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Sand in all the wrong places. [Globster!]

Started by Rhindeer, September 18, 2014, 01:22:27 PM

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Rhindeer

Scarab hated the desert.

Haaaated it.

Especially right now.

Clutching her thick, protective robes and adjusting her head wrap, she stomped through the sand, huffing to herself. This was ridiculous. And it was a disaster. A ridiculous disaster! For last night, a fierce sandstorm had blown through without warning while she and her caravan traveled toward the dig site. In the chaos, she'd been separated from the group when her kaadir bolted, carrying her with it, and off into the sandstorm they went until she'd gotten thrown, and could do little else but huddle in a ball and keep moving so she didn't get buried.

And now, here she was. Impossibly lost.

It was daytime now, with no shelter in sight, the sun beating down with its unforgivable rays. Her white robes and wrappings helped reflect some of the heat, but it didn't keep her from feeling like cooking entirely, and she could feel sweat trickling down her back and pooling beneath her breasts. Gross.

And worse still, the sand? Was everywhere. Even wrapped up as she'd been, if there was the slightest opening, it had gotten in! She walked awkwardly, and had given up acting like a lady since there was no one around to bear audience, and did the undignified but highly satisfying thing and scratched at her ass as she walked, hoping to dislodge some of that blasted sand!

It didn't yet occur to her that she was actually in grave danger, considering she had no water. She was too annoyed, and too intent on finding her way back, to process that she was in a life or death situation.

And she was so caught up in her own itchy misery that she didn't notice the way the sand rippled behind her as she stumbled across the scorching desert.
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Erzon

Houssam was riding his way back to Essyrn, riding the new kaadir he had ranted.
It was a wonderful beast, with dark-brown scales and lively, dreadful amber eyes, and he found instantly with it a strong connection, more than all the other dragons he had ridden.
The last merchant he escorted gave him a good pay and, considering all the money he had put aside, soon he would have been able to buy a kaadir on his own and, who knows, maybe he could have buy right that one.

While he was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly noticed a shadow in the horizon, so he slowed his mount and started watching carefully at it.
It looked like it was a human, probably a girl, judging his slender build, but what was she doing all alone in the desert? Judging how she was moving and her lack of equipment, she probably lost her party during one of the last sandstorms.

When he got closer, he was suddenly attracted by all the ornaments she wore. Her long, black hair were falling down her back in a lot of dreadlocks wrapped in glittering strings and her white clothes seemed to be of a really good quality.

'A rich girl lost in the desert, that could by my lucky day...' thought Houssam while riding faster toward her.
But he suddenly changes his mind when his trained eyes glimpsed at that quick shadow moving behind the girl, almost impossible to see, but not for him.

Scared for that sight, he spurred his kaadir to his limit drawing his sword and, getting finally within earshot, he shouted with all his voice:
"Watch out, run!".

DaGlobster

(*calmly looks to the left and the right, before crossing the street into the thread* this chance was too good to pass up)

Suddenly, around a second after Houssam yelled, and about half a dozen feet behind Scarab, massive javelins struck the sand, followed by the screech of whatever was stalking her before it dove further under the sand in a violent explosion of fine powder. The javelins were easily the size of a person, and with their arrival, came thundering hooves and equally gigantic voices.

They were distant, but more than powerful enough so that they carried across the desert with ease. A couple dunes away, a group of large mounted figures was seen peaking over it. One was riding a Kaadir, while the others occupied these stocky, rhinoceros-like animals

"You missed it, Drex!" Borzclubb shouted, deftly smacking the mountain ogre next to him in the helmet with the tip of his Kaadir training stick. His Kaadir, a powerful looking all-white breed with icy blue eyes, lazily surveyed the scene before them as they rode. The ogre identified as Drex, who was rather weedy for an eight-foot tall mountain ogre, huffed, the bag of javelins on his back rattling loudly as he adjusted himself on the saddle of his rhinox.

"It was under the sand! Besides, I didn't want to hit the lady" Drex replied, taking up another couple javelins in his meaty fists as he guided his mount with his knees.

"Then why bother throwing!? Now it's been spooked, and it's going to be another day in damn desert!" Borzclubb continued, and the other five ogres riding with them groaned. This was supposed to be a fun thing, hunting the rare Desert Ankheg, but this recent spat of bad luck had made a weekend's hunt into a week-long affair, and everybody involved was slightly peeved.

Regardless, they continued riding. At their pace, they threatened to beat Houssam to Scarab's location.


Rhindeer

A voice shouted out, and Scarab was so relieved to hear another voice that she didn't even pay attention to the words. She whirled around--

And a javelin struck the sand just feet from her.

And the sand writhed and thrashed and screeched, throwing sand into the air, and soon Scarab was screaming, too, and running!

Especially since, not far in the distance, she saw all those huge, monstrous looking men, riding kaadir and some strange horned beasts!

It was difficult to run across sand, but she was certainly trying, though the problem about the desert was when the sand stretched on as far as the eye could see, sometimes it was hard to spot sudden dips in the path ahead of you. Which was exactly what happened as Scarab took off running, for by the time she noticed the way the dune sloped ahead of her, it was too late, and she went tumbling and sliding down it in a most graceless manner, landing at the bottom in a sandy heap.
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Erzon

Houssam nearly fell off his kaadir when he saw those huge javelins land behind the frightened girl and he heard those animal-like screams.
Keeping on riding toward Scarab, he looked worried to those figures on the horizon. They were really fearful, even at that distance they seemed so huge and dangerous, riding those strange horned beasts he never had seen before.

'Who are they, and what's their purpose, are they bandits or what?' those were Houssam thoughts while he rode furiously toward Scarab who, in the meanwhile, started running away from those frightful group. 'Damn it, why are they threatening my source of income?'.

Scarab's run didn't last long, she fell almost instantly in the sand and Borzclubb and his group were coming quickly closer, they would have reached Scarab before Houssam for sure, but he didn't give up, but he forced his kaadir to run as quick as he could. "Run, my friend, those girl could be your way to become my personal kaadir, don't disappoint me now!".

When he finally got close enough for his voice to be heard from that group, he quickly drew his dagger and, swinging it furiously trough the air, he shouted.

"Stay there, don't touch her!".

Watching at the ogres standing there, the only thing Houssam could do was to wish they weren't bad-intentioned or, if they were, that his kaadir had still the energy to run away faster than them. At the end, his life was so more important than Scarab's money.

DaGlobster

The hunting party of ogres came to a stop on the peak of the dune Scarab fell over. They were massive in the distance, but they easily cleared over twenty-five feet in height atop their mounts. When Houssam drew his dagger and waved it around like he was trying to fan someone with it, the ogres all glanced among each other before breaking into raucous laughter.

Borzclubb himself laughed, before abruptly stopping and patting Drex on the shoulder, pointing to the two javelins embedded in the sand a couple feet away from them. Giving Borzclubb a glare, he hopped down off of his rhinox to retrieve them.

Borzclubb's Kaadir lost the constantly unamused look on its muzzle, its eyes locking onto Houssam's own.

"You know the desert, boy?" Borzclubb asked in his somewhat proficient Essyrni. "If you do, there could be a fat sack of coins in it for you." He asked, and turned his gaze to the sandy mess that was Scarab.

"And you look like you could use a professional escort out of this desert, m'lady."

Rhindeer

Scarab had just drawn herself up onto her knees, spitting out sand while kohl ran from her eyes in dark lines. She'd gotten sand in them, which had made her eyes tear up and water, and she knew she must look hideous now--but that was only a secondary concern. Her primary concern were the huge, hulking shapes she saw standing atop the mound.

She scrambled backwards and away from them, wiping at her eyes and smearing her makeup, her breath coming in panicked pants because those monsters were surely out for her blood--

...Wait. Did they just offer her a professional escort?

She froze in place, and squinted up at them. "E...escort? You intend to help me?"
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DaGlobster

The ogres all looked among each other, and then back at Scarab.

"'Course we intend to help you, lass. 'Course, you'll have to pay us, but since we're mostly doing it out of the goodness of our hearts, I can assure you it won't be much. Wouldn't shine very good with The Mountain Mother if we just left you to starve." Borzclubb explained as he stepped down from his Kaadir. The flightless drake turned his head to look at Borzclubb, and Borzclubb replied with "Easy, Tiam" as he patted him on the side.

What at first seemed to be natural blue streaks and patterns in the beast's chalky white scales turned out to be primitive looking tribal designs and war paint. Like they had been before, Tiam's eyes observed Scarab and Houssam with an intelligence that was rare in his kind.

Rhindeer

Pay them? Scarab sighed with relief. Payment was nothing! She doubted these brutes knew her worth, so whatever they asked for, it would more than likely be a gain of sand to the vast desert of her merchant empire. She'd just have to be sure to keep her true identity secret, in case either these ogres of the other man got any wise ideas.

"Payment is no issue," Scarab said, drawing herself up regally and climbing to her feet. She shook more sand out of her clothes and fixed the arrangement of her dreadlocks. "Provided you can get me back to Essyrn in one piece, of course."

She looked the group of them over as she stood there, straight and proud, though deep inside she was still afraid. She'd never seen anything like them before--and part of her was genuinely worried they might, you know, eat her or something.

But what other choice did she have, out here in the middle of nowhere? It was either that, or dehydrate.
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DaGlobster

"Oh, we'll get you back in one piece alright. We've just got some unfinished business here in the great Moraki that needs wrapping up before we go." Borzclubb said, and the other ogres in his party groaned. He turned around sharply, leveling a finger at them. "We came here to get a Desert Ankheg's head, and I'll be damned if we trekked through this damn desert tracking it just to go back!"

The other ogres nodded, looking among themselves.

Rhindeer

"A...desert Ankheg?" Scarab repeated, not really liking the sound of it, and yet also a bit intrigued by it--much like this entire situation! These creatures were terrifying, but also curious, and either way, she wasn't about to piss any of them off. Better to just smile and nod and go along with their quest, so long as they were promising her safety.

And it wasn't like she had other options; she'd die out here.

Picking at her clothes and shaking the sand from them, she nodded. "Yes, yes, that sounds agreeable enough. How long will this venture of yours take? I'm on a bit of a tight schedule."
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DaGlobster

"We'll give it a couple more days. After that, we head back. You lot have something to grumble about this time?" Borzclubb asked as he turned about. The other ogres either shook their heads or shrugged their shoulders. At least two gave a nasty look to Drex, who adjusted himself on his mount, the many quivers of javelins clacking about on his person.

He motioned for Scarab to approach.

Rhindeer

A couple days. That was not...ideal, but this wasn't an ideal situation, either, and she still had no guarantee that these...creatures...wouldn't turn out to be bad. Either way, being stuck with them for days sounded downright awful! They were frightful looking, and their mounts? Hakeshna. The only normal one was the kaadir their leader rode.

And as said leader motioned for Scarab to approach, she swallowed hard, though she kept her posture strong and regal despite her nerves. Of course she would ride with him; she had no mount of her own.

Bit it still didn't mean she liked the idea.

Stepping closer to him, she gave the other strange mounts a wary look. "A couple days works for me. So long as you're certain this is, ah, safe." Her eyes drifted toward their many weapons as she spoke. She really hoped she wasn't going to wind up roasting over a spit on one of those javelins!
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DaGlobster

"'Course it's safe! you just keep yourself comfortable on Winterpeak here, and she'll keep you safe. Isn't that right, girl?"

He patted his kaadir Winterpeak at the base of the neck, and she released something like a purr. He looked back at Scarab, tracing her stare. "Listen here, lass. If we were fixin' on killin' you, you'd be dead a long time ago. Besides, you don't got nearly enough meat to feed five ogres. Hell, you're hardly enough to feed me".

He reached downwards to help her onto his abnormally large kaadir. The saddle was large, hardly fit for humans, but there was a spot on the front where she could sit relatively comfortably.

Rhindeer

Scarab wasn't sure how comforting that statement was, since in a way it implied he'd sized her up in terms of edibility, but she brushed the thought away. This right here was her best option--her only option, in fact! And so with a deep breath, she let the ogre haul her up and into the saddle, though she adjusted herself to sit side-saddle, as seemed more appropriate, since she wasn't wearing breeches but robes.

She adjusted her dreadlocks, tossing them over her shoulder--and smacking the ogre with them in the process.

"Well, then. Here we are," she said, a little awkwardly. Awkward because of the situation, and because ogres, and because, well...she was a tad spoiled back home, and a little picky, and the smells of this band and their animals weren't exactly favorable. Ugh, how she longed for her perfumes! It was how she survived the cities.

"Where is our first stop?"
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DaGlobster

Effortlessly hauling her up, Borzclubb didn't even notice Scarab's dreadlocks hitting him, since they hit him more or less in the belly (His saddle on Winterpeak was more of a mounted seat, similar to the saddles mounted onto flying dragons).

When she inquired about their next stop, Borzclubb held a finger up and turned his head back.

"Any of you lobs catch where that Ankheg was heading?" Borzclubb said, and one of the others piped up.

"She was bearing due east, Borzclubb!"

Nodding, Borzclubb turned back to Scarab. "We'll track the Ankheg east until night falls. Then we'll stop for camp."

Rhindeer

"Oh, okay," Scarab said with a smile and a nod.

A long moment went by before she added, "Ah, pardon, but what exactly is an Ankheg?"
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DaGlobster

Reaching down to his belt, Borzclubb procured a folded Parchment depicting an Ankheg. He handed it to Scarab, waiting for her to finish inspecting it.

Rhindeer

The blood drained from Scarab's face. With shaky fingers, she handed the parchment back to the ogre.

"...And you're absolutely sure you can't drop me off in Essyrn first?"
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DaGlobster

"Well...no. We're hot on this one's trail, and I'm not about to give it up," Borzclubb growled. His voice carried a certain amount of animosity with it, as if this beast was some great enemy of his.

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