<strong>The Wilds of Dra Sirdu: the silence after battle</strong><br/><br/>Aside from the swiftly-receding howls of the other beast, the forest had quickly settled into unnerving silence in the aftermath of the brief struggle. However odd this place might be, the prey animals were still aware enough to not cause a ruckus when predators were very obviously in the area. At the same time, they obviously weren't intelligent enough to realize that those predators had now fled or died on the explorer's blades.<br/><br/>Unmolested, the corpse of the fallen ape-thing didn't offer up any striking hints towards its origins. Its features, while blatantly different from anything on the mainland, had a surprisingly natural look. The synthesis was obvious to anyone with knowledge of both mammal predators and simians, but it was not a choppy, grotesque combination as one might expect from sorcerously created abominations.  The creature's now-bloodied features flowed together smoothly: both mingling and complementing each other as one might expect of a natural beast.<br/><br/>The blood, on the other hand, told another story, particularly to the arcanely-educated Reliyian. Whether or not the beast had been grown or created, that sort of viscosity was far from natural. Indeed, another inspection would reveal that, despite the ferocious blows that it had been dealt, very little had splattered across the undergrowth. Its wounds did not bleed or leak so much they oozed. Some demons were said to be like that, with the very world rejecting their foul blood as it tried to escape their bodies. But on the other hand, creatures of elemental heritage sometimes displayed the same characteristic, their blood thickening with the essence of the Mountain. It would be impossible to conclusively say, without deeper testing. However, its blood wasn't immediately caustic or toxic, either to the touch or the handful of plants it had splattered on, which was something.<br/><br/>The collars were leather and iron: well worked, but not particularly fine on either front. The stones, however, were quite clearly either precious or semiprecious, though their griminess and lack of sheen or fine working made it somewhat difficult to tell which. Much more obvious, however, were their lack of magical properties. These things had clearly been created as ornaments, and ornaments alone.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">More Lore</div><div class="spoiler_body">The lore roll works out well enough. I won't ask for two rolls, as the details I'm giving (and can give) are fairly limited. The creature is odd in observable ways, but not that exist on the mainland or are blatantly unnatural.<br/><br/>And the collars? Well, they're just collars.</div></div>