"Death Upon the Vastdeep Beach"

Log Date:
	6/15/02

Log Cast:
	Mosstracker, Vardeus, assorted members of the Vraeyan crew (emitted by 
Vardeus), Leafshimmer, Bearheart (emitted by Leafshimmer), Skyflame (emitted by 
Leafshimmer), Shelbor, Wayfound (emitted by Vardeus), Coralfire, assorted 
monsters (emitted by Zalehrin), Fallberry (emitted by Vardeus), Xhosa, Raven 
(emitted by Vardeus), Tefin (emitted by Vardeus, then by Tefin), Lysias, 
Shay'la, Kephissa, Tiana (emitted by Kephissa, Vardeus), Starwind, Orenth,
Sianna, Longstride (NPC emitted by Leafshimmer)

Log Intro:
	For many months now, humans from the Olbar village, along with elves
of the Raft and Briarholt and Lostholt tribes, have camped all together with
the humans from the strange faraway land of Vrae, who came across the Vastdeep
on a great raft called a "ship" and who were stranded upon the beach when
their ship-thing was destroyed. Their existence has been mostly peaceful as
they've been getting to know one another, teaching each other their languages
and customs... and in several cases, making friendships.
	But the reason for the destruction of the ship-thing called _Windrider_
is still out there -- and unbeknowst to either the humans or the elves of 
this odd mixed camp, that unknown personage is about to launch a second
assault upon the humans from Vrae, bent on killing the ones he didn't get the
first time, and uncaring of whoever or whatever else might be killed in the
process. And the chosen method of delivery of death is a gruesome one indeed
to human and elf alike, as the sun rises upon the camp....

----------
Beach on the VastDeep Water
The pale sand is full of river-born crystal and gleams with tiny rainbow 
  lights in the early morning light. Wide and inviting, the sands stay warm 
  long after sunset. There are drift logs here, and a large boulder pushes its 
  shoulders above the surface of the sand. You can see footprints, small bare 
  footprints, leading into the water and out. There is dense foliage to the 
  north that follows the coastline closely where it bends to the northwest.
The sun is high in the cool autumn skies.
Contents:
Zalehrin
Shelbor
Starwind
Leafshimmer
Mosstracker
Blizzard
Salmakis
Raven's Tent(#6222Je)
Yellow
Campsite <CS>(#691AJLe)
Coralfire
The Windrider(#1655AJae)
Seasong's Tent <SST>(#6051JUem)
Obvious exits:
Along the Beach<S>  Forest<NE>  Up the Shore<NW>  Water<W>  Great River<E>

As dawn slowly approaches, Mossy approaches the camp, a dead ravvit in hand. 
  He never was one to do much hunting. Still, all the talk of food the night 
  before could've made him slightly hungry. He eases over to his tent, sitting 
  down beside it and places the dead animal at his side. Taking out his knife, 
  but pausing long enough to spot the soon to rise sun... He shrugs. Not that 
  big of a bother...

Mosstracker
         Mosstracker, to some, supposedly looks a bit strange. Perhaps they 
  are right to think that of the 4 1/2 foot /tall/ wolfrider. 
         His body is lanky, but not sickly so, as it was in years past. Though 
  the effects of that time do present themselves on his rather worn and 
  weather-beaten face. His hair is also rather noticible, parted, it falls to 
  about his shoulders, if just a little short. Stained in no real order are 
  splotches of green that mesh with his light brown hair to form an almost 
  sickening swampish color. His eyes peer out unobscured by the hair, stone 
  grey slits of eyes that seem inclined to show as little of his emotions as 
  possible. 
         His clothing is plain and worn. A baggy brown shirt with a pair of 
  pants that seems made up as a patchwork of earthen colored fabrics. He does 
  adorn however, a nicely made hooded-cloak. It's craftsmenship stands out 
  easily amongst the rest of the clothing. His boots as well are nothing 
  spectacular. A pair of brown leather boots, smudged, scratched, well past 
  worn-in, but still quite functional. 
         Among items he carries a small number of short spears strapped to his 
  back, and a small flint knife at his side. Both are positioned to be easily 
  obtained by his left hand. Actually, as you look at his right arm, you may 
  notice a brace of sorts under the shirt, on the right shoulder. The right 
  arm itself doesn't seem to move. Besides where it is pushed by the wind or 
  what have you...
Carrying:
Fleatank

Yellow rouses, stretches, rolls over and goes back to sleep.

Dawn tends to mean time to retire to sleep and last meals, for night-dwelling 
  Wolfriders. But for the humans, it means time to rise up and continue one 
  more day's worth of work, before the Vraeyans can finally set off 
  cross-country to visit the village of the tribe of Olbar. Vardeus and Maerro 
  are up already, Maerro rubbing a fist against a sleepy eye while the Captain 
  amiably nudges a few of his more laggardly men awake. "((Up with you, lads, 
  we've got those last few wagon wheels to build and the rest of a deck to 
  take apart!))"
"((Ach, Cap'n, ten more minutes, please...?))"
"((Is it mornin' already? Oooooog....))"

Leafshimmer has been hunting too, Lucky with her. She returns to the camp from 
  the river side, moving at a decent lope. Lucky travelled far this night, and 
  so too did the Chieftess. She returns with more guests, Bearheart and 
  Skyflame having joined her hunt. Bearheart might be on foot, but for a short 
  distance, he can run quickly enough to not be far behind the fast wolf. They 
  have fresh meat as well, the horns making it obvious just what prey the 
  chieftess had found. As she returns to the camps, some rising, some 
  retiring, she sends a greeting to the elves, ** Heyla ** and raises a quiet 
  hand as she drops Bearheart and Skyflame off by the Briarholt group. Then 
  she continues along to find Vardeus, staying atop the wolf, as she chuckles 
  to hear the moans and complaints. Some parts of a chief's life are the same 
  no matter who the tribe is, it seems.

Leafshimmer
        A hip-length braid of nut-brown hair is wound up in a chieflock and 
  hangs softly over one shoulder. Violet eyes dominate a small circle-shaped 
  face, reflecting LeafShimmer's calm confidence. Shapely curves are 
  accentuated by lithe muscles, often used in the hunt. Her movements reflect 
  the agility and grace of one who has spent her life alone in the woods.
        Dark blue leather shimmers, warping into the surrounding darkness with 
  hints of black, browns and blues. The tunic seems sleeveless, due to the 
  darkest of green sleeves. It's one piece, sewn together by a skillful hand. 
  Soft and flexible, comfortable as only the best of leathers can be. The 
  sleeves fit closely to the arms, sewn in sheath for a small knife at the 
  underarms, the straps the color of the 'vest' which is attached to the 
  sleeves. On the back of the dark vest is stitched a willow tree, well 
  detailedwith an intricate canopy of leaves. The tunic is laced up in purple 
  leather strips and low cut in the front, showing off some of dark green 
  fittings underneath and again at the sides where the vest is 'cut up'. The 
  hem ends only half a hand below the waist, where a purple belt fits 
  perfectly to enhance the slim waist. The breeches are the same dark green as 
  the sleeves, criss cross stitching at the outside of the thighs in dark 
  purple. They fit to the legs like a second layer of skin, disappearing in to 
  a pair of knee high boots lined with the brown tail-fur from nut collectors.

Shelbor, mostly awake already, sighs as he realizes he'll get no more sleep 
  this morning. He dresses in his rough, simple clothes and exits his tent.

Mosstracker gives Shim an absent nod. Feeling just a bit uncomfortable around 
  all the company suddenly, he keeps himself to his work, starting at skinning 
  the small animal. He mutters to himself something about peace being hard to 
  find these days.

Adjusting to the humans' time habits hasn't been difficult -- though her wolf 
  Surejumper has been less than amused. Wayfound's wolf-friend's scent might 
  be picked up in traces here and there about the camp, but as morning dawns 
  the one wolf from Lostholt is mostly noticeable by his absence. Not so the 
  she-elf who is his bond: Wayfound emerges out of the forest, and like 
  Leafshimmer, she is in search of a human. But unlike Leafshimmer, she's in 
  search of Arnos the Wordgiver, rather than the Captain.

For the time being, at any rate, Vardeus is more easily found as he and others 
  of the crew start trickling one by one out of their sleeping quarters. Some 
  of the Vraeyans wander down to the water, intent on taking a quick dip to 
  wake up; for his own part, Vardeus heads instead for the water barrel as he 
  tugs on the sleeveless vest Shay'la had made him, leaving it negligently 
  unlaced while he gulps down a cup of water and then splashes a couple of 
  palms' worth prodigiously across his face.

Coralfire wakes up early herself, and she is just putting the finishing 
  touches on her braid as she enters the campsite. Silently, she heads over 
  towards the Olbar section, looking to see if Shelbor and Xhosa are awake. 
  Coral does seem to sleep somewhere off on her own, not that she tells anyone 
  where it is or anything. A slight smile is given to those Vraeyans going for 
  a swim, and then Coral heads towards the cookfire, intending to get 
  breakfast started.

Coralfire
        Tall and slender, the woman before you is a definite athlete. She has 
  the lean lines of a swimmer, body muscled and toned, while leaving the 
  feminine curves that mark her as female. Her complexion has been tanned a 
  rich golden brown by the sun. The coppery waves that spill down around her 
  face have been bleached to a lighter fire red and even touches of blonde in 
  places, lending highlights and depth to the gentle waves. Her features are 
  fine and delicate, set in a heart shaped face. A hint of natural rose colors 
  her upswept cheekbones and full lips. Her odd, slightly pointed ears can be 
  seen as normally she she wears her waist length hair back into a functional 
  braid down her back. Her bright blue eyes have the barest of slants, lending 
  an exotic appeal to her face. 
        She is wearing clothing made of a combination of styles. Green leather 
  breeches hug to her slender, shapely legs, going down into sturdy, but 
  supple leather boots of the same color. Both breeches and boots have some 
  slight mottling to them to lend better camouflage. Tucked in the top of her 
  boots are a pair of knives for protection. Her top is a mottled brown and 
  green tunic made of softer sea elf fabric... though the style is definitely 
  wolfrider. It is made for camouflage.

It's the blood that draws them, really. The blood of the kill borne back to 
  the camp on wolfen shoulders. Everything needs to eat, after all... and 
  pickings have been slim lately. The wind blows towards them, bearing their 
  scent and slightest sounds away from any that would otherwise have the 
  senses to detect them. Shame, that. But, while it is the blood that draws 
  them, it is the sight that holds them. Peering through the trees, red eyes 
  find shapes that have been burned into twisted minds. Tall shapes. Five 
  fingered shapes... one of them so near... a night guard at the very 
  periphery of the forest sleepily making his way back to camp to maybe catch 
  a couple of hours rest before he has to help the others. His horrific, 
  broken scream as they attack him is the only warning anyone gets...

Mosstracker's ears perk up and he grimaces, placing his kill down with a bit 
  of frustration and muttering, maybe missing whatever point there was to this 
  completely, "How can anyone function with all this yelling!" he shrugs just 
  a bit and gets up to look in the direction it came from. Just a bit curious, 
  of course.

That scream has the attention of the elves - it's not a usual scream. 
  Bearheart looks up as does Skyflame, sends flying between the two. 
  Leafshimmer herself is in the midst of greeting Vardeus. "Heyla, Vardeus," 
  she starts. "That didn't sound right." She cuts the meat free of Lucky's 
  back, as she turns to go investigate.

Yellow is instantly alert, jumping to his feet, ears and hackles up, growling 
  just a bit, deep in his throat.

Shelbor, returning from the slit trench, starts running. His spear is beside 
  his tent...

Every Vraeyan who's out and about immediately whirls in the direction of the 
  scream -- though Vardeus is fastest, the water cup splashing out of his big 
  hand and back into the barrel even as he spins in the direction of the 
  scream, nodding intently to Leafshimmer. Nearby, Tiana pokes her head out of 
  the shelter she has been sharing with her husband, and she can be heard to 
  call out sharply to the others at the water, "(('Ware!))" To her Captain and 
  husband, she adds just as sharply, "((Sir!))" It gets his attention -- and 
  so does the sword she's holding out for him.
"No," Vardeus rumbles in Elfin at Leafshimmer, even as he springs back towards 
  Tiana to take his biggest weapon from her outstretched hands, while _she_ 
  turns to deal with the rest of the crew, coming startledly awake now. "No, 
  it didnae. Let's be seein' what it was."

/Eeeeeeeee! FINDAWAY HIGHTHING! FINDAWAY HIGHTHING! Eeeeeeeeee!/
_This_ scream is from the Preserver Fallberry, who comes zipping out of the 
  woods in a blur of purple and green, flapping its gossamer wings with all 
  the might in its tiny body. Even as Wayfound nearly leaps out of her 
  well-worn boots at the scream from the human, she's distracted by the impact 
  of Fallberry colliding with her head and tugging frantically at her tousled 
  locks. /BADBADBAD Fallberry see nastybad growlerthings! Fallberry see! 
  Findaway highthing gogogogo now!/

Mosstracker gets the faint impression that the screaming might've be something 
  bad, or maybe he knew all along, it's hard to tell with him. But he does 
  sheath his dagger, taking one of his short, throwing spears instead, and 
  peering over his tent in the direction of the scream. All this chaos, if 
  it's over nothing, he'll make sure someone hears about it...

Bearheart and Skyflame move just quickly, heading to help as well. Trouble 
  there might be, and these two are no stranger to it. Their intent is to go 
  help too, Bearheart separating to go through the underbrush, silent as he 
  can go. Tall he might be, for an elf, but that doesn't really matter.

Coralfire stiffens. So much for a quiet breakfast while the elves go sleep, 
  hmm? She looks over at Shelbor. "<One of the Vraeyans, that,> she says. Or 
  she hopes. Xhosa is safe, right?

Xhosa is safe enough, walking her horses along the beach. At the screaming, 
  she stops still, then heads back for camp. Why are things never easy? They 
  should be easy.

The human's scream hardly lasted more than a single breath before the sounds 
  of growling and tearing overcame it. Now, however, that growling comes 
  clearer. The human has been killed, but it is not food-prey. The creatures 
  have forgotten food, now. A stronger inbred instinct has taken over. The 
  tallthings with five fingers are to die. That is their goal. And anything 
  that gets in their way will suffer the same fate. Snarling, tails lashing 
  and mouths foaming crimson with their first kill, the creatures start to 
  move towards the camp. They were dogs once. They are monsters now, with 
  three heads -- eyes red and glowing in their skulls, sharp, deadly claws and 
  teeth, and the hiddeous mutation of sharp-ended tentacles that lash out from 
  their shoulders as they approach.

Somebody yells out anxiously, "((Who had the watch last?))"
"((Markin,))" comes somebody else's worried reply.
And Vardeus breaks into a run, intent on finding out what's just befallen his 
  crewman, leaving Tiana to keep order in the Vraeyan camp. It was Markin on 
  watch, alright -- and if there's anything Vardeus has learned since his ship 
  first came into the waters of this northern land, it's what a death-scream 
  sounds like. He'd been about to stop to question Wayfound's Preserver--
But it's obviously not needed. Not now.
"((WEAPONS! NOW!))" the Vraeyan captain thunders, making every member of his 
  crew dive for their bows and blades. Virdi and Iletya and Maerro, the 
  farthest from the woods, come pelting back in search of a clear shot for 
  their sleeping places.
But Vardeus is closest to the beasts, and so is Wayfound, and the big human 
  and the little Wolfrider spin almost as one. His sword is in his hands. Her 
  spear is in hers. And Wayfound screams at the Preserver, "FALLBERRY! DO! Go 
  for their eyes! NOW!"

Even on wolfback, this is a sight to give Shim pause. High Ones! That is just 
  such - ** <alpha> DANGER ** is sent to the tribe, as loud a send as Shim can 
  manage. Startled wolfriders are pulled from approaching sleep and jumping 
  out to face the danger, weapons drawn. Some move more slowly than others. ** 
  Get those who cannot fight to safety. To the Rafts and home. ** she insists. 
  That would be a safe place for any cubs and gentle elves. ** Five fingers 
  too, if they want safety. ** She kicks Lucky into motion, intending to get 
  over there and help out those in the path of danger
Bearheart finds his way equal with the chieftess and her wolf, at least before 
  the two kick into high gear. His eyes widening as he sees the beasts. Their 
  growling foaming mouths have him arming his sling, and beginning to aim 
  rocks at them. He does have good aim, trying for eyes, for skulls, if 
  they're not too hard. His spear is with him, though set against a tree 
  temporarily.

Shelbor grabs his spear and summons Yellow to him with a gesture and a click 
  of the tongue. "Coral, I don't know where Xhosa is, but that was a man's 
  scream." With that, he and the dog hurry to join the others.

Mosstracker had started to step forward, seeing a few of the others run 
  forward to check it out, his curiosity would not let him sit around and be 
  left behind. But at seeing them, for his eyesight is pretty good, an 
  expression of fear rides over Mossy's face, an expression that would be 
  quite the humorous novelty, but it's doubtful anyone cares at the moment of 
  seeing him in such an uncharacteristic state. He almost reflexively launches 
  a spear at them, but as soon as he lets it soar, he staggers back and runs 
  towards the tents of the few elves still sleeping, or at least, still not 
  out. Feeling that they may indeed want to be aware of what's going on...

Coralfire isn't far behind Shelbor, actually, as she races over. Once she sees 
  the beasts, she freezes for a moment, but she does have her bow. She never 
  is without it, as she travels from her hideaway to the main camp. She takes 
  a moment to prepare her bow, arrow ready to fire. You know, a tree would be 
  a good place to be aiming from. Coral heads for the nearest tree that can 
  hold her, even if it does mean she heads straight towards the beasts, as 
  though she's insanely attacking.

Bow. Yes, a bow is a good thing, that's what Xo's thinking. She grabs hers 
  from the camp, then runs back to her horse, vaulting onto her back. Horses 
  move faster than humans, and it looks like maybe running is the order of the 
  day. She whistles to the colt, sending him back down the beach and looks 
  around for her bear. Hey, these animals are like children to her and her 
  cousin is...running toward the monsters? What is she thinking???

Charging insane, slavering, three headed beasts with flying tentacles is 
  probably /not/ the wisest idea of the day. One of them, a big one, makes a 
  lunch for Coralfire, heads howling and snapping and tentacles flailing. If 
  one of those things hits you, you're in for quite the shock. (Quite 
  literally.) The rest of the pack, and more emerge from the trees now, begin 
  to fan out and charge into the fray. There are likely 8 or 9 of the 
  creatures, all told... some only look to be about a year or so old at the 
  most. But, they're still fierce. They lunge and snap at anything that gets 
  close enough, yelping whenever they are struck in return (by flying rocks 
  and stuff), but not backing off.

Wayfound is not much of a sender -- but she has enough in her to latch onto 
  Leafshimmer's send and hurl it with as much force as she can muster at the 
  Go-Back Tefin, who has only in the last few days stumbled across Wayfound on 
  his own solitary journeys and come to join the human-and-elf camp. The 
  Go-Back bolts out of his own little tent, head ringing--
Raven is a far better sender, and _she_ leaps to the aid of Tiana, heading 
  first to get the most vulnerable of the Vraeyans under cover. Old Altis... 
  and Dharce, round-bellied with the child she's carrying with her. And 
  Maerro, as well, though it galls the boy to be kept from Vardeus' side.
Arnos is, by preference and practice, a linguist and a bard. But all adult 
  Vraeyans have spent time as warriors... and Arnos is no exception. He comes 
  barrelling to join Wayfound, though he still has distance to close even as 
  Vardeus and the Wolfrider dive towards the nearest of the beasts.
And they are aided by Fallberry, who rallies itself enough to screech, 
  /NASTYBAD GROWLERTHING!/ Wrapstuff flies, aimed towards one of the 
  creature's heads.

Yellow proves that there's still life in his aging frame, and still plenty of 
  cunning in his big head. He lunges and snaps, growling, not attacking but 
  drawing the monsters' attention. More, he is watching his partners - human, 
  elf and wolf - and working with them, drawing the beasts towards him and 
  moving to try and give someone a side or back shot.
Shelbor moves with his friend and partner. This is how they hunt bear, and he 
  almost smiles at the thought. Shelbor's heavy spear is for thrusting, not 
  throwing, and can kill a bear with one thrust in the right place. But where 
  is the right place on _these_? He pokes at the monsters, keeping them 
  occupied while the defenders organize. "Watch it! Don't let them get around 
  us! Should we pull back to the water?"

Any elves who are not out of their tents yet after Shim's sending, which 
  shouldn't be any, but if there are still some who are procrastinating about 
  this, then Mosstracker's nearly frantic, yet as always cold and hammering 
  sendings send those few on their way. As he sees them leave, he takes out 
  another short-spear (having had three), and, backing up all the while, 
  surveys the bedlam to see if there is any ...thing, that seems in need of 
  having a sharp object planted in them to discourage them from attacking. 
  He's not an expert marksmen, especially not while actually frightened, but 
  he can still hit things.

Xhosa shakes her head at Shelbor. "No! If we go back to the water, we'll be 
  trapped. And gods only know if these things can swim." She nocks an arrow, 
  trying to give her insane cousin some protection. "Coral, what are you 
  doing? Get out of their way!."

Bearheart can see Coralfire's rush towards the tree, and from his angle, 
  that's what it looks like. He's had a bit of a chance to note that the rocks 
  aren't scaring the beasts at all. He grabs his spear, and runs, using 
  whatever speed he might have gained from his Plainsrunner ancestry, 
  intending to help Coralfire. She's perhaps not noticed the beasts rushing, 
  not with the tree in her way. Regardless, the young Gathered Elf is 
  intending to plant his spear in the ground, aiming it at the slavering beast 
  that's attacking. Just like he did with the bear that garnered him his new 
  name.

Skyflame is working her own way up, intent on trying to use Yellow's tactics 
  to advantage to shoot arrows at the frightening beasts. 

Leafshimmer shoots an arrow if she sees any openings, trying for throat shots, 
  actually. She concentrates, seeing if she can use the vines on the ground to 
  good measure, and they move, shaped by her frantic will to try to trip up 
  the beasts. 

Coralfire gets to the tree, but is hit a glancing blow by one of those shock 
  generating beasts as she climbs. Her scream conveys both her pain and her 
  anger, but she makes it up the tree. HOpefully the darn things can't climb. 
  Stingerfish!

As preserver goo ensares one of its heads, one of the beasts rises up on its 
  hind paws very briefly to try and swipe at the flying creatures, teeth 
  clacking together fiercely as it snaps. Sharp claws rake the air and 
  tentacles flail. The rest of the creatures spread out along the perimeter of 
  the camp. A pair feint and jump on another hapless seaman, tentacles lancing 
  into him, causing his body to jerk wildly, sizzling. His agonized scream is 
  cut short by sharp teeth ripping out his throat. The beast whose tentacles 
  glance off of Coralfire, roars as his path is blocked by the 
  half-plainsrunner youth. His tentacles reach out to ensnare the elf, instead 
  of the human, as retribution for getting in his way. The sharp ends of the 
  tenacles lance in towards the youth's frame, intent on snaring and frying... 
  just like his brethren's did the human.

Mosstracker pauses briefly, seeming to realize how unsteady he is, but also 
  realizing that he's actually looking afraid. How embarassing would that be 
  if someone was to see? Still thinking that people would take note of that at 
  the moment, but he is paranoid about how his demeanor is perceived. In 
  almost an instant his usually cool and collected form returns, though it 
  does look just a bit forced. He has no problem with backing up, even if to 
  water, and this coming from an elf who can't swim. But seeing as so many of 
  the others seem to have some, as he thinks it foolish inclination to attack, 
  decides for him that he might as well help. At seeing one of the things 
  attack Bearheart, he steps forward and launches his spear at it. As good a 
  target as any...

"((NEFIS!))" comes someone's scream -- but by now, Kephissa and Tiana are 
  getting the Vraeyan archers organized. Arrows are beginning to fly, from 
  human bows as well as Raven's, from behind the ramshackle buildings that 
  have been serving as the humans' quarters and from rocky outcroppings as 
  well, and even from behind what's left of the near-entirely dismantled hulk 
  of the _Windrider_ herself.
Much closer to the front line, Vardeus and Wayfound have joined in battle 
  against the creature Fallberry has blinded, spear thrusting, sword slashing. 
  Vardeus takes the high blows, Wayfound the low.

Coralfire gets to a position of relative safety up the tree, arm tingling 
  still with the shock she felt. She has to take a bit of time before she can 
  use her bow, but it doesn't take too long at all. The Olbar huntress will 
  start firing arrows into the beasts as she sees good shots.

Below her, Bearheart is engulfed by the beast, his spear held steady as its 
  tentacles catch on to him, almost hugging him. The youth screams in agony, 
  as he has only one thought in his head - keep that spear straight. This 
  beast must die. There's not much time, not much action, as the electrocution 
  kills, cutting off his scream in its own way.

Skyflame's attention is caught by Bearheart's scream and she offers a choked 
  sound herself, pushing herself into the fray even more now than ever. She's 
  had more than a rough time of late, parents and brother dead and now 
  Bearheart, her last remaining relative, and perhaps her last point of sanity 
  in too short a time? Her eyes blaze as she lets arrows fly with all the 
  passion in her. And when she runs out of arrows, she looks for something 
  else to use, a spear, perhaps one that she can pick up off the ground. 

Lucky is circling the beasts, if he can, keeping Leafshimmer safe. The wolf is 
  growling, hackles raised, as he darts perhaps too close to those tentacles, 
  but he's not called Lucky for nothing. Shim's shaping continues to have the 
  plants moving, and ... that's not strangleweed she's found, is it? The rafts 
  are being pushed away from the sand now, elves and humans aboard. There is 
  still time to wade out and catch them, if needed. A straggler or two among 
  the elves tries just that.

Barely, just barely, Wayfound is able to toss back her head and find the 
  breath to howl: "AAAAAAYYOOOOAOAOAOAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Under any other circumstances, the sound might unnerve the Vraeyans. But truth 
  be told, they've had time to grow accustomed to the night-sprite she-elf who 
  has, along with Raven and Quietharm and others, kept them company for many 
  months now. They've even had time to accustom themselves to the wolves that 
  seem to be deeply bonded to these elves in ways they can't hope to 
  understand. _Now_, human eyes are far more unnerved by the horrors coming 
  out of the trees, horrors that are reminding many of the sailors all too 
  clearly of the monster that destroyed their beloved ship.
Wayfound's howl, though, is answered by that of her wolf-friend. Surejumper 
  has kept away from the Briarholt wolves, respecting their territory -- but 
  now his elf-friend is in battle, and needs him. The brindled gray wolf comes 
  bounding to join Arnos even as the singer finds himself having to 
  desperately battle a second of the creatures... and on Arnos' other side, 
  comes the little Go-Back, Tefin.

Mosstracker's stomach almost turns at seeing that. Sure, humans die, but elves 
  aren't supposed to... at least, they haven't since he was a child... Still, 
  Mossy, either through his sheer pessimism, or just because he prefers to 
  think of himself as a rare dispenser of common-sense, sends and says in 
  unison, as he sees the sheer number of the beasts lined up around the camp, 
  "There are too many of them, this is all futile!" Even as he steps forward 
  with his last spear, ready to skewer, or at least try to, any beast that 
  seems occupied fighting others or caught up in plant matter. Of course he'd 
  never attack one that could give him a fair fight!

With a horrible howl, one of the creatures goes down beneath a barage of 
  arrows - giving hope, perhaps, that the monsters are not invincible... from 
  a distance, anyway. Another seaman goes down with a bonechilling shriek 
  before he fries as well. A second creature falls to another seaman's spear 
  in its chest. Tentacles flail out towards Tefin and Arnos, and the creature 
  to whom they belong screams when Tefin (who has a sword like most gobacks, 
  yes?) slices off their sharp heads. Hot blood flies. (Ew!) The monster 
  rushes for the pair, heedless of the wolfrider and her coming wolf. A fourth 
  beast chokes in a snare of vines, courtesy of Leafshimmer, as another pair 
  escape and rush Skyflame.

Xhosa eyes the spreading beasts warily. It wouldn't be a good idea to let them 
  surround the group and cut off all their escape routes. She pulls out an 
  arrow, urging Spiritwind near the camp fire and setting the tip on fire. 
  Once the arrow is burning, she tucks the unburning end under her knee, pulls 
  out another arrow and lits the tip. Then, she takes aim at one of the 
  creatures and fires.

Oh yes, Tefin is armed -- and though he and Arnos have not really had time to 
  learn much of each other past that both of them seem to approve highly of 
  Wayfound, the little Go-Back and the human Wordgiver find themselves 
  learning _quite_ swiftly how to work together to deal damage to their beast. 
  Surejumper is distracted from leaping to Wayfound's aid by the wolf-like 
  horror that is battling Arnos and Tefin... and even as the human and elf 
  strike, the wolf leaps in for the creature's flank.

Wayfound and Vardeus, in the meantime, turn their fight into a lethal dance. 
  One head is blinded by wrapstuff -- and Vardeus' sword flashes, the iron 
  tearing through bone and sinew and sending the decapitated head flying. But 
  he is armed with iron, and not with brightmetal; anybody's guess, how long 
  the edge to his blade will hold out.

Skyflame is out of arrows, and has only the spear she grabbed off the ground. 
  She howls with everything in her as she rushes the monster on the right, 
  trying to get under it and take its throat. She intends to take one with 
  her, as hopefully Bearheart managed to do.

Mosstracker moves carefully up to what could only be called the front-lines, 
  though it seems more likely that this entire camp is going to end up a 
  battlefield shortly. His willingness to actually fight is noticibly 
  questionable, as he seems more than a little hesitant. Spear out, a slightly 
  longer one made for stabbing, ready to lunge at one that looks vulnerable, 
  and hopefully pierce it right through to the heart... wherever that would be 
  on these things, he can only guess.

Lysias stays back with the archers, much more content to just fire at these 
  deformed dogs from a distance, especially after seeing what they've done to 
  those they've managed to take hold of. Damage without return is a much 
  better proposition.

Question is... just how many arrows do you people have? There are about 8 or 9 
  of these things, all told. Three are dead, now. That still leaves 6. One elf 
  is dead. Two humans are dead. So, one might say it's an even count. 
  Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that 2 elves are dead, since 
  the pair that rush for Skyflame are almost certain to take her down. The 
  body of one slams into her, three heads snarling, while its mate lances into 
  her with its electric tentacles. Of course, her spear /does/ hit the one, 
  the shaft breaking with the force of the impact, more blood everywhere. But, 
  then, of course, there's Vardeus' retribution as he slices one head off of 
  the monster closest to him. The beast cries out in agony -- but there are 
  two heads left. So, while loss of blood will likely kill it in the long run, 
  it doesn't give up the ghost just yet, snarling and sending out its 
  tentacles after the man with the iron blade. As Surejumper tears into the 
  detentacled beast's flank, the creature thrashes, tearing its attentention 
  away from the pair of two-legs that harry it to turn two heads and its front 
  claws on the attacking wolf. A fourth beast goes down from a rain of arrows 
  and a horrific, bone chilling howl is heard from the biggest of the lot as 
  he leaps off of Skyflame's body and away from his bleeding companion, 
  snarling. One of the smaller beasts, in answer, howls in return, rushing for 
  Mosstracker -- nothing more than a scratch on the creature as it does.

Shay'la missed the first part of the fight looking for her sword and crossbow, 
  and the rest of the fight to this point reeling from Redtide's death. Of 
  course she pulled herself together quickly enough, since everyone knows 
  Underworlders don't show emotions... right? Anyway, now she is in the mood 
  to kill things. She stalks out from the camp, staying a bit back to give her 
  crossbow room. She has it loaded and raises it up, firing off a bolt at the 
  largest beast before beginning to reload. Anyone want to see what a crazed 
  Underworlder looks like... now's your chance.

Shay'la
        Tall and slender Shay'la has a slender, wiry frame, while still 
  appearing totally feminine. She looks incredibly fragile but looks have been 
  known to be deceiving. Her complexion is pale with only a slight blush of 
  color to her cheeks. A pair of dark, piercing eyes provide the most color 
  for her face. At first glance they appear black but on closer examination 
  they are really a very dark blue. Her features are fine and sculpted, almost 
  chiseled. The combination of her pale complexion and chiseled features give 
  her the appearance of a fine, porcelain sculpture. Her carefully schooled 
  face rarely shows outward signs of emotions, and only enhances the view. Her 
  slender face is surrounded by a sheet of shimmering silver hair. It is all 
  one length and normally falls in a straight sheet to the middle of her back. 
  It is currently bound up in an elaborate french twist, so as to not 
  interfere. It is held in place by a silver comb, with intricate filligree 
  designs on it. Two thin braids on either side of her face are kept free, 
  with tiny pearls and silver beeds woven within the silvery locks.
        A supple body suit, made of the woven sea elf fibers clings to the 
  curves of her form. It is made of a deep, midnight blue fabric, so dark it 
  almost appears black at a glance. The bodysuit clings to every curve, 
  leaving very little to the imagination here. It covers her from almost head 
  to foot, with even a high collar that goes around her neck. The suit laces 
  up the front, with fine, tight lacings, ending with a silver clasp with a 
  dark blue stone in the center of it. On her hands are a pair of dark blue 
  gloves, with silver trim that goes around the wrists. A silver belt wraps 
  around her waist. Covering her head is a voluminous hood, that is attached 
  to the shoulders of the bodysuit. The hood is trimmed in silver as well. 
  Only the two braids that frame her face peek out from under the hood. Boots, 
  of a matching dark blue are worn on her feet going up to end at mid-calf, a 
  silver trim wraps around the tops of the boots.Sticking out from the top of 
  one of the boots is an ornate metal dagger. Carved into the bone hilt of the 
  dagger are two symbols, Underworlder in design. A ruby caps the top of the 
  dagger. The metal blade slides into a leather sheath inlaid with silver. A 
  second dagger, far less ornate then the first, sticks out of the top of the 
  opposite boot.
Carrying:
Family Statue
silver bracelet

Coralfire is up her tree, sore shoulder ignored with the adrenaline rush. She 
  continues to fire arrows, aiming for one of the smaller beasts she can see. 
  She fires an arrow, and then one more, and then ... Stingerfish, she's out 
  of arrows. Right, well, she drops her bow and climbs higher up the tree, 
  hoping she can stay safe there. As she climbs, one branch breaks, dropping 
  to the ground, and she hangs by her good arm for a moment before scrambling 
  painfully up, a couple of bruises and scrapes added to her condition.

Shim spies Mossy in the line of danger, and tries to help him out, turning 
  Lucky in his direction. Shim is shaping, from the top of the wolf's back, 
  but she dismounts now, freeing Lucky to harry the beasts as he sees fit, and 
  herself to shape more seriously now. Strangleweed patches have popped up, 
  here and there. Shim finds a spot where she can touch the soil, touch the 
  plants, and make them grow. This close to Briarholt, there are briars 
  nearby. There are briars everywhere around here, and Shim tries to wrench 
  them out of the soil, as quickly as she can. The plants start to come up, 
  wickedly sharp thorns on them. Danger for both ally and enemy, yes, but 
  hopefully the allies are better prepared to avoid the briars.

As Wayfound's wolf-friend is blooded, the big brindled male does his best to 
  answer with fang and claw everything that the monster he battles is giving 
  him -- and fortunately for Surejumper, though he takes several slashes to 
  his flanks, he has Arnos and Tefin to help him out. The Vraeyan and the 
  Go-Back part briefly, to give the wolf room to fight, before diving back in 
  from each side to try to slash off the dangerous tentacles still flailing in 
  several directions.
One head down -- and Vardeus and Wayfound are now both covered in the 
  creature's blood. But neither the Captain nor the Wolfbringer's daughter is 
  stopping their fight. Wrapstuff flies again, blinding the creature's first 
  remaining head even as one of the tentacles strikes Vardeus' left arm a 
  glancing blow. He lets out a ragged howl, his entire limb seeming to go out 
  of his control... and even as he staggers backwards, Wayfound jumps in to 
  thrust her spear through the creature's throat.
One head left to go.

Well, considering the limited supply of other weapons, the Seafarers have had 
  to make do, and bow and arrows are definately easier to produce than blades. 
  Most of the sailors are knife-fighters anyways, and they're smart enough to 
  know that they don't want to tangle with those THINGS with just knives. 
  Falling back on her military background, Tiana has taken charge of the eight 
  remaining crewmembers who weren't foolish enough to charge those things. 
  Eight archers and one runner to make sure the supply of arrows keeps going. 
  "1...2...3...Fire...1...2...3...Fire." The arrows fly towards the 
  approaching beasts. Kephissa loses her self in the rhythm, though she keeps 
  an eye on young Virdi who dashes back and forth with bundles of arrows in 
  his arms.

Kephissa
Wavy auburn hair is tied back with a length of cord to reveal slightly 
  sunburned ears with a close fitting gold band in the right one ... round 
  ears. Although she looks nothing like the normal humans, it does appear that 
  is what this being is. Apparently female too, about 5 and a half feet tall 
  with a slight, but well toned body. She has pale green eyes set in a 
  cheerful tanned face, which slightly chapped lips. She's clearly spent a lot 
  of time under the open sun, more than usual in recent months. On the back of 
  her left hand an abstract design has been tattooed, a triangle of 
  interlacing and overlapping lines.
She wears a loose, short sleeved tunic that falls to mid-thighs. Its obviously 
  seen better days as its worn, and has several neatly mended rips and 
  patches. At one point decorative braided cord encircled the ends of the 
  sleeves and the bottom hem, but time obviously hasn't been spent repairing 
  those unnecessary decorative features. A braided belt made out of slim rope 
  encircles her waist. A iron knife is tucked into the right side of that 
  belt, a cord wrapped around the hilt, and attached to the belt so its less 
  likely to be lost. On the left side a pouch made of a heavy stiff cloth is 
  sewwed to the belt. Her legs and feet are bare, and there are thin silver 
  rings on the fourth toes of each foot.

Mosstracker's wolfblood is questionable, but perhaps he makes up for it with 
  caution. Though that doesn't seem to help now, as one of these things has 
  decided it wants to dismantle him. At least he has range over the thing, and 
  this spear hasn't broken on him yet, so he figures he can use that. Charging 
  as it is, it shouldn't be too into dodging, so taking a step back to brace 
  himself, and to add extra force to what is just one arm thrusting, he drives 
  his spear towards the things center head. If anything else, this should at 
  least keep him at a distance from those tentacles.

Lysias lets loose arrow after arrow at whatever monster he spots. The mess 
  that this battle is, there isn't much time to pick and choose targets. In 
  the deadly monotony of it all, he finds himself thinking aloud, "What are 
  these things!" He's never seen anything like this before, and after all this 
  is said and done, he decides he's definitely going to want to ask about 
  whether this is a common type of event. Hoardes of three-headed dogs are 
  definitely not his idea of local fauna...

Two heads down, against Vardeus and Wayfound. And a third due to that damnable 
  bug. The beast lurches forward as it dies, trying in a last instant to take 
  someone else with it. Fire erupts in small patches around and about as Xo's 
  flaming arrows catch on dry leaffall grasses and leaves. Acrid smoke begins 
  to waft up and across the ground. The biggest male creature lifts his head 
  in howl again, beginning to sound a retreat. There are too many of the 
  tallthings and their sharply falling rain. He does not like leaving, but 
  many of his kin have fallen... They will need time to regroup. A couple of 
  others disengage from the fray, retreating with him, using the smoke as 
  cover as they flee. The monster charging Mosstracker, however, isn't one of 
  them. It's tentacles flail out, intent on snagging its prey. It is stopped 
  only by the strangleweed and thorns that surge up around it's flanks and 
  belly... and the spear the pierces its one throat. Snarling its rage, the 
  creature locked in combat with Surejumper also remains, claws digging at the 
  old wolf. Its sides are scored by the human and the goback, one particularly 
  good strike hamstringing it. It howls and snaps at the wolf.

Shay'la reloads her crossbow and fires at whatever beasts still remain. 
  Luckily for her she still has bolts or she would have had to go to the 
  sword... which would not have been good for her most likely... Not in her 
  current state of mind.

The thing in battle with the wolf Surejumper does manage to get in one last 
  lethal strike: a tentacle that stabs into the eye of the wolf, sending a 
  jolt of crackling electricity ripping through the wolf's frame. Surejumper 
  bays in agony, his body thrashing as he rears back and abruptly crashes to 
  the ground, just as Tefin and Arnos drive their weapons home to take out the 
  monster at the same moment.
As for Wayfound, the Wolfrider jolts as the slaying of her wolf-friend slashes 
  across her soul in a way that the deaths of Bearheart and Skyflame had not. 
  Agonized ambergreen eyes shoot a glance in the wolf's direction, just as 
  Vardeus, cradling his left arm against his body, determinedly pushes his 
  distracted little companion aside to give himself room to deal the last 
  strike _he_ needs to their monster's third, blinded head.

While the beasts draw back, the rain of arrows doesn't let up. The less 
  skilled archers are directed to pepper the retreating monsters, while Kephissa 
  and Tiana aim at the ones who didn't retreat. Tiana's arrow flys to help 
  her husband deal with the blinded deheaded creature, while Kephissa takes aim 
  at the beast Tefin and Arnos were fighting.

Mosstracker is taking a bit by surprise at the extra help he's receiving, 
  certainly makes things somewhat easier on him. Too distracted by this one, 
  he fails to notice that the others of its kind are retreating. He pulls his 
  spear out of its throat with a blood-letting yank and impulsively, and a bit 
  wolfishly at that, drives it towards the things heart. He's going to make 
  sure the damned things dead... And wasn't he just saying earlier that this 
  was all futile? How battle can blind.

Leafshimmer is concentrating on shaping the briars around that beast that she 
  has trapped, determined that it will die. The briars and their oh so sharp 
  thorns latch onto it, tightening around it, much like strangleweed. So much 
  attention and concentration on the plants that she doesn't notice the other 
  beast that comes rushing frantically at her as it obeys the command to 
  retreat. Its talons lance into her as it rises up to snap at her. The 
  chieftess' scream of torture is both sent and verbal, as she loses her plant 
  shaping for a precious few moments. Then she manages to pull more plants, 
  snaking around the creatures legs and and flinging it, though this takes a 
  few more seconds, all the while the creature's talons have her in its hold. 
  Once it's away from her, Leafshimmer just crumbles into an unconscious heap 
  on the ground.

Lysias aims at the retreating dogs if for no other reason than they injured 
  make easier targets, and he just wants to make sure that they can take as 
  many down as they can. He's only slightly stunned at the scream, having 
  heard enough of them in the few moments that battle lasts to have forced 
  himself to consciously ignore them, for the sake of his ability to aim.

Flung from the chieftess' body by her plants, one of the retreating beasts 
  screams as its tentacles lose their electric hold on the magic user. It 
  twists, however, as it thumps against a tree and regains its feet, racing 
  off into the woods after its two companions. Meanwhile, the creatures that 
  are still left somewhat alive and fighting, press their attack as strongly 
  as they can. (Which isn't very strongly at all.) Mosstracker's spear buries 
  itself deep into the chest, through the throat, of the beast Leafshimmer's 
  plants impale. The creature's tentacles thrash out to try and snag its 
  tormentor, but it too eventually gurgles its last breath and expires. Only 
  the blinded creature remains, and it flails wildly at any sound or scent 
  that comes too close, whining and snapping at thin air, tentacles lashing.

Shay'la sees Shim and her heart just lurches. She drops the crossbow and bolts 
  and pulls her sword, charging towards the fallen shaper. Orenth will kill 
  her if Shim dies. She has to check on the fallen chieftess and she'll hack 
  anything that gets in her way.

Coralfire, up in the tree, holding on for dear life, is tiring, and her 
  injured arm can't hold. She begins to slide down the trunk, finding a branch 
  that will hold her. It's all that keeps her from sliding all the way to the 
  ground, though there is a thunk of a different sort than has perhaps been 
  heard throughout the battle. She moans and then forces herself to get some 
  control, glancing to see the retreating beasts, and the fallen chieftess. 
  Oh, this is just not a good thing, is it? Death and destruction ... Coral 
  climbs awkwardly out of the tree, and picks up her bow where she dropped it, 
  one handedly.

/NASTYBAD GROWLERTHING! BAD BAD BAD! FALLBERRY MUCH VEXED!/
The Preserver's high-pitched voice is almost comical in its agitation over the 
  howls of the monsters and the cries of the human and elves -- but one has to 
  admit, wrapstuff is a useful weapon when it comes to blinding monsters. 
  Thanks to Fallberry's last hurled wad of white goo, Vardeus dispatches the 
  last of the heads on the creature he and Wayfound have battled.
And then, with death in her eyes, Wayfound rouses herself up and looks for 
  something else to kill. Tefin and Arnos have already killed the beast that 
  slew her wolf-friend, but there are more, aren't there? There _are_ more, 
  and for once the Wolfrider who lives by the rule of her intellect feels her 
  wolf-blood rise up and scream for vengeance. Her teeth bared enough to show 
  the hint of fangs that comes from her lineage, she starts to dive for 
  another target -- only to be intercepted as Arnos springs forth to stop her. 
  "No," he breathes urgently, "look, they're retreating, my friend, let the 
  archers harry them off...!"

As the beasts retreat out of arrow range, Tiana calls a halt as the arrows 
  start to fall on the ground without hitting anything. Bows lowered the 
  archers step from behind their cover, most of the crew look stunned, and its 
  Kephissa who voices what they were all thinking. "((What kinds of creatures 
  does this land spawn, first that seabeast and now these.))"

Mosstracker's hands are red with the blood the gouted from the things that he 
  stabbed, and as he pulls his spear out of the beast, he can't help but 
  shudder with the once more arriving sensation that he's just killed it. Or 
  maybe the thorns killed it. Or, well, he definitely had a hand in its 
  demise, and even if he feels no pity for it, the sheer fact that he could be 
  pressured into killing something other than for food is a shock to him. 
  Though a short lived one at that, as he sees Shim on the ground unconscious, 
  or worse. Never one to show too much emotion, he still makes his way over to 
  her with noticible haste. And damnit, she better be okay, or he's going to 
  hear it from a lot of people. Or so his paranoid mind works.

Shay'la slides her sword away when she reaches the chieftess' side. She drops 
  down by Shim, mumbling some very unladylike things. She knows Orenth is on 
  his way and he isn't answering her sends... which is bad... very bad. He 
  hasn't been stable the entire time that she has known him, but he's been 
  less so since what happened at the mountain... and then Quenlyn... He can't 
  loose Shim. They'll never get him back.

Where these beasts came from, or even what they were exactly can wait. Giving 
  the beast he and Arnos were battling one final jab just to make sure, Tefin 
  lets his spearpoint drop into the sand and drag behind him as he makes his 
  way over to where Wayfound and Vardeus stand. Death he has seen before...too 
  often, but first the living. The dead can wait..the injured need assistance. 
  "Wayfound...Are you unhurt?"

Mosstracker drops his bow to his side, an arrow still stressed in it, and he 
  has considerable trouble easing on that until a few moments pass. He sighs, 
  returning arrow to quiver. Now probably isn't the good time to ask about 
  what those things were... no, definitely not the best time.

Only when he's certain that the Things are retreating does Vardeus let himself 
  come down out of the rush of battle... and then, panting heavily, his left 
  arm hanging limp at his side and his right stiffly lowering his sword, the 
  Vraeyan captain whirls to take stock of what's left of the scene. "((SING 
  OUT!))" he roars to the crew, to see who's left. Crewmembers start wearily 
  calling back to him -- Tiana first, then others. Ten. Eleven. Fifteen.... 
  eighteen. Not twenty. And the realization begins to sink in to Vardeus that 
  he's lost two more members of his crew.

Wayfound lowers her own spear, then turns a bloody visage around to the 
  Go-Back who hastens to join her. She looks up into Arnos' worried eyes, then 
  swings her own around to Tefin's and rasps out hoarsely, "I am... unhurt." 
  But her eyes are going bleak... now that Surejumper's loss is hitting her.

Lysias drops his bow to his side, an arrow still stressed in it, and he has 
  considerable trouble easing on that until a few moments pass. He sighs, 
  returning arrow to quiver. Now probably isn't the good time to ask about 
  what those things were... no, definitely not the best time.

Wayfound> Tefin locksends ** You know he can't send well, but a light touch 
  brushes through your mind. **

Wayfound> You locksend to Tefin, Wayfound's mind is there, findable... and it 
  is shaken. Badly. More than that, perhaps, a Go-Back's raw sending skill 
  cannot discern.

Kephissa watches Tiana walk briskly, okay maybe race over to make sure her 
  husband is fine, calling for bandages and water and for somebody to stand 
  watch incase the beasts decided to turn around. And than Kephissa hurries 
  towards Arnos to assertain his wounds. She waves Torgan over, "((Go see to 
  Coralfire))"

Arnos eyes Tefin and Wayfound for a moment or two, a bemused expression 
  crossing his green eyes as he tries to glean what exactly might be passing 
  unspoken between the elves -- then, with obvious reluctance but equally 
  obvious worry, he turns to his Captain. "((Sir,))" he murmurs lowly, 
  "((you're hurt...))"

"((I'll keep,))" Vardeus barks, his ocean eyes seeking out Tiana and only when 
  he spies her is he assured that she's safe and unharmed. Then, Maerro... 
  also spotted. And _then_, he lopes across the sand towards Leafshimmer, 
  concern furrowing his rugged features as he sees Shay'la with her.

Starwind had been headed towards the rafts, helping those that were leaving 
  and headed towards safety. He knows he isn't the best hunter, and better use 
  alive then charging head first at some beasts he'd likely just die to. His 
  wolf however, Trickle had stayed and held his own, and goes running to his 
  elf friend once he comes back in sight. Eyes surveying the damage from 
  behind some bushes, he notes the beasts leaving and comes out of the bush 
  silently at first.

Starwind
     Standing at the average height for an adult wolfrider male, Starwind 
  looks as though he had been travelling for some time. His long light brown 
  hair has a few braids through it, and a headband of new green dyed leather 
  keeping the hair back from his face. His almond shaped eyes are a dark 
  emerald green, flecked with gold. His facial features are defined sharply, 
  from the shape of his nose to his chin. Though he is by no means muscular, 
  he looks as though he was toned as a young wolf, lithe yet powerful.
     His complexion has darkened from spending the summer on the Vastdeep 
  shore, also he has had a new set of leathers made for him. The dyed leather 
  nearly matching the green of his eyes, with some beadwork on his vest much 
  like the old one. He wears a pair of thin matching brightmetal armbands on 
  both arms, the newest ornamentation for this elf. His breeches match the 
  tunic, also new leathers fashioned for him.
     He often carries around his recurve bow, one made recently by the magic 
  of a plantshaper, and far more elegant than his old bow. He still makes his 
  own arrows, a small bone carving knife hung around his waist, and on the 
  other side, a bone skinning knife. His wolf Trickle is usually within 
  hearing distance, watching over his bond elf protectively.

A hand and hand plus one. Nothing can make up for the loss of more of 
  Vardeus's tribe...that much Tefin knows, and words do not suit this time. 
  The go-back thing to do is to cheer the win, to dance for the dead, and to 
  celebrate the defeat...or retreat...of your enemies. But one look at 
  Wayfound...high ones, one look at Vardeus shows that nothing he would say 
  would be taken the right way. So he remains silent as Vardeus goes off to 
  tend his flock...takes a cloth from his belt, and wipes some of the drying 
  blood from her face.

Mosstracker would make his way to Shim, but as he sees the crowd she's 
  gathering, he decides to just observe from a distance. Having to be around 
  others is bad enough, but it's all the worse when you're not sure those 
  people have such control over there emotions as he knows he has... They 
  might get a little too emotional for his liking.

Leafshimmer is unmoving, leathers partially destroyed by the beast's talons. 
  She is breathing though, definitely still alive and bleeding. 

Coralfire heads over towards the fallen chieftess too. She and the chieftess 
  have had many conversations, and helped each other out with a few things, 
  and Coral is worried. One of her arms is held at an odd angle, and the pain 
  is no longer so easy to ignore. She bites at her lower lip. "Is she - " No, 
  she's breathing, but stingerfish, that scream still echoes in her head. "A 
  healer - there is a healer, right?" She knows there is, she's met Starwind 
  before. She turns, looking to see where he might be. 

The Briarholters who were guarding the old, young and pregnant come back now, 
  rafts drifting slowly towards shore, though a couple of elves run ahead. One 
  heads over to check on Bearheart, another goes to Skyflame, but both those 
  elves are dead, and there's no denying it. Gradually, they head over to mill 
  around their chieftess, unsure what else to do. Course, someone snaps to, 
  and sets scouts to watching for the return of the beasts, someone to 
  clearing out the dead beasts. The fires that were started are put out, even 
  if it is leaf fall. The ocean is near enough that this is not an 
  insurmountable problem. All eyes continue to return to the chieftess.

Shay'la is actually crying in public right now. This is something she doesn't 
  do... Worse yet, she's talking... to an elf... "You will not die on him 
  Leafshimmer... you hear me. You will not! You do and I will come to the 
  palace and torment you for the rest of my life. You will not do that to 
  him.... You will not. He just lost his son... he will not loose you. Do you 
  hear me Leafshimmer! You had better hear me... You go and we will loose 
  him... and I can't... Leenar, Quenlyn, and now Redtide... Loosing him too 
  would be too much to bear." Yeah Shim... you die, she'll kill you.

Lysias definitely keeps an eye out for if they return, and it garners most of 
  his immediate attention. He'd seen a lot of them from where he could 
  observe, more then were at the front, and if any of them come back he's 
  going to make sure they have some nice wounds to remember it by.

Before he can join the elves, Vardeus only manages to make it within 
  conversational range before Tiana reaches him. "((You _are_ hurt,))" she 
  tells him brusquely, her expression full of worry she won't voice aloud, her 
  jaw set with determination. Her hand on his shoulder stops the Captain; blue 
  eyes meet green, and then Vardeus' gaze drops to his disabled arm.

"((I'll keep,))" he repeats insistently, his attention turning then back to 
  Shay'la and the audible sounds of her frantic state. Then he calls out in 
  elfin, for once actually managing proper syntax, "Where's your healer?"

Orenth emerges from the small travelling camp.
Orenth has arrived.

Orenth
         Standing at well over six feet in height, this elf is an impressive 
  sight. His frame is slender, reminiscent of his high one ancestors. Every 
  movement is graceful and purposeful. He moves with a fluid grace, like 
  flowing water. There is something unsettling about his movements; however, 
  something not quite right. He is like a shadow in the night, every move slow 
  and deliberate. His body is perfectly in proportion, slender but with a 
  certain strength. Midnight black hair falls in a straight sheet down to just 
  above his knees. His hair flows freely in the breeze, wrapping around his 
  slender frame. Two thin braids fall on each side of his face, framing it and 
  keeping the long hair from affecting his vision. The four braids have shiny 
  black beads and solid black feathers interwoven in them. His face is slender 
  and pale, almost colorless. His features are perfect, almost unnaturarly so. 
  His face looks as if it was carved in the finest porcelain by a skilled 
  artist, perfect in every detail. Piercing black orbs size you up from within 
  that perfect face. The obsidian black orbs give an impression of the darkest 
  moonless night. As if the color of his eyes were not unsettling enough, his 
  gaze is even more so. His eyes seem cold and unreadable, emotionless pitch 
  black orbs. Those eyes give away nothing of what he is feeling, hiding his 
  emotions as the darkest night hides the largest dangers.
         He is wearing a black shirt that hugs close to his body. It has a 
  high collar, covering his entire neck. The sleeves are long, hugging the 
  entire length of his arms, leaving only his long, slender hands uncovered. A 
  pair of pitch black breeches cover his legs. Over the pants and shirt is a 
  wide strip of cloth, wide enough to extend about an inch past his shoulders. 
  The strip is continuous, reaching to his feet at both the front and back, 
  with only a circular opening for the head. It is belted at the waist by a 
  black braided cord,giving the appearance that he is wearing a long flowing 
  robe. There are two patches of toughened black leather on his outfit, one on 
  his left shoulder and one on his left forearm. A large black cloak, with a 
  full hood, is clasped at his neck by an intricate clasp of black stone and 
  painted black metal. It depicts a scene, if seen up close, of an eagle 
  rising in flight, wings outstretched. On his feet are a pair of black 
  leather boots. His boots and the two patches on his outfit are the only 
  leather he wears. The rest of the outfit is made of a soft, flowing cloth 
  which seems to flow with every movement. He does not appear to carry any 
  weapons. He turns and looks back at you, his gaze settling on your face....
Carrying:
Nightwing
leather pouch

Wayfound's eyes shudder closed as Tefin wipes her face; she merely stands 
  there for a few moments and submits to the Go-Back's ministrations. Then, 
  shuddering, and slowly, she tilts her head down a bit to whisper to the 
  shorter elf, "You... are unhurt? I didn't see... what you were doing."

Coralfire is just standing there by the chieftess, no longer quite sure what 
  to do. the elves and Vraeyans seem to have everything under control, which 
  is good. But ... she starts shaking now, reaction setting in.

Starwind stands a good distance away from the others are huddling around the 
  injured, then starts running over towards them, wolf at his side. He sends, 
  forgetting that the humans can't hear those in his hurry to aid his 
  tribesmates that were injured to the beasts. ** Who's hurt? ** There are 
  those of the Windrider crew that would recognize him as the healer even if 
  he doesn't speak directly to them.

Kephissa looks around and runs a hand through her hair. What a mess. She sighs 
  and looks around. Too many still bodies lying on the ground. She walks over 
  to Nefis and Marken, but only to confirm what she already knows. Two more 
  gone. She gestures to Dorian and Vidri to help her move the their bodies 
  away from all the blood. The elves will deal with their dead, but their are 
  rites these humans need to do.

"I'm fine...I'm fine..." Tefin says softly, almost too quiet for Wayfound to 
  hear over the crashing of the ocean, continuing to carefully daub the blood 
  from her face. "Arnos and I stopped one of them...I am shaken, but allright."

Mosstracker keeps his distance from the group congregated around the Shim, but 
  he does manuever himself to get a better view of it. He's still concerned of 
  course, for whatever one could decipher from his as-usual blank face, he 
  just doesn't want to crowd in around all the others.

Orenth was in his own private little world, mourning the loss of his son when 
  he felt a burst of pain from Shim. That sparked him into action and had him 
  racing back to the beach. He approaches at a dead run and with a low 
  rumbling growl that builds in his chest. His eyes have a feral cast to them 
  and you'd swear he was more wolf then elf if you didn't know better. He 
  knocks anyone between him and Shim out of his way... he'll just barrel right 
  through them. When he reaches her he drops down and pulls her carefully into 
  his lap before growling at those close to her... including Shay... Watch 
  out... he bites.

"Yer chieftess!" This from Iletya who sees Starwind running up, offered in 
  exhausted, broken Elfin. She points in that direction, giving the healer an 
  additional and probably unnecessary visual cue, for it is near Leafshimmer 
  that most of the elves have gathered.

"Here, healer! 'Tis yer chieftess who's down!" This is from Torgan -- though 
  the word comes out more 'hayler' in his brogue. His voice comes up from 
  behind Coralfire, and as soon as he helps draw Starwind's attention to 
  Leafshimmer, he puts a hand on Coralfire's shoulder and murmurs to her, in 
  gruff Olbar, "<Come... come rest. Are you hurt?>"

Lysias's eyes widen a bit at the absurdly tall figure that comes charging into 
  the camp. He looks friendly... Or, well, no, he looks quite dangerous 
  actually, but he... oh who knows, but he just stares until he sees what he's 
  doing, and deems him okay. Or at least near okay, or, well, ... All this is 
  very hard to describe, and right now his mind just isn't processing much.

This leaves Vardeus, who doesn't want to retreat yet, not till he's sure the 
  injured she-elf is attended... but Tiana sees Starwind coming, and she 
  determinedly tugs at her husband anew. "((Come and sit, curse it,))" she 
  insists. It's an old familiar tone to the Captain, who finally lets the 
  woman he loves pull him aside and satisfy herself that he is more or less 
  whole.

Mosstracker nearly leaps out of the way of Orenth as he comes charging in. 
  That's one elf he's genuinely afraid of, and damnit, this is not where he 
  would've liked Orenth to show up. Almost guiltily he slinks back towards his 
  tent, looking absently towards the rafts and hoping that he doesn't see 
  Starshimmer, as she should be very far away from here by now... though with 
  her stubborness, it wouldn't surprise him if she didn't listen.

Wayfound, one of the few elves not in the ring around Leafshimmer, lets out a 
  tired breath in acknowledgement to Tefin's murmured words. "Good," she can 
  be heard to whisper. "I would be... most distressed, if either you or Arnos 
  had been wounded. I expect that your faculties of reason w... will be... 
  most useful in discerning the origins of those c... creatures..." Her voice 
  comes out strangely distant, a veneer of her usual composure spread thinly 
  across barely restrained inner ache.

Coralfire winces a little as her shoulder is touched, though she turns to see 
  who is there, grateful for something to do. "<It hit my arm, and I got 
  bruised a little, but - >" Well that is the worst of it, though she does 
  have bloodied scratches from her tangle with the tree. She steps back, 
  thinking that Orenth is looking very scary right now, and she doesn't want 
  to get in his way. "<Did you get hurt?>" she asks Torgan, as suddenly the 
  thought occurs that many might have gotten hurt. She glances around to spy 
  Xhosa, and Shelbor still among the living. And Maerro. And then she relaxes, 
  allowing Torgan to guide her away from the tense scene around the injured 
  chieftess.

Being picked up sends pain lancing again through the chieftess, and her violet 
  eyes open, hazy with pain, not entirely clear where she is or what she's 
  doing. The agonized cry this time is only sent. Lucky comes back as well, 
  his own growl heard as he turns to guard Shim from the danger that has 
  already passed. The big male wolf has a gash down one side from the fight, 
  but his name has stood him well, and he is otherwise uninjured.

Shay'la falls back on her rear and scoots back when Orenth growls at her. It 
  is not often you see the Underworlder retreat but Shay knows what the big 
  guy is capable of and she also knows that she can't get through to him right 
  now. She does have sense to motion everyone back, "Everyone stay back!" She 
  continues to try and send to Orenth.

The Preserver comes in to settle on Wayfound's shoulder, wings drooping, tiny 
  eyes full of anxiety. /Findaway highthing need go stillquiet?/ it murmurs 
  timidly at her.

Starwind walks over to where Orenth is holding Leafshimmer, considering for a 
  moment if he even wants to get any closer to the snarling elf taken by his 
  madness than the good elf's length distance that he is. He looks to Shay'la, 
  as though waiting for her to send something, then looking to the others. May 
  as well help someone else if he can't get to Leafshimmer.

Tefin gives the preserver a curt shake of the head. "No, Fallberry...she's 
  just a little shaken." Then, to Wayfound. "I will certainly try my hardest, 
  Wayfound. Come now...let's go sit down and get you off of your feet."

Having dealt temporarliy with her two lost crewmembers, Kephissa intercepts 
  Iletya and takes the bandages, waterskin, and other first aid supplies from 
  her, and heads towards Vardeus and Tiana. "((You got yourself banged up 
  again, didn't you Captain.))" It may be a while before the elfin healers are 
  free, if you trust them, and he needs to be patched up.

Orenth may be growling at everyone else but he holds Shim tenderly. When her 
  eyes open he looks down at her. Her agony is mirrored in his eyes. The rest 
  of the world could fall apart right and he wouldn't notice... his whole 
  attention is focused on Shim. The worst part of it all is that the only one 
  who could really talk sense into him is the one elf that can't.

Torgan -- black-haired, brown-eyed Torgan, one of the quieter men among the 
  Vraeyans, doesn't normally assert himself. But when it comes to Coralfire, 
  he's making an exception on this benighted morning. "<It's all right I am,>" 
  he assures, grinning crookedly, though his eyes are quite solemn. His 
  brother's loss is striking him anew, for Targon had been killed by the 
  monster that wrecked the ship -- and the similarity between then and now 
  does not escape him.

Standing by his tent, Mosstracker is greeting with another wave of disgust. 
  Spotting that ravvit he had been skinning when the attack had commenced, he 
  raises a boot to kick to across well back into the woods, but stops, his 
  better sense telling him at the last moment that even if he feels like he 
  could puke right now, he might need to eat something later...

Wayfound opens her eyes, and stares dully down at Tefin. Tefin, the Go-Back 
  who has stood out even more oddly from his own tribesfolk than she has from 
  her own; Tefin, whose calm assurance and steadfast gentleness have won him 
  the job of looking after Go-Back fawns. That same quality about him seems to 
  register in her now, and half of her acknowledges that she needs the gentle 
  attending, even as she lets him turn her and guide her to somewhere where 
  she can quietly collapse.

Vardeus grimaces as Tiana's cousin comes to take his other side, and he 
  informs both of them, "((The beast hit me arm wi' one o' its tentacles, it 
  did...))" Ah. His accent's thickening again, suggesting he's not as steady 
  on his feet as he pretends. "((But I'm fine, I'm fine... anyone else hurt?))"

Coralfire glances back over to the elves, wondering. There's the healer, but 
  he can't get to the chieftess because ... because her mate won't let anyone 
  touch her? That just can't be right. She expects she wouldn't be able to 
  help though, and lets the elves deal with it, feeling the twinge of pain 
  that causes. Raised among them, and yet still not an elf. She manages a weak 
  smile for Torgan, not even thinking anything of his rescue. It's just the 
  Vraeyan way to be so helpful isn't it? After all, look at how they're all 
  helping out. "<Good. You - your tribe has lost too many. I am glad that 
  you're not hurt.>" A place to sit down? Well, off to one side out of the 
  way. Coralfire is one of the least wounded after all. She is glad to sit 
  though, finding her legs not so steady as time goes on.

Kephissa sighs, "((We lost Markin and Nefis, but most of the crew were smart 
  enough to take cover and harry the beasts with arrows.))" She shakes her 
  head sadly, and whether its part mourning the loss of two more crew, or the 
  foolishness of Captain and Linguist charging those beast only she knows. She 
  looks around. "((The elves lost a couple, not sure I knew them. Coralfire's 
  a bit banged up and Leafshimmer went down, but I think she still lives. 
  Their healer is with her.))" There, was that everybody.

Orenth blinks and shakes his head, trying to clear the fog that settles on his 
  brain. It takes him a moment but he nods to Shim and lays her gently down. 
  Then he stands up and takes a step back, doing the hardest thing in the 
  world for him to do. He looks for Starwind and tries to catch the healer's 
  attention, **Starwind... she needs you.** His send is tight and barely 
  controlled. Orenth does not trust healers.... not as healers. You can see 
  every muscle in his body is tense as he stands a bit off from his lifemate, 
  trying to keep the fragile hold he has on his clarity and his sanity.

Lysias seems to decide that he doesn't need to worry about any of them coming 
  back for now, and goes to check upon a few of the other Vraeyans who had 
  taken up bows. Conversing in few words, his mind is obviously elsewhere. 
  Still curious about those beasts he is, and it's eating at him that he still 
  feels it would be rude to ask the locals about them now. ((I figured there 
  would be no lack of interesting things to see... But that was not something 
  I had taken into account...))

Sianna arrives from the Dancer Beach.
Sianna has arrived.

Before leading Wayfound away, Tefin jogs over to where Vardeus sits, getting 
  his wound tended to. "Do not destroy the bodies of the creatures yet. I need 
  to study them to see if I can ascertain where they came from." And with 
  that, he leads Wayfound off to the Northeast, away from the battlefield...

Shay'la lets out a sigh of relief as she gets through to Orenth, just as he 
  calls for Starwing. She watches him with concern for a moment and finally 
  rises to her feet and walks over to him, likely the only one brave enough to 
  approach him. She reaches for his hand and takes a hold of it. The tension 
  seems to leave Orenth's hand as he holds Shay's. For now she will ground him 
  in reality.

Arnos -- half-distracted glancing after Wayfound and trying not to look 
  plaintive that she is letting the newcomer elf tend to her and not _him_, 
  and half reminding himself that the crew needs him more, most likely -- 
  passes Kephissa and Tiana, and puts in a lowly murmured assurance that he 
  is, in fact, unhurt. That uttered, the linguist moves to rejoin the rest of 
  the crew and help Dharce with her sobbing child... not to mention Dharce 
  herself, who is beginning to sob at the loss of her children's father.

Tefin makes his way through the trees to the northwest.
Tefin has left.

Mosstracker keeps to himself, sitting down by his tent, taking up skinning the 
  ravvit for later. Let them have their congregation, it is none of my 
  business to be involved. He thinks to himself with a nod of agreement, as if 
  he needs to convince himself of that.

Starwind watches as Orenth leaves Leafshimmer on the ground, the healer 
  getting a better look at her with a grimace. He gives a reassuring look 
  towards Orenth, nodding before kneeling beside her. For now, his attention 
  is solely on the work set out before him. Gently placing his hands on her 
  skin to survey the damage caused by the beasts he only got a mere glance of. 
  His eyes closed as he concentrates, and doesn't stop Orenth from again 
  moving towards his lifemate's side if he so wished.

Vardeus nods heavily to Kephissa's report, letting Tiana take his sword and 
  then letting the two women pull him aside and sit him down near what's left 
  of the morning's campfire... which isn't much, at this point. As Torgan 
  guides Coralfire off to where she and Xhosa and Shelbor have had their own 
  section of the camp, the Vraeyan captain sinks down stiffly onto one of the 
  driftwood logs and closes his eyes, while Tiana applies herself to checking 
  him over for wounds.
"((Can you move your arm, my love?))"
"((Nae well... numb, it is. An' twitchy...))"

Leafshimmer's eyes darken and another send comes out of her, pain alone to be 
  felt. She loses the little concentration she had, as she gets moved once 
  more, and her eyes roll back, as she loses consciousness again. if nothing 
  else, at least once her consciousness is gone that low agonized sending 
  stops. Lucky at least recognizes Starwind, and backs off as well, though now 
  the wolf starts a worried lonesome whining howl.

Lysias breaks away from those he sought to converse with. His curiosity can't 
  be fixed by them, and it won't go away for awhile, so he makes his way 
  towards one of the corpses of the monsters, looking at it with a frown. 
  ((Such gruesome things they are.)) He mumbles to himself.

Orenth can't go near Shim as Starwind heals her. If he did he would have the 
  temptation to pick the healer up and throw him towards the water. The hand 
  not clutching Shay's is pure white at the knuckles from gripping so 
  tightly... though if you look close you might see the first drop of blood 
  from where his nails have dug into his palm. He does not like healing 
  magic... he knows just what it can do.

Shay'la continues to stand next to the big guy, realizing for once what the 
  rafters and the wolfriders must feel standing next to her. She is most 
  grateful too that Orenth isn't squeezing her hand, though if he were she 
  would leave it there. Though it might have been fitting if he was... only 
  Shay could get through a fight without a scratch only to have her hand 
  broken by a family member when it was all finished.

When Sianna comes upon the camp it is with no little trepidation. She heard 
  snarls in the woods. Horrible, horrific snarls. Like a pack of dogs gone 
  mad. And then there were the screams that echoed, too. Despite that 
  trepidation, however, she has one particular failing: Curiousity. The 
  carnage that greets her eyes as she hovers behind a tree at the edge of the 
  beach, looking through the branches at the ruin left by the beasts that 
  attacked here is enough to make her catch her breath and wish that sometimes 
  she wasn't so curious.

Not like Orenth is about to ask Vardeus' opinion on the matter -- but oddly 
  enough, when it comes to healers Vardeus would actually agree with him, 
  though the Vraeyan has far more limited experience with them than the elf 
  does. While his crew, shell-shocked and stunned, goes through the motions of 
  checking on one another and verifying with equally stunned elves that a 
  watch has been posted to keep an eye out for any creatures that might show 
  up again, the Captain lets himself droop a bit where he sits while Tiana 
  frowns at his hoarse description of his arm. "((We'll want a sling,))" she 
  says to her kinswoman, brow furrowed, even as she takes up Vardeus' left 
  hand in her own to begin to satisfy herself that her husband's limb isn't 
  actually broken or damaged in any other obvious fashion.

Well, since he won't need bandages, these strips of cloth should work well 
  enough for a sling. Kephissa stands to shake one out, turning to her cousin. 
  "((Think this is the right length?))" Not that she's listening to any reply 
  because her gaze has fallen upon a new face, one who wasn't there before the 
  fight started. The strip of cloth falls to the ground as her hand goes to 
  her knife. "((Captain, stranger.))"

Deep in concentration as Starwind moves to hold Leafshimmer closer to him, a 
  pale glow surrounding not only himself, but her as well. He is detatched 
  from the going's on around him and Leafshimmer, his eyes tightly closed and 
  brows furrowed deeply as he works to mend the wounds caused by the beasts. 
  Slowly, very slowly, the magic begins working on mending the wounds. Not a 
  powerful healer, he does his best to mend the wounds she's suffered.

Lysias takes to nudging at the beast with the bottom one sandaled foot, not 
  wanting to touch it with his hands. He avoids touching the tentacle things 
  for the moment, he wants to, but figures that they might still be a bit 
  dangerous. ((Not any dogs I've ever seen, that's for sure.)) He speaks, but 
  it is to no one in particular, as few seem to be interested in being around 
  the already grotesque, and now mutilated monsters. But who can blame them?

Ach, _now what_? Vardeus represses a surge of weary frustration, not sure he's 
  ready to face anything else -- but he lifts his head, blue eyes squinting in 
  the direction Kephissa has turned. Tiana turns as well, her frustration not 
  as easily suppressed; in the aftermath of what has just befallen them all, 
  she wants to do nothing more than tend to her wounded husband. But both she 
  and Vardeus are leaders enough to put their personal preferences aside, and 
  so she reluctantly does not object even as the Captain hauls himself to his 
  feet again and calls out in his accented Olbar, "<Who's there?>" And again 
  in good measure, in the elf words: "Who's there?"

Orenth turns his head to look at Sianna as he hears a sound. He releases 
  Shay's hand. His eyes begin to loose that focus and he starts to stalk 
  towards the human. All he can think is humans are a threat and Shim is 
  already injured. He has to get rid of the threat. He moves swiftly and then 
  dives at Sianna trying to make a grab for her. The big guy is definitely 
  faster then he looks like he should be.

Mosstracker is all the way across camp, but easily notices Orenth lunge 
  towards the human. ** Not this, not now... ** he sends, but it's a rather 
  feeble one at that. You can't talk the guy out of it, he knows this. He only 
  hopes the human has sense to run far, far away before he has to witness 
  another death.

Well now, attacking the poor lone human isn't necessarily a good thing. And 
  since Longstride is near by, he moves to put himself bravely between Orenth 
  and the human. ** Easy now. Leafshimmer needs you with her. ** he advises, 
  hoping that the big guy has enough sense to not want to kill his mate's 
  father!

Sianna steps clear of the tree, empty hands help up palms forward to show them 
  empty. "<Peace.>" she responds. "<I...>" But whatever else she says is lost 
  as she's tackled by a very tall, very blackly garbed elf. He moves too 
  quickly for her to avoid. She screams in shock and sudden fear as she's 
  driven backwards, arms coming up to protectively block her face and head for 
  all the good it will do. "<AHAIGH*!>" The wind is slamed out of her as she 
  lands on her back.

Mosstracker is all the way across camp, but easily notices Orenth lunge 
  towards the human. ** Not this, not now... ** he sends, but it's a rather 
  feeble one at that. You can't talk the guy out of it, he knows this. He only 
  hopes the human has sense to run far, far away before he has to witness 
  another death. Hmm... apparently she didn't have that sense. He sighs.

"((SKYFATHER!))" As Orenth springs at the hapless newcomer, Vardeus bellows 
  out an oath and springs forward himself. It's the same impulsiveness that 
  sent him charging into battle with the monsters, and it's going to send him 
  charging at the crazed Briarholter now before either Tiana or Kephissa can 
  stop him... and after all, he has more mass than they do, and has a better 
  shot at actually tackling the elf. Orenth might match his height -- but 
  Vardeus has a Tall One's muscle to go with his six-foot frame. The only 
  trick is, actually _catching_ the elf. Because Orenth is definitely faster.

Orenth basically runs right over Longstride and ends up barrelling into the 
  human. The hit jars him a little, but he recovers quickly and lunges for the 
  human's throat, snarling at her. Okay, so he's lost it... But at least he's 
  staying still for the moment.

Shay'la blinks as Orenth releases her hand and then ends up chasing him. Her 
  moment of surprise and Orenth's long legs keeping her just behind the tall 
  elf. Oh this is so not good. She tries sending to her crazed cousin, but 
  it's no use... Bloody hell but she's going to have to tackle him... that is 
  so going to hurt... Actually the question is... who tackles Orenth first... 
  Shay or Vardeus.

Lysias looks up from his post-mortem analysis of sorts of the monsters just in 
  time to see all this happen. He mutters some rather derogatory curses at one 
  thing or another and runs over towards the ... fray? He's too far away to 
  get there immediately, but at the very least he wants to know what the hell 
  is going on. He just knew that guy looked crazy...

Kephissa winces. This could be bad, and all she can do is watch helplessly. 
  She caught one word Sianna managed to get out, and figures that this was 
  just one of Xhosa's people in the wrong place at the wrong time. But there's 
  nothing she can to do stop the mess that appears to be about to happen. 
  Hopefully everyone will survive it.

Or Longstride? Who gets barrelled over, goes flying and then oofs, as he hits 
  the ground. So it's not his day, what else is new? Leafshimmer is definitely 
  not going to be happy. As he struggles to regain his breath and move, 
  something not all that easy to do right now, he mutters elfin curses, 
  flinging himself towards the elf, without noticing the others. 

With Starwind's healing working away at her, Leafshimmer floats towards 
  consciousness, the growling attack sounds catching the edge of her 
  consciousness, even if she is mostly out of it. A whimper escapes her as a 
  particularly deep gouge is dealt with - those talons are leaving scars.

Starwind is oblivious to the goings on around him, the healer concentrating 
  hard on Leafshimmers wounds. The gashes she has close, but a bit of redness 
  remains surely to leave scars of the ordeal that a more powerful healer 
  could have completely dissapated. She may even come out of her 
  unconsciousness as the healing works and eases her of her pain, nearly done 
  as much as he can manage. The glow dissapates, as he opens his eyes to see 
  where Orenth ran off towards.

Whose gods are actually looking out for the humans today -- the Vraeyan, or 
  the Olbar ones -- is anybody's guess. But it must be some god or other's 
  blessing that actually lets Vardeus reach Orenth just after the elf knocks 
  the newcomer to the ground. It can be noted that Vardeus' sword is still in 
  the hands of his aghast wife, and the human makes absolutely no effort to 
  draw his daggers; he's shooting to restrain, not to harm. The Captain's 
  managed to build up enough of a run to knock the elf off the human stranger, 
  and as he does he shouts, "Down! _Down_, curse it!"

Mosstracker continues to watch the ordeal with an almost sickeningly impassive 
  gaze. "The fools are just going to get themselves killed." He mutters

Sianna , for her part, curls into a little ball as the elf is knocked away 
  from her. Now, in her tribe, elves are either idolized, or accepted. Eyes 
  scrunched closed and arms still wrapped around her head, she's not sure just 
  what to do about this mad elf. All she knows is that her body isn't 
  flattened. That's a definitely good thing. Eyes crack open and she scrambles 
  now for the nearest cover - some bush or another.

Anyone else hitting Orenth might not have budged the big guy, but Vardeus does 
  have sheer mass on Orenth. They might see eye to eye but Orenth looks like 
  he could break in a strong wind. Vardeus and Orenth go tumbling off of 
  Sianna. Now Orenth's biggest strength is that he has the capacity to 
  completely ignore pain... just ask Shim about the time after he got attacked 
  by humans and she only found out when he lifted his broken arm up to catch 
  an incoming hawk and she saw bone and blood. As such he turns his attention 
  to Vardeus now. The one thing Vardeus should be glad for is that elves don't 
  tend towards hand to hand combat, though Orenth does send an elbow towards 
  Vardeus' face.

Lysias gets near the scene, slowing down just a bit out of his full run once 
  he sees his captain tackle the maddened elf. Thinking all the while that it 
  might've saved them all a great deal of trouble if he'd just put an arrow 
  through this crazy lunatic's head.

Shay'la is not seeing this... She just isn't. She skids to a near Sianna and 
  motions for her to go over by the other humans. Then she turns her attention 
  towards her 'cousin' and her friend. (And Lysias had you done that you would 
  have been attacked by an Underworlder..... before the psychotic Leafshimmer 
  could even regain consciousness) "Oh Stop it! Orenth let him go... you hurt 
  him and I will hurt you Orenth... By the High Ones I will!" Oh but she is 
  not happy

"<Get out of the way!>" Vardeus bellows, this time in the Olbar language, more 
  or less in the startled Sianna's direction, and he breathlessly follows that 
  up with an addendum in Vraeyan for whoever of his crew is nearest: "((Get 
  her out of th--))" But right about then is when Orenth's elbow smacks with 
  blinding force into his chin. An explosion of stars sets off somewhere 
  behind the Captain's eyes, and as Shay'la comes pelting up _he_ goes 
  crumpling sideways, stunned and breathless.

Longstride catches his breath, after ending up on the ground yet again. 
  Alright then. Let the rotten elf get himself killed. Cause when Shim is 
  conscious again, she's going to have words for Orenth, and that's a fact. 
  Meanwhile, her father just reflects on how fast Orenth moves. And on the 
  fact that his nose hurts where he landed on it. But at least it's not 
  broken. He thinks.

Okay, this is something Kephissa can do. She dashes over and pulls Shiana up, 
  and half drags her away from the grappling duo. "<Come on. Mate hurt, not 
  happy.>" She gasps out as something of an explanation as to why Orenth is a 
  little upset right now. She pulls Shiana over to the rest of the crew. 
  "<Stay. Safe here.>" Before turning to see if there is anything she can to 
  to help Vard.

Sianna
        A slender human woman, Sianna has wideset, pale blue eyes, a straight 
  nose, thin lips, and delicate jaw. Her hair is a dark tawney-gold that hangs 
  in loose waves down over her shoulders and back. It is partially bound back 
  by a leather clasp stuck through with a wooden pin and decorated with a 
  couple of short lengths of cord with small wooden beads and feathers wrapped 
  about the end. Her skin is lightly bronzed and she scents faintly of the 
  oils and treatments of tanning hides. Indeed, even her long, tapered fingers 
  bare the signs of that work, being frequently stained with variously 
  coloured dyes and knicked by her tools. About her throat hangs a dark 
  leather cord, a carved bit of bone in the shape of the daystar strung from 
  it. 
        The dress she wears is fashioned of soft deerskin, tanned by her own 
  hands. It has been dyed a dark green colour and appliqued with patches of a 
  lighter tan that have been lovingly painted with braided symbols of forest 
  animals and fringed with beaded and feathered strips of narrowly cut 
  leather. Her legs are covered by a closefitting pair of tan leggings, a 
  simple pair of deerskin boots covering her feet and calves. About her waist 
  is a plaited belt, a small beltknife and several small pouches carefully 
  strung on it.
  
Orenth starts to go after Vardeus again but Shay's words or sends seem to stop 
  him or at least give him pause long enough for her to approach. Shay's eyes 
  burn with anger when she looks over at Vardeus and then back to Orenth. She 
  then does something completely unexpected... for Orenth anyway. She rears 
  back a fist and punches him square in the face. Of course at impact she lets 
  out a cry and he a grunt. Shay has never done that before and it bloody well 
  hurts. She shakes her poor hand, "I told you not to hurt him." She then 
  walks over to Vardeus to try and help him up, "Are you okay?" Orenth for his 
  part ends up back on his haunches, his nose bleeding. Shay managed to break 
  it apparently. He just looks dumfounded, but at least he isn't attacking 
  anyone anymore.

Sianna actually doesn't need to be yelled at further. She doesn't know if 
  she's all the keen on going to the other strange humans, but she does know 
  she's not at all keen on staying near the blasted elves. So, she scuttles. 
  It's terribly undignified, but what do you want? She's a tanner and 
  clothier, not a warrior. "<Fardles.>" she swears, grabbing the nearest tree 
  trunk and using it to hoist herself to her feet just as Kephissa grabs hold 
  of her and pulls her out of the way. Surrounded just as suddenly by the 
  strange men and woman, she almost balks as she's told to 'stay'. She stands, 
  instead, and looks at them. Then, she starts cursing softly under her 
  breath. You're a stupid git, Sianna.

Having done what he can with Leafshimmer, Starwind blinks a couple of times 
  before sending to him openly but directed towards him. ** Leafshimmer needs 
  you now, Orenth. ** Leafshimmer has a number of scars from where she'd been 
  hit by the tentacles, but the majority of the damage is repaired. Standing 
  up and leaving Leafshimmer's side, he waits for Orenth to return to it. 
  "Anyone else injured?" He asks, in elven, to those who can understand him.

Lysias comes to stop at that, jaw dropped. He takes a few steps back and just 
  stares at the whole scene blankly... Um, no... he wasn't expecting that 
  outcome. Not at all.

"My fool of a mate!" Tiana immediately pipes up, as soon as she hears 
  Starwind. She comes running up now, to join Shay'la in pulling Vardeus 
  upright. While the Captain raises his right hand to his head and wonders 
  exactly how a slender elf learned to punch like that... and wonders, 
  furthermore, when exactly the world started whirling around him, his 
  second-in-command and wedded wife does her level best to grab him by the 
  front of his vest and lambast him, "((If you are _quite_ done getting 
  yourself broken this morning, you will let the healer help you now...!))"

Mosstracker's face is buried in his shirt right now. Barely keeping himself 
  under control, he is laughing most constrained into his shirt, hoping no one 
  will hear.

Leafshimmer isn't moving much, even if she's been healed. Her eyes are fuzzy 
  and she's tired still. ** Is everyone okay? ** she asks, though she does 
  remember Bearheart and Skyflame. Puckernuts. It will be soon enough time to 
  have a howl, now won't it? She closes her eyes, not sure what's going on, 
  but having the sinking suspicion that Blackhawk is somehow responsible.

Orenth just seems shocked. Shay hit him.. and it hurt. Okay so she slapped him 
  once before, but this is different. At Starwind's words and then Shim's send 
  he shakes off his confusion and rises to his feet. He walks over and kneels 
  next to Shim. His nose is bloody, but he doesn't seem to mind. He does reach 
  up a hand to make sure it is straight. Most would wince, but he doesn't. He 
  then takes Shim's hand. His eyes are bright and clear, as his other hand 
  reaches to stroke her hair. Okay, his world is a little more settled now... 
  you can all relax.

Kephissa sees the crisis appears to be adverted for the moment, and Tiana's 
  taking the Captain in hand, so she turns to the newcomer. Her words are 
  accented, but she's picked up quite a bit of the language of the humans of 
  this land. "<Sorry. You came just after battle. Everybody upset.>" She waves 
  at Orenth. "<His mate was hurt, and he not thinking, just protecting.>"

Mosstracker manages to calm himself just a bit, god forbid somebody notice, 
  that could be most embarassing. .. Hmm, he messed up his cutting with all 
  that. Oh well, it was worth it, he supposes.

Shay'la mumbles, "Hitting hurts." She rubs at her poor hand with the other 
  one, once Vardeus is mostly up. She then looks at him, "Strong isn't he? 
  Morganthe made him that way." Even if Vardeus understands all of those 
  words, which he probably does... they still won't make much sense to him. 
  Shay shakes her head and turns to look at Orenth, concern still in her eyes. 
  He is family... actually she wouldn't have let anyone else hit him.

Lysias shakes his head, walking over to the others, and that one that just 
  showed up. (You alright? Not the best time to come...) he mentions choppily 
  with a short, stifled laugh. He's still got to work on keeping himself to 
  what is appropriate, it seems.

Longstride takes what is left of his dignity and heads over towards the rafts, 
  deciding enough is enough. No really, he's just going to go over there and 
  meditate. He's not sulking at all. At least his daughter is doing better 
  now. 

Speakinf of said daughter, Shim's lips curve in a bit of a smile as her hand 
  gets taken, and she opens her eyes, tired most definitely, but the pain has 
  faded. Her scouts report in, through sends, and she lifts one hand to gently 
  touch Orenth's cheek. ** I'm fine, beloved. Just tired now. ** she says, 
  once the scouts have finished. She sets them to continuing their work, as 
  she takes a deep breath, testing for nonexistent pain. She watches Orenth's 
  face tenderly, glancing over for Starwind. "My thanks, Healer," she says, 
  before she looks back to Orenth, as if making sure he's still there. Her 
  fingers curl around his, not about to let him go, just at the moment.

Sianna's own words are accented. The Olbar and Hoan may speak the same 
  language, but you can bet their dialect is different, so their accent likely 
  is, too. The young woman smiles wryly, perhaps a little selfmockingly. 
  "<Curiousity killed the cat.>" she shrugs, now, accepting what is said to 
  her in the words she actually understands. "<My own fault.>" She looks again 
  uncertain as she takes in the scene... "<Probably shouldn't have come... but 
  I heard screams...>" She shrugs again and starts to brush herself off. A 
  beat. "<Maybe I should just go...>" Can't blame her for being a little put 
  off, now can you? The elves around with their large eyes and pointed ears 
  (not to mention their propensity to attack innocent bystanders) has her 
  definitely on edge, now... She's never seen them before. Only heard stories. 
  And this doesn't match the stories. Not entirely, anyway. So, she's skitish.

Starwind rubs his head and sighs softly. He doesn't really understand the 
  human languages, still, only a few words. He looks to the others gathered to 
  see who the injured are, noticing Vardeus next. "Vardoes? You are not 
  alright. Leafshimmer needs rest." He says, glancing at her and Orenth.

Orenth smiles down at his mate, looking completely different then he did just 
  moments earlier. There is relief in his eyes as he locks them with Shim, 
  **You worry me love... you really do....** His send trails off at that 
  moment and his eyes grow a bit wide. He stiffens slightly, just staring into 
  the eyes of his lifemate.

Vardeus _did_ understand Shay'la's words about Orenth, yes -- well, all except 
  the word 'Morganthe'. And no, the collection of words as a whole didn't 
  parse to the big sailor, even if most of the individual words did connect in 
  his brain. But even aside from the context problem, he is dizzy, and between 
  that and Tiana's annoyed, unhappy gaze, he is slow to react to Starwind 
  joining him. "Leafshimmer... needs ye more than me," he tries to assert, but 
  his baritone rumble comes out more feebly than usual. "D... Dinnae need a 
  healer."
Wait a minute. Is Vardeus actually looking _alarmed_?
And Tiana turns her steady gaze upon the elf, telling him, "His arm is hurt. 
  The creature stung him; he says it's gone numb and twitchy."

Lysias thinks all these accents mean nothing to him except that it's harder 
  for him to make out what being said with what he already knows. Which, while 
  not a shabby amount, is nowhere near enough to get the complete meaning of 
  everything said. (I... see. The rest are okay. You don't worry about them.) 
  He looks back at the big guy who he's probably going to be very wary of for 
  a good long time. (He seems okay now... whatever his problem was...)

Shay'la looks to Vardeus and arches a brow, "Shim is awake. Orenth likely 
  won't let him near her again unless she asks." She turns back to Orenth and 
  arches up a brow. Now that is odd. Orenth doesn't usually look like a deer 
  caught in headlights... not that Shay knows what headlights are. Oh wait... 
  is that what she thinks... That causes the Underworlder to start 
  snickering... and then laughing, "Oh he definitely won't let anyone near her 
  now."

Rest, the Healer said. And that's likely what Shim would do, given the choice, 
  but she's been rather poleaxed at the moment. Her violet eyes widen, as she 
  is caught by the look on Orenth's face right now, seeming unable to move, 
  and definitely not able to even look away. The sudden silence, even in the 
  sends the chieftess had been sending, must be deafening.

Mosstracker notices that Shim seems awake now. That's good, saves his hide. 
  The weird look they give eachother is a bit interesting, but they always 
  look at eachother funny, why do they always do that? Must be that whole 
  "love" thing or whatever. He'd certainly never let anyone look at him like 
  that.

Kephissa shakes her head at Sianna and waves at the dead beasts littering the 
  beach. "<You go you might meet those. Some still live.>" Hard choice isn't 
  it. Stay here with crazy elves and strange humans or leave and potentailly 
  run into one of those things.

Starwind nods in agreement with Shay'la, his attention directed towards 
  Vardeus for the time being. "Leafshimmer is about as healed as I can 
  manage." He says sadly enough, knowing she'll retain scars from the ordeal. 
  "If you want me to look at that arm Vardoes, I will." He directs his words 
  towards him, because it is his decision no matter how much Tiana may want 
  Starwind to look at his arm.

Okay Orenth, breathe! It seems that signal wasn't getting from his brain for a 
  moment. To accomplish that he has to tear his eyes from Shim's, which takes 
  a visible effort. He lets out an audible breath as he falls back on his 
  haunches, blinking and shaking his head. **Shim? 
  <shock/disbelief/hope/happiness/grief/love>** Orenth does not usually let 
  his emotions color his sends, but right now he has very little choice on the 
  matter. His calm and cool composure is gone... long gone. He takes a moment 
  before he can finally get the courage to look at his mate again to see what 
  she thinks of all of this. And Shim may be shocked to hear him speak. He 
  knew the emotions came through his send and he hates letting that out, so 
  here you get it Shim... his voice... directed at you.. not a wolf, or bird, 
  or preserver, or human... but you. It's a first, "Shim love, are you okay?" 
  Wow, he can speak

Sianna regards the dead beasts for a moment and then looks back to Kephissa. 
  "<Ah... right.>" she agrees. "<Maybe I'd better stay.>" At least some of the 
  crazies in this camp seem willing to keep her safe from the other crazies. 
  So... you know... the choice isn't necessarily all that hard. She looks 
  about one more time and rocks on her heels for a moment before she rakes a 
  hand through her tawney hair and pads towards the surf to put some distance 
  between her and the unexpected crowd.

Oblivious to what has transpired among the elves, Vardeus is thoroughly 
  preoccupied with the healer standing before him -- and for all that Starwind 
  has been just as helpful as many of the rest of the elves to his people, 
  there's something that looks suspiciously like uneasiness in the Captain's 
  ocean eyes now. It might almost be fear, save that it's not quite strong 
  enough for that, and he _is_ trying to acknowledge that this particular elf 
  may arguably be called responsible for him and his wife acknowledging their 
  feelings for one another. Between Starwind's gaze and that of Tiana's, he 
  finally sucks in a breath and stoically sets his jaw, muttering, "Do it, 
  then..." And looking, for all the world, as if Starwind has just announced 
  his attention to chop off his arm rather than heal it.

Leafshimmer takes a breath, another. It's easier once Orenth tears his eyes 
  from hers. A third breath. ARe there humans here? Strangers? Shim has 
  forgotten them. Orenth's words dry out her mouth, and she has to swallow as 
  he aims that voice at her. She's not opposed to having Orenth's soulname, or 
  he hers, but there is one big problem with this whole thing. Shim doesn't 
  want any cubs. Nope. The fear rises in her, showing in her eyes. Puckernuts, 
  she'll be as lovely a mother as her own parent, won't she? Good thing her 
  father has gone out of the direct line of sight, that's for sure. ** I - Oh 
  no. I love you but - no. ** Shim actually tries to get to her feet now. 
  "this can't be happening to me," she says, half whispered, but losing 
  control by the end of her words.

Lysias watches the stranger walk some distance away, before looking back to 
  Kephissa. ((Of all introductions... Hmm, I think she's scared of us as 
  well...)) he says wryly.

Mosstracker watches Shim for a moment, getting some of that sending actually. 
  Damnable strong sending, he doesn't want to hear everything around him. He 
  blinks a bit at that and wonders what's going on...

Kephissa nods and looks down at Lysias. "((Yeah. That was enough to put 
  anybody off. Keep an eye on her. I'm going to go see what I can do for 
  Dharce.))" Not that anything she can do is enough, but she has to do 
  something. She walks off to where Dharce and her baby have been taken inside 
  one of the shelters.

Starwind doesn't look back at Orenth and Leafshimmer, even though he knows 
  well enough what's happened - that's their situation to deal with, he's just 
  fairly relieved that he was not the one recognizing. He gives a faint 
  chuckle to Vardeus, saying, "I may not be able to heal it fully, but will 
  hope to ease the pain." Motioning towards a place to have himself and 
  Vardeus sit, letting Tiana come with if she wishes.

Sianna crouches by the water and touches it with her faintly dyestained 
  fingertips. Cold. She takes her hand back and wipes it on her dress before 
  rising and turning about, arms wrapped a little insecurely across her chest, 
  to simply watch everything happening... Her gaze lingers on the elves -- 
  particularly Orenth, her expression unreadable, now.

Well if you think recognition poleaxed Orenth, then you are in for a surprise. 
  When Shim starts to rise as if to back away, Orenth looks completely 
  dumfounded. You could hit him with a bat and he wouldn't notice right now. 
  He simply stares at Shim, unable to say anything... but there is hurt in 
  those eyes as he looks at his lifemate. He shakes it off though and rises to 
  his feet and before anyone can do anything he turns and bolts, with one word 
  sent in his passing, **Fine**

Shay'la blinks at the reaction between the couple, and starts to move towards 
  them when Orenth bolts. She lifts up a hand, as if that could stop him. When 
  he is out of sight the hand drops and she lets out a sigh, "That was not 
  good."

Mosstracker watches this with readable confusion... His eyes follow Orenth as 
  he leaves, and he wonders exactly what is going on. Although he has a faint 
  idea, it's only more clouded by the fact that he's taking off so quickly...

Oh sure, easy for him to say! Orenth would be a wonderful father, and he's 
  even done this before. Unlike Shim. She falls back, not having the strength 
  to have actually backed away from Orenth, no matter how she tried. She 
  closes her eyes now, fighting the desire to go after him. She knows he's 
  hurting, but this - how can she have Recognized. They've known each other 
  for turns, loved each other for turns, and now this? He had already 
  Recognized Zotahska - she thought he was safe. "Puckernuts," is all she 
  growls, one arm coming up to cover her eyes.

Lysias hmm's as the big fellow runs off. Although some people seem worried by 
  that, he doesn't quite see why. He feels much more comfortable when not in 
  his presence. Well, he knew these people were confusing...

Tiana would have to be pried away from Vardeus by much better weapons than 
  anyone in the campsite currently possesses; not about to leave her husband's 
  site, she helps him over to sit down with Starwind. The Captain hasn't lost 
  that strangely frightened look, either, and he's clenching his jaw so hard 
  you can almost see it tremble. "((Don't be foolish,))" Tiana whispers 
  sidelong to him, trying to soothe him. "((We need you unhurt, love, and if 
  Starwind can help that--))"
Tiana's right, of course, but it's obvious that Vardeus is adding, at least 
  within his own mind, that Starwind can heal him... but he's not expecting to 
  like it.

Mosstracker seems to sink into thought for a moment, perhaps sending 
  something, but it's only a faint glimmer at that, before it fades away, 
  leaving him shaking his head and appraising his shabbily done, yet, in all 
  honestly, constantly interrupted work on skinning that poor ravvit.

Sianna can't complain that Orenth's gone. Rough meeting, you know. She's not 
  all that fond of him. In fact, on some level she likens him to this tall 
  evil one her mother always spoke of... though that evil one was female. Pft! 
  Piddling details. Tall. Black. Pointed ears. Desire to kill humans. It all 
  adds up, you know. The tanner's finger tips begin to tap restlessly against 
  her own ribs as she stands there chewing on the inside of her lower lip.

Shay'la reaches up a hand to massage her temples as she receives a send, 
  mumbling to herself, "That hurt Orenth." She shakes her head, "This is not 
  good. not at all." There is a twinge of pain in her voice... She would give 
  anything for the chance Shim has now... to have another child. Not with 
  Orenth of course... he's like the crazy brother she never had... oh wait, 
  she has a crazy brother... and a crazier sister... ah well, anyway.

Lysias shrugs. This is all a bit too much for his mind to take for one day. 
  He's had more than enough excitement, and gee, the sun is just starting to 
  appear. He wishes he could just retire for the rest of the day, but he knows 
  he won't be so lucky.

With the Captain attended, and the Second not about to leave her husband 
  unless another attack is imminent, the rest of the crew is left pretty much 
  at loose ends. It's Iletya who finally timidly approaches Sianna, proffering 
  a smile and bringing the obviously confused human stranger a cup of water. 
  "<We sorry,>" she offers in an awkward rendition of the local human 
  language. "<We sorry not say hello. I say hello now. You want water?>"

Leafshimmer isn't moving from where she is, and she's also not talking, so the 
  poor humans will definitely have no idea what is happening. Well, unless 
  someone can explain it to them. Shayla's words sink in slowly through the 
  morass of her own emotions she's tangled in. Love, desire, fear ... it's a 
  wonder she's not unconscious again already. Or that she hasn't blown up. She 
  can feel the pull to go after him, but she wouldn't make it to the edge of 
  camp right now. Lucky whufs slightly, moving, and Shim actually reaches a 
  hand towards him, wolf sending, quite as easily as anything else she's sent 
  so far. The wolf whufs again, nuzzling her hand, and then trots off, heading 
  in Orenth's tracks. At least he can have some protection, whether he wants 
  it or not.

Mosstracker shows visible annoyance at something and lays back against his 
  tent yawning, an eye to the breaking dawn... sleep soon would be good.

Sianna looks mildly startled as Iletya approaches her. She glances about and 
  then nods a little, thinking it more polite to take the water than anything 
  else. "<Thank you.>" she says in response. A beat and she adds, "<Hello.>" 
  She takes the cup to her lips and sips, then raising it in both hands in a 
  brief gesture of thanks to the other woman. "<I really didn't mean to cause 
  more trouble. There were just such screams...>"

Lysias stands up, meandering over to a place where he can be in a bit more 
  peace. He's seen enough today, enough that he'll have trouble putting into 
  words, and if he can't do it now, or soon, he won't ever get around to it. 
  He takes his leave wordlessly, too caught up in his own thoughts.

Mosstracker grimaces in his reclined, resting state. He lets his one working 
  arm sweep his work into his tent. No need for that around here anymore... 
  but joy, all the spears he'll have to replace after today. He really needs 
  to improve at making them...

Shay'la shakes her head, "I don't think he's coming back." She flops down 
  wearily and brings her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them 
  and then resting her head on her arms as she begins to let the tears flow 
  again. This is just the capper to a perfect day.

Leafshimmer moves suddenly, sitting up and waiting out the dizzy spell before 
  she gets to her feet. "Stubborn oaf," she mutters, a glare in her violet 
  eyes, overtaking the shine of tiredness. She gets to her feet, staggering a 
  bit, and intending to go after the idiot. Well, someone has to, right. Might 
  as well be the chieftess.

And in the meantime, Iletya smiles a bit more at Sianna, explaining earnestly, 
  "<Is not bad, you here... glad to see more>--" She has to pause a moment, 
  not sure whether this particular language has words to differentiate elves 
  and humans. Finally she hazards, "<Ones like _us_ here, not see many! You 
  come from Ol-bar tribe?>"

Just as Shim starts to move a dark shape swoops down from the sky and lands in 
  front of her. Nightwing lets out a cry and flaps his wings at the chieftess. 
  Whether he agrees with his bond or not, he knows Shim doesn't need to be 
  moving.

Now you know, that's just like the final straw. Leafshimmer's hands go to her 
  waist, and she glares at Nightwing. "You," she announces quite loudly. 
  "should be with Blackhawk." Whether the other animals are with him or not, 
  that's besides the point. She turns to one side, wavering a bit and then 
  straightening, as she starts to walk around Nightwing and out of the 
  campsite, in the direction Orenth went.

Sianna shakes her head. "<No.>" she says to Iletya, frowning lightly. Her gaze 
  sweeps the other humans. "<Not... Olbar. Hoan g'tay Sho.>" When she gives 
  the name of her tribe, it has a very rhythmic, nearly musical feel to it (in 
  a mundanely human way), which is how her accent is best defined, as well. 
  She moves a little closer back to the main group, though not by much. More 
  just to be able to point at one of the fallen beasts she sees... with its 
  three heads and tentacles. (That's just wrong!) "<That's not natural.>" she 
  says bluntly. She glances to the point ears and gestures to them, still 
  refering to the beast. "<That's magic.>" Again, she bases this entirely on 
  her mother's tales. But, you know, you should never argue with your mother. 
  (It's bad for your health.)

You can almost swear that the bird let out a sigh. He takes to flight again, 
  swooping up into the air and then coming back to land again in front of 
  Leafshimmer, letting out a screech. His wings are outstretched... His bond 
  is taken care of... now he has to see to the silly mate.

Mosstracker seems to want very much to just retire to his tent, as he looks, 
  yes, visibly weary. How very quaint. Still, he keeps one eye open, looking 
  at the bird and the scene they're creating. He at least wants to see this 
  resolve itself.

Iletya shudders, glancing at the creatures, and inclined to agree with the 
  assertion of their general _wrongness_. "<We no know Honga Taysho,>" she 
  says then. "<Three Olbar here... we others, we Vraeyan. No see others like 
  us, here? Honga Taysho far away?>"

Starwind attends to Vardeus' injured arm, the healer deep in concentration as 
  he works on getting what he can manage - which isn't much on a human, done. 
  Repairing some of the nerve damage so Vardeus can feel the sensation of his 
  fingers once more. Any wound he may have from the tenticles would not have 
  closed, but the humans can attend to that part at least. And Starwind takes 
  a deep breath afterwards, and looks to Leafshimmer still laying where he'd 
  left her. "Someone needs to help her to where she can rest, please?" He 
  says, and would do it himself but isn't quite in the best shape himself any 
  longer, tiredness catching up.

Leafshimmer had been hunting all the night, and then there was the excitement, 
  plant shaping and she was hurt badly enough by those monsters. She's moving 
  very slowly and actually, Nightwing's wingflap has her shaking backwards, 
  balance off, so that she actually just starts to fall, crumbling to the 
  ground as her reserve energy reaches its end. She goes unconscious enough, 
  her sending to her lifemate abruptly cutting off.

"((It... doesnae hurt,))" Vardeus blurts. He _probably_ meant it to be a 
  whisper, but that Tiana and Starwind can actually catch it might well give 
  away that he's more weary than he would like to admit. Bemused, his brow 
  furrowing, he stares at Starwind and repeats blankly, "It doesnae hurt?" 
  Then he eyes his own fingers, and wriggles them experimentally as if 
  wondering exactly why his limb has not erupted in excruciating pain.
"((You say that as if this is a bad thing,))" Tiana tartly tells her husband, 
  waiting as patiently as she can manage for Starwind to finish his task. Then 
  she adds to the healer, "Something happens with Leafshimmer. Your tribe, 
  handling it. We not bother?" It's part question, part assertion; Tiana, like 
  Vardeus, is reluctant to step on elfin toes. Besides -- Tiana has other 
  things on her mind, at the moment. Like making sure her fool of a mate 
  actually lies down.

Sianna points again, this time through the trees in the direction of where a 
  blue peak might rise above the trees. "<There.>" she says to Iletya. "<Near 
  the Elfs' Mountain.>" or so Mother called it. (Do you love my mother and her 
  tales, yet?) She frowns faintly, then, quizically really, and regards the 
  seafarer. "<Vreayan?>" She echoes. "<I don't know that tribe...>"

Nightwing doesn't like it, but he knows Shim is better off here. He lets out a 
  screech and then rises off into the sky. Now he has to go back to his fool 
  bond and make sure he doesn't get himself killed... Ah the life of a bird 
  just sucks sometimes.

Iletya squints off into the distance; oh, they've seen the faraway great 
  mountain, but as of yet, none of the crew's scouting parties have gone that 
  far. Then she smiles sheepishly at the other woman, trying to figure out how 
  best to handle talking to her -- maybe later, someone will think to actually 
  fetch Arnos to handle this, but Arnos was last seen helping to calm down the 
  griefstricken Dharce. So it's Iletya's job, for now. "<We not... not quite 
  tribe. We come from over water-->" And now _she_ points, out across the 
  waves, before she points at what's left of the Windrider. "<We come on that. 
  Is broke now. We lost.>"

Shay'la lifts her head to look at Vardeus, "It's recognition.. It's bad to 
  deny it... but they are." Even when Shim collapses she just shakes her head. 
  She can't deal with all of this right now, "Shim doesn't want a child..." 
  The last is said softly and with some disbelief... Shay would give anything 
  for the chance... anything.

Mosstracker sighs loudily and struggles to his feet. If he hasn't been 
  injured, or been throwing magic around, it's still up in the air as to 
  whether he's slept in the past few days, and he's definitely not at his most 
  vigorous. (Mossy, vigorous. That's a joke! Haha!) Still, if Shim's going to 
  pass out right in front of his tent, he kinda has to do something about it. 
  So he plods over to her, realizing that carrying somebody isn't something 
  he's capable of, but he's too tired to think about it too much, so he takes 
  her by her arm, and, as gently as he can manage, pretty much pseudo-drags 
  her to her tent. She can sleep there, that's where you're supposed to sleep 
  after all. Not in the dirt next to a shabby tent. Sheesh, and how many times 
  did Shim go off on him for sleeping out in the open?

Wait a minute. Recog--what? Distracted from what Starwind is doing to his arm 
  and the startling fact that it does not in fact _hurt_, Vardeus blinks azure 
  eyes in Shay'la's direction. "What's Rek-ug--" His broad features crinkle 
  up, as his tongue trips over the unfamiliar word. "Leafshimmer and Orenth 
  have a _child_?" And _this_ is a bad thing? He blinks several times more, 
  trying to figure out what the blazes the Underworlder elf is talking about.

Sianna isn't really sure how to respond to Ielyta's words. She cants her head 
  as she looks at the wrecked ship. Curiosity. Whatever else she's feeling 
  now... Sianna has incredible curiosity. Especially about how things work. 
  She glances about and then sets the water cup down on the sand before 
  heading towards the water. "<Across the great water?>" she sounds a little 
  disbelieving at that. But, the curiousity lights her voice. She can't quite 
  put together the wreck. "<How? You can't go back?>" Well, that sucks. How 
  can she go explore there if you can't go back?

Starwind lets Shay'la tell Vardeus what's happened, while just nodding at 
  Vardeus. "Doesn't hurt." He reassures, then stands up to glance around to 
  see if there are others hurt, though he doesn't think he'd be able to manage 
  too much more than he already has. He wants to slink off to his tent, as 
  worn as the battle weary, but wants to see if there are others that need his 
  immediate attention.

Mosstracker gets her over to her tent finally, and pushes her inside. There, 
  chore done. He staggers back to his tent and plops down on the ground with a 
  thud. Ouch, maybe he shouldn't have done that... Oh well, no time to second 
  guess himself, he's asleep now, or so it seems. Just great, and if Shim 
  wakes before he does, who will get the brow-beating for it? Mossy, that's 
  who. Where's the justice?

Shay'la looks at Vardeus and shakes her head, "No, not yet... Recognition is 
  how elves get children. Elves can't just have children... well most can't. 
  They have to recognized. It's when two souls meet... soul meets soul when 
  eyes meet eyes... They become bound and the bound will produce a child if 
  they fulfill recognition... if not, it's bad. They start to waste away the 
  longer they deny it.. they can't eat or sleep well... it's very bad. Shim 
  doesn't want a child... Orenth does... they've recognized so they need to 
  produce one... but..." She lets out a sigh. She's told it as best as she 
  can... though whether the humans will udnerstand it or not is the question.

Orenth quietly enters Campsite <CS>.
Orenth has left.

"<Is our> ((ship))," Iletya offers, recognizing the stunned and curious look 
  Sianna wears, now, and able to smile a bit at it despite the horrific 
  morning everyone has had. After all, it's the same look most of the elves 
  and the local humans had, the first time they laid eyes on what was left of 
  the _Windrider_. "<We come on> ((ship)), <lost in storm. We get here... we 
  fight monster in great water. Monster break> ((ship))." Now she frowns, 
  shivering, the same thought striking her that has already stricken many of 
  the other crew. Her arms wrap about herself, and she adds unhappily to 
  Sianna, "<Monsters come again. Kill some.>"

Tiana frowns tiredly at Shay'la, wanting nothing more than to get Vardeus 
  lying down -- but she lets him talk to Shay'la, first. Truth of it is, she's 
  curious as to what exactly the Rek-ug-nishun is, as well, and surprise 
  registers in both her face and that of her husband as the she-elf gives her 
  explanation. It's Vardeus that answers, though, while he pulls himself 
  upright again and flexes his left hand, trying to gauge how much feeling has 
  been restored to his arm. He doesn't quite get it -- but enough of Shay'la's 
  words make sense that he gets the gist that the making of youngsters is not 
  at all for the Little People as it is for his own kind. "We... should not 
  bother Leafshimmer and Orenth?" he asks of Shay'la, then. Let's find out 
  exactly what the proprieties here are, shall we?

The look Sianna gives Iletya is one of concern mixed with thought as she 
  absorbs all of that. She doesn't get all of it, but she gets the gist. And 
  since there are monsters lying dead on the beach, who is she to argue the 
  tail of a monster in the water. She does take a noticable couple of steps 
  back from the water, however. Pragmatic, she is. So, in the end, she simply 
  nods, tactfully deciding she shouldn't prolong the subject. It seems to have 
  disturbed the other woman. "<I'm sorry.>" she says finally. She looks about. 
  "<Let me... Let me help you clean up.>" It seems the least she can do... And 
  it will pass the time until she's no longer needing to 'Stay'.

Shay'la sighs, "If you can convince Shim to have a kid then bother her all you 
  like. Orenth isn't coming back until she says she wants it... and believes 
  it. I only hope that happens... He's very stubborn.... He just lost his son 
  and this... Poor Quenlyn..." She can't stop the tears again, as she mumbles, 
  "If the Underworld could see me now."

"<Thank you>," is Iletya's reply to Sianna now; these words, she can pronounce 
  far more easily than others. She gestures invitingly towards the others of 
  the crew, at least, those who are not busy keeping watch now. "<You come, 
  you help... we glad. You say more about Honga Taysho? You come say hello to 
  others.>"

And as for Vardeus, he is abruptly deeply troubled by the sight of Shay'la's 
  weeping. He starts to reach a hand to her shoulder, but it's his left one, 
  and for all that Starwind has brought feeling back to his nerves his muscles 
  all still dully ache in that limb. Awkwardly, he shifts to his right, 
  clasping her shoulder as lightly as he can manage. "I'm sorry," he whispers 
  gruffly, though he hardly knows what he's apologizing for.
And Tiana puts in, more gently, "Shay'la... Vardeus should rest." A beat, 
  then, just as gently. "So should you."

Shay'la nods her head, "Yes, he should rest.. Go." With that she rises to her 
  feet and walks off, heading for the rock she usually perches on to stare out 
  at the rock spire that rises from the water. Rest will be a long time coming 
  for her, even if it is bloody daylight.

Sianna simply nods Ileyta and gives her a tentative smile. "<Oh, sure...>" she 
  says in a far more cavalier manner than she intended. "<Might as well...>" 
  Still, the smile softens it, as does the friendly nod and casual shrug as 
  she goes to help the Vraeyans with their clean up.

Starwind silently leaves from where he was beside Tiana and Vardeus, heading 
  back towards the campsite if nobody stops him on the way - and nobody does. 
  The rest can wait until after he's slept, the day running far longer than 
  he'd hoped. He vanishes into the campsite after a few moments.
Starwind quietly enters Campsite <CS>.
Starwind has left.

By now, the sun has made its way well into the sky... and morning is 
  officially underway. But every elf and human -- well, perhaps except for the 
  one stunned human newcomer who has come belatedly upon the scene of battle 
  -- in the camp is as exhausted now, either in body or spirit or both, as if 
  it were the dead of night. The tension of Vraeyans who have lost crewmates 
  is easily read in human faces; the tension of elves who have lost 
  tribesmates and friends is just as easily glimpsed in the flavor of 
  sendings. To human and elfin noses alike, the appaling stench of the 
  creatures' blood lingers in the air, casting a pall over the fresher scents 
  of wind and sea... and as humans with frightened eyes go about the grisly 
  business of cleaning up the evidence of death from the beach, as the wounded 
  are helped off to where they can rest and recover and the elves of Briarholt 
  must deal with the promise of new life springing up to replace the old (if 
  their chieftess will but let it)... no one says much else, at least not very 
  loudly. Some try to make conversation with Sianna... but others are too 
  shocked by the deaths and too aware of the _first_ monster that stranded 
  them all here. Warding signs are made against evil... and prayers muttered 
  to gods that many of the crew aren't sure are listening, on this benighted 
  morning.
Over it all, Dharce sobs... and so does her infant son, their voices rising up 
  in thin, shaken reaction to the slaughter that the monsters have wrought... 
  and in testimony to the victory they have achieved with the deaths that they 
  have caused.

[End log.]