Desolate Band – Day 5 – Somewhere on the edge of the bivoac

The rugged cliffs and chunks of broken rock are not hospitable by any means, but they afford considerable shelter from roving bands. Anisa and Gibson have found a good hiding spot in a switchback gully from which they can observe the marauders bivouacked in the strange ruins, close enough that they can make out some details with the sextant's scope. Gibson announced it was a weird morning, giving Lilac some funny looks, but he seems his usual good-humored self, if a bit more serious being this close to the enemy camp.

Lilac has seemed in good spirits, despite the situation. She's taken to wearing a robe and little else, giving Gibson the occasional teasing grin when he looks her way. "Well, I'm ready to go," she insists to no one in particular.

"Go where?" Anisa asks, idly drawing stick-rabbits in the sand with an errant twig, a bored and somewhat worried expression on her face. "Not many places to sight see around here."

"To their camp, of course! I said I was going to sneak around, too," Lilac answers. "You could say I had an inspiring dream, and I actually can't wait to go. I feel really … at ease. I think I have ghost friends."

"Long Shadow hasn't been back yet," Xander notes, as he scribbles on one of the parchment pages he's surrounded himself with on the ground.

Anisa looks to Lilac with a grimace. "Are you sure you're feeling up to it? Its risky enough that we have Kin down there – another spy may be pushing our luck." The doe turns to Xander, and nods. "He must be waiting for Kin near the camp, he seems to be pretty protective of her."

"All the more reason to go. Kinny OR Long-Shadow may be in trouble, and I'm bored." The woman sits on her haunches, reaching back to scratch at her head. "Besides, I said I was going, so I should go. Kinny isn't exactly very stealthy, if you know what I mean."

"Lilac is the only one of us that can really sneak around," Xander notes. "Oh, and how good of a shot are you with your bow, Anisa? I need someone to shoot at me."

Her worried frown deepening a bit, Anisa gives a sigh. "Just be careful, Lilac. I thought I'd be fine with Kin going down there, but now its got me on edge. If something happens to one of you… well… " The doe scratches her ears, then turns to Xander with a puzzled look. "Fairly good, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"I'm not too worried about dying, now. I think I at least have a friend waiting for me. BUT, I have things to do before I die, so I'm in to hurry!" Lilac smiles at Anisa, then drops down to her knees. She holds out her hands, wiggles her fingers, then closes her eyes tight.

Looking back from Xander, Anisa blinks at the human.

"I need to know if my modified spell will work as a shield," Xander explains to Anisa. "Thus… will it stop an arrow?"

Lilac kneels with her arms out and head cocked backwards to take in the sun. She almost looks like she's embracing the day or, perhaps, praying to it. "It's all in your head," she murmurs to herself. Almost as soon as she says it, one of her legs spasms beneath her robe. She makes a little grimace, ears flicking, and then she suddenly hunches over. "Oh, there it is, this is the weird paaarrrr-" Her blinking eyes seem to recede in to a pool of black, a luminescent purple taking their place. All across her body black fur begins to sprout, and her face contorts forward like an invisible hand were stretching it out.

Looking up, Xander goes wide-eyed at the transformation. "That is… something you don't see every day."

Confusion seems to be the name of the game for Anisa this day. "So you're saying you want me to shoot at you? I mean, I know we've argued before, but that's a bit of a big concession. How about I just give you a slug on the shoulder?" The doe forces a small smile of amusement to the buck – but it quickly vanishes as she turns to regard Lilac with wide eyes, springing up in alarm from her seat on the ground. "What in Dagh's name… ?"

Lilac wobbles, falling on to her hands and knees as her back arches beyond her ability to balance. Her hands, now buried in the sand, sprout ripping talons that peak up from the dust. Behind her, her legs stretch out from under the robe, bending and twisting until their canine-like form becomes unmistakable. With a hop and a shake, Lilac casts off the robe as the final parts of the transformation sprout teeth in a face that now has a muzzle. Fully transformed, she sits down in the sand and takes a moment to scratch at her side with a hind leg.

Anisa gives Lilac a double-take. "You… you can control it now?" She walks over to the canine, and looks her in the eyes, as though she were trying to see the human hidden inside.

"Hah, I knew she'd figure it out," Xander says, and examines the ball of fire in his palm again. "And I'm more worried about arrows than punches, Anisa. If it works, you'll barely be able to even see me.

Lilac tilts her head, peering at Anisa with her tongue lolling out to the side. Then, she wags.

"Hey… hey you guys," says Gibson, voice sounding concerned. He's been squinting through the sextant so intently that he hasn't even noticed that one of his camp-mates is holding a fireball and asking his sister to shoot him, and the third has turned into a monster. "Somethings happening."

Anisa stares at the canine a bit more, then grins, giving Lilac a scratch behind the ears. "Amazing! Still… be careful. Don't fight anyone unless you absolutely have to." Turning to Xander, she starts to open her mouth, but is quickly cut short by Gibson. "What is it?" The doe sprints over to her brother's side. "What's happening down there?"

"Rrr?" Lilac springs to her feet, then gives Anisa a slobbering before loping over to Gibson.

Gibson offers his sister the device to look through, face grim. "Commotion. I saw a few flashes of light. It's like someone's stirred up the zelak's nest."

Anisa gives a squeak of surprise at the slobbering, but quickly wipes it off, and peers through the scope. "Is it Kin," she asks worriedly, "is she okay?"

"It's too early for her to be signaling," Xander notes. "It must be the other handmaidens!"

Lilac tries to crowd in with Anisa, attempting to peer through the scope as well. She makes impatient whimpering noises, tail wagging low.

"I can't tell, but I'm worried it is," says Gibson, glancing over his shoulder to nod at Xander. "It started at the center of the camp from what I could tell, and has been heading toward the livestock area." Sure enough, when Anisa looks through, she can see the tiny figures of men running around in confusion, and the occasional glint of light as if the sun were reflecting off a mirror. Not just one, either, but several that occasionally bob up above the level of the tents, chased by vivid tails of color.

Xander says, "That sounds like a chase!" Xander says, getting up. "Which way are they heading?""

With a huff, Lilac hops backward. She shakes out her fur, stretches her front legs, and then she's off! Making for the cliff edge, she approaches it at full tilt!

The snowy doe's fur frazzles on end, and she absentmindedly passes the device off to Lilac (forgetting that the bard no longer has hands.) "Dagh blast it all, I knew I had a bad feeling when she went down there! I shouldn't have encouraged her!" The doe fidgets, then runs to her pack, grabbing her sling and bow. "We should go help her!"

Lilac, having rushed off, isn't there when the spyglass is handed her way. It falls to the ground with the soft 'shht' of sand being disturbed.

Gibson hops down from his vantage point, pausing only to scoop up the sextant as he goes. "Right! Let's saddle up!"

"No time to test this now, Dagh-damnit," Xander grumbles. "C'mon, Lilac, lead me to Kin!"

Running to her drokkar, Anisa leaps upon the beast's back, grabbing the reigns and bringing it about. "C'mon, Xander! Looks like you'll get a live test of your shield!"

"I'll keep on foot!" Xander replies, sprinting towards the conflict.

Not needing a saddle or, apparently, a non-fatal incline, Lilac races for the cliff edge and simply leaps off it! She spreads her wings, catching the current and gliding like a dragon out of a fairy tale. Of course, given the cliff she just vaulted, following her may be beyond safe for the land-bound Lapi.

Xander does take more care in climbing down the cliff.

Gibson swings himself up onto his drokkar, and puts his heels to its sides, getting it to wicker and begin cantering down the gulley, maneuvering it as best he can to get out into the open.

Spurring her mount on, Anisa follows after Lilac – albeit taking a route that isn't quite as steep. Slinging her bow from her back, and holds it along with the reigns, ready if needed.

When Lilac hits the ground, she breaks in to a sprint. It becomes clear that Lilac is not only mobile, but fast. The ground blurs beneath her, and she's easily able to keep up with the mounts.

The brown Lapi keeps hopping downwards from rock to rock, muttering to keep his experimental ritual stable.

Long Tooth, silent until now, leaps up onto the back of Gibson's drokkar (and Gibson himself), prompting a 'hey!' but not slowing either of them down. It's not long before the lot of them emerge into the dazzling light of open sand, allowing a flat-out run.

"Hya!!" Anisa spurs Buttercup as hard as she can, leaning down into the beast's mane for a lower profile and faster gait. "Can any of you see her?!"

"Just look for Lilac!" Xander calls.

Lilac's vector changes suddenly. Lifting her wings she uses them as air breaks as she shifts her direction and bolts in to a flat sprint! She's easy enough to spot: the sand trail she kicks up is noticeable, and her speed is only increasing. Soon, she's a black arrowhead topping a dun-colored shaft of sandy haze.

Buttercup whinnies, and puts her head down to lean into her gallop, responding gamely to Anisa's command and putting her next to Lilac, who leads the pack. Both drokkar and black beast begin eating up the distance toward the bivouac. Xander is speedy, but he begins losing ground.

Holding on to the drokkar as firmly as she can with her legs, Anisa takes the reigns, and ties them to her sash. Pulling her bow from around her shoulders, the doe places an arrow on the string and at the ready, then leans forward once more, glaring eyes peeled for any sight of trouble, and ears scanning forward to seek out all sounds.

As the distance closes, one of the desert giants bellows, its roar echoing from the canyon walls as it takes a few stomping steps, tremendous tail thrashing. It moves slightly, enough to reveal a tiny golden figure that it was standing over. It darts about in the dust stirred up by the desert giant's sudden movement.

"There she is! I think," Anisa calls out to Lilac, pointing at the golden figure. "What in Dagh's name is she doing? It looks like she's going back!"

Lilac begins to 'skip' along the ground, wings out. She seems to be trying to begin a glide, using her run speed for lift. At this rate, she'll soar over the enclosure. Still, there's some time yet before she's ready, and the fences remain in the distance.

As Anisa's mount closes the distance, the golden glint becomes more recognizable as Kin – and the doe notices that the gargantuan reptile looks positively irritated with the Kiriga. Saying a silent prayer to the Star, Anisa spurs her mount on, trying to bypass the beast and get closer to her friend.

Xander paces himself, knowing he won't catch up… but then, his goal is to be unnoticed in case he has to cover Kin's getaway.

An easy leap lets Anisa and Lilac clear the paddock fence. Gibson is slowed a bit as he has to steer around for a gate, and he's harangued greatly by the old master on his back, literally and figuratively.