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| The Lucky Jackal; [OTA] | |
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| Topic Started: Fri Oct 9, 2009 5:02 pm (144 Views) | |
| Taiaka | Fri Oct 9, 2009 5:02 pm Post #1 |
 
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Old Man Winter’s grip on the palace of the blind queen was exceedingly tight, but the residents of the sleepy grotto had expected as much. The first frost was early, a bad sign, and the Dala tree bore excruciatingly sweet fruit during the late harvest, an even worse sign. So, by the time the ash trees were heavy with wet snow, the palace of the blind queen was stocked with five seasons of elk fat, Travi nuts and imported fleece. Taiaka was fed perfect cubes of pungent cheese by the blind queen as he hung around her neck like a lively, advice whispering, stole. She adored her Taiaka from the first moment they met; the shape shifter pretending to be a perfectly black half-starved ermine, found curled up in the garden on a midnight stroll. The blind queen’s sympathy for small, furry woodland creatures was legendary. Yet, Taiaka’s intention was not to take advantage of the queen and her court, simply to exploit the decadent pleasures of the palace. Built ages ago at the command of a dragon lord (or so the story goes) and set in the petrified hollow of a mythically enormous tree, the palace was a village of men, women and children who defined the cliché the blind leading the blind with staggering aptitude. They worshiped the god of sugarcane, or something equally as foolish; Taiaka truly never listened closely enough during the moon-chatter or solstice chants to know for sure. They painted themselves blue on certain days though, wore blindfolds to choose mates, named things according to their smell, and had a superstition for just about every act. Despite their eccentricities, Taiaka had a soft spot for their folksy, and queerly complex, hedonistic culture. It would suit the shape shifter until the stars told him differently. In the sleepy meantime, he would grow fat on pudding and allow the glacial queen to scratch him between his ears whenever she wished. The only minor problem with their arrangement was that the batty old bird had no knowledge that her ermine (with dreadlocks) was in actuality a large, black man. Taiaka would be the first to speak up on the difficulties of living as a shape shifter. Being naked was a constant concern, or without possessions (sometimes both); yet being caught in a lie of omission was oftentimes far worse of a crime. When his ruses fizzled, it was not unusual to be chased from the lap of luxury by crazed rabble holding torches and hurling rocks. Worst of all though, was that Taiaka had no other reason for his presence in the blind queen’s court other than to eat, sleep and be stroked. There was no shame in hiding for the winter, like Papi Bear, curled up at the foot of a bed. It beat freezing to death in a tree or, stars forbid, working a job. Plus, the ruins of Taras were not going anywhere; scavenging in the summer months, when the hours of sunlight outweigh the hours of darkness, would be prudent anyway. Taiaka had his fill of excuses and justifications for his malingering attendance, all of which seemed to lose potency the longer he stayed. Boredom, however, was not a factor. Yet, unfortunate ephemeris renderings set Taiaka on edge. Certain constellations were moving across meridian cusps – sacred mumbo-jumbo and gris gris bags - astrologic geometry drew angry lines across the sky that the shifter could feel on his skin like flea bites. The special night was tomorrow’s. Then, no matter how drunk or stuffed with pâté the ermine was, it would shift (against its will) into the shape of a black jackal. And it did. And it was chased from the palace by a pack of men (who were painted blue) with sticks. They followed him deep into the skeletal woods, shouting curses at it that hurt its feelings. Taiaka the jackal ran until his paws ached and his lungs burned, then he ran some more. The troop of blue lunatics fanned out but kept on with the search; superstition told them a large black jackal was nothing short of the Black Scratch himself. It was a common mythos and Taiaka wouldn’t argue its legitimacy. Two hours later and the blind queen’s hunters had surrounded the jackal, much to Taiaka’s snooty realization. They poked at him with their sticks and he paced in a circle, snapping at them with his powerful jaws. There were too many of them and not enough of him. In his panic and anger (not to mention his surprise at the stark amount of stamina a hedonic madmen could possess), Taiaka did not notice that they were herding him towards a clearing in the frosty woods. It was an ancient trap: A dugout pit covered by a few twigs and a heap of leaves, but the jackal fell into it headfirst and disappeared beneath a puff of foliage. The blue-men cackled and crooned for another hour, singing stupid songs about sugarcane and Travi nuts, before skulking back to the palace with their chins held high in the air. Luckily, Taiaka landed on his face, which promptly knocked him unconscious for the duration of the chanting. When he (reluctantly) came to, it was still dark. The halo of night at the top of the hole was brimming with stars, but it seemed impossibly far away. The blue-men like to dig, he thought bitterly as he lay on his back, belly-up. He knew it would at least another full day before he could shift into anything that had a chance of scaling a dirt wall (or beat its wings) and he was not content with sitting in a hole until the blue-men decided to come back and sing at him. It was only then, when he ceased feeling sorry for himself, did he notice that the hole had options in the form of passageways. Standing ruefully and groaning weakly, Taiaka stared down the long dark corridor. He tilted his jackal head to the side, pink tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, and barked loudly. The sound echoed back at him in overwhelming torrents and suddenly, the passageway was filled with dim, lime colored light. Taiaka swallowed the knot of fear in his throat, eyeing the tiny globes of floating fire. He padded swiftly trough the tunnel, making turns at random, yipping here and there to light his way. Before he knew it, the jackal was quite lost. |
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| Aether Draka[Adm] | Sat Oct 10, 2009 12:03 pm Post #2 |
Leader of the Divschatten
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The dark shadows of the tunnels had always intrigued her. It was something of a hobby of hers to explore them when she had the time. She was slowly mapping them out, starting at not an entrance or exit though... Her starting point was a small secret cave revealed to her by a dear friend. She had lost herself to her hunger and then lost herself in these tunnels. The dark elf and member of her guild had crossed paths with her when she was returning to herself. He had taken her to this secret cave, shielded by magic, and gave her time to heal. From then on, it was her starting point for her exploration. She had so far found a river with blind fish and crabs in it, a raised platform like structure that used to hold some importance to someone even though it was long forgotten by now, and a small alcove of dark elves who favored demons and who she visited occasionally. She was always disguised as a half dark elf, half demon when she visited them. They were teaching her their language and knew enough demonic to communicate easily enough. She would eat there and set her summons against some of their best warriors from time to time before vanishing into the darkness of the tunnels again. She took herself to the raised platform carved out of the black stone of the cave and let her disguise drop away. Looking like herself once more, a right mongrel of a creature, she changed into more comfortable clothing and was putting away the old clothing in her pouch when a bark caught her attention. A soft light responded and AD moved forward towards the sound and light. Curiosity drawing her forward to the strange occurrence. She was never that loud, so she had never seen lights appear like that. |
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| Taiaka | Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:30 pm Post #3 |
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Taiaka couldn’t stop talking to himself as he padded along; at first, he scolded himself for being stupid enough to fall into a trap set by morons, and then it was the long laments and promises to dark gods, before finally he set to singing old dirty limericks at the top of his lungs. He, in the guise of any animal, would never admit the twisting and turning passageways were beginning to frighten him. Instead, he begged himself to remain preternaturally calm and composed; the exact polar opposite of his true countenance. There were no landmarks to guide Taiaka’s steps, and the small clumps of light (moss?) extinguished themselves after his noisy presence passed making it impossible to tell where he had already treaded. The thin layer of gravel that lined the ground was too chunky to hold his delicate paw prints; everything looked the same to the jackal’s weary eyes and he was unaware that he was roving in concentric circles. Time too was also difficult to discern in the starless darkness, yet the dry burn in his throat from barking and singing told him hours must have passed since his fall. But not long enough: try as he might, the guise of the jackal remained firmly fixed in place. “A fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into, Mr Vin’Kai.” Taiaka muttered his words loud enough for a few annoyed wisps to pulse with soft light. He sat down on his haunches, panting, squinting into the milky darkness ahead of him and barked twice. The passageway was silhouetted for a moment and Taiaka could have sworn to the High-Minded Man himself that he saw something move. Thoughts of mind-flayers and umber hulks filled his brain and he quickly scrambled to his feet, continuing to pant mindlessly. “Hello?” The word felt silly the moment it left his mouth, but it was the first thing that came to mind. It echoed for a moment with no reply and the jackal shook his head, frustrated at his own lack of charm. So, he cleared his throat, yipped once again to send the moss into fits of illuminating palsy, and spoke in a loud, clear voice: “I’m all gristle! I assure you a better meal awaits you on the surface, and if you could possibly point me in that general direction instead of mauling me, I’d be most appreciative.” |
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| Aether Draka[Adm] | Sun Oct 11, 2009 4:23 am Post #4 |
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Leader of the Divschatten
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The little lights became brighter as she came closer. She saw a figure that reminded her of a dog or wolf, but it wasn't. The noise it was making was making the lights brighter and when it fell silent, the lights dimmed. Amazing! Perhaps she should see if she could take some of this stuff to her home. It would literally announce anyone who tried to get inside! How useful! AD Dropped down into the opening she hadn't noticed before due to the lack of detail that only became clear when it had been lit from the inside. Her drop had made no sound, but the canine yipped and lit the place up again, causing her to pause in surprise. It had talked? She was sure it had... She heard a weak hello and wondered what she should say. She didn't want to frighten it as it clearly couldn't see as well in the dark as she could and the constant shifting of light to dark was making her eyes feel odd. With his next words she grinned and started to giggle. She decided the best thing to do would to be to call on some type of light. With that, she pulled out her cards and chose her fire elemental. The summoning circle was made of shadow and she was far enough away to not frighten the creature unnecessarily. She closed her eyes as the elemental manifested, lighting up the area around her a bit better then his little glowing things. Sitting down where she was, the fire elemental to her right, she grinned at the canine, a true and honest smile. She tipped her head slightly to the right while trying to identify which type it was. "I don't see any reason for me to try and eat or even kill you. Not unless you give me a reason. You haven't given me a reason, have you?" She shrugged. "I'm not sure of a path to the surface from here, but I do know a way. Not exactly the same thing." |
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| Taiaka | Mon Oct 12, 2009 4:51 pm Post #5 |
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The woman, for surely that was what it was since it had giggled, was a black paper cutout drawn against a pumpkin hued glow of firelight. And of all the creatures to meet! While infinitely more agreeable than a mindflayer, Taiaka could not see the lass’ features; so while she may have been offering him a true and honest smile as she spoke, there remained the possibility of trouser-wetting horror. As the silhouette sat, fire lapping over her right shoulder, the jackal became aware that, perhaps, she was showing the animal the same brand of kindness shown to a skittish horse (no sugar cubes, for her words were laced with arsenic). Taiaka would have been endeared if his eyes could drink in the exact shape of her mouth, or figure out how deep the look in her eyes ran. Yet, the tunnel filled with dancing shadows which gave corners to the world and an eerily macabre air that reminded Taiaka of walking through a graveyard. At least he could see how low the slimy ceilings were and the staggering amount of bandy-legged beasties that crawled around, bearing witness to the palaver. “Not much of a consolation.” The jackal drew his lips away from his teeth in a way that could have been considered a smile; but for the contours of his muzzle, it looked as if he had just smelled something pungent. Movement, crawling along the seam of the tunnel where the wall met the ceiling, caught the jackal’s eye and he turned his muzzle upwards. Two spiders, no bigger than a gold piece each, weaved their way along what looked like a pale piece of stretched taffy. Taiaka’s odd smile faded into a sour grimace as he swung his gaze around and focused it back upon the woman: He did not have to purposely look in her direction, but he simply followed the thick strip of taffy that ran above her head and disappeared into the darkness. “One way is as good as another, yah?” There was a hurried clip to his words as if he was out of breath, but the jackal had not moved from his spot. “I’m sure your way is fine, probably quick- no, the quickest of them all. And I’m sure it will lead us far away- quickly- from whatever nasties are scampering around sharpening their claws as we speak.” He gestured to the stripe of white taffy on the ceiling with his nose, noting fewer spiders than when he first looked up. He reserved the thrash and shiver for later, but knew (knew!) there were things crawling in his fur. He wondered how far the network webbed out, how fast information traveled on it, and what was on the other end. The jackal nodded, and held out a paw in a very humanlike way, pads up, “Yes, I’m sure your way will take us far away from whatever spun that, yah?” |
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| Aether Draka[Adm] | Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:38 pm Post #6 |
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Leader of the Divschatten
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Aether Draka was puzzled by this creature. She could see him, or her better now. She couldn't tell gender with animals too well without seeming rude. She shrugged at his words and stood again. She took a moment to dust off her skirts and looked up at the gesture to the ceiling. Spiders, no surprise. She knew there were drider about. She hadn't seen any in person yet, but she knew they existed. Why anyone would be afraid of spiders or even driders was a puzzle to her. She didn't really fear many things. Being raised in a war between angels and demons, and being forced to switch sides against your will half way through, would do that to a person. She couldn't afford the luxury of fear... She turned her attention back to the canine. He looked much too skinny to be a wolf, a dog of some type perhaps? Perhaps the victim of some unfortunate spell? She didn't bother asking. Instead she walked over towards him and the fire elemental stayed where it was. She stopped about a yard away from Taiaka and asked, "So where would you like to go? I might not be able to be exact, but I'll get close." She was very curious about this odd creature she found herself talking to. She did however mean what she said. AD had explored much of Imythess and being a shadowdancer and with it still being before dawn in most of Imythess she could easily shadow jump them elsewhere. She could have it be anywhere really, anywhere she had been before, which was quite a few places and even some places that no longer existed. Like the temples of long gone deities, fallen cities, and broken guilds. If it didn't know where it wished to go, she would just go to the border of Norwood and the shadowy forest she called home. ((OOC: up to you, we can start a new topic in the place we end up or stay in this topic and simply state we have entered a new location.)) |
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| Taiaka | Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:44 pm Post #7 |
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Taiaka was relieved that the woman would step closer to him instead of the other way around. While the desperation would have shown very clearly on his human features, there was a certain security afforded to him when he could look out from behind the ambiguity of an animal. He starting thinking about where he would like to go with a dire hunger: The Broken String, the refugee camp in Taras, the blind queen’s throne room- no her store room…But something in this mysterious woman’s eyes made him stop. There was no fear behind those pools of liquid jade, not even a crow’s foot of trepidation. It was as if the entire scenario was boring her, angering her on some deep moral (or rueful) level. But behind her danced a being of pure fire and above her, long lengths of spider silk pulled into the darkness; in front if her was a talking jackal. Of course she wasn’t afraid: She was a loaded crossbow with a poison tipped bolt. Taiaka was a sack of wet oatmeal in comparison. And the blasted jackal, upon thinking of himself as a bowl of quivering porridge, began to laugh. The clumps of moss behind his head flared crossly in response. “Tell me then,” Taiaka spoke his words with the auxiliary of a balmy accent, his syllables gummy and thick, “what do I have to pay the ferryman, or woman in this case, for her services?” The jackal’s black nose lifted slightly as he sniffed at her as subtly as possible. He then shook his head as if there was a tick crawling around in his tall, chevron shaped ear. “Or maybe,” The jackal took a few soft steps towards the woman and sat down on his rear, looking up, “there be a reason you are down here. I mean, there’d have to be, yah? Unless you fell in like me. But Ah dun’t think that be the case.” The light from the fire-dancer made the woman’s hair look like a mane made of sweet raisin brandy but hollowed her smooth cheeks. “Perhaps then, you’re up for a little scavenging?” Taiaka was silent for a moment, appearing not at all as anxious as he had before. Well, before a scuffling, sliding and scraping sound could be heard echoed faintly from behind him. |
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6:59 PM Feb 11
