Gathering Death [Seren]

[Deleted]

He did not like being here. The weather seemed... colder. Darker, greyer. The trees were a lot denser in this place: Closer together. It made the entire plane of green desaturated against the outcast backdrop. It was midday- but you wouldn't be able to tell. It was also raining lightly, you could hear the pitter-patter of rain echoing thorugh the forest as it resonated off the canopy of the trees. 

This was Mount Weather. The place of death and  inprisonment. It was all quiet for a good reason: All but the most irradiated and venomous creatures survived in this side of the wood: Those that could live out in the open forest with the acid fog present were even fewer. But the main problem was here, was that the best things that Kinos used for poison grew here. Some were fast acting toxins, others were slow paralytics. The haven grew here... but they were far and few between, and finding the poisons or venom themselves were relatively easy: It was finding the counter-roots and herbs that would counteract the poisons that made this journey rare. You really couldn't afford to get caught out, or eat the wrong thing.

He didn't want to admit it, but he only carried one set of anti-venoms and poisons on him, but today there were two people. He had a warrior with him. Seren, a woman he had known for some accumulative time but had never really known.  The reason was simple: Reapers and Mountain Men. This was dangerous territory that Kinos would rather prefer to avoid, but to get the most hospitable area to gather a large amount for the actual warriors... he needed to travel out of his comfort zone. 

His hand in the fashion of the 'STOP' signal. He was quiet. He was trying to map out something in his mind and he tapped his head with his other hand: Holding a knife- and bumping the hilt off the side of his head lightly.

"This land is cursed in its own fashion." Kinos spat out in Trigedasleng. His distaste for the area was palpable. "There is a cave around a mile from here which I haven't checked in two or so years, it shall have regrown its supply since. We shall go there first." he spoke as his hand came down, to his bag- looking through to see if he had the room. 

"Have you been here before, Seren?" he looked over at the  Trikru warrior. She was a warrior were he wasn't: But one needed the other just as vice versa predicted: He had the capability to make fights tip into the Trikru's favour exponentially... he did not have such high capabilities to protect himself in the case of a dangerous fight in an area.   

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First post for Seren !

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Seren]

Seren followed Kinos cautiously, this whole place gave her the chills and the only reason she'd agreed to go with Kinos was because they needed his skill in poisons and their antidotes and they couldn't risk anything happening to him whilst he was gathering them. A shiver ran up her spine and it wasn't because of the rain, this whole place radiated evil, most who ventured here did not return. Seren couldn't believe that she'd been idiotic enough to agree to coming, anybody could've been Kinos's guard but no, she'd volunteered. Volunteered... Now that was a stupid thing to do.

The last thing she needed was to be here, she could've been back at Tondc, helping Gastor perfect his spear throws and his cuts. Not only was this unfamiliar territory, but it brought dreadful things to her mind. The images of their people being dragged into the reaper tunnels and used for some reason, they had no idea what the mountain men used their people for. All they knew was that they were taking them, they'd been taking them since before she was born. Thousands of their people had disappeared within the mountain and had never returned.

As Kinos held up his hand, Seren immediately came to a halt, her gaze scanning the area suspiciously, never lowering her guard. It would be foolish to get too comfortable, there were so many threats that they had to be cautious of, Mountain Men, Reapers, Acid fog and the other natural threats that roamed these forests. As Kinos spoke in the familiar language of Trigedasleng Seren nodded "Okay, lead the way" she muttered back in the same language, her voice quiet as if scared about disturbing the silence.

At his question she shook her head "I've never been this close to the mountain... I do come to these parts sometimes, but never this close" she informed him, the truth was that she hoped to find some of their people that had been taken, maybe escapees or maybe they were being released sometimes but never making it back to their villages. She doubted it. But she had to keep looking, at least for the one person that she'd lost, she couldn't give up hope of finding her.

@king

(OOC: I'm guessing that this is before the Mountain Men have fallen? Before or after the sky people have arrived?)

[Deleted]

Kinos was right that his danger senses were tingling: Because in the far distance, he could hear screeching. Reapers. He shuddered. Once their people, but no longer. They were gone, and he would stay well away from them. "Reapers.." he muttered. 

The overshadowing mountain could not be seen through the thick denseness of the trees, but you could eventually and surely feel the slope begin it's ascent to the top. They continued their journey. 

As he walked, his eyes were scanning the floors- occasionally dropping down to feel the floor, touching the muddy prints. No particular animals had been around in a while. Kinos would also feel the plants around: He was able to identify just about everything. Running his fingers along everything: Even the herbs that were there... just not the ones he was looking for. Lemongrass? The damn thing tasted disgusting first of all. 

Again, screeching. Kinos looked around sharply this time - over at Seren and around. He sighed and steeled his nerves as he turned back around and continued walking. "They were once our people... now one of our biggest enemies.. maybe not as much as these Skikru may turn out to be. Those ones interest me."

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I should have probably mentioned that, I believe it would be before the Mountain Men had fallen but after the Arkers had arrived!

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Seren]

Seren shuddered at the screeching sounds and cautiously reached over her shoulder to unsheathe her sword, her other hand going to her belt to thumb the hilt of her knife anxiously. Her gaze scanned the area as she positioned her sword defensively in front of her in case she needed to defend herself from reapers, or worse from the men that inhabited the mountain.

She watched him do his word, not exactly sure what he was looking for and not really paying attention to what he picked up, She was more focussed upon keeping them safe, this was a necessary journey. "They are not the people we once knew Kinos, they are monsters, their minds are no longer their own" she muttered, looking to the sky briefly but the trees were too close together to see much light.

"The Skaikru will fall, the Commander will not fail us, we'll wipe them out with our army" she was not fond of the sky people, that much was clear. They had already wiped out a village with their missiles, killed countless of their warriors with their advanced weapons. They would not get away with it, these were acts of war and they would not go unanswered.

@king

[Deleted]

Kinos wish she shared her sentiments.  "I wonder if I would meet a friend here. I wonder if I would be able to kill them.." his voice trailed out. He nodded at her. His eyes caught something, and for a moment his voice seemed distant as he responded to her query. "You cannot be so certain: we do not know if we attacked or they first" 

They continued the journey and just to confirm Kinos got closer. "Abrus precatorius." he grinned. One of the things he was looking for: The perverse berry grew like a virus here. Like a root: It grew up against the trees, and quite a few trees there were in this forest. Like a reflective sort of green leaf - on those leaves were red berries with a slightly end colored black piece where they connected to the vine. He held one up in front of him.

"These are dangerous. Do not eat or let into your skin, it will kill you. One full cut, but might take a week or so." he knew a lot about poisons. This one was particularly deadly. He began to open up his bag and pocket them carefully. They were a pain to collect the poison properly, but was careful not to cause harm. 

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Accidentally edited this post, so had to re-write it! Apologies to anybody reading!

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Seren]

"Your priority has to be your own life, you cannot fret about somebody who is more mutant than human" Seren told him, "Like I said, they are no longer people, they are monsters" she watched the man as he crouched beside a plant. "I would like to believe that if I ever discovered that Sae had been turned into one of those monsters, I could find the strength to put her out of her misery" she trailed off at the thought, she'd rather her girlfriend be dead than become a reaper. Although the monsters appeared to be primarily male, you could never be sure which friend would be the next to join their ranks.

"I do not know of Skaikru's intentions Kinos, but why would they attack a village if they did not wish fight us?" she questioned him. "Maybe they wish to weaken our forces, draw our attention to that village and lower our defences at Polis" letting the suggestion roll off her tongue she crouched beside him, watching as he worked. If that was their game, then she was certain that their plan would fail. She had been fighting one enemy or another since she was a child, She was an experienced warrior, Skaikru wouldn't stand a chance against their army, she was certain of that.

As Kinos named some sort of plant her brow furrowed in confusion "Abrus what now?" she questioned him. She was not skilled in poison or plants, her skills were restricted to offense and defence, she was a talented warrior, not a healer or a gatherer. But the way in which he described the plant made it sound extremely lethal. She was reminded never to pick a fight with Kinos, not when he has such a vast understanding of such lethal poisons.

@king

[Deleted]

Kinos nodded at her as she spoke her wisdom. He looked back at her once as she spoke... it was in some senses merciful. He wished he could do the same. The only difference being he was sure that he could succeed, either. The Reapers were turned bloodthirsty cannibals without much regard for their own life and returned to true ferality. That was an aspect about them that made them... enemies.

"They are more advanced than us... with their weapons, that is certain. They might have more coming, they might not. Like the mountain men, the Skikru may have wishes." 

As he collected she was confused by the name. "Abrus works fine." he said, holding out one of the berries for her to inspect. "The seeds are the poison, the berry is relatively harmless... doesn't taste great though." and he pocketed them away. After he had a stack about the size of both of their fist's combined, he closed the clasp to the collectors bag. He ran his hands along the trees as he began to walk again. "This is.. good news that it grows here and not on our land. It is hard to be rid of. Like a virus. Cave's this way." Kinos would continue his destination, stopping every few seconds to gather his surroundings and make sure he wasn't leaving anything behind.  

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MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Seren]

As she listened to his words she nodded "their weapons may be advanced, but there are more of us, we know this territory by heart, we know every tree, every stream, every rock and plant, we'll win this war Kinos" she told him, a fiery determination flashing in her eyes. They hadn't put up with the mountain men for all those years just to get wiped out by a group of children. That's what they were, the majority of the Skaikru were children, they didn't appear to have any discipline whatsoever and it was obvious that they had minimum combat training, if they had been given any at all.

"The Commander will not want to hear of their wishes surely? Not after they have wiped out so many of our warriors, done so much irreparable damage to our land" she did not know the Commander well, she only visited Tondc when there was trouble. There were rumours that she would be visiting soon, because of the Skaikru and the danger they posed.

As they walked on and Kinos confirmed that the name Abrus was okay to call the plant if she could not pronounce the whole name, she nodded along to his words, only half listening, half of her attention always directed on their surroundings, looking out for danger. "What do you hope to find in this cave? Is it worth the journey?" she fretted, not at all comfortable with being so close to the mountain.

@king

[Deleted]

Kinos looked back at her, confused at her. "Can you tell me where this cave is?" he waited for a reply that knew would not come. "Until the Mountain Men fall, we have not won anything." he continued his walk. 

Kinos was mildly surprised at her own counterquestion/statements. Why would the commander not want to hear them? The Heda had no idea what they were capable of. "It is better to lose a little and know a lot than to lose a lot because of knowing little." Kinos's Trigedasleng came off as a sort of drawl - babbling on a little bit. He liked to think he could philosophize a little bit. 

Lastly, the cave. As she asked, the cave was starting to come into view: It was fairly hidden when you thought about it, nothing obtrusive about it- the mouth was covered in moss, dangling down over the entirety of the thing: It was a small squeeze to get into it, and you had to sort of "shift" into it - you couldn't just walk forward, you had to sidestep. 

"Here we are. Yeah, we're looking for some Mushrooms. Deathcaps, they're called. You may have heard of them." They were small, white and among the most dangerous in the area. Sometimes they had a brown/yellowish tint on the top end of it: But weren't really dangerous unless ingested.

They came upon the cave. He began making his way inside, brushing past the moist greenery. "Careful of Bats."

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MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Seren]

"I cannot tell you where the cave is, for I do not know, but you are among a select few who know of its existence, not many would risk venturing this close to the mountain" she told him, knowing that even the bravest warriors tried to avoid the area. There was acid fog, reapers and of course mountain men and all three were a major threat to the clans existence. "The mountain men will fall, they are cowards, they think they are safe within their mountain but they do not know the lengths some of us will go to see them suffer"

"So you think the Heda should waste time trying to learn their motives? They burned a village to the ground, they've slaughtered more of our warriors than I care to count" she spat, glaring at him "they deserve to be punished, Heda shouldn't waste time talking to them when she could order her army to wipe them out, blood must have blood" the added threat of the Skaikru was concerning, especially since they seemed to have the same technology as the mountain men but that did little to deter Seren, she was determined that their enemies would fall, they didn't have the numbers to withstand an attack from the coalition.

As they finally approached the cave and sidestepped through the partially hidden entrance, Seren blinked a couple of times to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness. "Mushrooms, got it" she muttered, not exactly sure how they were supposed to find them in the cave when it was so dark but she trusted his judgement. "Bats?" she questioned, raising her gaze as if expecting to spot the tiny black creatures but of course she couldn't see anything.

@king