First Adventure: Search for the Children

Breathe looked up slowly at Oie-ao. In fact, most of its movements were slow, as if it it was heavier than it looked. Rheumy eyes looked out from under the cowl, and its dam's face had a sickly green pallor. Otherwise it wore dirty brown robes of crude flax over thick patches of animal leathers, and leaned heavily on a sturdy but simple staff which it often used for balance, as its legs sometimes didn't step the way it wanted to..
"Get... the little... little people. Bring back... the little people... The sss... sah... saurids have them. Yes... they have... them..."

Yi'gga ran a hand across her baldpate and leaned her spear against a tree. She compared her slight form to that of the others. She stood little taller than the dwarves she now found herself aiding, but shorter than all of her new companions. Probably a result of her poor care as a child captive. Her skin was also pail, the influence of her undead patron. She wore only a simple leather poncho and skirt, and a wide belt to which a bag holding nearly all of her worldly possessions.

Before picking up her spear left at the edge of the circle as a sign of her peaceful intentions, she unwinds a beaded leather cord from her wrist, then rewinds it around her arm, above her bicep. As she does she entries a spell, chanting words of ancient power. As she does, shadows gather around. They amass in strips and sheets of saurian hide, draping themselves around her form like armor. Around her head a crest and three dire horns form a helm, resembling those of the behemoth, beastial triceretops.

With her shadow armor in place she picks up her spear and continues to follow along the path.

"Without shame, I admit I am not the best choice to lead us. I am happy to act as our emissary should we encounter potentially non-hostile beings. And I am happy to assist in any way I can with our needs, but I was a captive before joining with Lha'hom. I am not learned in the art of hunting, or foraging either."

Oie-ao listened to the strange creature's strange and halting way of speaking. There was, perhaps, the faintest furrow of his brow as he considered the one others had called Kragg. He was so unlike any other Oie-ao had viewed from above or even those he had seen down here, amidst the mud and dirt. Even his movements were strange. But after a moment, Oie-ao merely nodded with a quiet, "Very good."

The Starling looked over the rest of his newfound companions, watching as they discussed their possibilities. Though as Yi'gga summoned up her shadows, he almost instinctively spread his light just a touch further, as if some part of him recalled pushing other shadows back.

"I have already said my part, but it seems we have one here familiar with the hunt," he offered, gesturing airily towards Davros at the head of the group. He found an innate sense of confidence in the man, with the weapons he wielded, the scar across his face, the words he spoke. "How many lost souls have you tracked, I wonder." It was but a quiet murmur, more of a thought spoken aloud than a true question to Davros.

Breathe took a moment to realize they were addressing its mask by name before it appeared to acknowledge the conversation. But it remained quiet. Leading had no meaning to it. But it did know how to survive out here. It just had to eat. And not be eaten. And there were memories..
"Yess.. Gather. Hhhhhhh.. Gather... food."

It did just so, picking up anything edible. It was rather good at it. Some things it found might even be edible for the others.

Davros took the lead to guide the party safely through the environment. He continued Southward as pointed out by Kragg and used both his instincts and teachings to follow leads given to him by his surroundings.

He listened to the birds chirping, the wind blowing, and kept his eye out for any tracks left by predators, the scavengers, or anything else that may be close by.

As the party continued, Davros says to the group, "If we continue on in this direction we will reach Icehook Peaks. The children may have been taken there. Plenty of places to hide amongst the many crevices within the mountains. Tell me - how many of you have been hunting before? We have much more distance to cover, might as well get to know you all a bit better, aye?"

"I have been surviving on my own for only a short time. As I mentioned before, i was taken captive as a child. I was not allowed to leave the camp, never left unattended, not even to bathe. It was only when the chieftain's wife angered Lha'hom," she indicates the horned helm made of shadow stuff she wears, "and he threatened to destroy the whole clan that my freedom came to me. As you can see I do well enough," you can see her stomach is flat but not emaciated. Her muscles are small but defined. She doesnt look sickly, but more like someone well recovered from being ill. "but I have yet to find a new community to join. I have never joined in a hunting party." Her tone is positive despite the tragic story she unfolds.

Davros looked back at Yi’gga and listened to her story.

"I see…I am sorry that happened to you. I am glad you are free now. I understand that we are all fresh faces to each other for the most part and trust needs to be built. However, you are welcome to join me in my hunts whenever you’d like. I am more than willing to share the lessons I have been taught to aid you in developing your own survival techniques. This invitation goes to all."

Davros said this with his typical serious tone and features. He did not smile, yet…behind his eyes was a genuine kindness. A look of empathy. A humanity that many hunters may lack out in the wilds.

He then looked to the rest of the party to listen to their own personal stories they may or may not have not told before.

There was something heavy in Oie-ao's gaze as it settled on Y'igga, listening to her story. "To think such cruelty brews among your kind, to steal the freedoms of your brothers and sisters away." No, he could not understand. Would never understand these strange people and their strange and petty ways. "But you had a protector in this Lha'hom, it seems." His gaze trailed up towards her strange helm. "I would like to hear more of him, perhaps when we find rest."

He looked towards Davros, moving with light and easy steps along the path the hunter forged for them. "I have never had need to hunt. The devotions of the Wyldlings brought me sustenance." Oie-ao had been introduced to them all as a God, spoken of by the Wyldings with reverence. The Starling himself had said nothing to disavow that notion, nor did he encourage it. And yet in the ways he spoke outside his long stretches of aloof silence, he clearly viewed himself as something separate from those who surrounded him now.

"But I will be curious to learn your ways."

You travel southward through a forest, with trees and wildlife that teems with various forms of life.

The foragers are able to collect a lot of berries, edible mushrooms, and edible lichens (equivalent of 10 day's worth of foodstuffs, or 2 days' worth for each person except Breathe, who consumes twice as much food).

After a couple of hours of travel through the forest, the trees stop, and there is a great plain before you, with miles of grassland. You continue southward into the grasslands, and a pack of wooly rhinoceroses are grazing in your pathway. They travel along the edge of another forest along the southern end of your vision, and they move calmly along, eastward as they graze.

As Davros sees the wooly rhinos in the distance, his instinct tells him to take a long way around them.

As you travel, in the distance, you see two mated tyrantmaws come out of the tree line and chase those rhinos, causing quite the scene as they take down one of the rhinos and start eating the carcasse.

You get to the west side of that southern forest, and walk through the trees and bushes. As you travel through the forest the sun begins to set.

You walk by a dark cave, that no one really noticed until you saw its mouth.

"That cave could make a more comfortable place to rest for the night than out in the open. Should we investigate?" Yi'gga asks the group as a whole

As the sun sets, Oie-ao's natural glow only seems to shimmer brighter, bathing the party in his light, holding the darkness and shadows of the oncoming night at bay. He was slightly breathless as they drew to a stop, the Starling taking the moment to sit upon a fallen log, if only to catch his breath. He was unused to traveling such distances.

"It will provide welcome shelter as well, should the night turn angry," he said softly, peering towards that dark opening.

Davros shook his head at Seyala's comment and replied with, "So eager to find danger, aye?"

Although he would rather continue on due to the lost time caused by the herd of rhinos - it had seemed the the party had made a majority decision to stay the night within the cave albeit against his hunter's instinct.

"As you all wish, we shall rest here within the cave. Stay on your guards. We shall stay as close as possible to the mouth of the cave. As Seyala had mentioned it could possibly be a creature's den and the deeper we venture, we may end up disturbing whatever lies within and may not end up leaving this place...in one piece at best..."

Davros looked to Oie-ao and said, "Your light will come in handy, Oie-ao. Certainly better than using a torch that can be extinguished or lost."

With that, Davros entered the cave - ensuring to take his time and made sure to constantly scan his surroundings for any dangers that may lurk while the party established their campsite for the night.

Oie-ao rose to his feet and moved to follow Davros into the cavern. "My light is yours, Davros," he said easily, helping to chase back the shadows and illuminate the dark corners of the cavern. Caverns were the only safety he had known on this world, and still as he spread out his bedroll he made sure to stay within the mouth of the cave. Near enough so that he could watch the stars above, if the night sky was clear enough for it.

You walk into the mouth of the cave, the starling providing a decent radius of light. After walking a few paces into the cave, it seems like there should be cave paintings ahead, but they seem blurry to you.

There is one drawing that is very easy to recognize and discern: the drawing of a large mouth, about a human arm's length in width. It is frozen in-place, until the light touches it, and it animates, saying, "Welcome to sanctum 9*dash*2*dash*3*dash*5 of Ta-Vur, the ancient one.

"Please state your business here."

The mouth closes and stops speaking.