A bad case of worms. [Open!]

[Rhindeer]

It had been a routine patrol. On the back of her kaadir, Karim, Faris had been making the rounds about the city, keeping an eye out for signs of mischief. But so far, so good; everyone was on good behavior today.

Or they were smart enough to misbehave when her back was turned.

Either way, she'd gotten no reports of criminal activity yet and the atmosphere in the market was rather relaxed, slow. Probably because it was so damned hot that day. Too hot, even, to cause trouble.

Wiping sweat from her brow, Faris clicked her tongue and urged Karim onward. She felt parched, and poor Karim likely needed a break from the heat, too. And so they trotted out of the market and slipped into the shade between a tavern and a business selling fresh fruit. It was at least ten degrees cooler there.

"We'll get you some water, soon," Faris told the kaadir, stroking his slender neck, but no sooner had she touched him than Karim tossed his head restlessly and began to dance in place, his nostrils flaring in alarm. He grunted, stepping backwards, and Faris gripped his reins and tried to steady him.

"Karim! Karim, steady!" she commanded, but he was spooked and jerked against her, and before she could rein him in, he abruptly tossed his head and shook himself--

And before she knew what had happened, Faris found herself face down in the alley, her body smarting from the fall.

"Karim!" she yelled, but the kaadir had bolted, racing out of the alley. With an aggravated groan, Faris pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, ready to go after him--but then she froze in place, her hazel eyes going wide.

Because not a foot in front of her face, nestled against the back corner of the alley, was a freshly bored hole, large and smooth--large enough that she could crawl down it, if she chose.

And just at the mouth of that hole were the shed casings of three juvenile sandworms, still glistening with slime.

[Brisinger987]

Zyadran had only just arrived in Essyrn, and to her, the heat was almost natural. After all, back in Kishahn, the jungle trapped all the heat of the atmosphere, and made Essyrn look lukewarm.

And it was a strange place too. Lots of people, all crowded behind walls, some of whom knew the names of only one or two other residents of the city. And it was alien to her, the idea of not knowing people. She had always known her village by name, and yet here, no-one knew anyone.

And the market was odd. Sometimes her village would send a small group here to trade, and buy things that were needed, tools they couldn't make, or ingredients that couldn't be found in the jungle. But it was almost hostile in her eyes. All the stalls were trying to take customers from one another with valuable products, then they would skyrocket the price to try and take a customer's money.

She walked on through the market place, her tribal attire keeping her rather cool, although even she could feel the watchful eyes of wanting men following her. That was another thing she was not used to. In her tribe, it was taught that women were sacred, and should not be objects of the husband. But here, she felt differently. She felt that she would be no more than an exotic toy for these men.

She left the market beginning to feel uncomfortable, and saw the kaadir bolt, hearing Faris hit the floor in the alley. She ran in, expecting a fight, and drawing her thorned whips, but saw naught but the sandworm skins and Faris.

She approached cautiously.

"Are... Are you, okay?" Her common was a bit off, and it was clear in her pronunciation that she hadn't been speaking it very long.

[Daedra]

It was hot, but when was it not in the middle of the day? The market was at a low buzz today, and J'hiqi strolled through it as if she owned it. She had just visited her fence, and there was coin in her purse. Her guild master would get his cut of course, but it was a good profit anyways. J'hiqi was in a surprisingly good mood, and that didn't happen often. Her thoughts were already traveling along the thoughts of who to steal from this time around.

She was pulled from her thoughts, and she frowned. A riderless kaadir was roaming the streets. J'hiqi looked around her, not sure why no one attempted to grab it, in fact where was the rider? She approached the beast, grabbing the reins. It panicked, and she attempted to soothe it. once it calmed down, she led it to a shaded area by an inn. They had a roughly carved trough, and she tied the kaadir up so it could cool off and drink.

Still puzzled, but feeling generous, J'hiqi began to retrace the steps of the kaadir. It didn't take her long to find out where the beast had lost it's rider. The girl was still in the dirt, in what appeared to be shock. There was another in garb J'hiqi was not accustomed to, but it was not her she was interested in.

J'hiqi stopped short on her approach, finally noticing the worm hole. "Well damn, no wonder why your kaadir threw you." She approached the two, her braided auburn hair snapping back and forth like a whip. She stopped in front of the fallen girl, stormy grey eyes looking down at her. She offered her hand, not really knowing why she did it. It was bad for business, helping a guard.

[Anadwen]

Only a special kind of crazy people would be lingering outside at this time of day despite lacking any work they'd be forced to do. Either they were crazy, or found a way to ignore the heat, that is.

Akiu and his current 'escort' was one of those people. His slim figure, dragging a burgundy-colored garb through the streets, was leaning on the shoulder of a young, attractive woman. Her bronze skin was like molted metal in this heat, made even hotter by his presence, but she didn't seem to mind, not with his lips, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Every time, she simply giggled softly, and strode forwards with his arm around her shoulders.

He was just about ready to tell her more romantic nonsense, when she screamed, and pushing him to the side bolted back through the street. "He-" he shouted, but it appeared that he was fortunate. A kaadir, one without a rider, too, came through like a cannonball. Once the clouds of dust settled, he stepped back to the middle of the street to search for the girl again, but found himself too lazy to search thoroughly. If he can't find something in a minute, it's not worth searching for.

With an annoyed sigh, he dusted his clothes off. What the hell was a riderless kaadir doing here? What was it running from, and where was its rider? Maybe he could get back to work and rob that poor sod once it was without a kaadir... The people that owned those used to be pretty rich...

Following the rather visible trace of the kaadir in the sand and dust, he didn't even realize when he found himself almost at the end of a street. There seemed to be that unfortunate rider - along with his fellow thief, J'hiqi and someone he didn't know - and god help them!

"Good lord!" he gasped, covering his mouth after sighting the wormhole.

[Rhindeer]

Another person may have been embarrassed at finding themselves with an audience. Another time, and Faris might have been. Right now, however, there was no time for that, and more people meant more potential witnesses! To the sandworm crisis, that is, not to her fall.

Brightening at the sound of voices, she took the offered hand without even thinking. With a grunt, she pulled herself to her feet--and saw that her blunder had attracted quite the diverse assortment of people: a fair-skinned girl (her helper!), a pretty boy, and a girl with blood-colored hair. Interesting!

"Ah, yes, I'm fine! The city isn't, however, if this goes unchecked," she said, cutting straight to business as she brushed dirt off her hands and knees. Turning from the girl who'd helped her, she bent and touched fingers to the slime of one husk. It clung to her skin, and when she pulled away, a thick strand of it followed.

"Mm. It's fresh, very fresh, which means they're around here somewhere. Though how worms the size of dogs could have--ah, no matter. It's so hot out, most people in their right mind are indoors, so there aren't enough people around that would have noticed...suppose they could have easily slipped by, clever, clever bugs...and if there's larva here, what of the source..."

Faris trailed off, talking more to herself than to anyone as she paced. She shook her hand, but the glob of goo stuck and, with a grimace, she wiped it off onto her kilt.

"Looks like we've got a pest problem here, ladies. Those things are relatively harmless in their current larval state, but they'll be hungry, and they're large enough now to eat cats and babies. None of you have seen anything odd, have you?"

[Brisinger987]

Zyadran smiled at the crowd of people. Obvioiusly, in her eyes, these people wanted to help.

"No see. Me... Uh... See no bug." She knelt down, wondering if she could smell them in hesr dragon form. In her usual uncomforming fashion, she began chanting the spell to shift forms, only for a trill from inside the worm hole to worry her, and break her concentration.

"Um... Uh..." She tried to think of the words she needed as quickly as possible, as she watched the worm inside it burrow deeper.

"Uh... Bug..." She pointed at the hole, hoping someone would notice her pointing at the hole in time for someone to do something about it.

[Dansen]

The Essyrn days that Garreth lived in were certainly eventful... His work lead him to mostly be active at night but for the moment he was meeting with one of his independent fences under the heat of the sun rather than the silence of night. The man was suspicious and thought that the shadows of night held secrets and enemies, all things considered the day's shadows could hold those too just in a more sweaty environment. All in all though his deal went down smoothly, he didn't need most of the coin that he got from the job but he kept it in his secure hideaway as he did with most of his money, such coin was good for only one thing on his person, making him suspicious to the guard or making him a mark for another thief... And considering the amount of them that had aligned with the guild it would only make trouble between him and them.

However the streets were abuzz as he could see... From above on the rooftops of the buildings, the thief didn't like traveling on the ground unless he wanted to take something or he was forced to do it...However he noted the large buzz as a Kaadir moved through the streets without an owner, it was an oddity to be sure seemed that whoever lost it would be out of a ride by nightfall as any thief would look to take the beast as their own personal prize, though being able to control such a thing would be an interesting site... Leaping down from windows and ledges to the ground below, Garreth wanted to look into the reasoning behind the lost beast and hopefully find some coin on its owner if they happened to lose more than just their ride in the trouble.

The tracks of the Kaadir would be prominent in the road for a bit, but something else caught the man's attention as he fell to the ground... a shimmer of something that could not be called water could be seen in his peripheral vision. Moreover he could hear the sound of gargling and odd noises... Like a cat.... Turning he saw a sight that would turn the stomach of many, a worm with a mangy cat still half alive in its maw trying to choke it down its disgusting hole. Upon seeing it the thief moved into action as the monster raised its maw with the cat still inside to intimidate the thief a bolt was shot out of the dark cloak that Garreth was wearing, its hide seemed to shrug it off but it was diversionary at best.

Soon the man was upon it as he stabbed downwards with his left hand, crushing the monster under it before a short blade swiftly flew out of a small compartment in the guard of the thief's hand. "That was for the cat..." Being rather callous towards the sand worm Garreth moved towards the emptying street to note that the slime trail was off from a alleyway... The crowd that seemed to gather within it was a bit too much for the thief so he took to the balconies and tops of the buildings to get a good look at what exactly was going on down below so he could deal with those things that were most likely even lower under him...   

[Daedra]

After helping the girl up, she couldn't help but nod in agreement as the soldier discussed the situation. The comments weren't really directed towards anyone in particular, but that didn't matter. The worms could cause way too many problems, and they were best dealt with quickly. Even a thief could see the harm it would cause, and J'hiqi cast her selfishness behind her for now. She could continue to be a criminal later, the homes of nobles weren't going anywhere after all.

The tribal girl was stuttering, obviously not used to the common tongue. She seemed to make it clear that there were definitely worms hiding down in their hole. It was almost big enough for her to fit through, but there wouldn't be enough maneuverability to actually fight the slimers. "I doubt they'll stay in their hole long, they will be hungry for fresh meat. I have to say, the only odd thing I've seen today was your kaadir. It's too damn hot for anyone to notice anything."

J'hiqi pulled her dual swords from across her back, twirling one expertly. "I suggest a little hunting is in order." There was a gleam in her eye, this was something she was good at. In fact, maybe helping out this soldier may get her some free passes in the future. "My name's J'hiqi, and I would be happy to help destroy our little problem." She smirked, confidence practically oozing from her.

[Rhindeer]

"My kaadir? Ah! Karim!" Faris said, slapping her forehead. She'd gotten so preoccupied with the bloody worms that she hadn't thought to pursue him! Not that he would go far; he was well trained and would stay close by, he just...didn't do well with sandworms. Not that anyone really did.

"Ah, well, he won't go far. And he won't want to come back here, so first thing's first! You, girl!" Faris snapped her fingers to get the odd girl's attention and hoped that she would be able to understand her, since she seemed to have only a rudimentary grasp of Common. "You see something down there? Good! If there's something there, we can draw it out!"

Reaching into her coin purse, Faris flipped the girl a coin. "I want you to run to the market and buy some meat. It doesn't matter what kind, whatever's cheapest! Bring it back here, and we'll use it to lure the beasties out. They're blind and stupid and all stomach, so we should be able to dispatch whatever's in there quickly. It's the ones that escaped that I'm worried about," Faris said, motioning to the tracks on the ground leading out of the hole, clearly made by something dragging its body across the ground, and lined with a thin layer of slime.

"And you, Ji...Jah...J'hiqi? Right! I'm Faris, by the way." She extended her hand, offering the traditional Essyrni handshake-and-cheek-kiss greeting. "Dealt with many worms?"