Towards the Setting Sun

[Praetorum]

All at once, this trip turned much, much more interesting.

Forced to take cover from the storm, Praetorum and his group were soon joined by three other parties, a few familiar faces among them.

Vivian, he was almost shocked he had not encountered earlier—Rharne was under her protection, after all. Nir’wei, Prae had not expected, but was not surprised to see. The third man, Prae took a moment to place. Melrath, he recalled after a while. Azrael, who he’d met at the side of a river.

And then there was all their companions. A problin, a man encased in storm, and a jacadon.

What in the Empress’s name was going on?

Nir’wei seemed to assume they knew what he was here for, and rapidly set down his terms. Vivian seemed not to have expected him here, and so he answered her first. “Got a lead on Miranda Duskblade. Bandit, murderer, poacher,” he clarified, more for the others’ sakes than for Vivian, who he expected was familiar with her bounty. “She was looking for Jacadon Eggs. Windshear Brotherhood too. I assume that’s relevant for you, Nir’wei, given…” He gestured at the grown Jacadon. “We were tracking her down to take her out when this storm hit.”

Azrael confessed to a general confusion, and Prae offered him a sympathetic grin. “Me neither, truthfully, but you learn to run with the unexpected after a while.” Sometimes it felt like his life had been nothing but unexpected situation after unexpected situation these past arcs.

So, Nir’wei was here for… an egg, Vivian to negotiate with an Induk, and Azrael to meet a Riverman. And Praetorum himself for a criminal. On the surface, very little seemed to link these events—but the fact that they were all here at one time suggested some deeper connection.

And sure enough, all… or at least, some of the tangled web came to light, as the problin introduced himself as the Riverman Zynyx, and began to explain.

Sort of.

Prae wasn’t sure he understood much more now than he had earlier. Nir’wei seemed to be of the same mindset, and began to explain what he knew. Vivian too, spoke her piece, and Prae tipped his head to one side, considering everything they’d been told.

“A silver haired woman wielding curved swords? That matches the description of Miranda Duskblade. You didn’t get a name from her, did you? And these Avriel cultists… What did they look like? We’ve heard reports here of people in red robes and what might be plucked wings.”

“As for the hermit… If I’m understanding this right, this hermit meant to crack the egg to free this Stormwastes Induk, and according to what Nir’wei overheard, wage war against Rharne, or something like that? Vivian, I’ll defer to you on how bad an idea freeing this Induk would be, but I’m not feeling particularly excited about the prospect.”

He shook his head. “What a mess. Well, I’m with you, Nir’wei. This hermit seems like an urgent threat, and besides, given the circumstances of our meeting, and the potential of her own blood… I have a feeling my own quarry might not be far.”

He turned to the Riverman Zynyx. “If you don’t mind me asking, will spilling Duskblade’s blood actually allow the Induk to reemerge? You only said that I thought to spill her blood, not that it would actually work.”

[Pig Boy]

The Riverman Zynyx took Nir’wei’s dismissal with good humor, and shrugged. It mattered little whether they listened to him, or went about their own business to accomplish the tasks they’d set out to. Either way, the River would flow and find a way to the sea. Zynyx wasn’t a particularly protective or careful entity, afterall. It was all about the destination. When Nir’wei announced his intention to go in and get the egg, Zynyx waved cheerfully after him.

“Have fun storming the castle! Mind the dogs, I hear they have a terrible bite.” Zynyx shouted after Nir’wei, and presently turned toward the others, who were still of a mind to discuss matters, apparently. He pumped a thumb in Azrael’s direction, “He knows what I mean! Being a Sesser and all… Oops, did I let the cat out of the bag? Is that what that expression means? No no, that’s the other one. Neverminid. Now…”

Vivian was consulting with Clemengoth, who seemed to be growing more violent as he floated in place above them, as he waited. However, he listened to Vivian, as his emancipator, he afforded her that much credit. But his rage grew, and through that fury of the storm, Azrael could idly perceive several wrathlings floating about the area as well. Whether he did anything about them, that was his to decide.

“Lady Umbral is safe in her cave, no worries there. You may meet her, or not. Although I wager based on the company she keeps these days, she won’t like cops coming to her doorstep…” Zynyx muttered.

“As for the Stormwastes? Well is it any wonder? It’s been an absolute mess, from that business with Rhaum, to the violation of Lovalus by spreading her waters into the sands… trying to bring it under her admittedly beneficent dominion…” Zynyx had a way of speaking that assumed others were able to keep up with him, and not only that but also that they understood him fairly well.

“But well, it wasn’t a willful imprisonment. But more of a… side effect, of a artifact that was used to twist the wild beasts into Flameborne… There was this thing… this strange oozing artifact. Your lot thought most of it destroyed, but a small atom persisted…”

He nodded toward Vivian and Praetorum, who were there when Rhaum and the Purveyor were destroyed. “Yes, you were there… Well a trace of it escaped, and now someone seeks to claim what’s left, and… their plans? Mantle the Stormwastes? Absorb what remains of their power? Use it to reconstruct this artifact for their own use? I know not I’m afraid. For all my knowledge, I cannot know the machinations of a mortal ascended and driven to power-mad delusions.”

He turned to Azrael, and nodded, “I believe that covers the risks involved. If this thing is allowed to mantle the Stormwastes, or reconstruct the artifact, they will be nigh unstoppable. The so-called ‘Hermit’ will run roughshod over the entire Stormwastes.”

“The blood, well, that’s the runninig theory. At least as far as I know. The Artifact craves the fury that would generate, and might just get reconstituted if such a fury was released.”

From the roots of dissent that Nir'wei invoked, he would detect vaguely the motives of the being that stood within the Hut. For a moment, it appeared almost as if there were three of them there. One, felt abandoned. Another felt betrayed, and yet another felt unmitigated fury. Almost as if it had tapped into the very essence of Fury itsself. Fury directed at Rharne, at Athart, at entire races of people from the River Basin of Zynyx to the Jungles of Athart.

Zynyx took a few long paces backward, from the hut, as clemengoth rumbled. “I’ll just… stand right over here, behind Clemengoth, if it’s all the same.”

Esher’s face drained of color as Nir'wei and Praetorum, and Vivian and Azrael huddled for planning their approach. Yet it appeared that whoever was inside the hut wasn't content to wait for them to come to them. All at once the front door of the hut burst into splinters as a large hellhound type creature emerged from the hut. It snarled, and snapped an flapped a pair of hideous, flesh-scourged wings. Inside the Hut, a wild laughter emerged.

Inside the jaws of the Sessfiend, they would see a large stone egg in its jaws. Pressure was being placed on the egg, visibly, as its teeth ground against the shell.

[Nir'wei]

In all his times of standing around in a circle and talking, this was at least the most productive one he'd been in. The moment he'd said his piece and left the rest of them to hash it out among themselves, it seemed there wasn't a single disagreement. He took that for consent, nodding gravely at Vivian's assessment of Scorn's involvement. "I've got the swords myself," he also answered Prae. "And some last words on where to deliver them. Come along after this, if you fancy. Or take them yourself and find out." He didn't have need of a bounty's reward, nor did he intend to keep the swords for himself. "Cultists wore robes, wings with feathers torn off... at least one of them had some kinda magic, could open portals. Had a boat docked off the Volantan coast, but it'll be long for Athart now." He felt like he was just repeating the things Prae had asked, but when everything matched perfectly, he didn't know what else to add.

There were other things spoken of, but they didn't relate to him. Things about this hermit, that sounded important; connections to an artefact, to rage, to blood, to Lovalus. Most of it went over his head and he discarded immediately. Teasing remarks from the Riverman earned a raised eyebrow, mentioning dogs. In his own way, Zynyx was 'trying' to help out. The more he heard though, the less he found he wanted to hear. None of it mattered as long as they caught the egg and brought it to safety. The hard part would be separating it. "There are three people inside the cabin, not one." No time, or point, explaining how he knew. "One's a significantly larger threat than the other two. It's angry, while the other two feel hurt, or sad." It could just be one, thinking all three, but he trusted the powers and what they told him. Those instincts had always carried him better than whatever theories he tried to draw from them.

"Separate them and focus them down. I'll stop the ritual. Then--" He was cut off mid-sentence by the crunch of wood and scattering of splinters, as the warped hellhound smashed through the door and snarled at the group... around a saliva-streaked stone egg, gripped in its teeth.

There was no time to question why it had exposed itself so brazenly, and the precious egg that was supposed to be crucial for their ritual. How Zynyx had known of the mutant dogs, or what they were. None of it would have helped. He could see the hellhound's teeth scraping against the surface; even reinforced by stone as it was, those jaws could shatter it at any moment, and even with Nir's supremely heightened response times and speed, it'd only take a split-second to shatter. Faster than Nir'wei would be able to break its jaw from this distance. Shooting it in the face would likewise be too risky. They'd risk losing their most valuable asset in the process of being caught and hunted, just to make sure nobody won?

No. Nobody had ever mentioned how the egg needed to be broken for the ritual to be completed. For all they knew, this might be the final stage after all - the Hermit was just gloating in their inevitable victory. If that was the case, then there was one thing he could still do to stop them, even if it meant admitting that he'd already lost the chance to save the egg. Or maybe there had never been a chance to begin with.

There wasn't even time to warn Azrael, Vivian, or Praetorum. The Ancient Tongue was already on his lips, speaking words that he couldn't possibly translate, but in the moment, felt crystal-clear in his head. The Wild Hunt Calls. Whenever he drew from Karem's mark, there was always something there - an ethereal tug, a thread of influence. Now, it was a torrent. As though he was standing in the middle of a raging river. He let it wash over him, over everything around him... and as it manifested, pull him with it, back to the Spectral Forest.

Far away from the Stormwastes, and Rharne. Taking the hellhound, the egg, the three presences in the cabin, and everything else that threatened him harm with it. Finish the ritual now, he thought darkly.

[Pig Boy]

Nir'wei disappeared, transported along with the Sessfiend to the Golden Forest. The Hermit, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen around him. For a moment panic might have set in, although Nir'wei was arguably powerful, a Sessfiend was a creature out of nightmares. And he would have a fight on his hands with that alone, set aside the Hermit, who was an unknown factor. Whether he'd been transported with them, he couldn't see or feel him.

And the sense of betrayal seemed to come from the Sessfiend. The overwhelming fury, the sense of it wasn't far away either, apparently if it belonged to the Hermit, he was also transported to this place, along with him.

And Nir'wei noticed, the egg had not been transported with the rest of them. It was no longer in the Sessfiend's nasty jaws.

Jaws which it snapped forward with, now reaching out to attack its supposed prey, Nir'wei.



Nir'wei disappeared with a wind that blew Nir'wei over toward Karem's domain. He simplly disappeared, much to the surprise of the Induks there, and also perhaps to the three companions who remained there. The egg rolled out of the air, disappeared from the Sessfiend's clutches. The great Black Jacadon came forward immediately, not wasting a moment to chance as it snatched the egg up from the ground, and then flew off, toward the Mire, along with the others who'd accompanied. As far as the beast was concerned, Nir'wei had held up his end of the bargain, and if he survived whatever arena he'd set for himself, they'd have words later.

The wrathlings that Azrael had seen earlier began to coalesce around the three companions, and flying around them like a swarm of very sharp and angry flying creatures

The wrathlings screamed around them, even as their red energies became like a whip, lashing out first at Praetorum, who appeared the biggest threat at the moment.

While they did this, Clemengoth and Esher were not idle, but drew forward toward the three to engage with these small swarms of spirits.

[Azrael]

If they didn't like that he was marked by Syroa, wait till they found out who his mother was.

Azrael didn't understand what the Riverman meant when he asked if he'd let the cat out of the bag but that was because Azrael wasn't particularly secretive about his mark. He didn't understand negative opinions about Syroa. He'd only met her the one time and she seemed decent enough to him. Then again, she would have. He was the mortalborn of desire and the people she marked tended to have endless wells of desire. That wasn't always a good thing but for Azrael it certainly didn't seem to be a bad thing either.

However he did consider the presence of wrathlings around the big walking storm to be a bad thing. He shook his head as if trying to tell them not to mess with Clemegoth but he didn't have control over them unless he bound one of them to his sword. He only had the two weapons on him... he didn't think it was appropriate to bring his bow to the floating tavern. It would have been more useful if he had. He could try and bind the wrathlings to his arrows- or maybe... Azrael looked around for any sticks and rocks that looked sharp enough to be used as weapons. Would that count? You could kill someone with a big enough rock or a sharp enough stick. How hard would a wrathling bound rock hit?

Zynyx mentioned something about a Lady Umbral not liking law enforcement and Azrael's thoughts shifted away from binding the wraithlings. They shifted towards the Dark Mother for a moment and then back to the situation at hand. If this Lady Umbral wasn't there, he didn't see why she should be concerned about her. If he wanted to find her later, he would give it a try. Zynyx spoke fast and Azrael tried to keep up. Lots of places and things in very few sentences. Azrael was just along for the ride.

Towards the end of the explanation things became easier to comprehend. Somebody had a magic thing that they were going to try to use to do something debatably bad. Zynyx didn't know exactly how bad it was going to be but he'd answered Azrael's question and left him with others. Who was Azrael to get in the way of someone else's desires? He liked to encourage the pursuit of desire but the pursuit of power-mad delusions wasn't exactly the same thing.

Enter the sessfiend and the egg.

Azrael was frightened by the sudden appearance of the monster but as soon as the fear rose up in him, he discarded it.Thespian - While some other gods would demand their followers master their emotions, Syroa favors a more elusive approach to the solution of the human heart.With this blessing, the bearer is able to adopt and discard feelings and emotions as he or she sees fit, turning the human heart from a liability into one of its greatest, most controlled assets. This ability is even somewhat effective against Empathy, although experts and masters can overtax a Sesser just as fast as they discard. At the end of the trial, however, the bearer has to feel again; everything 'real' comes rushing back in their sleep as a jumbled mess. Syroa's chosen don't have nightmares; they simply face the ugly reality of their mindscape in their dreams. Being afraid wasn't going to make anything better in the moment. He could be afraid later. For now, he felt like being a little more angry was the way to go. His blood began to boil and his brow furrowed as he built rage in his system. He didn't know what he was mad at but he knew he was mad. His eyes glowed a fiery orange, confirming what Zynyx had said for anyone who took notice of it.

He drew his sword and then- poof the sessfiend was gone.

"What happened?" Azrael asked with a look around. He waved his sword in front of him as if checking to see if the beast had become invisible. Nope. It was only after that when he realized Nir'wei was missing as well now. The creature he'd come in on reclaimed the stone egg and took off. Azrael watched it for a few trills, utterly confused as to what had just occurred. When the wrathlings began to swarm around them Azrael picked up a nearby rock that he'd spotted when he went looking earlier. It was jagged on one side but smooth on the other. Easy to hold and throw well. He held it out in his left hand, while keeping his sword in his right and he tried to bind a wrathlingWhile most cannot perceive Wrathlings, a Sesser can uniquely mark their shape. When found, a single Wrathling can be taken and bound to a weapon in the Sesser's possession. This weapon will hit with more force, pierce deeper, and slash wider than any other ordinary weapon of its class. Weapons with bound Wrathlings tend to manifest unique reddish stains and wear out much faster than ordinary. Fury gives no regard for the damage done to it, caution abandoned for raw, furious power. A Wrathling can never be taken from a weapon. When the weapon breaks, and it most often will wear itself out within the first few bouts it is used, the Wrathling dissipates with the shattering. For whatever reason, magical items cannot have Wrathlings bound to them. to the rock.

If a rock didn't count and it didn't work, he would try to bind one to his sword. It a rock did work... he was going to start looking for more rocks.

[Nir'wei]

It felt like every square inch of his body was being tugged, all at once, all in one direction. He was surprised to even find himself square on his own feet by the time it was done, though the angle of the ground was less of a steep slope now, and more of a gently rolling plain, thickly-covered with gold-hued vegetation. The winds of the storm were gone. The empty, lifeless air was thick in his lungs and vibrant with chattering, harmless insects, animal calls, and the gentle rustling of nearby movement. It had worked. He was back.

The hellhound had been pulled in with him, that much wasn't a surprise - but it snapped its jaws shut and growled at him, and no goo spilled around its jowls, no shell crunched under its fangs. Apparently the stone egg was alive enough to be counted as something separate to the creature, and since it wasn't an enemy, it wasn't pulled along, even if they were touching. For a moment he'd considered yelling out to Azrael, Vivian and Praetorum to pull them into the Spectral Forest as well by way of physical contact, just to see if it was even possible, though now it seemed that wouldn't have worked either. He stored that away for further use, while still chewing on the new situation he'd landed himself in.

The egg would be safe, back in the Stormwastes and with the Jacadons and others. The Hermit was somewhere nearby; even if he couldn't see them, Nir'wei could feel them, that signature rage that still bubbled through his Root of Dissent. The others would likewise be safe from harm, he could only assume, as long as the hellhound and the Hermit were trapped with him; and they'd remain trapped for as long as he contained them there, or until they killed him, or the Golden Hind that held authority over the forest. Though he'd never had this verbally explained to him, the knowledge just seemed to flow through the thrumming bond with Karem.

Wait. He checked it again, blinking in surprise as the hellhound glared at him. No, that was right. There wasn't strictly any form of time limit on the ability, beyond the time needed to meet the conditions, or his own assent.

There was no need to rush things. In fact, wearing them down over time to the point of exhaustion against the endless hordes of creatures that filled Karem's Domain seemed exactly the point. It sounded perfect.

Having made his mind up, Nir'wei raised two fingers to his lips, pinched, and whistled. A single, pure note to attract the immediate attention of anything and everything nearby, to do what instincts immediately demanded of it; to tear the latest intruder of the forest limb from limb. Then he hopped backwards, drawing Cyshe into himself to summon forth a perfect set of Lovalus Spiritborn Armour in case the hellhound broke the charge - and he pivoted on his foot, making off in a dead sprint into the dappled vegetation of the Spirit Forest. Despite his speed, his foosteps were near silent and his body had no scent. Being ambushed from all sides and now in the middle of a dense forest, he was counting on his circumstances to make up for his skill in evasion, to break the focus of the hellhound long enough to abandon it to the fate of the wilds.

The real danger was the Hermit, wherever he was. The hellhound might well be nothing but a distraction while he sought to break the Wild Hunt and escape punishment. That's where he wanted to be. That's where he ran, beginning on the path that the Root of Dissent laid for him, while opening the Forest Orb trapped in his chest, and filling his vision with the sights of all the spectral squirrels chittering in the forest's shade.

[Pig Boy]

!	Message from: Pig Boy
	Heya Players, I'll be posting here again on Janurary 8, whether you all have posted or not. There will may be ic consequences if you do or do not act. So please post by then. Thanks.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian nodded when Praetorium said he'd let her decide about freeing the Induk, then gave a sharp glance towards Azrael when Zynyx let slip that he was a Sesser. Still, she didn't say or act on it at the moment, as she had no evidence he was part of the local cult and had made no hostile moves. Still, she wasn't particularly happy to have a Sesser involved in the current business. Clemengoth was a boiling font of anger, which was expected and she wondered if it was the caging of this Lady Umbral that had him so riled up. Then Zynyx explained the imprisonment of the Stormwastes Induk and Vivian let out a sigh. "Well, that's the first I've heard of Rhaum and the 'Nickels in a while. If that piece of artifact isn't here, I'll have to open up a search for it. Last thing we need is someone making more 'Nickels." she said, her tone showing some annoyance, but little more than that.

She did, however, shake her head at the "nigh-unstoppable" comment. "People like that always think they're unstoppable and it always leaves them with an opening that makes them far easier to stop than if they kept their vulnerabilities in mind." she said, her tone calm. Then Zynyx retreated behind Clemengoth and Vivian gave him a curious look before the door of the hut exploded outwards, revealing a Sessfiend. Vivian, who had a history of fighting Syroa's meanest demons, reached for her sword, glad that she was wearing Jorick's Locket. It made her weapons more effective than usual against Sessfiends, but before she could call out her Brightgleam Armor or tell the others to go ahead and leave the Sessfiend to her, Nir'wei said...something and then both he and the Sessfiend just vanished.

The Jacadon egg that the Sessfiend was holding dropped to the ground and Vivian stepped forward to catch it before it could break against the ground, but the Jacadon, Scorn she assumed now that she thought about it, caught it and took off. "Well, that's one problem resolved." she muttered as Fins merged with her and Brightgleam Armor started to cover her form. Then the Wrathlings started to attack and Vivian practically scoffed before she remembered Clemengoth's temper. Azrael was doing something with a rock, but she didn't really have time to worry about it at the moment. She raised her hands and a bolt of lightning shot out from each hand, each striking the closest Wrathling and then bouncing between other members of the swarm.

"If you can't keep your temper, stay back!" she called behind her, her tone calm. Vivian had fought these before as well, though never in so great a number, and as long she kept her head, she'd be able to deal with them easily enough. She drew her sword as her lightning bounced around the swarm and gathered lightning under her feet, her pulse speeding up as the joy she always felt in a fight came to life. "These things feed off of anger and rage. Losing your temper on them only makes them stronger. Esher, Prae, see if there's anything we still need to deal with in that hut. Don't touch any strange objects you find." she ordered, her voice calm as she called more lightning to strike at the Wrathling swarm, striking at any that came close with her sword. She didn't know if Jorick's Locket would make her blade any more effective against the Wrathlings than usual, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. She did, however, spare a glance for Azrael. "I don't know what all you can do, but if you're with us, I'll not say no to any help you can give." she said, her voice showing her excitement underneath its more professional tone.

[Pig Boy]

Do my Dirty Work, Scapegoat!

So Azrael, Praetorum, and Vivian were left in the wake of Nir'wei's invocation of the wild hunt. They were left with the storm of wrathlings, and Clemengoth eager to join whatever fray was about to ensue. As Azrael grappled with rocks, trying to bind wrathlings here or there, Zynyx's face grew grim, and he took ever more steps backward, until he faded off into the very farthest background, a small figure on the edge of viewing distance.

Azrael continued trying to bind wrathlings to this or that rock, this sword, that branch. Yet it seemed, at least to his senses, that the wrathlings were not taking. But there was a specific quality to these particular wrathlings that made them hard to see. Although they embodied fury and wrath, they were patient. And nothing was more dangerous than a wrath that carried itself with patience and forethought. So the wrathlings were inert for a time, as Azrael continued to bind them to rocks and other random objects.

However, as he did, he noticed that the storm of wrathlings was lessening somewhat, although there were still a few free.

Esher obeyed Vivian's command to check on the hut, to see if there was anything worth worrying about inside of its collapsed frame. He entered through the collapsed threshold, shielded by the storm. Yet as he went, he shouted out. "Stay back! There's..."

And then all hell broke loose, as the greater Anak of Rage awoke from the departure of the Hermit and Sessfiend, and began coalescing around the bound wrathlings.

The rocks all began flying around at once, well outside of Azrael's ability to command them. Though it had been his power that animated them, a greater Sesser commanded the Anak now, though he was separted by the great expanses of the Untold, and sequestered in Karem's realm. The greater anak of rage knew its purpose, however, and that was to bring about enough chaos and confluence of destructive energy that it awoke the being they sought to bring out.

The rocks all bound, and continuing now to bind of their own accord even, into a larger form. a golem, roughly carved out into the shape of Azrael. This 'Rock Azrael' took the mortalborn's sword, to which he'd bound a wrathling, and that was the final touch as it began threatening those around, starting with Esher, driving him back from the entrance to the hut, and then blowing the rest of the structure to smithereens , causing splintering shrapnel to eject in all directions.

Rock Azrael drove Esher back, as he was unarmed until he summoned a stormblade from his gift from Clemengoth. "My lord! Stay back!"

Clemengoth rumbled with thunder, but held his position. However, he would not be able to for much longer, especially at Vivian's insistence which amounted to telling an Induk of Storms to 'Calm down'.

For all of that, Clemengoth was showing remarkably restraint, but only because he realized the consequences of awakening that great enemy. He would let the mortals sort out this Immortal business themselves, however. Until such a time as they expired, leaving only Zynyx and He to clean the leavings. Rock Azrael, it must be said, was slightly weakened by the lightning inflicted upon the Wrathlilngs. And it appeared to stall at inopportune times in its attacks as a result of the energy infused into the wrathlings with Vivian's attack.



Nir'wei was in the sacred forest of Karem's Realm. The squirrels in the trees were the first to chime in through his awareness, "Big bird became a tree. Beware! He's mad."

Nir'wei still had a bead on both entities, the Sessfiend and the Hermit, by dint of his Root of Dissent, and they still resonated with the emotions felt. Rage from the Hermit, and Betrayal from the Sessfiend. Something about tthe Sessfiend, oddly enough suggested a more complex motivation than one would expect of such an unthinking and unfeeling creature.

It appeared to direct the target of its betrayal to the Hermit, and that was its primary prey. That wasn't to say it wouldn't snack on Nir'wei or one of his wolves, so the mortalborn was smart to engage his spirit armor.

The Sessfiend, however, wasn't fast enough to even catch him, and so fell behind as the small creatures of the forest pelted him with hardened and thorny seeds, as the bigger animals waited it out, to see where the moment of opportunity to strike would be greatest.

Nir'wei followed the path of the Hermit, seeking him out through the awareness of the forest creatures. "His bark is nasty, itchy, flaking off." The squirrels chittered.

Some rabbits piped up, "He upset our burrows with his roots, and thrust sharpened splinters into our denhavens."

Nir'wei would find him, though the Hermit himself was fleet of foot, more than he ought to have been. And still summoned some distance away, giving him a head start.

Meanwhile, caught between the Sessfiend and the Gnarly Hermit Tree, Nir'wei found that his time in this sacred forest was a lot less welcoming than he'd given it credit for. He had assurances, that the greater predators of the wild would join him soon, as the battle lines were more clearly drawn.

In the meantime, Nir'wei evaded immediate engagement with either foe, while the Hermit

ran and hid

, and the Sessfiend pursued one or either of them, while being assaulted, spied upon, and harried by the smaller creatures.

[Nir'wei]

It seemed the first part of his plan had been successful. The hellhound was bigger and quite possibly stronger, but none of that made it much faster, and the dense trees of the spectral forest would keep breaking line of sight, allowing him to slip away and focus on the real problem; the Hermit, whom he could only assume was the real mastermind behind the plan, and not some feral mutt. The smaller creatures that called to him, the squirrels and the rabbits, felt like they were speaking in riddles, talking of birds, trees and roots, but if they weren't talking about the hellhound, there was only one other thing it could be.

They can shapeshift? He remembered Syroa doing the same in the fight for the Ascension, when he'd faced her directly. Arrows hadn't worked, she'd just rebuilt herself around the wounds he'd left. Did the Hermit have something similar? Better to worry about that problem when he came to it. He made chittering noises at the squirrels, squeaks to the rabbits, simple noises to the birds, straining the limits of what could be collected and deduced from just their simple noises and turning them into a simple question - where? If they knew, he'd even offer them a hand to climb into, and an open pouch in his Coat of Many Small Animals. Who knew when they might come in handy, and they could give him directions as he moved.

Move, he did. Not by foot; the Hermit had too much of a head-start and even for Nir'weis enhanced speed, he'd covered a lot of distance. Now that the hellhound was clearly on the back foot, he summoned Vabina, the towering Zephyrus that snorted softly and dug her claws into the warm soil for purchase while he hopped atop her back and grabbed fistfuls of her mane. For all his speed, she'd be faster still - and seemed almost eager to prove it, against an enemy of Rharne, her homeland. She tore up the ground with her charge and raced in the direction of the Hermit in a dead bolt, weaving between trees but blasting apart woodland debris and ground-level vegetation.

His Root of Dissent still gave him the lingering traces of emotion to follow, and lead back to the Hermit, as well as limited knowledge on the hellhound's location and direction. The whispers and calls of surrounding animals were not lost to his ears, guiding him as he called to them. Even more directly, his Forest Orb tapped directly into the sight of the squirrels, giving him snippets of vision from all around. There was still one more thing to use, just in case - the little knotted wood charm that dangled around his neck, always. Just a rub, and it thrummed with the animal life already around him - but it gave him more than just that, but a vague understanding of their sizes and locations. Vabina beneath him, the squirrels, rabbits, and further creatures in his periphery, watching from the trees and hiding in bushes while they waited for the right opportunity to join the fight.

He encouraged them, broadly, with short and simple words. Meat. Hunt. Food. They were likely responding to him and his intentions by preparing for battle lines and strategies, but little did they understand that there was none, not really.

This wasn't a battle. This wasn't even a skirmish. This was a hunt. A slaughter. He did not command them as an officer might order his soldiers, but he enticed them, encouraged their natural instincts - he had brought them two fresh meals, to dine on as they pleased. The only thing that could be truly understood as 'instructions' was more like advice. Aim for the eyes, the throats. Go for the quick kill; this prey was not something to be harried and brought down with time and patience. Not by them, at least. If they did not bring their full force down on these creatures though, the forest predators would probably do little to slow the monsters down. That part, he didn't tell them.

The Hermit on foot against Vabina's charge, Nir'wei closed the gap on the Hermit, and the gnarled tree that he'd become, with its flaking bark and sharp angles, was difficult but not impossible to spot among the natural vegetation of the forest; especially not without the help of the creatures that inhabited it. Strangely, his charm hummed softly as it told him of the Hermit's presence as well. Not a tree, but a man, standing where the tree clearly was. Had he hidden inside it? He could at least tell that it wasn't an illusion of some sort; it was made of wood, though what wood he couldn't tell.

It'd be a fitting gravestone, if that were the case.

Still atop Vabina, he steeled her onwards, and she broke out of the vegetation in a full charge for the tree, lightning crackling and firing a thunderous bolt straight for its trunk. Several hundred pounds of giant cat should have invoked the fear of the Immortals in any mortal, but the Hermit inside a tree wouldn't even see it coming; if there was anything left afterwards, Nir'wei was already invoking further powers of Karem, intent on unleashing absolutely everything at his disposal at once. Tufts of thick grey fur began to sprout from between the seams of his Spiritborn Armour. The sealed faceplate pushed out to accommodate a long snout growing from his face... and the armour over his fingers split to reveal sharp claws, as he embraced his full Werewolf form beneath the Cysheplate.