[Silver Surfers] Nine Winds - The Wandering

[Red Shadow Claws]

You've been flying around for quite a while. So long in fact, that even your Exalted stamina is starting to falter. Luckily, you see a small islets jutting from the ocean, a place to rest for a bit, before you take wing again.

 

[Iron Penguin]

Nine soars on a high, steady current of air. The call of the winds and the ocean is strong, but his own body is calling to him now, louder and more insistently. He feels the ache in his wings, the heat of the sun on his back, the thirst in his throat and the hunger in his belly. Nine surveys the nearest island with sharp eyes as he descends in slow spirals, searching for somewhere to land - somewhere secluded, where he can change his shape without being observed, near to fresh water to slake his thirst and perhaps near to fruit trees or somewhere he can find something to eat. He also keeps his eyes open for any settlements - he has been flying for a long time, and he is beginning to feel the need for human company again.


The dark rock and green foliage come closer and closer as Nine descends.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

The islet seems to be too small to really support much in the way of human life. But you do spot a small trickle of a spring, and a few edible fruits.


As you descend, you also notice in the middle of a clearing, an effigy made of wood. So looks like someone is at least visiting this place.

 

[Iron Penguin]

Nine circles lower, spreading his wide, white wings and coming to rest on a tall outcropping of rock. His yellow eyes take in his surroundings, and, seeing no-one, he hops down from his perch. Wings stretch, pinion feathers spreading and merging into fingers; white plumage ripples and blends into tanned skin. Silver glimmers shift over his body, like reflections of moonlight on water, and the bird-becoming-man is suddenly only a man, feathers vanishing into his rough-spun robe, standing from a low crouch, his arms outstretched. His hand grasps a tall staff, and a broad hat appears, shading his face. Under its shadows, his eyes gleam gold.


Nine lays down his staff and stretches, feeling the ache in his shoulders and back from his long journey. He cups fresh water in his hands and drinks, splashes his face, then walks a few steps and plucks a fruit from one of the nearby trees. It's sweet and fresh - a welcome change from the cold, salty taste of raw fish snatched from the waves. He sits for a while with his back to a rock, face shaded under his hat, eating fruit and resting his weary limbs. Then, taking up his staff again, he sets off into the thicket of trees, in the direction of the clearing he saw from the air. If there is a god here, he will pay his respects. Even if there is only some forgotten remnant of a long-departed people, Nine is curious to see it. It will make a change from watching everything from above.

Spoiler

1 mote peripheral essence spent to change into human form.


Peripheral essence: 28/29 (9m committed)

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Even that short rest seems to do you much good. Your exalted nature seems to have enhanced you so that even a short break is great in rejuvenating your strength.


The walk to the clearing is quite nice, as the slope is working in your favor, and the flowers smell nice, and look lovely, and the trees give nice shade. What looked like a crude effigy from up high, is much more refined from this vantage point. Someone has managed to create a sculpture of myriad beings, all seemingly forming one greater thing. There's a boar there, but most of the effigy looks like some geography, with a mountain, and sea, and forest, and all that.


Roll Intelligence + Occult

 

[Iron Penguin]

Nine gazes up at the sculpture. The strangeness of it, here amid the apparently untrodden sand and untrammelled nature, has a powerful effect on him. He has a vague idea it might be some kind of idol or religious effigy, and he searches his memories for more, trying to think back to his lost former life, before the storm that changed everything.

Spoiler

[dice]2418[/dice]

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Nothing springs to mind. Probably some minor godling, or group of godlings.


As you survey the rest of this islet, it's clear that no humans inhabit it, but that they come here for their rituals. As you come down to the beach, you disturb a group of pelicans, and they fly off, westward.