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Post by Kestrelwing on Mar 25, 2009 9:51:53 GMT -5
Kohaku
Haku pushed another brid behind her ear and focused on the source of the sound. Not a nix hound, nothing Haku had ever heard before. She almost asked what it was, but thought better of speaking. Perhpas it would pass by and leave the two travellers alone.
Yeah, right.
She shifted her hands to the two grips of her staff. For a moment of hesitation, she looked up at Vintus. Snick was her surprise move, the thing that often won her her battles. No one ever guessed that her staff was more than a staff, until it was too late.
Stop being an idiot! This thing could kill you both!
Haku steeled herself and twisted the grips in opposite directions. From the ends of her staff slid two thin, strong, silvery blades. She adjusted her staff, readying herself for whatever it was that was coming.
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Post by Neravarine on Mar 25, 2009 10:17:16 GMT -5
Vintus gave a low whistle as the blades slid out. "Impressive. Lets hope whatever it is gets the idea to leave." He then drew his blade from it's sheathe quickly, the metal glowing white hot and tendrils of flames whipping around the length of the blade as he did so. It then cooled down back to normal as he readied his stance. Vintus's eyes widened is surprise inside the steel helm. Out of the bushes of an opposing road were two alits. Their hunched over brown bodies were 5 feet tall, huge mouth full of 1 inch teeth similar to a crocodile gaped at the two travelors as they walked slowly towards them on stocky legs. Their huge scaly stomachs moved slightly with each step... Legs that were not neccasarily fast, but could run for miles before stopping. The reason Vintus was surprised was that alits were normally found in the northern parts of Morrowind near Red Mountain... And they usually didn't hunt together... They were lone hunters... Nit like Nix Hounds... They must be mates... "Get ready." Vintus warned as one of the alits charged.
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Post by Kestrelwing on Mar 25, 2009 14:17:41 GMT -5
Kohaku
Haku nodded, deep brown eyes focused on the charging beast. Inwardly, the momentary turmoil that had occured was gone. Every part of her mind was focused on the fight.
Haku hadn't ever fought an alit before, had barely ever heard of them. A few travellers that passed through her village had occasionally told harrowing stories of the beasts' strength and precision, stories of desperation and bravery. The one issue that caught with Haku is that these were legends. Most people didn't easily survive when an alit attacked them.
Haku stepped to the side, well aware that the alit wouldn't be fooled by that simple trick the second time. Her mind was racing to find some way to fight one without the other coming at their backs. She didn't spare the energy it would take to look at Vintus. He was a full-grown man and experienced traveller. He'd know how to handle himself.
The second alit chose this time to move. It attempted a second, more controlled charge toward Vintus. Haku made a warning noise low in her throat, but did not move to engage the second alit. Vintus would have to deal with it, because the first was at that moment readying itself for a second charge at Haku. The redguard licked her lips and checked the position of her staff. She was ready.
The alit's yellowed eyes were dull, but angry, and Haku found herself drawn to them unnecessarily. No. There was no need to distract herself with thoughts of what such a beast would do to her tattered remains. No need.
Haku stepped slowly toward the beast's right side, eyes always on it's movements, it's reactions to her behavior. This time, as it charged, she experimented, stepping to the side and adding an upward swing and thrust at the huge scaly stomach. The blade cut into the side of the thing, barely. She thrusted as hard as she could, then withdrew the blade, leaving a thin trail of the thing's blood on the ground. It smelled disgusting and Haku almost retched. She shook her head. No time for that. She steppped back, readying herself for whatever would happen next.
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Post by Neravarine on Mar 25, 2009 17:12:07 GMT -5
Vintus was more than ready. As the second alit charged, the paladin brought his claymore in a viscous arc on the beast's reptilian head. Blood and flames erupted as he quickly wrenched the blade back out of the alit's incredibly tough skull. It jumped backward, hissing in it's guttaral voice. A long seared cut about two feet long and an inch deep was carved in it's head and back. Even though it was in pain, the alit was still standing, even still willing to fight. Thats how tough they were... Vintus brought his claymore up and then char4ged the alit, getting ready to swing again.
The first alit roared in frustration as it attempted to get at Kohaku. The young redguard was nimble and quick, and kept distance between the alit and herself with that staff. The alit then took a chance, and lunged at her with surprising speed, huge maw open in an attempt to grapple her with it's jaws, it's prefered way of handling prey.
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Post by Kestrelwing on Mar 25, 2009 17:28:36 GMT -5
Kohaku
Haku was sweating now, eyes focused on her opponent. The alit was strong, and relatively fast, but it wasn't smart and it's maneuverability was terrible. Haku attempted to use this against it, sliding and leaping, keeping the distance with Snick. By this time, the alit had quite a few wounds, slices in it's side, but this only fueled it's anger and Haku was running out of dodges. When would the thing give up?
Haku was surprised by the lunge and fell back as the alit came at her. Stupid rock... She'd tripped. The fraggin' alit was going to kill her by stepping on her. What kind of heroism was that?
Haku rolled as best she could to the side. The alit, momentarily surprised by the 'disappearance' of it's prey, was a few meters away, looking about wildly. Haku's heavy brows lowered. What to do... The thing would see her soon, but until then, she had precious planning time.
So much for planning time. The alit, having finally caught sight of her, charged again. Haku heaved herself up and jumped to the side, rolling as she fell. She'd never get the stupid dirt out of her hair. The alit knew her trick this time, and skidded to a spinning halt, rushing her again. Haku rose to her feet and sidestepped as best she could, stabbing blindly with Snick. The blade seemed to hit home. The alit roared with pain. Haku checked to see where she'd stabbed.
Her blade was still lodged in what seemed to be the beast's eye. Haku yanked it out and prepared herself to go on the offensive...
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Post by Neravarine on Mar 26, 2009 9:00:25 GMT -5
As Vintus charged, he brought the claymore in another wide arc, swinging the blade down, but the alit jumped sideways, then lunged, mouth open. He only just managed to lodge his blade in the beast's mouth vertically to make sure the alit didn't get at his head. Vintus was pinned on the ground, the alit snarling in his face, and the thing's breathe almost made Vintus gag. No time for that though... Vintus could take care of the alits, but Kohaku was unarmored and that weapon of hers wouldn't be able to pierce their incredibly tough hide very well... Vintus then planted both of his feet in the beast's stomach, and with a grunt of fatigue, managed to throw the alit behind him. Standing up quickly, he saw the alit get up behind him, then run towards him with it's strange gait. He blocked another bite from the massive predator... Wouldn't be long before he could find an opening to finish this thing off...
The other alit howled in it's barritone voice as it's eye got pierced. The one remaining hazy yellow eye stared at Kohaku with a bitter rage. It then walked towards her very slowly... It had learned from it's past mistakes... It wasn't going to make them again.
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Post by Kestrelwing on Mar 26, 2009 18:13:09 GMT -5
Kohaku
Haku eyed the alit nervously. This new cold anger thing was starting to unnerve her... She wanted to raise a hand to wipe the sweat beading on her brow, but with a beast as strong as this in front of her, she wasn't sure that she wanted to risk being attacked while her hands were otherwise occupied.
She stood firm, staring the monster down. A strong will shined in her deep brown eyes, as did a hint of respect... for this creature, fighting for survival in a place so hazardous as Morrowind and managing to survive, for it being able to so easily tire Haku, for it's refusal to give up when it's eye had been stabbed.
The stocky redguard stood there, meeting the alit's fiery yellow eye with fierce brown ones of her own.
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Post by Neravarine on Mar 26, 2009 19:52:45 GMT -5
The alit growled at Kohaku as the two stared each other down. It seemed to last an eternity... Before the alit finally snorted in disgust and lumbered off. This prey was too hard to catch... Giving a bark to it's mate, the banged up alit fighting Vintus jumped back and followed after the larger female. Vintus watch them cautiously as they went to the direction from where he came, before finally grabbing a rag from his pack to wipe the incinerated blood from his sword. The alit's wounds were superficial, they most likely would live. "Well... That wa sone way to get the heart pumping." Vintus said with a smile as he continued to wipe the blood off.
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Post by Kestrelwing on Mar 26, 2009 20:06:48 GMT -5
Kohaku
Haku just replied, "Hmmm." before joining Vintus a few meters away. She found her pack laying on the ground further back down the path. Picking it up, she immediately rummaged in it to find a worn cloth that she used to clean Snick before storing his blades back in their wooden sheaths. She raised the rag to wipe her eyes, saw the gore collected there, and thought better of it. Instead, she wiped her face on her sleeve. Her mother wouldn't have approved of such manners, but her mother wasn't the one who'd just fought a fully-grown alit and barely survived.
Shockingly, Haku was relatively unscathed by the fighting. She had a few bruises and a collection of scrapes and cuts, but it was all mostly from tripping and falling on the ground. She slung her pack back over her shoulders and strolled her way back to Vintus, trying to look as though that hadn't phazed her, that she fought monsters every day out on the road...
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Post by Neravarine on Mar 27, 2009 13:23:40 GMT -5
Vintus looked unscathed, maybe a little dirt on his steel because the alit threw him to the ground. He was cleaning that off as he saw Kohaku approach. Vintus took off his helm and smiled. "WHEW! I needed some excersise. Didn't expect it to be two alits though. Did you see the size of them? We don't get those in Cyrodil." The paladin was grinning unfazed as he cleaned the rest of his armor off. "Maybe if we are lucky we could see that pack of nix hounds too."
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Post by Kestrelwing on Mar 28, 2009 17:01:08 GMT -5
Kohaku
Haku grinned. "Believe me, they aren't that common around my village, either, and we're on Morrowind. It really is surprising... What are they doing here? They're supposed to stay much further from the coast, and especially from the cities..." Her smile faded slightly. This wasn't natural... These kind of monsters were supposed to be rare on the roads, even the ones that led right through the wastelands of Morrowind. Guards and natural instinct should have kept the alits from attacking. How bad were things getting that even alits couldn't find enough to eat?
She shook her head. It was the inflation... So many people moving to Morrowind, trying to turn it into one of their tamed little territories. The farms and cities were wiping out all of the lushest areas, where alits might have once ventured to trying to find edible treats. Now, they lurked, waiting for something that might not hurt them too badly. Haku almost felt bad. Almost.
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Post by Neravarine on Mar 28, 2009 18:49:29 GMT -5
Vintus immediately frowned. "The blight has been really bad this month... Maybe they have moved from their more natural area to escape disease and bad hunting? Regardless... These are dangerous times we live in... Ther ehave been rumors back home of Uriel Septim geting ill... Not to mention where The Legions are considering just abandoning Morrowind."
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Post by Kestrelwing on Mar 28, 2009 20:23:04 GMT -5
Kohaku
Haku almost said, 'Aken', her people's word to end a prayer, but decided against it. She didn't need to get Vintus's hackles up by mentioning how much she hated the Legions and their influence in Morrowind. Haku's village had been on the coast, and thus was more populated by different peoples, and Haku's family had been in Morrowind a long time. She wasn't sure how much she liked the Legions effect on Morrowind.
"Ill? I hadn't heard... What is he rumored to have?" Haku's eyes were bland, dark orbs in a passive face. Things like Uriel Septim's well-being didn't affect Haku-world, and thus, Haku wasn't particularly worried about it. This was the issue with growing up in a small village. You grew so used to your small world that you didn't even see how the 'big people's' worlds affected your own until it was too late.
OOC: >.< Who is Uriel Septim again? xD Sorry 'bout that. I just can't seem to remember... xD
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Post by Neravarine on Mar 28, 2009 22:12:54 GMT -5
(Emperor of Cyrodil.)
Vintus only looked worried as he put on his helm... "I'm not sure... With all the problems here and back home... Maybe Morrowind isn't worth staying in. The Great Houses are about to go in an all out war, and with the spread of blight, war on the horizon, corruption, and the more intolerant natives... The legions have been thinking of evacuating with anyone loyal to The Empire... Thats very bad. I don't know how some of the Dunmer are going to act when they realize there is nothing stopping them from remaking their nation... With imperial influence here, I honestly thought things improved here. Now I'm not so sure... I just hope it doesn't come to that."
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Post by Kestrelwing on Mar 29, 2009 13:31:02 GMT -5
Kohaku
Haku almost winced. This guy was a serious Legions supporter. She considered staying quiet, but decided against it. Hopefully, Vintus would not be so hasty as to abandon her simply because she had differing opinions.
"Why would things improve with imperial influence? We used to be a small nation. We didn't have many cities and the ruling people had little to no effect on their people. Now, we have the Legions enforcing the rules that were created by people who never took the time to check how they sat with their subjects and cities springing up everywhere."
"With the cities, monsters like alits are forced to choose between trying their luck with the blight and wastelands, or attack members of villages and travellers like ourselves. Farms take up the rest of the usable hunting ground. The only thing that seems to be rocketing upward is economy, and even that won't last."
"I'm not big supporter of the Dunmer, but at least when they were rulers, they didn't bother those of us who tried to live our lives simply. A bloodbath is the last thing that we need, but if the Dunmer try to take back the land, who's to say that those who liked things better in the past won't help them? It'll be a bloodbath, but only the supporters of this rule would die. And I don't see anyone who violently opposes the supporters having a problem with that."
OOC: Tell me that I have the history right... It was only relatively recently that Cyrodil took Morrowind, right?
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