First Adventure: Search for the Children

Yi'gga never found a permanent home after bonding with Lha'hom, the undead beast cannot abide staying in one place to long. He won't admit it, but Yi'gga knows he fears Nazh-Agaa, the King of the Dead, and hopes that moving around will hide him from that pursuit. Her time here with the Standing Crows had been pleasant, but she could feel the stares burning into her back. The wives were questioning her motives for being there. The men were wondering basically the same thing from the other direction. So when Lha'hom said it was time to move on, Yi'gga agreed.

The dwarf welcomed her to his fire, sharing its warmth and asking only that she listen to his story. Telling her about the children was all it took, Yi'gga decided then and there she was going to try and track them down. Their story would be too much line her own, or worse if no one acted. The salt reward was a pittance compared to the thought of reuniting lost children to their homes. She left the messenger in the morning and made her way to their village, and present herself to the chieftain.

Seyala listened. He had long since had enough of making nightmares for these mortal kind. Now, he sought to preserve, his strength to strengthen those who struggled. "May I help to recover your children?" he asked humbly. "Who else will come with me?"

He considered what he was told, turning over the words in his mind, cautious of some pitfall or deception.

"Oie-ao, will you walk into the wild dangers with me?" he pleaded with the druid.

Sitting at the campfire but hardly understanding was Breathe, but that was not the name folk knew it as. No, all believed it to be Kragg, the simple human gatherer. But Kragg was dead. Now there was only Breathe.

Breathe was hungry. It always was. It had trouble understanding what children were. But it suspected they were taken as food. Meat is good food. Even hard meat like dwarf meat. It dimly remembered what a saurian was however. Being of such a different race, seeing them as food was likely. Breathe did. But it knew it should not eat people. At least not where other people could see it. Eating of people-meat is a great bad thing. Breathe remembers this. Pity. It was so hungry...

Again, as dusk fell and his ephemeral glow carried over the hills, a small gathering of Dwarves had come to him -- The Everlight, he had heard them whisper at times -- and again he did not understand their reverence. Their gifts, their prayers, all so strange and new to the Starling. And yet they had given him strength when he had needed it most, heart warming where once he had felt only fear and terror of this ugly, quiet world.

Tonight was another change. Where once they had kept their distance, Oie-ao speaking few words directly to them, one Dwarf and the stranger -- so unlike any of the others -- that joined him ventured closer. They were close enough so that Oie-ao's light refracted off of the Wyldling's crystal facets. Oie-ao lounged against the side of his cavern, dressed in the soft leathers and fabrics they had gifted him, his eyes turned ever upwards, watching the first of his siblings to shine up above.

And though Oie-ao did not address them at first, did not look upon them, his eyes turned ever upwards, he heard the plea spoken in desperation, in fear, in love and he lowered his eyes for a moment, waves of golden hair hiding his face.

He knew what it was to be torn from home so violently.

"Your people came to my aid when I was fading. And so I shan't forsake you when your own are lost." He let out a quiet breath, as he tipped his head back, peering back out at the Dwarven faces and the stranger who pleaded as well. A companion, he supposed, for the journey ahead. "I shall venture down to your fire before the moon reaches its height. But for now, please leave me. My siblings will dance soon and I wish to join them."

And later that evening, after his golden aura had danced over the hillsides, Oie-ao began the journey down to the Wyldling Clanfire, his steps marked by a drifting light in the wilderness.

Upon seeing the procession of volunteers to come rescue their new children, Cha-Vin-Sky, chieftain of the clan, becomes lighter and happier. He especially thanks their light and mobile deity, Oie-ao, as he volunteers to venture forth on their behalf. This autumn night was a cool one, but there was great merriment at the presence of the starling, and the other brave souls willing to help. Though this is mostly a wildbraid dwarf clan, there have been some non-dwarven additions, and the chief was happy at the thought that these clansmen felt so connected to their group that they would risk their own lives for the future of this clan.

Kragg seemed different, but he was always a strange and lonesome one.

"Welcome, all. Thank you for gracing us with your presence tonight. We wish to assess: who of you are headed on this quest for us? For those who are going, our great Oie-ao has graciously offered to assist you. What better help can you get than from a god himself? Eh? Eh?"

All of the dwarves chant and cheer in approval, and then an uproar of excitement and cheering can be heard from the many dwarves who are excited and grateful at the prospect of their god intervening on their behalf.

"My name is Yi'gga. I am of no clan. Servant of Lha'hom, the Dread Horn. I was taken as a child from my family. I know well the terrors your young ones face now, and in the future. I would see them spared of that if i can." Yi'gga stands tall, but meets Cha-Vin-Sky's eyes with compassion and confidence.

Oie-ao sat just at the edge of the main gathering, his own glow a golden ring about him. Dwarves wandered in and out of it, others whispering their thanks to him. The Starling said little himself. He only observed, sitting with one leg drawn up, picking from the bowl of fruit that had been provided him.

He had traveled light from his cave, with only a small pack slung from his shoulder and the clothes upon his back. A stone knife could be seen tucked into his sash, along with a sling at his hip. All that he had, most was familiar to the Dwarves, for it was they who had gifted him with much over the many moons since he had arrived.

Oie-ao listened and watched and ponered, golden eyes trailing over each of his would-be companions in turn.

Breathe had peeled a piece of bark from the log it was sitting on. It began nibbling it. Its dam seemed sickly and hardly aware of his surroundings. It was in fact but the hunger took up all of its attention for now..

Suddenly there was food! And food! and more food! Breathe kept eating and eating, trying to fill the hollowness inside that ate at it. It almost succeeded. Then it took all the leftovers he could carry. Including the bits the others did not want such as filling bones full of marrow to suckle out!

It was enough for the hunger to subside, if even for a moment. Then Breathe came to understand the nature of the task the little people wanted done. To save the little-little people. Bring them back. Not eat them. Sad. But they gave Breathe a lot of food, so it could eat that instead. If it lasted that long. It would have to be careful not to eat it all tomorrow. Or the day after. Even though it knew it would be so, so hungry by then. Maybe... they wouldn't miss one or two of the little-little ones.

Such thoughts filled Breathe's mind as he went to sleep, for once content on having eaten enough..

The next day brought the journey. Breathe quickly ate things it could not carry before leaving. With a grimy mouth it joined the others. As they started and mentioned they were going south, Breathe noticed they were in fact, not heading south. It knew because the dam once knew. It pointed south.
"South."

"Ahhh," said Seyala uncertainly. "Beasts of prey. What does everyone else think?"

Yi'gga was shocked to see the man she knew as Kragg after all this time. He was different. Pale, distracted by something. He didn't seem to know her. It had been a long time, but she thought he would show some recognition. And the way he ate. It was disturbing to watch. She wasn't sure what was effecting him, but she would keep a close eye on him. He showed her kindness when others did not.

It was strange, seeing these new people when Oie-ao had only ever known his cave and the Dwarves who had come to visit. And these people were so like and yet unlike the Wyldlings in shape and form. The starling stood tall and willowy, ageless and beautiful and so distant. His hair was long, falling in thick waves about and just past his shoulders, emanating with the same gentle glow as his golden eyes, and his skin, the aura of him casting a ring of light out around the group. He dressed in smooth leather skins and woven cloth, a collection of shimmering crystals -- all gifts from the Dwarves -- threaded together and trailing from his sash and down his thigh. They refracted the light he cast, creating a dizzying rainbow of hues amidst their facets, clinking together softly as he moved.

"If that direction is indeed South, than South is the direction we should go," he said calmly. "I would trust in one of you, who have lived beneath the boughs of the trees to guide us. I have seen the scope and stretch of the land, but to navigate it while so immersed in it..." Oie-ao trailed off, letting the truth of him and his origin remain unspoken. From Oie-ao's perspective, it was living down here in the mud and dirt that was the oddity.

And yet his eyes were fixated upon the strangest of them -- the creature with the disgusting mouth who had only consumed and consumed and consumed.

"Tell me, strange one, do you...understand our task here?"

Davros was fairly quiet during the meeting with the chieftain. He had studied his companions - taking in their actions, the way they spoke, and possible intentions.

Davros had traveled far from his home in the Brothers Rivers valley once he had heard that there was a potential new hunt. Once given information that the Leatherwing saurian scavengers could have been the predators that have stolen the dwarven children, Davros felt a mixture of excitement and of sadness brewing within him. He had new targets yet young ones were at risk since they were far from the safety of their clan.

Once the one known as Kragg had pointed the group in the correct direction, Davros moved from the rear to the front of the group. He was a tall human - perhaps not as tall as Oie-ao - but tall enough to have a certain presence to him. He was broad and wore leather pieces of padding that were from the hide of animals he had hunted previously. His long black hair was tied up in a bun with threading, although some hair fell onto his face where a large scar remained over his left eye - a memory from long ago during his first hunt. He also wore a cloak that surrounded his neck to keep him warm during colder weather and draped down to just above his knees. On his back was a bow and a set of bone arrows- beautifully crafted from the wood that surrounded his home but had dents from bite marks. At his hips were two short blades that were crafted from sharp rocks that lay on the river.

He looked back towards the party and said, "Come. Let us not waste time. Every moment matters when it comes to the hunt."