<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;">What type is the Strength bonus from Nera? Enhancement, straight ability score increase, or something else?</div></div></div><br/><br/><br/>Sherani walks ahead through the refugee camp, eyes fixed on the path ahead. No point in looking back, or looking around- it'll just be another sad-sack sight trying to pluck at her heartstrings, just like everything else in this crazy place.<br/><br/>It's not her problem, is what she wants to say. Sure, it's a mess, but so is every other city in the world; civilization, as far as she's concerned, is where people go to remember why they stayed in the woods. Some people just get too turned around to find their way back afterwards. If even half of these people had the sense to pick up and head for Falteen...<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">They'd get eaten alive, just like anywhere else.</span><br/><br/>Against her better judgment, Sherani takes another glance over the camp, sizing up the refugees. Every few groups, she spies a telltale sign of her people: tanned skin, slitted eyes, a bestial nose, or some other dilute and distant feature. Nearby, her eyes light upon a striped, cat eared family of three, two parents with their daughter- a distant relative of hers, maybe. And yet, if they asked any of the forest clans for refuge, the best they could hope for would be a laugh in the face and a boot out. These people didn't come to die here, she realizes; they've been dumped here because the rest of the rest of the world didn't want them dying<span style="font-style: italic">there.</span>They're everyone's problem, and nobody wants to admit it.<br/><br/>Well, nuts to that.<br/><br/>Changing her course, Sherani ducks off the open path toward the cat-eared family, digging her hands into her pockets and assuming a classic "tough girl" stride as she approaches. A quick flick of the thumb as she passes sends a tiny, glimmering object - the jeweled ring from last night's spoils - tumbling from her pocket to land at the young Falteen-blooded girl's feet. Then, she veers back onto the path to rejoin her friends, not even sparing a sideways glance for the family's reaction.<br/><br/>There. Now it's<span style="font-style: italic">her</span>problem. And it's going to stay that way, dammit.<br/><br/><br/>*****<br/><br/><br/>Or so she says... but an hour or so on the road has Sherani's head clear of Espen- after all, who can dwell on city problems when there's an open road calling? Blue skies! Fresh air! Warm sunshine! Sherani has her shirt rolled up over her double-stuffed belly to sun herself as she walks, and only Ureck's presence keeps her from shucking her top and going<span style="font-style: italic">au naturel.</span>Between the warmth, a fully belly and pleasant smells of the countryside, the tigress finds herself in particularly high spirits for most of the journey. Even the ruined farmhouse, creepy as it is, can't put a lasting dent in her good mood.<br/><br/>The raccoon? A little bit gross, but also nature in its own way. After all, things die all the time. It's nothing she hasn't seen hundreds of times before... aside from the whole "size of a bear" thing, of course.<br/><br/>Sherani stops to survey the corpse, and gives an appreciative whistle. "Damn, that's a hell of a 'coon. Too bad we didn't catch this guy before he keeled over- these things cook up pretty good. We coulda had rations for a week!"<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;">Knowledge (nature) to discern a likely cause of death: 1d20 (1) + 11 = 12<br/><br/>Good to see the dice are already in character  <img alt=":P" src="./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif" title="Razz"/></div></div></div><br/>"Y'know, it's a little weird that this thing is intact," she comments. "Usually there'd be bugs and scavengers all over by now, ripping this guy apart. Something must've got them spooked off." She looks the dead procyon over again, frowning at the melted face... then shrugs, and gives the bare skull a playful smack. "Alright, I got just the thing for that. "Ureck, find me a good sharp rock, will ya?"<br/><br/>Accepting whatever stone the collie scrounges up, Sherani kneels in front of the giant carcass. "Now, lessee, how'd that chant go? Ekko, akka... oh, right!<span style="font-style: italic">Ēka na'ī jagaha mila!*</span>" she shouts, dragging her implement across the racoon's skull in a starburst pattern. Lifting her weapon high, she adjusts to a two-handed grip before plunging the stone down through the center of the scored bone and into the raccoon's braincase. "<span style="font-style: italic">Punarjanma!**</span>"<br/><br/>"That oughta do it," she says, standing up and brushing off stray fragments of raccoon. "Alright, let's get movin' and let whatever finds this guy can eat 'im in peace."<br/><br/><br/>*****<br/><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;">Survival check to assemble a campsite: 1d20 (17) + 14 = 31</div></div></div><br/>While Ureck and Lilium unpack their camping camping equipment, Sherani sets up her own portion of the camp Hara-style, taking her gear from the biggest, most convenient backpack there is: the forest itself. Picking out a well-shaded tree, she heaps dry brush and leaves from the rest of the clearing into a crunchy bed before covering the pile with several fresh boughs for softness. Any loose or dry branches found in the search for her bedsheets go into their own pile at the center of the clearing, fuel for a campfire in case the night turns chilly. A quick foray into the woods turns up more than enough extra firewood, along with a small stream where she pauses to freshen up and drink her fill.<br/><br/>All told, it takes less than an hour to prep, and probably would have taken less if she weren't still banged up from Nera's attack earlier. Sherani finds herself stopping every few armfuls to rub the ache out of a faded clawmark. She's tempted to ask Lilium about patching those wounds, but the kitsune's cold-shoulder earlier is still fresh in her mind. Maybe it's better just to let the wounds heal themselves...<br/><br/><br/><br/><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;">* Find a new place! (एक नई जगह मिल!)<br/>** Rebirth! (पुनर्जन्म!)</div></div></div>