| Logs |
2011 May 19
| Neverneverwhere |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: Taps Logs |
Well Met by Starlight
The day passes as uneventfully as can be expected. The mara is nowhere to be found, but that most likely has more to do with it being daylight than anything else. Nuadha only sleeps a few hours -- possibly because his perch was so uncomfortable -- before climbing down from the tree and moving toward the wall of snow. Suraksha thanks the raven who alerts them, asking the birds to keep surreptitious watch on the flyer. She and Chanticleer wish to stay near but not obviously close to the poor man -- especially since they want to try grabbing the mara tonight. Chanticleer remains as alert as he can; he can tell this is going to be a test and a trial for a whole month. Still, it can be done.
The flyer starts his day by dismantling the wall of snow he created. It seems to take him a lot of effort and he's careful to make sure it seems featureless when he's done. He startles easily at small noises, but seems physically fine for the moment. Suraksha whispers quietly with Chanticleer, the gryphons, and the ravens, making sure everyone is kept up to date. She's rather worried Nuadha's not taking a moment while he can to get a hot meal into himself, but figures he knows best what he needs right now. Chanticleer nods quietly to Suraksha, frowning as he considers Nuadha's current actions. The sidhe is trying to divine what the young fey is planning, and how he intends to survive the coming month.
There are a couple of hours left until dark when Nuadha finally seems to start getting concerned about food. He is wearing a sort of knapsack that is covered completely when his wings are folded; he unslings it to grab a couple handfuls of something that he eats directly out of his palm -- trail mix or something like it, most likely. His wings are constantly shifting slightly as he works and then has his scant meal. He eats a couple of mouthfuls of snow as well, then starts out on foot right toward the place where Suraksha and Chanti are hiding. Chanticleer blinks. "Um...." He looks around for a quick way to hide that the fey won't notice.
Suraksha cautions everyone to not spook the fey; they'll just have to act like they meant to be here. She smiles as she softly adds, "If he knows and trusts Morganna implicitly, perhaps he'll recognize the ravens... and listen to us when we tell him to trust no one for the next month. Including us, unfortunately... since there's so much glamour around here." As Nuadha moves, the snow swirls at his heels as if stirred by a low wind, covering his tracks perfectly. The slight rustling made by the ravens, the sidhe and the small woman stop him; he raises his chin, eyes flicking side to side as he tries to make out if what he hears is a threat.
Chanticleer looks to Suraksha, then lets out a breath and nods. He tries to look... casual. With a bow and arrows and a knight's swor- oh, frig. He makes sure the sword can't be seen. He's pretty sure it's not that distinctive, but it is the blade of a knight -- and there are questions he doesn't want to answer right now. Suraksha is chatting calmly and quietly with Chanticleer about nothing important, so the flyer isn't shocked. She'll leave it up to the flyer as to whether he emerges or not. She does have a raven sitting on her shoulder, though.
After a moment Nuadha starts forward again, moving cautiously. Before he's actually in sight he raises his voice, "Halloa the camp!" The ravens scatter, fluttering up into nearby trees.
Chanticleer blinks at the sudden flapping disappearance of the ravens. He inwardly grumbles, but defers to Suraksha to speak to Nuadha. Suraksha stops speaking to Chanti and turns to watch. One hand rests lightly on her crossbow, but aside from that she's not acting aggressively. "Hello?" She murmurs very softly to Chanticleer, "Remember: we may offer him nothing -- no assistance." Chanticleer nods a little in reply.
Nuadha steps carefully into the clearing, wings folded down his back so they hide his knapsack except for the straps that come over his shoulders. His expression is wary and one of his hands is behind his back. He tries to make the pose look casual, but it's not really. "Dangerous to be out this far from everyone in this weather. You two need assistance?"
Suraksha wonders suddenly if anything more than the equivalent of 'name, rank, serial number' would be considered assistance... like advice on trusting no one. She sighs, irritated yet again at how stupidly jealousy makes people act, and softly adds to Chanticleer, "Dammit! I don't think we can offer him the advice to trust no one. All right... we'll follow the ravens' behavior on this one. He gets nothing from us." Chanticleer blinks to Suraksha; he hadn't thought of that. Augh, that would put a dampener on things. He nods to her, and lets her talk.
Suraksha smiles and shakes her head at the man, "No, we're fine." She's silent a moment, studying Nuadha thoughtfully and considering how to very surreptitiously warn him... then she gets a small grin -- got it! As if she's almost afraid of Nuadha, she cautiously says, "Unless you're glamoured... you're the flyer having the bet with Guaire, aren't you. I think we have nothing for you -- we don't want to interfere."
Nuadha stops in his tracks, eyes moving warily from one to the other of the strangers. The biceps of the arm with the hidden hand flex slightly. "Word has traveled that quickly, eh?" His voice is mellifluous, as if he would be a good singer, "I wish you no harm. I simply wished to find out if you needed help."
Chanticleer is taken aback for a moment when Suraksha says what she does, but then realizes: The entire Unseelie court probably knows about the wager by now. The Seelie court probably knows about it by now and is going on about it. He can just picture half a dozen of his sister's friends prattling on about either what Morganna is putting her new beau through, or *gasp* *swoon* what courage Nuadha has for *awww* LOVE! He heroically resists visibly grimacing at the idea. Still, it's probably true; there are likely more than a few spies/gossips that not only look at the other court for their own, but probably shuttle between the two as some sort of gossip merchants.
Suraksha smiles at the tense man, "You are as kind-hearted as they say, then. Still... best perhaps for us if we do not speak with you." She nods her head once in a slow courtesy as she adds, "Your pardon for our rudeness, please." After that she turns towards Chanticleer, standing so she can still half see Nuadha, "Are the gryphons ready to go?" Her heart aches for a moment for the poor flyer, and she prays silently that he makes it safely through the bet. If she and Chanticleer have anything to say about it... he will. Chanticleer nods to Suraksha, moving to the gryphons. Suraksha considers: should she try getting food to Nuadha? No, not now... he's still doing fine if he can think of others. Later, though, when he's feeling more ragged... at that point she may try a trick or something to make sure he gets a hot meal into him.
Nuadha's eyes go to the gryphons -- then they widen, as he recognizes them. He catches his breath and takes a half-step back. When both the strangers have their backs to him, he spreads his wings and leaps nearly vertically in the air. In his wake snow swirls blindingly around Chanti and Sura. Suraksha's sideways glance at the departing flyer is sort of wistfully sympathetic... but she simply cannot help him directly. None of them can. They'll just have to catch the mara as soon as possible. Chanticleer blinks as the flyer scrambles away. "I... guess he understood what's going on."
Suraksha calls swiftly to the closest ravens, "Keep an eye on him -- don't lose him!" She shakes her head to Chanticleer, pulling up her hood, "I don't know. I hope so." She sighs, shouldering her backpack, "Let's get flying, dear!" Chanticleer nods, mounting the gryphon. Once Nuadha is gone the ravens come back, settling where they can find good perches and waiting for the bipedal folks to get ready to leave. The two detailed to watch the flyer flit off, keeping a discreet distance behind him. Suraksha grins ruefully at Chanticleer, waiting until she's close to him to murmur, "I couldn't exactly tell him about glamour and not trusting, or point out the ravens and gryphons directly to him... so I did the best I could. Hope it worked."
Once camp is broken and the gryphons are ready, Chanticleer and Suraksha follow as well. It's more difficult than before because Nuadha has created a concealing veil of snow between himself and anyone following. He seems to have quite excellent control of that particular element, obscuring vision for several feet in any direction. Suraksha grins and calls to Chanticleer as they fly, "Today, I think, we can just follow the snow. But very soon, I'm guessing, he'll start using the snow as a decoy to hide where he's truly going!"
Chanticleer nods. "If he's wise, yes! And he does seem to be more than a little sharp."
Suraksha adds thoughtfully, as she studies the horizon, "I think we have a few hours yet until sunset. Tonight shall we see if we can trap the mara?"
Chanticleer nods resolutely. "A good idea. The earlier we take care of it, the better."
Suraksha nods a touch grimly, glancing at the sidhe flying along nearby, "We'll try the same thing we did last night, then, all right?"
Chanticleer says, "All right. That should work!" He remembers the plan from the night before: Suraksha becomes the tiger and tracks, while Chanti himself follows with the gryphons. If possible she'll pounce the mara and hold it in place while he plants a circle of salt, and then they'll try binding with the dreamcatcher. It's a simple, straightforward plan, but naturally not one immune to misfortune.
After an hour or so the snow slackens and then stops. It's left a wide and long enough path that it's going to be difficult sussing out where Nuadha has gone. The good news is it will make it hard for the mara as well. Suraksha nods at that, unsurprised. She's already shrugging out of her backpack as she calls, "Landing!" Soon thereafter, with the speed of long practice she's in tiger form and carefully tracking, while Chanticleer follows alertly with the gryphons and ravens. The ravens that were detailed to follow Nuadha arrive back, looking unhappy and bedraggled; the snow has stymied them as well. Suraksha grins at the ravens, crooning in sympathy to them before she goes nose to the ground and starts checking for scent.
Tonight's tracking goes a bit better than last night's. Perhaps having come so close to Nuadha makes it easier, but Suraksha is able to pick up his scent on the ground not far from where they land. She keeps up a dogged pursuit; when she loses the trail briefly, Chanti and the ravens are able to find it again. They seem to be the only ones on his trail to start with as the dark slowly closes in. Suraksha calls a halt once the scent is getting hot, indicating their target is extremely close. She wants the mara, not Nuadha, after all, and standing almost on top of the flyer wouldn't be wise if there's any kind of physical conflict. Chanticleer keeps the bow at the ready; even if the plan is to capture the mara, he doesn't want to be caught unawares, and it'd be better to chase it off if they're not ready for it than try to implement their plan to trap it if they aren't really ready.
It's well into the night before the mara shows itself; they feel it well before they see any sign of its coming. A prickling along the nape of the neck and a sort of clenching shiver in the vitals hint that it's there before they hear the first cry. Suraksha is resting relaxedly, her furred chin on her crossed forepaws, and her ears swivel-tilt towards the howl. At the second howl she growls, "Show dh'ime." She stands, stretching fore and aft before shaking her fur back into place, then raises her head to scent the air. "Huh. Wonder why wai'dh so long?"
Chanticleer murmurs, "To ensure complete darkness. To increase Nuadha's tension...." He readies the bow, following along with the gryphons at a distance from Suraksha. The tiger nods in silent agreement -- Chanticleer's right, now she thinks about it -- then turns her focus and her attention entirely to hunting the mara. Her hackles start to rise, but she keeps carefully scenting the air, padding slowly along. She's curious as to whether the mara's scent is the peculiar one she caught last night, or whether that's yet another factor they'll have to deal with.
The air around them has already been chilly thanks to the snow, but it drops several degrees quite quickly. The howling of the mara moves over their heads and then seems to circle back. Suraksha pads out into a clearing once she's sure Chanticleer's hidden back under the trees. As the howl approaches she lifts her head and roars out in challenge! Maybe this will be easier than she'd hoped, and the mara will be curious enough to respond. She's not sure how a bound creature can be quite so relaxed about following its target, but she's happy to take advantage of it, if so. Chanticleer narrows his eyes, stifling the shiver that comes upon him, and readies the bow -- no, no; the salt -- he readies the salt.
The mara ignores the roar, but continues its own cries as it circles around. That strange scent is just barely upon the air as the mara hunts high above. After it circles a time or two it begins to move onward; its cries are starting to sound frustrated. Chanticleer frowns, then tries to catch Suraksha's eye as he holds up the bow. Suraksha nods once to the sidhe. She's already starting to head towards the howl -- if Chanti can peg it, and she can try a powerful leap... maybe she can grab it and bear it down to the ground?
Chanticleer raises his bow, hoping to catch sight of the mara and send an arrow winging at it. Even if it's a miss it should get the creature's attention. Suraksha sighs as she realizes how high it must be -- like it's trying to track Nuadha by staying far aloft. Well, maybe being shot by Chanticleer will help bring it down? She shakes her head in frustration -- this does not make sense! If the entity is bound to hunt Nuadha, how could it have waited so long? Why isn't it down on the ground, trying to track from where Nuadha was last afoot? Could this be... a different nightmare, perhaps? It sure sounds like the same one...?
There is that strange sense of not being able to quite look at the creature as it flies overhead. Chanticleer gets the impression it is just out of bowshot, but he's also able to see it a little better this time. It seems sized about like a human or a humanoid sidhe and there is a sense about it of blacks and reds and livid whites. Chanticleer grimaces, he'd almost forgotten it didn't want to be looked at. He points the bow at the spot of sky he doesn't want to observe, knowing he'll probably miss but hoping the singing of the arrow as it goes past the mara will catch its attention. If he had time he'd use a sounding bulb arrow instead, but that would be audible for leagues around. Suraksha trots swiftly along, head high to study the sky and staying alert for the arrow Chanticleer will let fly. Hopefully that will lead her vision to the monster; she's not yet been able to spot it.
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