Ashiore resisted the urge to shiver as she finally stepped foot into Norfova. The devastated region was a far cry from the friendly forests of Brisshal where she was first dropped in. Whether it was just from the gravitas of the situation or something actually in the air, she definitely felt something change. Well, yes, the ground was noticeably less green and quite a bit more barren. But, well. The air felt heavier, and Ashiore herself felt smaller as she left Brisshal's welcoming atmosphere. Lucky that she had found a partner to come along with her on this mission. Ashiore snuck a glance back up towards @Gwyn ap Herne. Ashiore had no idea what to expect, even while volunteering herself to take on this quest. Not being alone in this endeavor was an enormous relief. Scouting missions? Reconnaissance? She definitely had experience in those two areas, oh yessiree. ...Sarcasm wasn't as fun when she was only speaking to herself in her head. Letting out a quiet huff, Ashiore turned to survey the dry, rocky environment beyond. Darker sky, twisted rock formations in the distance, a lingering malaise to the air... Yep, definitely checked off all the boxes of a really bad place to be in. "So, uh," she began, fighting the urge to nervously flick her palm menu on and off. "It looks like this is really it, huh. Real different from Brisshal, right? Any ideas where to start first?" Thrown die: 35
Gwyn couldn't bring herself to actually say as much, but the tainted magic that infected this place unsettled her. She was relieved to know she wasn't alone in that, but they had a job to do all the same. All apart of the world, she supposed, and she certainly wasn't against it. Wide swathes of land rarely, if ever, tread by common foot. Open skies that had witnessed things she couldn't begin to imagine. Tales burned and soaked into this place that had yet to be sung into ears or told in excited hushes at a campfire's sides. Her muted fear of the blood magic's lingering blended with her excitement at the dawn of something new. Perhaps something dangerous, perhaps something deadly, but always something new. At least the ranger could be honest with herself and own up to being an adrenaline junkie. There were certainly worse things to be. She cut her eyes over to her partner for this particular scouting venture and grinned at her words. "Yeah, it sure looks it, doesn't it? 'Go look around all the dead creepy landscapes, don't die, and tell us what doesn't managed to kill you when you get back.' Perfect place for that kind of goal, huh?" The taller of the two brought her arms in front of her, fingers weaving together and turning palms out as she stretched. Hopefully she didn't have to put her longbow to work. Gwyn wasn't exactly kitted out at present and the strange egg cradled in a makeshift hammock of belts at her lower back shouldn't be seeing the heat of battle. "High ground is always the best bet when walking new turf. Get the lay of the land and all. We'll have to keep our eyes open for tracks, remains, resources. Anything that might be of use. Shall we find ourselves a nice rise, Miss Ashiore?" Thrown die: 8
Perking up at Gwyn's suggestion, Ashiore nodded happily. "Yeah, sounds good. There are a couple of hills over there to the right, let's go! Oh, and just Ash is fine with me!" Thus far she hadn't seen anything, but there were warnings that the region was rather dangerous so it took a lot of Ashiore's willpower to keep a lid on the idle chatter. Not that she would've been able to have a decently long conversation anyway--it would be quite a trek to get to the foot of the hills and she was working up quite a sweat already. She wasn't quite to the point of wheezing with every breath, but clambering up the rocky slope would probably do it. 'I should've made my character fitter than this!' she lamented. Although, Ashiore was already decently fitter than Dongxue was in real life, to be fair. Alas, growing up as a near shut-in had pretty bad consequences for her physical fitness. Taking a deep breath and a brief moment to recover, Ashiore took a glance around. Nothing quite yet. Some dry bushes, little piles of gravel from the occasional strong gust of wind, a pretty good unobstructed view of the horizon where- -wait, what was that? "Did you see that?" Ashiore tilted her head back and squinted up the hill. "I thought I saw some rocks moving up there." It could be just the wind blowing some errant stones about. Or it could be a creature. Or maybe this heat's just getting to her and she's started to see things. Thrown die: 10
"Ash, it is." Gwyn nodded to herself before cracking her knuckles and setting off. She expected the other woman to carry on talking, at least a little, but was pleasantly surprised that she seemed to take their scouting seriously. It wouldn't have bothered her either way, but while the silence might have been awkward to some, they slipped into it easily. The ranger picked her path quick and quiet, eyes darting down to check the next few steps to be ensure she stepped right before they flicked back up to the landscape around them. Sometimes she forgot it was a game, between the beauty and the danger. She'd even considered turning off the pain soak setting, but hadn't quite worked up the nerve for it. Even here, with the threat of the corrupted magic looming over it, the land was beautiful. The breeze at least seemed lighter than the more stagnant pockets of air in the lower areas. The wind from kinder wilds traveled far and she appreciated that it decided to leave them downwind of whatever might be ahead. Gwyn wasn't sure exactly how realistic the game got in some things, but a carried scent was a possible give she didn't care to offer. What kind of hunter would she be, after all? Apparently not a sharp enough eyed one, yet. Ash spoke up around her short breath about movement up ahead. Gwyn pulled her longbow out and took a lower stance. "You took nature magic, yeah? Think you can cause a distraction to lure... well, whatever it is out?" As she spoke she fitted her hand in the worn groove of the admittedly trashy starter bow she'd gotten. It was lower tier, but serviceable. It could kill. That's what counted. "If there's a monster lurking up ahead we might be able to get the drop on it if it doesn't realize we're here until we're dropping a mountain's worth of damage on it's head, yeah?" She grinned, a wild light sparking in her eyes at the thought. Of course, there might be nothing ahead at all, but one had to be ready! The hunter hoisted up the long weapon, arrow already resting against the taught line of the bowstring with a little support from her free hand. It didn't fight her enough as she drew back her arm in preparation. God, she couldn't wait for a new one. Well that wasn't right at all was it? Qora for nature and its bounty, perhaps. Or Endra for fleet feet and luck. Thrown die: 8
Ashiore narrowed her eyes further and tried to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun as she looked even harder for whatever she thought she saw. Still nothing, but that didn't stop her from being on edge. Sure she'd fought off a couple of creatures before, but those were the little guys in the training area for newbies. This could be big. This could be dangerous. Actually scratch that, it almost definitely would be dangerous, living in a place like this! She was still trying to search for something moving up there when Gwyn suggested that she cause a distraction. "Oh! Right." The thought hadn't occurred to her, but it would be sensible. Gwyn certainly looked like she knew how to use that bow of hers, and more than that, she looked eager to use it. Ashiore swiped her hand to the side quickly, bringing up her spell menu. She still hadn't memorized the incantations she had yet so the menu was a lifesaver. "Hmm..." Well, one of her two options was pretty worthless at the moment. There wasn't an abundance of grass or vines around, and anyway that spell was better suited to being a snare rather than a lure. And she couldn't see the creature to target it anyway. So, second option then! She selected the second spell on her list, and her hand began moving on its own, tracing out the runes of the incantation in midair. They glowed a pale green briefly, and faded as she felt her energy being sapped from her body. Whoof, that was still quite the drain! Emerging from not quite where she aimed it, a bright purple blossom erupted into being from a small pile of rocks, petals unfurling with an audible poof! A small burst of yellow pollen flew into the air as the flower bloomed. Hopefully it would startle whatever was up there, if there was indeed something there, into moving. Thrown die: 84
There was an electric tension growing in the air at the threat of a possible fight looming on the horizon and Gwyn fought to steady her arms and her aim. The tremor of excitement was hard to fight. She hadn't been at this long and every fight, even with smaller things, still came with a rush. She'd heard people complain about grinding, but she'd found it fun. Her sharp eyes picked out the differences in behaviors, sought out prey that changed their methods to counter players on occasion, figured out the paths they roamed and what was necessary to draw their aggro or how far they could be kited. There was always a new tip or trick to learn in their posture, their expression, the actions and steps that they took. How could one ever fall into a dull pattern of boredom? "Let's do this!" Gwyn nodded at Ash and kicked a foot behind her to strengthen her stance. It put her feet a little wide, but it gave her more room to twist and snap her aim to wherever whatever appeared. Unfortunately, that was to be her downfall. Ashiore cast, the ranger distracted for a moment watching her magic work, and a bloom whirled up from the rocks with a cloud of gold. It was a pretty thing, though Gwyn would bet that the pollen probably wasn't agreeable with too many things. She could imagine a spell like that spitting poison that dazed, wearied, turned, or poisoned. Maybe heal, but it certainly wouldn't be something to throw an enemy's way if so. Either way, the clatter of the rocks and sudden plume of pollen in the air courtesy of the purple bud was enough. From behind the pile winged a large bird, easily the size of a large canine, that tore towards them. Gwyn fired. Gwyn missed. To an embarrassing level, to be frank. The arrow whizzed roughly two feet past the tips of the massive thing's right wing. She wasn't expected it to come right at them as it spooked and she certainly wasn't expecting whatever it was to fly. Luckily the thing, despite its size, didn't seem aggressive. Had she had the time to check, the name would probably have been the grayed out blank of the lowest enemy tier. However, it did startle the mess out of the self-proclaimed hunter and Gwyn had moved back after her loosed arrow in surprise. Her ankle rolled and her stance was too wide to catch herself. The pinwheeling of her arms did a grand total of nothing to save it. As the sickly looking buzzard-like creature took off past her, only a feet few above her head, Gwyn toppled like a sack of bricks and landed hard on her ass. While she managed to throw back her firing arm in time to catch herself, it still roughed up the skin down her arm with a grating burn of small stones and the grind of dirt into soft flesh. She stared blankly at the air above her, where the shadow of it has passed, and blinked dumbly. She suddenly tipped her head back with a choked noise that broke into a laugh. "You- you saw nothing!" She let herself flop onto her back and tried to cover her face with her hands. The grin on her face was a bit too robust to be hidden behind them though. "That was awful. I couldn't have hit a mountain with that shot and I got laid out by a bird. I'll bribe you like... three compliments and a free ticket to the gun show if you tell no one." Gwyn heaved herself up and wiped the tears of flustered amusement from her eyes. Her tone was light, an obvious joke to make herself feel better about absolutely eating shit. "I swear this never happens to me," she joked up at Ash with a grin. Thrown die: 13
The pair enjoys a moment of brevity until one of them notices a faint rumbling off in the distance. the two turn to examine the source of the sound, and are alarmed to see a large gathering of almost twenty armed warriors headed in their general direction. The Two confer quickly and come to the conclusion that it's likely a coincidence, but that they should return to the safety of Brishhal as soon as possible; though the individual members of the approaching group cannot yet be made out, it is safe to assume that they are not out on a weekend errand to find new pieces to add to their collectible dinner place cabinet. ((Your individual scores have been recorded for the unique gieaway, and your total score has been added to teh exploration total. At least one more post each, and I'll wrap up the thread, though you can keep going as long as you like, and rolls are no longer nesecary. Thanks for participating!)) @Gwyn ap Herne @Ashiore Evretto
"Oh no, Gwyn!" Ashiore gasped as the ranger went tumbling to the ground. The birdlike creature shortly sped off into the distance, but as long as it wasn't attacking them, it barely merited any consideration in Ashiore's mind. The hard cracked dirt and errant rock piles could be really dangerous if Gwyn had hit her head! Ashiore jogged over to the other woman, frowning in concern. The sudden laughter took her by surprise, but even so she felt herself relax a bit. When Gwyn moved to cover her face with her hands, Ashiore spotted a bit of skinned elbows, but nothing else seemed to indicate that she was severely injured. If Gwyn was making jokes about it already, it hopefully wasn't that bad. She still doesn't have any of the healing spells that she heard most Naturamancy practitioners get. "My lips are sealed," Ash said with a slight smile when Gwyn asked her for secrecy. "Accidents happen. There was this time that I going through the forest in Brisshal and I just tripped over a tree root and fell right into a puddle of mud. Like, actually face-first straight into the puddle. It was awful." She can laugh off the memory now, but it was pretty unpleasant at the time. She had zero illusions about her physical ability to actually haul Gwyn upright, but she extended her hand and helped Gwyn to her feet. As Gwyn stood up, Ash's eyes caught the makeshift sling of cloth tied around Gwyn's waist. "Oh! Is your egg okay? I hope nothing bad happened to it when you fell." Reminded of her own egg, Ash set her staff at the crook of her elbow and brought her own egg out of her inventory. "I guess I probably should be carrying this guy around more often? Or is it safer in my menu? Well, either way, hopefully they'll hatch into something friendlier than that bird thing," she joked, oblivious to the cloud of dust stirring in the horizon behind her.
They both got a good laugh out of their respective situations and she snorted good-naturedly at the tale told to soothe any ruffled feathers. Gwyn dipped her head in thanks at the other woman's words and took the offered hand. With a hand and her feet beneath her, Ash offered more grounding than actual muscle to get up. Luckily she more than made up for that herself. She set to brushing herself off as soon as she stood and twisted to pat down the seat of her pants and the smears of the area's dirt along the backs of her pants legs. The egg bundled at the small of her back hadn't touched the ground in the fall since she'd landed on her ass, but the ranger still unhooked it to check. The shell was strong enough, but still felt soft at the touch and her fingers barely made a sound as she pet across the smooth surface. "All good," she cooed quietly as both an answer to Ash and a comment to the egg, "They're a sturdy little thing. Going to be brilliant, I'm sure of it!" She couldn't wait to see what it was. The mini-pets still weren't as common of a sight in the game as she'd initially expected when hearing about it, but they didn't have a purpose beyond collecting so perhaps that was why. She didn't care. If she wanted mounts or hunting partners then they'd tame and train them herself. This little thing was to be a companion. Gwyn settled it back in place quick enough that the body heat that radiated off her back still hadn't had time to fade off the egg's surface. It would be safe behind her while she stood behind the frontlines. She looked over at Ash's own egg and smiled brightly at it, but refrained from touching. "I've actually no idea if in the inventory or out is safer, but it just feels weird to me. I mean it's a living thing, virtual yeah, but it deserves to get a little fresh air." She frowned at that and looked across the desolate landscape with a huff. "As fresh as this blighted place gets, I guess." Courtesy of the hunting skill she'd taken, though not yet trained in full, something caught her attention as she'd scowled about at the landscape. A rumble that had her muscles tensing and eyes scanning the distance. "You hear that?" She caught sight of the armed band on the move. Their heading was uncomfortably toward their current position and Gwyn was quick to point them out. It would take them a while to reach them because of the high ground and how slow a heavy kitted-out company would have to move under the weight of their arms. Regardless, she didn't care to sit around and find out how long. They were on a scouting mission and Gwyn didn't care to start or fight wars. Beasts were her purview. "We need to move. Let's head back and let them know this place is sick... and occupied, apparently."
