Yliakum Journeys (vol.1)

[Spetyco]

"Um.. yeah, I think it is.  Thank you, I forgot about it in all the comotion.  By the way, did anyone manage to get Zorbel's swords out?  She threw them down to me and I must have dropped them when I passed out."

[Easton]

Easton jumps up, "Oh, yes! I almost forgot.." Easton pulls out an elegant looking sword from one of his sheathes. "I grabbed it when we made our...er.. departure from the cave." Easton lays the sword by Zorbels as she sleeps alongside Satayne. "Heart of Fear back where she belongs.." he says with a smile.

[lanser]

Hokinon takes a portion of bread from Tovera and picking up his pack moves a little way away from the fire settling down with his back to a tree, slowly munching on the delicious warm bread he contemplates the memory the young fenki evoked.

[Farren Kutter]

Farren falls silently to sleep, arms still crossed, feet still forward, one crossed over on top of the other, his feet meeting each other, a look of deep thought still on his face.

[Spetyco]

Spetyco had another ale, then tried to get up to stretch.  His wounds are mostly healed, but the broken leg still needs some mending.  He manages to get up and leans against a tree.  He looks around at the now quiet peaceful camp surrounded by dead ulgers.  Then over at Roth and Toth, who are having a grand time making poetry and tossing things at "Cheif Gobba."  He then looks around and realizes he no longer has his pack.
"Great!  It must still be down there with 'Cheif Gobba.'  At least there's food and ale here.  I've got my sword.  Guess I don't need much of anything else.  Didn't have much else to begin with anyway."
His leg is throbbing and the effect of the ale is kicking in, so he lies down next to the tree and quickly falls asleep.
...
Several times in the night Spetyco wakes up with a start, feeling like he's fallling down a bottomless pit.  And then there was the Darkness, like before.  He tries to shrug it off, "I'm just a little jumpy from my fall earlier," he keeps telling himself.  But deep down he knows there's something else.  He asks himself the same question everyone else keeps thinking.  "Why were so many ulgernaughts travelling together?  Why did they attack?  There is somebody, or something in the darkness watching."
It was another long restless night for Spetyco, but at least he was surrounded by friends.

[neko kyouran]

Meanwhile, back at the Tavern:

Bengala Kyouran slowly makes his way down the stairs after another of his multiday napings.  [He is old afterall] The bartender sees his old friend approach and welcomes him to the land of the awakened again.

Barkeep, sarcastically:  "Morning Ben, only a 3 day nap I see."
Ben:  "Yer darn der right, woulda been nice if it was a good one too, but no, some darn infernal party had to be going on down here, keeping me from resting."
Barkeep:  "Ah, you're talking about the gathering of many of the greatest hunters and explorers these lands have to offer.  They set out on some great hunt or something."  Hands Ben the flyer still floating around the bar.
Ben:  "Humpf, why in my day, that was commonplace, to travel these roads you needed a great group of people.  These new times, all the danger is gone.  A young kid could travel these lands with ease.  And do you know know why sonny? Tis the hard work of the old timers like me, thats why.  With out us making the roads safe, why ........."  Continues on in one of his 'back in my day rants while the barkeep just puts a smile on his face and nods
Barkeep, after Ben finishes, sarcastically:  "My my, what would the world ever do with out the likes of you?  Guess we would still be running around throwing rocks at the wild animals and sleeping in caves."
Ben, after a short pause to refect on the keeps words:  "I know when I'm not appreciated son, and I don't have to take this from a no good no mannered youngen without the respect for his elders he desserves.  I'm going back to bed."  Ben turns and leaves, stammering up the stairs as he goes.
Barkeep:   "Well, goodnight, yeah old coot.  Pleasent dreams"  And then returns to his duties as the barkeep.
Ben, under his breath, to himself as he enters his room:  "Blasted kids and thier travels, never even thinking to invite an old timer out for a bit of fun."  Looks around carefully before muttering  "Have a great time all, maybe next time I'll join yeah."  Ben closes the door to his room, and goes back to sleep.

Returning to the travelling party...

[lanser]

pulling his cloak around himself Hoki begins to doze as he watches the mismatched group of fellow advenurers gathered around the flickering fire.
Keeping a dagger in his paw and reminding himself to retrieve his weapons from the corpses in the morning he wonders if he was wise to join the group. Indescriminate slaughter even in self defense was not his reason for coming and with that thought drifts into a sleep filled with dreams of a search for a pretty fenki in a backless dress, his real reason for the journey...

[Xylaal]

The wind wafting up from the campsite during the night carries with it a pujent odor of dead ulber mixed with smoldering fire. All has been quiet this night as Xylaal, after a day at work and the afternoon's hunting adventure, fights to stay awake; once again she sips on a potion given to her by her friend, potion master Aleena Alarvin. It wakes her up and she is now bright eyed and alert as she stands guard at the top of a nearby hill.

Periodically she walks around a bit, seeing a few clackers in the distance and the occasional Pterosaur fly by overhead. She walks closer to the camp. the smell of the ulbernaughts is unbearable so, putting her webbed hand over a glyph hidden under her armour, she mouths an incantation. The air around each ulber begins to freeze, the massive amount of blood on the ground with a crackling sound solidifies and a frosty white glaze appear on top. After a while, when the cold clouds are gone, the ulbernaughts and their entrails all are frozen solid. The valiant troup of hunters lay undisturbed...a miracle, thinks Xylaal, because Roth and Toth snore very loudly!

"That will keep them til we can skin them," the Nolthrir says to herself proudly at which time she leaves the sleeping camp to once again take her post as lookout for the remainder of the evening.

[zorbels]

Zorbels starts awake and looks around her soaked in sweat from a bad dream. She realizes she has been sleeping sitting up the whole time and begins to feel how much of a mistake that was. Her back throbs with aches and her neck she moves stiffly.

Xylaal is still still perched being a camp look out. "By the gods, she must be tired." She approaches Xylaal after getting up ever so slowly and taps her on the shoulder. "You need some sleep. I have been sleeping for hours now, and I am refreshed. I will take camp look out and you my friend should get some rest." Zorbels smiles at her with warmth in her eyes and nods toward the camp. "I have some herbs in my bag that will make you sleep well if you need them. You are more than welcome to help yourself."

Zorbels see's the wagon by the looks out spot and gets an idea. She claps her hands and rubs them them together. "I am gonna fix you up before everyone awakes." she looks down at the mess that was once a sturdy wagon and begins to work at putting it back together.

[Xylaal]

"Thanks my friend. And good timing," Xylaal whispers. "Aleena's potion is just about wearing off now and I DO need some sleep." She pats the paw on her shoulder and walks down to the campsite leaving Zorbels up the rise at the lookout post fixing the cart. Xylaal smiles to herself a tired smile and finds a comfortable old tree, it's base covered in soft moss, and in seconds falls asleep cradled in its mangled roots.

[zhai]

After a few hours of sleep, Zhai wakes up a bit startled. She gets up with a jump and with her hands on her blades, ready to unsheathe. She finds no danger, only Zorbels preparing the wagon. Zhai sighs and walks up to her and starts giving her a hand. After a few minutes she finally looks at her and hoping not to scare her friend too much, she says: "It was a conjurer". Zorbels looks at her surprised and before she could ask, Zhai whispers quickly what she saw. The two fenkis fall into a thoughtful silence afterwards, looking at each other every once in a while as they load the wagon. The first signs of dawn arrive and with the light, the bodies of the ulbers seem a little smaller than they were last night. The camp fire is dead. Zhai looks at the smoke and ashes as if they kept secret the explanation she so much wants to hear.

[Spetyco]

As dawn approaches Spetyco stirs.  "Wow!  That was a long night!  So how about some breakfast?"
He gets up quickly, forgetting about the broken leg from the day before and finds himself instantly on the ground again.  He then crawls around on the ground a few moments until he finds a dead branch fallen from the tree he slept under that would be suitable for a crutch.  Hobbling on his crutch he asks again, "So who's up for some breakfast?"

[zorbels]

"Well good morning Spetyco. Zhai and I are just about done fixing this mess of a wagon. I have some food supplies in my bag back there if you would like to have something to eat. There is fresh apple pie I baked for the trip. Go ahead and help yourself."

Zorbels see's  Xylaal stur from the voices and turns to Spetyco and puts her finger to her lip "We should try to be a little quiet, Xylaal was up all night keeping watch over the camp. I think we will wait until she has her rest before moving out to continue our trip."

Zorbels then goes into a deep thought thinking about the talk her and Zhai just had not even moments ealier. "Yes, I do wonder .... are we being followed and hunted? Or was it just us stumbling on someones magic's gone wrong?"

Zorbels then perks up and announces in a soft voice to all those who have woken in the early hours "When everyone is awake and well fed Zhai has brought some news to my attention that I think we as a group should discuss. I will let her tell you all of her findings, then we will have to make a decision if we want to carry on with this trip or not."

Zorbels approaches her two tefusang and checks them over for any injuries and talks to them in a soothing voice while feeding them there breakfast. Happy that she had fixed the wagon with Zhai and her tefusang are safe and well, she starts digging in her supply bag to eat some pie for breakfast. "By the way, thank you Hokinon for looking out for the little one. I much appreciate you taking the responsibility. I knew she was in good hands with you." Zorbels smiles at him proud to have him along with the group.

[Easton]

Easton stirs every few minutes to crack his eyelids open to see more and more people rising and beginning the second day of their journey. Everytime he opens his eyelids however, he closes them and drifts off again after only a few seconds. He'd love to help fix the wagon, or to hunt for some food for breakfast, but his eyelids are so heavy he just can't resist the temptation of a few minutes more sleep.

Spetyco takes a branch off of the tree above Easton, and a few strange berries fall on to Easton. Grumbling at this disturbance Easton rolls over and puts one of the strange berries in his mouth. "mmm... its sweet but tingly at the same time" he thinks as the berry squishes around in his mouth. In seconds the tingling feeling turns into a burning sensation. Easton's eyes begin to water as his face turns bright red. He jumps up and half screams, half gasps, "Water!! Water!!"

[Farren Kutter]

Farren, his muscles and bones even more sore than the day before, cannot even sit up for more than a few seconds. "I hate being helpless." he says, annoyed at his predicament.