• PM To Join • Thwarted at Every Turn

[Qit'ria]

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Vhalar 35th, 717
"Common Speech"
"Xanthean Speech"

Qit'ria was getting incredibly frustrated with this damnable weasel bear that seemed to always be interfering with her hunts. Once again it had gotten in the way of her morning hunt. And that was just a squirrel she'd been going after. This beast was so unrelenting, and she had had enough. She'd done nothing to it, hadn't even seen it before it started interfering. If she saw it again, she was going to track it down and kill it. She didn't know why she hadn't gone about this yet already. It was like a part of her hadn't wanted it to go.

Something about it made it seem... young. Like it was trying to hunt too, but did so terribly. It didn't feel as if there was malice from this beast. But it was impeding her hunting far too much now. It was time to put it down. Enough was enough. She grabbed her javelins, her sword, her throwing knives and the new chakram she'd purchased. She pulled on her pack, tied her hair up with a leather strap. And with that, she left her cave and went out into the grasslands north of Scalvoris Town. She didn't need to seek it out, it always came to her while on a hunt. She just needed to find another prey.

A few breaks later she huffed. It was dead out here in the middle of the day. She trudged up a small rise, looking down the opposite side. There seemed to be a stopped caravan down below, and she could hear shouting from down there. Angry and heated. Dropping down to her belly, she watched, squinting to get a mildly better view. At least two wagons were toppled over, there seemed to be a few people and horses dead, and those that were still alive were scrambling to unload the toppled wagons into the remaining ones. Curious.

Standing up, Qit drew her javelin, and trudged her way down the rise toward the distraught group. She held the javelin in both hands over her head, a sign of peace. As she approached, it didn't take long for people to notice her. A man moved to stop her before reaching the group, though man was a loose term. He looked young, soft, a child transitioning into adult hood. Qit didn't let him speak, cutting him off before the words left his tongue.

"What happen here? Look like stealers."

The boy looked a bit caught off guard by her accent or poor word usage, but then he shook his head. "A wild thwarthog attacked our caravan, spooked our horses. Killed some of the older men. Ripped my poor Amuletta's stomach clear open with those tusks. We weren't prepared at all." He shook his head, eyes filled with tears at the loss of his dog. "We're just merchants, we've never encountered a beast like that on this route. There's so much to clean up, and we can't even do that until we find Sharilia. She's only eight arcs, but she took off atop her horse, Cupcake, the moment the beast showed up."

The man snarled in anger and frustration, shaking his fist to the west.

"I find Twathog. I kill Twathog. I find Shortlilia. I return Shortlilia. You pay me."

The man looked at her with a surprised and a bit insulted look, "You see we're in distress and you want us to pay for your help?! Who do you think you are?"

Qit'ria shrugged, "I not afeared boar. I hunter. You afeared. Not hunter."

The man slumped, knowing she was right. Not a single person in the group had been willing to chase the boar for revenge, or go find Sharilia. The bravest among them were corpses now, necks snapped and innards gored out. "You'll need help... Go alone and you'll die too... There's been too much death already."

Created by Yolande

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[Vega]

Vega was out hunting. Arlo was off at the university learning something very important and probably dusty and dull as a dead donkey, so she was taking advantage of the quiet to do what she wanted to do, for a change. Or, more precisely, she was bored and didn't want to be obviously so when he got back. Better that she had some stories of what she'd done while he'd been off doing what he was doing. So, she'd left their camp, slinging her bow and strapping on her sword, then she made her way northwards, in the hope of finding something interesting.

She was sure that wherever Arlo was, it was interesting. And filled with clever and beautiful people too. Bah. Clever and beautiful people who spoke properly, could read and were all around much more interesting than her. Vega was fairly robust when it came to most of her life but she believed that Arlo didn't know that she was unable to read and was worried that, if he found out, he'd be disappointed in her. He probably did know, she recognised, but then maybe not. She knew herself well enough to know, however, that the real reason she always got a little bit shirty when she thought of him at the university was because it was where his fictional girlfriend lived. The one that she had believed existed for such a long time, that she had been jealous of for as long and who, no matter what Arlo had assured her of, was brighter, more beautiful and better for him than her. However, Vega wasn't given over to long term angst and so her muttered, "up yours, love, least I'm real an' yer just a figment of a deranged imagination. Mine. Ironic, innit?" In giving it voice, she felt much better and so, she carried on with a new spring in her step.

Not that she'd ever admit it but Vega had been glad to see the caravans. It was unfortunate for them, but good luck for her. She had watched from a distance and then had seen someone approaching them. With a sigh, she recognised the irritating Sev'ryn woman from their camp a while ago. The one who had irritated her mightily. But then, it wasn't every trial someone wandered into your camp, called you a whore and then pretended she was joking. Vega's face settled into a frown, but she kept going. She moved forward with a confident walk and approached as she heard Qit'ria speaking to the man.

Vega sighed. "Wot she means is," Vega nodded her head to Qit, "is that we'll hunt the thing down, the thwarthog," what a monumentally stupid name for a creature. Really, not only was Scalvoris full of people who thought too much of themselves in terms of being clever and beautiful, but also they had a stupid animal-naming policy. Stupid. She betted that was some kind of policy by some beautiful and clever woman with sleek hair at the university. The "stupid name" policy. Except it'd be something like "the policy which considers most carefully all honorifics, titles and other labels for mortals and animals of air, land and sea. This policy demands that all of the above creatures shall hold aforesaid honorifics, titles and other labels which appear to be both mocking reality and considered by a five arc old". A deep frown crossed her face and the man looked at her a little concerned.

"We'll keep the beast, the hide an' stuff. We'll look for your little girl, there's no charge."

To Qit'ria, Vega spoke in Xanthean, speaking fluently in their shared language. "You need help. We can do this together. We are not charging them to help them, but we keep the thwarthog." She raised an eyebrow and looked at Qit'ria calmly. "Those are my terms for working together. Or, we can work separately. Up to you."

[Qit'ria]

And suddenly, the grumpy red head Qit'ria had met in a camp a while back was there. What was her name? Vergil? Veggie? That sounded right. Veggie. And in their previous meeting, it seemed as though Veggie had been annoyed every time Qit'ria, or even the woman's companion, Earlo, had spoken. Clearly she wasn't a talker. That was fine with Qit'ria. Hell, it was even respectable. Qit wasn't exactly fond of others either, with a rare exception. Perhaps this was a woman of no exceptions. Red heads.

She nodded at Vega, and in her native tongue, "Together."

With a second nod at the merchant, Qit'ria moved away from him, walking over to a large, dead dog. She could see clearly where the tusk had caught it just ahead of one of its hind legs, and tore its way all the way along the stomach and chest. Qit'ria tsk'd her tongue while studying the gore, but more importantly the surrounding area. She could clearly make out hooves belonging to the boar. They were like two tusks, curving away from each other but nearly touching at the tips. They'd be easy enough to follow, thankfully there'd been a few small storms with fierce winds less than a tenday past. The ground wouldn't be baked solid like in Saun. Tracks should keep.

Qit'ria continued to follow the hog's path from the dog's corpse, watching it dart this way and that, intermingling with horse hooves and boots. Qit followed them just as the hog had made them, not caring if people thought it to look ridiculous. She was trying to put herself in the mind of the beast. She watched as the hooves suddenly darted to the side, and where there should've been two boot prints, there was one. That man had been gored, and thrown. Looking up, she could see the injured being attended to, as well as the graves being dug for the dead. This man was likely one of the latter. It didn't really matter where a boar gored you, odds are you bled out from it. Vicious beasts.

The tracks led away from the merchant group, but its tracks were intermingled with that of a horse's, with its curve, round shape, of a horseshoe. Cupcake and Shortlilia. It seemed for a while at least, the pair were heading in the same direction. Northward. Toward the coast on the east it seemed. Not much cover for a girl and her horse to hide in, Qit thought. At least if the boar was dead set on chasing this horse, it likely wouldn't be expecting them to be pursuing it. The wind would be at their backs, so hiding their scent would be impossible without an excessively roundabout approach.

So Qit'ria set into a jog, keeping the tracks in sight out ahead of her. She assumed Vega would be joining her, so there was no need to seek confirmation. And Qit ran, her bare feet avoiding the sharper stones as she did, keeping her eyes constantly forward, seeking both the tracks, and an eye out for danger, as she made her way to the coast on the northeast. She looked forward to having a tusk. And bacon.

[Vega]

Together it was then. Vega nodded but said nothing more. She didn't find it funny when Qit walked through the tracking, she understood the need for it and she did much the same. Vega's hunting skill was very good and she was more or less able to see what happened with a glance around, paying careful attention to the small details. The depth of the thwarthog's steps, the distance between them gave her a good idea of just how big this was and Vega was not surprised that the thing had wrought carnage. After all, it was bloody big. However, they made their way and Vega jogged along, not concerned at the speed, it was an easy jog and the pair of them were fit and healthy; if Qit'ria had been going too fast, Vega would have something to say, but she did not need to. At least the woman was sensible, Vega considered, though her unhealthy obsession with Arlo wasn't something Vega found easy to deal with. Simply, of course, because Qit'ria made it so obvious and that, in turn made Vega uncomfortable in a perfectly reasonable way. That was that.

Anyhow, they continued to move and Vega's constantly shifting eyes caught sight of something and she motioned to Qit'ria, who had jogged past it. "Look, here," the redhead motioned to one of the horse's hoof prints. "this hoof, it is limping, see?" Vega would point out the difference in depth and so on if needed to, but as they moved further, it became more obvious until, a little while further on, they came across a horse. Or, the corpse of one. It had slowed, or stopped, Vega thought judging by the tracks and that had been enough for the thwarthog to catch up to it. Vega glanced at the horse, noting the number of gouge marks and she nodded. "The hog is in some kind of blood frenzy," it had taken the time to really rip the horse apart. But that had also meant that the little girl had time to jump clear of the falling horse and run towards the edge of the forestlands which was just feet away from them. The small footsteps were obviously running, but it was a stumbling, panic-stricken run, no doubt.

"She's in the forest," the redhead motioned as she started to move because it was not just the girl's footsteps which went that way, but the thwarthog's too. The girl had a head start, but only the amount of time it took a thwarthog to decimate a horse. From behind the trees there came a sudden, loud scream of a little girl who had run into the woodlands and climbed a tree and who was currently clutching on to said tree as the thwarthog tried to shake her from the tree and coming very close to succeeding.

[Qit'ria]

Common Text
Xanthean Text
Kashehino Text
Qit'ria looked over her shoulder to see how far back Vega was, only to see that she'd stopped and was gesturing at her. Qit stopped, turned heel and came over to Vega, making sure not to kick sand around where the red head was eyeballing the tracks. She listened intently as Vega showed her how that one hoof in particular was sitting deeper in the sand because it was holding more weight on the right side. That meant the left leg was the one limping. She also learned that the prints in the sand were more defined because it slowed down, so less sand was kicked up. They moved more slowly now, until Qit'ria could see the horse corpse up ahead.

She jogged over to it, eyes scanning the trees that were a mere stone's throw away, making sure there wasn't an angry hog waiting for them. Upon arriving at the dead beast, she knelt down next to it, but with her back to the sea, to not be caught off guard. She could see where the boars tusked had carved away at a shoulder, where a side slap had shattered its leg. There were canyons of blood in its ribs, its head twisted, tongue lolled out of its mouth. The boar was certainly on a blood frenzy, as Vega had put it. She knew the words obviously in Xanthean, but had never heard the term before. But it certainly seemed fitting. The boar kept attacking well after the horse had died it seemed.

What could make a boar act like that? Or any creature for that matter? Animals attack to defend their territory, themselves or their young, or the attack to kill and eat. This was... an abomination. Unless... Unless this boar had a much larger territory than she expected for it to have. Unfortunately Qit didn't know exactly how boars claim their territory, something she promised herself to learn after they hunted this beast down.

Qit'ria could see the girl's steps that had run from the horse, erratic, scared. Qit'ria heard the scream, a young girl's scream of pure terror, and her bones turned cold. It wasn't the first time she'd heard that scream. And for just a moment, Qit was frozen, pale even, pure terror on her face as she remembered that horrible day. But a second scream snapped her out of it, and bare feet were already running into the tree line. She paid no mind to stealth, there wasn't time for it.

She burst through some brush, and could now see the girl clutching a tree that shook violently. Qit'ria moved around a tree and saw it. The hog was massive. She'd not seen one so big ever. The girl was screaming, and several times a hand slipped only for her to just barely get back a hold of the trunk. Without thinking, Qit bounded forward without slowing, and launched her javelin. The spear hit it too high, piercing through its muscular back, but hitting nothing to slow it down, let alone put it down.

She was already veering off to the side of it, running full tilt now. She was hoping to serve as distraction. And it worked. The pig turned away from the tree and came barreling after her, much, MUCH faster than she'd anticipated. Qit'ria scrambled to a tree with low branches, and pulled herself up quickly, and just in time too, as she felt the breeze of the angry hog shoot by beneath her. She climbed up a bit further, keeping an eye as the hog turned around. She sat on a branch, hugging the trunk, and wrapped her legs around it, locking at her ankles.

BOOM!

The tree shook hard, and birds all around the area flew off squawking. The tree shook violently and Qit held on with her legs, riding it out. As it wobbled and bobbled, she drew another javelin, feeling as it pushed against the tree, slapped it with its powerful tusks, sending vibrations all up through it. Qit went to throw down at the beast, when a particularly hard shove caused her to drop her weapon. She watched it clatter down to the ground below, cursing herself mentally. She looked out across the way, and could see the girl now trying to climb down since the boar was otherwise occupied, for the moment.

But what Qit had failed to notice was that there were no leaves in this tree. And hadn't been for a few arcs now, for good reason. She'd climbed a dead tree.

[Vega]

At the scream, the pair of them moved and ran towards the girl. Vega's thoughts were exactly the same as Qit'ria's in regard to stealth. At this moment there was no time for it, so she ran. As she took stock of what was happening, Vega saw Qit'ria move but she wasn't quick enough to stop the lunatic Sev'ryn from flinging a javelin at the pig. "Knickers!" Whatever the crazy Qit'ria was doing, Vega was too slow to stop her and the red head moved over to try and salvage the situation. "Stay there, love, jus' stay there a bit, a'right?" That was her first thing as the child started to climb down. The last thing she wanted was to watch this thing rip the child apart as she tried to run.

Because damnit it was fast.

And then, Qit'ria of all things, climbed up an obviously dead tree. Vega knew, in that moment, that she had to kill that thwarthog and quickly. So, the mixed race woman stepped forward, drawing her sword as she moved. Vega kept her balance on the balls of her feet and she thrust forward, embedding her sword in the thwarthog, through the side of it's neck and then she twisted the blade to ensure that she had, in fact killed it. Vega was a lot stronger than she might look at first glance and the young woman killed the pig in one swift blow. She then made sure with the twist and the thwarthog fell. Pulling her sword from it, Vega took a trill to clean her sword before looking up at Qit'ria.

"That tree's dead, you numpty," ever the charmer, Vega remained. "Thanks, though, it meant it was busy tryin' to kill you, so I could get it. " Dropping her weapon like she had and climbing a dead tree told Vega a lot about Qit'ria. Not that she was bad at this, not at all, she'd actually been more than moderately sensible, but she was new at this and she wasn't yet able to see, and react to, the whole situation.

It would come in time, Vega knew. Or, she'd get herself killed.

Either way, Vega turned to the little girl in the tree. "Hello, love, my name's Vega an' this is Qit'ria. Your name's Sarilla, right? We've been sent 'ere by yer family. I'm righ' sorry about Cupcake." The horse was probably relieved, Vega thought, to be rid of a life where it was saddled with that name. Saddled. She was proud of that one, but there wasn't an audience to appreciate it. She'd save it for Arlo.

"I can carry the pig," she said to Qit'ria, with a glance at it. "But it would be better if we 'ung it from a thick stick an' carried it. Will you?" That way the thing could bleed out and they could deal with the carcass once they'd got the little girl to safety. The girl in question was struggling to clamber down so Vega helped her and was rather surprised to see that the kid held on to her hand really tightly. What was it with children liking her, she wondered? "You a'right? Want me to carry you?" The girl nodded and Vega smiled. "A'right. Come on, wanna ride on my shoulders?"

Looking at Qit'ria, Vega grinned. "Come on, you. 'urry up."

Off Topic

omg, this had totally fallen off my radar. So sorry for delay! I wasn't subscribed for some reason!

[Qit'ria]

Common Text
Xanthean Text
Kashehino Text
Qit'ria had seen the red headed woman move quickly, far quicker than she'd have expected, and then the hog fell over. And with it, Qit'ria's yearn for the hunt. She hadn't expected it to be easy, nor quick, but most certainly not to be... boring. The huntress enjoyed the back and forth of a hunt on equal grounds, enjoyed the surprise attacks from stealth. This. This was not hunting. Might as well have been a fat farm pig to the redhead it seemed.

Qit'ria learned a few important things in that moment of disappointment. The first, Vega was highly skilled. But that was unimportant to Qit'ria. She learned that she had no desire to hunt with the woman ever again. Why do something if its easy? Qit'ria knew deep inside, way down deep, somewhere all the way at the bottom, tucked away, that she wasn't in fact the world's greatest hunter, and that she had quite the ways to go. If she reached the ability of Vega, or surpassed it, and Qit'ria was sure she would, would hunting grow to be this boring and easy for her as well?

No. One of Vega's talents shouldn't be shooting fish in a barrel. Qit'ria wouldn't ever fall into that trap of boredom. She'd always find another, bigger, stronger, faster beast to hunt. Death by old age and boredom was not one that suited her under any circumstances. And so, with a sour look upon her face, she climbed down the deadened tree, and yanked her javelin free of the hog. She cleaned it off on the foliage before putting it back in the straps that held them on her back.

Qit'ria, in her annoyed state, nodded at Vega's suggestion and set about obtaining a long, thick branch. Rope from her pack was procured, and soon the hog's head and hooves were tied to the stick. She hefted her end up, ignoring Vega's teasing, and shouldered the load, waiting for the other woman to hurry it up. Qit'ria wanted to wash her hands of this whole situation.

She heaved and strained under the weight, making sure to lift with knees and hips, and keep her back straight as the trio carried the hog back to the caravan. Qit'ria was leading the way, so she made sure to not take them on too rough of terrain, avoiding the various divots and holes the wilds always seemed so full of. And the entire time she scowled.

Once back at the caravan, Qit'ria dropped her end of the load heavily into the dirt, and walked up to the man who had sought their help, who delighted at seeing the girl returned to them. Qit'ria placed a hand against his chest as he went to move past her to retrieve. "You buy my half hog."

The man stopped, hesitated, "But... she said you would take the hog as payment."

"I do. You buy my half."

The man looked over Qit'ria's shoulder for Vega, "Oh... okay. Yes of course. We... we need the food."

And once Qit'ria had collected her payment, she fumed her way back toward her camp, hating that Vega had completely ruined what would've been a fine hunt. Let her figure out what to do with the damn hog. She did all the fun stuff anyways. It wasn't Qit'ria's problem anymore. Ignoring the hunger pains, the stubborn Sev'ryn disappeared.

[Maebella]

Grading Checklist

Thread List Up to Date?	Yes
Skill Point Ledger Up to Date?	Yes
Money Ledger Up to Date?	Yes
Fame Ledger Up to Date?	Yes
Solo or Collab?	Collab
1500 words or more?	Yes
Number of Posts	3
No. of Skill Knowledges Due	8

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Rewards

Vega

Skill Points: 15

Knowledges:

• Skill
  • Blades: Quick kill when needed.
  • Blade: Drawing sword as you move
  • Hunting: Boar tracks
  • Hunting: Horse tracks
  • Strength: Carrying a thwarthog
  • Strength: Carrying a child on your shoulders.
• Non-Skill
  • N/A

Loot: Half a thwarthog

Injuries/Overstepping: No.

Fame: +5 (+1 for volunteering aid; +2 for witnessing Qit's act of heroism; +1 for killing a monster... thwarthog; +1 for being kind to a child)

Magic EXP: No.

Grading Checklist

Thread List Up to Date?	Yes
Skill Point Ledger Up to Date?	Yes
Money Ledger Up to Date?	Yes
Fame Ledger Up to Date?	Yes
Solo or Collab?	Collab
1500 words or more?	Yes
Number of Posts	4
No. of Skill Knowledges Due	9

[/color]

Rewards

Qit'ria

Skill Points: 15

Knowledges:

• Skill
  • Tactics: Present your arms in a peaceful manner when wishing to be received hospitably
  • Tactics: A numbers advantage is usually beneficial
  • Hunting: Recognizing boar tracks
  • Hunting: Recognizing horse tracks
  • Tactics: Use speed when surprise isn't an option
  • Hunting: Recognizing a limp in tracks
  • Detection: Recognizing a little girl's scream
  • Thrown (javelin): Using the speed of your running to aid you
  • Climbing: Locking your ankles around a branch
• Non-Skill
  • N/A

Loot: N/A

Injuries/Overstepping: Nope! Luckily...

Fame: +2 (-1 for trying to extort money from people in need; +2 for heroically - and stupidly - putting her life at risk for the sake of another; +1 for helping to save a child)

Magic EXP: No.
I almost died laughing, I'm fairly sure. I love Qit's approach to names (Veggie!), I love Vega's wit and I love how bloody cheeky Qit was about providing help. They're both fun PCs and I love their interaction with one another, even if it isn't a particularly happy one - all the more fun for the reader! I certainly wouldn't mind reading more of their adventures in the future. Great thread!
Don't forget to edit your request as having been graded, here and mark it with this stamp!

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