[Quest] Ze Zealous Zaratans

[Aydyn Blair]

The Second Cycle of Immanis
in the Season of Winter

Aydyn had heard about the turtles. It had been hard not to hear about the turtles upon spending time within the city. They were the topic of many conversations and how could they not be with the promise of treasure whispering through the air? Aydyn had little care for treasure. By nature, she was not a materialistic woman, preferring the dirt and the trees to a large home built of the sturdiest stone available. The turtles themselves were the allure, great majestic creatures of the sea that Aydyn had never before seen.

That afternoon Aydyn strode the beach without really intending to actually see one of the creatures. She wished to, but she knew the futility of her efforts, standing there on the beach, removed from the sea. The turtles belonged beneath the ocean, a place she regarded with some reservation because while she had spent time by the ocean before, she could not begin to understand how life went on beneath those dark waves.

She wrapped her cloak tightly around her figure as the chill of the winter wind brushed in off the sea. Cold. She didn't want to linger too long. She didn't even really know what she wanted. To see a turtle. Yes, that was what she wanted. The poor turtles that people were probably trying their hardest to hunt and kill based on a few reports of treasure. And what real use was treasure? One spent it and it was gone. It helped a person live for some time, but inevitably it would be gone, would it not?

No, Aydyn did not understand the need for treasure. But she did understand the desire to witness nature in all its beauty.

ooc: I know everyone else is doing 1st Cycle, but Iseult is around 1st cycle, so 2nd cycle it must be Hope that's okay...

[Crimson]

The Giants of the Isle

That afternoon, Aydyn found herself along the Northeastern Coast of the Jaedaxian Peninsula, just north of the city Gates. There, she overlooked the vast ocean atop a cliff which dropped very abruptly hundreds of feet until it touched the rocky beaches of the Bay. The waves crashed lovingly onto the shore, and the sweet salty breeze caressed Aydyn's cloak-warpped body, causing her to shiver from time to time. Winter along the Trident Isles was a nasty affair. If not snow, then sleet; if not sleet, then hail; if not hail, then blizzards.

But the Jaedaxians loved it. Anything was better than the Everwinter.

Overhead, the druidess heard gulls and other wildlife singing and floating along the currents. There were a few fluffy clouds as well, hovering lightly in a random row that seemed to make odd markings against the sapphire sky. Aydyn was just about too cold to stay any longer when she heard a low, melodious sound suddenly greet her from the ocean. It was a song like nothing she's ever heard. It was almost ethereal, like a fragment of a daydream, or an allusion to some unseen future.

Slowly, Aydyn saw two earth-colored bulges rise from the shores beneath the cliff. And before long two massive, bronze turtles began to wade across the shallow shores and toward the rocky beaches. These were not Zaratan, no ... but why were they here? Should the druidess wander along the cliff edge, she'd easily find a narrow, steep path leading down to the beach. It was perhaps carved by early settlers and fishermen who needed access to the waters below. And from the looks of things, the pass was regularly used. Aydyn could see faint footprints and hooveprints on the dirt winding and zigzagging down to the waterline.

[Aydyn Blair]

She tugged at her cloak, trying to draw it tight and keep it from pulling away in the wind. Toggles. She needed toggles. The sort that were sewn in along the hem and twisted to keep the cloak from parting. Aydyn had grown up just outside of Candaceburg where snow was fleeting, almost rare, and had only started to become accustomed to the snows since leaving home. Here in Jaedaxia, the winter was the harshest she'd ever experienced...and she'd wondered how much worse it was going to get as the months plowed onward.

She scuffed her foot and started to turn, freezing and starting to feel a little numb at the nose and tips of her fingers and toes, covered though they were, when the sound caught at her, soft and delicate. She hesitated and glanced off towards the ocean, eyes narrowing a little as if to sharpen her own eyesight. As the turtles rose out of the water, dragging themselves across the wet sand, Aydyn drew in a breath and watched with interest. Turtles, excepting those found in freshwater water bodies, were not something she knew much about and sea turtles the most curious of all with their strange flippers and large bodies. But these were too small to be the rumored Zaratans, certainly.

Curious and always interested in something such as this, Aydyn picked her way along the edge of the cliff, glancing now and again at the turtles to see if they had moved away and minding her proximity towards the edge. Down she wandered until she had come down to the beach. She approached with eagerness, but was wary in minding her distance, not because she suspected them to be cruel or dangerous, but rather as to not scare them. She edged close enough as she could dare, wanting a close look at something she would have never before seen.

[Crimson]

As Aydyn scrambled down the narrow path, she noted the two bronze turtles look up, regard her for a moment, before continuing their way up the shore. They were easily the size of cows or horses but much wider and flatter (obviously). They had flippers instead of feet and even as they reached dry land, they continued to flap back in an odd attempt to fly on the rocky beach. The pair reached the approximate middle of the shoreline when Aydyn finally got tot he bottom-most step. She stood some thirty paces from the turtles who were now suddenly kicking up sand with their back flippers, effectively digging a small hole behind them.

This went on for several moments unless Arydyn decided to disturb or attack the turtles. When the pair ceased digging, there was a significant size hole for each of them ... and the druidess saw eggs suddenly sprouting from the bronze sea turtles' backsides! Each egg was the size of a child's fist, perhaps a little larger, but there were dozens coming out, hundreds even!

But while Aydyn was happy to stay back and watch, she saw a few figures from the corner of her eyes -- on her right. They were hiding behind a few large boulders that may have been once part of the cliff face. And to her shock, each of the figures -- fishermen it seemed -- were holding spears, long knives, and clubs.

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn doubted that many could say they had witnessed turtle eggs being laid. Sea turtles. She lingered back a few paces, hands clasped behind her back, and watched with a sense of contentment. She had no need to step forward and interrupt, no desire to interrupt this very natural part of life, and ever desire to simply stand as spectator.

She smiled to herself, glad for the relaxation she was finally able to claim away from responsibility and painful problems. She rubbed the scar of her empty finger socket, a reminder of the past that no longer stung as sharply as it once had. While memories floated, it was easy enough to pick them out of the air and discard them in favor of the stinging cold of winter and the beauty of the turtles as they laid their eggs.

She shifted as movement caught at the corners of her eyes, a light tickle that didn't quite fit with the rest of the scenery. She frowned at the distraction and narrowed her eyes, trying to discern what else was out there, her senses telling her that it simply wasn't what it should have been. Ah, then she picked them out--people, weapons in their hands.

The Druidess shuddered, repulsed and suddenly feeling a gnaw of worry at her gut. What else had they to hunt and catch except the turtles that had come to spawn?

She reached out with a gloved hand brushed clothed fingertips against the shining gem at her throat. Just a few moments it would take to unfurl the spell within, even if it wasted one of the Imbuement charges she had set in the Peridot. She quickly weighed the options--stand as a human and try to dissuade them, let them take the eggs, or dry to stave them off as something more efficient and brutal.

Aydyn hated violence, but she swallowed back a pang of hesitation and Activated a charge of the Animal Form within. She knew that spears and knives were a dangerous thing to soft fur and sleek muscles, but she stood a better chance of warning them off as a puma than as a soft-fleshed, weaponless human woman. She wrapped the spell around herself, to let it shift her into the tawny limbs of a stalking wild cat, long-toothed mouth agape to scent at the air, thick tail balancing out her movements. As a puma, she could stalk the beach, pacing, and wait. Most people weren't stupid enough to approach a mountain cat. But these had spears. Hunters. She was certain that would be a problem.

[Crimson]

The six men stood together, huddled, waiting in anticipation. There was no use in spooking the egg-laying creatures now. That would only lessen their harvest for the brightening. They were egg harvesters after all -- each one of them, too. This was their chosen work, their livelihood, starting from their father's fathers. One of them, a burly, deep chested man made a few quick motions, silent, showing his particular expertise in the subject. The others only nodded before slowly stalking from their position to get a better view of the turtles.

The hunters wouldn't know that they, too, were being stalked however until it was too late. Aydyn's spell was forged from the depths of her imbued necklace, the green surface of shimmering slightly as a single charge of Animal Form: Mountain Lion was activated within some twenty seconds. Slowly, the druidess' lithe form shifted, changed, altered. Her long limbs changed into powerful legs capable of leaping dozens of feet into the air from a standing position; her senses were enhanced, augmented to perform according to her instincts. Her eyes, now an amber color, narrowed at the hunters who slowly made a semi-circle in hopes of capturing both turtles and their eggs.

She felt powerful, mighty, unstoppable. She roared, and the men spun around, their eyes widening in terror.

"By Jalat's pants!", one of the hunters cried, "how in the fething way did a puma get all the way out here??"

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn watched them. She watched them as they moved to get into a better position to hunt and kill the turtles, to take away their eggs. This did not settle well with her at all and as the new form took her over, warping her into tawny fur and powerful muscle, the predator in her took over, a predator that was otherwise hidden behind a warm and friendly nature. She stalked even as they stalked, alerting them only with a throaty noise that she was there, watching them, aware.

When they did take note of her, Aydyn slunk along the sand, keeping close to the nest of eggs. Very well to stand there in this form, but she couldn't keep it up. She couldn't stay there forever. Sooner or later she'd have to leave the eggs and sooner or later, when she was gone, they would come back. In the meantime she watched them, stared. She did not attack, even though that sudden predatory thirst in here shivered and whispered to stalk and leap, to snag something and bring it down under a burst of claws and teeth.

Yes, indeed, how did a puma get all the way out there. Aydyn knew. She was, of course, not telling.

[Crimson]

It was a stalemate, to a degree. Aydyn could have simply attacked them, maybe injured one hunter to encourage the rest of them to scatter. The hunters on the other hand were not all together willing to risk their life and limb (literally) against such a primal hunter. The puma before them crouched, its powerful legs showing off their inherent ability to pounce within a moment's notice. They had no change, and they knew it.

Before Aydyn could emit another rumbling roar, the hunters fled. All it took was their weakest link to falter, shriek a little, and dash off, leaving his spear in the process. The others, feeling that less was not more, followed suit. Within a span of two minutes, Aydyn (still in Animal Form) watched as the hunters' forms disappeared behind a sharp corner formed by the cliff on her right. They were gone.

Meanwhile, the sea turtles seemed completely unaware of their previous predicament and were now slowly burrying their newly laid eggs with nearby sand. The ocean roared and crashed against the rocky shores of the Jaedaxian Peninsula. Aydyn's augmented senses seemed to relish in the peace she brought and a newfound pride rose up from within her, filling her fur-coated form with warmth.

Suddenly, a voice broke the silence.

"Thank you for helping us, Mountain Lioness!"

It was one of the turtles.

"Our children owe their lives to you!"

With that, the pair waddled back toward the shoreline, flapping their flippers until they crashed against the waves, then dove back into the deep blue sea.

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn had hunkered down on the ground, chin on her front paws, large amber eyes watching the hunters. It was a lazy way to pass the time and she felt glad to have the warmth of the fur around her body as she shifted and yawned, jaws gaping. They retreated and Aydyn sat up again, settled on her haunches, head tilting slightly as she watched and waited. They seem to have gone for the moment, at least there were no indications that they planned to return just then.

She jolted in surprise as a voice interrupted her quiet, dull watch, her head turning as she gazed towards the source. The...turtle? Had it spoken to has a turtle might or was that an actual voice, human-like and real as her own? At least...when she was not crouched in the form of a puma.

Feeling safe enough to return to her human figure, she Dispelled it and shivered a little as the fur slipped away, leaving soft human skin to ward off the chill. She at least had her cloak and she again pulled it around her as much as she possibly good. She stepped forward towards the edge of the sea and looked out towards where the turtles had gone. She considered for just a moment trying to follow them. It was possible. If she could get the form right.

She wondered also what would happen with the eggs now that the turtles were gone. The hunters might have come to slay the large turtles, but the eggs were still. They could always return for those. And yet wasn't that life? She shook her head to herself slightly. Life or not she had a hard time accepting that this was so. She did not eat animal flesh herself, feeling uncomfortable with the notion.

But what could she do except continue to sit there and wait? And who knew how long the eggs would take to hatch? She knew nothing about turtles.

So instead her curiosity won her over. Aydyn relaxed and stripped away the senses and thoughts around her, slipping down into Clara and wound the arcanic energies together, drawing from the Arcanic Plane and weaving the spell she was looking for--Animal Form. But this time in the shape of a turtle, one of the turtles she had just spied earlier. She'd never tried a turtle before. Her closest encounter with an animal of the water was a river otter. It would, indeed, be an experience.

ooc: precisely one month later >.>

[Crimson]

Eaten or not, both giant turtles never truly hope that all their eggs would become hatchlings and grow into adulthood. Why, that would overpopulate the ocean and put the order of things into a mess! A few dozen was mroe than enough to carry on, to bring forth a new generation; and another after them. That was the order of things and the pair dived back into the depths happily knowing that their lioness protector was behind them.

But Aydyn had other plans in mind. She didn't quite get into close proximity but when the turtles communicated with her, she felt a piece of her mind understand the turtles internal workings, their instincts, their desires, their wants. It was like glancing into a whole new world, except it was so brief and fleeting that Aydyn had to struggle to recall all the information she needed. Then with a flash of concentration in her eyes she slowly wove the essences into the traditional template that produced Animal Form.

It took nearly half a minute to shape the spell and several moments after that for the transformation to take place. She hunched forward, and Aydyn found herself laying chest-first on the sand. Her arms and legs flattened and shortened until they were like wings -- only less feathery and more capable of swimming than flight. Finally, she felt the skin on her back harden and suddenly her range of vision became wider at the price of a black blind spot right smack in the middle.

She was a turtle now.

A sea turlte at that.

For a moment, she flapped there, completely lost within her own world. She felt a strange tug, like mental ropes, which prevented her from leaving the beach. Only when she realized that she wasn't ready to lay eggs did those inherent mechanisms cease and the druidess felt free to flap lazily toward the crashing waves, into the ocean.

[Aydyn Blair]

ooc: Sorry I'm so slow with this, hunny

ic:
The sensation was always odd, this displacement of her body for something other. Something vastly different. She was no longer the human that could easily move around as she pleased. Her body was bulky and cumbersome. The fins were hard to use to propel herself through the sand with ease. And yet she tried because she needed to get to the sea.

It called.

So she continued to slide forward, little bit by little bit, until she felt her body connect with the spray of salt water. She dipped down beneath the waves as the ocean floor steadily declined. It was safer here than it was out on the beach, she recognized that, and gradually she let herself become accustomed to the way her new body worked. The larger flippers that pulled her forward with each rowing gait, the twists that acted as turns.

It was odd, this sea. It made her uncomfortable and somewhat nervous. She did not know what to expect, what dangers lurked within it. She was a turtle. Turtles were prey and she was suddenly quite aware that she had little with which to defend herself, save a hardened shell that could be crushed beneath sharp teeth.

She moved, forward and onward, examining the seaweed-touched rocks and sand below her, keeping close to the surface, too wary yet to sink any lower. Occasionally fish swam around her and she'd have to ignore some impulse to swim after them to grab and eat.

[Crimson]

As the druid-turned-puma-turned-seaturtle skimmed the whitecapped surface of Libertas Bay, she was suddenly aware of the strangeness of it all. Everything seemed alive to her senses. And while her eyes were not keen and sharp like predatory animals, in turtle form, Aydyn noticed that she was indeed ... free. She felt her turtle-heart's rhythm match those of the waves above and around her. The tiny little fishies in their mighty schools shimmered as they passed; and below, enormous patches of kelp and other, more colorful sea life sparkled. They beckoned to her, almost luring her toward them.

While in turtle form Aydyn Blair also possessed the uncanny ability to hold her breath for looong time. She didn't even begin to feel the pangs of breathlessness yet and she was already pushing half a candlemark of swimming. For a moment, she thought that being a turtle was perhaps the best form ever. She had her hard, leathery shell, her powerful flippers, and a strange awareness of her surroundings despite her generally poor sensory organs.

Aydyn continued flippering about when quite abruptly, and amazingly, she smelled something oily and rude behind her. She craned her thick neck over (and involuntarily stopped and flapped along so that she could turn her entire form to see behind her).

And there, speeding toward her, was a black shape.

Upon closer inspection (and only after her 'turtle senses' kicked in a warning) did Aydyn realize what the creature was. It was a dog shark.