These woods are nice for a casual walk or even if you have a more adventurous urge. Bubbling hot springs lie just around the bend, fruits can be found to suit every taste bud, and rumor has it there are talking Tali who can speak Lambastian! (+2 Precision)

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The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/11/2015 10:01 PM

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Li breathed a huge sigh of relief as they walked away from the village. "Phew! I thought we'd never get out of there." Night was already falling, and normally he wouldn't have turned down an offer to stay with someone if the chance arose, but as it was he would rather put as much distance between himself and that old lady as possible. Besides, it wasn't as if he or Mercury were any strangers to camping out or travelling through the night.

Mercury snickered. "Yeah, she really had it in for you, didn't she?"

Li made a face at her. "It's not funny, you know. I was really fearing for my life back there." He shuddered; when he closed his eyes he could still see her glaring at him, wooden spoon in hand.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/11/2015 10:05 PM

"We didn't get any answers either," Mercury mused. Li sobered at that, remembering why they had stopped in the village to begin with. There had been some sort of... animal, apparently, going through their stuff during the night. Some of the things it had taken were easily replaceable, but others were not, and at any rate it was going to be a hassle if this continued for much longer.

Heaving another sigh, Li said, "It's too bad... Maybe I should've asked more questions." Not that he had a chance, with the old woman talking over him all the time, but the man who had rescued him from her clutches had seemed amicable enough.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/11/2015 10:09 PM

What he had managed to get out of them wasn't terribly encouraging either. The old woman had spoken of a... a guardian of the forest or something. Li had no idea what that was, and he hadn't been able to ask for more details before they'd fled the scene. The woman had spoken of paying respects to it, but hadn't elaborated on how they were supposed to do that either.

"Ugh," said Li, mussing up his own hair. "Forget it. Let's just go. We might as well get out of this range if it's going to be this bad."

Mercury snorted. "And you were so excited to come this way too. Now look at you."

"Hey, they could make off with your saddle next," Li retorted. "If you want to carry me bareback, then let's camp out a little longer. And I don't suppose you'd miss all your nice brushes? It's already taken one of those too."
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/11/2015 10:13 PM

"Wait, what?!" Mercury exclaimed, coming to a sudden stop on the dirt path they'd been following. Li pitched forward, but fortunately they hadn't been going too fast, so he was able to keep his seat. "My brushes? What do you mean they took one of my brushes? Which was it? Which one?"

"Hey, calm down! Geez," Li said.

The Riopath turned to fix him with her steely silver eyes. "Li, if this is some sort of joke, I'm going to ditch you here. See if I don't," she threatened.

"It's not! They took the... gosh, what's the wide bristly one called?" He dug through one of the packs, rummaging around. It was too dark to see into it properly, but he knew the contents well enough to go by touch.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/11/2015 10:16 PM

Mercury tried to crane her head around to look too, and very nearly did unseat Li this time as she twisted herself about. "The stiff one or the soft one? Here, let me see!"

"Hey, hey! Watch where you're going!" Li said, grabbing the reins and yanking hard to steer Mercury away from the edge of the road. One misstep there and they'd be sent tumbling down to goodness knows where. "We're still on a mountain, remember? ... Ah, I think your mane comb is gone too. It was here yesterday."

"My mane comb?!" screeched the Riopath. "That's it! Forget this, we're staying here! If I have to get tangles, then we're not leaving until I find this good-for-nothing guardian and give it a piece of my mind!"
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 3:51 AM

... And that was how they ended up camping out in the mountains yet again.

Li heaved a big sigh as he poked the campfire with a stick, deliberately tossing a glance in Mercury's direction. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't paying any attention to him. The Riopath stood guard over the pile of bags set out on the side of the fire opposite where Li was sitting. She looked out at the dark as if enemies lurked around every corner. Just looking at her was kind of stressing him out.

"You know, you can probably give it a rest," he said. "If it came out while we were awake, we would've seen it already."
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 3:57 AM

Only now did Mercury turn to fix him with her glare. "You're not helping, so you don't get a say in this," she declared, then went right back to standing guard. Li blinked at her vehemence, but there was nothing for it but to heave another sigh and mind his own business. This was Mercury's beloved grooming supplies they were talking about, and there would be no calming her down for days.

"Well," he said, "I'm going to turn in. You can do what you want." He was as good as his word, laying out his bedroll next to the fire and crawling into it. It was a clear night, so there was no need to set up any sort of tent--- the mountains didn't get much rain this time of year, so said the locals.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 4:01 AM

"Some help you are," said Mercury, but he waved her off with one hand.

"I'll leave the thief in your capable hands. Claws. Hoof-things," he said. "Give him what-for for me too, would you?" He could hear her snort, but she didn't say anything more to him, so Li turned over and settled himself into his bedding, closing his eyes contentedly.

The thing about travelling is, it got you pretty good and tired. He fell asleep almost immediately, as he always did, lulled by the crackling of the fire and the sound of the wind through the trees.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 4:04 AM

The next thing he knew, Mercury was shrieking, and he came awake with a start. "What--- What is it?" he mumbled, his voice still thick with sleep. He must have been sleeping for a while. He felt sluggish and nothing would move as quickly as he would have liked, but he drew the blade he wore beneath his clothes with a motion that was almost smooth. Considering how often he'd practiced it, that was only to be expected, but he was in no state to face any sort of assailant otherwise.

Fortunately for him, there wasn't one. As he began to comprehend what he was seeing around him, he realized there was no one there except Mercury and himself.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 4:06 AM

"What is it?" he asked again. The Riopath was clearly agitated; even in the dark, he could tell that much. Her breathing was heavy and the lines of her silhouette were tense. The fire had mostly died, but a few smouldering embers threw their flickering light about, catching the shining silver dapples on her otherwise dark hide.

"It's gone," she said. At first, Li didn't understand what she meant. But then the memories of their exchange before he fell asleep came back to him, and he got up abruptly to look through their bags. Sure enough, one of them was missing--- the one with the rest of Mercury's brushes.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 10:51 PM

She was, unsurprisingly, absolutely furious. This had the fortunate if unexpected side effect of making her utterly incoherent for quite some time, which gave Li a chance to wake up properly and get his bearings. The campsite didn't show any signs of disturbance, but that wasn't anything new. This thing had been getting the better of them for a while now. He hadn't even noticed anything was missing the first few times, or chalked it up to his having misplaced them instead.

He sat up with a grunt. He thought about saying something to Mercury, but she was still standing there staring down at the pile of bags, so he reconsidered and busied himself with rekindling the fire instead.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 10:54 PM

Eventually she recovered enough to start pacing, at which point Li took his cue to speak. "So," he said, "I'm guessing guard duty didn't work out so well?" He flinched in anticipation of her rebuttal, but when it didn't come, he eyed her again warily. She wasn't paying any attention to him, however. He could see her mouth moving, and realized belatedly that he could hear her muttering something under her breath. Listening closer, he thought he heard something like a litany of curses. His eyebrows shot up as she mouthed out an especially choice word. He hadn't thought she even knew that kind of language.

"H-Hey," he said, trying a smile, "it'll be okay. We'll... find the thing come daytime, right? Maybe it left a clue."
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 10:58 PM

She wheeled on him suddenly, and this time he froze, but her anger wasn't for him. "We'll find it alright," she said darkly, then put her nose to the ground and started sniffing around the bags. Li watched her, more curious than anything for the moment.

"Are you finding anything?" he asked. It was kind of awkward to admit considering he'd been travelling with Mercury for so long, but he didn't know exactly how good a Riopath's sense of smell was. Mercury's breed was purportedly a desert species, so she had always been able to sniff out water when they were someplace dry, but beyond that he had never seen any demonstration of its potency.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 11:02 PM

Again, he found his question ignored in favor of what he could only assume was her devoting her full attention to searching for a scent. At first there was nothing--- there must have been nothing, or else she would have told him or gone haring off in its direction. But then her ears picked up, and she snuffled at one particular bag more closely than she had done before. Li found himself leaning in almost unconsciously, anxious for a sign.

"Well?" he said, when he could wait no longer.

Mercury looked hesitant, however. "It's... strange. It's faint, but there's the smell of... incense," she said, not with any degree of certainty.
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Re: The Way of Forgotten Things [HUNT] [self]

Postby crow » 10/15/2015 11:07 PM

Li could see why she was puzzled. That hadn't been what he expected to find either, not out in the wilderness like this. Then again, he had been expecting an animal, but the thefts might have made more sense in the context of a human perpetrator, or at least a sentient one. "Incense, huh? Maybe they work for a temple or something?"

Mercury swished her tails, her own version of a shrug. "It's the only thing I can find. Otherwise the bags all smell like us." She paused and took another sniff, ears put back again in displeasure. "It's weak too. I don't know if I'll be able to track it."
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