+- Hydaelyn Role-Players (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18)
+-- Forum: Role-Play (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=27)
+--- Forum: Town Square (IC) (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=21)
+--- Thread: Tracks in the snow. ((OOC Welcome!)) (/showthread.php?tid=8407)
Tracks in the snow. ((OOC Welcome!)) - Yangh - 09-25-2014
The sound of snow crunching underfoot was almost rhythmic, quick and pitter pattering footfalls accompanied by dull thuds, fewer in frequency. The two sounds seemed to mesh, the canvas of endless white underfoot and an even more endless blue overhead.
A clear day in Coerthas, how nice.
She and Ta'er, the name she'd chosen for the goliath of a Chocobo had passed through a small encampment with a name so long she'd not even bothered to commit it to memory.
Ishgardian's and their long winded names.
She'd been there before, long ago in fact, before the snow. It used to be green. She wished it still was. With a pause she spoke out into the endless white.
"Uwaahh!!" she exclaimed, cupping her ears. She was garbed in a full highlander attire, mittens, tunic, footwear and, what she thought, was the cutest hat known to the tweleve.
Though she was certain Leanne would have words on that subject.
Leanne. Oh she missed her deeply. More than she ever thought she would. Ta'er snapped his beak playfully at her highlander hood, rubbing his face up against her ears to warm them.
"كرا لك. لم تكن صعبة كما كنت Ø£Øب الناس إلى الاعتقاد ØŒ وأنت?"
Ta'er lowered his head with a gentle Wark, hoping she'd take his offer and allow him to do the leg work. As usual, she declined, ruffling the feathers at his neck and continued on.
Leanne.
There it was again, a momentary respite from the gnawing cold. She found it odd, as much as she'd distanced herself from her lover... she found herself turning the the memory of her more and more. This was until, the Scimitar at her hip spurred to life.
Saif-ul raml wahsh, it was called. The Sword of the Sand Beasts. An odd blade if truth be told. Parasitic and powerful. Her blade... one from her clan's ancient past.
The Ghazi min azraq raml they were called. Warrior of the Blue Sands, the ones who wielded these unique blades. Perhaps unique was not quite the right word though now was not the time to speak on it. The blades harbour an extremely rare trait, the ability to devour and store the aether of a dying monster, intercepting it before it left the body for the lifestream.
Eight gems there were, set into the blades hilt. One for each essence as it ate and trapped a life force within to be called upon for later use. The sweeping Aksharian text engraved to the flat of the blade burned a bright orange, flowing from hilt to point. This usually meant one thing, there was something nearby that the Scimitar could... or perhaps wanted to devour and lock away inside one of its eight gems.
She scanned the immediate area. Nothing.
Ta'er seemed perfectly relaxed for once, it would seem he'd gotten used to the blade by now, even after his unfortunate run it with it. Never again will he try to eat a blade that could just as easily eat him!
Still the blade burned, informing her there was something near. The last time this had happened she'd ended up combating a giant Sand Worm. Still, if she couldn't perceive it then she couldn't fight it!
"Ta'er. Come." she said with a sigh and padded off.
The wind picked up as the clouds rolled in over head. More snow. Though she was still on edge, her Scimitar burned still at its engravings. She pushed it out of mind as she spotted something flying in the distance, a small dot against the blue back drop.
She watched as it grew larger. Her blade burned brighter and she already knew what was coming. It would seem the blade had an odd tendency to attract its prey, or at least she thought so.
No time to waste.
She drew Saif-ul raml wahsh, twirling the blade and finishing with a flourish as one of the gems lit up. The dexterous and dance like performance continued as yet another gem lit up, something she'd taught herself to do with the blade, spell-weaving.
"الØرس العظيم!"
Saif-ul raml wahsh seemed to prefer the elements of Earth and Wind which was find by her. She'd acquired a few offensive spells but rarely found need for them, perhaps that would change.
The foe came into view, a giant adversary of the winged variety... though, not a Dragon, Drake or Wyvern. Just a very large bird with a large beak. The bird, brown feathered, dark yellow feet with sharp talon's attached descended, bating its wings strongly, whipping up the snow around them and obscuring her view. It hovered, choosing not to land as it seemingly observed its meal.
Ta'er snapped his beak, flapping his wings back in a masculine protest to show this large foe who was the bigger man.
Silly Ta'er.
Yangh took the initiative, flourishing her Scimitar as a blunt wind formed at the blade, circulating quickly as it grew in mass. She slashed twice, cutting at the air as two arced swathes of bladed wind sliced through the whipped up blanket of snow and struck their mark.
*Crack-Crack!*
"القطع المنجلية!"
The attack sounded before they'd reached their mark, clapping like thunder then clapping once more as both projectiles, albeit it long thin lines, struck their target. The bird cried loudly, falling unceremoniously to the ground with a crash, once against stirring up the snow into the air around them.
The air settled as the beast drew up to full height, it was angry, it looked angry. It stood maybe four or five times the height of Ta'er, which positively dwarfed Yangh, not that the size mattered in her mind. She was quick, it was slow... albeit powerful.
She approached, Scimitar burning in brightly in hand as she began to weave her way through its attacks. A claw swiped, two stabbing pecks, another claw swipe. Ta'er followed, rounding the giant bird from the. Suddenly, a claw attack from nowhere. All the defensive magic in Eorzea wouldn't stop a direct hit.
She tried to evade, using her blade to parry off some of the blow. Ta'er clamped his beak at the birds tail, tearing out a chunk before sinking his own claws to the base. Crimson stained the snow as he ripped almost half way through the monsters tail, causing its frontal attack to veer of course and glance her shoulder.
She flew, spinning as she went, her barriers, both of them in fact, shattered and crumbled. Gods it hurt, like taking a Marauder's axe right to the shoulder. She dropped with a thud, skipping a few times before coming to a stop. Her head was bleeding now, rivulets of blood tracing the contures of her face and dripping from her chin.
Ta'er warked, retreating as the bird rounded on him. He kept a safe distance from the bird whom seemed reluctant to move from its spot for the time being. It would see the thing was both faster and smarter than she thought.
Making assumptions, she never used to do that.
Yangh got to her feet quickly, ignoring her injuries as she took to a sprint. The damaged tail swiped at her as she approached from behind. She easily evaded it thanks to the damage Ta'er had caused, sliding underneath the beast. She halted, twirling her blade and stabbing it into the ground as she lowered her profile. The bird lowered its head to look beneath it, right as she twisted at the hilt.
"تØطيم!"
She'd have leaped to safety by this point except, unknowing to her, the ground beneath was hollow. In they both went as the earth swallowed them. Yangh was the first to go, smaller in size and less effort for her to fall. She bounced off the walls on the way down, spinning before colliding with the ground below. Bouncing and skipping before she skidded to a stop. She raised her head from its face down position, watching the giant bird fall shortly after with a loud crash.
She lay there as everything settled, it was quiet. Rising to her feet, she slowly approached the beast, the sun beaming rays from the surface where it had fallen, herself shrouded in the dark like some menacing assassin.
Ironic.
It seemed dead but was it? She'd already underestimated it once before. Blade still drawn she approached... then stopped dead. It was breathing.
Too late.
The bird burst into life, blind-siding her with a wing. She crashed against the wall, knocking the air out of her lungs with a thud. She recovered quickly, lucky for her this place was narrow, had it not been for the terrain she'd be dead by now.
She waited for one strike. Her training had taught her that you need only one strike to end a battle. As much as she hated drawing on those lessons she really had no choice. Steadying her breathing, she waited. The bird raised a clawed foot, swiping at her to no avail. After a few failed attempts the bird opted for using his beak and long neck.
A good choice... too bad she was ready for it. The piercing attack came, thrusting from its powerful neck for maximum effect. Yangh waited for the last moment, it was slow, slower than she was at least as she parried off the beak, straining against its power as sinew ground against metal. The strain was almost too much, she was never very strong but she endured and finally found the pivotal point. She spun, flicking her wrist to redirect the attack using its own force against it.
The beak plunged into the wall, the added sharp wind it had imbued itself with burrowing deep into the rock. She raised her blade as she finished her dance like parry, using her twirling momentum and slashing from her shoulder, diagonally down past her opposite hip. the edge of the blade bit at the neck of her foe, slicing clean through the flesh and bone to sever its head.
A great gust of wind spewed from her blade as she finished her attack, the same attack as she'd opened with but this time with deadly and killing intent.
The bird shuddered, writhed, then fell dead, gushing a torrent of blood from her surgical cut. The carcass lit up, its glowing essence swirling to the blade at the tip and travelling up the engraved text to a gem. The gem became clear, signalling it was in use.
Ta'er descended, crashing against the already dead foe dramatically, crunching its bones in its back with a loud, warcry-like Wark. He pranced proudly over to his master, chest out, head high and posed like he'd saved the day. She shook her head as her blade fell silent once more, dropping to her knees from light headedness, likely from the loss of blood.
Ta'er reached down again, this time taking her tunic between his beak without waiting for permission and splaying her onto his back. She obliged this time, reaching into her satchel for a healing salve that she'd acquired from Yvelont. Of course, she'd make sure to tell him how useless they were... even though they weren't.
Ta'er sniffed at the ground, finding some tracks in the snow there. There was snow even here, must mean that its an open ended cave system. The carcass behind turned to ash as its essence was ripped from its body, not that Ta'er cared.
He set off to find the exit... and some food. He was hungry.
Heroes have to eat.