Seelay was silent as she took in the surroundings, and the injured fisherman's words. So much ice... she'd never seen anything quite like it. It stretched out into the ocean, a vast plain of whiteness obscuring the sea below. With conditions like this, it was almost impossible to determine just what could be lurking below. On top of that, the fact it was capable of leaving the water indicated that it would not be harmless if brought onto land.

Still, in terms of options for trying to combat it...

She needed to learn more. This much simply wasn't enough information to determine how to go about stopping it. Certainly, she was more versed in hunting terrestrial prey, but she knew how to fish quite well and she could grasp the principles of pursuing a beast such as this.

But without any more information, it was simply impossible to decide how to begin.

The silvery-haired elf considered her next move, arms folded across her chest.

"Has anyone ever gotten a decent look at this creature?" she asked, "Enough to get a sense of how it's shaped, or how long it might be."

Huge was one thing, but if she had something more specific it would be a little easier to think of a plan.

If no-one had gotten a good look at the beast, perhaps she would need to see it for herself.

@Rune_Alchemist

Fish? Fishing.
@VitaVitaAR

---

“Its black, I think.” The injured fisherman said.

“Lots of fins too, didn’t it?” Another chimed in, walking over to greet the elf.

“What? No, how does it have lots of fins? Fish don’t have more than three at most…” A third called back. “Well, not counting the tail.”

“Maybe its not a fish. Maybe its more like…some sort of squishy sea spider with eight arms that can steal crates of fish from storage.”

“Thats dumb. Its probably more like some sorta large deep-sea predator we occasionally fish up.”

“...as you can see we haven’t seen much of it.” The injured fisherman responded with a frown. “I’m sorry we don’t have much more information. We haven’t dared go into the water for long since it showed up. Only thing I might be able to say is that we saw one of the nets we lost get dragged out over by the cliffs near the old ruins, the one with the obelisk. Might be living somewhere near there. There’s lots of caves, both underwater and along the seashore. Pretty expansive places if you don’t mind swimming a bit and the cold water.”

“Sounds like this beastie is just shy.” Sionna, thought this would be a good idea to make herself known and chime in her two cents as she’d take her usual perch on Seelay’s head. “Maybe I can use my fairy charm to draw it out~” She did a little pose on top of Seelay’s head that the fairy probably thought was supposed to be ‘sexy’.

It definitely wasn’t.

---

---

@Cu Chulainn
Tsk tsk, body snatching is a crime you know...

---

“Ah yes, fate. That silken string that so many seem to be either ignorant too or fight against…does the hollow one in front of me have a curious fate? Ehehe, well, no matter. If you do its none of this spiders business…” She’d respond with a friendly smile, motioning for Gideon to follow. She’d lead him from the main temple hall and towards the back, down a flight of stairs to the basement where she’d push open a large wooden door with some minor effort.

Gideon would immediately recognize it as a crypt. Many bodies had been laid out, Achel and a few other helpers having done so much work already, but so much more to go. It seemed though, she was by herself now. The place itself was fairly large, in fact…it didn’t seem like it originally was a crypt judging from the layout. There was a very good probability this place was much larger.

“I’ll get straight to the point.” Achel would say, once she’d close the creaky wooden door behind Gideon. Her voice would take a much more serious tone, though her usual smile didn’t leave her pale lips. “Someone’s been stealing my bodies. I would hunt them down myself and strangle them slowly with my web…but I have far too much work to do, and I don’t want to panic the residents.” She’d move over to some of the bodies, immediately getting to work again while talking.

“Its no one in the village…I have asked my friends and they’ve said its not.” The Chiralata replied. “But they don’t tell me who is doing it…so it must be someone living in here! Or around here…who would live with a bunch of corpses? They must not have very many friends.” She’d say with a smile. “This place was once a larger complex, but it was sealed off a really long time ago. Maybe a little spider puppet is making off with my bodies…hmph…ah, if only I was a proper maid…”

---

The Missing huntress
@ERode@Pyromania99

---

“Gweh!” The fireball hit one of the archers first, slamming into his body and knocking him to the ground from the impact. Unfortunately for Vammy, most of the archers were a bit spread out, having set themselves up at intervals around the edge of the rocky hill that overlooked them - so it was less chaos than she’d have likely hoped, but enough to get one of the archers off her back.

“Kill the creature!” Another one of them would shout, as one of the archers nearby the one who had been fireblasted dropped his bow and drew an axe, aiming to instead smash Vammy’s face in while the second got to his feet, a bit dazed from the impact.

This of course, left three archers still focused on her…an arrow would graze her stomach, the only thing saving her from being impaled was her speed. A second would impact her thigh, but the demon inside her head only laughed at the surge of pain she’d feel.

“Yes, yes! Rip! Tear! Burn and bleed!”

Atzi made short work of the three that had attempted to engage her. Dealt with swiftly and brutally. The meatshield did its job well, soaking up several arrows that had been launched at Atzi with a few more grazing her by the time she had made it to where the archers had been positioned.

“Illuminator guide us!” One shouted, dropping the bow and pulling a spear. He’d lunge towards Atzi, not caring for the meat shield seeming to think attempting to impale his former comrade and Atzi both would be the best idea. The second got in close, pulling only a small hunting dagger from his belt and attempting to swiftly cut at Atzi’s shoulder.

---

An eight legged herbalist
@Click This@Crusader Lord

---

Perhaps, if they had simply ran and not launched the spears of light towards the monstrous entity they’d have been fine. After all, it didn’t immediately attack them, which meant that it likely was simply observing and watching them. It had just nabbed a wolf, and likely a deer earlier so it was likely full and unlikely to immediately engage them.

Yet, a certain moth, though it a good idea to launch weapons at it.

“GWAAAK-!”

A croaking roar followed as the ground under them rumbled, more trees being shoved aside like they were nothing. Snow kicking up as whatever it was barreled from the treeline and into…view? Well, logic would have dictated something popped out, but once the snow settled…there was nothing? Well, there was clearly something there - it began barreling towards the girls, leaving deep, heavy impressions in the snow as they had seen back when picking plants, shaking the earth with each of its steps.

Ah -

Briefly something flickered in the air. A lizard-like creature, incredibly large with a triangular shaped head with a somewhat flat top. Two bulbous eyes which looked in different directions. It was covered in dark green scales, a tail that curled behind it upwards into a spiral with four, long and heavy limbs allowing it to stand at what seemed to be at least as tall as your average house. A soft fleshy pouch of some sort was under its chin, a bit like a frog.

But they would lose sight of it again as its scales would shift in color seemingly, making it seemingly blend in with its surroundings by shifting the color of them from a forested color to that of snow and air.

It would proceed to run after them again. It was not a particularly fast creature, however, but it was certainly lumbering towards them at a decent pace.

Illuminator? Who the fuck was that?!

Regardless of how much guidance could be conferred from some no-name that a bunch of psychopaths worshipped, human decision-making oft shat all over the oracles of the divine, and in deciding to fight rather than run, the remaining mask-wearers sealed their fate. A spear, after all, was never a weapon capable of truly puncturing through any substantial body, especially not a human one. With a final harumph, Atzi jammed her corpse-shield’s chest into the charging point, catching the spearpoint between the ribs. The woman dropped the corpse a moment later, and the deadweight rendered that weapon pointless.

Which meant, then, that it was a hunting knife versus an arrow-studded club.

The difference in range settled it in an instant. They had neither the speed nor the skill to close the distance before the blunt face of Atzi’s club shattered the fragile, delicate bones of their wrist in one swing, then ripped up the muscles and sinew of their right left on the backswing. They collapsed in conscious agony, flailing in the snow as adrenaline failed to silence the cries of their broken body. And all before the spear-wielder could wrest their weapon free.

Atzi was upon him in an instant, one hand wrapped around his neck as she bent him backwards over the corpse of his accomplice. She ripped the mask off his face with the other and then clenched it into a fist. A clear threat of violence, followed by a verbal roar.

“Where's Maira? Answer me!"

If there was no answer immediately, she’ll break his teeth, three at a time until his face swelled up twice its current size. After all, Atzi wasn’t a murderer. Except for the one she had used as a shield, every other mask-wearer was still alive. Alive, so she’d have plenty to ask questions to.

Sometimes, discretion really was the better part of valor.

Even more so, when your temporary partner makes a fatal mistake, like provoking an apex predator with a bit of pain and a light show. Lissa thought that she was generally a chill person, but at the moment, she couldn’t help but to screech at the moth girl’s instinctual reaction.

“Gaaah…! Nylah! Stop provoking it!”

Of course, it was far too late. Something –whatever is was, she couldn’t quite see it properly—barreled out of the forest, obviously provoked by the magic spells and began to make a beeline for the fleeing girls. Lissa didn’t spend much time goggling at whatever was going after them, but between the camouflage and the glimpse of the lizard-like being as the landscape briefly transitioned from forest to field, she knew it was nothing good.

She was going to have some words exchanged with the girl once they made it back to the village. For now though, she held on for dear life onto the stretcher as Nylah accelerated the thing into light speed back to the village. She just hoped that it wouldn’t follow them all the way back to the place and lay waste to it.

Humans... Well, she assumed they were humans, were tenacious beings. Undaunted by the fact that they were going to die. The second her eye turned from the archers to the one with and axe, her side was grazed mostly by a slight dodge but that just lead to her getting struck in the leg.

Vammy grimmaced at the arrow piercing her skin but had other things to focus on. For example, the axeman just in front of her. It wasnt like being shot with an arrow would really hinder her so her grimmace curled into a sinister smile. As the axeman brought down the axe at her, she utilized her speed to knock the offending hand away and then grabbing his neck with the other hand. The neck was always so fragile and if one werent careful they could sn-- "Ah. Too rough."

Too bad, but the demon had more company to take care of. She tossed the man aside and cracked her neck before she turned to the archers. "Now which of you actually hit me with this?" Vammy asked, pulling the arrow out with little concern. She made her best possible guess and threw a quick fireball at them. Enough to knock them off their feet and save them for last.

The demon quickly followed behind the shot and headed towards one of the others. It was relatively simple to use her magic to launch herself enough so she could bring her heel down on the cultist's cranium after closing the distance. He was down, though Vammy wasnt too sure if she had just knocked him out temporarily or permenantly. The body could be quite frail and unbelievably sturdy but she was pretty sure she wouldnt have to worry about him for the rest of this fight.

Then was a quick dash for the second to last one. A dodged arrow but this one was quick to end as well... though the end was quite a bit more gruesome and gory than the previous. "The neck is such a fragile spot i swear. People need to start wearing some armor there or any person walking around with some sharp nails are just gonna slit it open."

With a small sogh, as if she also didnt have a fragile neck, Vammy turned to the last one that had been knocked to their feet. "Now, I should give the one who actually hit me a reward." Vammy said, practically skipping over. "Now then, I could skin you or... Hmm? What's this?" Vammy said, getting closer to the robed figure. She sniffed a few times and smiled. "Oooh, a woman. My, im wondering if you might be a better shot than the huntress we're looking for~" Vammy disarmed her if there seemed to have anything like a weapon on her and then grabbed her, tossing the cultist over her shoulder and made her way over to Atzi who also seemed to have taken care of business.

"Alighty. First thing, Miss Bow and Arrow. I can either make your time very nice and pleasureable or I can make it a living nightmare of my choosing. That's what demons do, after all." They were getting close to Atzi now. "Muscles, look at this. I got a new toy. Hope she doesnt break." Vammy mostly teased. "Now, lets see how cute you look."

The demon could tell she was a woman by body features and instinct, but that didnt give her the slightest clue about what was under. She set the cultist woman on her feet. "Dont run, hide or fight or I'll have to catch you again and tie some rope around you arms and legs." Vammy was ready for resistance of some sort but quickly removed her hood and mask quickly before such a thing could happen.

---

“Gaaah…! Nylah! Stop provoking it!”

"How am I supposed to know it isn't coming for us next anyway! Both of you hang oooooooooooonnnnnnnnn!!!"

No time to use magic. No way to hold some kind of weapon. Looking back for a second allowed her to see the glimpse of the giant...lizard?! Chameleon??? Whatever it was, the image of how it looked was burned into her mind by the raw panic. Truly a visage of predatory death it was. With all of this in mind, the Mothraki in her desperation began to emit as much of her species' {Enthralling Dust} as she could, even shaking her wings along the way to kick off as much as she could. This whilst clinging to the stretcher for dear life as she looked forward and it zoomed like a blazing hot rocket across the terrain and toward the village. She would push herself to the bone to make this thing zoom faster than the gods themselves if she had to.

The {Enthralling Dust} would hopefully help the problem, rather than make it worse. Then again, shouting something else in desperation was also a thing, as she would do in the following seconds-

"Oh gods of this world, please help us move faster so we don't dieeeeeeee!!!"

Was there a deity over winter snow? Or maybe a death deity would help, that'd be nice to give a prayer of thanks for later. Maybe Delphiti would help expedite their journey in safety, as that would perhaps be amusing for her? Nylah had no idea, and didn't expect the loud and desperate call out for help to do anything. Then again, the gods were fickle and could do a lot of things for amusement or whatever. Or simply not do anything at all.

Either way the hope to not get eaten and maybe drug up the pursuer was high as Nylah continued to push her magic and self to the furthest extent to keep the stretcher safely zooming along at mach speeds.

@Click This@Rune_Alchemist

---

The town's gravedigger was quite... strange, to say the least. Gideon has met Chiralta before, and is familiar with their strange mannerisms. This, however, was definitely different from what he us used to. Gideon could only dread what her 'friends' are like. At least the presence of the dead didn't sway him too much.

Still, Achel does raise a genuine concern. Bodies going missing would not be terribly good for the morale of the people. If it was anyone that understood that the dead should be respected, it surely was the Raam. After all, it is imperative that any deceased Raam would have their body delivered to Grams' great temple. It was because of this, too, that Gideon had felt a sense of urgency in accomplishing this task.

"Unforgivable." Gideon had uttered in regards to the corpse thief.

The facility they were in, however, did pique Gideon's interest to a degree. It was far larger than any normal crypt... perhaps it, too, is a relic of the past? If much of it remained sealed and unexplored, perhaps something else had come out of it and is responsible for the stealing of the bodies? Or maybe the thief had entrenched themself in the 'sealed' portions of the crypt under Achel's spidery nose, doing well to avoid her webs and living deep within the catacombs.

Whatever it was, it was clear to Gideon that he should investigate this 'seal,' and perhaps the rest of this unexplored crypt.

"Very well... show me to where the sealed parts of the crypts are." Gideon stated, as he began his venture deeper into the facility.

"Ah, you wouldn't happen to have a torch or lantern perchance, do you?"

So there was no clear picture of this creature's nature. Aside from the fact it was large, that it could come on land, and that it liked fish, no-one had any idea of what it looked like. That made this somewhat more difficult, but Seelay had something in mind. Indeed, she had already spotted something of a weakness the beast had.

But first, they needed to get a good idea of what they were dealing with. There was a chance her further plans simply wouldn't work at all, depending on what the creature was like.

Thus, the Cosain Elf couldn't make any further proposals until she knew what this monster looked like.

"It's obvious to me we don't know enough about this thing yet," she began, folding her arms across her chest, "So, I have an idea that should let us learn more."

Seelay was certain the fishermen wouldn't like it very much, but at the same time she didn't see another option that would allow them to see the creature when it was seemingly so careful to avoid being spotted.

"Its weakness is its appetite," she began, "So, use fish to draw it in. Preferably forcing it to come on land, but if that's not possible then simply trying to delay it long enough to see what it is should be enough. If you're willing to make that sacrifice, then we can move on to the next part of the plan."

It wasn't totally assured that this would work, but given the frequency of the creature's attacks Seelay felt certain that it had a large appetite. And that meant there was no way it could pass up a chance like that.

@Rune_Alchemist

Fish? Fishing.
@VitaVitaAR

---

“Bait, huh…”

“H-hey! Don’t ignore me!” Sionna harrumphed, pulling on Seelay’s hair. “Luring it out was my idea you big dumb dummy!”

“Well, using bait is nothing new…and we could, I guess. Sacrificing a few fish so we can get more seems like a good idea, but are you certain you can deal with it?” He’d give Seelay a frown.

“Well if we don’t do somethin, we’re gonna lose one of our other sources of food.” Another fisherman gruffly replied, bringing over a crate full of fish after hearing their conversation. “Box full of fish here. Feel free.” He’d plonk it down on the ice next to Seelay. “Any idea how you wanna go about it? We could put some sort of large net trap on the ice…maybe have the hunters standby with spears, too.”

“Hmm…if it can come on land, maybe we should just leave the storeroom unopened? It’d look pretty suspicious otherwise wouldn’t it?” Many suggestions, but it was ultimately up to Seelay how to handle it. “Might be best to wait until night or early morning too, that’s when the fish are usually most active.”

---

---

@Cu Chulainn
A certain little spider

---

“Torch? Huhu, no, no torches.” Achel would grab something from the nearby work table, handing it to Gideon. A small metal lantern, seemingly somehow in the same styling as the spiders dress. Metal and glass, with small spiked flourishes decorating the spaces between the glass. A small hook was at the top, presumably so it could be attached to the belt or other hook. The flame inside was already lit with a blue colored flame.

He’d recognize it as a sort of spirit-fire those often who worshiped the goddess of death used to guide spirits or a sort of fire often seen in areas with many lingering spirits or dead.

“Wouldn’t want to scare anyone. Hehe, maybe you’ll find some help, perhaps too?” She’d start walking, her somewhat stiff gait carrying her from the hallway, past a few more rooms that lead deeper into used parts of the crypt until she’d eventually lead Gideon down a flight of stairs, then down another hallway and deeper down inside the earth. As they’d travel, more spiderwebs made themselves evident, along with other various cave spiders though they seemed entirely harmless, choosing to ignore the two of them. Eventually the stone hallways would become much more smooth, swirling yet jagged patterns being carved into the stones as she’d come to a large chamber.

A circular room with a nearly unnaturally smooth floor engraved with a semi-circular moon shape that faced upwards. A downward spike was shoved through the middle while a small diamond shape hovered above. Gideon would have seen such an emblem before - though rarely. It was a particularly old emblem of the god known as Iva’Kroh, or the illuminator.

“Here. You probably don’t know, but Dawn was built by the Illuminator and his followers, shortly after the Moonless Era. The cult was dismantled some years ago…I doubt they’re still around, heheh.” She’d giggle, perhaps a little suspiciously. There was a good chance from her mannerisms she knew more than she was letting on. “This is the deepest part of the crypt…as far as I’m aware. Well, the known crypt. I do not know how to get into the deeper parts of it…though my friends have told me a bit about what lays beyond, hehe.”

The room itself was circular, with the floor being made of the impossibly smooth stone as previously observed. The walls made a dome above the room, rising upwards from the ground. Smooth but jagged stone patterns were carved, creating a path to the top of the room where what seemed to be some sort of hole was made in the ceiling from which hung what seemed to be a chandelier. It looked a bit like a chandelier with a magnifying glass attached to the bottom. The chandelier itself looked like it was supposed to hold some sort of large object, rather than any sort of light source.
A few hallways split off, where down one Gideon could see what seemed to be a gentle white glow of light. The other seemed to lead to what seemed to be something of a…torched study or something? It was hard to see since there was no light aside from his lantern, but it may be worth looking into.

---

The Missing huntress
@ERode@Pyromania99

---

Grunts of pain, groans of discomfort as the red-robed cultists had been completely thwarted by Atzi and Vammy. The one current at the mercy of her however, only responded with a grin. It was odd - she didn’t recognize him but it was odd. She could pick out distinct features and they seemed familiar, but she couldn’t put a name to a face.

ultimately He’d say nothing else as he would slowly start to become methodically tortured by Atzi until indeed, his face would swell to twice its original size almost from the bruising. No matter how many she’d torture though, none would give her a straight answer beyond what had already been said.

“Heheh, demon. You think you can break me?” Meanwhile, the one that Vammy had absconded with was merely chuckling as her mask was removed. The same curious thing happened with her - yeah, she was a person. Yeah, she seemed human…but aside from that, for the life of her Vammy could think of no distinguishable features from her. “I’ve already given my body to knowledge and the pursuit of it. You do not scare me, indeed! Any would be welcome to know demons…” She’d laugh, pulling out a dagger from her belt. “We’ll see who ties up who after I dissect you!”

Before she could do so, however, an arrow would graze Atzi’s face.

Looking from where it had come from, Atzi could see not just a single other cultist…but ten, twenty? Thirty? It was hard to ultimately count, but there was more of them, seemingly just appearing from the snowing ground in the fading sunlight.

A taller man wearing a black mask instead stepped forward.

“...you did well. We assumed one would be drawn by her disappearance…but to think…you could handle so many. I make to you…an offer…the same as your friend. Enlightenment and purpose. Or. Ignorance and folly.” Its voice was oddly disjointed, as though it was having trouble speaking.

---

An eight legged herbalist
@Click This@Crusader Lord

---

The giant creature moved after them, heavy footfalls pressing into the snow as it would chase its prey. The good thing was, it was not gaining on them. Bad news, is they were also not really losing it either as it would move with a slow, purposeful pace. The stretcher carrying the injured Oni moved as fast as they could, but without any intervention -

A cloudy maze would emanate from Nylah’s wings. Flecks of sparkling, snow-white clouds would be left behind her as they ran, the predator charging through it heedlessly, but not seeming to initially be bothered by it. Yet, as Nylah and Lissa ran, and more of the dust was released it would eventually start to…stumble a bit. Not enough to really hamper its movements, but it had seemingly inhaled enough for it to slow its judgment ever so slightly.

Not enough though, to end its aggression.

Seeing its prey starting to get away, its tongue lashed out, aiming to grab a hold of Nylah. No doubt she’d get dragged right into its gullet if if got her.

Even with her violence, even with her rage, the adrenaline was peeling off. Fatigue was pulling at her flesh like iron weights, and the dozens of pains in her body screamed at her to relax, to stop, to collapse. Her punctured leg felt close to giving out, and surrounded by even more than the ones that they had just killed, she, realistically speaking, would have no way to chase down each one of them and beat them down.

And of course, because of that numbers advantage, some coward who wouldn't even show his face would go and try to convert them. Fuck this Illuminator figure. She's dealt with pig organs that smelled less shitty than these folks, if they could even be called such. And if that was the case? Atzi white-knuckled her wooden club and she slowly but steadily got herself off the cultist she had beaten unconscious. Deep breaths surged in and out of her nostrils, mitigating pain through meditation. Yeah. It would be a miracle enough if she could make it back home at this point. Night would fall, and the wolves would descend.

But better by nature than by fringe believers.

The woman, tall enough still to obviously dwarf the black-masked figure, pulled her flask of wine off her belt and took a swig, then spat the alcohol out along with the blood that had coated the insides of her mouth. Black splotches stained white snow, and she snarled, pointing her club directly at him.

"Answer my question or piss off. Where the fuck is Maira?" As with wolves, so with bitches. A strong front was the only way. "I handled these scum while holding back. You don't wanna try me when I'm not."

---

Gideon gazed at the lantern, his curiosity piqued. While he has read of the spirits, Gideon had scantily encountered them in his journey. Even still, to see such wonders in person... it made the Raam quite curious about what else this crypt- and the Gravedigger- is hiding. Perhaps it may hold the solution to the desire that yearned in the Raam's steely heart. But now was not the time to dwell on such things.

"The Illuminator... I believe I've heard of such a being, though not in the way the people of Dawn have worshipped it." Gideon noted as they descended deeper into the crypts. As they did, he would take a moment to examine the strange architecture of this place. Reaching the deepest explored parts of the crypt brought more attention to Gideon, his eyes scrutinizing each avenue open to him.

"What could that light be over there?" Gideon asked as he looked towards the faint glow, though he made no effort to make his way closer just yet. "And the study... I'm guessing it contains any leftover knowledge that the previous cult had collected in their time?" Whatever the case may be, Gideon made his way to the study, interested in seeing what sort of information he could find about this complex. The light would hopefully be investigated later.

Lissa groaned. Well, she couldn’t have expected a villager, even if she knew some magic, to have good battle sense. It still didn’t help much when you’re being chased by a giant camouflaged beast, though. The Raam continued to ride the stretcher as it zipped along. Normally, she would have been impressed, perhaps even intimidated at the speed of it all, but when the angry chameleon was somehow keeping pace, it was easy enough to lean away from the ‘scary fast’ side of the spectrum to ‘not bloody fast enough.’

She didn’t think the beast would be too content to just continue its wild chase, either, so she slowly began to move and position herself towards the back of the stretcher, carefully so that she wouldn’t tumble off of fall onto Nylah’s injured patient. It was important to keep herself upwind of the moth dust the girl was putting out, too; she had never been too familiar with the Mothraki’s biological traits aside from their similarity with their smaller cousins, but she knew that dust wasn’t good for most people. The Raam were different, but she wasn’t going to put her own race’s biological resilience to the test for the moment.

Her decision to move backwards was prescient. The creature was growing restless, but now in position, Lissa had enough time to attack directly from drawing, as she slashed out with her sword to meet the tongue that lashed out towards her charge. With some luck, she’d cut its nasty tongue right off and Nylah wouldn’t become lizard food today.

VAmmy was pretty sure she removed the robed figure's weapons but she was a little too excited earlier so she might have missed it. "A dagger in the hand of a human hardly scares m--" That was when an arrow grazed Atzi's face and the demon was slightly distracted by up the hill some. A large group of, what Vammy definitely was sure were cultists. "Great. This one calls for a retreat for sure." Her head quickly twisted towards her armed captive. The demon's hand came up swiftly and hit the woman's hand, knocking the weapon away with a sharp slap. After, she shifted her posture a bit lower and twisted her hips as she brought her foot up to hit the woman's stomach to incapacitate her for a small time by knocking the wind out of her. She wasn't too worried without an easily reachable weapon in the woman's hands but it was still better to carry a sack of potatoes than a struggling boar while escaping.

Quickly, the demon tossed the captive over her shoulders and quickly made her way to Atzi. "Hey, don't be a dumbass, dumbass. These people are obviously brainwashed or mind controlled, magicked or something. That or they're super zealous and it's to knowledge or something and not a sexy goddess, probably. Doesn't bother me killing humans, but there are too many and we need to escape." Vammy was fairly confident in her skills, but she was quite concerned with trying to fight off that many people at once. She hasn't mastered her demon powers or she might consider it. "This is a bad position to try fighting them either way. Come with me if you want, or don't. Your funeral."

The demon laughed, giggled and snapped her finger at the human. A small fire that would be hardly visible to the cultists snapped to existence from the demon's fingers and slowly lowered to an area close to Atzi and between her and the culists. The demon started to make her way down the hill in a hurry, making sure to watch if any more arrows would be coming. If some were heading toward Atzi like the demon expected, she would will the fire to life to create a small flamewall to protect the body-building woman much like she protected herself earlier. If they were heading toward her, well, it's hard to hit something if it was moving.

The Missing huntress
@ERode@Pyromania99

---

“Foolish. Arrogance. Ignorance. You only remain strong because you know not what you are up against.” The black masked figure seemed entirely unbothered by Vammy’s spell - in fact, it would raise its on, withered arm from under its robe a sphere of light briefly illuminating the area. In an instant, nearly all magical effects had been rendered useless, snuffing out Vammy’s fire wall.

“So allow me….a humble prophet…to Illuminate you.” A second weathered hand would reach for his mask as he’d hold the orb of light in his hand. The mask slowly was removed from his face, and underneath -

Was a hollow void of nothing, yet a beautiful tapestry of everything at once.

Immediately as the mask was removed black, gooey tendrils launched themselves from his face. One by one the innumerable tendrils would latch onto the unconscious and beaten cultists, penetrating their skulls and immediately killing them. A tendril too, would chase after the one Vammy was running off with.

“Gwuh. Put me down!” The woman was still struggling, thrashing about in Vammy’s grip and making it hard to keep a good grip on her.

---

An eight legged herbalist
@Click This@Crusader Lord

---

The tongue lashed out, Lissa managing to halt her retreat briefly enough to draw her blade and turn to face the creature bearing down on them. A flash of steel. The cutting of flesh. The Raam’s blade sunk into the creatures tongue, but it wasn’t deep enough to sever it completely, it was enough to cause the creature to halt its assault, recoiling back in pain as it’d briefly lose its camouflage.

“Gwaaak…” A pained croaking noise as the pouch on its throat would start inflating, ballooning to somewhat comical proportions. A few seconds later, it’d vomit up some green looking gunk, lobbing them at the quickly retreating Raam and Mothraki. Thankfully for the both of them they were both rather poorly aimed and slow from the creatures intoxication from breathing too much moth dust. A flash of light from Nyla would see a small shield of light forming between the two of them and the liquid, but this amount of power would cause her to strain a bit, slowing their pace and causing the stretcher to wobble unsteadily as they moved.

They had made it to the edge of the village now, and already they could see people moving near the edge of it, shouting and yelling for help as they’d run for the village. A few hunters that had been patrolling near the edge started to run over,

He could stop magic? And had no face?

A greater mind would be broken by such revelations. Confounded by the maddening swirl of color that replaced the flesh once beneath the mask. Repulsed on a genetic level by the sin upon nature that bloomed before them.

But to Atzi, it didn’t change anything. Whatever she saw was vaguely interesting, but not worth dwelling upon, especially when that hollow void transformed into a mass of very tangible, very understandable tentacles. She sprung back, swinging with the edge of her club as the tentacles rushed towards her, but the sharpened arrowteeth only managed to nick it. It was as if she had struck steel. Steel that was nevertheless as flexible, as girthy as the limb of a beast! It sunk immediately into the skulls of cultists who laid defeated, one last tentacle chasing after Vammy and her quarry. Such terrible speed! And when her leg was like this too!

The woman pursed her lips.

Talien would have been able to escape during this. He could find Maira. Could even lead Vammy to her. And Vammy was a demon. Her nature gave her abilities far beyond a human like Atzi, even if the tentacle-faced freak could take away her magic. So, in accordance to the laws of the wild, in accordance to her own principals and desires, in accordance to her current capabilities as someone who had ate well and enjoyed more than her fair share of happiness in Dawn…

“Run! I’ll hold it off!”

And in one smooth motion, Atzi tore the spear out of an arrow-studded corpse, pulled her arm back, forced her blood to flood, and threw it as hard as she could towards the maskless monstrosity’s chest. It would fly straight. It was what spears did. And if it could kill this distracted dumbass who was too busy tying off loose ends to do anything like take shelter, even better.

But if it didn’t?

She drew her knife in her free hand, stoked the memories that served as her fuel, and breathed in deep.

Blood seeped into everything, growing sticky, then cold.

Someone had to warn the village of this. That someone didn’t need to be her.

"Your suggestion was to use your non-existent charm to lure it ashore."

No matter how she was dedicated to her purpose as a Guardian of Fae lands, Seelay would never cease to be irritated by her companion's antics. Especially given the fact having her hair tugged on didn't exactly feel painless. Reaching up, she poked the fairy's belly in annoyance before attempting to focus on the task at hand.

"As for handling this beast, I'd like to try and learn more about it before trying to kill it, but it's unlikely that we have the time," she said, "Nor do I have faith in it falling for the same trick multiple times."

The elven hunter put her hands on her hips, allowing herself a smug smile.

"I might not be as familiar with hunting on the sea, but I think I have a plan to take it down. I'll need to see what your equipment is like."

But first, she was going to have to see how many harpoons they had.

@Rune_Alchemist

“Tch,” she clicked her tongue. “You’re slipping, Lissa,” she muttered to herself, frowning as her chop connected with the creature’s tongue, but without enough follow through to hack it off. If she’d sliced it off completely, the Raam was quite sure that half of the threat would have been removed immediately. As it was, all she seemed to do was anger the beast as it prepared to do something.

That something was some pretty suspicious sludge vomited at them; for a moment, Lissa prepared to knock herself and the entire stretcher-vehicle off course if they needed to, but thankfully the attack landed nowhere close enough for her to think of overturning the platform.

Thankfully, they were on the run for long enough that they actually had reinforcements in the form of a few hunters.

Unfortunately, that meant they were also drawing a dangerous house-sized monster straight into an already vulnerable village.

As they neared the village, Lissa decided to hop off the stretcher just before passing the hunters, immediately rolling into a ready position, making a quick announcement as she did so. “Make way for the stretcher! You three, we need to defend the village. Chameleon-like beast, blends into the environment. Injured, but has a tongue with a nasty long reach, don’t get caught.” Elaborating for the benefit of the hunters so they knew what they were walking into, she pointed at a random villager nearby to delegate duties to. “You there, run and get some more help! Four of us might not be enough to defend the village from that thing!”

As soon as she was done, her attention snapped right back to the chameleon, having used up what little precious time they had already. She placed herself between the hunters and the monster, sword up in a ready position before taking a position to strike while allowing the hunters to shoot it from behind her. Without any means of ranged attack, now that they were upon the village, passivity was no longer an option. She just hoped closing the distance was a good decision.

"Do you want to die and not know more you stupid...." Vammy complained at the woman struggling in her arms. "Listen, you get the chance to study a demon up close so stop struggling." The demon continued running as she looked back and saw the tendril heading straight for her. This was going absolutely swimmingly. She wondered if she should have just followed her good friend into the woods back then but it was too late for that now as she started running down the mountain as fast as she could. One thing she was sure of was that she needed to get out of this anti-magic zone. She could comfortable escape if she managed that.

One thing she noticed however... That idiot muscle woman was just standing there, ready to fight! "Gah! You dumbass, get running!" If she was going to let some damn cult member's tendril kill her or the brainwashed chick she was trying to take as a hostage to interrogate. Well, if muscles was going to get herself killed, then she wasn't about to let her do it in vain. She definitely was going to escape. She kept trying to cause her feet to burst fire from them to propel herself forward. And she kept at it and kept at it until soon she managed it! She twisted her self around and fired off four or so flame lances at the tendrils since she wasn't sure if it was following her or not. After, she kept going.

"Gah! I'll grab the mutt to vouch for me too." She kept her grip on the cultist woman, just about ready to spank her like some unruly child to make her stop acting up... But that would only make Vammy happy and not help the actual problem. As she closed on the dog, she scooped the malnourished thing up and continued on, trying to escape the area... She just hoped Muscles would be following close behind somewhere.

---

The shield had been a good idea. Lissa jumping off to defend had been a good idea. Slowing down with someone who was bleeding out on the stretcher below was not good, however, and as much as part of the Mothraki wanted to stay back to help she had to move the patient. Then the Giant Enemy Chameleon could be returned to. Maybe. Hopefully. Maybe it would not eat up some people. Or hit them with...the...gunk...oh hell. This was not a good situation. Not good at all. First the thing had snatched up wolves, maybe even deer earlier, with its tongue. Now it was approaching the village. And Lissa was fighting it. And any hunters around were fighting it sooner or later. And people running and shouting.

Oh No Oh nonononono.

The Mothraki would send the shield flying back like a projectile, attempting to send the small light shield off toward but not to hit Lissa so the TotallyNotA!Raam could pick up. It even a had a little proper handle to hold, for what it was worth. However, Nylah did not exactly stop the stretcher to do this. Thus as she sped along Lissa and the hunters would hear her voice calling back as she rapidly moved over the ground in direction of where Miss Carla was supposed to be (Enli's hut, where people were being treated).

"LIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAA, SHIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!"

The stretcher would continue at full speed, the Mothraki having returned full focus to the matter as she pushed herself. Adrenaline and such coursed hard through her veins, and she could frankly almost hear her heart thumping in her ears. But it didn't matter. She had to get her charge to safety before she bled out. She had to.

Thus she would aim to arrive as soon as she could, so she could shout for Miss Carla to get help for the patient. Also to deliver the herbs she had...crap Lissa had the rest as well. Ok. Drop of the patient and herbs she had collected, and then return to the battle as soon as possible. Yup. Totally a good plan.

...It was also the only plan she had at the moment as well.

All else the Mothraki could do was pray again, hard, in her mind that Haruno would be kept alive to get the care she needed to live and survive. It was no formal prayer, mostly just being a desperate plea spat out from the Mothraki's mind as she desperately sought to get to her destination and calm down. Something to help occupy her mind for the most part, which would likely would not get an answer like last time.

Come on. Just enough to get medical care for Haruno to keep her alive and recovering that way, enough so she could hopefully turn around to help the others.

Something.

Please.

@Click This@Rune_Alchemist

Fish? Fishing.
@VitaVitaAR

---

“Wah~” Sionna responded to Seelay’s jab with a fake pout. “I was charming enough to get you to drag me along with you, hehe. Or did you just think I’m that much fun to hang around? Seelay, we can always play more if you wanna instead of you wearing that grumpy look all the time!”

“Equipment, huh…alright, sure, follow me.” The fisherman replied. “We keep a lot of our gear in a building near the shore, near the storehouse for fresh stuff too.” He’d say, starting to lead Seelay away from the frozen shore and towards a building sitting a bit further away from the main village upon the beach. Forcing the iced over door open, he’d lead the elf inside, lighting a lamp and letting light wash over the interior.

“We’ve got more equipment then we probably have people to use them properly right now, honestly.” He’d say with a shake of his head. Indeed, the storeroom for equipment seemed pretty well stocked, at least. Plenty of harpoons that with a little cleaning could certainly be usable. Large fishing nets hung on the walls and were stored neatly away in crates. Lengths of rope neatly bundled on the walls and stored on shelves. Weir baskets for use in more shallow waters.

“...you know, thinking about it, maybe we could use the Wier baskets to create some sort of large bait hook? Hmm…no, there’s not a man here that could pull it in…”

---

The Missing huntress
@ERode@Pyromania99

---

The spear indeed, flew straight as Atzi threw it, careening through the air amidst the blackened tentacles and towards its target. There was the crunching noise of spear impacting flesh, tearing straight through the man in front of her, ripping a hole right through its chest not even bothered having to defend himself.

“...Violence. Beasts. Foolish.” His droning, disjointed voice rang out, completely unfazed by the spear now sticking from his chest. The tendrils that he had commanded suddenly retracted, seemingly content with having killed all by the one that Vammy had run off with as it would instead, turn its entire attention to Atzi. Thankfully for her, the other cultists had…vanished? Disappeared? It was hard to say what happened, but they weren’t there any more. “Very well. Die in ignorance.”

Atzi would watch, as the man would pull the spear from his chest with a wet squelch, the hole left behind showing no internal organs, just a hole that would slowly start near immediately mending itself with blackened goo. Slowly, the being would walk towards Atzi as this faceless being would summon more tendrils from his face, dozens lashing out towards Atzi.

One wrapped around her wrist as he’d walk slowly towards her in an effort to seemingly subdue the woman.

Vammy, meanwhile, was making a quick exit. The ‘anti-magic’ field seemed to be less of an anti-magic in general, and more something akin to a ‘silence’ area of sorts that stopped spells from being active in the area. As she’d pass through the range, she’d find her demon-given magical abilities return once more as the tendril of black goo rushed towards her.

Lances of fire shot out, slamming into the tendril and piercing its body…though not cutting it. Thankfully for her though, it seemed whatever Atzi was doing had drawn its entire attention towards her, leaving Vammy free to do as she wished. Well, wished as far as struggling with the captor on her shoulder.

“Let me go smelly demon! Who would want to study any of your kind closely? You’re about as interested as the refuse from that stupid mutt!”

Tallen, needless to say, was quite a heavy pup being nearly the size of a man but Vammy had only minor trouble from the struggling cultist as she’d speed away from the scene of the fighting, making her way towards the village.

---

An eight legged herbalist
@Click This@Crusader Lord

---

The hunters running to assist would indeed, make way, barely avoiding getting run over by the Mothraki and her charge as they’d join Lissa in facing down this beast. The one delegated to getting more help would run off after a brief acknowledgement as Lissa would position herself between the hunters and the beast itself just for the monster in question to recover from its attack, shaking its head in a seeming bit of a daze as it’d focus its eyes on the group of people before it.

“Goddess, what’s one of these things doing all the way out here?” One of the hunters shouted.

“Less questions, more shooting!” The second retorted, grabbing arrows from his quiver and quickly knocking one, loosing it towards the beast.

“Its not fully grown! We can handle it!” The third shouted, grabbing his spear, joining Lissa on the frontline between the other two hunters and the beast. The arrow loosed towards it would sink into the flesh near its head, but it was completely unfazed as it would start charging the group - the moment it would get a few feet from them it halted its speed, sliding forward along the ground just slightly as it would instead spew a stream of the same acidic liquid towards Lissa and the hunters.

Nylah made a mad dash for Enli’s hut, unimpeded by any villagers save for perhaps one overly unobservant dog that nearly got run over, and it wasn’t long before she made her way there. Shouting for Calra, the Chiralta would at first, lazily come walking outside, her lower half covered in a thick, warm looking fur blanket. Upon immediately seeing Haruno and Nylah however though, her smile disappeared as she’d start spinning a stretcher of her own.

“I’ll take it from here Nylah. Put the herbs on the table inside.” She’d order her apprentice, taking a quick stock of Haruno’s injuries. The injured Oni had stopped moving, her face pale and breathing raggedly shallow. “...if she was anything other than an Oni…” Quickly having spun a small stretcher from her silk, she’d take Haruno and carry her inside, stringing up the stretcher a bit above ground.

“Haa, I don’t get paid enough for this overwork…Nylah, make some healing salves while I undress and prepare to bandage her wounds, please.” Seemed Calra expected her to help with the first aid instead of helping Lissa. Considering the spider only had so many hands, having an assistant would probably make the healing process smoother.