<div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Hehe, loved the 'dream sequence', Allie. Amusing!! XD</div></div></div><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> Ureck </span><br/><br/>The little creature looked like something out of a nightmare, especially when it tumbled out of the air, and right onto the poor collie's face. An up close and personal view of it was certainly enough to make one's blood run cold. The shiny, black carapace glittered dangerous, the blood-red speckles on it, not unlike drops of spilled blood, almost seeming to glow eerily in the early morning sun.<br/><br/>To make matters worse, it didnt' seem content to just sit on his muzzle where it had landed. Instead, the little crawly creature skitters upwards along the bridge of his snout, only stopping just in front of Ureck's eyes - a very dangerous place to be stung. Likely painful, too. The malicious-looking little creature's mandibles work furiously, as if angered by it's prior rough treatment. Even it's somewhat oversized pinchers open and close almost sporadically, clearly and easily showing it's extreme displeasure.<br/><br/>Yet, despite it's apparant fury at it's mistreatment, it doesn't sting. It's whippy, two-pronged stinger does wave back and forth menacingly, but the death-dealing sting simply doesn't come. Wait...whippy...?<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> Lilium, Ureck, Rak </span><br/><br/>It had been nearly ten minutes since Lilium had given her faithful (and lazy) traveling companion a couple of rough little nudges against his belly to rouse him from slumber. At the time, she'd only been giving a little 'mrrrf' and a few kicks of his feet as if he were chasing some invisible prey, for her struggles. Poor fox - in his dreams was about the only place he could catch something to eat on his own. He had the survival skills of a sandwich.<br/><br/>As she returns to camp, she can pretty easily 'feel' the sort of...groggy half-asleep feeling that she always felt from him early in the mornings. It normally took him well over an hour to actually get up and moving, and even then he was sluggish, at best. He really was a carefree and lazy little companion, though he so often gave it his all...when it mattered.<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Lilium wrote:</cite> "Rak, care for a treat?" </div></blockquote><br/><br/>Amusingly enough, the moment the word 'treat' penetrates his lazyiness-fogged brain, Lilium can 'feel' that clouded sensation dissappear almost instantly, replaced with nothing short of excitement.<br/><br/>Lilium's tent bulges oddly in one direction, then another, the strange scene followed by a rapid scrabbling sound, like nails on stone. Within a matter of seconds, Rak's head peeks out from the flap of the tent, Lilium's bedroll wrapped partially around his head and neck, worked into a huge tangle - no doubt - by the simple mention of the word 'treat'...and the flurry of activity that normally followed it. He looked quite comical, and almost charming in a strange, amusing way.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~Huh? What?! Treat?! Where?! Oo! What is it!~</span><br/><br/>Lilium lets the bug fly...and Rak leaps out to catch it. Or, would have, if not for the bundle of blanket and bedroll around his neck and chest. He more...'trips' out of the tent, rather than leaping out, and comes out of the ball of blanket-and-bedroll in a tumble. Never one to let a little spill curb his appetite, he's back on his feet in an instant, scrambling to catch the insect out of the air, which he fails at quite miserably.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~ I got it! Ooo...scary. I'll protect you! Don't worry. I've got this under control...this creature has met it's match! </span><br/><br/>The fox squares off with the scorpion, his rear high in the air and his chest and muzzle practically right on the ground, face-level with the red-and-black menace. He paws at it a few seconds, batting the little insect back and forth, to which it replies with a single, angry whip from it's tail. It hits, but Rak seems not even slightly put off by it. Instead, one more paw sends the scorpion over onto it's back, and the fox pounces. Within a matter of seconds, the little scorpion is in his mouth, little more than a frantically whipping tail poking cutely from the front of his muzzle.<br/><br/>Like an armored peice of spaghetti, Rak slurps the tail up, tilts his head back, and swallows, the tiny little bulge dissappear through his neckfur within a matter of seconds. Lilium could practically feel the pleasure an early morning snack - no matter how tiny - brought to her fox.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">~Oooohhhh.....that's good. Mmmph. Num. I want to wake up like that every morning!...So...what say we get one more hour of sleep before we set off, huh? Or two, maybe. Y'know, noon seems like a good time to start, too. Cool part of the day sleeping, and...y'know. Besides, I hear that...um...monsters...roam in the morning. So...better to travel at mid-day...?~</span><br/><br/>It was the same routine every morning. His excuses to sleep later, or to laze about. Then again, the scorpion-snack *HAD* gotten him out of bed. That was half the battle won, already...<br/><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> Lilium, Sherani </span><br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Additional Info on the Emperor scorpion - based on Knowledge Checks.<br/><br/>Emperor scorpions have very, VERY potent and dangerous poison - one of the most dangerous bugs on this continent. While rare, their poison is very deadly, greatly weakening the constitution of the victim, and eventually causing most major organs to simply shut down. The process takes less than ten minutes, and sometimes as soon as one.<br/><br/>(DC 24 fortitude save for the poison, 1d6 primary con, 2d6 secondary con)</div></div></div><br/><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> Sherani </span><br/><br/><br/><br/>(Sherani's Knowledge Check reveals the following...)<br/><br/>The pawprint appears to belong to a canine of some sort, though Sherani has no experience in tracking, so the exact species she cannot directly identify. It does appear to belong to an anthro, though - a feral canine's pawprint would be just a little bit smaller, and would not have made such a deep imprint.<br/><br/>(Sherani's Survival check reveals the following...)<br/><br/>The pawprint was definantly not here the day before, when camp had been made. It was pretty easy to tell that the print also didn't belong to Lilium, Rak, or Ureck. The strange thing is...it looked like the print had been placed quite deliberately. The way they'd dug their foot into the soil, ensuring that - even should someone accidentally step over it - it would still be seen. What was this here for? A warning? A sign? Who knew.<br/><br/>It did tell three things. First, someone HAD been in the camp with them the other night, likely after they were all asleep. Secondly - whoever it was knew their way about the wilderness, as there was not a single other footprint to be seen. Third - all of them were lucky to be alive. Even one individual could have easily devoured one or two in their sleep, and been away before anyone else knew. Or, slit throats before anyone awoke. Either way, the fact that noone had been made a meal of was nothing short of amazing.<br/><br/>Someone had been here just the night before, that much was certain. It looks like...everyone was lucky to be alive.<br/><br/>(Without the 'track' feat, Sherani can tell no more information about the tracks. She is unable to tell which direction they headed, the exact species and race, or any other pertinent information.)