[p] another time when the earth wasn't so angry

Ithiel de le Poer · 03-24-2012, 06:40 PM

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Date: 22 March (back-dated) @ night. Pretty thick fog over most of the Waste and Drifter Bay, and the easternmost extremities of the Dampwoods. Thin, thin sliver of moon -- dark. This is all vaguely important to the thread's premise. ^^
Posting Order: None -- post when you can.
NPC Participants & Player Controller: Hasse Kettil, controlled primarily by me. Rose, J: if you guys want to make him do stuff in your posts or speak, that's defs cool, but I wanted to handle the excuses/reasoning he gives myself, if okay? O: The post after this can powerplay him giving response to Ithiel's question, but it should definitely be something evasive. :3 He could also even altogether refuse to respond.
Desired Result: Scout is released -- no deaths, no injuries.
Participants: Private for Sepirah and Valkyrie.

Ithiel is by me!

A silver moon hung in the sky, just the thinner sliver cut against the otherwise purple-black sky. Innumerable stars twinkled alongside this moon, and the world overhead was entirely clear, free of clouds. It was a rare evening for Nova Scotia, for the clouds were near omnipresent. They were not altogether spared from fog, however -- an equally unusual night fog had settled down over the Waste, rolling in from the bay when the sun went down.

Lystra cut through this low-hanging fog, and it swirled behind horse and rider as the pair made their way around the borders. It was night and Zedekiah slumbered in Ithiel's cave, and so he walked the borders blind. His own eyes were perfectly functional, but he felt handicapped without a second pair eyes in the sky. The dusky coyote dismounted from his horse, moving off amongst the trees for a moment. He returned shortly thereafter and prepared to re-mount, but hesitated, his nose twitching as he inhaled.

The world smelled of moisture and mist, but there was something else, too -- something entirely unpleasant and stinking, really. The man grabbed the reins of his horse, patting her neck reassuringly, and led the mare off, following the scent trail. He bent to inspect the earth after walking some distance, poring over it with a stern face. Though they were not altogether protected from a late snowstorm, the most recent winter snows had melted away, leaving great swaths of the Waste as mud, accompanied by wide puddles.

Here was just such a puddle, but the water was swarthy brown. Ithiel walked around it and looked around, grunting. There were a great many streams coursing through the forest to the east of Inferni, he knew, and a scent trail could be disguised from even experienced trackers and scouts with some effort. This was decidedly outside of the forest, however, and the puddle just behind him had been disturbed not long ago. The dusky man decided to remount his horse, and they carried off at a faster clip.

It was only just after that he saw it, moving in the distance. The flatlants of the Waste typically yielded high visibility, but tonight's fog obscured the distance somewhat, and Ithiel was closer than he might have liked. He put his heels into Lystra's sides and urged the big mare forward. She accepted his command and began to trot, then cantered forward at a quick pace. Concealment was not his primary concern at the moment. As he drew nearer, the figure stopped moving and watched him circle around, cutting off forward progress.

As Ithiel turned and slowed his horse to come back around toward the Luperci, he thought of Ezekiel's command. The man tossed back his head and issued a short, sharp cry to draw any nearby Infernians to him. There was not a great distance between his current location and the mansion, and voices carried over the Waste's plains, even fog-drenched as they were. As Ithiel drew near to the scout, he saw the man was smeared with mud and stinking of some foul odor. Leaves and grass stuck to the mud, and the odor appeared to be chemical. Ithiel could not identify it beyond its cloying and foul sweetness, and he went so far as to wrinkle his nose as he drew Lystra to a halt.

The dusty coyote glared down at the stranger. He was cream and orange in coloration, younger than Ithiel by some months, and skinny. The cloak hanging from his shoulders seemed to be giving off most of the four odors, though it was damp and no less mud-covered than the Luperci himself. Why do you skulk around Inferni's borders? he demanded. It was clear to Ithiel the mud, the scent, the leaves and twigs -- these were meant for concealment, as was the hour and weather. He could not afford to wait for the remainder of Inferni to arrive before questioning this slithering worm of a wolf.

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