Shadowed Forest
The trees in this part of the vast forest which covers Sylvania are just a slight bit larger and somehow a slight bit spookier. They surround an area that was one the location of the Twisted Keep, a notorious stronghold during the Necromancer wars, and later the resting place for the Shadow of Amena. Now, though, the keep is gone and in its place is a pit of rubble. In time, it's lightly that the pit will become yet another one of the haunted lakes in Sylvania, whose depths hide unknown and unspeakable horrors. Or just really, really, stinky fish.

It's later in the day and most of the Yodhblakat are still suffering from a hangover. This hasn't stopped a few of them, including Roogi, from camping outside Tulani's bedroom, door, though. What sort of revenge they're plotting because she offered to help them is anyone's guess, though. Alptraum has been fairly active that morning … mainly with packing stuff since no one else seems coherent enough to do it at the moment. And well, Mave claims to be too delicate.

As afternoon approaches Alptraum decides to go out hunting for a bit. His reasons are twofold:  Food for himself and the group as well as to gather some power into his chitinous right hand.  He intends to learn how to use the Shadow's abilities while he still knows how from his bonding. On the way out he encountered Barba and seeing that she was actually coherent and alert, asked her to come along. This serves two purposes … help with hunting as well as a chance for Alptraum to talk to the leader of the Yodhblakat and learn their plans  … or make subtle suggestions on what they may want to do…

Alptraum breaks through the canopy of leaves and lands in the underbrush with a rustle of claws in leaves. He looks upward, watching for the elder red Eeee who was behind him earlier.

Barba lands in a crouch next to the black Eeee, and swivels her ears to listen for movement. "Have you hunted in here before?" she asks Alptraum.

"This forest? No. There's another somewhat nearby … the Disenchanted Forest, that I've been in more … but I certainly wouldn't want to hunt there," Alptraum comments as he crouches down and flicks his ears around as well. He can't help but glance towards the heavily scarred Eeee now and then and wonder just how it came to be he'd be around women like this. "I doubt there is anything too dangerous out here. The former draconic owner of the castle would have not permitted it."

"He probably devoured anything easy to catch, however," Barba notes, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. "Which could leave only the smarter and more dangerous animals. I have seen your Sylvanian hogs; they are formidable."

"They can be, yes. I'm certain you're up to the challenge. To have survived as long as you have and become a leader, no less, speaks highly of your guile and intelligence. I do have to wonder where you will assert those skills next… " Alptraum notes as he starts to creep forward, brushing the plants out of the way with the back of his chitinous hand. That action reminds him just how strange his hand feels … since he can 't actually feel the contact.

"That does not make me a better hunter," Barba notes. "Animals are different than … I hear something." The warrior Eeee immediately leaps up to low branch.

"Then I have much to teach you on hunting," Alptraum whispers and flicks his ears in the direction Barba is looking. He doesn't make any sudden moves. In fact, he grows quite still, only slowly curling his wings around himself to appear as nothing more than a rock.

The underbrush rustles as a long, serpentine shape emerges: a Sylvanian flatwyrm. Spiny fur covers its wide back as it undulates along, the six limbs now just vestigial claws that poke out from the sides. The head is flat, with upthrust eyes like a frog's, and a similar jaw, but one filled with lots and lots of teeth.

"Well, that's not edible … so it may do nicely for, the … well, my other needs," Alptraum thinks, his insect-like fingers twitching in almost anticipation. He holds his position, waiting to see which way it's going to move… and where he could grab it safely.

The creature pauses near Alptraum, it's head rising up a bit as it's nostrils flare. Having caught a scent, it swings around towards the Eeee. It's eyes are more adjusted for seeing underwater, however, so the beast has difficulty separating Alptraum from the trees and shadows.

Alptraum snaps his left wing out to the side quickly, trying to lure the creature towards it as if he was prey. His plated fingers spread out, preparing to grab the side of its head the moment he has the opportunity. "Let'ssee if I can do this… " he thinks.

The creature's head follows the movement, and lunges towards the wing with it's mouth open like a basket.

Alptraum's chitinous hand darts in and grips down tight near the back of its jaws, hoping the claws sink deep. He … isn't quite sure what he has to do to get it to start draining the creature, though. His best guess is to try and locate those strange 'pumping' muscles and work them.

The monster hisses and gulps – a trick to inflate its body underwater - but can't break free of the grip. The struggling itself is what seems to 'trigger' the life-pumping action. The odd sensation starts up, and the veins in the gauntlet glow red as the flatwyrm becomes even flatter, its body curling up and blackening like a strip of paper in a fire.

Alptraum's expression is a mixture of of almost pride in managing to take the creature … to a bit of horror at what he can now do to other creatures. He doesn't even try to relax his grip, though, until all that can be extracted is. "It wasn't edible," Alptraum comments up to Barba, trying to sound calm about what he just did. "So, it served another purpose."

"So I see," the Yodhblakat says cautiously. "Why did you not use this power on Smashengrab or the sorcerer?" she asks.

"The ability was a recent gift from the defeat and containment of the Shadow of Amena," Alptraum notes and flexes his plated hand a bit, then actually offers it to Barba if she wishes to examine it. "It allows me access into the abilities of the Shadow, which supplement my own as the Barsunala. The cost, however, is my right hand. The chitin is my skin now. I am not certain if it will spread further, or remain as it is."

The Yodh doesn't seem inclined to come down and take a closer look. "So, you really are the Right Hand of Death now, aren't you?" she comments. "Are you trying to sway me into worshiping you over Blakat, who abandoned us?"

Alptraum lowers his hand. "Not at all. You follow who your heart tells you to follow. I don't seek worship from you. An alliance, perhaps, and a friendship, if possible. I told you once before I felt it my duty to find you a new path and I meant it," the Eeee says with a small shrug. "I asked you to come along so that we could talk, nothing more than that. Aside from just wanting to learn more about you, I do want to understand what you and your Yodh will do next."

"Fight, of course," Barba says. "It is what we do. And a little pillaging on the side of course. Perhaps we will raid Gallis."

"Well, if you want to fight Gallis … may I offer a suggestion? Demand a warrior's position with Countess' Draco's forces. They one of a few forces which are actively stopping and driving the Gallee back," Alptraum offers. His wings snap out and he flies upward trying to land near the red Eeee. "If you do desire such, the one you should corner is Lilith. She is Draco's representative and is the one to take the position from."

Barba gives Alptraum a thoughtful look. "And we would be free to be Yodhblakat still? It is customary for our services to be bought, but we do not join other forces."

Alptraum considers that. "That you would have to negotiate with Lilith. If you require a fee, that can be discussed with her," Alptraum notes, "I mention this because I feel your skills would be quite useful in dealing with the Gallisian forces. Not to mention the roaming monsters of the land. Sylvania is not lacking for fighting."

"I will speak with the emissary then," Barba says, and then draws a long knife from her belt. "And I hear something big now."

"We need large. We have a large force to find food for," Alptraum notes quietly, He draws one of his own blades … but not the spirit dagger, of course, and crouches, ready to pounce, from the branch.

The new beast doesn't hide its presence at all, grunting and snorting as it crushes through the brush. A fully grown bull Sylvanian hog, even bigger than Gunn's pet Hogarth. It too has a spiny-haired back, and thick hide everywhere else. Claw-like cloven hooves tear up the ground, and his tusks are at least a foot long. Scars show that the bull has been in plenty of fights, but nothing to slow it down any. The big snout snorfles along the ground, probably following the scent of the flatwyrm.

Alptraum's brow goes up … rather impressed by the size of the creature. He does momentarily think back to the young girl … soon to be woman, Gunn, and how she would probably disprove of his actions right now. To Barba, he whispers, "I'm going to try and lure it into charging head-first into a tree and stun it. Then, you strike." And with that, he looks down at the base of the tree he's perched on, looking for a good landing spot.

The trees are all twisted hardwoods and ironwoods, with branches that begin about ten feet above the ground. The roots are partly exposed as well, making for tangled footing (which may be how the trees gain a little extra nourishment).

"Well, time to see if you retain your agility," Alptraum thinks to himself. He hops from his branch and uses his wings to parachute down to the roots below, trying to grip down on sturdy ones to steady himself.

A challenging snort indicates the hog has spotted Alptraum. It's widely spaced, beady red eyes focus on the bat, and the behemoth begins to charge!

Alptraum crouches down, wings spread upward. He holds there, waiting and trying to time a leap upward, plus a beat of his wings, to launch into the branches and get the hog to run headfirst into the tree!

The leap almost goes just right, except that the boar puts on a last second burst of speed. The impact is jarring enough for Alptraum to lose his grip on the branch before he can fully dig in, and he falls back to the ground. The boar growls now, and doesn't seem particularly phased by the impact. The skull must not be a very vulnerable area.

"Where do I strike the monster?" Barba calls, poised to leap.

Alptraum grunts loudly when he hits the ground. "Base of the skull to sever the spine or through the eyes into the brain," Alptraum calls upward. He scrabbles a bit now, trying to get back to his feet before the creature can trample him.

Barba jumps down and digs her talons into the hog's shoulders. With only one hand, she can't apply full force to the blow, but manages to plunge her long knife between the monster's shoulder blades before it can start to shake her off. The hog doesn't stop, however, and tries to roll over and squash the bat on its back.

"To the air!" Alptraum calls out and lurches forward, trying to get a grip on one of its tusks to keep it from rolling if he can manage it … or at least slow it down. If the chance presents, he'll do an eye strike with his dagger. If all else fails, he can try to drain its life … but … the food is more useful right now!

Pulling out her blade before she loses it, Barba flaps back up to her original perch. "My blade isn't long enough!" she curses.

The hog rears up on its hind legs, lifting Alptraum off of the ground, and tries to throw him off by shaking his head back and forth.

Flailing his wings about, Alptraum tries to dig his clawed feet into the back of the hog. If he can manage to stabilize his position … maybe an eye strike will drop it. If not … he's got to get away from this thing!

"We need a spear!" Barba says, but once the hog rears up she dives and makes a slash along its belly. This makes the hog roar and drop down to his hooves hard.

Alptraum digs his foot claws deep into the hogs back, anchoring himself. Holding his dagger in his right hand backwards (which affords it some protection, at least), he makes a firm thrust towards the creatures eye, trying to drive the blade in, and into its brain.

The blade strikes, but isn't long enough to actually reach the monster's brain. The veins of the gauntlet are still glowing though, and pulse once more. Alptraum feels something leave his palm and follow the knife, and then the hog squeals its last and collapses.

Alptraum lets out a squeak when the creature goes down and his foot claws release as well as letting go of the dagger. Wings snap, propelling himself backward. When he lands he looks at his palm, wondering what the heck that was.

There's a clinging odor of burnt bacon in the air, and the dagger embedded in the hog's face… begins to wiggle.

Alptraum moves slowly towards the fallen beast. With his left hand he reaches out and pulls the dagger free.

"I did not think that creature could be brought down without a siege weapon," Barba notes, catching her breath nearby.

Once the dagger is no longer blocking the wound, a long black serpent begins to crawl out of it.

"Well, sometimes the Gods grant us favors," Alptraum uses by way of vague explanation as to what happened. His attention is now focused on the creature crawling out. He makes a grab for it with his armored hand, wanting to get a closer look at it.

It takes a bit of tugging to get the whole thing out of the hog's head. The scales of the serpent are black as night, as are its eyes and flickering tongue. It tries to wrap itself around Alptraum's hand, but then goes limp and starts to shudder.

"That is an impressive parasite," Barba notes.

"Oookay," Alptraum says as he holds the serpent out at arms length. His grip tries to relax and turn so that it just rests draped over his palm. For some reason, he's not afraid of it, but … curious. "Yes, it is," he agrees.

The snake stops shaking, and its skin cracks and splits to reveal grayish-white pulp. It becomes clear enough that Alptraum is soon holding several feet of brain tissue with a few clinging bits of scaly skin left.

"… Ew," Alptraum says and drops the brain matter. He also can't help but shake his hand a few times, then wipe it on his leg. "That was … nasty."

Alptraum also has a horrid thought and looks to the 'eye' embedded in the back of his hand to see if it still glows or has gone dark.

Barba watches this without moving, and then in a forced-calm voice asks, "Barsunala, did you just turn the hog's brain into a snake in order to kill it?"

The eye still glows dimly, showing that the 'glove' holds a charge still.

" … I think it was a defensive reaction," Alptraum admits and lowers his hand, "The power of the Shadow was over flesh and the ability to alter it." He also then tries to feel back to that burning Ember in mind, to see if the knowledge of the Shadow can explain just what happened.

There is something there. A sort of connection of images: knife to fang to viper. And so the target of the knife was reached in a different way, since the blade wasn't long enough.

"Useful, if disturbing," the Yodhblakat notes, and then kicks the sides of the hog as a test. "Now, can you summon up a new miracle? This carcass must mass half-again as much as the Blessed One's fnerf. How do we get it back to Gormless?"

"It is a power I have yet to master," Alptraum adds as he crouches down near the fallen beast. "As for carrying it back, well, one of us will have to go get some of Grey's men. after all, the food is for them as well as the Eeee," he notes with a small shrug, "Or we get Lucy to come help drag it." Standing again, he looks to Barba and asks, "If you had the chance, would you wish to take back the hand you lost?"

"Of course not," Barba says, and holds the stump against her chest. "It is a sign of my strength to have survived without it. Blakat's challenges are not mere diseases, like those of Gorphat. We pay for her blessings in our own flesh and blood – and that of our enemies."

"How did you lose it?" Alptraum inquires as he walks over and reaches out with his left hand to try and inspect the old injury. "I only asked because I need things to practice mastering the arts the Shadow gifted to me. Not that I could likely repair such an injury in a long time, but." He shrugs.

The Yodh steps back away out of Alptraum's reach. "I used it to take the life of a Nagai merchant who thought himself untouchable. I thrust my hand into his gullet and dug in with the claws. He managed to bite through it, but still choked to death on his own blood." The old warrior grins wickedly at the retelling. "It was a good symbol, a notice to all that nobody was beyond the reach of the slakash, no matter what the cost."

With her good hand, she lifts a necklace from under her leather tunic - a series of teeth on a leather cord. "And I have my trophy from him, as well."

"I wouldn't try unless you demanded it of me," Alptraum notes and lowers his hand. He holds up his own unusual right one and wiggles the plated fingers, trying to imagine what he would have looked like had he allowed Phlagaea to remove his right hand as she once suggested. "I almost lost my hand," he notes, "In dealing with the Shadow. I could try to correct this further in time, perhaps. But at some level … I like my sacrifice."

"I will get bearers," Barba says, spreading her wings. "Take the monster's tusks for yourself, Barsunala. They would make fine ritual daggers."

"I'll wait here then, or hunt smaller game nearby," Alptraum tells the older Eeee. "Thank you for honoring my request to attend me. I am in your debt."

The Yodh snorts at the thanks, warning, "We do not believe in debts, Barsunala. You owe nothing. But that does not mean I won't take your aid in the future." And with that, Barba launches herself into the air and back towards the town of refugees.

Alptraum watches the red Eeee take to the air. He sits down on the haunches of the great hog and looks down at his right hand. Curious about something, he rolls it so his unshelled palm is exposed and … uses a claw tip from his left hand to just lightly pinprick the skin, curious if that hand bleeds normally or not.

There's a prick, and a drop of blood begins to bead normally.

Huffing softly, Alptraum then tries to see if he can make the tiny wound close itself by using a very small bit of the power contained by the 'glove'. He does this by, well, contacting that Ember in his mind and trying to tell it what he wants to do and see if it can explain to him how to do it.

There might have been a slight pulse in the glow from the glove, but it's difficult to tell. The bleeding could have easily stopped on its own from such a minor prick.

The knowledge Alptraum retrieves is basically: apply energy to heal. There is no change being made to the flesh.

Alptraum shrugs, not quite brave enough to try anything more complex than that for fear what using the power of the Shadow on himself might do. So, instead he draws out the spirit dagger and slots it into the back of his hand. Changing flesh, well, maybe sometime later when he feels brave enough to attempt it. Without a volunteer, though, he will have to use his own body sooner or later.

Kaira's head appears over the eye, as intended. "Hey there Al- Holy Cheese that's a big pig! Are you have a luau for a hundred?"

"Well, I do have an army to feed," Alptraum tells Kaira with a small shrug. "That's not the disturbing part, though… I killed it, by, uh, turning its brain into a snake."

"Yeah, and?" Kaira prompts.

"And that's disturbing!" Alptraum tells her. "I'm not used to just, well, changing something. It wasn't even hard."

"Wait… where you trying to turn it into something else instead?" Kaira asks, trying to figure out just what has the Eeee bothered. "A snake is good, very… old fashioned. Better than the giant beetles thing. That's gotten done to death."

"Next you'll tell me I could fashion all the things the Shadow could, like even those black hearts," Alptraum says with a shudder. "No, I wasn't trying to turn it into anything at all. It just sort of … happened."

"Ohhhh," Kaira says, nodding and pursing her lips. "Well, you know, Alptraum… these sort of things happen to young men as they mature… you really shouldn't feel guilty or anything… "

"Oh, don't be weird … well, weirder," Alptraum grumbles at the dragon. "I'm being serious. I need to get better control of … of me, don't I? I keep thinking of this thing as separate from me and it's not anymore, is it? I'm effectively the Shadow now. Or well, its legacy."

"Well, these little incidents seem to occur at times of stress or excitement," Kaira notes. "So, you can try just relaxing more. Meditate. Get in touch with your inner monsters and take things slowly. And sure, practice a little. Try to build up and then pull back. It's really not all that different from making love. Which is why should you be abstinent until get a handle on things. Just in case."

"Heh. Great. That's even better. Remove one of my stress outlets," Alptraum grumbles, though it's more playful than really upset. "On to practicing. Well, if I can't get a volunteer to experiment on … how dangerous would it be for me to experiment on myself? You said I'm more vulnerable to this type of magic, so that should make it easy for me, correct?"

"Uhh, I'd stick to animals at first," Kaira says, looking serious. "Until you can get some proper instruction, you want to focus on how to avoid using the power: getting it to start and stop on command. When you get back to see Draco, ask her Shadow Dragon to teach you the rest."

"Or, you could just leave me plugged in, and I can try to keep you from shooting off magic at inappropriate times," the dragon-head offers.

"That will be an … interesting conversation, to be sure. I'm not quite sure what it'll make of me," Alptraum admits as he remembers Draco's fully intact bonding. "And uh, no, that's okay. I don't need to leave you plugged in all the time. Maybe when I do practice you can at least gauge how well I'm managing the control."

"Sure you don't want me around?" Kaira asks, grinning. "Hey, watch this… I think I can make it work… " Suddenly, Alptraum's right hand makes a fist, then spreads out the fingers, and finally closes up with just the fore and middle finger spread out. "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" Kaira croons. "How cool is that? I could play against your left hand!"

"Doing things like that are precisely why I don't want to keep you around all the time," Alptraum growls at his mis-behaving hand. "Here I am trying to take this seriously … and you're making jokes! You may be used to dealing with all sorts of weird powers … but this is new to me. I'm practically becoming a monster, or something!"

"Ah, all mortals are monsters deep down," Kaira assures. "But really, you don't need to get all frazzled over this stuff. If you feel your hand is about to do something unexpected, just let go of whatever your holding or make a fist."

"Really? How does making a fist stop it?" Alptraum asks, looking at least a little more relaxed. "The sensations themselves are pretty noticeable, I can tell when it's about to do something."

"Well, because it's not got anything to push magic into if you make a fist," Kaira notes. "It's like shorting a circuit. You don't know what that means, but it's a very apt analogy, trust me. And so far it's only acted on its own… twice, right?"

"Right. And I'm not sure if it's acting on its own or its my subconscious. It's … hard to tell," The Eeee admits. "And that's good that closing my hand won't then have it just act on me, instead."

"Even this time, it was acting on your subconscious I imagine," Kaira says. "You gave it a weapon, and then tried to kill something with it. It shouldn't be a surprise that it actually went that little extra bit to make it happen, right?"

"Well, no," Alptraum admits, then grins a bit. "I'm just not used to this being me. It'll take some time before it doesn't seem so strange."

"Don't worry about it, try to ignore it and use your hand normally," Kaira suggests. "I mean, it's not like it's going to extend tendrils into your brain to take you over when you fall asleep so it can go out and commit horrible atrocities. That only ever happens when it's on the left hand."

"You do realize I hadn't even considered that option until you mentioned it," Alptraum mutters and rubs his neck. His ears flick a bit and he stands. "Well, I think I hear the others returning … so I'll talk with you later. Hopefully we'll be heading back to Draco County within a day. As long as they don't all get drunk again, anyway."