as written by Tiko and Quinn
It wasn't often that Loyahl's quarry ventured too near to civilization these days, and he frequently lost her trail as she seemingly vanished into the Icy Peaks without a sign or trace for weeks save for the occasional rumors. Most of them where just that though. Rumors fabricated up by the imagination of the men and women who made their home in this frozen wasteland.
It had been going on two months now without any promising leads.
The hour was late, and the sun wouldn't rise for several days yet when the storm had overtaken Loyahl. With temperatures plummeting rapidly, anyone caught out in the storm was courting disaster, and at sixty degrees below zero, it was't weather to be braved alone. A small prospecting camp a few miles back offered an element of shelter from the arctic temperatures, but the storm had come on quickly and overtaken him a good half-mile out.
By the time he had reached the encampment the wind and snow swept his tracks clear within moments of each step, and it was perhaps a mingling of his wits and luck both that saw him to the camp where crude buildings had been erected to protect against the wind. Snow was piling high against the central structure, and the prospecting equipment was all but invisible beneath the drifts of snow rapidly burying it.
"It was a monstrous devil of eight feet tall, with eyes that burned red with the embers of hell," a man's voice could be heard over the storm should Loyahl make his way towards the central building.
The building wasn't much, but it served to break the harsh winds, and the surrounding rocky formations further helped shelter the prospectors from the brunt of the storm. Inside was a hearth that had been dug into the ground where the men sat circling it for warmth and to trade stories while the storm raged outside.
Also filling the room where dozens of dogs that had been brought in out of the storm. Though the animals where well able to weather the elements outside, they had been brought in to add their own body heat to the building that housed those less adapted for such temperatures.
____
And, of course, the prospect of both fire and warmth were more than enough to draw Loyahl to the central building like, in a gesture of cosmic irony, a moth to a flame. Only he was no moth, instead he was a rather seasoned adventurer and hunter, though, apparently not seasoned enough to be able to catch up to whom he was tracking. When he started, he quickly became accustomed to losing the trail, but he was always able to pick up on something a day or two later, maybe even sooner if he was lucky.
After his talk with Rynhart back at the temple, however, something changed. Not only had he finally gotten some of the answers he was looking for, and now knew that the one he tracked was member of a race called the Ulfhednar, and according to Rynhart at the time, was supposedly the last of her kind. It stirred a lot of conflict inside of Loyahl, and he ended up leaving the temple to continue his search with an ultimatum jammed into the front of his mind.
Kill her and be done with it or find common ground to try to help peacefully rebuild her kind, in a way that was more than what just seemed like senseless attacks.
In the two months he searched with no lead, he had time to think about it, and he finally had come to a decision. This moment of clarity in his travels emblazoned a purpose deep within him, a purpose that went beyond what he had originally started this hunt for. Only now it wasn't a hunt, as he had absolutely zero intention of killing this female when and if he finally reached her. He just need a lead, something, anything first.
"It was a monstrous devil of eight feet tall, with eyes that burned red with the embers of hell."
It was if universe had synced with his thoughts at that moment and had decided to help him in the right direction. Maybe his purpose was even greater than he thought, and as this gift from the universe broke from his thoughts, he turned his eyes to focus on the man speaking. He neared the fire, having previously just been standing back further from it; he wasn't really fond of crowds, and the warmth was still suitable from the back of the room. Before the man could even continue his tale, Loyahl interjected, eyes fierce now.
"I'm going to need you to spare me the theatrics and tell me what exactly it is that you saw, when you saw it, and, most importantly, where you saw it."
His voice was stern, and he smirked only slightly after speaking despite himself, as the emotions that had begun to swell up inside him at this potential lead were too over-powering for him to even seem authoritative. Instead, it could be likened to a young man, or, perhaps, even a child extremely excited and curious about something just mentioned.
____
Silence is what Loyahl was met with. A lingering, silence as every set of eyes in the room turned to stare at him. Even the dogs raised their heads to get a look at him. Who was this man, covered in snow that had just barged into their camp in the middle of one of the worst storms to hit the Icy Peaks this winter?
No one spoke for many moments before one of the men around the hearth finally drew a pipe from his lips so that he could speak.
"Who the fuck are you?" he asked.
He was a grizzled looking man getting on in his years, and his skin was so weather worn as to appear almost leathery beneath his thick beard. Despite his words, he seemed more perplexed than aggressive though. No man in their right mind would be out alone in these mountains this time of year...
"And don't just stand there, close the door before you freeze us all to death."
____
"W-Who the fuck am I?"
Lohayl was frozen in his tracks for a moment, and if the man hadn't snapped him out of it with his last quip, he would have been literally frozen in his tracks. Broken from his momentary stupor, he acted fast to slam the door shut and once again approached the fire, and subsequently, the men around it. He turned his gaze to the grizzled looking man, focusing in and identifying him as the one who had questioned his identity.
He straightened his posture then, and cleared his throat almost nervously before speaking. He was quite embarrassed, actually, he hadn't realized how much of fever he was worked into and got ahead of himself. His arms went to fold behind him, and he gulped.
"First, I'd like to apologize for my actions just now, I was not really, ahem... myself. My name is Sentry, I'm with The Vanguard. I've been with them for around nineteen months now, total. In my entirety of time spent there, I've been tracking something," He began, leaving out some important details, but not enough to take away any truth from what he was telling them. "But lately the trail has gone cold, and I feared I may have lost it until I heard one among you describing something that very well may what I was chasing after. In my excitement of having a potential lead, I got a little worked up, so I beg a thousand pardons."
He passed his gaze over all of their faces before nodding firmly, as if to signify 'yes, this is all true'.
____
"You're in luck then, sir!" one of the younger men blurted out.
He looked to only be about nineteen or twenty, and was probably the youngest of the lot in the room. He had an excitable nature to him, and he took the interruption to his story in stride.
"I'm tellin' you. I saw it with my own eyes. It was standing over the carcass of a bear, and it done stared right through me like I wasn't even there. I thought I was a gonner, then it just turned and walked away," he said.
"I think you've been hitting more than the pipe," one of the other men teased.
Meanwhile, the older man didn't seem as sold on Loyahl's introduction.
"And you're out here tracking this monster of yours, alone in the winter?" the man asked between puffs of his pipe.
Only the desperate or the foolish faced the elements of this unforgiving land alone, and he remained skeptical of Loyahl's claim. It seemed far more likely to the grizzled old mountainman that this youth was looking to pull the wool over their eyes by playing off the story he had heard being told on his way in. Tossing around claims of an affiliation with the Elysian Vanguard was also a good way to garner the trust of more gullible individuals.
The only question was why. Was he simply an opportunist looking for shelter from the storm? Or would he rob them all while they slept and be gone before they woke.
For now he would withhold judgement he decided before gesturing towards the hearth with his pipe.
"You'll be soaked through if you stand around in those clothes much longer," he told Loyahl.
____
Loyahl kept his gaze on the older man as he nodded and moved closer to the fire, adjusting the clasp on his cloak and causing the furs that covered his shoulders to slacken slightly. Now that there was no icy wind, them being that close to his face wasn't necessary any longer.
"Yes, sir, alone. She's smart, and there being any more than me would alert her, I'm afraid. Not that it matters much, even on my own, she somehow knows when I'm close. And this is no monster, either. There are forces beyond my understanding at work here, I think."
He moved to place himself in between two men that had made room for him, and looked at the younger that had shared his story.
"And I don't discredit you, lad. If what you say is true, that she stood over the carcass of a not only an animal, but also left you alone, then it only confirms my suspicions. It didn't used to be bears, you know. Before it was people, just like any of you planted around this fire."
He paused a moment to make eye contact with all those that he could.
"I think she's alone, and I think she can be reasoned with. This started as a hunt, but no amount of gold could sway me from my purpose now. I will see if I can somehow parlay with her, at least come to a compromise."
____
Silence filled the room once again, and from the looks that where leveled upon Loyahl one would think he had just made a pariah of himself. No one seemed to have the words to even respond to his statements though.
It was a third gentleman who had as of yet remained silent that finally spoke.
"This beast of yours killed a dozen of our townspeople before a hunting party went out after it," he explained. "Twelve men tracked the beast, and only four of them returned."
"The Adamsen's boy was only a lad of six years," another man growled. "There's no truer monster than a beast who kills children."
"I'm telling you," the talkative youth from earlier spoke up. "It's a demon straight from hell, and if someone doesn't kill it there will be more kids to bury by spring. If you had seen its eyes you would know the truth of my words, Sir. It's evil."
"Since when does the Elysian Vanguard defend murderers and demons," the older man asked around his pipe.
His eyes were sharp and critical as they studied Loyahl intently.
____
Loyahl shook his head slowly. What they had said didn't surprise him, and he had seen worse from lesser in his travels.
"I never said I condoned her behavior. I said I believed that I could change it."
His eyes met the older man's and refused to waver from them, though his expression remained calm. He clasped his hands together in front of him and rest his arms on his legs and he leaned forward slightly towards both the fire and the man.
"It is incredibly likely that what you view as a beast is the only of its kind. Can you imagine what it'd be like to be truly alone in this world, I wonder. I picture it frightening. Do I disapprove of her methods of survival, as it were? Yes. Do I believe that she is a beast and inherently evil? I do not. What I think is that she's ultimately scared, and needs help. The Vanguard does not defend murderers and demons, but it does help those in need. But I'll denounce my involvement with the Vanguard permanently right this moment, if it pleases ye."
He unclasped his hands now to raise one and run it through his hair, dislodging any snow that had built up there and hadn't yet been shaken or otherwise melted off.
"I grieve for your townspeople, as I do for all the other victims. But I have been set on a nobler cause, and I just need to catch her so I'll know. If I am wrong in my assumptions, you can rest assured that I will kill her. It will pain me, being the cause of an extinction, but necessary cause takes necessary action. If you had perhaps gone wayward, would you not want at least a chance at salvation? Or would you prefer to be struck down immediately, as you ask to be done to this 'devil'?"
____
"And I suppose ye can bring the dead back to life too, eh?" another man bit out before spitting upon the ground.
Others seemed to share the man's sentiments as they shook their heads in disbelief. Loyahl's words were received about as well as if he had told a grieving family that a serial killer could be reformed and thus his crimes should be absolved or compromised upon.
It seemed likely he would get nowhere with swaying the mood of the men.
The grizzled man with a pipe spoke next, his voice rough and abrasive.
"It might be best if you set upon your way, as soon as the storm passes," he grunted.
He might have turned Loyahl out on the spot, if not for fact that no man however versed in the mountains could survive a storm such as the one that bore down upon them now. Not without shelter.
The man had offered Loyahl a bearing in his search though. There was only one town known to the region within walking distance of the prospector camp, and it was only about two days out. Whether he would find his quarry upon his arrival remained uncertain though. The storm had the potential to rage on for days yet.
____
Loyahl sighed and clasped his hands back together in front of him.
"I do wish I could make any of you understand, but perhaps that was a bit too much to expect, so I apologize if I have offended or upset any of you. You allowed me shelter and warmth, and still have yet to throw me back out in the cold, so I suppose that I should be grateful, if anything. I am, and I cry a thousand pardons."
He quieted after that, thinking it best to hold his tongue lest any of the men change their mind and decided to toss him back out into the storm after all. The storm lasted roughly another twenty hours, and Loyahl got little rest considering he was unsure of how much he trusted the men that shared the hearth with him. After it finally passed, he wasted no time and set out, mumbling his goodbye and thanks once more to the men that remained. He hadn't attempted to any more information on the supposed last seen location of the female he was tracking, but he knew of the village they spoke of, and that was his destination.
After about twelve hours of travel, he decided to find a secluded spot and actually get a decent amount of rest. After he woke up, he ventured back onto the path and kept moving. Later that afternoon, he wandered off the path a ways to find something to eat. A few hours and two dead rabbits later, he was fed enough to make the last leg of the journey and set out once more.
When the sun was just about to slip past the horizon, and the orange and red that bathed the sky was giving way to darkness, Loyahl came across a wooden sign hung from a horizontal post by two hooks. It read 'Grindavik', pointed to the right, and informed him that he had about 1 km to go.
It wasn't often that Loyahl's quarry ventured too near to civilization these days, and he frequently lost her trail as she seemingly vanished into the Icy Peaks without a sign or trace for weeks save for the occasional rumors. Most of them where just that though. Rumors fabricated up by the imagination of the men and women who made their home in this frozen wasteland.
It had been going on two months now without any promising leads.
The hour was late, and the sun wouldn't rise for several days yet when the storm had overtaken Loyahl. With temperatures plummeting rapidly, anyone caught out in the storm was courting disaster, and at sixty degrees below zero, it was't weather to be braved alone. A small prospecting camp a few miles back offered an element of shelter from the arctic temperatures, but the storm had come on quickly and overtaken him a good half-mile out.
By the time he had reached the encampment the wind and snow swept his tracks clear within moments of each step, and it was perhaps a mingling of his wits and luck both that saw him to the camp where crude buildings had been erected to protect against the wind. Snow was piling high against the central structure, and the prospecting equipment was all but invisible beneath the drifts of snow rapidly burying it.
"It was a monstrous devil of eight feet tall, with eyes that burned red with the embers of hell," a man's voice could be heard over the storm should Loyahl make his way towards the central building.
The building wasn't much, but it served to break the harsh winds, and the surrounding rocky formations further helped shelter the prospectors from the brunt of the storm. Inside was a hearth that had been dug into the ground where the men sat circling it for warmth and to trade stories while the storm raged outside.
Also filling the room where dozens of dogs that had been brought in out of the storm. Though the animals where well able to weather the elements outside, they had been brought in to add their own body heat to the building that housed those less adapted for such temperatures.
____
And, of course, the prospect of both fire and warmth were more than enough to draw Loyahl to the central building like, in a gesture of cosmic irony, a moth to a flame. Only he was no moth, instead he was a rather seasoned adventurer and hunter, though, apparently not seasoned enough to be able to catch up to whom he was tracking. When he started, he quickly became accustomed to losing the trail, but he was always able to pick up on something a day or two later, maybe even sooner if he was lucky.
After his talk with Rynhart back at the temple, however, something changed. Not only had he finally gotten some of the answers he was looking for, and now knew that the one he tracked was member of a race called the Ulfhednar, and according to Rynhart at the time, was supposedly the last of her kind. It stirred a lot of conflict inside of Loyahl, and he ended up leaving the temple to continue his search with an ultimatum jammed into the front of his mind.
Kill her and be done with it or find common ground to try to help peacefully rebuild her kind, in a way that was more than what just seemed like senseless attacks.
In the two months he searched with no lead, he had time to think about it, and he finally had come to a decision. This moment of clarity in his travels emblazoned a purpose deep within him, a purpose that went beyond what he had originally started this hunt for. Only now it wasn't a hunt, as he had absolutely zero intention of killing this female when and if he finally reached her. He just need a lead, something, anything first.
"It was a monstrous devil of eight feet tall, with eyes that burned red with the embers of hell."
It was if universe had synced with his thoughts at that moment and had decided to help him in the right direction. Maybe his purpose was even greater than he thought, and as this gift from the universe broke from his thoughts, he turned his eyes to focus on the man speaking. He neared the fire, having previously just been standing back further from it; he wasn't really fond of crowds, and the warmth was still suitable from the back of the room. Before the man could even continue his tale, Loyahl interjected, eyes fierce now.
"I'm going to need you to spare me the theatrics and tell me what exactly it is that you saw, when you saw it, and, most importantly, where you saw it."
His voice was stern, and he smirked only slightly after speaking despite himself, as the emotions that had begun to swell up inside him at this potential lead were too over-powering for him to even seem authoritative. Instead, it could be likened to a young man, or, perhaps, even a child extremely excited and curious about something just mentioned.
____
Silence is what Loyahl was met with. A lingering, silence as every set of eyes in the room turned to stare at him. Even the dogs raised their heads to get a look at him. Who was this man, covered in snow that had just barged into their camp in the middle of one of the worst storms to hit the Icy Peaks this winter?
No one spoke for many moments before one of the men around the hearth finally drew a pipe from his lips so that he could speak.
"Who the fuck are you?" he asked.
He was a grizzled looking man getting on in his years, and his skin was so weather worn as to appear almost leathery beneath his thick beard. Despite his words, he seemed more perplexed than aggressive though. No man in their right mind would be out alone in these mountains this time of year...
"And don't just stand there, close the door before you freeze us all to death."
____
"W-Who the fuck am I?"
Lohayl was frozen in his tracks for a moment, and if the man hadn't snapped him out of it with his last quip, he would have been literally frozen in his tracks. Broken from his momentary stupor, he acted fast to slam the door shut and once again approached the fire, and subsequently, the men around it. He turned his gaze to the grizzled looking man, focusing in and identifying him as the one who had questioned his identity.
He straightened his posture then, and cleared his throat almost nervously before speaking. He was quite embarrassed, actually, he hadn't realized how much of fever he was worked into and got ahead of himself. His arms went to fold behind him, and he gulped.
"First, I'd like to apologize for my actions just now, I was not really, ahem... myself. My name is Sentry, I'm with The Vanguard. I've been with them for around nineteen months now, total. In my entirety of time spent there, I've been tracking something," He began, leaving out some important details, but not enough to take away any truth from what he was telling them. "But lately the trail has gone cold, and I feared I may have lost it until I heard one among you describing something that very well may what I was chasing after. In my excitement of having a potential lead, I got a little worked up, so I beg a thousand pardons."
He passed his gaze over all of their faces before nodding firmly, as if to signify 'yes, this is all true'.
____
"You're in luck then, sir!" one of the younger men blurted out.
He looked to only be about nineteen or twenty, and was probably the youngest of the lot in the room. He had an excitable nature to him, and he took the interruption to his story in stride.
"I'm tellin' you. I saw it with my own eyes. It was standing over the carcass of a bear, and it done stared right through me like I wasn't even there. I thought I was a gonner, then it just turned and walked away," he said.
"I think you've been hitting more than the pipe," one of the other men teased.
Meanwhile, the older man didn't seem as sold on Loyahl's introduction.
"And you're out here tracking this monster of yours, alone in the winter?" the man asked between puffs of his pipe.
Only the desperate or the foolish faced the elements of this unforgiving land alone, and he remained skeptical of Loyahl's claim. It seemed far more likely to the grizzled old mountainman that this youth was looking to pull the wool over their eyes by playing off the story he had heard being told on his way in. Tossing around claims of an affiliation with the Elysian Vanguard was also a good way to garner the trust of more gullible individuals.
The only question was why. Was he simply an opportunist looking for shelter from the storm? Or would he rob them all while they slept and be gone before they woke.
For now he would withhold judgement he decided before gesturing towards the hearth with his pipe.
"You'll be soaked through if you stand around in those clothes much longer," he told Loyahl.
____
Loyahl kept his gaze on the older man as he nodded and moved closer to the fire, adjusting the clasp on his cloak and causing the furs that covered his shoulders to slacken slightly. Now that there was no icy wind, them being that close to his face wasn't necessary any longer.
"Yes, sir, alone. She's smart, and there being any more than me would alert her, I'm afraid. Not that it matters much, even on my own, she somehow knows when I'm close. And this is no monster, either. There are forces beyond my understanding at work here, I think."
He moved to place himself in between two men that had made room for him, and looked at the younger that had shared his story.
"And I don't discredit you, lad. If what you say is true, that she stood over the carcass of a not only an animal, but also left you alone, then it only confirms my suspicions. It didn't used to be bears, you know. Before it was people, just like any of you planted around this fire."
He paused a moment to make eye contact with all those that he could.
"I think she's alone, and I think she can be reasoned with. This started as a hunt, but no amount of gold could sway me from my purpose now. I will see if I can somehow parlay with her, at least come to a compromise."
____
Silence filled the room once again, and from the looks that where leveled upon Loyahl one would think he had just made a pariah of himself. No one seemed to have the words to even respond to his statements though.
It was a third gentleman who had as of yet remained silent that finally spoke.
"This beast of yours killed a dozen of our townspeople before a hunting party went out after it," he explained. "Twelve men tracked the beast, and only four of them returned."
"The Adamsen's boy was only a lad of six years," another man growled. "There's no truer monster than a beast who kills children."
"I'm telling you," the talkative youth from earlier spoke up. "It's a demon straight from hell, and if someone doesn't kill it there will be more kids to bury by spring. If you had seen its eyes you would know the truth of my words, Sir. It's evil."
"Since when does the Elysian Vanguard defend murderers and demons," the older man asked around his pipe.
His eyes were sharp and critical as they studied Loyahl intently.
____
Loyahl shook his head slowly. What they had said didn't surprise him, and he had seen worse from lesser in his travels.
"I never said I condoned her behavior. I said I believed that I could change it."
His eyes met the older man's and refused to waver from them, though his expression remained calm. He clasped his hands together in front of him and rest his arms on his legs and he leaned forward slightly towards both the fire and the man.
"It is incredibly likely that what you view as a beast is the only of its kind. Can you imagine what it'd be like to be truly alone in this world, I wonder. I picture it frightening. Do I disapprove of her methods of survival, as it were? Yes. Do I believe that she is a beast and inherently evil? I do not. What I think is that she's ultimately scared, and needs help. The Vanguard does not defend murderers and demons, but it does help those in need. But I'll denounce my involvement with the Vanguard permanently right this moment, if it pleases ye."
He unclasped his hands now to raise one and run it through his hair, dislodging any snow that had built up there and hadn't yet been shaken or otherwise melted off.
"I grieve for your townspeople, as I do for all the other victims. But I have been set on a nobler cause, and I just need to catch her so I'll know. If I am wrong in my assumptions, you can rest assured that I will kill her. It will pain me, being the cause of an extinction, but necessary cause takes necessary action. If you had perhaps gone wayward, would you not want at least a chance at salvation? Or would you prefer to be struck down immediately, as you ask to be done to this 'devil'?"
____
"And I suppose ye can bring the dead back to life too, eh?" another man bit out before spitting upon the ground.
Others seemed to share the man's sentiments as they shook their heads in disbelief. Loyahl's words were received about as well as if he had told a grieving family that a serial killer could be reformed and thus his crimes should be absolved or compromised upon.
It seemed likely he would get nowhere with swaying the mood of the men.
The grizzled man with a pipe spoke next, his voice rough and abrasive.
"It might be best if you set upon your way, as soon as the storm passes," he grunted.
He might have turned Loyahl out on the spot, if not for fact that no man however versed in the mountains could survive a storm such as the one that bore down upon them now. Not without shelter.
The man had offered Loyahl a bearing in his search though. There was only one town known to the region within walking distance of the prospector camp, and it was only about two days out. Whether he would find his quarry upon his arrival remained uncertain though. The storm had the potential to rage on for days yet.
____
Loyahl sighed and clasped his hands back together in front of him.
"I do wish I could make any of you understand, but perhaps that was a bit too much to expect, so I apologize if I have offended or upset any of you. You allowed me shelter and warmth, and still have yet to throw me back out in the cold, so I suppose that I should be grateful, if anything. I am, and I cry a thousand pardons."
He quieted after that, thinking it best to hold his tongue lest any of the men change their mind and decided to toss him back out into the storm after all. The storm lasted roughly another twenty hours, and Loyahl got little rest considering he was unsure of how much he trusted the men that shared the hearth with him. After it finally passed, he wasted no time and set out, mumbling his goodbye and thanks once more to the men that remained. He hadn't attempted to any more information on the supposed last seen location of the female he was tracking, but he knew of the village they spoke of, and that was his destination.
After about twelve hours of travel, he decided to find a secluded spot and actually get a decent amount of rest. After he woke up, he ventured back onto the path and kept moving. Later that afternoon, he wandered off the path a ways to find something to eat. A few hours and two dead rabbits later, he was fed enough to make the last leg of the journey and set out once more.
When the sun was just about to slip past the horizon, and the orange and red that bathed the sky was giving way to darkness, Loyahl came across a wooden sign hung from a horizontal post by two hooks. It read 'Grindavik', pointed to the right, and informed him that he had about 1 km to go.
Last edited by a moderator:
