Winters Veil

[Bearhugs]

Lore:


The isles of Kalmada, a tranquil place ruled under the strong hands of Darien, the keeper of the southern realm. Lately the land has been overcome with trickery and mischievous deeds. Everyone fears for their safety, family's lock their doors at night and the villagers hope that when they wake, they are still alive. Darien has not been seen or heard of for the past 3 days, the realm is left without a ruler and everyone fears that he is dead or worse. Guards have reported at night, within the keeps walls they see shadows owned by no one and hear screams of tortured souls. The oracle fears for the realms safety, she believes that these strange and horrible occurrences that had been played and planned are by some dark master who controls them like puppets. Kalmada is just a pawn in some dark chess game, what game is being played?


Perched on the very edge of the ruins watch tower, Shale looks down the arrow, lining up the target. The crisp breeze and the icy rain barely phase Shale. His fingers release, the whistling sound of the arrow piercing through the icy rain hits the target dead on, a mountain goat. Shale leaps from the edge of the tower landing gracefully on the frozen grass, he rushes over to the goat, takes the arrow out of its back leg and slits its throat with a quick motion.


"one arrow is all i need to fetch me a great dinner."


"Bayne! yip," a white dire wolf walks out through the snow lathered trees.


"Thanks buddy for luring him here for me, now lets head back, i've got a treat for you."


They start tracking back to the "nest" dragging the mountain goat along with.

 

[SuperJotunn]

The path back to the nest was icy and parts of the winding cobbled path were falling away. The nest was the remains of the town hall in the centre of the village that Shale had once called home. Over the past few weeks he and Bayne had patched the holes in the roof and floor with tree branches from the surrounding forest. The combination of stone, wooden planks and tree branches gave the nest the feel of an animal den, so he had dubbed it the nest. The large wooden doors creaked as Shale shouldered them open and Bayne padded inside. After shaking the snow off from outside, Shale got a fire going and cooked himself and his direwolf a nice goat stew. With a full belly and warmth by the fire, Shale was just about to go to sleep when he heard a creak from the rafters. He knew the sounds of the rats and birds that made the roof their home and this creak was much too loud. Bayne was up on his feet and growling at the rafters but Shale could see nothing in the shadows. He reached for his bow, notched an arrow and then called upon his second sight. The second sight was a skill learnt by every one of the Arcane Stewards of the planes. It allowed one to see things for what they truly were, free of deception by sources physical magical. What Shale saw in the scared him in a primal fight or flight way. There in the rafters stood what he could see as a monster. It had a rotted appearance with bone showing through holes in its matted black feathers. The head was a leering skull filled with blue flame that stared unblinkingly at Shale. The thing dropped from the rafters to stand in front of Shale. Bayne lunged at the skeletal crow and tried to grab hold of its leg in its jaws but with a wave of its hand the creature pushed Bayne to the ground and held it there with unseen force. Shale lowered his second sight and prepared to fight off this demon creature but as he lowered the second sight he saw the physical form of the monster. It was a shapely brown haired woman dressed in boiled leather and hide. She had twin swords at her belt with designs of birds over the hilt. She looked at Shale with cool eyes and said "we need to talk".

 

[Bearhugs]

Shale stumbles back slighltly, "What is there to talk about! you come to my nest and use some form of black magic on my dire wolf!" Shale's stare pierces through the women's eyes. "I know what you are, your some sort of demon! why shouldn't i just kill you now?" He says, clutching is fathers daggers tightly in his hands. Shale notices that her eyes are not threatening. The lady does not move but stares back into Shale's eyes. "I'm greatly sorry, but what you did made me think you are here to kill me. I've seen in your eyes that you have come here for a reason, and that is not kill me." He looks at the this women, and she looks back in the same way. "Your not from around here are you? *small silence* Now if you say sorry to Bayne you can come have some goat stew, there is plenty here." Shale begins to walk towards the fire and stirs the pot, he turns around to see that the women has a very small smirk on her face. "Bayne, are you alright boy?" Bayne lays down near the fire, looks at the women and snarls, *fump* Bayne's head hits the soft pillow like mat and dozes off. The women walks over and sits next to Shale, she is staring straight into the fire and not even blinking. "So you not from around here are you? you did not answer before."

 

[SuperJotunn]

"You might say that I don't come from around here" she said tonelessly, "but that depends on your definition of here." "I have been many things in my life, a warrior, a healer, a killer, a sister, a betrayer, alive, dead." Shale noticed on the last word that he had not seen her take a breath since he had first seen her. She seemed to notice his discomfort without even looking at him and turned to him with her cold, unblinking eyes. "Don't look so shocked" she said. "There are only a few things you really need to know about me" the woman continued. "I like my meat raw, I don't play well with strangers and if you ever decide to cross me I can and will kill you, is that understood?" Shale only grinned and replied "those sound perfectly fine to me." With the grin still on his face he reached for the nearest of the two swords at her belt with the intention of showing her what he thought of her threats. Instead of his hand closing on black steel his hand closed on a nightmare. He fell into a world of corpses and crows. Crows pecked out his eyes as dead men tore open his belly and feasted on his guts. Someone was screaming and it was only when he woke lying on the floor of the nest that he realized he was the one screaming. The woman peered at him and then pronounced "I'm impressed you kept your sanity." "Well aren't we all full of surprises" Shale spat back. The woman studied him for a moment before saying "you earned my respect, you may call me Arina, that's what some have called me." "I feel what you felt for an instant, constantly. I am not killed as easily as a mountain goat." Shale picked himself up and stared her down for a minute. Arina started to sit but as she was sitting Shale threw a punch into her face. "I have a feeling that hurt" Shale said with some satisfaction. "I suggest we get some sleep" said Shale, "I have a feeling when you tell me why you're here there's going to be a lot to do."

 

[Bearhugs]

Shale wakes up in the night, he grabs his daggers from underneath his pillow and slowly and silently stands up. He heads towards the doors, a crisp strong breeze passes through the cracks. Shale opens the doors yet very little sound was made, hoping he would wake his new so called friend. trudging through the thick carpet of snow as the piercing winds shroud the ruins shale continues to walk to a small run down house. This house used to be where his mother and father lived, until the horrible invasion happened. Shale keeps and eye out to see if anyone or anything is lurking, opens the door or what ever is left of it and walks inside. Shale unwraps a candle out form under his arm pit. "This is for your spirits" he says with a soft tone. He strikes the dagger on the small amount of flint he had left and lights the candle, placing it on the floor where his parents were found. Not a flicker in the flame. Shale bows his head in deep reflection for his family. "May the spirits on the planes keep your souls pure and may you for ever live on." Shale sits, waiting.

 

[Elizabeth Hill]

Shar'ell lurked behind a wall, her dappled winter coat slightly helping her blend into the weathered wood, as she watched the boy say his prayer. She had seen him a few times before since she began to visit the house. He intrigued her but as yet she was too timid to actually speak to him. So she continued to hide from him, content with observing his ritual. As she watched, Shar'ell crouched down getting closer to the floor to get comfortable, but as she lay down, a purr erupted from her throat. It was quickly stifled but she feared the damage was done.

 

[Bearhugs]

Shale's eyes widen in an instant. A rather silent rumble was heard through he wall of the hut. Yet nothing phases him. Shale stands up in a hurry and quickly blows out the candle, wrapping it up and placing it under his arm once again. He walks out from his parents house, taking a look around hoping to see what that rumble was, he suspects it was just the wind. Shale continues the small walk back to the nest, the deep snow fall has covered the cobble path, instead a white carpet. Shale peeks through the doors of the nest and eyes off Bayne, Bayne opens one eye and looks at Shale. He instantly knew that something was up, but he had no idea. He rushes to his bed and places the candle next to the fire and heads off to bed, still keeping the dagger within reach.