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Post by Sazerac on Nov 13, 2022 15:28:07 GMT -5
Chapter 1: The First Story
Warmth. Sensation, Hardness, Discomfort. From deep slumber a man gained an unfamiliar awareness to a world around him. His limbs began to twitch as he discovered his body existed in this world as well. The limbs sent waves of relief from the hard surface they had been pressed into as they shifted, and returned pain when they pushed back into them. Soon, this man learned to move his body to in search of those good feelings.
He had become aware of himself, and recognized the feeling of other surfaces on his body, Thick cloth wrapped his body that didn't hurt to press against. But also, another weight tugging at his head no matter where he moved it. Using his hands, he dug his fingers into a a crusty mush and scraped at his eyes.
Color began to pour into his mind. The glow of an orange lantern had basked the area in a soft light, providing that warmth that he had first awoken to. As he looked around, at the lamp, at his black caked hands, and at the dozens of stone faces like his own were spread out beneath him, he noticed that more than anything else was an endless darkness in all directions.
When one only knows of darkness, they may think nothing of it. But now that the man has learned of light, he realized just how small he was in comparison to that dark. Instinctively, he drew closer to the lantern's glow, seeking safety where he can grasp and perceive his surroundings.
Other beings drew closer into the lantern's light as well. With faces similar to his own, stained black with the same grit that once obscured his eyes as well. Nobody uttered a word to one another, for there was nobody who could offer a word at all; But recognizing that there were others like them, with bodies and shapes that were similar to their own, the first thing that they could recognize to not be as alien as the world they were in, lead them to wish to cling together lest they lose sight of them to the darkness.
However the silent peace of gathering was broken by the deep roar from beyond. A massive creature's face escaped the veil of darkness. Its teeth sharper than the rough bumps of the stone below, its expression lacking softness, but an uncomfortable and intimidating glare towards the assembled group.
Before the man and the others could understand what they were looking at, it lunged forward.
People were seized under the creature, fangs plunged into their bodies. It teared them apart, crushed their bodies, some were swallowed in the maw of this beast in one piece. The discovery of sound came to the people in the form of agonized screams, and with that experience fomented into their minds the concept of terror. Those the beast grabbed, bit into, and tore apart fell aside and stopped moving. There was nothing that could be done to help them, and with that came the realization and grief that they had lost something like themselves forever. The people began to scramble in any direction they could to escape this horrible monster, but anybody caught in its gaze could do little more but struggle to delay the inevitable. The man realized that there was no hope.
But he did not want to give up. To let this monster have its way, to brutalize as they please, and fall still like so many others have at this monster's hands. The man crawled across the stone, grasping towards the lantern's light for something that could save them. His fingers dug into a fracture across the faces. He dug deeper into the crack with desperation, and found a splinter of the earth came free in his hands, sharp to a point and painful to touch.
Without reason, this monstrous beast had attacked them and caused so much pain. Unable to contain the feelings in himself, the terror and the loss, the man roared back at the beast in the dark. It was its turn to feel the pain it so wantonly inflicted. Soon, that roar was joined by cries all around. The glow of lanterns began to congregate into a ring around the Lion's feasting, as other brave figures drew near to resist the tide of fate that had overswept them all. Picking up the lantern beside himself, stone bared like the fangs of this beast, there was an unspoken understanding between them all.
It was going to be us, or them. Only one will survive.
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 18, 2022 21:00:51 GMT -5
Chapter 2: The Lion's Opening Act
The beast lunged forward, looming down on the Man. Its massive claws swung to cleave his head open, but barely escaped the monster's paw. He tried to scramble to safety and the sharp hooks of its nails as they tried to grip at his legs. As the others ran to close the distance, the Man gripped his stone sliver and ran around the beast as fast as his footsteps could take him. Once hidden from the tooth and knives of the beast, he jumped forward to drive the stone into the hide of the monster. Alas, his steps were still unsteady, and violence did not come naturally to the Man. The blade slid across the Beast, no more than a glancing blow, even less than that. The Beast is what we know as a Lion, the First Lion that our people ever knew. And as it introduced itself, the disparity in strength between a blow that could rend men in two and a stone that could barely draw blood in the hands of an amateur became readily understood. The Lion roared cruelly into the dark, shaking the air itself. The powerful boom sent the group tumbling away from the beast, their minds pounding on the tension of fear and despair. The Lion began to charge towards its game once more. Steadying themselves, the men and woman charged towards the Lion in turn, unable to back down. The Lion tried to grab the man, but wary of those deadly claws he ducked out of the way and pressed forward. The brave warriors began their attack. Trying to dig their stones into the Lion from all angles, one man finally gained the upper hand on the beast and sunk his weapon into the paw of the beast, unleashing a savage growl from the Lion. But the wound did not reach deep enough to truly harm the monster. With a light shake of the bloody paw, the Lion swatted the first man who had come closest to harming it. That man came to be known as Mulling, the first one. Mulling, the first one, was promptly swept off his feet and dragged away by the Lion, who after an ill devised assault against the back of the beast, devised by Saffron, whose head was red as flames. His cloth sash torn asunder, Mulling tried to regain his bearings as the others caught up. But as soon as the Lion had charged off, it hooked back to deliver a particularly intense blow to Galangal, the last of the men present. taking the brunt of the blow to the arms, he was sent flying away and slammed into the unfortunate Harrisa. Having a body too small to stand against the flying projectile, the two then collided into the one this story begun with, the one known as Gumbo. Perhaps having the misfortune of being the first in the line of the monster's sight, or simply due to being an easy target to lay waste to, Harrisa's ordeal continued as the Lion snatched her between its maul and shook her about with wild abandon. Galangal rushed in to drive his stone into the beast's head while it savaged the poor girl. The monster whipped around in response to the strike and sent Harrisa tumbling away, battered yet miraculously sill breathing. The other girls protested the cruel treatment at the Lion's hands to no effect. Nigella's blows failed to connect entirely while Saffron's blows could barely scratch even the hairs of the Lion's brow. As the Lion snarled and roared tauntingly to its prey, those proud roars suddenly changed sharply to a curdling yowl. The warriors looked to the side of the beast, where Mulling, the first to try to harm this beast, had pressed his stone into rib-cage of the Lion. Thick red fluid ran down his arms into a pool at his feet, and for the first time it was proven that this fiendish monster was vulnerable just as they were. Mulling, the first to strike the lion, had now become the first to wound it as well. |
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 19, 2022 18:07:57 GMT -5
Chapter 3: The Lion's Wrath
The triumph of the warriors was short lived, cut short by blood chilling roar from the Lion. Rather than a gaze of a hungry beast, the Lion's eyes begin to dart around now recognizing the group as a threat to put down. It's muscles begin clenching with previously untapped strength, and soon locked eyes upon Saffron. The piercing gaze filled her with an unknown fury, and in return to the hatred the Lion impressed, she returned it with equal aggression.
The warriors swung bravely at the Lion, trying to sink their stones into the Lion as deeply as they could. Galangal slashed at the mane of the ferocious beast, while Gumbo jabbed at the Lion's loins with wild abandon. Trying to dispatch the assailants the Lion's massive fangs tried to enclose around Mulling, but he deftly slid past the jaws and left only air in his place. Nigella swapped places with him, running her fragmented stone across the underside of the Lion's belly, but her efforts were cut short as she came too close to its deadly claws and was slashed across the back. One Threat handled, the Lion turned back to address the man who had dared to attack it in its most sensitive of weakpoints. Long slashes ran down Gumbo and tore into his legs.
As Gumbo cried out in pain, Nigella rushed in in an effort to rescue him. But no sooner had she thrust out her stone, the Lion turned on her in surprising anticipation for her. Although certainly savage, the difference between a mere animal and a true monster is the intelligence that hides within. At any moment, the flow of battle can shift any time, and rarely does it land out of the favor of the beast. From Gumbo to Nigella the beast struck with its savage nails, and then from Nigella to Saffron the monster's carnage continued. A long nail scraped against Saffron's face, and half her vision was instantly returned to the darkness of the past.
However, in the Beast's wanton violence, Galangal stepped forward to interrupt the carnage. The Knife-like stone plunged into the lower torso of the Lion, causing the beast to roar once more in pain. The others had now lost all interest to the Lion in exchange for Galangal, and as he looked at the Lion's breathing he understood why. It had become ever so slightly ragged, and its white fur was now tinged with blood other than its prey. Slowly but surely, the odds of sure victory were wavering for the Lion, and it was none too content to let it drift away at the hands of such small creatures.
The turning point had been reached.
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 19, 2022 19:02:23 GMT -5
Chapter 4: The First of Us
The Lion lunges for Galangal with an outstretched paw, but fails to clasp onto him despite his best efforts.
Gumbo tries to carve into the ribs of the mighty Lion, while Saffron unleashes a flurry of blows into the knee joints of the beast to topple him, alas to no avail. Mulling runs to Galangal's side and lunges down on the paw of the Lion digging his stone between the tendons while he had the chance. However, the Lion smacks him back in response and sends him tumbling to his feet. Raising the bloodied hand skyward, Mulling could only block his head with his arms to ward off even the blow even slightly. If the Lion had struck him, his head would have surely been crushed flat, but in the Lion's inconsolable wrath there really was nothing that one could do to block such a hit. His arms were rent to ribbons, spraying the stones red around him in agony. Mulling collapsed before the Lion, just like those that had been slaughtered before them. True, death was not something that the men and women were immune to, but it did serve to question now if all their efforts to this point could even make a difference. True for every scrape and cut that had been made on the Lion had served to weaken the beast. But as they looked at their own battered bodies, whether they could actually hold up long enough in the face of this attack was debatable. Fear began to take hold.
The Lion unleashed a mighty cry of victory at its long overdue kill, the ripples of scorn and even glee sent them rolling away. The loss of Mulling began to wrack the group's mind with grief. Galangal flew into a wild rage, while Gumbo and Harrisa's fears took hold of their minds. All the same, the group could not afford to stand down against the monster. Wild slashes came in from all angles, but the tolls of battle began to manifest themselves. Gumbo's steps began to grow unsteady, with only a passing glance from the Lion, Gumbo grew faint and collapsed on reflex. Just being near the beast was too much for the Man, and he desperately tried to escape from its reach.
The Lion's nostrils flared at the scent of fear in the air and Gumbo's desperate wishes to duck out of the monster's attention had failed. As he crawled across the stone floor, the Lion hopped over head, and then bit down on the nape of his neck. Gumbo screamed in horror trying to claw the ground for anything that could prevent him from being lifted up helplessly into the air. Finding the stone in his hand again, he tried to slash at the Lion's face to no avail. Harrisa and Saffron's efforts could do nothing to distract the monster either. The Lion flung Gumbo into the air, and then with a crushing blow slammed him back to the ground with his savage claws. His legs were horribly mangled and bleeding, but somehow Gumbo still found the strength to fight through the pain to keep his focus.
But for how much longer he could hold on was hard to say.
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 19, 2022 19:37:57 GMT -5
Chapter 5: And So the Story Ends
The Lion's sadistic attack was suddenly cut short by unreal pain. Galangal's stone dug into the femur of the Lion with frenzied rage, chipping bone from is leg in the gouging. He then tore his fragment out just as soon as it was driven in to jab into the elbow of the Lion as well. Nigella once again ran below the beast, carving from end to end in once sweep as well. Even Harrisa chased after the grooves left in Nigella's Wake, inflicting too much pain for the Lion to ignore. Unable to properly balance against the wound weakened side, the Lion could only scratch weakly towards the assailant, letting her roll out of the way of the Lion's retaliation.
For the first time the Lion felt truly weakened. Weakened, and starving. But luckily for the Lion there was a meal just within reach that could give it the energy it needed. The monster turned to the weakened Gumbo and latched onto his legs, tearing a sizeable chunk from his flesh and devouring it whole. The torn arteries in his leg sealed Gumbo's fate, and within moments, gripped by terror of this world of ruin, returned to the darkness he had sought to escape.
Then a sharp stone whistled through the air and crashed into the Lion's brow. Reeling up, the Lion tumbled over Galangal in pain as its vision blurred under the lodged fragment. It reached about for the warrior beneath, but the pulsating wound refused him a target. The stone came courtesy of Nigella, who casting aside her weapon relied instead on the same tools the lion had, her own claws, her own fangs. To add insult to injury, Saffron, having already lost her own eye to this monster, jabbed at the eye again.
The Lion flailed wildly, trying to find anybody beyond the pain and encroaching darkness. Galangal pulled himself out from the Lion and drove his stone into its arm with such force as to break it in two. Unable to support itself any longer with two limbs so heavily wounded, it could do nothing but groan in protest. It understood well what was to come next, but it had no strength to prevent it any longer.
Harrisa stood against the Lion's side, and raised the bloodied stone in her hands up. Her gaze met the Lion's. She could see the fear in the lion's eyes, a fear of a death that was soon to come. She saw herself in its golden mirrorlike eyes as well, fearful, and forlorn for her own reasons. She didn't want to die, but she didn't wish to kill either. But if she didn't complete this act, the Lion would certainly not allow the opportunity to pass to kill her and the others first. There was nothing else to it. It was the lion, or them.
The stone plunged down, and the Lion's rampage had finally ended.
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 27, 2022 14:06:43 GMT -5
Chapter 6: Glorious Meat
Six had challenged the Lion, and by the end of the struggle four remained. Against certain doom they challenged their fate and survived the encounter victorious. Gathering around the body of the fallen beast, exhausted, wounded, and not at all there, the full weight of their actions had yet to grasp any of them. All they could feel was the gnawing ache from within their own bodies.
Naturally, they were hungry. But it was a new experience for them all the same. As though the world was not hostile enough they now felt their own bodies attacking them, But what could be done about that? As they pondered that in their own ways, the silence around them began to stir. Reaching for their stones, they prepared for the worse. But as several figures came forward, more beings like themselves, drawn to the glow of the lanterns they carried. The fierce glares on the four's faces softened, and they loosened their grips on the weapons. Others had survived the attack as well. It was joyous to see.
But beyond the draw from the light, the straggling crowd was being drawn by more than the safety of the lantern. The Lion's body. In the frenzy of battle to stay alive, the survivors had failed to notice it themselves, but the smell of the lion's flesh awakened a longing in the others. Fighting past the fear to approach a creature that had filled them with such despair only hours ago, they reached into the wounds of the Lion, scraping at the flesh with their nails, and yanked away the still hot meat from the body and bit into it themselves.
Was it a desire to have done something to fight against the Lion? To return the same pain it had to them, while they were helpless to fight back? But as the others began to consume the Lion faster and faster, curiosity led the four to join in, and see what could possibly be so appealing. After discarding their stones, some of the remaining warriors had needed to resort to scratching, striking, and even biting the Lion to continue the battle. But now that the threat was in the past, what was there still to gain?
Harrisa plunged her stone dagger once more into the body of the lion, sensing the change in how the stone moved compared to when she had tried in the battle to dig it into a living target. She lifted the chunk out and drew it to her mouth, with Galangal, Nigella, and Saffron watching her with rapt attention. Flashes of Lion jolted through her mind as she chewed down on the meat, and as she swallowed the empty pit in her stomach was warmed and soothed at once. In the vacuum of her empty mouth saliva began to pool in want for more, so she quickly began to carve into the lion once again. She tried to invite the others to join her in this amazing discover. She motioned, grunted and cried out, not in pain but beckoningly to fill their mouths with glorious meat at once.
The First Lion became the First Feast for them all, something they remember well to this day. As they ate the Lion, filled their stomachs, and grew satisfied, they began to realize that perhaps this is what the beast had attacked them for as well. Growing hungry, and the sickening emptiness within their bodies; if they were disturbed by such a feeling how much more so would a much bigger creature feel that pain? However as long as they filled their mouths with meat, they could keep that hunger at bay.
But that would mean finding another Lion, taking it down, and eating it as well. Could they really do such a thing? No, that was the wrong question. It'd be better to ask when would they have to do such a thing again. And would they be ready when the time came?
Nonetheless, the celebration was the only thing in the minds of those who had gathered together. They ate their fill to satiation, and once they had finished, they gathered the bodies of Gumbo and Mulling. They had fought hard to ensure that everyone here today could live on after all, and leaving them behind was out of the question. Along with that, they took whatever else they could from the Lion as well. Staying here was unlikely to bring any good with it, so returning for it was an undoubted impossibility.
The question though was where they could go from here. If there were lions who could attack at any time in the darkness, they needed to find somewhere that could be safe. But where would that be? What would that even look like? The group scanned the distance, looking for any sign of shelter able to protect them from a beast like that. All they could see beyond the glow of their small lanterns though, was another glow of light in the dark horizon. Was it another group like them? Would they know where they could find safety? There was no way to know unless they reached that light.
Thus their destination was set.
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 27, 2022 16:24:57 GMT -5
Chapter 7: A Lot of Lanterns
Through the darkness, lit only by the lanterns wrapped in the scraps of their cloth, the light in the distances grew steadily larger with time. The group of survivors trudged ever forward in search for its source, resting at times, eating what bits of lion they had carried, and making discoveries such as "what happens after you eat something?"
The world was unknown and mysterious to the group, but wonder was not something they could afford to indulge in. Caution and fear hung onto the minds of all as they focused only on the light at the end of their journey. Finally, they had arrived, to here. There was nobody else to welcome them with open arms. Rather, all that had awaited them beyond the veil of darkness was a massive tower of dazzling light, brighter than any of their lanterns could ever shine alone. Countless lanterns clustered together in a large bunch at the top of that tower shining out its radiance far into the horizon around them. As the group began to spread about to see what awaited them, their blood chilled at the roar of an all to familiar beast.
Taking up the fragmented stones from their fallen allies, the four warriors stood ready to protect the others once again and ran towards the Lion. But as its form took shape in the distance, they noticed something of great concern.
The Lion that awaited them at the very edge of the light was Much larger than the one they had fought already. Perhaps the first one was a runt, or it had been comparatively sickly from the others. But that wasn't the only thing to note. The Lion, for its size and menace, did nothing to charge the group at the edge of the light's reach. It roared, taunted, and snarled, but all the same it hesitated to actually attack the four where they stood still out of reach. For one reason or another... It was afraid. It feared the light of the tower of lanterns.
Not about to turn their back on the Lion or get any closer themselves, the warriors traded uneasy glances amidst this apparent stalemate between them. So they stood their ground, watching the Lion roar, and holler, and yowl, and eventually grow tired of the prospect of catching an easy meal out of the survivors and depart.
This hoard of lanterns was the safe haven they had been looking for. A place where no monster would intrude or harm them. Somewhere they could rest at last in peace. They had found their home at last.
The warriors returned to the other six, who had cowered themselves amongst the stone faces as they must have done before. Harrisa stepped forward to console the group, to let them know that there was no danger of attack here, but as she tried to pull them up they swung back at her and cowered harder than before.
There had to be a way to let them know about this new discovery. Her mind began to move, doing more than simply pondering the meanings of her sensory inputs, but now considering how to act to affect the minds of others as well.
Harrisa reached for Galangal, tugging at his arm to bring him closer to the others. Grunting and shouting, she tried to bring everyone's attention on her.
The six stayed low, but her cries had at the very least given them pause to see if perhaps the horrible beast had gotten one more. It was progress. From there, Harrisa pointed out to the horizon, towards where the Lion had been. Raising her hands forward like the beast's claws, she roared and growled to imitate the monster. Galangal looked out to the horizon in case the Lion had decided to come back, but after Harrisa had confirmed the Lion was not in fact she grabbed Galangal's face and centered it back on her.
Once again, she copied the Lion's movements and waited for a response. Then she took Galangal's hands to moved them to replicate the movements as she had. Harrisa growled and grunted at Galangal until he began to caught on and followed suit in the noise making. Now she had a Lion.
Calling to the cowering group now, she pointed at Galangal and signalled him to roar. Galangal performed his role and growled and snarled towards the others, sending them cowering just as though he was a real Lion. They cried in fear and huddled to the ground. Galangal wasn't quite sure he liked that they had now established he was a scary monster, and Harrisa's actions didn't help much either. Taking Nigella and Saffron beside her, she pulled them down to the ground and joined the group in their terror, crying and shouting in fear at Galangal.
Then, she called everyone's attention back to her as she stood up and pointed to the hoard of lanterns. The group looked up befuddled as Harrisa then pulled the equally bewildered Nigella and Saffron closer to the tower and then motioned back to Galangal.
After a moment of bleary confusion the links joined together in his mind at what Harrisa was getting at. Roaring even more dramatically, he charged at the group of cowering survivors to scare them up and send them scattering. Not one to pleased by being subjected to another attack, their cries of terror filled the area as Galangal ran about swiping the air and shouting into the air wildly, spit dripping from his mouth like a starving beast.
Saffron looked about ready to go to battle against the deranged beast, but Harrisa held her down and shouted to the fleeing survivors as she pointed to the lanterns, calling them over. Galangal chased after those who were far from the tower, but as they ran towards the group he changed his pursuit to go after those still on the outskirts. Eventually, everyone had finally huddled together by the lantern hoard. Now came the final step.
Without a straggling target left, Galangal turned towards the entire group and flared his claws and fangs ferociously. As he closes in on the bunch, he suddenly points up to the lantern, imitating the sounds Harrisa had made in the same kind of mimicry she had used to get him to play a lion. In despair and fury he roared and circled around the area, just as the Lion had refused to come fight them from the border of the light. Defeated, he turned away and roared off into the distance.
The group stood somewhat baffled at what had just happened. They looked up to the lights, then to Galangal who was throwing a fit in the background, still in character for a lack of a better idea on what to do now. But eventually, they figured out the message.
Light was good, Light was safe. Monsters hate Light, stay close to the Light. Harrisa guided the group in understanding these concepts and how to express them to each other. From there, she tried to express other ideas that they were familiar with already. Ideas like what they were, who they were, meat, the stone faces and things like their stone slivers and clothes. Sensations like hunger, vision, sounds, and so on. In the light of the lantern hoard they finally had time to think in peace, and they used it to the full. The Survivors were gifted with the power of language, and with it their chances of survival had improved exponentially. They traded names about to distinguish themselves from the others, and soon could call out to each other from anywhere within earshot and get their attention.
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 27, 2022 16:30:15 GMT -5
Chapter 8: Preparing for the Hunt
Days had gone by. When the last of the Lion's meat was eaten, the survivors began to scrounge about for smaller creatures hiding within the stone faces to eat. It wasn't much in comparison, but it let them get by. Safety was their chief concern of course, but as they learned to express themselves to each other the thoughts inevitably turned to the same subject. Meat. Where can they find meat? There's not enough meat. It was impossible to stay in the safe glow of the lanterns forever, so one way or another they would have to venture into the darkness where the Lions roam and bring their meat back for everyone. To live in safety would require risks, risks that could end up with somebody dying, ending up like Gumbo and Mulling, the names they decided upon for the two that had fallen amongst them. Although the idea had passed among the group when hunger grew strong whether they should do as the Lion had and eat their bodies as well. But ultimately the decision was too tragic to give serious thought to. They had fought so hard to not be eaten in the first place, it would be wrong to take that from them after they couldn't fight back any longer.
Clearing away the many stone faces near the border of the settlement, the two were buried under a monument constructed by large brittle bones to mark their location.
Galangal, Saffron, and Nigella, stood by the grave to burn their memories of the two into their hearts, and the hearts of the three survivors who had joined them. Only Harrisa was absent of the original six warriors, though surely she would come on her own to reflect on her own with time. For the moment she had become quite busy with watching over the group and leading them in efforts to build their new home together. She had a lot on her mind since she had arrived, and when the decision came forward that it was time to seek out the Lion for their next meal, she entrusted everything to Nigella and excused herself from the hunt to keep an eye on those left here. In her absence came 3 brave new warriors, Berbere and Garlic, along with Rose Baie answered the call to pursue the next Lion.
There wasn't much time they could spare, so from then on all work in the settlement went towards the preparation of the Hunt.
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 27, 2022 17:31:52 GMT -5
Chapter 9: They're Boned
In the time since, The group began working together to build a place where they could sharpen the leftover bones of the Lion to something they can use for the next battle. This lead to the creation of the Bone Smith.
Handing off the stones that had lead them this far to the three new hunters, Galangal, Nigella, and Saffron took the scraps of Lion Bones they had leftover and began to work them into something sharp and dangerous.
"Saffron, what are you making?" Nigella asked. Saffron chuckled confidently in response as she lifted a long bone splinter wrapped up in a piece of cloth as a crude handle. It was hard to say that there was much of a change from the original material. "It's like the stone, but bigger!" She proudly stated to Nigella's somewhat subdued impression. "If I could cut a lion with just a small rock, imagine what I could have done with a bigger rock instead."
"You might be right about that Saffron." Galangal chimed as he hefted a large shoulder blade affixed to a sturdy boned onto a pile of stone faces next to them. "Ohhh. And what's that?" Saffron felt impelled to ask regarding the dangerous looking hatchet. "It's like a big rock, but bigger." he replied.
"...I like it!" She decided, a sign of approval for the improvements made to her original concept. "If you like it, I bet the Lions will love it. And what about you Nigella? You seem to have... A lot of weapons there."
At Nigella's side were a number of tiny bone slivers wrapped tightly in cloth. Saffron leaned over, squinting her good eye to get a sense of what exactly these were. "These are not like rocks but bigger..."
"Yeah, that's the point. When we threw the stones they really hurt the Lion right? But then we couldn't find them after we that, so I thought maybe having a bunch of small rocks to throw would be better than one big rock." Nigella explained, somewhat unconfidently.
"I can see where you're getting that idea, but are you sure that you can really do anything with these?" Galangal asked. "Wouldn't a bigger sharper weapon be more useful? It seems that the only way this would hurt is if the tiny sharp bit at the end went first."
"I don't think I could throw these straight if I tried either." Saffron added, noting her lack of depth perception had already made things somewhat difficult to judge distances compared to the others. Still, Nigella sternly advocated her darts as being right for the job. Though the truth of the matter was that the sword and axe that Saffron and Galangal had favored reminded her too much of the claws and fangs of the Lion. They made her feel far too uneasy to use herself. Ultimately they could only trust it will do the job.
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Post by Sazerac on Nov 27, 2022 19:07:17 GMT -5
Chapter 10: Tell Me About It
As preparations proceeded along smoothly, the hunting party noted a sizable number of the settlement had gathered around Harrisa.
"What do you think is going on over there Saffron?" Galangal asked the red haired hunter. "Why are you asking me? I'm not over there." She replied.
After a pause, Galangal turned to Nigella and asked the same question. At the best estimate they might be eating together but she didn't think there was much food left. "Perhaps they found a bunch of critters in one of the faces?"
"If that's the case I want a bite of what they're eating. Better to go hunting with a happy belly." Saffron stated as she skipped over to join in the surprise meal, and the rest followed suit.
Once they had arrived though, they found the attention of everyone present wasn't on any food, but rather on Harrisa. Harrisa for her part, didn't have any food either, which disappointed Saffron immensely.
"Oh, so the entire hunting party is here now?" Harrisa asked them. "I was just telling the others about what it was like to fight the Lion, since they were all asking what you'll be up against."
"Where's the food though?" Saffron demanded.
"I thought you guys were going to find it. Is there a change of plan?" Harrisa asked back.
Nigella grabbed onto Saffron and pulled her away, seeing that there was nothing to be gained by sticking around she assured Harrisa that everything is still good to go. Reassured by this, she returned to the story of their experience in the hunt. Galangal watched for a short moment while observing Berbere, Garlic, and Rose Baie's interest in hearing about the story as well.
"You can listen for a bit, but remember that you'll be the one with the stories when you come back." He reminded them. Nodding in understanding, the group broke up to attend to any last second needs, like finding some food under the stones before heading off. In one way or another everyone has different ways to ensure their survival. If hearing the stories of those with experience helps, there's nothing more to say.
Some time later, the group met together once more by Gumbo and Mulling. Although they could hope for the best, there's no telling what may happen out from the safety of the the lantern hoard. Resolving themselves, they set off into the darkness...
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Post by Sazerac on Dec 1, 2022 8:27:56 GMT -5
Chapter 11: Where Are We Going?
The hunting party marches bravely through the darkness. Admittedly, although the party was half composed of those who were experienced with battle already, but by all measures they were still novices in every sense of the word. Although their time spent traveling had given them some notion of how to traverse the land, where to look for safe shelters, and how to judge the distance between themselves and whatever might be looking to make a snack of them; There's quite a difference between trying to survive and actively seeking peril. Berbere combed around the floor with his lantern in sight for any strands of fur, or perhaps scratches in the stone faces underfoot. Rose Baie and Garlic on the other hand did their best to copy the movements of Galangal, Saffron, and Nigella. As far as they were concerned anything that the warriors of their settlement did could possibly lend to making themselves more competent for the battle ahead as well. It was little surprise perhaps given their earlier intrigue in Harrisa's experiences.
For the Warriors on their part though, their eyes were more honed on the horizon than anything. If the Lions that hide out in the dark were about, they couldn't afford to be caught by surprise. Galangal gripped the handle of his axe, ready to strike whenever ready. Admittedly his focus was being drawn toward Saffron more than any would be threat, who was crawling about the ground on all fours, smelling the stones and grunting unintelligibly.
"What exactly are you doing Saffron?" Nigella asked first, just as disturbed by the behavior as Galangal had been. Turning to the group and curling her fingers like claws in an immediately identifiable motion. "We're looking for Lions right? Finding Lions requires thinking like a Lion."
"I don't think that's really helping anyone. And that aside, we're not Lions." Galangal stated bluntly. Rose and Garlic looked from Saffron to Galangal somewhat unsure about that. "We're not Lions." He reiterated, sure of what they might be thinking about although they didn't say it out loud. All the same, this didn't really seem to convince Saffron away from her idea.
"Well if we're not Lions what are we suppose to be? Why can't we be Lions?"
"I don't really want to be a Lion." Garlic admitted. "I'd have to give up living in the light if I was one of them wouldn't I?" Rose nodded in agreement. "Yeah let's not be Lions I just want to be us."
"It doesn't have to be forever, just until we find the Lion. Then we can go back to be us and beat it up."
"Well, if you think it will find the Lion faster then let's give it a shot." Berbere sighed as he straightened up from hunching over for so long. "We're not really getting anywhere like this."
The encouragement reinvigorated Saffron to resume her Lion impression with a new gusto. Roars filled the air as she ran off into the darkness to act as the Lions do, or at least as she thinks the Lion would do. Soon, begrudgingly or caught up in her fervor, the entire party had taken to becoming a pride of Lions traversing their domain for hapless survivors to crunch down on and scatter.
"We're here."
The fearsome Lions stalked low to the ground as they arrived at the destination of their target. Fangs bared and dripping with saliva, the ferocious beasts closed in to attack when their prey least expects it. There it is now. Trying to enjoy a meal of another less unfortunate creature than it will soon be.
"What's the plan?" Nigella asked Saffron, already poised to strike even from this distance.
"Let's circle around from all angles to cut off its escape, then we'll roar a bunch to disorient it before going in for the kill."
"Let's do it. The sooner we attack the faster we can eat." Galangal said, growing under breath deeply.
With nothing to gain by hesitating, the six charged into the fray to get the drop on their unsuspecting prey. Or at least as much of a drop as hollering like savages while swinging their arms about could muster. Unsurprisingly, they were met with absolute confusion as they appeared on the horizon.
"Oh, you're back already? That didn't take long a- AUGH!"
The screams of bloody murder filled the settlement as the mighty lions grabbed hold of the unsuspecting survivor and pulled at him from every angle with their claws. Harrisa and the others quickly ran over to see what had happened to their poor ally, but when they arrived to see the hunting party returned, parading around like Lions around a slightly battered and flummoxed Szechuan, the newfound words they had discovered almost felt like they were lost to them entirely.
"...Galangal, what's going on here?"
"Graaawwh! Roaaar! Arrrghhrah... raah... Aah...?"
Reality came crashing back to the forefront of their minds, and with it awareness that they had wandered back home without even realizing it. Fangs were hidden, talons were retracted, and in the place of six proud lions now stood six survivors experiencing their first run in with embarrassment and shame. Wordlessly, they crawled off the hapless Szechuan and returned to the darkness to resume their search for the Lion.
Altogether, the hunt was going to be a long, long, ordeal.
On that
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Post by Sazerac on Dec 1, 2022 13:58:21 GMT -5
Chapter 12: Let's Dig In
As the hunters journeyed through the darkness, they came upon an unusual sight, but a welcome one. A large patch of stone faces had been broken open in such a way as to form long grooves across them. Counting them out, Rose Baie noted that they seemed to roughly match up with her fingers, although much bigger, with a few more fingers and so on. "I think we're finally on the trail of a Lion." She announced somewhat hopefully.
"But why do you think it would do this? You can't eat rocks." Berbere mused as he felt the sharp ridges of the dug chasm. "Yeah, way too hard for too little taste." Saffron chimed in with support. Berbere looked to the redhead with a look of concern. "Are you saying that you tr-"
"Agh! A little help over here!" Garlic cried out from another claw mark. As the others ran over they found his arm had gotten pinned under a pointed stone pushing into his forearm. As he tried to tear his hand free the edges had begun to cut and dig into his flesh.
"Calm down Garlic, you're going to get yourself hurt if you struggle like that." Nigella said as she steadied the free part of his arm to prevent further damage. "I'm already hurt, just get me out already!"
With a little finesse and careful effort to move the loose faces from the crevice, Garlic was freed from the predicament only a little worse for wear. But why he had done such a thing in the first place was beyond anyone's understanding at that point. "I thought I saw something under the rock, Maybe a claw or a fang under there." He explained.
If true, they would surely benefit greatly from finding a useful item without having to pull it from the beast it came from. Aware of the risk that Garlic had shown them though proved that it did come with hazards to plumb the depths of these sharp rocks. It was ultimately worth it to investigate further, so the other five left Garlic to tend to his wounds while they searched for any other presents the Lion may have left behind.
After everyone had made their way through the claw marks, Berbere was the only one who came out of the search with nothing to show for it. Galangal and Nigella's careful searching resulted in a claw each to their name as Garlic had indicated, a tidy boon. Meanwhile a frustrated Saffron, bloodied up to her shoulders after digging through the stones, damn any consequences, had only a few new scars to show for it. An equally unhappy Rose Baie, having the misfortune to search beside Saffron, was caught up in the flying stones and had to be dug out as well. All in all it was better than nothing, and a welcome excursion from the hunt for what they got out of it.
Unbeknownst to them all however, their efforts were not unnoticed by the world. The wind carries their scent into the darkness, where a beast stirs at the prospect of a meal. The showdown between the two draws closer.
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Post by Sazerac on Dec 2, 2022 20:49:57 GMT -5
Chapter 13: Old Flame
"Hey, look over there."
Saffron pointed her lantern over to a strange glint in the distance, bringing the group over on a detour to an area where the stone faces were discolored to a pitch black. In curiosity of what had caused this effect, they found the black colors would lift to their hands when they rubbed the cheeks of the rocks.
"It's a lot like the stuff that came off our eyes, though it comes off a lot easier when you rub it." Nigella remarked. Berbere and Garlic continued to experiment with it, perhaps if they covered their bodies with it could they vanish into the dark and become unseen by any monster that comes by? All they succeeded in is getting rather filthy though, with the smell being none pleasant for that matter. Begrudgingly the others took to trying to remove the offensive dye from the two, yet Saffron was more interested in finding the sparkle she had seen before.
Venturing further on, a number of unfamiliar shapes stood up around the area. Large blackened bones pressed together, ash heavy faces lined up like walls. But most disturbingly, figures that bore more than a passing resemblance to herself lined the ground in various poses, some fallen over, others shielding themselves in surprise. Curious why they were so motionless despite seeming more or less in tact, Saffron pushed one of the bodies over. Her hands surprisingly gave way to air as she fell through it the instant her weight shifted against the body, and soon she landed face first in a plume of dust. The air irritated her lungs and her empty eye socket as she gasped for a clean breath in the aftermath. By the time she gained her bearings, the others had arrived, as equally filthy in dust in their efforts to clear away the mess.
"Looks like you've had fun as well Saffron." Galangal sighed. "Did you find anything of note?"
"Nothing really. I thought I saw something shining from over this way, but all I could find were these guys." She said, pointing at the dust people. "Don't touch them, it's gross."
And sure enough, they Were gross. But more importantly, they were dead. It was a bizarre sight to the survivors present, in that as a first for them, they've never encountered somebody who could die without being torn apart by a Lion. They admittedly only had a slim frame of reference to make such a call on, true, but the novelty of his struck them with curiosity more than horror. What exactly DID kill these survivors?
The prospect of a new danger to relate to the others on their return was an important one to share, so they intensified their investigation of the surroundings for anything that struck them as "Maybe really dangerous." For the greater good of course. They soon came to understand that not only was this area filled with many more dust people than their group at the lantern hoard had, but they appeared to be in a settlement that was many times larger than their own at one point too. With a tower of unlit lanterns gathered together in the center just like theirs. Though only a remnant of its former glory, their minds were taken by what it could have been like, and what that was even like for that matter. By all intents and purposes they were dealing with a civilization that was many times more advanced than their own. One that seemed to construct strange formations out of more than just a bunch of rocks stacked over each other. It was all too bizarre and alien to comprehend.
It came to no wonder then as the group realized they had no way of learning the secrets of this lost precursor, and the terrible fate that befell them, that they wandered past the seemingly significant arrangement of carefully cut stone, lined with empty lanterns that had served as the origin of the black dust. They had no way of understanding its importance, nor of its danger. But perhaps that was for the best that they did not play with something beyond their control like that. For now, their concerns were simple ones, of life and death. And the Lion that had lazily torn at the corpse of some hideous beast. Its nostrils flared at the acrid stench of the warriors as their eyes met on the other side of the lantern hoard. Their target was in sight now, all that was needed was to prevail against it.
The showdown had began.
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Post by Sazerac on Dec 10, 2022 21:27:22 GMT -5
Chapter 14: A Bloody Lion
Group catches Lion unaware, or so they believe. Lion is sniffing around in the wake of what looks like a fresh kill, it seems to know they're there but doesn't react, immediately.
A sign of confidence, Saffron charges in blade in tow and delivers a sure hit against the soft belly of the lion as they had done so in the past, surprisingly though her blade, which should be much sharper than the stone dagger, merely grazes the underside to the angered roar of the lion.
sensing the danger to come, Nigella leads the new hunters into the grass to hide from its wrath.
The lion lets loose a terrible roar sending the party tumbling away in the acoustic blast. Garlic tried his best to withstand the booming noise, but then Saffron came bouncing past him and knocked him on his keister. Taking note of the chaos, it came running after them and slashed at saffron, who ducked just shy of getting another nail in the face but still came out with some cuts on her legs.
Sent rumbling away from battle, Berbere finds a dead body nearby and panics at the possibility of it being one of the others. In distress he pokes around around to see who might be lost as a result of the Lion. Only to find that it's not actually anybody he knows. He doesn't know if he should feel relieved, or more worried that there are still more people out here suffering like this.
Back at the battle Saffron is whacking at the lion rather terribly. She's in the blindspot but she can't exactly see too well either.
The Lion tenses up as the air seems to become charged around it, every single neuron in its feline brain is searching for power, and in a brief moment its full potential seems to be fully revealed to the others. They feel its scornful nature, its condescension for the survivors hubris to attack it, but most of all its barely contained bloodlust. Whatever the Lion did seems to have worn it out, but the battle was still far from over as it lunged for Garlic and took off with him into the darkness, trampling over Rose and Saffron in the meanwhile.
The party moves to rejoin the battle, only pausing in their charge at the sight of a strange green stalk growing out from the mouth of a stone face. Recognize it as similar to a plant, so they try searching for anything in it. Galangal finds a small ratlike thing and bites in, then seeing Rose Baie struggling shouts words of encouragement to her. She gets up and strikes at the Beast's shoulder, but only succeeds in chasing it off from Garlic and towards Nigella. Who slashes at her chest as she jumps back.
Seeing the lion attacking one of their mentors, Rose flings her stone right at the lion and embeds in its heel. The Lion roars in pain at the first sure hit of the battle, falling to the side to the cheers of the others. However Rose Baie is now unarmed. How that will affect the battle from here remains to be seen.
Nigella throws darts at the lion, to no effect. Garlic is encouraged by Rose's success and throws his stone as well, slashing across the Lion's neck in what could certainly be a death blow. But just narrowly misses the vital point needed.
The Lion gets to its feet and charges towards the Grass looking to flush out the survivors, but fails to find anybody. Saffron deftly sneaks through the frustrated beasts swipes as makes her way past the Lion to join Galangal in striking the Lion from behind. Galangal hacks into the Lion's back with his axe while Saffron, ultimately fails to make a difference again.
The Lion turns to face the Galangal and pay him back twofold for his wounds. in a flash Galangal is crushed under the Lion's malicious beatdown, tearing at his arms with fury. Garlic calls out for Galangal to fight back against the Lion's blows, he smacks at the knees with his axe to push it back, then swings his weapon to smack the lion across the face with the broad end of the head. The Lion roars directly into Galangal's face, filling his view with nothing but rows of teeth and the stench of putrid meat.
Having put the puny survivor in their place, the Lion felt it was necessary that everyone else present knew where they stood in comparison to itself. With another booming roar it sent the survivors scattering, chasing after Rose to tear her up.
As the battle wars on, the survivors trying their best to make any progress, getting run over by a rampaging lion, and occasionally getting chomped on for their efforts. Nigella in particular was just recovering from such a blow, and felt rather irritated about the constant harassment on the lion's part, as well as her failure to contribute to the battle at all thus far. The Lion continued to sniff about strangely as Nigella reached for her backup weapon, the stone from the first battle, and slung it straight at the Lion. But then as soon as the rock slipped past her fingertips the lion lunged deftly around the stone and barreled toward her. It was such an obvious trick too! The lion's thick nails dug into her gut, lifting her up and tossing her to the ground, pouring out her entrails in front of the Lion as she gasped and bowed over. The Lion raised its hand up to its snout and took a deep breath at the scent of gore. A hunger was awoken at last.
Nigella desperately tried to pack the wounds with cloth to keep her innards together, along with whatever she could use to help. Earlier she had found some long leaves among the plant stalks that were growing up and started chewing them up into a sticky pulp to break it down and get it to stick better. Surprisingly, it had a bit of a numbing effect on the wounds as well, which was an unexpected boon. Not that she could really take the time to appreciate it in her crisis, as the Lion drove its bloodied claw back towards Nigella even as she laid doubled over and helpless.
Shielding her head and her belly from further wounding her arms were steadily torn apart before Saffron could knock the Lion away with a sharp blow to the chest. Rose Baie jumped at the beast's flank and pounded her fists into its soft bits as hard as she could. Her fist must have collided with something sensitive because by some stroke of luck the massive beast fell weak in response to the blow and tipped over. It was momentary but it gave the survivors time to regroup in the chaos. Berbere flung his stone in hope that it would keep the beast down, but only managed to give the Lion a close hair cut as tufts of the lion's glittering mane fell loose. Saffron plunges her blade into the monster's shoulder while Garlic tries to lend a hand... And gets smacked away from the scene like an annoying bug.
The warriors continued to fight valiantly, chipping away at the beast could only flounder about in response. Galangal had ended up separated from the others as the Lion faced off against him alone. In a momentary retreat, the beast had escaped from a particularly severe bare handed strike courtesy of Berbere that had somehow carried enough force to cleave the lion's lower jaw straight off of its head, leaving a bloody stump and lolling tongue where it once was. Heaving groans filled the air as Galangal gave pursuit to find the Lion trying to sooth the affliction to no avail. With the injuries of Nigella still fresh in his mind the Lion's suffering didn't particularly move his heart, but then again it would have been hard to sympathize regardless of how he found the beast. Perking its ears towards him, the lion's pitiful expression seemed to warm up as if a gift was just given him. He raised his axe in preparation, but soon the Lion's pained expression gave way to a sickening, broken half-smile. The beast circled about him faster than he could keep up with, smacking him across the backside and being flipped this way and that as though he was being inspected thoroughly. In between the rough handling, Galangal caught glimpses of the Lion's eyes in the lantern's light, and what he saw was not just an unthinking beast, but a soft gaze that looked as though it was trying to learn, learn about him. There was an unnerving sense of wonderment that Galangal recognized in the time he had spent getting his bearings at the lantern hoard. Discovering things he had never seen before hidden in the stones, and then investigating all their various parts and pieces before he ultimately ate them. The more that he thought about how he must have played with many living creatures, the less difference he saw in how the lion was treating him now. And it enraged him. He hated being in this position of weakness, more than anything, more than simply living he hated the weakness that came from being toyed with by something stronger than he was and being helpless to stop it. With a frenzied rage he gripped the handle of his axe ready to strike.
But the Lion had already lost interest in him as soon as it had begun. Just as Saffron had come up to support the duel the Lion's idle play revealed itself to be yet another trick to draw one of the others forward to take on instead. Was he so weak as to be little more than bait for the monster? Galangal couldn't accept that possibility.
Digging its nails into Saffron's thigh, the lion charged through away from the group, bulldozing past Garlic towards a lonely spot away from the others. Saffron squirmed out of its grip, shredding her legs crimson in the process before trying to plunge her sword into its side, but only succeeded in irritating the beast with her struggles. Staring threateningly at the redhead, Saffron was taken aback, but refused to yield to the lion's intimidation. What she had to gain by taunting the Lion this way was something only she knew, but soon the Lion answered her challenge to its majesty with a rending smack away. Saffron felt dizzy and faint, unaware of just how much blood she was losing from all over. Berbere's cry managed to keep her focused long enough though to stumble away, to get to safety away from the Lion. In her place Garlic and Rose Baie covered her escape as they beat on the Lion to the best of their ability. But alas, the beast and its wounded pride wouldn't let Saffron get away so easily. Lunging forward, it stretched its claws out to snatch up Saffron once again before she could escape, when suddenly a sharp jolt ran through the beast's body and sent it tumbling over.
The survivors looked to each other in surprise at what had happened. The Lion was covered in blood, true, but they failed to notice the toll that the Lion had been fighting against all this time. splintered stone embedded in its heel had shifted within the gash, and as it moved around it was being agitated all this time. Why had they only realized now? It was too late to make up for this error in strategy, but this experience would surely train them for the future to be more alert.
Garlic charged toward the Lion ready to knock it over on its weak leg, it may have gotten the best of him before, but this time for sure he had the advantage... At least that was the hope. What actually happened here was that the Lion, entirely finished with dealing with this foolish antic, slammed its palm against him with enough force to tear his chest open and send him flying back to collide with a particularly well defined rock nostril on the ground with a sickening crack. Galangal made the most of that distraction in an attempt to chop the Lion's head straight off its neck, and managed to embed his axe a good few inches into the tough muscles. The lion scrambled away towards Garlic before the axe-head could press any deeper, and took the poor man, absolutely ruined by the previous blow, and shook him about in ways that one could only imagine would only worsen things. If his back hadn't been absolutely destroyed before it certainly was now.
But somehow Garlic managed to get up. He really shouldn't have, nobody present would have faulted him for doing so, but Garlic stood back up, ready to be tottered over by the slightest breeze, and got ready to limp over for round three if he had even the smidgen of a chance to. The Lion was just as weakened as he was, and everyone could see it now.
In the end, it was a mistake. A stupid, costly mistake. Was it a heroic desire to help? Or the hubris of the insane? Or perhaps a wish for one last act of defiance. At this point there is no answer to this question, and nobody who can answer it for the rest of us. Seeing the battle reaching its zenith, Saffron came too close to the battlefield and caught the nose of the Lion once again. With a desire for blood at the forefront it made a mad dash for the swordswoman, ignoring the blade pointing its way, as well as the pain in its legs to crush Saffron under fist directly in the chest. Her lungs flattened under the force, and organs began to shift from the pressure moving them away. If she could have survived such a blow she would have surely never been able to fight again, but unfortunately, such worries were not necessary. Her battle ended here at the hands of the Lion.
In the haze of what transpired afterwards, Galangal's blinding rage, and Berbere's savage blows finished what little the beast could hold on to life and soon fell just as Saffron had. Arguably, this second battle was more of a success than their first, with only one casualty to speak of. Of course, that said nothing of the condition of the others. Nigella was torn apart, Garlic was in pieces, and Galangal had began to bear scars that can not so easily be seen. All the same, they had prevailed yet again over a hostile beast of this world, and earned themselves a feast for the others.
Taking their fill of fresh meat, they turned their attention to hacking away as much as they could carry, minding that they would have to carry others as well with them, and departed home with their minds still buzzing with the events of the day. Laughter seemed to fill the air as they hauled away their rewards, but somehow they found it hard to believe that anybody among them could even manage to smile at this time. If Saffron had still been alive, perhaps then. But not now. Perhaps it was the world laughing at them itself, scorning them clinging on once again to life? In which case it can laugh all it wants, they had no intention of giving up.
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