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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1241355" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Draelond #4] How Sweet. Fresh Meat.[/PLAIN]The big man strained to watch Ruze as his figure faded into the snow. The realization struck him; he was alone now, more so than ever before. As though his mind had been cleared by a cool blast of air, he realized that the dangers that doubtless awaited him in this strange land were multiplied as he stood in the wide open, mouth gaping. A cacophony of noises was distinguishable from every direction. Primal screams, the clash of weapons, tearful recognition, and voices speaking in tongues he had never heard reached his ears.He headed off the cobbled path and began to make his way across a clearing toward what looked like a wooded area in the distance. There were decisions to be made, and he needed an out-of-the-way area to stop and reflect. He was not ready to be here. He had so much to do on the plane from which he had come. The King's calling... the evil in Barnacus... the group of adventurers who had befriended him and accepted him as family. He needed to go back... but how? He had resisted his fate as a small child... the pirates who had destroyed his family had spared him. By accident or by design he did not know... but he could not allow himself to be here... not now.As he walked, he found himself unconsciously reciting the words of Ibrahil. He had learned them many years ago, and now they poured forth as though controlled by someone else. He reached the edge of the wood and selected a path to a point that afforded him some degree of cover. He crouched low by the tree and began to ask Ibrahil for help...So far Ibrahil hadn't answered.Without Orin's Shield or Shaharizod's Mirrors making their way through the heavens, there was no sound way to judge the passage of time. Draelond leaned against the tree, if such it was, (With its weird flesh-like bark and curly tangle of branches he had never seen a tree like it before) growing neither tired nor hungry as he crouched there, unable to apprehend time's passage.  The sky above remained a vaporous swirl of silver lit by occasional flashes and streaks of color. But after a while, the snow stopped falling.The air was very still, so the sound of the tree's knotted branches clattering against one another drew his attention at once. He darted to his feet, Ravager sliding into his hand as he went. He turned, throwing every ounce of his strength as well as his own momentum into the sword. The steel blade bit into the thing that was leaping at him from the branches above, eliciting a startled squeal of pain from the creature and simultaneously driving it to the ground.The bony creature landed on its side, but quickly righted itself and turned its bulbous lump of a head toward Draelond. It was four feet long from snout to rump. Two, long, curved antennae, each the thickness of a bullwhip curved upward above its multifaceted eyes. Six pincered talons and rubbery, toad-like skin completed its unnatural appearance."What in the-?" Draelond started to say and the creature was upon him. He tried to interpose Ravager, but the thing was too quick. Its limbs seemed to be everywhere, and a pair of its pincers dug into his flesh, easily piercing the chainmail on his chest and stomach. Its antennae whipped forward over its head, but failed to connect.It clung to him tenaciously and he couldn't bring the bastard sword to bear on the thing while it was so close. Grimacing in disgust, he planted his big hand over the creature's wart-covered head and pushed. It's antennae hooked down at him again before he pried it loose, and one of them slapped against the side of his head. With something akin to panic, he realized that the antennae were coated with a poison that numbed his neck and jaw and shoulder. His natural fortitude prevented him from succumbing to the venom, but he could feel his muscles knotting uncomfortably just the same.He took a step backward and slashed at the creature, satisfied that the bastard sword again tasted of the monster's horrible flesh. It was bleeding freely from both gashes, but seemed undeterred as it leapt up again. This time, Draelond was quick enough to get the big sword between himself and the creature's body. He couldn't save himself from two more bloody wounds from the creature's pincers, but he was able to pry the beast off himself rather easily. It landed on its back and the warrior drove his sword through its gut, pinning it to the gray soil. Its legs pawed weakly at the air for a time and then were still.Breathing heavily, Draelond leaned on Ravager's pommel and clutched painfully at the wound marring his torso. His hands came away coated with brown wetness. It took him a moment to recognize it as blood in the weird lighting.An unenthusiastic clapping drew the man's attention to a figure leaning against one of the other nearby trees. He was dressed oddly, in bulky leathers and loose-fitting pantaloons. He grinned at Draelond and lurched up from the tree."Not bad, warrior," he said in the commontongue. "Not many fair so well against the harvesters. But how long do you think you can really keep this up? Sooner or later someone or something's gonna do you in. And when you die here... Well, let's just say you don't get any second second chances."</blockquote>

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