<strong>Eshalu - Side By Side, Yet Centuries Distant</strong><br/><br/>The water rippled around Eshalu's legs, the sudden displacement of water disrupting the river's flow, if only for a moment. Rather than return to its normal, gentle flow, however, the water just beside her became unnaturally calm, then splashed and rippled as it had just a moment before. No phantasm materialized beside her, but when the water finally returned to normal, it parted and as though two pairs of legs rested in it. The river's shimmering surface reflected the girl's image, her face slightly younger and less weathered than she had been in the memory. One side of her face wrapped was wrapped in white cloth, stained red by what would later become the distinctive scar. She wore a plain white smock, which bore a several flecks of blood across its otherwise clean surface. However, given their placement, only some had come from her own cut.<br/><br/>"I do not often receive visitors here, Your Excellency," she said in her foreign language, though the meaning accompanied the memory as clearly as though Eshalu, herself, had said it in her dialect of elven. The girl's voice no longer sounded frightened, merely tired (and, perhaps, a little self-satisfied).<br/><br/>Suddenly, the water no longer held the girl's reflection, but a figure nearly swaddled in rich red and black robes. A long hood covered its head and most of its face, leaving only the mouth, chin, and neck exposed. The girl regarded it with wary respect, a weak shadow of her earlier excitement and agitation tempered with some negative experience that the shade apparently had no desire (or ability) to share. The figure – its sex was unclear, the exposed being not only thin, smooth, and androgynous, but lacking in<em>any</em>distinguishing features worth mentioning aside from its deep, unnatural red color – expressed its satisfaction with the girl's success, though an undercurrent of frustration accompanied the forgotten accolades. The girl had forced it to seek her out, rather than returning to it as it had expected and desired. The two exchanged pleasantries and little more, and then the figure departed downstream.<br/><br/>Once more, the woman's reflection filled the water, her face now scarred, tanned, and aged as it had been in the last memories Eshalu experienced. "Of course you'll find it, if you just look," she said, her voice that of a young maid, teasing and playful. "I didn't hide it<em>that</em>well." The reflection glanced downstream, in the direction that the scarlet-skinned person had departed. Again, the words were not originally meant for Eshalu, but the spirit was apparently incapable of direct, original communication. Old words would have to suffice.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Phantasmal Pictionary</div><div class="spoiler_body">If you simply want to attempt another roll to gather more information, that's fine. But if you're alright with roleplaying a little bit with the departed woman, it'll let us puzzle out what she is and isn't capable of telling.</div></div><br/><strong>Reliyian - Up Close, and a Bit <em>Too</em> Personal</strong><br/><br/>With its tentacles already gripping Reliyian, the creature saw, or more accurately sensed, her attack coming in the tensing of muscles and gathering cold. Rather than wrench her about or toss her to the ground to stop her attack, however, it danced back from the lunge, narrowly evading the sharp shard. None too eager to tangle with the ice-blade, it tugged Reliyian around, pulling her bound hand and arm towards it so that she stood between it and the knife blade. As the monster wheeled, its two free beaks snapped fruitlessly at the sphere as it flew off into the brush, both narrowly failing to catch the glimmering bauble.<br/><br/>Then, it lunged. Massive, sharp teeth flashed at her for a moment, but nothing bit into her flesh. Instead, it tore open the front of her dress in a quick, surprisingly neat movement. Again it pulled her towards it, taking advantage of her still-uncertain balance to tug her heavily against itself. The creature's immense, hot tongue dragged all the way up her front, from belly to throat, and the "hairs" of its belly latched onto her skin and the tattered remains of her clothing. This close, it became clear that their strange undulations had never been a trick of the wind or the creature's movement, but resulted from their living nature. They were much smaller imitations of the long, menacing tentacles along the creature's back, and their tiny mouths now lightly pricked and tickled at her skin wherever they touched. Worse still, as the first few got ahold of her, they attempted to drag her deeper into the writhing forest of tiny limbs, entrapping her.<br/><br/>The creature's two remaining tentacles worked to snare her remaining free arm, while the one already in its clutches was dragged awkwardly behind her back in an attempt to keep her from mounting another attack. That same tentacle which now restrained her slithered further up her arm, looping around her neck. However, it seemed to have no interest in throttling her, merely holding her in place while the beak nipped lightly at first her collarbone, then the soft, vulnerable curve of her breast.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Getting Closer</div><div class="spoiler_body"><ul class="bbc_list"><li>Athletics (5) defense roll: At 2013-06-17 12:12:33, Vuali Hound (uid: 13420) rolls: 4d3a-3 Result: 5 (http://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=47393). No stress taken.</li><li>Fighting (4) attack roll: At 2013-06-17 12:12:48, Vuali Hound (uid: 13420) rolls: 4d3a-4 Result: 4 (http://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=47394). Invokes first use of <em>Disarmed and Flat-Footed</em> (as the 4 point gap means a Success with Style for two free invokes) to raise the incoming stress to 6.</li></ul></div></div>