"I'll be right behind you, Yasamina. Right where all the fun begins." He says with an anticipatory grin, unsheathing his warflail and preparing to smash whatever comes their way.
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Ticked off he can't hit the thing, Joran's anger rises and he strikes at it with all his fury.
Completely taken aback at the hunter grabbing Catalina by the throat, not to mention its head doing a 180, "What the...?!?! I don't think so, freak show! You're about to die, freak!" Joran draws his warflail and prepares to bring it down hard upon the hunter as he charges.
Seeing the man willing to die just to destroy a building, Joran knows this fool has to be taken down quickly, otherwise... well... he really didn't want to think about that.
Letting his rage take over, Joran flanks with his fellow barbarian, Oren, and hopes to actually hit the elusive man this time.
Raising an eyebrow in shock, "Who does this guy think he is?! Hey, pal, NOBODY blames Caiten for...," he pauses, trying to think what it might be he's blaming Caiten for, and finding he can't figure it out, nor does he really care because NOBODY blames Caiten, "...for whatever is you're blaming him for! And you attacked 'The Champ'?!" He exclaims, looking stunned at the revelation. Quickly calming and turning that stunned look into a matter-of-fact expression, "Oh, well, seeing how that's the case... it's ON NOW, CHUMP!" Drawing his warflail, Joran heads straight for the mustachioed man, swinging it out wide and bringing it around towards his midsection.
Watching the man dance out of the way with ease, "Light on your feet, ain't you, twinkle toes? We'll see how long that lasts."
"Bigger," Renali states matter-of-factly. "Joran wished to see a crocodile -- well these things could swallow two or three crocodiles at once." Listening in on the conversation when he hears his name, Joran raises an eyebrow and grins wryly. "That big, huh? Excellent. They sound fascinating. I'd love to see one."
Managing to catch a massive ball of flame explode out of the corner of his eye, Joran turns and his eyes go wide before exclaiming, "Goodness gracious, great balls of fire! What in the HELL was that?!"
Managing to shake off the poison that he was unable to avoid, he looks over at the drake and sees it still clings to life, which he finds amazing after watching it get BLASTED with shot after shot. Rolling his eyes in utter frustration, "Why won't you DIE already! I'm on it!" Joran takes off, charging right at the creature with his war flail raised high, bringing it down hard toward the skull of the beast.
Not happy with the way this combat is playing out, Joran furiously attacks the drake that just stung Dario.
Seeing the nasty-looking spittle head in his direction, Joran manages to just dance out of the way. "Whoa! Big green dragon-looking creature trying to spit poison at us. Really?" Shaking his head, Joran draws his warflail and lets his rage take over, attacking the miniature dragon.
Nodding in agreement with the druid, "Looks good to me. Nice find, Lis." -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noticing Lis give out the number of creatures, Joran draws his warflail and prepares himself.
"Yeah...but...it was a bright explosion of energy that popped real loud. I ain't have been in a jungle much but that isn't a sound I hear commonly. Let's just keep our guards up, alright?" Dario speaks up in regards to the totem being destroyed before he goes over and helps the two that had fallen over up. He brushes foliage off of them and gives the friendliest smile he could with his scarred face. Seeing how the others are tending to those who've just been 'woken' up, "You're not kidding about that, buddy." Joran draws his warflail and takes an opposite direction than the gunslinger in an effort to cover more ground, keeping an eye out for anything.
"You got it, Caiten." Raising the totem and placing it upon his shoulder like he would a log, "Okay, Lis, ready when you are, buddy! Just say 'when'!" As soon as the fire is going and the call is made, Joran will set the totem in the fire and take off back toward the others.
Nodding, "Let's do it and get this over with."
"You got it, Lis. Where do you want it? Never mind, I've got the perfect spot. I'll set it over here and you can blast it. Sound good?" Joran moves it far away from the others and finds a somewhat barren spot, at least one with not too many trees bunched up. Hollering out to the druid, "Okay, Lis! Blast away, buddy!" He crosses his arms and waits, smiling. A second later he realizes he's still standing next to it. Quickly throwing his hands up, "Whoa! Hold a moment! Let me move!" The barbarian speedily gets out of the way.
Catalina grins at Joran, raising an eyebrow. "A saw? You can't just tear a tree down with your bare hands?" Looking at Catalina as if he's actually considering it, "You know, that's a good idea. I never even thought of that. Thanks, Catalina." He smiles. Joran cracks his neck one way and then the other, getting ready to charge the tree until some tiny little plant creature speaks out.
Looking curiously at the talking plant, he walks over to it and bends down, smiling. "My gosh, aren't you a cute little bugger." Looking up at Lis, he raises an eyebrow and grins wryly at the druid before cutting his focus back to the leshy. "You know, you don't make it easy cutting down a tree, tiny buddy. Kind of makes me feel bad now." Chuckling, he rubs its head as if mussing his hair and rises. Looking at Lis with a slight grin, his eyes angle down at the little shrub before angling back up to the druid. "You know, buddy, you might not want to take him anywhere near Narine's job site. Just sayin'." He gives him a pat on the shoulder and walks away. Making his way over to Catalina, "Hey, Cat, next time. I'll find something less... woody to break down." He looks back at the leshy before looking back to her and giving her a wink.
"Yep, sounds like to me we need to destroy it rather than carry it around." "The statues over there were people yesterday, Joran. This totem is the culprit." Looking over at the statues, "Really? Wow. I don't suppose there's any chance of making them not statues, is there?"
Cutting his attention in the direction Yasamina went, he looks around a moment at the various trees before hollering back, "All good, Yasamina! All of these trees will burn just fine!" Turning to the others, "Anybody got a saw?"
Nodding mischievously, "I am liking the sound of that. You got it. Honestly, though, I think you all are overthinking this." Joran grabs the totem and readies to carry it along. "I mean, if you need me to destroy it, I'll smash it to smithereens. All you gotta do is ask." A curious look then forms. "By the way, what is the point of these things again? Why are we doing all of this?"
Joran grins at Catalina's chuckle, even though he's not really sure why she did. "Hey, I don't mind lugging the thing around. Just say the word, and I'll do it."
Nodding, "I'm with Lis. I'm all for getting the calves back too as soon as possible. Hopefully, they won't kill 'em."
"Thank you Joran." Dario says, brushing the soot off on his pants as they emerged out of the building. The gunslinger kept a respectable distance away as the elder almost effortlessly calmed the angered animals that remained there. Smiling and giving the gunslinger a nod, "No problem, buddy."
The old man is already on it, and he calls out to the elephants, reassuring them he is safe. It takes a minute or two, and him hobbling painfully towards the great beasts, but he lays a comforting hand upon one's trunk and they seem to have calmed. "I am Edka. I, and the wise ones, thank you for your help." He tried to bow but thought better of it with a wince. Dusting off his hands, Joran nods in greeting and smiles. "A pleasure, Edka. Name's Joran. I hope you don't mind me asking this, but, what happened here? Why is everything burned?"
Looking over at the others seemingly having trouble, Joran nods. "You got it, Lis. Will do. Will carefully make my way over there and help that man." Joran calmly takes the long way around to the other team. Calmly. As in, not aggressively. The last thing I need is to get everyone trampled. Once he finally makes it to the others, he looks down at the man pinned by the log before looking up at the others incredulously. But that look fades quickly as he grins and shakes his head. "Back up, people. Hopefully, he's still breathing." Reaching down, Joran grabs the log and lifts it with ease, supporting it on his shoulder. "One of you better check on him, see if he's still alive." Joran then carries the log a few feet and drops it before returning to the others.
With a raised eyebrow and looking a bit concerned, Joran holds a hand up toward the elephants and takes a defensive position. "Lis, buddy, talk to me. They don't look too happy. What's the matter with 'em? Was it something you said or what?"
Nodding, "You got it, Caiten." Turning to his team, "C'mon, team, let's see what we can do about these elephants." Joran takes the lead and heads out toward the creatures.
Noticing the crocs, a wide grin forms. "There they are! I have got to get me one of those." --------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I can't imagine the elephants are the cause..." She states uneasily, scanning their surroundings for some hint of what may have caused the fire. With his focus upon the burnt village and the large land mammals, "Yeah, no way the elephants did this." "I can scout from the skies as an insect," he offers quietly. "No one will bother shooting at a dragonfly." Drawing his flail, he looks over at Lis. "What are you waiting for, buddy? Get to dragonflying." He grins, throwing him a wink before returning his focus to the burnt village.
Looking to be in serious thought, Joran angles his head to the left and then to the right, as if pondering it from different perspectives. Eventually, he slowly bobs his head several times in succession, thinking the druid's suggestion is a solid one. "I may very well do just that, Lis. I wouldn't mind tending a garden. Could be fun. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, buddy!"
Grinning at how deftly he was to avoid the many attacks from the leshy, "Nice try, plant boy, but not quite. My turn." Bringing his warflail up high, he brings it down hard toward the plant in rapid succession in an attempt to smash it back into the ground.
Joran, making sure Sulee is safely behind him, moves up next to the Leshy. "What are you? Some type of pissed-off plant? You'd be better off simply enjoying nature, plant freak." Glaring at the plant, Joran brings the mighty warflail up high and aims it straight for the plant's... whatever accounts for its skull.
Nodding, "You don't have to tell me twice." Joran grips his warflail and moves quickly, hoping the pups are okay. "I'll flank. See if I can surprise anything dangerous up ahead." "Sounds good. I'll try to see if I can find out what it is we're dealing with."
Throwing the logs down, "Yeah, you got a point, Caiten. Gods only know what kind of trouble they might get into." Joran follows after the pups and the plant creature, caught between a fast walk and a run in order to catch up.
"Man, you ain't kidding about that, Dario. But, you gotta admit, there's nothing like a good sweat!" He nods, smiling.
Pausing a moment with several large pieces of wood in his arms, he looks curiously at Lisitsei. "What are you doing, Lis?"
"I got you, Caiten. Elephant tribe it is."
A little hesitant at first, Joran eventually reaches in and draws out seven more. "Okay, Caiten, here you go. Let's hope these things actually work like they're supposed to."
"Yes! Here, let me snag one for you, Caiten." Reaching into his pack, he pulls out a vial and hands it over to him. "Hopefully that does the trick."
"Good grief, Joran," he says, rolling his eyes at the barbarian. With a quizzical look, "What? I'm just sayin' is all."
Sulee gives a big doggy grin over to Joran. "I am still Sulee, silly. Wood or fur, it's still me. Don't worry about a thing." Studying the dog as he leans in close, looking deep into its eyes, "Sulee? Is that really you?" He leans out and crosses his arms, still studying her intensely. Eventually, the big guy sighs and says to her, "Okay. I guess. But I'm still calling you poppet!" He nods vehemently while still sporting a slight grin. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Leaning in near the druid while Caiten speaks to the kobolds, "Good eye, Lis. I never caught the tripwire. Hopefully these guys don't want to fight us. I'd really hate to kill 'em all; especially with them being sick."
With a smile, ne nods and gives a wink. "You are welcome, Nature boy." He gives him a slightly less-than-hearty slap on the back so as not to hurt him before getting back to work.
"Yep. You got it, Yasamina." "Aaaaaaand - this river. How much rope do we have? I have some 50 ft. We can move through holding a rope. And get murdered by a crocodile in the process." she looks at Joran. "Or get skin for new shoes, hm?" "I got rope. And we won't be getting murdered by no croc, Yasamina, don't you worry about that. A new pair of shoes definitely sounds more like it." He winks, grinning confidently. Looking to them all, "Okay, here's the sleeping situation. Yasamina and Catalina, Oren and Dario, Cev and Lis, and Caiten, you're with me. And your puppy. Anybody got issues with that? Speak now or forever hold your peace." Joran then does a double take at the unrecognized dog next to the android. "Wait... puppy? What happened to Sulee?! What did you do with the poppet, Caiten?! Did you trade her in for a dog?! Are you kidding me?!" Joran is clearly not thrilled with whatever happened to Sulee. ---------------------------------------------------------------- It's at the end of a third long, hot, sweaty day that you face the wide river, and Renali presents her news. "Crocodiles are often lazier than people think, and mostly stay near the edges. The anacondas will prove a greater threat, striking in the middle of the river," she stated matter-of-factly. Raising an eyebrow, "Anacondas, huh? Excellent. We may very well have snake for dinner one of these nights then. Good times." The barbarian's expression at the thought can easily be defined as one of anticipation. "Okay, let's get this camp business squared away." Joran then gets to work.
Noooo. She is going to LOVE it. I just know it. :D
So involved with his tattoo ideas, Joran never notices the exchange between Caiten and Sulee. Which is probably a good thing considering the last thing the Ekujae needs to witness is this bear of a man erupting in utter panic at the sight of the lifeless poppet. They would understand if they only understood how much she means to him. "Sweet!" Yasamina high fives Joran "We're getting some designer skin, Mayor." Joran puts out his hand, accepting the high five with a big smile. "I can't wait." "Okay, Ohnawa, I think I've got what I want and I'm going to want it on my back. It might be a bit much, but, here goes." He describes in detail what he's looking for and she thinks it might look something like this. Crossing his arms once he's finished, "Can you do it? I want it to be big but I need some space down toward the bottom. You know, the small of my back area." He motions toward said area. "Is that possible? Also, I want the eyes to be yellow. Do you have yellow? Or is it all just black ink? Just curious. I've got a LOT more ideas for my biceps but I'll just stick with this for now."
Cocking an eyebrow in curiosity, "A tattoo, huh? I'm liking the sound of that. I'll take it!" He exclaims excitedly. "Okay, I'm thinking 'Lion'. A ferocious lion with an awesome mane. His teeth showing and his claws. Do I have to see it to make it work? Because I'm thinking of putting it on my back. But I'm not sure exactly. I might want it on my bicep." Crossing his arms and stroking his chin in thought, he eventually shakes his head. "Bah. I'm undecided. I'll have to think on it. Is it okay if I think about where I want it?"
With his face resting on his fist, he cuts his eyes over at Dario and rolls his eyes, grinning. Rising, "Only because I know I stand a decent chance against a half a dozen bowman. Hard to defeat the beast when it attacks you on the inside. But okay, Dario, I'll accept your challenge. At least this will put an end to any grief you'll give me about it in the future." He shoots him a wink. Waving the elven boy over, "Okay, young elf, bring me those peppers! I could use some fire anyway. Ol' Joran needs to show the team how it's done," he winks, grinning. Burn baby burn!
Joran takes one and is just about to plop it in his mouth before cutting his eyes over at Dario and grinning mischievously. Looking back to the tray of peppers, he takes ALL FIVE of them and shoves every one of them in his mouth. With his arms crossed, he smiles the whole time while he chews. As he does, he looks to one side and then looks to the other, appearing completely unconcerned, as if he's simply enjoying a walk in the park. Finally chewing them down enough to where he swallows them all in one big gulp, he takes a breath through his nose and says, "Is that it? Or did I get the really mild ones? Y'all didn't take it easy on me, did you? C'mon now, I thought these were supposed to be hot or something." The big guy grins victoriously, pointing and throwing a wink Dario's way.
With raised eyebrows as he watches the others nearly die, Joran shakes his head at the boys while holding up a hand. "No thank you. But thank you! Off you go." Smiling, he shoos them away toward the next victim.
Bring it down hard! It's a dance-off, bro! Smiling, Joran stands off to the side and watches the others get danced right off the floor, and finds himself amazed at how Yasamina can just keep going. By the gods, I'm fairly certain I'd be collapsed upon the floor if I danced that long. Obviously, it pays to be a pro at dancing. You know, I think she should win simply based on THAT. Sheesh. Wears me out just watching.
Looking over at the aasimar, Joran smiles. "You're more than welcome, Catalina, to come with us if you want. We're all about the more the merrier." He gives her a wink. Then turning his attention to the twins, "Don't you worry, ladies, this darkness or Dahak or whatever the hell it's called... will soon meet its end. One way or another, we're going to put this thing down so it stops threatening you all, and also so Oren can finally sleep in peace. Do you know why we're going to put an end to this Dahak character, ladies? Because we are the Big Damn Heroes of Breachill, that's why." He nods confidently. "Don't piss us off. We don't play nice if you do that. Especially when you mess with Dario's world tour. That's a BIG no-no." He grins wryly, giving the gunslinger a wink and a playful slap on the shoulder.
Listening intently to the others, Joran chuckles at Caiten's initial response. Shaking his head and smiling, Ah you can't help but love the little guy. Boy, he and Sulee make such a dynamic duo. Joran's eyes then go wide and his mouth drops open when Yasamina mentions she has a daughter. By the gods! I didn't know she had a daughter! Wow. The things you don't know about people. He then looks slightly taken aback at Cev's declaration of him officiating his wedding. Me?! I don't even know what a mayor does, how the hell am I supposed to officiate a wedding when I've got no clue as to how to do that either?! Drawing his hands down his cheeks before crossing his arms, Man, this is a lot of pressure. What if I bankrupt Breachill as mayor? What if I get caught stealing from the treasury? Wait, why am I stealing from the treasury?! What if I say: 'Do you, Cev, take this troll, NO WAIT! Gnoll, SORRY! What I meant was, sir, was that... um... what was your name again?' He rolls his eyes and drops his head, covering his face with his hands. Oh gods, this is WAY too much pressure. I've already burned down Breachill and destroyed Cev's wedding and it's only been thirty seconds. I didn't realize all of this was going to require so much responsibility. Trin and I may very well have to leave under cover of night. Maybe. Will have to think about it. She may not like that idea. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Joran realizes it's his turn to speak and moves up to take his turn. Smiling, "Hello, ladies, a pleasure to meet you. You're both looking quite lovely on such a beautiful day. Come here often?" he jests, chuckling until he realizes they aren't laughing. Or smiling. Or nothing. Needless to say, Joran's chuckling dies down quickly. "Anyway, the name's Bravestone. Joran Bravestone. Perhaps you ladies have heard of me?" he says with a confident smile and a waggling of his eyebrows, grinning mischievously, and yet again, hearing nothing but the birds chirping throughout the jungle. Adjusting his collar uncomfortably, "Wow, tough crowd," he mutters under his breath. Taking another deep breath, Joran chooses to stand and pace while he talks. "Okay, so you're wanting to know my greatest failure, hm? Okay. Well, a few years back there was this date I was on and let me tell you, ladies, it was a massive failure, know what I mean?" He nods emphatically, grinning. Noticing the raised eyebrows and the curious looks, Joran looks over at the others and starts chewing on the inside of his lip, obviously torn about something. Rolling his eyes, he sighs heavily. "Okay, okay, that wasn't my greatest failure. It was close though! It was close." Pacing a few times while he gets his thoughts together, "Okay, my greatest failure was on the road to what eventually led us here. We were chasing this elven woman because she was involved in some bad stuff that directly affected Breachill so we needed to put a stop to her. We went and looked for her and found her base. So, instead of going with the plan of taking them by surprise, I simply walked out there in the open and started talking to them as if that would make them surrender. All fifteen or twenty of them. There was me - and Cev too, he followed after me - and about fifteen or so other bad guys. Needless to say, because of the mighty brilliance of my actions, I nearly got half of my team killed, including myself. Honestly, I should be dead right now. If it wasn't for Caiten, I would be, plain and simple." Joran swallows hard on that last statement as his thoughts return there for a moment. "Worst day of my life," he mutters as he looks far off. Shaking himself free of his reverie, he returns to his pacing. "Anyway, on to how my enemies would describe me. Let's see. I think they would describe me as 'A big... um... giant... oaf'." He shrugs, a perplexed look coming over him. "You know though, now that I think about it, I think that's what everybody would describe me as. Weird. That's weird." He strokes his chin in thought a moment. "Huh?" Shrugging, "Anyway, moving on to your last question. My perfect day from start to finish. Well, I already had it. And hopefully, there will be many more to come. Trin and I went on this picnic, you see - by the way, Trinil is my girl back in Breachill." Pausing, he looks around at the others before moving in closer to the twins, bending at the knees to get to their level, and leaning in. "Also, we're going to be getting married too. Cev is going to officiate our wedding because, well, I don't know anybody else plus he's already volunteered so that helps. Anyway, there's only one tiny issue" he holds his forefinger and thumb barely apart, "with the whole marriage thing that I've run into. I haven't asked her yet." Butterflies attack his insides as he talks about it, his face scrunched up in a look of guilt. "I know, it's not really that tiny but you've got to admit, it's pretty nerve-wracking. At least for us humans it is. I don't know about elves but just talking about it makes me nervous. I don't know why. Just wanted to clear that up with you and don't tell the others I'm a nervous wreck about it, please. Thanks." Rising again, "Anyway, we went on this picnic and talked about a good many things. We got to know each other a bit better." His mind wanders back to the day. "It was nice. To sit and talk and get to know each other. And that was pretty much it. It was the perfect day." Joran seems to drift off to another place as he continues. "It seems like there's barely any time these days to do such things. It feels like all we do is rush rush rush and we don't stop and take the time to smell the flowers, you know what I mean? To actually get to know those we care about, those we love. To simply just talk to them. Whether it be a spouse, friends, or family." Grinning, Joran returns to 'here and now' and cuts his focus to the twins. "Sorry, I think I was trailing off there. Anyway, that's it for me. Hope that answers your questions, ladies." He nods, giving a wink before walking away. As another thought hits him, he abruptly stops and looks back to the ladies. "Also, I like what Catalina said. Getting a full night's rest without interruption would be fantastic. I have the worst time sleeping through the night. What I wouldn't give for at least six hours of straight sleep, let me tell you." He nods matter-of-factly. "Okay, I'm done. Bye-bye." Smiling, he gives them a little wave and moves along.
"Come over here Mayor Joran, she's VERY nice. Smart cats know what they like, and Harriet likes her ears scratched. Let her smell your hand ..." Smiling like a kid in a candy store, "Really? She likes that, huh?" Giving her the food, Joran gently rubs behind her ears at first before finding his courage quickly and giving her a much better scratching. Speaking to her through puckered lips, "Who's a good kitty? Huh? Who is she? And what's her little name? Her little name is Harriet, that's what it is. Yes ... it ... is," he says to her, scratching her robustly under her chin between each word. "You are such a good kitty." Giving her another vigorous scratching behind both of her ears with both of his hands before hugging her head with his own, he steps away to allow the others to pet her. Grinning from ear to ear, "That is a fantastic animal, Akosa. You know, I'm gonna have to get myself a pet lion. Boy, that'd just be fantastic." He nods emphatically.
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