Valland Countryside

Grandma followed behind Roy and Vera as they made their way through the Valland Countryside. Although it wasn’t the nicest place she’d seen, it wasn’t one of the worst either. Grandma herself was constantly searching for any creatures or beast that might be watching them, an intent look on her face as she focus’d on this task.

Deciding to strike up a bit of conversation, Grandma would direct a question at her two companions.

“Say, do either of you know what might be out here besides just Jotun? I’m quite interested in creatures of all manner, so I’m hoping we’ll come across a variety.”

She asked the question in an almost offhand manner.

The trio walk by a marshy pool of water. Glurp. Glurp. Glurp. The terrain is mostly hilly, with lots of trees, plenty of rivers and small lakes, and some jagged outcroppings. The cool blue sky is mostly covered by grey clouds; it may rain soon. The lack of sunlight coming through the clouds makes it feel colder than it should be, but then again, it's always cold in Asgeir.

Then, a long, drawn-out, cry erupts through the air. Swarms of birds flap loudly as they flee from their treetop perches. A few rocks shake and fumble down their slopes. The marshy pit beside the trio ripples from the sound. Something is coming.

Boosh! Boosh! Boosh! The deep, intimidating sounds of a running jotun! Within moments it comes into view up ahead, rounding the edge of a rocky retreat. He's tall, standing a good sixteen feet, with a barreled body and tree-branch arms; he's easily strong enough to smash any of the three adventurers into the ground. He wears a simple fur covering over his body, including his torso, arms, waist and legs. His skin is quite pale, and his grey beard and hair - both of which are quite long - speak of age.

"Graaahhh!" The mighty giant roars as the trespassers enters his domain. He pauses a good forty-feet from the trio and slows to pick up a moderately-sized boulder, probably big enough to kill Roy if it was to hit him, and chunks it at the group...

Grandma appeared to contemplate her answer before responding to Vera.

“Well, mostly anything magical. I’m quite interested in magical creatures up in these parts, although a dragon or wyvern would also be quite a find, perhaps a bit much with this group though…”

At the Jotuns appearance, Grandma would put on her best impression of being awestruck by the creature. After Roy pulled her out of the way of the boulder, she would speak hurriedly to him and Vera.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you two will be quite capable of handling that fellow over there! I’ll just wait behind this tree over here, don’t worry about me, I’ll be perfectly safe. You two just focus on bringing him down!”

At those words of ‘advice’, Grandma would shuffle away towards a nearby tree, standing behind it. Once she was out of her companions sight range, she would channel into her cane. The tip would let off a bit of a glow, but nothing too noticeable. Now she simply needed to stay within a few hundred feet of the Jotun as her two companions hopefully brought it down. Although not the most interesting thing, the soul of a Jotun would be better than nothing.

Glancing at her hand, she nodded in satisfaction to see all her rings were functional. Although she had no intention of helping them bring it down, she wasn’t so cold as to let her two companions die if they got into a bad spot.

(Grandma Vera of the Celadine Royal Fletcher)

"Grrr," gowls the mighty Jotun, until he is cut off. "Urf!" The giant's foot slips into a conveniently placed hole, courtesy of Vera, and falls down on his front side. If anything, the beast is angrier. "Raaah!" The mighty creature's muscles bulge, and he starts to look physically stronger. He pushes himself up and charges head-on for Vera and Roy, ignoring Grandma for the moment. On the way to the duo, he reaches over and lifts a heavy log, which he swings in a horizontal sweep as if to take out Vera and Roy's legs.

(Renner)

The grunting of a large beast can be heard off in the distance. If Renner was to obverse, he might see a great furry beast nudging the earth for something. Maybe he was eating grass, or tearing into a carcass, or digging for worms, who knew?

It had dirty reddish hair all over its massive body, as big around as a mammoth. It's head, also large, was like that of a buffalo, but with great tusks coming down from mouth, and then coming back upward: a weapon for fending off would-be attackers. Its fur hide was thick, and its skin thicker. Its hooves heavy with weight. There was no doubt, this was the Buunvar beast the innkeeper had spoke of.

(Renner )

The great beast snorts, then groans and moves along. It stops every now and again to nudge the ground some more before snorting in some disappointment and moving on. Then it picks its head up and looks around slowly. Did it spot Renner? Was his position compromised? No, it had to be something else.

Almost fifty feet away, behind the Buunvar, the grass begins to move. Any normal person might think it was the wind, but someone like Renner would know a small creature, or one in a prowling stance was nearby, stalking the Buunvar. The ordeal is out of range for Renner at the moment, but he can observe it, or try to move forward.

Something shall die today.

The Buunvar hears the purring of a great cat. A mighty roar sounds out as a sabre cat leaps from the prowl, onto the back of the Buunvar. It digs its claws into the furry bide, but does not penetrate. His teeth dig attempts to dig into the spine of the huge behemoth, but to no avail. The Buunvar jumps wildly, kicking up its back legs and then rearing high into the air, trying to toss the predator from its back.

"Waa!"

Roy jumps up and over the log, barely managing to keep himself covered by the parasol.

"Who's idea was this? Why can't we just go home and say we killed a Jotun? Why do we have to kill them, anyway? Can't we all just get along?"

He draws his sword, holding it rather shakily in one hand. It's been a while since he learned how to use it from that weird deer thing in Darkhive, and he hasn't really needed to use it since.

Vera had capitalized on the delay cause by the fall. Using the time to prepare another bit of druidry, well the same bit of druidry but bigger. She finishes making her request, with just enough time to skip out of the way of the log. A pillar of stone shoots out of the ground, on a diagonal line, directly into the Jotun's groin. Though she isn't quite sure what to do next. Her usual strategy, was to beat the heal out of whatever pissed her off. That relied on her being stronger than her target though. Even with the earth helping her she wasn't positive, she was stronger than the giant. Vera was brash, not stupid.

"Got any plans Roy? Cause he is going to be pissed once he uncrosses his eyes."

   Renner needed to make a decision quickly. This was not an outcome he expected. A head-on shot at the cat would probably not phase it overmuch if it didn't strike an eye. He may be able to catch a flank with his sword as it passed, but then he still had the buunvar to deal with. The rock outcropping he was using as cover would probably collapse if the beast hit it at a full-on run.

   He quickly dropped the arrow he had nocked and slung his bow around his chest. If they survived the buunvar's trampling, he could recover the arrows later. For now, he decided to vacate his blind to a safer location. He might catch the eye of the buunvar while he moved to another of the great stones, but the saber cat would likely be too busy trying to flee to take much notice.

   He ducked out from under the outcropping and kept as low as he could while maintaining a good pace away from the path of the charging animals. He kept his right hand on the hilt of his sword and his left out in front of him for balance and to ward off any stray brush or grass he might encounter.