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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1795832" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p>Sorry for the long delay... grad school paper writing blues keeping me down...</p><p></p><p><strong>Skeletons and More Skeletons</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>For another week and a half, the party rode north uneventfully, save Chou’s bad puns and crass humor... which strangely the normally stern Captain Li seemed to tolerate with a mere groan and roll of the eyes. The fields of grain and red flowers hovered around the column as it pressed further north, and closer and closer towards the provincial capital.</p><p></p><p>The nights proved restive as well. The air was cool, and so long as they were surrounded by fields, the view was clear and stretched for a great distance. For a while, Felonca and Nayu thought the trip might be devoid of skeletons, attacks, and death.</p><p></p><p>Alas, they were to prove mistaken...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Felonca was fast asleep, her mind drifting in and out of a pleasant dream... a memory of herself and her cousin stalking a rabbit through the woods outside of her home. Neither had any intention of hurting the creature... merely playing ‘pounce’ in their natural forms and then playing ‘hunt’ to find it again. She remembered the bunny... it was a pet, sort of. In seemed to play these games grudgingly... in return for the carrots, pieces of bread, and other treats she left outside for it.</p><p></p><p>She was just about to leap on the creature again when she felt a jolt. Her eyes flashed awake, as she instinctively grasped her side for her warfans.</p><p></p><p>“Huh? Wuh?” Her sleepy face looked about quickly, until her mind registered the feeling on her shoulder was a hand.</p><p></p><p>“We’ve got company,” she heard Liu’s voice whisper above the quiet rustle of trees blowing in the wind. For a moment, Felonca’s mind was confused, until she remembered entering the group had entered a small forest that day.</p><p></p><p><em>Here’s the end of the fields belonging to Red Lotus Prefecture,</em> she remembered Nayu saying earlier. <em>Now, we’re only maybe three weeks away from the capital!</em></p><p></p><p>“What kind of company?” she slurred, her eyes now taking in the soldiers uncertainly buckling on swords, and Nayu staring behind her... and <em>up</em>. She turned to follow his gaze, and saw one of the strangest sights in her life.</p><p></p><p>Three long, white shapes seemed to be floating in the air, perhaps five feet off the ground. They did not flutter in the wind, but seemed to be moving forward of their own accord.</p><p></p><p>“Magic, Nayu?” she asked, her own mind racing. <em>Maybe its some other soldiers, and those white things are their weapons in the moonlight?</em></p><p></p><p>She heard her friend give a grunt of uncertainty, and some arcane words flow from his lips. Suddenly, his eyes flashed wide, and a mixture of shock and fear danced within their depths.</p><p></p><p>“Um... not good,” he said slowly. She could see his skin flicker and ripple, magic rumbling just beneath its surface. His eyes remained focused on the shapes.</p><p></p><p>“What?” She drew her bow and turned back to the shapes. They passed through a shaft of moonlight, and her question was answered.</p><p></p><p>Floating in the air were three bony arms, with no other bones attached. Each held in its hand a large axe, easily a battleaxe or larger. Just as she caught sight of them, she saw a bright flash from the corner of her eye, and a long stream of orange and yellow flames lashed out from Nayu’s outstretched hands towards the creatures. With agility that surprised her, they cartwheeled out of the way, and Nayu’s blast only set a tree afire (<em>Scorching Ray</em>).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“Dammit!” Nayu swore as the blaze in the forest rose crackling from his miss. <em>Father only taught me that one a few weeks ago! I still need practice!</em> He saw a blur in the orange of the flames, as Felonca’s arrow flashed true, only to glance off one of the bony creatures with little harm. Her curses filled the air as she dropped her bow, and she, along with the soldiers, surged forward at the three beasts.</p><p></p><p><em>Focus, Nayu!</em> he commanded, feeling the magic pooling again in his belly and legs, slowly pooling and rising higher and higher. His eyes watched as Li and Felonca became embroiled in a duel with one of the creatures, as Liu, Chou and the other soldiers went after a second. The third hovered just outside of the fight.</p><p></p><p><em>Him,</em> Nayu thought, personifying the bony apparition alone by itself. Carefully, Nayu raised his hand again, and with a shout, let the raw magic in his body lash forth again. A flash and boom later, and another tree was ablaze... but the bony arm fluttered, unscathed. Nayu cursed more vehemently at his miss, even as Felonca and Li managed to pummel their target into oblivion...</p><p></p><p><em>Okay... simpler magic,</em> Nayu thought as he watched Liu and Chou being hard pressed by the second arm. Focusing himself again, Nayu launched two bolts of small magical power, all of which hit without fail. He was rewarded with a <em>crack</em> as the creature broke apart.</p><p></p><p>Something whistled in the air, and Nayu turned to Felonca and Li to see if they were making the noise. His movement adjusted his body just enough that the axe thrown by the third bony arm missed him by inches, thudding into the ground. Spinning around, Nayu saw the third arm, glowing in the ember light of the fires, rising higher and higher off of the ground, its form retreating away.</p><p></p><p>“Stop it!” he heard Li shout.</p><p></p><p><em>Focus... quick strike... hard strike...</em> Nayu thought, pooling his magic yet again, before feeling a blur flash by him, as a large panther dashed past at a full sprint. That alone distracted him, as he watched Felonca leap upward and grip the trunk of one particularly large tree, rapidly ascending towards its canopy...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Climb, climb, climb...</em> Felonca’s mind purred, her claws gripping the tree with ease as she scrambled higher and higher. It was not long before she found herself nearly sixty feet up... about the same height as the floating arm whisping towards her.</p><p></p><p><em>Come closer...</em> her feline mind rumbled as she stealthily slipped along a branch, nearing where it appeared the arm would pass. <em>Just a little closer... close enough you can feel some bone crushing jaws and a few bone snapping paws...</em></p><p></p><p>The creature seemed to drift towards her, ever closer by the second. Below, she could hear Nayu cursing that he couldn’t hit it because of her. Yet the creature still drifted, not understanding. Ever closer it neared, until only a few seconds before it was to pass in front of her, it changed direction.</p><p></p><p><em>Dammit!</em> Felonca’s mind snapped, as the creature changed direction to drift about ten feet from her paws reach. Her feline mind watched it for a second, making quick mental calculations, before she came to a suddenly decision. Quickly, she backed down the length of the branch, until her dark tail bumped into the trunk of the tree. With an unnatural growl, she then charged down the branch, and leapt at her target.</p><p></p><p>She <em>felt</em> the impact rather easily. Her jaws hit right on the forearm of the aberration, and she instinctively snapped her jaws shut at that precise moment. Bones snapped, as she and the creature tumbled through the air. Her jaws opened as her paws stretched out, claws fully extended, digging into whatever was nearby... fortunately the bark of a nearby tree. Her descent quickly slowed to a halt, while from some forty feet below, she her the <em>thumps</em> of dead, broken bones landing on the ground below.</p><p></p><p>She clambered back down with unnatural ease, and padded over to the other soldiers, all of whom, even Chou, stared at her in opened-mouth amazement. It was hard in her natural form to give a mischievous grin, but she bared her teeth in the closest approximation she could, before tending to cleaning her paws of bark.</p><p></p><p>“Um... yeah. She does that. Nothing out of the ordinary,” she heard Nayu say simply a few moments later. <em>I’d best change back,</em> she thought, and within a moment, her legs enlongated, her paws becoming hands, and soon she was sitting before them, human-looking as ever.</p><p></p><p>“So, hengeyokai are flighty, huh?” she said, not even bothering to look at Chou, assuming he was still gaping at her. She heard a slight chuckle instead, and looked up to see the soldier smiling down at her.</p><p></p><p>“Yes, that was the best damn flight I’ve ever seen, be it from arrow or flying cats,” he patted her on the head.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The rest of the night passed uneventfully, and the party rode on for several more days, the land around them changing from the farmlands and lotus fields around Red Lotus to a land that seemed drier and far dustier. It was while they were emerging from a dust cloud of their own making that everyone spotted a shape by the side of the dusty trail. He was bedraggled, his homespun peasant’s outfit torn and tattered. Dried blood caked one side of his face, and bloodstains covered his shoulder and left arm. As they drew closer, he hobbled to the middle of the trail, and started waving.</p><p></p><p>“Ho,” Li called, raising a hand to halt the small column.</p><p></p><p>“Good sirs!” the man stumbled forward, “I pray you, help me!”</p><p></p><p>“What happened to you?” Nayu asked with concern. <em>Are there more of these prefects going mad now?</em></p><p></p><p>Nayu’s inner question was answered as the man explained he was a farmer from the village of White Sands, only a few miles away. The village prefect had gone insane, and turned himself into a fiery skeletons, burning the village and scattering the people. Those he killed the prefect raised again as skeletons.</p><p></p><p>Li’s eyes were dark and serious as the man rambled on with the horror of his story. Finally, Li asked the inevitable question.</p><p></p><p>“Which way were they headed?”</p><p></p><p>“To the north and west, towards Mukden, good sir!” the man replied, his voice strained.</p><p></p><p><em>Mukden? The Military Governor...</em> Nayu’s mind snapped quickly, before he spun around to face the battered man on the road. “Do you need assistance in getting to a safer place?” When the man shook his head, Nayu then turned to Captain Li. “I think the prefect intends to harm the Military Governor!”</p><p></p><p>Li gave a grunt, before promising the injured man that the skeletons would be stopped. With another wave of his hand, the column started out again... this time much slower and full of caution...</p><p></p><p>Caution was well deserved, for the road ahead dipped low into a large gully, its sides high on either side...</p><p></p><p>= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = </p><p></p><p>(DM’s Note: The bony arms that attacked them were creatures called ‘Dreads.’ I tossed them in as a random encounter pretty much at random. The next encounter, though, was heavily planned... heh heh heh <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> )</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1795832, member: 15043"] Sorry for the long delay... grad school paper writing blues keeping me down... [b]Skeletons and More Skeletons[/b] For another week and a half, the party rode north uneventfully, save Chou’s bad puns and crass humor... which strangely the normally stern Captain Li seemed to tolerate with a mere groan and roll of the eyes. The fields of grain and red flowers hovered around the column as it pressed further north, and closer and closer towards the provincial capital. The nights proved restive as well. The air was cool, and so long as they were surrounded by fields, the view was clear and stretched for a great distance. For a while, Felonca and Nayu thought the trip might be devoid of skeletons, attacks, and death. Alas, they were to prove mistaken... Felonca was fast asleep, her mind drifting in and out of a pleasant dream... a memory of herself and her cousin stalking a rabbit through the woods outside of her home. Neither had any intention of hurting the creature... merely playing ‘pounce’ in their natural forms and then playing ‘hunt’ to find it again. She remembered the bunny... it was a pet, sort of. In seemed to play these games grudgingly... in return for the carrots, pieces of bread, and other treats she left outside for it. She was just about to leap on the creature again when she felt a jolt. Her eyes flashed awake, as she instinctively grasped her side for her warfans. “Huh? Wuh?” Her sleepy face looked about quickly, until her mind registered the feeling on her shoulder was a hand. “We’ve got company,” she heard Liu’s voice whisper above the quiet rustle of trees blowing in the wind. For a moment, Felonca’s mind was confused, until she remembered entering the group had entered a small forest that day. [i]Here’s the end of the fields belonging to Red Lotus Prefecture,[/i] she remembered Nayu saying earlier. [i]Now, we’re only maybe three weeks away from the capital![/i] “What kind of company?” she slurred, her eyes now taking in the soldiers uncertainly buckling on swords, and Nayu staring behind her... and [i]up[/i]. She turned to follow his gaze, and saw one of the strangest sights in her life. Three long, white shapes seemed to be floating in the air, perhaps five feet off the ground. They did not flutter in the wind, but seemed to be moving forward of their own accord. “Magic, Nayu?” she asked, her own mind racing. [i]Maybe its some other soldiers, and those white things are their weapons in the moonlight?[/i] She heard her friend give a grunt of uncertainty, and some arcane words flow from his lips. Suddenly, his eyes flashed wide, and a mixture of shock and fear danced within their depths. “Um... not good,” he said slowly. She could see his skin flicker and ripple, magic rumbling just beneath its surface. His eyes remained focused on the shapes. “What?” She drew her bow and turned back to the shapes. They passed through a shaft of moonlight, and her question was answered. Floating in the air were three bony arms, with no other bones attached. Each held in its hand a large axe, easily a battleaxe or larger. Just as she caught sight of them, she saw a bright flash from the corner of her eye, and a long stream of orange and yellow flames lashed out from Nayu’s outstretched hands towards the creatures. With agility that surprised her, they cartwheeled out of the way, and Nayu’s blast only set a tree afire ([i]Scorching Ray[/i]). “Dammit!” Nayu swore as the blaze in the forest rose crackling from his miss. [i]Father only taught me that one a few weeks ago! I still need practice![/i] He saw a blur in the orange of the flames, as Felonca’s arrow flashed true, only to glance off one of the bony creatures with little harm. Her curses filled the air as she dropped her bow, and she, along with the soldiers, surged forward at the three beasts. [i]Focus, Nayu![/i] he commanded, feeling the magic pooling again in his belly and legs, slowly pooling and rising higher and higher. His eyes watched as Li and Felonca became embroiled in a duel with one of the creatures, as Liu, Chou and the other soldiers went after a second. The third hovered just outside of the fight. [i]Him,[/i] Nayu thought, personifying the bony apparition alone by itself. Carefully, Nayu raised his hand again, and with a shout, let the raw magic in his body lash forth again. A flash and boom later, and another tree was ablaze... but the bony arm fluttered, unscathed. Nayu cursed more vehemently at his miss, even as Felonca and Li managed to pummel their target into oblivion... [i]Okay... simpler magic,[/i] Nayu thought as he watched Liu and Chou being hard pressed by the second arm. Focusing himself again, Nayu launched two bolts of small magical power, all of which hit without fail. He was rewarded with a [i]crack[/i] as the creature broke apart. Something whistled in the air, and Nayu turned to Felonca and Li to see if they were making the noise. His movement adjusted his body just enough that the axe thrown by the third bony arm missed him by inches, thudding into the ground. Spinning around, Nayu saw the third arm, glowing in the ember light of the fires, rising higher and higher off of the ground, its form retreating away. “Stop it!” he heard Li shout. [i]Focus... quick strike... hard strike...[/i] Nayu thought, pooling his magic yet again, before feeling a blur flash by him, as a large panther dashed past at a full sprint. That alone distracted him, as he watched Felonca leap upward and grip the trunk of one particularly large tree, rapidly ascending towards its canopy... [i]Climb, climb, climb...[/i] Felonca’s mind purred, her claws gripping the tree with ease as she scrambled higher and higher. It was not long before she found herself nearly sixty feet up... about the same height as the floating arm whisping towards her. [i]Come closer...[/i] her feline mind rumbled as she stealthily slipped along a branch, nearing where it appeared the arm would pass. [i]Just a little closer... close enough you can feel some bone crushing jaws and a few bone snapping paws...[/i] The creature seemed to drift towards her, ever closer by the second. Below, she could hear Nayu cursing that he couldn’t hit it because of her. Yet the creature still drifted, not understanding. Ever closer it neared, until only a few seconds before it was to pass in front of her, it changed direction. [i]Dammit![/i] Felonca’s mind snapped, as the creature changed direction to drift about ten feet from her paws reach. Her feline mind watched it for a second, making quick mental calculations, before she came to a suddenly decision. Quickly, she backed down the length of the branch, until her dark tail bumped into the trunk of the tree. With an unnatural growl, she then charged down the branch, and leapt at her target. She [i]felt[/i] the impact rather easily. Her jaws hit right on the forearm of the aberration, and she instinctively snapped her jaws shut at that precise moment. Bones snapped, as she and the creature tumbled through the air. Her jaws opened as her paws stretched out, claws fully extended, digging into whatever was nearby... fortunately the bark of a nearby tree. Her descent quickly slowed to a halt, while from some forty feet below, she her the [i]thumps[/i] of dead, broken bones landing on the ground below. She clambered back down with unnatural ease, and padded over to the other soldiers, all of whom, even Chou, stared at her in opened-mouth amazement. It was hard in her natural form to give a mischievous grin, but she bared her teeth in the closest approximation she could, before tending to cleaning her paws of bark. “Um... yeah. She does that. Nothing out of the ordinary,” she heard Nayu say simply a few moments later. [i]I’d best change back,[/i] she thought, and within a moment, her legs enlongated, her paws becoming hands, and soon she was sitting before them, human-looking as ever. “So, hengeyokai are flighty, huh?” she said, not even bothering to look at Chou, assuming he was still gaping at her. She heard a slight chuckle instead, and looked up to see the soldier smiling down at her. “Yes, that was the best damn flight I’ve ever seen, be it from arrow or flying cats,” he patted her on the head. The rest of the night passed uneventfully, and the party rode on for several more days, the land around them changing from the farmlands and lotus fields around Red Lotus to a land that seemed drier and far dustier. It was while they were emerging from a dust cloud of their own making that everyone spotted a shape by the side of the dusty trail. He was bedraggled, his homespun peasant’s outfit torn and tattered. Dried blood caked one side of his face, and bloodstains covered his shoulder and left arm. As they drew closer, he hobbled to the middle of the trail, and started waving. “Ho,” Li called, raising a hand to halt the small column. “Good sirs!” the man stumbled forward, “I pray you, help me!” “What happened to you?” Nayu asked with concern. [i]Are there more of these prefects going mad now?[/i] Nayu’s inner question was answered as the man explained he was a farmer from the village of White Sands, only a few miles away. The village prefect had gone insane, and turned himself into a fiery skeletons, burning the village and scattering the people. Those he killed the prefect raised again as skeletons. Li’s eyes were dark and serious as the man rambled on with the horror of his story. Finally, Li asked the inevitable question. “Which way were they headed?” “To the north and west, towards Mukden, good sir!” the man replied, his voice strained. [i]Mukden? The Military Governor...[/i] Nayu’s mind snapped quickly, before he spun around to face the battered man on the road. “Do you need assistance in getting to a safer place?” When the man shook his head, Nayu then turned to Captain Li. “I think the prefect intends to harm the Military Governor!” Li gave a grunt, before promising the injured man that the skeletons would be stopped. With another wave of his hand, the column started out again... this time much slower and full of caution... Caution was well deserved, for the road ahead dipped low into a large gully, its sides high on either side... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = (DM’s Note: The bony arms that attacked them were creatures called ‘Dreads.’ I tossed them in as a random encounter pretty much at random. The next encounter, though, was heavily planned... heh heh heh :) ) [/QUOTE]
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