Hunting and Slaying the Okraten-Bears

Walking across the clay beach, Alessari ud Tise’el tries to avoid thinking about her companion’s concerns. Focus on the present, and she can concern herself with the ship-beast that might have expanded its hunting ground. As they cross the clay beach into the brush, Sari turns to Renalt. “So, which way was it to this dome?”

Ren frowns, looks back towards the previous island as though trying to find the camouflaged watchtower, then forwards towards the brush-covered hills. “It should lie past yonder hillocks,” he muses gesturing in a slightly different direction than straight ahead, “Though once the hills themselves be crested, we should be able to see the statuary rising up from the earth into view.”

Sari nods, looks back to Den. Silently, she gestures to say she’ll rush ahead, as she can move through the brush far quieter than the rest of the group, and scout out to confirm Ren’s direction. Den nods, furrowing his brow. He’s wondering why she’s going ahead this time, as opposed to him. She touches her bow, back in its leather carry case, but still strung, then gestures to her eyes and the group, trying to convey that if something goes wrong with them, she can still help from afar.

Den seems to get that. He nods, condensing his body like a coiled spring to leap at any danger. Sari then gives a nod to Felazo, who has been watching the silent exchange. Her captain nods back, whether giving approval or acknowledging that his approval wouldn’t really matter that much, she isn’t sure. But either way, it doesn’t matter that much. She heads ahead of the rest. Up the hills.

The brush is thick. Her crewmates will have a slow time moving through it. Even Denlo, for all his grace, will likely struggle. She, on the other hand, moves smoothly along it. As though Nature herself were here, letting her pass as she wishes. She knows that’s not the case. Nature, her Nature that is, sits only in places that are deeply impacted by magical phenomena. Though, she then does realize, perhaps this place is different than expected. After all, Felazo claims there is an okrativ presence here. Perhaps Nature has sprouted its roots in the soils as well. Either way, her own grace and understanding allow her to move effortlessly through the underbrush without making a noise. Soon enough, she reaches the hilltop. And indeed, she can see the head of a statue ahead. It isn’t quite the way Ren was indicating, but fairly close. Looks like it’s another two hillcrests to ascend before she can see into its depression.

She keeps her eyes on the statue head as she descends the hill, until it vanishes beneath the next crest, only reappearing once she herself crests that hill. She doesn’t recognize the statue, but it looks different than the strange living statue that they fought in the previous building, the box in the swamp. A relief, that fight was a rough one. She continues onwards, though the next hillcrest is not as well aligned with the direction of the statue as the last, so as she walks, keeping her eyes on the unfamiliar head, it never fully leaves her view. Soon enough, she’s looking down on the area around the rising structure.

It appears to be centered on a small pond, though the shape and coloration of the area seems to indicate that, at one time, a large portion of this depression was a lake. The texture changes an awkwardly far distance from the structure’s walls, though whether that is because the structure was not directly built beside the lake or that the structure at its base is larger than it appears currently, she can’t be sure. The architecture looks different than the last one. More like something that is meant to be seen, though much of what was clearly intended to be reliefs along the walls have been worn away by time and erosion. In the valley itself, there are not one but three okraten-bears prowling. Two seem to be in a minor dispute on the near side of the rising structure, while the third is by the pond. The dispute does not look serious enough that they will come to blows, but perhaps, if she and her companions wait and are careful, one of the pair might be forced to leave back into the brush. Would make the fight easier. Either way, she has to warn the others.

Slowly and silently she slips back through the brush to the first hill. The crew is just now cresting it, marveling at the statue. Sari rises up from the hillside, informing Felazo and the rest of the crew, “There are three okraten-bears, though if we are careful and quiet, and willing to wait it out, there is a good chance one might leave on its own accord.”

Felazo nods. “Ideal. We don’t want to be weak, in case the ancient structure has similar problems as the last one we entered.”

“The statue looks different than the last, so it probably won’t scream at us and nearly kill us in an instant,” Den says, nodding towards the statue.

“That’s the hope,” Felazo replies with a grin.

Sari shakes her head, before leading them through the path she’d walked. And, it is as though the brush lets them through as well, and the five crewmates travel with ease down and up and down and up the hills. She can’t help but smile as she leads them. That means that it might not just be her skill with finding footings. At least some small aspect of the Nature she befriended so long ago is in this place. Or, more likely, there is some greater element of the world that the Nature she remembers is a part of, and that knows her friendship with it.

Once they reach the lookout clearing in the brush that she’d examined the depression from, she points out the pair of okraten that are disputing. The dispute seems to have ended, as one is slinking away from the pond towards the brush. It seems upset, hopefully upset enough not to help when the others are struck at. Slowly, quietly, they make their way to the base of the hill, remaining hidden among the shrubbery. “Okay, I’ll head over into that bush, and provide support, we rush that guy, and hopefully kill him before the one by the lake reaches us, then we can focus it down. Alright?” She looks at the monastic sister.

“Got it,” Den says, but Sari already knew that he did. That is how he thought as well, and had the skill to deal with it if things went wrong. Sister Hilan has always been a bit less tactically minded.

The human woman recognizes the look on her friend’s face, and nods. “One, then the next,” she says softly, understanding what is happening. She quietly makes her way to a point where she can hit both the okraten-bears that she believes to be threats. She takes a keen look at how it’s been affected by the twisting influence of magics powerful and unknown. It shouldn’t be a problem, catching it off-guard. She nocks an arrow, breathes, pulls back the string, and looses it to let the charge begin. It strikes true, though as it sinks in a strange green mist seeps out of the wound.

Denlo leaps into action, rushing out from the brush and across the grass at incredible speeds, his blade in his hand impossibly fast. The okrativ-bear, however, reacting to the arrow, just manages to notice the man coming and the blade slides across its arm, but finds no resistance as the arm briefly is nothing but green mist. Letting out a heavy breath of anger, he stares down the beast before swinging once more, this time cutting through the matted fur, leaving a trail of exposed skin along the okrativ-bear’s chest. Sister Hilan follows him out, raising up her massive, glowing shield to protect him.

Felazo, for his part, seems genuinely surprised that Denlo didn’t kill the creature. Shaking his head, he walks out of the brush, points at the creature with his staff as he traces a series of sigils through the air, and a small blob of viscous liquid flies out from the staff, striking the creature and burning it like acid. Renalt follows him out, readying himself for a fight, but rather than rushing in, he mutters a verse to himself while making eye contact with the okrativ that Den is fighting.

The okraten are starting to move. It’s up to her and Den to get this done fast, or else they might be forced to retreat. Carefully, she once more breathes, nocks, pulls back the arrow, and looses it into the okrativ. Just like the last, it strikes true. And just like the last, despite getting in there deep, some strange mist seeps out of the wound. As though it is a part of the bear’s blood. She moves slightly, to keep the bear from realizing her position, staying low and hidden amongst the brush.

Denlo sees the opening and, flexing his muscles, he slashes at the base of the arrow. It slices deep and true, cutting through flesh and bone and carving a large chunk out of the okrativ-bear’s chest. He follows it up with a slash vertically, pulling the blade up through the creature’s body towards its throat, gashing through it. Then he leans in and draws the bloody blade across his masked helmet, the crimson blood evaporating into green mist moments after it leaves the blade.

The okraten both strike, rushing towards the group. The far bear begins to move, the mist pouring out of it as it runs across, striking out not at Denlo, but at the armored woman beside the large man. It bites into her armored shoulder, ripping through the metal and as the jaw opens, blood begins to seep out. But Hilan is focused on Den, who is enduring the onslaught of the creature. The wounded okrativ, feeling death is near, slashes at Denlo, but Sister Hilan pushes her shield in the way, letting the one bite her to protect the more dangerous of the pair. The bear smashes the shield to the side and drives its claws into Den’s side anyways, through his leathers. Then, as it digs deep, mist begins to pour out from it into the wound. The creature itself seems to vanish as the mist moves past Denlo in the direction of the brush where the other bear had left, rematerializing into an okrativ-bear a few paces away.

Sister Hilan touches Denlo’s shoulder, letting the warm truth of the cold fist knit his sides, if only a little bit. Then, she turns her attention to the bear that just bit her. Readying for a fight, she smashes down with her shield’s boss. She can hear some bones cracking. Ren, for his part, tries to stop the creature from escaping and gathering more support. He moves in for the strike, before sliding down low to trip the beast. It shifts its legs and avoids the trip, so Ren dances around to strike it across the cheek with his reinforced lute, and then begins a heroic song of swift victory. Felazo walks over, tossing a small vial at the wounded one. Out of the vial expands a strange, sticky goo-like substance, covering the creature and hopefully slowing it down. Then, to the healthy one, he points a finger and a sickly green line spins out from it and into the beast. Sari swiftly finishes off the weakened and immobilized creature, before turning her attention to the other one and firing a shot into its chest. Then Denlo finishes the beast of with a pair of swift slashes, one cut up from the arrow wound to the neck, and the next from the side of the neck to the prior slash, causing the beasts head to lop over to the side as the area around the rising temple and the lake falls silent.