NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zurai" data-source="post: 3959623" data-attributes="member: 52324">Although your minds are telling you that the sun has barely set, there has been only the vaguest hint of light for about an hour now. Thane sets himself up watching over the camp as the rest of the small band quickly make shelters and a small firepit - the hunters showing the others how, as needed. The sounds of night in the forest echo strangely through the trees.Chrrrr-vhhhhht ... Whhhhhrrrrrrrreeeeeeet! Chrrrr-vhhhhht ... Whhhhhrrrrrrrreeeeeeet! Crkrkrkrkrkrkrkt whhhhhhhhsshshsh rrrrtttrtttcrk! A chorus of nocturnal insects serenade the unseen moon, and in the distance leaves rustle in the wind and branches creak and snap. Those unused to spending nights out in the wilderness have difficulty drifting off to sleep. Just as the dreamy haze starts to fog their minds ... a branch snaps, an owl hoots startlingly close by, somewhere in the distance a wolf howls only to be answered by Growl - something happens to snap them back to wakefulness. Still, exhaustion eventually wins out and one by one, everyone but Thane falls asleep.[sblock=Enko, Cleyra, Thane, Ryon]You recognize the insects as thorn-singers by their calls (Chrrrr-vhhhhht ... Whhhhhrrrrrrrreeeeeeet!). Thorn-singers are about an inch long with a thorn-like spike on their backs; they cling tightly to trees, their shape and coloration giving them effective camouflage from predators. Thorn-singers are edible, but they taste slightly bitter.[sblock=Enko, Cleyra]Thorn-singers sing at night to attract mates; they're active year round, but usually most dense in autumn, when their calls can approach near-deafening levels at times.[sblock=Cleyra]Thorn-singers make an effective early-warning device, as they only sing when they cannot see any large creatures. Thorn-singers see very well at night, and they have been known to stop mid-song when a human is moving over 500 feet from the tree they cling to.[/sblock][/sblock]The second insect call (Crkrkrkrkrkrkrkt) is not one you recognize.[/sblock][sblock=First Watch: Thane]Your watch technically began as soon as the group stopped for the night, but it took over an hour for the city-dwellers to finally drift off to sleep. You settle in to start your watch in earnest, keeping your eyes and ears peeled for unusual sights and sounds. The fire casts a faint flickering shadow across the landscape, twisting and distorting the shapes you know - trees, bushes, sleeping humans - into nightmarish caricatures. The sounds of night in the forest also seem ever so slightly off to you, and there are insect calls you do not recognize.About halfway through your watch, shortly after the last of the party has stopped tossing and turning under their blanket, you get a crawling sensation up your spine, as if something were staring hard directly at your back. With the Chrrrr-vhhhhht ... Whhhhhrrrrrrrreeeeeeet! of the thorn-singers echoing loudly in your ears, you slowly turn, acting naturally, slitting your eyes to keep the light of the fire from ruining your night vision. Straining to see in the darkness, you realize that you're now directly facing the large oak tree that Artemisia was so interested in earlier; it looms in the shadows about a hundred paces down the path, the light from the fire barely making it visible in the darkness. Try as you might, you can't see anything unusual about it from this distance.[/sblock]</blockquote>

Verification