Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

"Yep." Adran nodded. Those that were hunting squeaked out of the forge through the door, and once again a golem was posted outside so they had a way in.

"Alright, so there's feeders everywhere. Everyone be careful. You kill something, you bring it back here immediately," Adran stressed the immediately, "We need to douse it before it disintegrates. Emfa, go do some deforestation. Remember, the bigger the animal, the more hide and more leather you get from it, but don't go after it just because it's big."

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"Lima lalajma?", Lyak asked once the group had left.

"She wants to know if you can show her how to move her hands like you do when you're weaving," Jerry translated, rifling through the bag. "Gods that's a lot of potions."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle nodded. “Right. Big is good.”

Asta glanced around. “Should we have a designated spot to bring things back? Or would that just be right here in front of the door?”

—————

Erina looked over before she smiled. “Of course.” She took one of the many strands of thread she kept ready for working and leaned down, slowly weaving as she normally did.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Adran nodded, Asta had a good point. "The bodies are gonna attract feeders, so we should probably..." He glanced around the frove, "There's a clearing a ways away in that direction. Drag your kills in there, leave them in a pile, I'll figure something out to keep the feeders away while I'm skinning." The sound of a tree falling announced Emfa was already at work.

-----------------------------------
Lyak watched Erina's work closely, mimicking what she was seeing with her own hands and that light string. Whatever Lyak was trying to accomplish, it wasn't supposed to be permanent, she wasn't using anything more solid than that string to copy Erina.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle and Asta nodded their understanding before heading off in separate directions to hunt.

—————

Erina smiled as she watched her. She enjoyed teaching someone how to weave, and she was pleased to see her getting it.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Beri also went to go find a feeder throat to crush, leaving Adran with his bow and his magic. "Alrighty then." Adran went to the clearing and started scooping out a pit and then a ring around the pit, working a spell to 'glass' the sandy soil just a few inches below the surface. "That oughta hold water," he nodded once he could confirm that the ring was solid all the way around, and began filling it with magic water. About at that time, Beri was already dragging a dead blight hound into the clearing, depositing it in the pit and diving back into the brush for something else to end.

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Jerry vanished back into the tent and dropped the flap to work in silence, leaving the others that stayed in the forge on the other side. While Lyak and Erina had their weaving, Nyah was still telling stories to Fia and Raine.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle eventually showed up with a saurian, leaving it in the clearing pit and heading off again. Asta brought in a blight hound himself shortly after.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Why did I even bring my bow?', Adran muttered, the two cats and Shuffle were bringing things in faster than he could skin them. He drew his mirror to make his double help him skin the critters, stacking the hides on the cart and having Amdis drag the meat off into the distance for other feeders to deal with.

Occasionally he did get a chance to actually do something with his bow, dropping the occasional feeder that followed the blood trail.

Sometimes, Asta would be able to see the shape of something large out there, definitely a beast, but by the time he got close enough attack it had vanished like it didn't even exist. Sometimes Shuffle would see it, or Beri, who was smart enough not to tangle with something that big outside of a rage state. A couple times, they were able to see it more clearly. Beri recognized it as a massive grizzly, but for Shuffle and Asta, who had never been above the surface, it just looked like a massive, round feeder. Maybe cuddly, depending on the angle they saw it. It certainly didn't look nearly as dangerous as a grizzly bear actually was in comparison to Asta, or compared to the other, bonier feeders.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta kept his eye out for this mysterious creature that seemed to be watching him, but for the most part he just continued hunting the beasts that actually came at him. Shuffle attempted to track the creature, but she never got far before something else would cross her path, forcing her to drag off another body. All in all, she was having fun though. Asta was enjoying it himself, more as stress relief than fun though.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The pile of hides grew as the hunters hunted. eventually, all three hunters returned to Adran at the same time, and when they looked up from dropping their kills, there, on the opposite side of the clearing was the bear. Just standing there, watching.

"Oh!", Drawing his bow, Adran loaded and charged a blast arrow at the bear. "Beri..."

"I know." Bears were dangerous on the surface. Down here, where corruption made beasts stronger? Who knew what this thing could do.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle crouched as she and Asta faced the beast. “I’ve seen that one!”

Asta nodded. “It’s been watching us...”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The bear cocked its head. It seemed to almost be... smiling at them.

"Do we kill it?", Beri asked.

"It's a bear, do you think we even can?", Adran replied.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle glanced at Adran. “I haven’t faced one before. Are they strong?”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Very, one could probably give Asta trouble if it was big enough." And this one was probably more than big enough. "Asta, wings." Jerry had painted Asta's wings with a pattern for pretty much this exact situation, after all, or at least an image of it.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded and shifted his stance before spreading his wings wide. Shuffle kept a close eye on the bear.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

In response to Asta's display with the wings, the bear rose up on its hind legs, easily dwarfing the chimera in height. Adran took a few sideways steps to put a tree between himself and the two giants, expecting one of them to attack the other.

Instead of attacking, though, the bear laughed. It sounded like laughing, anyway.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle held her ground with Asta, tilting her head. That didn’t sound like a roar. Was that how bears roared? She stayed ready to fight in case it was, but since this thing was big, she wasn’t going to make the first move.

Asta stared the bear down, watching for a move. If it truly was laughing at him, that implied intelligence, which made for a more dangerous enemy.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Beri growled, tensing up to grab Shuffle and run if the bear attacked. The bear did not attack, though. It started shedding, and shrinking. It looked like when Beri was polymorphed into a cat, but in reverse. It took on a humanoid form, still nearly as massive as Asta. It took a moment for all the bestial features to vanish, although it was difficult to tell. There was a goliath shaman in the bear's place.

"Hang on, Corrupted or Pure?' Adran switched to the native language the goliaths had spoken when he and Beri had last visited a tribe.

"Unlike many of my brethren, elf, I sought the wisdom of the world," the goliath responded, "I am Nalla Longwalker Elladaikno, you may call me Nalla." She leaned on her staff, that thing had to be made of some enchanted wood to be able to support her weight, she had at least three feet on even Emfa.

Adran lowered his bow. "We're good."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle looked over at Adran. “Friend?”

Asta hesitated before folding his wings.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Goliaths are the reason I am still here," Beri padded over to sniff around the goliath. Nalla smiled and knelt down to give the leopard a pat on the back. Her hand was bigger than Beri's head.

"My teacher told me stories when I was small that the tribe had accepted a wood elf into their midst." Nalla looked up, "He was a young hunter pleading for his leopard's life." Adran's jaw just about fell off.

"Better than a friend," Adran nodded to Shuffle. He put his bow away, "I didn't think your tribe would let anyone leave." Nalla shrugged, only saying she had no place in the tribe.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle stood upright at that, walking over to sniff curiously. Asta just sat where he was, looking around for any signs of trouble.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

While the group was having this discussion with the new appearance, Joanne came to investigate why she wasn't hearing anything from the hunters. "Who is this?"

"Joanne, Nalla Longwalker Elladaikno," Adran introduced the paladin to the goliath, "Nalla, this is Joanne, she's our paladin." Another tree fell, "And that's Emfa."

"You have found a tribe of your own since you left mine," Nalla noted, "Who is the chieftain?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle tilted her head. “What’s a chieftain?” She paused. “What’s a tribe?”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"It's a..." Beri paused and realized he did not know how to explain that in terms Shuffle would understand. "Which one is the leader, I had not thought of that before."

Nalla found that amusing, "There are only six of you, it was not a serious question!"

"There are sixteen of us, actually," Joanne corrected.

"Well then one of you must be the leader." Nalla looked around those present, expecting one of them to come forth as a leader.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle sat down. “Jerry’s our leader. She always has the good plans, and things go bad without her.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"We don't actually have a leader," Adran shook his head, "Jerry's our strategist, but we don't really have a specific leader."

"Can I meet this leader?", Nalla asked. Adran and Beri glanced towards the forge.

"I mean, you can try," Adran shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she hates everyone right now."

----------------------
Inside the forge, Jerry sneezed inside her workspace while she unscrewed the cap to one of the bottles she pulled out of the bag. Outside the tent, the remaining party members could see the structure jumping around before the tent flap flew open and a tentacled monstrosity swinging Jerry around tumbled out. "HOW THE FUCK DID HE GET A KRAKEN?"

Lyak's eyes went wide and she jumped onto Erina's carapace to hide behind the arachne from the juvenile kraken until Jerry could somehow get it back in its bottle, and then hit the floor covered in cephalopod slime.

"I swear, on whatever god is looking my way at this point, I'm gonna find whoever built this place and I'm going to cut his heart out with a rusty spoon."