The Growls of a Beast General|Naurorod

[Toyoll]

Sloan scented the air, he has never been this far out of the Beastlands. He was on edge but found comfort in the sound of his warriors' breaths behind him. It has been a dayand a half since they departed from Poldora on their march for answers. Sloan's troops still looked as fresh as if they had just left moments ago, but the elk was a little concerned for the water type in their ranks.

Beasts had an unsurmountable endurance, even the weaker ones, but Thavan was of a different element, he had to compensate.

But it would soon end, they drew near to the Fire's territory.

Sloan, vigilent and proud, snorted again. He seemed to do this more often ever since leaving his homelands.

[Kender Bard]

Thavan breathed heavily and pushed his sweat soaked bangs out of his eyes, using a touch of water to cool himself down. They had to be close! He could smell a faint hint of acid in the air, and that could have only been coming from Naurorod. Something struck him about that. "Sloan, doesn't the volcano make scenting these guys out really hard?"

[Toyoll]

The air was pierced by a chorus of yelping laughter, Edanah, the wild dog, grinned "No, no, water-type. People always smell different from their surroundings." she barked another harsh laugh, "Why, even ordinary humans can smell their own footprints!"

Sloan made his elk's growl again, turning his head to the group behind him, he smirked at Thavan, "But Edanah nor the warriors would admit to Thavan that the sour air throws them off...."

Silence fell over the proud warriors...

Satisfied, Sloan called a halt. The sun has reached his zeneth and they have been walking since he broke the horizon. He ordered three troops to go hunt what they could, also instructing them to be stealthy, they don't want to be caught by 'rogue Fires'.

"Not to seem rude, General, but they are only Fires...." came the lazy reply of Eccin, a serval affinity.
"Fine." came Sloan's, "Eccin will tell Sloan the same words when Eccin's fur lays singed on the grass."
The other two-sign grumbled something along the lines of "Yes, sir" and went on his way.

Sloan sat on the strange thatch nearby, and pulled out his trusty nut bag, "Come bristly hedgehog, sit here." He liked this nickname for Thavan and used it often instead of his real name. If he wanted to be a beast, then he needed an affinity, did he not? The General also called Aakel over.

"So how does Thavan fare with us on his first march?"

[Kender Bard]

"Worn out," Thavan admits. "But I think if I keep this up, I'll eventually get used to it, no?" He swallowed, wincing at the sour taste the surroundings left in his mouth. He walked over and sat down heavily. "If we find the rogue Fires, what are we going to do with them?" He tilted his head curiously. "Kill them, or question them?" And it struck him odd how easily and cooly he could talk about killing someone. But these people evidently had no qualms against it, so perhaps that made all the difference in how he regarded a person.

[Toyoll]

"Mmph." he said through a mouthful of nuts and dried fruit, "Probably both. If they are innocent, we will release them. If they are not, then we will run them through..."

Aakel joined the conversation, she was well liked by the General so she needn't fear him, "But we aren't on our own hunting grounds, we will have to be quick and quiet. Or else we will have their General on our backs."

Sloan snorted, "If he is any kind of General, then he will know something of retribution. Besides, Sloan's troops march under Faolan's banner. Fires aren't allowed to harm an embassy."




((right, well, if you have any plans or ideas, I suggest you throw them in there. ^^' my creative juices have all but dried up and my brain hurts.))

[Kender Bard]

((Okie dokie.))

Thavan leaned back, contemplating these things, while he looked around his surroundings. He'd been trying to train his senses to keep alert to anything that seemed out of place. Gazing of in the distance a bit, contemplating his thoughts, he noted something and came out of his reverie. Narrowing his eyes, he stood up to get a better look. It didn't help much; he wasn't all THAT tall, but if he guessed correctly. "I think they're that way," he remarked, pointing off northward. "There's a wisp of smoke that might be a campfire. I can't tell from smell; the wind isn't in our favorite and the volcano sort of overpowers campfire smells to my nose."

[Toyoll]

Both Sloan and Aakel got up with Thavan and followed his gaze, Aakel made a half-hearted gesture with her hand, "Nah...We wouldn't be able to tell the difference this far off...."

She and the General exchanged looks and the vixen went off to find the scouts. Sloan gave an order to his warriors. They all dropped what they were doing and rose. The elk started assigning positions, like they had the first time they left Poldora, but slightly different..."The Water type and I will be the testers." he declared. An exciting silence fell over the warriors, the air buzzed and hummed with tension.

Sloan was glad, the grass here, although not nearly as tall as the Beastland's elephant grass, was tall enough. His warriors lowered themselves into the thicket, melting out of view, and started towards the smoke. It was an amazing and eerie sight to behold.

Only Thavan and Sloan remained standing, there was no way someone like the elk could hide like that, his antlers were a dead give away. "Come, Thavan Water-type, if we walk quickly, we can keep up with the others." The Beast walked forwards, confident, his ivory hooves not even making a sound.

This arrangement was wonderful for the Beasts. It allowed them to test a situation and react to it. If they didn't like what they see, they'd either surround the person or thing or they'd turn tail. If they did like what they see, all the warriors would come out and form ranks.

[Kender Bard]

Thavan just nodded; giving a very fast stretch and then darting after Sloan. He tried to compensate for the noise he'd make in order to gain speed by running with a peculiar toe-to-heel run. It'd be murder on his feet, but it was a lot quieter than stamping after the elk affinity.

Where the fire came there was, indeed, a campfire, with a succulent rabbit roasting over it. Two men conversed lightly as they waited on their meal. Bundled and tied up near their belongings was a stack of various pelts and furs and skins.

[Toyoll]

The 'tester" was a dangerous job usually reserved for the more capable members of the unit. Sloan walked up to the two men with confidence and regal only royal stag could muster. Although he wasn't much taller than the Fires before him, Sloan seemed to tower over them, his splendid antlers rising fiercely into the air.

He stood at a respectful (and safe) distance, stamped his elken hoof in greeting and called out in a voice that resonated with authority. Sloan later wondered if it was a good idea to challenge them this way, he wouldn't know just how much like the Beasts they supposedly are. They could very well be more aggressive.

"Greetings, Fires of Naurorod. I am Sloan Irontines, General of Clan Poldora of the Beastlands." the elk affinity glanced at the pile of pelts and deducted the obvious, "Sloan wonders if you hunters have heard of....Poachers, perchance?"

Sloan's dark eyes flickered about, he could catch glimpses of his unit. They have just caught up, it would seem and were slowly forming a ring, careful only to move when the wind stirred the grass.

[harkensojourner]

A young teenage in Chinese-like attire was carrying a diminitive knapsack on her shoulders as she walked down the path away from Pyremens. She brushed the brown strands of her hair away from her eyes as she searched for someplace to rest briefly.

At the moment, her nose was dug deep into a book, her steps seeming to walk off the trail as she just walked until she felt it was time to go somewhere important. She wasn't even noticing the general, but maybe a loud noise would make notice of her surroundings.

[Kender Bard]

Thavan started to creep in as well; he wasn't going to miss out on the action. But spotting someone coming diverted his attention. Was this a civilian or one of the poachers? He didn't think it was the latter because one glance at the mens' face showed they were just surprised as he was.

Well, that certainly complicated things.

Trying to move so that he didn't draw attention towards himself in the grass, he called out to the girl softly, "Hey... Stop..."

---

The men's attention were divided between the elk and the girl that was showing up, but Sloan won out on impressiveness. They quickly gathered their wits to answer.

"Nope," one of them answered carefully. "Well, maybe. What about them fine gentlemen we bought these here pelts from?"

The other man scratched his chin and drawled, "They might have been poachers but we didn't ask any questions. Their wares were fine enough not to warrant our suspicion."

[harkensojourner]

The girl looked up when she heard someone speak and finally noticed the men. She looked at the elk and then at the poachers. It took a minute to absorb the surroundings before she realized she was in a bad spot.

Innocently smiling, she waves and looks completely lost. "Uh...sorry. Got lost again."

[Toyoll]

Sloan made his strange elken grunt at the girl and turned back to the two fires. Out of the grass, his Warriors rose, some even quite near to the strange girl. They all stood proud and picked their way back to Sloan, forming ranks behind him.

The General bowed his head to the two Fires, sensing no lies, "Could the Fires allow us to scent your pelts? Poaching is something....not appreaciated by Sloan or the Beasts."

The elk eyed the girl from the corners of his eyes, the traveller had incredibly bad timing and that irked him, though his instincts weren't stirred by the youg lady, this wasn't one of the persons they were after.

[Kender Bard]

Thavan, taking cue from the other warriors, approached the Fires as well, hand ready to snap to his sign. As it was, he was keeping them obscured. Nothing like the element of surprise.

The Fires seemed to tense at the request and in a split movement, they were reaching for their signs to send the campfire surging towards the Beasts. Thavan made a flick of his wrist and was countering it with a torrent of water.

[harkensojourner]

The girl looked back and forth now, not knowing what to do. The sign of beast elementals appearing from their hiding and the fire elementals about to burn things made her extremely confused.

So she said the only thing she could.

"Sorry?"