Hace tries to tend to his eyes, but only manages to change out the bandages successfully.
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"So about watches-- I think we should give Bull and Hace the night to rest their eyes. Nadya and her kids are non-combatants. That leaves the four of us, so shall we say four 2 hour shifts?. I think after I have something to eat, I'm going to need to rest for a few hours, but I could do second shift. How about Saki goes first, then me, then Fin and then Maka can take the dawn watch?"
"That sounds good, I'm usually up at dawn anyway. Plus these eyes of mine aren't just for show. If the birds are being controlled by someone, I hope they send bears next time. I know how to fight bears, and they don't usually go for the eyes. Normally a lot more interesting in just eating you. Or belly rubs, depending on the bear."
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Miserable as she had appeared, Quasit is obviously delighted by this. She grins broadly.
"You know what's great about that, Maka? I think if you were confronted by a bear in the woods, it would seem like the only choice for you would be to fight it or rub its belly. I love that!"
She picks up a little wad of snow and throws it playfully at the monk.
"Personally I'd run away like the coward I am."
Maka laughed as she dodged the snowball. "Not just bears either. Most problems are solved by fighting or making friends. Or fighting then making friends. Or running away to figure out a better way to fight or make friends."
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"Yes, I think your plan makes sense." Sakitu nods in agreement at Quasit's plan. She watches Quasit throw a bit of snow at Maka. A small frown barely passes over her face and then she turns to find her place to watch from. "I'm going to get started now." She says to anyone who is listening. She moves to the edge of their makeshift camp and sits facing away from the fire.
Hace is mostly quiet and reserved as he struggles to deal with his new blindness, but he comments on occasion, "I mean, Maka's not wrong. It's not too often that you come out of meeting someone in a completely neutral state. People don't tend to think in terms of neutral for other people, they either decide that a person was fine and would interact with them again, or they decide that person is bad in someway and don't try to interact with them. When you've really met a person, you either come out as friends our enemies."
At some point later in the night he comments on the birds, "So we know those birds were sent after you guys specifically, and they were quite annoying, but they weren't deadly. I think someone is testing us, spying on us, trying to determine our numbers, strengths, and weaknesses, determining if we are a threat to them. If it wasn't so damned cold, we could travel at night and make it harder for them to see our progress or changes in our group."
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"I mean, Maka's not wrong. It's not too often that you come out of meeting someone in a completely neutral state. People don't tend to think in terms of neutral for other people, they either decide that a person was fine and would interact with them again, or they decide that person is bad in someway and don't try to interact with them. When you've really met a person, you either come out as friends our enemies."
"Yeah, but how often do you meet someone and say 'You know, I'm either going to punch them or I'm going to rub their belly? Those are the only things I can imagine to do.'?" Quasit chortles. Then she waves a hand toward Maka. "Don't mind me, I'm just teasing."
*****
Quasit partakes of a cheerless supper. She gnaws on a wrinkled apple that has gone mealy on the inside, then pulls at some very dry, very salty cured meat with more vigor than enthusiasm. She washes this down with a long drink from her waterskin and then sneaks a quick slug from a silver brandy flask she has stowed away in her pack. After this she wordlessly rises, shoulders her pack and ventures off into the woods beyond sight for about 5 minutes.
When she returns, she spreads out her bedroll and blanket and curls up to sleep with her back to the fire.
Within minutes she is whickering softly with sleep.
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during the night shifts, Sakitu, Quasit and Maka don't notice anything, Fin thought he might have heard some rustling but couldn't really find the source. though come the morning as everyone is going to pack up, Nadya is tossing rations away, and upon approaching her you can smell why, all the rations and the water have gone rotten.
"These were fresh new rations, bought for this trip, there is no reason they should have gone bad like that"
"We need to push on and hunt what little food is available"
The party continues packing away camp and is shortly ready to leave and sets out.
The Second and Third day of travel there has been scarce hunting, just enough for the group to get a small animal each for a meal. The night of the Fourth day unless anyone objects Nadya allows Orm her eldest son permission to look for firewood for camp
"NO! OUR FOOD!" Maka shouted in dismay. Her eyes quickly narrowed in anger and smoke flared from her nostrils. "Who did this!? Come fight me you big mean jerk!" She shouted at the forest.
Maka gets grumpy on an empty stomach, as the group soon discovers. Maka remains agitated, and simple interactions lead to angry outbursts from the woman. Nearly as quickly as her anger came, it would leave, bringing Maka back with her tail between her legs for an apology. These apologies usually included a strong hug.
"What? No, don't be stupid! There are eye eating birds and food ruiners out here. I'll go with him." Maka once again snapped at Nadya's suggestion. "I'm sorry, Nadya. I'm just really hungry. I'll watch over him."
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"What? No, don't be stupid! There are eye eating birds and food ruiners out here. I'll go with him." Maka once again snapped at Nadya's suggestion. "I'm sorry, Nadya. I'm just really hungry. I'll watch over him."
"Maka's right, Nadya. We shouldn't let those kids out of our sight. Someone or something is stalking us. No reason to give them an opportunity for mischief."
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The Second and Third day of travel there has been scarce hunting, just enough for the group to get a small animal each for a meal.
Each day of the travel, Quasit rises from her sleep stiff and grumpy doesn't seem to want to eat much. She holds her stomach sometimes, wrapping her arms over her belly protectively, but doesn't say anything about it to anyone.
To make matters worse, by the middle of the day, it's clear that she's starting to develop a cough that only deepens as time goes on. She begins to sniffle on the third night, periodically wiping wearily at a runny nose, and coughing fitfully through the night. By the fourth day she seems to have trouble keeping warm and is eating very little. She looks pale and tired.
Hace moves to check out the rations, "I may not be able to see them, but let me check them out for a minute, see if I can pull any clues off of them."
When Hace touches the rotten rations, they suddenly become fresh and good again. "I don't know guys, they seem fine to me. Come check them again."
"Hace you are a miracle worker!" Maka exclaimed before giving her friend a back breaking hug. "How did you do that?"
"Do what? They seem fine when I checked them." Hace asks with a confused expression on his face.
"Oh my gods! Thank you Fin, I can see again!" Hace says as he shakes Fin's hand. "I'll make sure to repay the favor if I get the chance."
"At this stage I'm not just looking for any old helmet. I want one with a small visor and covered in very pointy spikes to give these birds a good welcome."
"Actually, on closer inspection, it looks like the rations are spoiled after all. Funny, I could have sworn they were good for a minute and then suddenly got bad again." Hace says, puzzled by the events.
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"You know, that's probably exactly what happened. This feels like fey creatures messing with us. That witch had fey of all descriptions working for her. The little cowards know they can't take us on fair and square, but they're more than happy to hex our food and run away."
"Still glad you came with us?" she asks, with a sardonic smile.
Bulvi leans over to Quasit a little while later and whispers a question "Actually how did we pick them up? Everything is more than a little blurry from that night."
"Well, she must clearly think us a threat then. Weakening your enemy before you strike is a valid tactic, especially when you fear your enemy is stronger than you." Hace comments to Quasit as they trudge through the snow.
"They better be scarred of how strong we are. And of the whopping I'm going to give them for ruining our food."
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Bulvi leans over to Quasit a little while later and whispers a question "Actually how did we pick them up? Everything is more than a little blurry from that night."
Quasit laughs through her nose and smirks up at Bulvi, shaking her head a bit. "Gee, there's a shock. You were being hilarious by the way." she teases.
"There's not much to tell. They came through that same portal from Taldor that we did, and now they're looking for a way to earn some money. They weren't going to find it in that miserable backwater, so we told them they could come with us to White Castle if they wanted, and they pretty much jumped at that." she whispers back.
She leans in a little closer and whispers more quietly.
"At first I was a little worried they might be spies, like that goat girl minstrel was. But I don't think that any more. Not after they helped us against those birds. Plus, they just don't feel like spies, unless they're really good ones. They're kinda goofy, like us, you know? They don't fit this evil Irrissen police state vibe."
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Sakitu trudges along in the snow. The lack of food leaves an ever growing ache in her stomach. She makes occasional attempts to talk with the others but now that there are new people in the group, her former friends seem to have plenty of other people to talk to. More and more Sakitu finds herself trailing the party as they wind through the snowy landscape.
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Quasit is too focused on her own misery at first to notice Sakitu's unusual reticence, but soon the absence of her cheerful, optimistic chatter becomes hard to miss. She pulls back the hood of her cloak and looks around, seeing the Amazing Fox Lady trudging along behind the group, and her stomach experiences a twinge of worry.
She drops back besides Sakitu and pulls out her little brandy flask, which at this point has only a couple of swallows left. She opens it and offers it to Sakitu.
"Are you feeling ok?" she asks with quiet empathy.
At some point during the journey, Hace talks to Nadya and Orm, "Did you guys see anything with our food? Maybe your children woke up and saw something?" he asks politely as possible, not trying to imply that they had anything do with it.
He then talks to Quasit, as she generally seems to stay the most sober and in the know, "So, what can you tell me about Nadya and Orm? Why are they traveling with us and why bring their children?"
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”I don’t think she had any choice.” says Quasit quietly, looking off toward Nadya and her boys. ”It’s kind of a long story. But the gist of it is that the witch at the Pale Tower kidnapped and murdered her daughter, so ever since she learned that, she’s been helping us. She helped storm the Pale Tower and kill all the witch’s minions, so she couldn’t stay in Heldren. Actually I think we’re more following her than the other way around. She has some relative who lives near White Castle who’s going to help us lie low for a bit. So that’s basically it. She’s trying to protect her boys and herself from reprisal.”
She sighs and looks up at Hace with a shrug. ”Not sure how well we’re disappearing though, since it seems like something is stalking us. But going back isn’t really an option. So what can we do but go on and hope for the best?”
"Hmm. Thanks for the information, Quasit." says as he ponders the way this area of the world works, "Seems like there is corruption everywhere, 'ey maka?"
"That's horrible! These witches really have a whooping coming." Flames burst from Maka's fists in anger.
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Sakitu shakes her head as Quasit's offer of the flask. "I had enough of that a few days ago. I'm good for at least another month." She keeps her gaze down at the ground and continue to take slow steps. She starts to speak a couple of times but falters. She puts a hand to her stomach. "I'm just really hungry."
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Fin and Sakitu are hurt from hunger and are Fatigued
shortly after the morning of the 8th day you hear the cry of a few falcons, though you don't seem to notice them over head. after a couple hours of traveling, though you hear the sound again, but this time you happen to notice what is with them.
4 Falconers, 4 Falcons, and a Large Wolf
the wolf moves forward and lets out a freezing cold breathe
reflex from everyone but the crocodile DC 17 for 1/2
~~Round 1~~
Bold to Act
Knowledge Local for R,B,G,P
Knowledge Arcana for Wolf
Wolf
Maka
Sakitu Fatigued
Quasit
Findurel Fatigued
R
B
G
P
Bulvi
Hace
As the wolf sprung from the trees, Maka instinctively dived out of the way. The creature's icy breath only partially caught the Monk, and her natural resistance to the cold was able to absorb most of the damage. Looking down at the small particles of frost on her let, Maka wanted nothing more than to return a challenging roar. However, with the creature already at hand, Maka knew her attention would be better spent on the foes at range.
Cartwheeling on to her hands, Maka spun her legs about, flames whirling as she did so. The momentum of her spin both sent a ball of fire at P, but also moved her in to a defensive position in front of Hace.