Chapter 5: Return to the Surface

"Let's find her and grab that necklace from her then!"

I quickly shift into the form of a giant eagle and take to the skies, circling around Hunter for a moment and waiting for the others to catch up. If she notices me before they do, I will dive towards her and attempt to rip the necklace from her with my talons.

Not knowing that the eagle is one of her companions, Hunter curses and looks for cover in nearby trees or on the ferry.

Hunter makes for the trees, looking for enough cover to shield her from a dive-bombing raptor. Believing that nature is just looking for a meal, Hunter gathers electricity in her palm of her clutched hand, ready to deliver a Shocking Grasp should the eagle try again. Of course it is the large predators that are attracted to me, Hunter thinks to herself. Tear out my heart until I am nothing but droppings in the woods.

"Hunter! Mai'ngor calls as he chases after her. "Come back!

Hunter does not attempt to elude nor hide from Mai'ngor, but instead she warns the fey horseman, "Careful, there are eagles about!"

Mai'ngor ignores the comment, and decides not to tell the half-elf the eagle's identity. He approaches Hunter with a placating gesture. "Please. Come back. We're all simply worried about you. Let's talk." Eyeing the knife still in her hand, he says, "Let's just get rid of the knife, eh?"

Hunter stares. "Yes, worried about me," she says, deadpan delving into sarcasm. "And not the butter knife, which you constantly bring up as stolen. Fine! Have it back." She slips the knife out from her sash and underhand-tosses it to Mai'ngor.

Mai'ngor catches the knife. "I don't care about a stolen knife. I was worried you'd hurt yourself with this. What's the matter, Hunter? What's gotten you so distracted and upset lately?"

Hunter's mouth works, yet no immediate sound comes forth. Finally, she closes her eyes in a vain attempt to staunch the tears that suddenly flow. "It's just so wrong!" she wails. "Everything I had sacrificed for, ripped away by sheer callousness! Feelings cast aside by the selfishness of the world, like mere playthings discarded by a spoiled child! The drow, the demons, the nobility; damn them all!"

The half-elf draws one of her daggers, its sharpened blade a definite article of war. She waves it in front of Mai'ngor's face. "Worried about that, you say?" she asks, referring to the butter knife. "You only see what's in front of you. Like those before, you do not know what I am inside..." Hunter lifts her other hand as the electricity winks out, and mutters low to herself, "... what I am capable of."

She turns to Mai'ngor, eyes red from the tears that streak her dust-caked cheeks, and her fingers elongate and sharpen into long and terrible claws. "Let me show you, then."

A coy smile crosses the woman's face, and she delicately lifts and turns her hands over to inspect them. She pauses, staring into thought. Then she looks up, and for a brief moment there is a hint of recognition as she gazes upon Mai'ngor, but it quickly dissolves and she turns to leave him.

Having had enough Elfog will quickly run up behind Hunter and grab her by the arm. "Where ya think ya headed, Lass?"

The woman whirls around, glaring at Elfog. "Let go of me before I call the guard, dwarf," she spits, trying to remove her arm from his grasp.

"Not a chance!" Elfog growls, redoubling his effort to keep hold.

The woman screams, pleading for help from a constable, guardsman, or anyone else in the area. Unable to break the dwarf's grip, she pulls in vain, boots sliding in place in the dirt. With desperate eyes, she looks to her unrestrained arm and the wielded dagger, then to Elfog; she seems ready to combine the two.

"Don't even try it!" Elfog says as he catches a glimpse of the drawn dagger. His face starts to redden and his muscles bulge as he pulls Hunter towards him, face to face. "It wouldn't end up well for ya!"

With his hand still clamping her arm he pushes hunter to arm's length. "Are you in there, Hunter" he says in dwarfish, trying to make some sort of connection.