Even after its dead Bulvi has to struggle for a moment to unlock the tight grip it's jaws had on him. "Thank you."
Selena says a few words then starts examining the beast. looking for poison, and making sure it looks safe to eat.
If it is safe to eat, she start dressing it (she seems to know how, but not quite yet well praticed at it),
"Well, we've got dinner at least."
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"Wow. This was over almost as soon as it started." She walks over to where Ibona is working on Bulvi. So much blood is covering his armor and the snow but now that Ibona is there, Sakitu relaxes knowing that the half-elf will be able to help.
She leaves those two and approaches Selena as she is inspecting the weasel carcass. "Is there anything salvageable here? If so, I'll help dress it."
"You know what I don't think there'll be much point returning this armor at this rate." There's a pop as he manages to get the last of the fangs out.
He sticks a finger into one of the wounds from the beasts fangs and winces before nodding at Ibona.
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Fin walks up looking over the beast and then turns to Sakitu. "Thanks but no weasel meat for me...doesn't set well with Elvish digestion..."
"I've never eaten weasel. Doesn't sound all that appealing." says Quasit as she wrinkles up her nose. She regards the animal for a moment then shakes her head. "That is One Big Weasel. I didn't even know it was possible for them to get that big."
She looks down and notices the still dripping sword in her hand, and goes to wipe it off on the weasel's hide, then pauses, cocks her head, and then kneels down to pry out its upper canine teeth. One she tucks away in a pocket, the other she tosses to Bulvi.
"Souvenir. This way when you tell the story in a bar and tell people how you were almost killed by a big weasel and they laugh at you, you can pull out the tooth and shut them up."
"Thanks for keeping it busy by the way. That was awesome how you let it eat your stomach so the rest of us could murder it. Very commendable." She smirks playfully.
"More would probably be in order given how things have been going I'm afraid Ibona. However I distinctly recall the thing breathing acid and it teleported at me as it ran forward, otherwise it would have never gotten past my shield."
"Thanks. I think the number of dangerous creatures in these woods are going to take a downturn quickly with all of the ones we've been encoutering."
"But keep your eyes peeled for a likely place to stop and rest as we go. It is my understanding that magic use is very tiring."
"It isn't so much physically tiring, but recovering the energies to cast magic oneself happens mostly during sleep. Of course, having a god grant you the energy is different." Selena says matter-of-factly.
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Quasit watches while Ibona uses the wand on Bulvi, silently mouthing the words the half-elf says when she activates the item. She watches like a person witnessing a shell-game artist, trying to spot the trick or the sleight of hand.
When the actual healing is finished, she drifts off behind a bit of scrub brush and finds a twig, then attempts to replicate the movements and words (quietly of course, so as not to alert the others).
Once the group is ready to begin walking again, she tosses the twig away and re-emerges, fiddling with her belt as if she had been attending to a call of nature behind the bush.
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[dice=Perception]1d20+2
Sakaitu watches Quasit head off into the bushes and then come back a moment later. "You ready to move on?" She approaches Quasit with a smile. "I'm likely to freeze to death if we don't find some shelter somewhere." She wraps her arms around herself and shivers.
"You, with all of your fur, getting cold!! HA!"
"It's not that cold out here." Selena says while making an adjustment to her fairly light vest and shirt. "You should try getting wet on a very windy day up north. That is real cold. This is just plain a nice day." She says with a smile.
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"You ready to move on?" She approaches Quasit with a smile. "I'm likely to freeze to death if we don't find some shelter somewhere." She wraps her arms around herself and shivers.
Quasit nods when asked if she's ready to go.
"You could always wear the weasel pelt. If you don't mind a little blood."
She looks up into the sky. "I think it's actually been getting colder the further we go into the forest. We might actually be getting close to the source of this weird weather. So hang in there Foxy. We'll wrap this up and then head back to town and sit in front of the fire til midnight sipping hot cocoa with little marshmallows."
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Sakitu scrunches up her nose and the suggestion of wearing the weasel pelt. "Ewww. Gross. I would never want to wear that." She looks at the remains of the weasel again and shudders. "Let's just move on. Then I like the idea of sitting in front of the fire with some hot cocoa."
She turns to Selena. "Really? You're not cold?"
"It's not quite so bad as long as you keep moving Sakitu. But I'd say I'd fair better in the Mwangi Expanse than you Selena, I'd be hot and you'd be half melting." Bulvi trudges along keeping his eyes open for traps and ambushers.
Selena answers Sakitu "No, but I grew up in this, so this is normal for me. Learning to become one with the cold probably helps as well.", then she laughs at Bulvi's comment, "Well, I'll just learn how to flow as liquid water then."
Selena pretends to not notice the forming snowball, but readies herself to smash it, if it heads her way.
Bulvi smiles. "It is far away, exotic and there are many stories of forgotten and lost cities. I heard of a city smashed into rubble and the chunks of masonry stacked one atop each other into pillars. No one lives there, but if the wind or a traveler should knock one over well the bits are forming new piles the next morning. No one who has stayed the night to uncover how this happens has survived."
"The world is filled with such wonders. The City of Monuments in Varisia, the Emerald Spire of the River Kingdoms and the far off Dragon Empire to name a few. I would visit them all but our years are too few." He turns to Ibona "With your elven blood you'll hopefully see many more Summers than me. When you're a famed scholar of the society sketching such things and uncovering their secrets spare a moment to think of this big lunk."
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Sakitu points a dark stare at Ibona. "You don't have to be snippy about it." Then she turns away from the half-elf and replies to Bulvi. "I've heard of some of those places you mentioned but I've never been to any of them. They sound exciting."
Out of the corner of her eye Sakitu sees Quasit forming a snowball. She prepares herself to dodge if it comes flying in her direction.
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Quasit can't help but notice everyone watching her suspiciously as she makes her snowball. She smirks with secret satisfaction as she works on smoothing it and rounding it into a perfect sphere for about 15 straight minutes, luxuriating in the suspense, then commences to just toss it up and down casually to herself as the group walks.
*****
As the party comes to the clearing and begins to talk about making a camp, Quasit's shoulders slump and she looks around dubiously at the cold dark wood.
"So much for cocoa." she grumbles. She puts down her pack (and her snowball) and begins collecting firewood.
"I can take first watch. I'm not sleepy."
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"There once was a lass from Oppara
Who fancied she looked like Besmara
The boys were impressed
Since her t*$$ were undressed
But they felt she wore too much mascara"
Of course she does not sign it.
After writing this, she puts it back where it was, trying all the time not to wake anyone.
Bulvi will rummage through his bags before walking over to Sakitu with a pile of heavy cloth and furs. "I think you need these a bit more than me. Don't need you getting the sniffles."
Just as Selena started up a tree, so did Fin. She smiled and found an even higher spot where she tied up her hammock.
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Quasit curiously watches Fin and Selena mount into the trees. "What? You guys have something against campfires?" she says cheekily.
Sitting down beside Sakitu, she snuggles down on Bulvi's loaned furs and pulls out her own blanket to add to the pile over them both. "So these furs are ok? Just nasty bloody weasel furs are bad? I want to be sure I'm getting this right." she teases. She looks back up at Selena as she strings her hammock precariously high in the branches.
She speaks quietly to Sakitu.
"I know you like her, but that Selena girl is odd. What do you think? I mean, I don't think she's working with the people trying to kill us. She helped fight the weasel and all. But I don't believe half of what she's told us. I bet she's some hedge wizard from Heldren that followed us out here looking for kicks, and is feeding us a bunch of mysterious stories so we don't immediately tell her to beat it. More likely than being Little Miss Snow Queen the Assassin who just happened to run into us randomly in the Forest of Death. And she doesn't look a day over 16. Don't get me wrong, she's got sand. I like that. But I don't like being played for a chump."
"OK, go ahead and get mad at me now." she adds with a playful smirk
Once the campfire is burning, she goes into her pack again and pulls out a little tin flute and starts to play a cheerful and popular tune.
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Ibona sits down next to Quasit and warms her hands by the fire. She isn't as dumb as Selena to run up into a tree where there is no escape should danger arrive. Settling down for the night she pulls out her journal and begins, as normal, to catalog and document everything that is going on for later posterity.
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Sakitu nudges closer to Quasit for warmth. "I don't mind fur. Obviously." She gestures to her own fur covering. "But I do mind bloody, smelly fur. These ones have been prepared and kept clean." For emphasis she buries her noes in a handful of the fur blanket and takes a deep whiff. A strong scent that reminds her of Bulvi shocks her for just a second before she continues. "And besides, it was nice of Bulvi to offer these. I wasn't going to turn him down."
Sakitu listens as Quasit talks to her about Selena. "It's not that I like her. It's just that I like being nice. To everyone." She looks from side to side to make sure no one is listening. "And I do think there's something different about her. It's just a hunch so I won't say anything yet." Sakitu thinks back to a few times when she's noticed the way that Selena moved. Ways that reminded her of herself and her two-form identity.
When Ibona sits down on the other side of Quasit Sakitu leans forward and smiles at her. She's about to speak to her when the half-elf pulls out her ubiquitous notebook and starts writing.
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"And besides, it was nice of Bulvi to offer these. I wasn't going to turn him down."
"Well of course, not. Turning down his offer would be rude." chuckles Quasit with a waggle of the eyebrows. "And yes, it was very nice of him." She looks across the fire to the Ulfen man. "Thank you Bulvi!" she says sweetly.
Sakitu listens as Quasit talks to her about Selena. "It's not that I like her. It's just that I like being nice. To everyone." She looks from side to side to make sure no one is listening. "And I do think there's something different about her. It's just a hunch so I won't say anything yet."
Quasit shrugs. "Fair enough. She could be the Princess of Vudra for all I care. It's just the way she flaunts these little half-truths and mysteries in front of us. She should skip the dog and pony show and just be straight. Of course, I can see why she might not fully trust us yet." She favors Sakitu with a significant sideways stage-glance at Ibona, purely for Sakitu's benefit.
"And I like to be nice too. Honest. But it's not a nice world, Saki. Sometimes when you pet the dog, he bites. And sometimes he doesn't even bother to growl first. You know?"