[IC]Endurn: The Heart of the Alauum

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Avyra worked her hardest to scramble her way up the cliffs, falling twice and cutting open a large scrape on her elbow that bled more than it should have. She was of the Deep Seas, she wasn't a land dweller. Climbing made little sense to her but in a life and death situation, climbing was now her life's purpose. Eventually, she made it up to the top and heaved, trying to take a moment to calm herself before assessing the situation. They weren't going to survive this attack. The dragon had already slaughtered an entire caravan of Odakkai from the sounds of it and she knew enough about the people to know they didn't travel without protectors. They were hardly an organized caravan prepared to handle attackers. They needed to flee.

The little girl was nowhere to be seen, Avyra was concerned that something had happened to her, but after a few minutes of running around, trying to shout at everyone that they needed to flee, she found the girl with the strange Varan woman. She knelt down and tried to tell the girl to come with them, but she didn't speak the language and frankly, the child seemed so distant that she wasn't sure if an Odakkai could get her attention. As Avyra looked worriedly at Valya, the girl suddenly got up. She started walking to the edge of the cliff, or in the general direction at least. Avyra went to grab her but where her hand met the girl's arm, a blue light emitted and burned Avyra's hand, forcing her to pull away. In the background, Avyra watched as Alathon foolishly tried to vault onto the dragon's head. The beast lashed out violently with sharp talons, sending Alathon flying through the air and landing him on the ground with a heavy thud, his back badly bloodied from the razor-sharp talons of the Blue.

Avyra felt fear beginning to settle in and she realized they needed to leave immediately. The child was now near the edge of the cliff and Avyra watched as Moren stopped what he was doing to dive towards the girl in a desperate attempt to save her as she stepped off the cliff and fell to the rocky shores below. Moren cried out as he watched her fall, but when the hit the stones, her small body surely breaking upon impact, she simply pulled herself up a few minutes later and walked towards the sea without looking back.

Below, Zaos would find nothing. He would witness the little girl's fall and watch as she casually rose up again and walked into the depths of the sea. Seeing that he was running out of time, he made his way back up to the party and swiftly as they could, the new companions fled the scene. The dragon tailed them for some time but eventually departed with a last boiling spray of hot water.

The party was largely uninjured, save Avyra's injured arm and Alathon's deep wounds running diagonally across the length of his back. Moren had paled in the time that he saw the girl hit the rocks and rise up once more and hadn't said a word, save a quiet mumble about ghosts, not even once they were out of harm's way and stopped for a rest in a small dip in the land where the air was cool and a small pool of water bubbled up from the deep. Avyra cleaned and wrapped her wound and was among the first to speak.

"What happened back there? The girl. . . she. . . " She was looking at Zaos, knowing that he might have seen what happened to the girl where Moren refused to speak of it. She cast a worried glance over at Alathon, concerned for his health and knowing she could help, but unsure of his demeanor. Some of the men in her hunting tribe were incredibly offended when others offered to heal them, insisting they do it themselves or let it heal naturally. Cautiously, she got up and made her way over to the man, settling down near him.

"I. . . I can help you, if you'd like. At least stop the bleeding and bring about the natural healing process so it isn't exposed to the open air?"
 
Despite the stupidly large amount pain lashing through him, Alathon couldn't help but smile. For a moment, just a moment, he had felt what it was like atop a dragon. Who else could say the same? Of course, shortly following that moment was the attack from behind and the pain, but even though he felt like crying out in agony every time the skin on his back stretched he still felt whole, not a regret coursing through him as he looked upon the rest of the party, alive and (mostly) whole.

The moment the dragon had stopped chasing them was the moment his legs were allowed to give out, the oddokai crumbling to the ground as he hastily clutched at the various small containers over him, pulling out herbs and bandages with trembling hands and trying to remember through his pain addled mind the proper procedure for making sure the slashes heal well. It was during this time, the trembling beginning to increase as he sorted through the various herbs and pastes, that he was approached by the almiun. He thinks her name was Avrya? It was the one that went with the others down to the beach. It was hard to tell though, his head was getting kind of light. A creature of endurance he was not. He wondered where he was going to get another coat? Where's the kid? 'Focus moron, she's here for a reason.'

"I. . . I can help you, if you'd like. At least stop the bleeding and bring about the natural healing process so it isn't exposed to the open air?"

Looking up at her for the first time, Alathon noticed her concerned expression and the bandaged arm. "I'll take as much help as I can get to be honest. As you can see, I'm not exactly Dhomharan levels of endurance here."He replies, cracking a small smile at his frankly terrible joke before continuing. "But only if you've already dealt with that first. I can't really get help from someone if they're still wounded." He gestures towards Avrya's arm, the trembling increasing tenfold as they were raised above from where they had mostly been hanging towards the general direction of his herbs.
 
Ashryn stared at the spot where the girl had suddenly dropped off, dumbfounded. How on earth...? She'd just dropped off and should currently be a very bloody mess on the ground. While she was glad that hadn't happened, it was still extremely weird to watch. She'd just dropped off a cliff and brushed it off like it was nothing- frankly, she was fairly certain she had the rights to be freaked out. She glanced around and checked the skies for the dragon before making sure that the others were more or less in one piece.

Pretty much everyone seemed fine, although Alathon had a nasty cut from the dragon, and the Almium woman's arm was banged up, but everyone else seemed relatively intact. She heard them talking quietly as Alathon pulled out large bundles of herbs and some bandages, trying to sort out what to do for his injuries. Ashryn yearned to help him, but although she could probably name some of the plants, she had absolutely no idea what they were supposed to do, or how. It would be pretty useful if there was someone else in the group aside from Alathon that knew some basic healing information, but it didn't really seem like it. She decided to step back and let them do their thing- they probably knew what to do better than she did, after all.

Hopefully we can get to our original destination quickly, she thought, glancing at the group. She had no idea if they could even travel with Alathon's injuries, but as selfish as she knew it was, she really wanted to get back on the road, away from the stupid dragon. As far as she could tell, they probably weren't able to go anywhere at the moment. Alathon's injuries most likely wouldn't allow it, and Moren was occasionally sneaking glances back towards the area the girl fell from, probably still surprised by what he'd witnessed. As long as nothing else comes back here to kill us, it'll be fine, she thought.
 
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Surprised by the pile of herbs the man produced, Avyra paused for a moment before offering a kind smile and kneeling down next to him. What she did first was return the herbs to his bag, unfamiliar with almost all of them anyways, and tenderly assessed the injury. She took a moment to calm herself, and then set to work on healing him.

As she did, she spoke calmly regarding her own injury. "But a shallow cut. It was my heart rate and all the movement that drove the blood out. The seas are soft and welcoming, they move around you most days. The earth is not so much so." She chuckled lightly at how awkward she had always been on the land. The shores were fine, the sand had a lot of give, the waters still danced along her legs and made her feel sure of herself. Dry land was entirely different and something she had never truly gotten used to.

Having peeled off some of the tattered clothing that stuck to the bleeding injury, she decided on the best approach. Her goal was to simply to stop the blood flow and form scabs. With any hope, she'd be able to hurry the healing process and push the scabs to a less painful state, but she was still learning.

Rolling for success:

1-14 = Bleeding stopped, fresh scabs formed
15-20 = Healing advanced to a less painful state.

Avyra Healing stat: 20/100 +1 mod to roll

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14 + 1 = 15 [Healing Advanced to a Less Painful State]

The longer she worked, the more comfortable she felt. She had done this before, on hunters that got cut on the long cutting edges of sharp sentinel reefs in the Western Abyss. The injuries were similar to these and as she made the connections, she managed to do a better job than she had initially expected to do. The bleeding stopped as clots began to form and as she continued to work, the scabs formed thickly over the wounds and even began to progress to a later state of healing that offered little pain to Alathon, but likely a lot of itching as the skin healed itself.

Sitting back, she pulled a bit of dry skin away, looking at her work this way and that, and finally stood and moved to face the man. "I hope that helps. Perhaps now we can be on our way?"
 
"That would be much appreciated," Valya replied, turning about and stepping back to the direction they intended to go, hips swaying lightly, yet noticably, with every step. "Got any opinion to what has occured?" She asked no one in particular. "Somehow I believe that this child was an illusion cast by this beast to lure in lunch and dinner." Her gaze turning to a frown.
Naturally, she was just making small talk to have and keep everybody talking. People grow careless in smalltalk, at times giving away valuable information.

Waiting for anybody to respond, her mind traveled back to the girl, how simple it was to just grab her at first and how helplessly Avyra looked to her when the child wandered off on it's own and how she stopped herself from moving to stop the child like Avyra attempted. Maybe, just maybe she should have thrown one of her dagger and run off... but why had she stayed anyway and not used the opportunity to escape in the first place? Surely, it must have been to gain favour, to seem like a good and oh so trustworthy person, to have some sort of support, right? It must have been, she rambled on in her thoughts.

Her head turning to see if everybody had come along, she was indeed in a hurry, needing to make contact with an acquintance and to move up information as well as to inquired on what this group of people was supposed to be and surely the fact that there was a lone dragon would also be a piece of information she could sell to somebody interested in procuring the hide, teeth, anything of use from hunting such a beast down... or simply as to sell to the authorities and noble that want to keep their people and their owns safe and away from the coast.
 
"Right then. Let's get moving." Alathon says, bodily hauling himself up as he use some his staff as a counterweight. Rolling his shoulders, he winces at the pain emanating from his back but he notices that it was no where near as bad as it had been just previously. Sparing a glance at Avrya, he nods his thanks yet again before he sets off after the masked one, trying to keep his mind off of the pain by wondering where he's going to find a new coat.

Despite the pain and the hours long journey, Alathon soon found himself once again enthralled in the surrounding country side. Eruanna seemed to know a lot about the local herbs so he would spend most of his time talking with her about the various natures, uses and habitats. While he could no long keep up with those horse like beings, he did get to see what a moving herd looked like from a bystanders point of view, which was pretty amazing.

Hours passed and Alathon was beginning to feel the wear and tear of the road when the first rooftop came into view. The others also seemed to be pretty happy at finding the village, although it was pretty hard to tell with some. But at that point, all Alathon wanted (or could care about) was finding a place to rest at. He was pretty sure he had some coin on him somewhere...
 
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Ashryn stuck towards the back of the group once more as they travelled, listening to the occasional small talks that burst out and observing the scenery, which would have made very good paintings. Eruanna and Alathon's knowledge on the local flora was actually somewhat surprising- she wasn't expecting them to have people that knew healing, but that would probably be useful to know for later. She kept an eye out for the village as the long hours passed by, until finally, they stumbled upon the first of many houses.

She had to assume that this was Deramar city, since she didn't think there was anything else. She kneeled in the grass, glad to give herself a small rest. Her feet ached from their journey and the others most likely felt the same. It would be best for them to find a place to stay and rest before they set off again. But since they were setting out on a great adventure... Well, were any of them even armed? They'd probably need food, water, weapons- yes, it would really be best to restock too.

Ashryn absentmindedly twirled her finger around her hair, still watching the others. She rose from her kneeling position to face the majority of the group. "It'd probably be best if we stopped to rest somewhere, and I feel like we should probably get supplies as well. I'm not even sure if any of us are armed, and with our situation... well, it'd probably be good to have something on us. Do we all have enough money to get to a place to stay, if we can find one?" She asked, gaze darting around at the group. She was pretty sure she had a small pouch of coins with her, but she might've dropped it during the escape from the dragon. Even if she hadn't, there was no telling how much was going to be in the pouch. Maybe we'll have enough combined to get a place to stay...
 
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The party pressed on. The rest of the journey was largely uneventful. A deep concern pitted in the heart of the group, they spoke very little on the last foot of the journey and when at last the distant peaks of the village became lazy streets that trailed through buildings made of pale, colored stone that portrayed its origins very clearly. The colors of the Almiun cities were entirely unique and a it was this simple, discerning feature that brought Avyra such calm as they had neared the village. The buildings here bore slightly different architecture, influenced somewhat by years of mingling with the Sylvuin and Varan of the region. The odd brown house of thickly woven roots and branches pinpointed the presence of the Sylvuin while some of the less colorful homes likely indicated the presence of the Varan, or possibly Dhomharan. Though, with the close proximity of the ocean to the cliffside village, Avyra doubted she'd find any Dhomharan at all. They weren't fond of water, but then, neither was she of land.

The village was dappled with shallow pools that surrounded the Almiun homes, much like the lawns that some of the other races kept. Groomed corals and kelp grew out from these shallow pools and even the odd pond bore a small garden of shore trees and other vegetation familiar to Avyra.

They pressed towards the heart of the village, knowing the majority of the inns would be located there. As they did, Avyra caught sight of familiar inn name, one that paired with two other inns, she knew of: Sisters of the Singing Sea. The inns were a popular name in Mythern there were supposedly four of them in total. She didn't expect to find one here, but she knew that if she was going to find help, it would be here.

"Come, we should go into the Sisters of the Singing Sea. I'm familiar with the name. They'll have food and beds, perhaps someone in here has heard word of the strange happenings on the plains." The woman paused then, the sound of frustrated mumbling coming from the back of the group as Moren approached and complained about ghosts and terrible sea food and a language barrier that he wouldn't be able to overcome. He was out of his element. Avyra had almost forgotten that they were only able to speak to each other out of a strange gift bestowed upon them by the spirits that now held their souls. Not everyone would be able to speak to the locals, but Avyra had faith that there would be enough Sylvuins and Varan to be of use to the others in the group.

She led whoever followed into the inn and was welcomed by warm harp chords, lead with a peaceful flute while an Almiun woman sang an old folk song in her native tongue. The woman had deep green hair to compliment her pale, teal skin. She had beautiful designs etched across her skin in a decorative manner, though they were nothing like those on Avyra's skin, for this woman was of the Shore and Shallows, where Avyra bore the bioluminescent marks of the deep. Avyra moved straight to the bar and sought out the keep, seeking answers to the question of whether her brother and father had arrived when she was greeted by a deep voice that startled her and had her spinning around. To her great relief, the face was a familiar one.

"Father!" She stepped forward and wrapped him in a warm hug, his arms folding protectively around her.

"My child, what happened? Your voice called to me in the deep and left me concerned and confused. How did you get here?" Teravore pulled back and placed his arms firmly on her shoulders as he looked her up and down, as if checking for harm. The injury on her arm drew a little attention but the man knew his daughter was raised beyond fretting over such a small wound.

Davyr stepped forward and took Avyra's hand warmly and gave it a squeeze. "Mother nearly boiled the house dry with concern. Leave it to you to go out on a simple errand and end up miles away in need of help." He laughed lightly and before Avyra could shove him back, Teravore raised his hand to silence his son, who complied immediately, a look of apology or guilt lightly painting his face.

"I don't know what happened. None of us do." She turned and beckoned to the others of her party who were still with her.

Teravore looked at the odd group, one of his brows lifting slightly in skepticism of its composition. ". . . and these people, they are. . . you found them when you woke?"

"Yes. In the Ghost Ruins. Yvir'ilae."

Davyr made a startled grunt, his eyes wide. Surely his sister had gone mad. "You're joking. Surely you've lost your mind. The ruins aren't accessible by any of our realm. Only the dead swim in the sea of the Talohm."

Teravore seemed to silently agree with his son's assessment, but he did not speak, allowing Avyra a chance to explain. "Father, please. Let us sit and fill our bellies. I can explain."

Turning to her companions, she explained to them that her father was very well connected among her race and he knew a great deal about the higher workings of the world, more than she could ever fathom. They could be of help for the time being and she asked if they would join her and her family to eat and discuss the matters at hand. She only hoped that at least a few of them spoke her native tongue, to save her the need to translate everything. However, when Avyra moved to get a table, she was stopped by her father. "Not here, alviir. What you speak of is unusual and it is never wise to let the uncommon find the ears of the commonfolk. I've rented the two rooms at the end of the hall on the second floor. We'll speak in one of them. Come, see if your companions will join us."

Avyra turned then to do as her father bade. "Please, will you join us?"
 
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