ESKIMOS : Chapter 1 : BLOOD AND SNOW (Imp and Andrew)

[Andrew]

"I'm not deserving of her, I will settle for one of the other woman in the village and hope death comes swiftly." Tornuaq stated his expression was almost fitting except for a sly little smile at the corner of his mouth.

[ImpInTraining]

"Bah... a couple of lucky hits doesn't determine the winner of a woman's heart. Besides, no one but you were here to see it." He frowned suddenly, "Pity ..."

[Andrew]

Suddenly Tornuaq's face brightens up, "Ha! Lucky hits! You said it!" He laughs heartily and says, "No brother, I will tell the truth of how you slew the beast... I have to admit though with how he was so boostful he did got down rather easily." At that Tornuaq drew the 'vikings' highly polished dagger and slit the bear's throat once he was up on land. "Just in case."

[DSIGFUSS]

With great painstaking effort, the two brothers pull the carcass of the polar bear up onto land. Upon closer inspection, they can see that the bears eyes are black as coals and on the belly of the beast is a brand. This symbol is burned into the creatures's fur.



ooc - how close to the ocean did you make the fire?

[Andrew]

OOC: I'd say about 50 to 100 feet away. Want to keep the viking away from it so he doesn't get any more wet than he already is.

Tornuaq scratches his head at the symbol and then looked to Unulaq for an explanation, it seemed that whenever Tornuaq was confused at something, Unulaq always knew the answers, then again some of them sounded like he was full of bearshit.

He could remember as a young man asking Unulaq why snow was wet. Unulaq's reply was, "Because if it was dry it would blow around and make you sneeze, like dust. How would you hunt then if you were sneezing and scaring away the animals?" 'Bearshit, dry snow wouldn't be dust... would it?' Tornuaq thought to himself.

"Well brother, what would you say that symbol means? An igloo sliding down a mountain?" Tornuaq smiled and laughed.

[ImpInTraining]

Unulaq put his hands behind his back observantly and shook his head, "Quite obviously, it is the sign of the penguin from behind the wall. See it's bill?" He smiled. "Well, whatever this creature was, at least it left a nice fur that we can make into a blanket. I'm glad I only had to stab it in the neck. No one likes a blanket with holes."

Unulaq looked to the Beluga to see if they seemed a little more at ease now that this creature had been slayed, as if they might have been fleeing from it. "What if this creature consumes its bodies? Look at that one spot where the Beluga was, but is gone. Maybe this creature absorbed it somehow to take the shape we first saw... and it absorbed a polar bear before. Then ... when we gave it the Viking, it would have been man-shaped. The only tell-tale signs appear to be red eyes and this strange brand." He pointed to the spot where the missing Beluga was and said, "Go look for polar bear prints over there... I am curious. I'll make sure our company is still comfortably sleeping."

With that, Unulaq started heading back to where the Viking lay.

[Andrew]

"But brother, it was an Ijiraat they are shapeshifters. Also even though we are the only ones who witnessed it, soon we will forget the encounter... although you did kill it. Maybe killing an Ijiraat will not make us forget." Tornuaq said, wondering if Unulaq had forgotten what a Ijiraat was. "However I do not recall the stories mentioning a symbol carved in them."

At that he got up to track a polar bear.

[ImpInTraining]

Unulaq shrugged on his way to check on the stranger, "I was never good with the stories of the Shaman. Always thinking of hunting, daydreaming. But what can you say about the missing Beluga? What other explanation is there?"

[Andrew]

"I agree that I have no other explanation of what's going on and yes, things do seem a lot stranger than just one Ijiraat. So what do you think we should do now? I was think we should maybe move closer to our sleds, if something happened we could put the stranger on it and let them run away while we fight anything that might come." Tornuaq stated while looking at the man, so helpless.

[ImpInTraining]

Unulaq shook his head defiantly. "Too much here to go to waste if we turn our back on it and give in to the scavengers. If you want to head back to the sleds with the Viking, I don't mind. But I'm staying here until Maniitok comes back with help." He said, "On the other hand, if you want to hang around with me, why not try that new knife out by skinning this bear?"

ooc: Oh yeah, at some point after getting the polar bear out of the water, Unulaq removed his spear.

[Andrew]

"No, we either both stay or go." Tornuaq got up and tried the new knife on skinning the polar bear.

[DSIGFUSS]

The Beluga whales continue their beautiful sad song through the ramaining few hours of sunlight leading into mid day. Tornuaq begins to skin the Ijiraat and is simply amazed at the ease at which the shiny blade separates skin from muscle. He can't help but imagine that such a gift would trump any heroic deep or feat of strength Unulaq might have to offer Maniitok's sister. Tornuaq could have any girl in the village if he gave them the shiny blade as a wedding present.

As Tornuaq cut into the Ijiraat, he noticed something strange about the beast. There were bright green sacs that still pulsed with life all through the Ijiraat's musclular system. Tornuaq touches one by accident with his knife and it squirts a bright pus over the fur. The Ijiraat's arm begins then begins to slowly bubble and froth out of control. (Much like the Beluga did before it turned into the bear) In moments, the skinned paw of the bear is a hoof and the thick arm quickly become more slender and long.

Tornuaq - Sanity check 0/1

Meanwhile Unulaq searches the area where the Beluga once lied, this time looking for anything out of the ordinary. He quickly spots a set of gull prints walking away from the deep whale imprint in the snow. The bird prints take a few steps towards the sea and then stop. The bird obviously took flight.

[Andrew]

Tornuaq felt like he might loose his lunch but nothing else as he made a face of disgust. When it started to sprout back Tornuaq yelled to Unulaq, "Brother! Come quick! You must see this!" He shouted loudly before he gripped the knife, inverted it and was ready to plunge the blade home repeatedly until it stopped growing.

[ImpInTraining]

Unulaq was kneeling and tracing a gull's track when he heard Tornuaq calling. Unulaq ran quickly, hefting his spear up in case there was danger. "What is it... it is still dead, right?" He quickly stopped running as he saw the deformed, partially skinned bear. "What did you do to it?" He asked staring at the long, slender, hoofed foot. "Don't do that again until after you're done skinning it, whatever that was. That skin has not as much fur as the bear."

[Andrew]

OOC: I'm under the impression that the thing is regenerating... like a troll in D&D, am I correct?

"I accidentally pop one of those green slime sacks. With those things there it will be more difficult to skin the bear." Tornuaq stated he then looked at the green slime on the polished blade and sniffed it. "Today as seen many a strange thing indeed."

[DSIGFUSS]

ooc - could be regenerating or simply reacting to the touch of your knife.

Tornuaq watches the cloved hoof grow out of the dead bear and then stop. The bear showed no sign of life and the bubbling of blood and tissue stops after the leg fully forms itself. Other green sacs begin to pulsate for a moment and then they too stop. The Ijiraat's eyes, now black, swirl with red as the green putrid sacs tense and shake with life. When the Ijiraat ends its transformation, the eyes return to their black glassy state and the sacs remain still and disgusting.

[Andrew]

Tornuaq looked to Unulaq and said, "I guess I could pop the other sacks and we could fight it again." He stated with a grim smile, he then careful went back to skinning the bear.

[DSIGFUSS]

ooc - Tornuaq roll Idea check

[Andrew]

OOC: Idea Check 55% (1d100=52) Talk about close!

[ImpInTraining]

"We should cut these sacks off and give them to the shaman. She'll know what to do with them," Unulaq suggested.