<strong>Reliyian - A Sinister Bounty and a Greater Threat</strong><br/><br/>The forest's agitation, such as it was, had diminished somewhat while the party had arranged their shelter on the riverbank. The occasional branch snagged at Reliyian as she passed, and tiny grasses and flowers snagged at her feet, but even fatigued as she was, they offered no more than the occasional amusement or annoyance.<br/><br/>The insignificance of their opposition, however, quickly became obvious as something much more sinister: the shuffle of leaves and creak of wood followed her every step, making stealthy navigation of the forest utterly impossible. If anything else large and dangerous lurked out among the trees, it would instantly know of her presence. Even if this was the way that the forest responded to dangerous, predatory intruders and this cue scared away the more minor threats, it would simply mean that she'd be in that much more danger from whatever took interest.<br/><br/>Potential danger aside, identifying species that might be useful was an immensely frustrating task. While they were all too eager to snag and scratch her as she passed, the plant life actually recoiled from her touch as though aware of the almighty hand descending upon them. Useful-looking leaves and buds obscured themselves among mimics and lookalikes which, despite their foreignness, had a variety of tip-offs to their poisonous (or at least useless) nature. Still, the occasional plant which found itself isolated and without decoys fell easily before her hands, leaves and berries hers for the taking. Even selecting these, of course, required a bit of guesswork. The plant life here was at least two steps removed from that of the mainland, having been twisted from the already-foreign flora of the island.<br/><br/>She almost,<em>almost</em>managed to avoid crossing paths with anything menacing. A more easily defeated or distracted searcher certainly would have. But then again, there was no guaranteeing that any of her gathered reagents would provide what she sought. The little sapling, by contrast, was unmistakably some relative of the coca plant (an observation which could be confirmed by a cautious taste-testing of one of the leaves). It, at least, could offer some certain aid for her injured companion.<br/><br/>Any collection of its leaves, however, was preempted by a sudden and intense feeling of being watched. A quick glance around would show that the feeling was not, technically, correct. Unfortunately, this was merely due to the creature's lack of eyes.<br/><br/>It stood perhaps a dozen yards from her and to its somewhat dubious credit, it hadn't attempted to ambush her, like almost every other native of the island she had encountered. At first glance, it appeared to be some relative of the otyugh that they had encountered before. Like the scavenger-beast, its oversized maw simply hung open from its strange, oblong body, and tentacles sprouted from its back. However, this creature was far more symmetrical and sleek-looking than the almost-humorous monster they had encountered two nights before. Its four muscular legs looked well suited to running and chasing, a far cry from the odd, wobbling gait possessed by its three-legged cousin (if, indeed, the two creatures had any relation). Rather the three mismatched tentacles, its back bore four evenly spaced stalks, each one topped by an odd, beak-like structure with not merely a top and a bottom, but five armored segments. If anything, they more resembled armored flowers or extremely odd claws than a true mouth. They wheeled on their tendrils, snapping at each other as though completely uninterested in the creature's fixation on her.<br/><br/>However, as the beast began towards her, first in an almost leisurely stroll and then a swift, bounding gait, its tentacles, likewise, shifted their attention towards her. Beaks snapped at her heels as the thing bore down on her, but none of them bit into her flesh or snagged her and dragged her to the ground. One did tangle itself around her arm as it lunged, however, tugging her towards the monster.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Well, Finally!</div><div class="spoiler_body"><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li>Fighting (4) roll to Create Advantage against Aeryn: At 2013-06-11 18:09:14, Vuali Hound (uid: 13420) rolls: 4d3a-4 Result: 1 (http://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=47180) (hence the somewhat lackluster first attack: the dice are not with me, it seems). The goal is to create a <em>Coiling Tendrils</em> aspect on Reliyian.</li><li>Also, some notes about the Hound that I didn't fit into description because my ability to write is struggling lately: </li><ul class="bbc_list"><li>Despite being roughly the same shape as the otyugh, it is noticeably smaller, both in height and girth. Being a good-sized quadruped it's still probably several hundred pounds at absolute minimum. It's a lion to the otyugh's hippopotamus.</li><li>It has what looks like extremely long, thick hair along its belly. Both while it was still and when it started moving, the "hair" rippled oddly from time to time.</li><li>It shares the grey-green coloration of the otyugh, which actually serves it as quite excellent camouflage here in the corrupted portion of the forest. Or would, if it were attempting to be stealthy.</li></ul></ul></div></div><br/><strong>Eshalu - The Stranger in the Water</strong><br/><br/>As places for self-indulgence went, the stream was a natural choice. The steep walls of the valley and the grand overhang of trees obscured not only the cave, but a fair amount of the nearby river bank and even some of the river itself. Even if anything nearby<em>could</em>trouble Eshalu, it wouldn't likely find her in this moment of relaxation, recovery, and pleasure.<br/><br/>And yet, the longer she laid in the water, letting it soothe and cleanse her, the harder it became to believe that she was truly alone. Logic dictated that it wasn't the greater spirit of the island, of course, it had raged at even a momentary and unintentional contact. Nor did the water feel particularly animated. Whatever naiad called the channel home had no desire to show herself.<br/><br/>And yet, something flitted to and fro in the water. Or had she imagined it? The surface did not move as it should, if there was something moving just below it. But no, she had just seen the girl's face. What girl? Was it not merely her own reflection?<br/><br/>Images and memories flowed into a spot that they had always occupied: sound and movement, song and dance, laughter and cheer. A childhood that was at once impossibly familiar and blatantly not hers. A graceful, almost careless blossoming into womanhood and all the joys that entailed. And then … something more. Something which she could not remember when it would comfort her and which she could not forget when it tore her heart in two.<br/><br/>A moment later, the memories had faded into memories of memories. They began to vanish whence they had come, leaving her feeling as though she had lost something immense, without quite knowing what it was. Or maybe that was merely the only memory she had ever held of this place, and all the others were imaginings and flights of fancy.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Confused? Well, yes.</div><div class="spoiler_body"> The memories are of a Vuali girl who, for one reason or another, left an imprint here. The sensations and half-memories are both overwhelming (if only for a moment) and maddeningly elusive if pursued. <br/><br/>This is my result for the contested roll inflicting this on the poor wood elf: At 2013-06-11 23:27:21, (uid: 13420) rolls: 4d3a-5 Result: 0 (http://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=47193). Success against it gives one nugget of information/memory, plus one per shift of success. In the unlikely event of a tie or a failure, it'll still give a single nugget, but will inflict one point of mental stress for each shift of failure. The mostt reasonable opposition skill here is probably Will.<br/><br/>Also, I hope the whole section above is reasonable readable and comprehensible. I'm still not sure if I struck the right balance between giving the impression of disorientation/confusion and writing clearly.</div></div>