Story Hour - 2.1 - "Into the wilderness", part one
At first light our heroes gather their things and prepare to get farther away from the city walls. In packing, Balius examines some coins they found in the pouch of the dead woman. Each is inscribed with the motto "City of the Eternal Matriarch" and "New Gorkana" along with a scepter and scroll.
"Eternal Matriarch?" Samus says "That can't be good."
"Hey, does it have a minting mark?" Arlissa asks.
"Hmm, there are a couple. This shiniest one says '300' on it."
"Three Hundred Years? Could we have been asleep for three hundred years?" Daphna wonders
"Maybe you were asleep" Berke grumbles. The rough cave floor has not agreed with his back, but at least he has see the sky now.
Arlissa and Daphna obscure their Llassan symbols on their clothes and the group heads for the outer Wall of Wood. Quick discussion leads to a plan. They will present themselves as a hunting party led by Arlissa and above all act like they know what they're doing. Karrinkas, however, stands out far too much to simply be a part of an unremarkable group. With no sign of concern, Karrinkas simply says "I'll meet you on the other side" and leaps off on all fours low to the ground.
The early morning light shows fields desperate for rain, baked by the sun. Scattered livestock nibble at parched grass. Common folk look up at the group passing through but seem to take no special notice. Soon enough they come to the wall, the gate, and a simple wooden tower with two guardsmen who haven't fully shaken the sleep from their eyes.
"Ho there, open this gate, we have the hunt before us", Arlissa demands in a loud voice.
A bustle of activity and apologies come from the tower as a man struggles with the large metal and wood bar.
"Many apologies, ma'm, good luck in bringing some of them down. Been a terror lately. Had to repair the wall in a couple places."
Arlissa pauses only for a moment and Samus cuts in "Won't be a problem for long."
As the group heads into the woods beyond the gate they can't help but wonder "I wonder what it is we're hunting?"
"Probably Lizardmen, the beasts, glad to get back to the basics", Samus opines.
Karrinkas rejoins them a short ways into the woods, having found a place he could climb and leap the wall unobserved. Some quick hunting about flushed a rabbit for a mid-morning meal, though he finds strange tracks along the way. Not quite right to be lizardmen, nor humans, nor any other creature he might recall.
Tired from a good day's worth of walking southward, the group settles in to a hopefully unobtrusive campsite. Karrinkas and Balius search out a deer and soon meat is turning over a fire.
"So, other than getting away from New Gorkana, what's the plan?", Balius asks between bites of venison.
Samus props his greataxe against a tree and leans back. "I
dreamt of a seige of Orimtala. That the Thunderer's Axe was lost and fell to the earth. I was meant to dream this. His axe should be recovered."
"We don't know what happened to Luinlassa", Daphna interjects, "We should find out what happened to our home. Both Arlissa and I dreamt of the Great House in ruins and Malassa's death."
"As best I can tell, we're north of the highlands, and north of both Luinlassa and Orimtala" says Karrinkas, the best travelled of the group prior to their earlier adventures. "Either way we have to go south from here. We can see what more we can figure out later."
They set watches and make what comfort they can for sleep. They all feel pretty good about how well they've gotten away.
It was Karrinkas' sharp ears that heard them first. He and the cub were quietly keeping their watch when the first sounds of padding feet slipped through the trees. His ears up, Karrinkas slowly pivoted until he saw the slipping form in the bare moonlight. Balius slowly stood, pulling his bow and looked off to where Karrinkas stared. Something about the size and shape of a wolf stood watching them.
"Guys..." Balius half-whispered, and then it charged. Two other broke from other brush as well.
"Guys!!" Balius shouted, focusing on the nearest wolf, remembering his father teaching him how to wait until the target reaches 30 paces to get the most power out of his shot. Breathe, aim, loose. The arrow leapt out towards it but the wolf half-stepped sideways and the shaft buried itself into the dirt.
Karrinkas held his ground, then pounced on it as it got into the flickering light of the fire. Familiar with wolves, he latched his claws onto its shoulder to pull it over on its side, but his claws slid off of its scales.
Scales?
.
