Jeremor

Urban Shadows - an urban fantasy, creature of the night RPG

Count me in too.

What Are You Listening To?

Heliotropic

"What?" He responded defensively. "I was hoping it'd choke and die! What's wrong with that?"

His defense wasn't exactly solid, of course, and he found it hard to really look at her. But then, she had knocked him to the ground in front of a deadly monster. Something about that made him feel more in the right. Snatching up his staff, he watched Sef and the beast struggle out some more, not moving forward. There wasn't exactly a whole lot else for him to do now.

The snake monster was quickly losing it's strength now, not even able to hold it's arms up any longer. In addition to bleeding profusely, it was also gasping in weird pitiful sounds. It wasn't long before it slid back against the wall, down to the floor, and ceased to move.

Heliotropic

The snake reared backwards as the spear drove in a little deeper, eager to escape the way it was tearing up it's insides. It slashed at the air a few times, fast enough to whistle in the air, but they were wild. hissing, opening it's mouth wide, it found itself pinned against the wall of the cave as Sef pushed it away. The fight slowly drained from it, weakly swiping in an attempt to knock the spear away.

Meanwhile, Joachim was smarting from being knocked to the floor. Though his knee didn't feel so great from getting knocked on the ground, it was his pride that hurt most of all. He stood and watched the struggle between Sef and the snake thing, feeling uncertain. The wooden staff was laying on the floor beside the campfire. Instead of reaching for it, he reached into the campfire with his black hand, feeling nothing. He took aim at the pinned beast, waiting, and threw just as it opened it's mouth once more. The burning chunk went straight in, and the snake gulped it down in surprise.

Heliotropic

It dawned on the male ranger that he relied heavily upon Grint's spikes and teeth. When something needed to be killed, it usually turned out that his beast had it under control. This was now a glaring weakness made all the worse every second. He was happy when Sef had stuck the snake, but just restrained himself from cheering as he saw it hadn't killed it immediately. Now a green ooze leaked from the wound around the bobbing shaft of the embedded spear, bubbling and frothing encouragingly. The snake's blood, probably.

But, his companion was weaponless and all he had was a weird arm and a long stick. As the monster slithered forward a little, raising it's scythes once more, Joachim gripped his staff in both his hands like a sword. He ran forward, raising it above his head, and swung wildly at the air. It was a suicidal attack, lacking in expertise or finesse, but it did make the snake hesitate... whether in fear or just confusion, it was difficult to say.

Heliotropic

Quite confused by what was happening, Joachim stopped and watched her leap into battle with the weird snake monster. Why had she sounded so put-off? Did he do something wrong? He couldn't really think of what, not in the short time he had before she'd attacked their predator.

The coal frightened the snake unmistakeably, it dodged it's agile head out of the way and watched the glowing coal soar by it. What it did not dodge, however, was the point of her spear snicker-snacking it's way through the air and scoring into it's softer pale underbelly. With a hiss of anguish, it slithered back with lightning speed and then raised both of it's spikes. As it chopped them through the air, Joachim reacted just enough to batter one of them off-course from Sef's vital bits. The other descended with bloody revenge on it's mind.

Heliotropic

The snake didn't seem overly aggressive. It hissed more than anything, waving it's weird spike-hands intimidatingly. All of it's scales were dripping wetness, like it had just popped straight out of some little pool of water somewhere. Joachim shivered to think what else might be hidden deep within those tunnels. For the first time in his life, he suddenly felt claustrophobic.

Reaching out, he grabbed a light hold of Sef's shirt with his blackened arm to get her attention. "We can't leave behind all your things. You might need them. Watch my back." And like that, carefully, he crept forward towards the creature, bending low to try and pick up the bedroll and anything else he could reach... before the strange snake lost it's patience.

Heliotropic

It was the sound of a slithering scaly belly rubbing against wet stone, unmistakable for anyone that's heard it before. Growing louder and louder, it was then punctuated by a hissing noise like a person shaking a bag full of debris. Then, it's head poked from the tunnel to the right and answered all questions. The monster was a thing like a snake, a tube-like body full of rough pointed scales. It's head was slender and thorny, and as it raised up into the more roomy alcove it unfolded a pair of arms that looked like nothing but huge scythes. They matched the fangs in it's mouth.

Joachim sprang to his feet, gripping his staff defensively. His first impulse, to call for Grint, was useless. With nothing else but his hard wooden staff, he pushed aside his fear and glanced to Sef. Her long pointy spear made him jealous. "Seen one of these before?"

Heliotropic

Smiling to himself, Joachim watched the fire. But, then his smile faded, into a look of concentration. "Yes, it is where we're going." He said, musingly. Then he remained silent for a time, deep in thought. Sometimes, a ranger had no other company but for his thoughts. It took Joachim a minute to remember that he did have other company.

"Sef." He said slowly. "You are going south, to the long mountains and beyond, following the stories of your elders. You entire journey is all rife with danger." Joachim stood up slowly, drawing nearer to the fire. "I am doing the same exact thing. What if, we-"

From deep within one of the tunnels, branching off from the alcove, a wet slithering sound echoed loudly. It came closer, growing louder by the second.

Heliotropic

Even inside the cave, Joachim could feel this slight tug that drew him towards the south. It was the natural sense of direction that couldn't be taught or really learned, an internal compass that pointed the way as surely as a piece of magnetized iron in a cup of water. A ranger didn't get too far if he was wandering in circles all day. Even one extra hour out there in the wilderness could be one too many. Danger was everywhere.

Joachim stubbornly resisted looking at his arm, and forced himself not to try and hide it beneath his robe. It was a struggle. "The same stories my grandmother told." He agreed faintly. "She spoke of it as a graveyard, with sadness in her eyes. South, past the long mountains, into the valley of sweat. Insects as big as your head that will feed on your blood while you sleep. Heat that suffocates you. Living trees that reach the moon. Ground that tries to swallow you whole..." He trailed off, then looked up at Sef. "She did have a habit of exaggerating, though."