Low-Budget Man
Junior Member
The Eloheim
March 25th, 4000 BC
Lek-tek eyed Davit suspiciously and then reached inside a pouch located on his belt. Lek-tek then presented to Davit a wad of green earthy mushrooms with white tendrils poking from the cap. They were carefully wrapped in leaf covers and tied gently with plant fiber.
“Mushroom of the gods, human. Consume with mouth and breath in smoke. Also help if you sacrifice animals or food. Then maybe speak to spirits. Sometimes work. Sometimes it doesn't. “
Lek-tek looked more reasonable now that Davit wasn’t questioning their piety to the spirits and didn’t attempt to lay claim to the Titan Bone. Lek-tek turned to one of his companions and quick shushed conversations ensued for a minute. Then it appeared they came to a conclusion.
Lek-tek stepped closer to Davit until he was within arm’s reach. Davit tensed, ready to run or fight in case Lek-tek was attempting trickery. However, Davit had a gut feeling Lek-tek genuinely was interested in sharing his mushrooms with the Eloheim and wanted everyone to meet the spirits.
“Take some Mushroom of the Gods now. Free gift for humans. Come back later for larger trade if want. As long as human don’t touch Titan Bone, Followers of Hetek don’t fight. Take mushroom see gods as Lek-tek does, as the Followers of Hetek do. Open mind”
Lek-tek removed his pouch and tossed it to Davit, who caught it expertly with one hand. He kept his other hand on his Taiaha as a backup however. The Drakin made no moves to attack and began walking back to his allies. Then he turned back to look at Davit.
“First time very scary. Great Spirits are terrifying. Have people around to take care of body, while mind flies to faraway.”
April 2nd, 4000 BC
Iskur and his three companions moved swiftly through the forest. At his side was Balkir, Poltoo, and another fresh Eloheim hunter. Iskur’s group was well-supplied this time and didn’t have to waste much time foraging for food. After a brief rest at Endor and some time to draw the maps for his cousin, Iskur's group went on their trip.
The trip took them past Sectine Settlement, which from Rayal, they learned was named Moktai. It was a Sectine word for “Conquered Tree”. Navigating around Moktai was dangerous as patrols of Beetle Guard combed through the nearby forest. It seemed their security had been amped up after the stolen slaves. Luckily, Iskur only skirted around the edge of Moktai, and managed to stealthily maneuver around any fights.
It took considerable time for them to eventually find the trail of the dispatched Sectine. It was weeks old, but it was no easy task to hide their tracks. Especially with their considerable numbers. So they trailed after the tracks which seemed to follow the edge of the nearby lake.
After days of following the Sectine party, the group encountered a site of interest.
Three Sectine corpses were scattered across the forest floor. Each appears to die from stab wounds. Their equipment was stripped away and they were naked, left to stare far above them. Already, scavengers were harvesting the dead meat. They also found a splatter of blood next to a tree, and signs that the body was dragged away. It looked as if the Sectine had killed someone, and then took the killed foe for whatever reason.
Iskur leaned over to inspect a tree. An arrowhead was embedded into it, with the shaft broken off in the underbrush. He yanked it out and turned it in his hands. It looked remarkably similar to Poltoo’s arrowheads, like all the Swift Flight arrowheads. Poltoo was visibly excited at the prospect of meeting and finding members of the Swift Flight clan. However, something nagged at Iskur about the arrows. He traced the direction of the shot, and it looked as if the Sectine was shooting the arrows from the trail toward the forest. Which was strange since the Sectine so far haven’t had any visible bowmen. Iskur kept quiet about his thoughts, and let Poltoo talk joyously about his old Swift Flight friends.
After that initial discovery, they found two more places where similar small skirmishes took place along the trail. More arrowheads were found and more Sectine corpses. It seemed that the Sectine made many enemies.
However, after many days of travel, they finally came to the Sectine Warparty. It was a grisly scene to behold.
A sprawling mass of campfires and tents surrounded a walled settlement adjacent to the lake. Hundreds of Sectine and a scattering of humans made their homes outside of projectile range of the settlement. Patrols of Sectine guards wandered the perimeter and outskirts of their camp to ensure no one entered the settlement.
Iskur and Poltoo looked at each other, expressions grim at the sight of another settlement under siege. It would take days for them to get back to Endor and by then, the settlement might already be taken. The group didn’t have a great vantage point this time, and getting closer proved to be difficult since there was so much security.
The settlement was much smaller than Endor and looked like it had once been surrounded by crops. However, the Valakei are now occupying that farmland. On the lake, several fishing boats could be seen. The walls stood taller than the buildings, so no other details could be discerned except one. A large wooden tower seemed to rise from the center of the settlement. Squinting, figures could be seen walking about in the tower. It was too far away, so Iskur focused on the siege camp instead.
As Iskur observed the siege camp, he noticed two Khates walking and talking amongst the Sectine. They were unguarded and were casually eating a meal together. Both had bows slung across their back along with a full quiver of arrows.
A pit began to grow in Iskur’s stomach as the realization sunk in. The Valakei Queendom also had Khates of their own. Whether they were Swift Flight or not, Iskur didn’t know, but the idea of fighting Poltoo’s people unnerved him.
April 12th, 4000 BC
Hadid watched the Eloheim soldiers train. The number had ballooned up to a full 150 with extra volunteers joining. The soldiers practiced their spearwork on wooden practice dummies. They were already sweating underneath the sweltering sun. More than half of them had forgone their shirts to be bare chested. A few younger boys help distribute water to the training men.
Talapoo was also present and was shouting instructions on how to use the Taiaha. A dozen men were laid on the grass sweating profusely with light bumps surrounding Talapoo. Hadid inwardly grinned at the sight, he knew firsthand how harsh Talapoo could be. And it was nice to see his pain shared amongst the other in the Eloheim.
Ralagaa, the Swift Flight clan’s greatest marksman, kindly poked and prodded at several archers shooting at targets, correcting their form. Arrows were scattered into the trees wildly with only a few hitting the target tree. However, some of the Eloheim were slowly becoming proficient with the bow and were on their way to becoming an expert shot. Ralagaa teaching was the complete opposite of Talapoo’s style.
Hadid smiled at his work at organizing such an excellent training regime and placed his hands on his hip. He looked at Talapoo for a moment and was about to wander over, but a tap on his shoulder halted him. Hadid turned around to see Redia’s face.
“Looks like training is going well,” commented Redia as she also surveyed the training ground.
“I think I’m doing a pretty good job of it. I’m having everyone familiarize themselves with the various weapons and equipment we have. And every few days, Argos brings us some Swift Flight warriors to spar with. Its so helpful learning to fight in a group like that and against a different foe,” explained Hadid excitedly. While he did enjoy hunting, this type of work really called to him. And there was so much to learn and so much to improve. Even a group of ten Swift Flight warriors were a difficult match with Eloheim holding superior numbers. They won some practice fights, but not without sustaining significant losses.
“Wow, I didn’t realize you were so clever,” said Redia while playfully punching his arm.
“I think being around you helped a lot,” Hadid grinned.
“Thanks! Spiders are growing great aswell! They’re learning a lot, but they’re sleeping right now. I’d say after several more months they’d be big enough to ride on. They’ll probably still be growing, but they’d be large enough for the smaller Eloheim. Also, Jumpy’s leading the pack in terms of cleverness,” bragged Redia proudly.
“I think that’s my cleverness rubbing off him”, Hadid joked.
“He does try to eat my pants sometimes, so that looks to be true,” retorted Redia.
“I didn’t say that was a good thing.”
“So have you thought about how to organize the Eloheim Royal Cohort?” questioned Redia. She was watching some of the archers fire off arrows at the targets in admiration. If it weren’t for her duties, she would have easily gone to learn archery.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, not everyone can do everything right? It’ll take too long for everyone to learn every skill, so you’ll have to assign specific roles to specific people. In an ideal world, every Eloheim soldier would be able to use the Taiaha for skirmishing, bows for range combat, and the spear and shield for open field fighting. But we only have a short amount of time, so we should make everyone an expert in one weapon with only cursory knowledge in others,” explained Redia.
“Yeah I’ve been thinking about something similar. I’ve spent time teaching everyone moderate knowledge in all the weapons to see if anything strikes their fancy. But three individual groups will need to be formed: an Archer Group, an Taiaha Skirmish Group, and a Spear and Shield Group.” A loud crack sounded near Talapoo’s area and a human fell roughly to the ground. Talapoo held out his Taiaha to help the fallen trainee up. Then they went back to sparring.
“Who’s going to be in what? How are you going to divide them?”
“The Taiaha is good for individual combat. A spear and shield user would have difficulty fighting someone using the Taiaha. However, in a formation the spear and shield user has the advantage. The weakness of this is the spear and shield user becomes far less mobile. Since we’re going to be raiding, I reckon we would want many using the Taiaha and archers to support them. But we also want people using spear and shield in case the Sectine come for Endor. If they come, we’ll have to fight them head on or….I don’t know.”
Redia patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, “Don’t worry once we have giant spiders, we’ll win the day for sure”
March 25th, 4000 BC
Lek-tek eyed Davit suspiciously and then reached inside a pouch located on his belt. Lek-tek then presented to Davit a wad of green earthy mushrooms with white tendrils poking from the cap. They were carefully wrapped in leaf covers and tied gently with plant fiber.
“Mushroom of the gods, human. Consume with mouth and breath in smoke. Also help if you sacrifice animals or food. Then maybe speak to spirits. Sometimes work. Sometimes it doesn't. “
Lek-tek looked more reasonable now that Davit wasn’t questioning their piety to the spirits and didn’t attempt to lay claim to the Titan Bone. Lek-tek turned to one of his companions and quick shushed conversations ensued for a minute. Then it appeared they came to a conclusion.
Lek-tek stepped closer to Davit until he was within arm’s reach. Davit tensed, ready to run or fight in case Lek-tek was attempting trickery. However, Davit had a gut feeling Lek-tek genuinely was interested in sharing his mushrooms with the Eloheim and wanted everyone to meet the spirits.
“Take some Mushroom of the Gods now. Free gift for humans. Come back later for larger trade if want. As long as human don’t touch Titan Bone, Followers of Hetek don’t fight. Take mushroom see gods as Lek-tek does, as the Followers of Hetek do. Open mind”
Lek-tek removed his pouch and tossed it to Davit, who caught it expertly with one hand. He kept his other hand on his Taiaha as a backup however. The Drakin made no moves to attack and began walking back to his allies. Then he turned back to look at Davit.
“First time very scary. Great Spirits are terrifying. Have people around to take care of body, while mind flies to faraway.”
April 2nd, 4000 BC
Iskur and his three companions moved swiftly through the forest. At his side was Balkir, Poltoo, and another fresh Eloheim hunter. Iskur’s group was well-supplied this time and didn’t have to waste much time foraging for food. After a brief rest at Endor and some time to draw the maps for his cousin, Iskur's group went on their trip.
The trip took them past Sectine Settlement, which from Rayal, they learned was named Moktai. It was a Sectine word for “Conquered Tree”. Navigating around Moktai was dangerous as patrols of Beetle Guard combed through the nearby forest. It seemed their security had been amped up after the stolen slaves. Luckily, Iskur only skirted around the edge of Moktai, and managed to stealthily maneuver around any fights.
It took considerable time for them to eventually find the trail of the dispatched Sectine. It was weeks old, but it was no easy task to hide their tracks. Especially with their considerable numbers. So they trailed after the tracks which seemed to follow the edge of the nearby lake.
After days of following the Sectine party, the group encountered a site of interest.
Three Sectine corpses were scattered across the forest floor. Each appears to die from stab wounds. Their equipment was stripped away and they were naked, left to stare far above them. Already, scavengers were harvesting the dead meat. They also found a splatter of blood next to a tree, and signs that the body was dragged away. It looked as if the Sectine had killed someone, and then took the killed foe for whatever reason.
Iskur leaned over to inspect a tree. An arrowhead was embedded into it, with the shaft broken off in the underbrush. He yanked it out and turned it in his hands. It looked remarkably similar to Poltoo’s arrowheads, like all the Swift Flight arrowheads. Poltoo was visibly excited at the prospect of meeting and finding members of the Swift Flight clan. However, something nagged at Iskur about the arrows. He traced the direction of the shot, and it looked as if the Sectine was shooting the arrows from the trail toward the forest. Which was strange since the Sectine so far haven’t had any visible bowmen. Iskur kept quiet about his thoughts, and let Poltoo talk joyously about his old Swift Flight friends.
After that initial discovery, they found two more places where similar small skirmishes took place along the trail. More arrowheads were found and more Sectine corpses. It seemed that the Sectine made many enemies.
However, after many days of travel, they finally came to the Sectine Warparty. It was a grisly scene to behold.
A sprawling mass of campfires and tents surrounded a walled settlement adjacent to the lake. Hundreds of Sectine and a scattering of humans made their homes outside of projectile range of the settlement. Patrols of Sectine guards wandered the perimeter and outskirts of their camp to ensure no one entered the settlement.
Iskur and Poltoo looked at each other, expressions grim at the sight of another settlement under siege. It would take days for them to get back to Endor and by then, the settlement might already be taken. The group didn’t have a great vantage point this time, and getting closer proved to be difficult since there was so much security.
The settlement was much smaller than Endor and looked like it had once been surrounded by crops. However, the Valakei are now occupying that farmland. On the lake, several fishing boats could be seen. The walls stood taller than the buildings, so no other details could be discerned except one. A large wooden tower seemed to rise from the center of the settlement. Squinting, figures could be seen walking about in the tower. It was too far away, so Iskur focused on the siege camp instead.
As Iskur observed the siege camp, he noticed two Khates walking and talking amongst the Sectine. They were unguarded and were casually eating a meal together. Both had bows slung across their back along with a full quiver of arrows.
A pit began to grow in Iskur’s stomach as the realization sunk in. The Valakei Queendom also had Khates of their own. Whether they were Swift Flight or not, Iskur didn’t know, but the idea of fighting Poltoo’s people unnerved him.
April 12th, 4000 BC
Hadid watched the Eloheim soldiers train. The number had ballooned up to a full 150 with extra volunteers joining. The soldiers practiced their spearwork on wooden practice dummies. They were already sweating underneath the sweltering sun. More than half of them had forgone their shirts to be bare chested. A few younger boys help distribute water to the training men.
Talapoo was also present and was shouting instructions on how to use the Taiaha. A dozen men were laid on the grass sweating profusely with light bumps surrounding Talapoo. Hadid inwardly grinned at the sight, he knew firsthand how harsh Talapoo could be. And it was nice to see his pain shared amongst the other in the Eloheim.
Ralagaa, the Swift Flight clan’s greatest marksman, kindly poked and prodded at several archers shooting at targets, correcting their form. Arrows were scattered into the trees wildly with only a few hitting the target tree. However, some of the Eloheim were slowly becoming proficient with the bow and were on their way to becoming an expert shot. Ralagaa teaching was the complete opposite of Talapoo’s style.
Hadid smiled at his work at organizing such an excellent training regime and placed his hands on his hip. He looked at Talapoo for a moment and was about to wander over, but a tap on his shoulder halted him. Hadid turned around to see Redia’s face.
“Looks like training is going well,” commented Redia as she also surveyed the training ground.
“I think I’m doing a pretty good job of it. I’m having everyone familiarize themselves with the various weapons and equipment we have. And every few days, Argos brings us some Swift Flight warriors to spar with. Its so helpful learning to fight in a group like that and against a different foe,” explained Hadid excitedly. While he did enjoy hunting, this type of work really called to him. And there was so much to learn and so much to improve. Even a group of ten Swift Flight warriors were a difficult match with Eloheim holding superior numbers. They won some practice fights, but not without sustaining significant losses.
“Wow, I didn’t realize you were so clever,” said Redia while playfully punching his arm.
“I think being around you helped a lot,” Hadid grinned.
“Thanks! Spiders are growing great aswell! They’re learning a lot, but they’re sleeping right now. I’d say after several more months they’d be big enough to ride on. They’ll probably still be growing, but they’d be large enough for the smaller Eloheim. Also, Jumpy’s leading the pack in terms of cleverness,” bragged Redia proudly.
“I think that’s my cleverness rubbing off him”, Hadid joked.
“He does try to eat my pants sometimes, so that looks to be true,” retorted Redia.
“I didn’t say that was a good thing.”
“So have you thought about how to organize the Eloheim Royal Cohort?” questioned Redia. She was watching some of the archers fire off arrows at the targets in admiration. If it weren’t for her duties, she would have easily gone to learn archery.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, not everyone can do everything right? It’ll take too long for everyone to learn every skill, so you’ll have to assign specific roles to specific people. In an ideal world, every Eloheim soldier would be able to use the Taiaha for skirmishing, bows for range combat, and the spear and shield for open field fighting. But we only have a short amount of time, so we should make everyone an expert in one weapon with only cursory knowledge in others,” explained Redia.
“Yeah I’ve been thinking about something similar. I’ve spent time teaching everyone moderate knowledge in all the weapons to see if anything strikes their fancy. But three individual groups will need to be formed: an Archer Group, an Taiaha Skirmish Group, and a Spear and Shield Group.” A loud crack sounded near Talapoo’s area and a human fell roughly to the ground. Talapoo held out his Taiaha to help the fallen trainee up. Then they went back to sparring.
“Who’s going to be in what? How are you going to divide them?”
“The Taiaha is good for individual combat. A spear and shield user would have difficulty fighting someone using the Taiaha. However, in a formation the spear and shield user has the advantage. The weakness of this is the spear and shield user becomes far less mobile. Since we’re going to be raiding, I reckon we would want many using the Taiaha and archers to support them. But we also want people using spear and shield in case the Sectine come for Endor. If they come, we’ll have to fight them head on or….I don’t know.”
Redia patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, “Don’t worry once we have giant spiders, we’ll win the day for sure”
Endor Regional Map
Moktai (Valakei Settlement)
