogue. I'll try, though.
"Lamias do not attack our village, and we do not attack them, but if someone is alone in the marsh, they might get attacked, then eaten. The lamias are not like us, but...they are not...not like us. It is hard to explain. I think we have talked to them before, but it is better to avoid them. Safer that way." Kaleeth explained. She had to admit, she did not like the current state of affairs with the lamia, but there was nothing she could really do to change it, not at the current point in her life.
Eventually, the pair got to a point that Kaleeth recognized, so she became more quiet, and readied her bow. "Okay, we are close now. Let's keep a look out for prey, and predators." She explained, raising her nose to see if she could catch a scent on the wind. The marsh was a dynamic place, so it was often hard to track prey with how much it changed. Even scents could be suppressed by the marsh, though not to the extent as signs such as tracks. Nevertheless, she could get a general direction of where she thought a scent might be coming from, though it was vague at this point, and distant. It smelled sort of like a mix between an ogre and a crocodile, so it was possible that both were in the area. She started moving along more quietly, but still felt safe enough at the moment to ask another question in a lower voice. "Do you have advice for tracking I might not know?"
By the time she reached the halfway point, Sabine was rather far from the village. At the speed she was running, she was making excellent time, so she had a bit of time to spare for her choice when the path diverged. One path, marked by a blue ribbon, seemed to lead to a shallow river. The area beside the river was very uneven and hard to walk on, but the river itself came up only just above Sabine's ankle, at the present point, at least. It was possible that the river could deepen later. The other path, marked by a red ribbon, was completely dry, at least by Black Marsh standards, but had thick reeds as tall as Sabine's shoulders. Those were the only two marked paths, but there was one other thing of interest at the intersection. Just as there had been one villager at the quarter way mark to observe her passing before returning to the village, there was another at the halfway mark. This time, however, he was not standing on the sidelines watching for her to pass, he was laying on the ground partially obscured by a bush, crying out for help in a pained, familiar voice. It was Tunxeek, and as Sabine ran closer, he looked up at her with a look of pain and desperation.
Eventually, the pair got to a point that Kaleeth recognized, so she became more quiet, and readied her bow. "Okay, we are close now. Let's keep a look out for prey, and predators." She explained, raising her nose to see if she could catch a scent on the wind. The marsh was a dynamic place, so it was often hard to track prey with how much it changed. Even scents could be suppressed by the marsh, though not to the extent as signs such as tracks. Nevertheless, she could get a general direction of where she thought a scent might be coming from, though it was vague at this point, and distant. It smelled sort of like a mix between an ogre and a crocodile, so it was possible that both were in the area. She started moving along more quietly, but still felt safe enough at the moment to ask another question in a lower voice. "Do you have advice for tracking I might not know?"
By the time she reached the halfway point, Sabine was rather far from the village. At the speed she was running, she was making excellent time, so she had a bit of time to spare for her choice when the path diverged. One path, marked by a blue ribbon, seemed to lead to a shallow river. The area beside the river was very uneven and hard to walk on, but the river itself came up only just above Sabine's ankle, at the present point, at least. It was possible that the river could deepen later. The other path, marked by a red ribbon, was completely dry, at least by Black Marsh standards, but had thick reeds as tall as Sabine's shoulders. Those were the only two marked paths, but there was one other thing of interest at the intersection. Just as there had been one villager at the quarter way mark to observe her passing before returning to the village, there was another at the halfway mark. This time, however, he was not standing on the sidelines watching for her to pass, he was laying on the ground partially obscured by a bush, crying out for help in a pained, familiar voice. It was Tunxeek, and as Sabine ran closer, he looked up at her with a look of pain and desperation.
Kaleeth kept her nose to the air to watch for the scent of predators, though until they reached her hunting grounds, she was not especially looking out for prey. Until then, there was no problem with her talking to him and explaining a bit more about the marsh. "There are many creatures we can kill. There are usually many hackwings flying around, but they are fast, hard to hit. You have to sneak up on them when they rest, or eat. Voriplasm are easy to kill, but really hard to move, and to cut up right. They have this...stuff in them that...what is the word? It is...what your body does to food. It melts skin and flesh in a few seconds, then they drink it up. You have to drain that stuff before moving it. I think these hunting grounds are far enough from the inner marsh that we might see alit or kagouti, maybe. They usually aren't here, though. I know I can kill things like those, but there are other dangerous things we need to watch out for. Wamasu sometimes hunt here too, so we need to keep away from those. A tribe of lamia also lives here. I think I could kill one, but I would not want to. They are smart. They don't make weapons or build things, they do not have a...a civ-ill-i-zay-shaun, but they can talk. Not many know Jel, but they are still smart. I just wish they did not always attack strangers."
"The difference in the paths is that one will allow you to pass the trial, while the others will lead to failure. I'm sorry, but you have to judge these paths for yourself. I cannot give much description on what you will face." Thorantilth interpreted for Shaleer. Meesei placed a hand on Sabine's shoulder and looked down at her with a calming expression.
"I cannot say much about the trial as well, but what I can say is that you will not need any specific knowledge of the marsh to pass. All you need is your good judgement, which I trust in completely." Meesei added.
Shaleer-Za walked over to a marked spot on the edge of the village and conjured up a small ball of light just above her hand. When she started, it would pulse at a regular interval to help her keep time. "When you are ready, walk up to this line, then start I will start your time as soon as you start running. Be sure to keep up a good pace. If there is anything you do not wish to carry to cut down on weight, leave it here and I will make sure it is returned to you."
"The difference in the paths is that one will allow you to pass the trial, while the others will lead to failure. I'm sorry, but you have to judge these paths for yourself. I cannot give much description on what you will face." Thorantilth interpreted for Shaleer. Meesei placed a hand on Sabine's shoulder and looked down at her with a calming expression.
"I cannot say much about the trial as well, but what I can say is that you will not need any specific knowledge of the marsh to pass. All you need is your good judgement, which I trust in completely." Meesei added.
Shaleer-Za walked over to a marked spot on the edge of the village and conjured up a small ball of light just above her hand. When she started, it would pulse at a regular interval to help her keep time. "When you are ready, walk up to this line, then start I will start your time as soon as you start running. Be sure to keep up a good pace. If there is anything you do not wish to carry to cut down on weight, leave it here and I will make sure it is returned to you."
i suppose I could post, though I'm a bit lost on what to do next. What would we be doing at the forge, Konan and Ryonara?
I have posted. I thought it would be interesting to give each character a small team of crew members to help flesh out the crew. I'll let you all decide everything about them, just try to make sure that the majority of them match the demographics of Leyawiin, in that they are mostly Imperial, Khajiit, and Argonian, with a few of other races. You can give basic descriptions, or intricate backgrounds and stories. Your choice. Also, if you don't feel like dealing with it, you can have your character refuse.
"Yes Cynric, come in, and shut the door behind you. I'm promoting officers." Sharee explained quickly before turning her attention to the Orc. "Well, Malakaus, Sarel is in charge of repairs and maintenance, so he can tell you if he needs you. As for you, I did notice that you got those ballistas working, on your own initiative, even. You seem to be good at leading people, or at the very least, loud enough that they'll listen to you, so I'm making you weaponmaster. Basically, you're in charge of everything offensive on this ship, including maintaining and upgrading the ballistas. You'll also be in charge of the crew operating them whenever we're in a fight.
Deciding that she was done wasting time waiting, Sharee immediately moved on to her next officer. "Noelle, I saw you in the infirmary after we cleared the ship, and the bit of information you gave Kilith before you signed up says you have knowledge on healing. And, even if you deny it, I saw you trying to take charge when you were storming the middle deck, so I know you're perfectly comfortable with ordering people around. That is why I am putting you in charge of the infirmary. I don't care if you are or are not the best restorationist we have, or if you even do the healing yourself; I only care that you keep our people in good health. We have other healers and alchemists, so you'll be in charge of them. You will be making sure that the infirmary has everything it needs and is running smoothly."
Lastly, Sharee motioned for Cynric to approach her. The necromancer was one of her more interesting crew members, at least as far as his skills were concerned. Even if he didn't listen properly, his cooking was excellent, something that seemed unimportant, but could raise morale during a long voyage. More importantly, he could make sure their food was safe to eat so that the crew remained in good health. "And you, Cynric, are obviously our chef. You'll keep everyone well fed and their spirits high, but more importantly, you'll also be in charge of keeping our food stores safe and sanitary. Make sure our food doesn't rot before we can eat it, and that it isn't riddled with disease. It doesn't matter how good of fighters we have if half my crew is dying of dysentery. That also means you are in charge of general sanitation on the ship. Now, to answer your question before you ask, no, this does not mean you are going to be spending your days swabbing the deck, but it does mean you are in charge of the ones who are. Your job is one of the most important there is for daily life on this ship, so if we end up with maggots in our breakfast, I'm going to force feed them to you."
With the roles of everyone that was present assigned, Sharee decided to move on to the next order of business so the others could all get to work more quickly. "Now, in addition to your roles aboard the ship, I have taken note of the combat capability among all of you. That means that I am probably going to end up taking the lot of you with me on tasks that require small groups. In larger fights, though, I want to make sure our fighters have proper leadership. It is for that reason that I have taken the list of our surviving crew and divided the combat capable ones up among you. I want each of you to be in charge of a small group of three or four. You will lead them and make sure they work well together when it is time to fight." Sharee walked over to her table, grabbed a small stack of parchments, then passed them out among her officers. "Each of these contains a list of a few names with descriptions of what they are good at...or at least what they said they were good at. I recommend talking to them to make sure they have the skills they say they do, and just to get familiar with them. Think of them as your own personal team. Now, I recognize that not all of you might be well suited to that particular kind of job, so if you don't think you're cut out lead a group like that, tell me now and I'll find someone else."
Deciding that she was done wasting time waiting, Sharee immediately moved on to her next officer. "Noelle, I saw you in the infirmary after we cleared the ship, and the bit of information you gave Kilith before you signed up says you have knowledge on healing. And, even if you deny it, I saw you trying to take charge when you were storming the middle deck, so I know you're perfectly comfortable with ordering people around. That is why I am putting you in charge of the infirmary. I don't care if you are or are not the best restorationist we have, or if you even do the healing yourself; I only care that you keep our people in good health. We have other healers and alchemists, so you'll be in charge of them. You will be making sure that the infirmary has everything it needs and is running smoothly."
Lastly, Sharee motioned for Cynric to approach her. The necromancer was one of her more interesting crew members, at least as far as his skills were concerned. Even if he didn't listen properly, his cooking was excellent, something that seemed unimportant, but could raise morale during a long voyage. More importantly, he could make sure their food was safe to eat so that the crew remained in good health. "And you, Cynric, are obviously our chef. You'll keep everyone well fed and their spirits high, but more importantly, you'll also be in charge of keeping our food stores safe and sanitary. Make sure our food doesn't rot before we can eat it, and that it isn't riddled with disease. It doesn't matter how good of fighters we have if half my crew is dying of dysentery. That also means you are in charge of general sanitation on the ship. Now, to answer your question before you ask, no, this does not mean you are going to be spending your days swabbing the deck, but it does mean you are in charge of the ones who are. Your job is one of the most important there is for daily life on this ship, so if we end up with maggots in our breakfast, I'm going to force feed them to you."
With the roles of everyone that was present assigned, Sharee decided to move on to the next order of business so the others could all get to work more quickly. "Now, in addition to your roles aboard the ship, I have taken note of the combat capability among all of you. That means that I am probably going to end up taking the lot of you with me on tasks that require small groups. In larger fights, though, I want to make sure our fighters have proper leadership. It is for that reason that I have taken the list of our surviving crew and divided the combat capable ones up among you. I want each of you to be in charge of a small group of three or four. You will lead them and make sure they work well together when it is time to fight." Sharee walked over to her table, grabbed a small stack of parchments, then passed them out among her officers. "Each of these contains a list of a few names with descriptions of what they are good at...or at least what they said they were good at. I recommend talking to them to make sure they have the skills they say they do, and just to get familiar with them. Think of them as your own personal team. Now, I recognize that not all of you might be well suited to that particular kind of job, so if you don't think you're cut out lead a group like that, tell me now and I'll find someone else."
Goodnight
I'll describe the diverging paths once she reaches them.
Kaleeth had gathered her weapons just as Janius had been. When she approached him, she had her bow slung across her chest with her quiver on her back, a sharpened bone dagger tied around her waist, and her spear in her hands. The excitement was palpable in her expression as she nodded enthusiastically to him. "Of course. let us go; I know a good place to hunt in the area."
As the pair started to walk off from the village towards Kaleeth's hunting grounds, she started to talk to him once more. Her excitable personality and general fondness for Janius meant she could not stay silent for long. "I very ex-...I am very excited to see you hunt. I have never seen anyone hunt without a spear or bow. Master-Hunter always tells us to watch for new ways to...approach situations. He...might not like me learning from a Imperial, but...I am not caring.You say you have not hunted in Black Marsh much yet, though, right? Do you think you can track as well? Maybe I can give advice?"
Thorantilth gave a nod, then began to lead Sabine and Meesei over to the edge of the village, where the trial would be beginning. "This next trial is not directly hazardous, but it is more dangerous than your last. You will not be required to do anything directly dangerous to your health, but this trial does, for the most part, take place our in the marshes, so be on your guard. I will let Shaleer-Za explain in detail once we arrive at the start, but I will say the trial is essentially a foot race against time. However, it is more nuanced than a simple test of your speed and endurance. We have several people positioned along the path we have laid out for you to observe your progress. Speaking of which, you should get to your position too, Tunxeek."
Tunxeek nodded affirmatively, then ran off into the marsh just as they reached the edge of the village. Waiting for them was a brown-scaled Argonian woman with orange eyes and no horns or fins to speak of. Like many villagers, she wore very simple clothing, but was tattooed in a less intricate, but similar manner as Thorantilth, indicating her service to the Hist. Thorantilth motioned to Sabine as they approached, prompting Shaleer-Za to begin her explanation. As she did not speak Cyrodilic, Thorantilth served as her interpreter.
"Greetings, I am Shaleer-Za, and I am in charge of your second trial. This is a test of your speed and endurance, but most of all, your judgement. We have marked off a path through the marsh with colored cloths tied around the trees. You are to follow them as quickly as possible to reach your destination. The path does loop around, so you will end up back in the village, though not necessarily in this spot. The objective of this trial is simply to run the course in under fifteen minutes, but the course itself is not so straightforward. The first half of the race is simple and direct, but around the midpoint, the path diverges. This is where your judgement will be tested. There are many paths you may choose, but only one will allow you to complete your trial. I should also mention that you only get one opportunity to pass this trial, so choose well. Given the length of the course, the time limit is not too restrictive, but nevertheless, I would recommend carrying as little excess weight as possible and keeping up the highest speed you can without exhausting yourself prematurely. Do you have any questions for me before we begin?"
As the pair started to walk off from the village towards Kaleeth's hunting grounds, she started to talk to him once more. Her excitable personality and general fondness for Janius meant she could not stay silent for long. "I very ex-...I am very excited to see you hunt. I have never seen anyone hunt without a spear or bow. Master-Hunter always tells us to watch for new ways to...approach situations. He...might not like me learning from a Imperial, but...I am not caring.You say you have not hunted in Black Marsh much yet, though, right? Do you think you can track as well? Maybe I can give advice?"
Thorantilth gave a nod, then began to lead Sabine and Meesei over to the edge of the village, where the trial would be beginning. "This next trial is not directly hazardous, but it is more dangerous than your last. You will not be required to do anything directly dangerous to your health, but this trial does, for the most part, take place our in the marshes, so be on your guard. I will let Shaleer-Za explain in detail once we arrive at the start, but I will say the trial is essentially a foot race against time. However, it is more nuanced than a simple test of your speed and endurance. We have several people positioned along the path we have laid out for you to observe your progress. Speaking of which, you should get to your position too, Tunxeek."
Tunxeek nodded affirmatively, then ran off into the marsh just as they reached the edge of the village. Waiting for them was a brown-scaled Argonian woman with orange eyes and no horns or fins to speak of. Like many villagers, she wore very simple clothing, but was tattooed in a less intricate, but similar manner as Thorantilth, indicating her service to the Hist. Thorantilth motioned to Sabine as they approached, prompting Shaleer-Za to begin her explanation. As she did not speak Cyrodilic, Thorantilth served as her interpreter.
"Greetings, I am Shaleer-Za, and I am in charge of your second trial. This is a test of your speed and endurance, but most of all, your judgement. We have marked off a path through the marsh with colored cloths tied around the trees. You are to follow them as quickly as possible to reach your destination. The path does loop around, so you will end up back in the village, though not necessarily in this spot. The objective of this trial is simply to run the course in under fifteen minutes, but the course itself is not so straightforward. The first half of the race is simple and direct, but around the midpoint, the path diverges. This is where your judgement will be tested. There are many paths you may choose, but only one will allow you to complete your trial. I should also mention that you only get one opportunity to pass this trial, so choose well. Given the length of the course, the time limit is not too restrictive, but nevertheless, I would recommend carrying as little excess weight as possible and keeping up the highest speed you can without exhausting yourself prematurely. Do you have any questions for me before we begin?"
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