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MEAN PEAK PLATEAU - MID-DAY
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Louma shakes her head, watching the back of Hansyl disappear into the foliage, dutifully following Nary's nimble pace as best as he could. Just North of them, the hilly route they'd been trekking came to a crest onto a grassy plateau ringed by small, yet old trees, their chosen path guided by a babbling creek that fed them well. She turns to Nesseth with a wary look. "I already regret this decision. How sure are you that we should check both sets of tracks?"
Nesseth sighs as he walks alongside Louma, watching as half of the party separates to check a second set of tracks. "Nary and I came to the same conclusion. Both sets of tracks are about as fresh as each other. If we follow one and not the other, we might end up missing Garwin by days, so better to split temporarily and alert each other if we find something."
Kira is fluttering a little ways ahead, keeping her senses keen as she looks out for both danger and the blue flower. She spots Hansyl and Nary heading off and turns to follow them only to double back when she notices Nesseth and Louma not doing so. She flutters over and blinks at the pair. "What's happening?"
Louma looks to Kira as she nods, giving her a reassuring smile. "We've found a second set of tracks heading Westward. Our trackers think it's a good idea to check out both." She nods again, turning back to Nesseth. "I trust their judgement. Well, Nesseth, lead on."
Kira flutters near Louma. "Nothing big too near by right now, and no blue flowers..."
Nesseth nods and starts to take the lead, moving in the direction indicated by the set of tracks he opted to take. "How long have Garwin and Victoria been out here so far, again?"
Louma sighs, shaking her head as they move up toward the crest, the creek is cut in a fair depth, it's small set of falls quietly bubbling away twenty feet from where their dry path starts leveling off. "Up here, I don't know. They were talking heading this way after they finished circling the sand valley, so perhaps as long as two weeks after I returned to Respite? That's... Nearly seven weeks if I recall correctly."
Nesseth hums thoughtfully as he keeps his eyes scanning the ground in front of them for more tracks. "Hmm... that means the tracks we've found are probably marking near the edge of Garwin's territory. I know I don't need to say this, but eyes and ears open..."
Kira looks to Louma. "What should I do?"
Louma nods, already keeping her head on a swivel with Nesseth in the corner of her vision as much as possible. She shifts her slithering to a less comfortable worm-like crawl that reduces the noise she makes. "Keep a look out along the edge of the trees for us, Kira. Perhaps fly over the water, it's the clearest area and you might spot some tracks that we haven't seen." Louma's hand falls to the butt of her club as she turns at the sound of... Her own wing brushing a tree branch.
Kira follows Louma's advice, taking higher up into the air and watching the area around and ahead of the pair closely from a safe distance.
Nesseth scrambles sideways as he pulls his crossbow out, only to see what the sound was a few moments later. He sighs and takes a moment to gather himself again, then goes back to finding the tracks again. "Right... should be some new tracks close by..."
Louma can't help but grin in mild embarrassment, pulling her wings in snugly to her back. "I hope so. I also hope they lead us to a sleeping bear, one that will remain as such until Nary and Hansyl can rejoin us."
Kira suddenly dives down out of sight behind the treeline toward the shore of the water.
Nesseth looks up from the ground when a flicker of movement catches his eye just above the treeline. He spends a couple of seconds glancing around the sky, before looking over at Louma. "Huh... was that Kira, just now? Where'd she go?"
Louma is slightly startled by the sudden movement to her left, just barely seeing Kira's wings disappear behind the foliage between them. She resists the urge to call out, turning to Nesseth. "Either she's hurt or she's found something."
Nesseth picks up the pace a bit and hurries over in the direction Kira went. "Hopefully she's just found something, then..."
Louma nods, following along as quietly as she can manage, unhooking the club from her side and mentally preparing for whatever lies around the bushes.
Kira reappears a few moments later, climbing back up into view and flying over toward the pair quickly. She resists the temptation to call out, knowing that they don't want to alert the bear to their presence. Once she has returned to Louma's side, she speaks softly. "Blue flowers... a big patch of them. They smelled... strange. Look strange too to my eyes. Color changes a bit..."
Louma halts, looking from Kira to the direction she had returned from, then to Nesseth. "If that's the flower that affected Erika, we should gather them while we know where they are. Try to find those tracks again." She turns to Kira, nodding. "Well done, lead the way."
Kira flies lower overhead, but still higher than normal so that she can find the way again. It's not too far off the path, and there they are, a patch of innocuous looking blue flowers in full bloom for the noon sun. It's not a large patch, maybe a few feet across at most.
Nesseth nods at Louma as he starts to scour the ground for fresh tracks. "I'll let you know if I find anything, then."
Louma nods, following along below Kira. She looks down at the sun reflecting off the creek through the canopy, before the sun breaks through completely from an opening above the flower patch. She slows, looking at the pretty flowers and immediately feeling a small twinge of apprehension. "You're right, there's something off about their color... I suppose that just makes them more likely to be the one we want, though, hmm?"
Kira nods. "Yes." She lands on Louma's tail. "I shouldn't risk stirring the pollen..." She looks at the flowers and frowns. "We must be careful here..."
Louma nods, reaching down to rehook her club before turning and opening the bag on her tail. She retrieves a pair of metal tongs, a knife and a large rough-cut piece of leather which she lays out on the ground near the flowers. "You're right, we should do this as carefully as possible."
Kira looks at the flowers and shakes her head. "These are not good flowers." She gets off Louma's tail and just stands near the tools, ready to help as she can.
Louma chuckles quietly, bending as close as she dares and gripping a bloom with the tongs. "From all I can tell is the color is strange, I imagine more than that is making you so wary of them, though." She easily cuts the bottom of her flower's stem with the sharp knife, laying the whole thing down in the middle of the leather before picking another out from the patch.
Kira nods. "It's like I've seen in the market... the man with the swinging watch... Mesmerism is it called?" She reaches in to dig up the roots of the cut flowers, setting them next to the tops of the flowers and careful to avoid any liquid around the cut. "The flower tempts me... more than it should..."
Louma gives Kira a sideways glance, nodding after a few moments. "There is something... Alluring about them. I suppose if neither of us thought anything of it, I might have been at ease lying down among them after a hike." She looks around the area at how the trees provide plenty of cover, while the creek flows idly nearby. "Really, this entire place is almost too serene."
Kira just focuses on helping Louma collect samples of the flowers, working very hard to resist the urge to dip her tongue into them...
Louma pauses the gathering to think for a moment, digging her knife into the dirt around the next couple of flowers and pulling them up with the soil intact. She sets them in the leather so it will hopefully maintain the clump around the root. "That's... Probably enough? I don't know how much exactly Plume needs, but if we find Garwin and Victoria and somehow manage to bring them back, I'll just fly back here and get more if they need them."
Nesseth whistles a short, sharp, if somewhat quiet tone to catch Kira and Louma's attention. Once he has it, he waves them over to him.
Kira looks up at the whistle and takes off toward it, happy for the excuse to be away from the flowers.
Louma looks to where the whistling seems to come from as she finishes tying the leather up, glancing towards Kira. She looks back towards the flowers, shaking her head at the strange feeling she gets from them before putting their samples away and slithering off after Kira. Nesseth comes into view a minute later, giving Louma an odd amount of relief.
Nesseth is currently kneeling near a patch of clay that has a rather big print pressed into it. He traces a fingertip along the gouges in the ground that were dug up by claws. "Looks like we've got some fresh tracks here. Really fresh, actually." He looks up a bit and gestures at the nearby treeline, "Looks like he went in this direction, but he should be really close by still."
Kira looks at the size of the paw print and shakes her head. "Very large... are you sure we have enough with us?"
Louma looks in the direction Nesseth gestures, turning to give Kira a bit of a warning look that she likely doesn't need. "Right. We've got some of the interesting flowers... Let's get word to the others. Kira, do you think you could find Hansyl and Nary and lead them back here?"
Kira nods. "Yes... I should be able to..." She flies up and gets her bearings before flying off quite quickly.
Louma watches Kira go, turning back to Nesseth. "That should keep her safe. Do you want to keep following the track for a little way, or wait here for them?"
Nesseth looks over at Kira as she takes off. "Safe flight, Kira." He watches as the moth vanishes over the treeline, then turns his attention back to the tracks, "Probably best that she stays up in the air... I think Garwin's wandering somewhere nearby. Probably about a minute's walk in any direction, though the markings point me that way." He looks up at the treeline and points.
Garwin is standing upon all fours at the edge of the treeline exactly where Nesseth has pointed. The massive ursine is most certainly feral, though scraps of armor still cling stubbornly to some parts of the creature as it lets out a territorial roar, clearly eying the two intruders before he begins to charge through the brush towards them.
Louma balks at the roar, instinctively drawing her sword halfway from it's sheathe before thinking. She drops the blade back into it's sheathe and unhooks the club instead. "Nesseth! Charging!" is all she manages to shout before darting away from the lizard.
Nesseth 's eyes widen the moment he locks gazes with the bear. A moment passes where the information of 'move, you fool!' makes its way from his brain to his feet, and he launches himself sideways with as much strength as he can muster.
Garwin charges down in a fury, moving his massive bulk at a terrifying pace as his eyes lock on Nesseth. He turns towards the lizard with an incredible twist of his bulk and lets loose another roar, before lunging forward with bared teeth.
Nesseth comes out of a roll with his crossbow in hand, but before he can load a blunt bolt in, he notices that Garwin's still charging at him. He quickly pushes back up to his feet and scrambles to get some distance between himself and the raging bear. "Oh, crap! Way too close!"
Louma watches the bear as he focuses on Nesseth, grimacing as she regains her 'footing'. She grunts at herself, trying the first thing that comes to mind. She spreads her wings and slams the club against the nearest tree a few times, shouting. "Hey bear! Hey bear! Here!" Her tail bundles on the ground in anticipation in case Garwin decides to pay attention.
Garwin raises a paw up to strike at Nesseth, only to pull back slowly, growling as the noise behind him draws his gaze to the swan-snake pounding at the tree. He circles away from Nesseth towards the noise, eyeing Louma cautiously.
Nesseth retreats a few more yards in case Garwin decides to shift his attention back again, but he takes the moment to scramble and load a blunt-tipped bolt into his crossbow. Leveling it, he waits for Louma to move aside, lest he hit her should he somehow miss Garwin's bulky frame.
Louma holds her gaze on the bear, meeting Garwin's eyes. Her wings curl slightly as her body tenses up, ignoring that instinctual urge to run screaming through her nerves every few seconds. "Come on bear! Look here... Keep looking here!" She hears the familiar sounds of Nesseth's crossbow, keeping her eyes on the bear as she backs away slowly, still banging trees with her club.
Garwin circles lazily towards Louma, growling. But as she doesn't take any aggressive action other then making noise, the bear grows impatient and strikes, raking a claw towards her.
Louma narrows her eyes as the paw raises, her wings moving before she even has a moment to think as they flap, sending the swan backward well out of the path of claws. She swings the club at the air between them, grunting. "Any time!"
Nesseth pulls the trigger as soon as he hears Louma's wings flapping, sending the bolt on its way. Without missing a beat, he lowers his crossbow and starts to reload, this time with a bundled net. "Needed you out of the way, first!"
Garwin lunges to snap his jaws at the retreating swan, only to roar in pain as the stun bolt strikes in the back of his leg. He turns back to Nesseth, dragging his back leg for a moment as he snorts, quickly shaking off the effects and returning his focus to Nesseth.
Nesseth lifts his crossbow again, net loaded and ready. He's only momentarily thrown when Garwin manages to shake off the bolt's hit, but recovers fast enough to take proper aim at the lumbering bear. "Perfect, right there, Garwin." He pulls the trigger again, letting the net fly.
Louma barely flinches away from the interrupted bite, but holds back and watches Nesseth's plan unfold, taking a moment to recover from the nerves as she feels the tree trunk against her back that would've been her doom.
Garwin charges Nesseth. The net fires and hits dead on, unfolding around the bear, but failing to immediately halt his momentum. Garwin only begins to stumble as he nears Nesseth, and with barely any sign of stopping, he slams into Nesseth, too tangled to bring teeth of claws into the equation at the moment.
Nesseth smiles in satisfaction as the net tangles around Garwin, just as planned. However, that satisfaction only lasts for a split second when he remembers one little detail: momentum. Reacting on instinct alone, he casts his crossbow aside, pulls his arms in across his chest and tucks his head down just as the big, fuzzy mass of bear collides with him. The strength of the collision is enough to send his smaller frame sprawling backwards several feet and onto the ground, leaving him momentarily dazed.
Kira comes flying back high overhead, her little lantern clutched held below her as a blazing beacon for the other two guards who are trailing far behind her. As she sees the bear charge through the net and into Nesseth, she lets out a little shriek and dives down towards it, intent to harry and distract it away from her friends.
Louma grimaces, eyes tracking Kira's lantern as she flies back in. 'Good news and bad news.' she thinks, grunting as she hooks her club, reaching to her bag and undoing the blanketed bundle on top of it. There's a lot of metal on metal noise as a net of sturdy chains unfolds, which Louma holds under herself as she beats her wings, sailing over Garwin and dropping the chains.
Narrator: A feral shriek pierces the air as something big leaps from the branches above Louma. The feline blur jumps from few additional branches before landing on the bear, claws and teeth outstretched, full of fury not even remotely contained. She manages to land on the bear just before the heavier net lands on top of them both, surprising her.
Louma turns in the air at the new howling, landing roughly some ten feet beyond the heap of bodies. "Wh... Where the-Victoria?!" She unhooks the club again, looking at the chain net that is barely large enough for hampering the grizzly alone. She considers the device Strix had made for her, though she's not keen on it's side effects, especially now.
Kira is luckily out of the way as Louma's chain net drops, though it still surprises the moth, who has to take a few moments to collect herself again. She blinks at the sudden appearance of the cat and the ensuing chaos.
Garwin struggles against the first net, roaring as he works his way forward towards Nesseth, lying on the ground in front of him. He raises a paw to tear at the net, pulling it loose bit by bit, when suddenly Victoria's weight slams into his side, claws piercing his hide and knocking him onto his side, just as the chain net lands over the pair of them, a violent struggle entangled with the net as he flails his arms at his assailaint in instinctive self defense, hampered by the pair of nets further entangling him.
Louma glances towards her fellow guard, hissing under her breath as she readies her stance, club in hand. "Come on Nesseth, you've been hit harder than that, get up... Kira? Are the others on their way? We're going to need more muscle here."
Victoria tangles onto Garwin with what could only be experience, though she still gets hit to her side. Regardless, she holds on, the net seemingly not bothering her as she gets her bearings and focuses on the feral bear under her: "Get a grip!" While her voice certainly has more than a bit of a feral lilt to it, the words are very clear compared to earlier roaring.
Kira flutters over to Nesseth and prods at his shoulder. "Get up... get up friend..." She looks over to Louma and nods. "Soon! But I came back as fast as I could once we could hear the fight strongly!"
Nesseth gives his head a stubborn shake as he pushes himself up a bit. With a quick tuck and roll backwards, he's back up on his feet and ready to continue. "Right, I'm up!" He takes a step, staggers, then regains his footing, "Ugh... mostly, anyway! Where do you need me?"
Louma moves back somewhat as she watches the other two fighting. "I'm... Not sure. We have to stop those two from ripping eachother apart, but getting in the middle of that is asking for disaster. If we can... Somehow drag the chain net off of the bear without the leopard getting free..."
Garwin continues to struggle against the net and against Victoria, continuing to flail and bite at her, the initial net little more then an annoyance now, but the chain net causing significant issues to the tangled bear.
Kira flies up again, swinging her lamp back and forth to show the way to Hansyl and Nary, whenever they make it though the forest.
Victoria attempts to hit Garwin on the side of his head, but her grasp slips from the bear's fur and she slides down his side instead, ending on her back near the bear's feet. She growls in pain, but her expression is still full of murder at Garwin.
Nesseth recovers his senses almost completely after another few moments, and he staggers forward to grab onto the chain net. One little detail latches into his head, and he calls out as he starts to work the net around. "Victoria, get out of the net once you've got an opening!"
Louma watches Nesseth out of the corner of her eye, moving to help with the net when she realizes what he's up to. "Does she have her wits about her?" She muses out loud, though the question sounds stupid to her as she considers the last couple minutes. Still, she keeps her club in one hand just in case.
Garwin tries to turn to strike the thing causing him pain, raising up a paw, claws extended, and preparing to strike, when he finally catches glimpse of Victoria and hesitates.
Nesseth nods as he works the net around a bit more, trying to give the feline an opening to slip free. "She's got her wits enough to talk, so we can reason with her."
Victoria slaps Garwin on the side of his head, growling: "Get a grip, you moron! They're trying to h-help!" She's clearly in pain, but at the same time 'retreat' is not really a word in this lady's dictionary that often, let alone right now.
Kira notices a glint off of the gear of one of the other two soldiers and flits quickly toward it to help guide them the rest of the way and give some sort of information about the situation at hand.
Louma hadn't heard Victoria, but nods at Nesseth's assessment, then she looks to the leopard as she speaks again. She finds an edge to the chain, working it over to Victoria's back and looking toward Nesseth. "Here, the edge."
Nesseth lifts the edge of the net and reaches in, figuring he should expedite Victoria's 'escape' before she and Garwin rip each other apart even more. "Victoria, get over here!"
Garwin seems confused at first, but growls as the leopard strikes him, raising his paw again to strike, having been pushed perhaps a bit too far this time to defy his instincts to stop this seemingly important thing from hurting him, he manages to swipe at Victoria with a low snarl.
Victoria slides aside from Garwin, growling some more before seeming to finally notice Nesseth right next to her. She gives Garwin one more death glare before squirming towards the lizard.
Louma helps hold the net up for Victoria, looking towards Garwin instead. "Come on Garwin, collect yourself. Are you alright, Victoria?" She glances sidelong at the feralized guard. "Well, injured?"
Nesseth grabs hold of Victoria and starts pulling her out from under the net, leaving Garwin pinned in place by the metal chains. "I forgot how stubborn you could be sometimes, Victoria. We're here to rescue you two, not watch you two kill each other..."
Kira vanishes into the copse of trees toward Hansyl and Nary.
Hansyl and Nary spot Kira, the pair having already drawn out blunt weapons as the rush towards the roaring and shouting up ahead.
Kira keeps pace with the pair, explaining the very basics of the situation, mostly summarized as 'Bear bad, cat good.'
Garwin continues to struggle, though some of the fight has left him in the face of Victoria's fury, the bear seems rather confused and tired, trapped in the chain net.
Victoria lies on her side where Nesseth manages to drag her, panting hard and aside from a brief glance at Nesseth and Louma, keeps on glaring at the ursine: "Stupid fucking stubborn bear..." She's bruised, hurt and definitely more than a bit still processing what's happened.
Louma moves back from Garwin again, keeping her club at her side as she takes a moment to reassess the situation. She looks towards the sound of running footsteps approaching through the trees, nodding once to herself. "I've told you once and a thousand times, that language is unbecoming a guard and a lady, Victoria." She bends down next to her, examining the side that Garwin had struck early on in the fight with a delicate touch.
Nesseth rolls his eyes as he sets the net back in place and makes sure Victoria is in a safe spot, as well as making sure she doesn't try to continue her attack. "Says the cat that didn't hear us the first time..."
Victoria shifts to lie on her belly, and perhaps finally takes actual notice of Louma: "Yeah, well, you try this and not curse a bit."
Kira returns behind the other two guards and hovers near Louma. "Is it over?"
Nesseth sighs and stands up, then moves over into Garwin's line of sight. He shakes his head a little as he looks at the bear. "Garwin, can you understand me?"
Hansyl and Nary follow Kira into the battle field, glancing around as the action seems to be over. Hansyl salutes Louma, glancing nervously at the bear, "Captain?"
Garwin growls as Nesseth steps in front of him, struggling weakly against the net. Still, it's not much of a struggle, and his head moves back towards Victoria to give her a careful, almost sad look.
Louma shakes her head at Kira, glancing towards the netted bear before them. "I think he's tired, but let's not relax too much. Hansyl, Nary, flank the bear and be ready to pin those nets." She looks to Nesseth with a clear 'keep on' expression.
Hansyl nods and moves behind Garwin, Nary moving to follow and flank the bear.
Kira carefully snuffs out her lantern, knowing that it's at least no longer needed for the moment. She lands, panting a little from exertion of so much fast flying. "Can I do anything to help?"
Victoria looks about the others, feeling way outflanked. She attempts to get up, but Garwin managed to hit her more than initially seemed and she collapses back down. "Unf. F-fine." The anger is fading from her voice, due to both confusion at the situation and her injuries.
Nesseth sighs again and stands up, making his way back to the group at large. He looks up at Kira. "Probably not... We just need to make sure Garwin doesn't get back up to cause trouble again until we get back to town." He looks at Louma, "He doesn't seem to recognize me, but he recognizes Victoria. The sooner we get them back to Plume, the better."
Victoria lets out a reflexive growling hiss at Louma, baring her teeth: "Don't!"
Louma nods to Nesseth, turning to look at Victoria again, setting a hand carefully behind her shoulders. "Take it easy Victoria, let us help you out first." She carefully checks Victoria's side again, looking for the injury while applying light pressure along her ribs. "Nesseth, do you have an aid kit in your gear?"
Nesseth nods and puts his pack down, then starts digging through it to extract a first aid kit he'd gotten from Plume. "Yeah, I've got a few things in here. Bandages, willow bark, things like that. How bad are we looking?"
Kira just flutters out of the way, watching all the curious goings-on.
Victoria is not overtly injured, though besides the very fresh bear claw marks on her side, it's obvious she's been having it rough in the wild. On closer inspection, her body is covered in all kinds of scratches and bruises from the last two months.
Louma puts light pressure down Victoria's other side, shrugging. "As far as I can tell, just a couple hurt ribs. Nothing feels broken, and the bleeding isn't terrible. Some cotton, a few bandages, and a bit of willow bark for the rib." She looks to Kira, sighing. "We're going to need to set camp here, I think. Could you prepare a fire pit for us?"
Victoria snarls at Louma again, but resists the instinct to lash out. She lets Louma bandage her up, but otherwise avoids contact as much as she can.
Kira nods to Louma. She looks around and finds a clear, dry area away from trees and starts clearing it for a fire.
Nesseth rummages around in the kit and extracts some supplies to tend to Victoria's injuries. He splits the materials with Louma, so the two can work on her at the same time.
Louma nods, being as gentle with the care as she can manage. "Well, this went... Smoother than expected, honestly. I'm glad that Strix's weapon didn't come into play. Thank you, Victoria." She glances again towards Garwin, thinking on what they're going to do about him.
Victoria lets Louma do her thing, but looks the other way, her mind roiling.
Kira has a pile of kindling set in place, as well as a few thinner branches over it, but she's just not strong enough to move rocks to surround the fire and certainly not strong enough to split logs for wood.
Louma sets the last bandage in place, leaving Victoria to herself as she goes to help Kira set up the camp. It takes the three of them extra time to get everything ready, with Garwin under watch and home on everyone's minds. Louma bends to set the firestarter on the campfire, glancing at the bottom as she's about to twist it, seeing a heart shaped carving glimmering in the afternoon sun. Home really isn't too far away.