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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 410166" data-attributes="member: 96">Session Two, Part OneLAST TIME, ON DRNUNCHEON'S ONLINE STORY HOUR...(scenes fade in & out on the screen: the undead lizard-creatures in the mountains...Othic's horses, and Sen-Jyu capering with them...Othic's bloody body in the barn...Sen-Jyu falling to his knees as the horse's mouth splits and stretches into a horrible fanged maw...the horses getting treated to a righteous ass-whupping...)Ahoke grunts, sitting up. "Thanks," she says, wiping her brow with a still-bloodied hand, leaving a messy red streak behind. "Sorry about trying to kill you and all." She glares at the corpse of the horse. "It took over." The look she gives Sen-Jyu is one of horrified curiousity. "What is /that/?"The Harvester frowns as his curative powers heal the weakened dwarf, though not as well as he had hoped. A look to Sen-Jyu to compare the extent of their injuries. "How are you, Sen?"The Harvester gestures to the other horse. "I wonder if that one has a shard buried in it's skull too?"Ahoke's lip curls. "Probably." She labors to her feet, moving stiffly. "Anyone ever heard of anything like this before?"Still inspecting the sliver of azure crystal, Sen-Jyu doesn't seem to hear the two speaking. The blood smears across thumb and forefinger as he rolls it between the two, disgust exhibited on his visage.The Harvester looks back at Ahoke and laughs. "Oh, don't worry about that. let's just say you owe me one, hmm?" A sly grin as he speaks to himself. "Or I owe you..."  He  moves to stand behind Sen-Jyu now, whistling a merry enough little tune as he looks over the man's shoulder. "Any ideas? May I?" a hand reaches out, palm up.Ahoke grunts, nodding, and then stumps over towards the well. "I'll be over here," she says, cleaning up. The ever-fastidious dwarf begins hauling up a bucket.A reluctant nod later, Sen-Jyu places the crystal into Harvester's palm daintily, his reed-thin fingers wiped in the dust to at least cover the brackish blood from the horse's brainpan. Finally he looks to Ahoke, curiously. "You are... wounded," he comments, sadly humming to himself.Ahoke is in the process of rubbing well water into those wounds that are left, and washing old blood off of herself. "Uh huh," she agrees, nodding. She doesn't seem overly upset about it, though her brows furrow. "I hope that nothing happens before I heal. No more evil horses."The Harvester smiles to himself, his whistling interrupted only briefly with a thank you, and he lifts the shard to the sun, that he might look through it. After a moment he lowers it to his lips, and slides the tip of his tongue across the gem sliver. A grunt. "Fresh. Not undead. What sort of critter was this...." He looks at the other fallen horse, then walks to it, wiping the sliver as he moves.Sword sheathed, Sen-Jyu stands and begins to walk away from the pair, back toward the farmhouse. He returns half a minute later with what appears to be a bamboo tube, and approaches Ahoke with it.Ahoke has her head lowered into the bucket of water, and is scrubbing her scalp and hair vigorously. When she hears Sen-Jyu approaching, she looks up, and then flings her wet hair back over her shoulders, spraying water everywhere. She eyes him curiously.The Harvester's whistle ceases abruptly, "Well, well well... Looks like this one has a hole in it's head to, folks." He calls out. "Anyone want to split a skull open?"  He looks around and realizes the others, bloodied as they are, are bathing."Where," asks Sen-Jyu, dropping to one knee while he produces a translucent, organic-appearing slime from the tube of bamboo. "Show me."Ahoke is smart enough to know what translucent slime can be. She winces, peeling off her cloak, and the bone armor underneath. Finally, she pulls her tunic down just enough to reveal her wounded shoulder and neck.The Harvester watches Sen-Jyu, obviously unknowing as to what he's about.The organic matter is applied about the gravest of Ahoke's wounds, and he is liberal with the application, until the wounds weep with the surplus. Sen-Jyu is delicate with his touch, as if he did not wish to awaken the wolverine's fury even in kindness.The Harvester rises, curious, and moves towards his companions. He studies the healing. 'What is it?"Ahoke shows no signs of going into a furious rage. In fact, although she briefly tenses as if expecting pain, she relaxes when none comes. "Ahhh... that feels good." She looks at at Sen-Jyu for a moment, and then nods. "Thanks," she says. "That makes me almost whole again, when combined with what Harvester did earlier." She eyes the bamboo stick for a moment. "I haven't ever seen anything like that before."Grinning a little, Sen-Jyu returns to both feet as Harvester nears. "A gift... from my mother," he explains, his voice whispering like wind through grass. He becomes still for a moment, like a prayer in form, then turns to face the Harvester. "You have found something?"Now that she is clean and mostly healed, Ahoke turns her attention back to the horses, with a look of extreme distaste.The Harvester looks on the bamboo stick a moment longer, then to Sen-Jyu. "Interesting woman, your mother." He then nods, jerking a thumb back to the second horse. "That one's got a little scab, same place where the crystal was in the first." He pokes the thumb into his forehead with his thumb for emphasis. "Y'all want to crack him open and get it?"Sen-Jyu blinks, opening his mouth as if to ask a question, but is distracted by the revelation. "... no," he says after a moment of thought. "One can suppose that the cause is likely the same." The sound of indrawn breath gives all of you pause - a quick glance towards the house reveals a younger man standing next to the barn entrance, frozen in place, staring at you and the slaughtered pair of horses. The color drains from his face as he realizes you have noticed him, and he takes a shaky step backwards.Ahoke glances over at the guy, and grimaces. "Oh, this can't look good to him," she mutters.Seeing the man, Sen-Jyu cheerfully waves toward him. "Hello," he greets, loudly enough that the man is sure to hear, and a smile shows Sen-Jyu's warm and slightly blood-spattered face."W-who are you? What are you doing with Othic's horses?" The younger man takes another step backwards, bringing him in-line with the barn door. Reflexively, he looks to his right - and chokes back a cry. "Othic!" he says, in a strangled voice, and he turns to regard you in horror.The Harvester calls out softly, soothingly, "We caused no harm... Othic gave us shelter in the night... and these are no mere 'horses'..." He approaches slowly, in a roundabout way.Ahoke shakes her head. "We didn't do Othic in, boy," she says as kindly as her gruff dwarven nature will allow her. She stands to her feet, with a sigh.Sen-Jyu decides against approaching the younger man, but keeps presence of mind enough to lay Ichido-sama at his own feet, a token gesture of peace.The look of terror shifts ever-so-subtly to one of confusion. "Wh-what do you mean? They are horses, they are! I help Othic take care of them..." Another step back, but more slowly this time.The Harvester holds up the crystal, that it might sparkle in the rising sunlight. "This was found within the skull of one of them... It changed the creature. Made it unwholesome... We found Othic dead within the barn, then these creatures attacked us. Examine him. You shall see their hoofprints." He continues speaking in the same deep, soothing tones one might for a frightened child or animal, as he maintains the slow approach.Ahoke nods, looking back towards the horses unhappily, as if expecting to see them rise again. "We should probably put the poor beasts to the pyre," she says. "It would purify them, and release their spirits."The man's eyes dart towards Othic's corpse again. "I...why would they do that?" And then he does a double-take, as he sees the enormous bite-marks on Othic's body. "Horses can't do that," he breathes softly...Quite content to leave the human handling to the Harvester, Sen-Jyu finds a clean patch of ground and sits down, keeping one eye on the lad and another on the horses that still live.Ahoke hehs. "Neither can dwarves. Or humans," she amends. "But strange reptilian creatures wearing the bodies of horses on the other hand.."The Harvester remarks mildly. "As I said... there were not mere horses..." A gesture. "examine my companions' wounds. They, too, bear the marks of the beasts..." A thumb jerked to the house. "Examine the dwelling. See that we stayed the night in peace." A measured pace forward, still calmly speaking. "Othic spoke of his children. His wife's passing. His love for raising horses..."The young man slowly crumples to his knees, and tears begin to run down his face. "Othic..." He can't take his eyes off of the ruined corpse laying on the floor of the barn.The Harvester shakes his head at Ahoke, without turning his gaze from the man, "These were not undead creatures, 'Ke.""Come," the priest holds out his hand. "Let us lay Othic to the rest that he deserves. A long, fulfilling life had he, so shed no tears. He shall be reborn into the next world." He continues to approach.Ahoke mms, only looking slightly cheered by that. "If you say so," she says, and then starts to move closer to the barn, and towards the young man. She stops well away from him though, to lessen her chances of spooking him.Sen-Jyu leans back on his elbows, face tilted upward to catch the morning sun like an open flower.The young man's hand clutches at Harvester's cloak as the man approaches. "I am Tal. You are...a speaker to the gods?" Now that you're closer, you can get a better look at him. He would be a good-looking young man, but his visage is somewhat spoiled by the dark, puffy circles beneath his eyes - as if he had not been sleeping well lately - if at all.The Harvester nods once. "I am The Harvester. I speak for He That Comes. You are troubled, son... by more than good Othic's demise."Tal nods, struggling for the words. "Not just me. The whole town."The Harvester nods sagely. "Ah... the missing children... and your overdue 'Heroes'...""...and the dreams..." Tal says softly.Ahoke frowns sharply. "What dreams?"The Harvester's looks curious, then nods as Ahoke asks the question he was thinking.Tal turns a pleading look at the dwarven warrior. "Nightmares. I...I can't remember them, but I can't sleep. Nobody can."Ahoke mmms. "I had a dream last night, but I remembered it... I dreamed that something tore my throat open and drank my blood." She looks back to Othic's corpse, and sighs. "I... think that it had something to do with that, but I don't know how."The Harvester says, "I suspect it is related to your missing children."Tal looks up at Ahoke and the Harvester. "Can you help us? Will you?"The Harvester considers the possibilities of furthering his goals before answering, and looks to his friends. "I don't see why not. Y'all?"Ahoke grunts.  "Show him the shard, see if he knows what it is... might be a clue. And yeah, why not? These people seem to be in a bind. Maybe we can get them out of it."Sen-Jyu watches the three, though he strains to hear their conversation. He quite enjoys the sun, however, and basks in the red light it bestows.The Harvester lifts the shard between two fingers once more, and allows it to shine in the light. "Know what this might be? Or know anyone who might?"The stench from the slaughtered...horses...wafts across the meadow, setting the other equines to whickering - and making Sen-Jyu's basking all the more difficult.Tal climbs to his feet, looking at the sliver of blue. "No...it looks like glass...or a crystal..."The Harvester nods once. "Yep. That it does." A glance to Ahoke. "Mind splitting the other skull for me, Kay? Grab that crystal too, before we burn 'em?"Sen-Jyu wrinkles his nose at the smell as it drifts to him. "Perhaps we should burn them," he mutters, getting up and collecting his sword before moving toward the trio. "Sir," he murmurs to Tal, "might you know Othic's spiritual beliefs? How we might best honor him in his after-life?"Ahoke frowns. "I'm clean," she says grumpily, but stumps over to the horse corpse anyway. "Can someone draw me another bucket while I do this? And someone else should go find some tinder, so that we can at least burn the horses."Tal licks his lips. "His wife is buried behind the barn," he whispers.Sen-Jyu bows at the waist to Tal's statement, and begins to look about the barn's insides, presumably for a shovel.Ahoke lets the axe crash down on the horse's skull with the practicality of a born huntress. She looks down at it for a long moment, and then extracts a shard identical to the first.The Harvester nods once. "simple burial then? No deific appeasements for his soul?" He calls after Sen-Jyu, "There is a spade in my pack, Sen..." To Tal, "Go. Gather appropriate wrappings, Tal. I shall draw water and begin preparations."Tal nods, and hurries off.Sen-Jyu's head peeks out the barn doors, and he nods thanks to the Harvester, entering the house and eagerly pawing through the priest's stuff.</blockquote>

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