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

[Andrew]

"I don't know if I can cut them out without popping them but I will try." Tornuaq commented.

[DSIGFUSS]

Tornuaq begins to slice around the fleshy sacs with the pale faced stranger's wonderful new blade. It cuts through the connective tissue like blubber. He accidently cuts into one and the sacs and a large patch of the polar bear's skin begin to bubble. The fur retracts back into the skin and becomes brown and wrinkly. Fat begins to form all around Tornuaq's knife. Instinctively, he jerks the knife away and watches the fat grow in every direction, unfettered by the constricting skin.
Tornuaq recognizes the meat....... walrus.

After the bubbling ceases, Tornuaq finally removes one of the sacs in tact.

[ImpInTraining]

"That is one nasty creature. So I wonder if ingesting this stuff gives you the ability to change shapes ... want to try?" Unulaq grins mischievously. "With my luck, it just makes you think you are high and mighty."

"Go ahead... double-dog-dare you."

[Andrew]

"I think I would loose my stomach before I ever got it close to my mouth. However the meat is walrus... I don't understand, are the Ijiraat just actually walrus?" Tornuaq sits on a rock and studies the man's knife for a moment, "If we had more of these, our lives would be made a lot easier, I wonder if he has more or can tell us how he made the stone so smooth and sharp."

[DSIGFUSS]

Tornuaq inspects the shiny blade more carefully. It catches the light and sparkles. He turns it over seveal times, noting the strange markings scribed into a dark stone on the blade's hilt.



The blade feels right in Tornuaq's hands. When he focuses on the blade he swears he can hear a chorus of beautiful voices ringing through his fingers each time the light catches the blade. He has a sudden urge to move towards the mountains. Something important lies deep in that range of rock and ice. His people avoided the mountains in the winter. They were perilous and there was no reason to go. In the spring, Tornuaq and Maniitok would collect gull eggs on Mount Qaisualuk, but there was no forseeable reason to venture there in the winter. As Tornuaq thought on the blade and the mountains, a scenic picture flashed in his mind's eye.



ooc - Tornuaq - roll Own Kingdom check.

ooc - Meanwhile, Unulaq roll a spot Hidden check.

[Andrew]

OOC: Not by a long shot: Own Kingdom 40% (1d100=81)

Tornuaq stood and looked in the direction of the mountains, "I have to go to the mountains Unulaq, I can't explain it but the knife is telling me I must go. I even know where in the mountains I must go but I don't know where it's located exactly. Will you come with me?"

[ImpInTraining]

Unulaq chuckled, "You have been sitting in the sun too long." He laughed a little bit, then looked back at Tornuaq, seeing the look on his friend's face. "You are serious? The mountains are too treacherous to climb right now. You know that. Besides, we cannot leave this man alone. Who knows if the Ijiraat was alone or has others in the area."

Spot Hidden (70%) (1d100=18)

[Andrew]

"I have to go Unulaq. We can put him by the dogs and build a fire for him there, the elders will be there soon, he should be safe. I have never felt something so strong pulling me towards something, it's as if the mountains themselves are calling to me. I want very much for you to go as well brother but if I have to I will go at it alone." Tornuaq stated, a weak smile on his face. He was confused at this feeling, "I think maybe that's where this man wanted to go as well but that's just a guess."

[ImpInTraining]

Unulaq shook his head in disappointment. "You are not thinking straight. You know a journey into the mountains this time of year is near certain death... especially if you go alone. If you must go, then wait for the others to get here, and then I will go with you. But I am not leaving this man here alone ... and I am not leaving him with our dogs. We do not know anything about him or how he will react when he wakes up."

[DSIGFUSS]

The blade continues to humm in Tornuaq's hands. The image of the mountains flashes in front of him again and again. Tornuaq still doesn't recognize the mountain, but the blade whispers to Tornuaq in the Dorset tongue. The voice sounds old and tired.

North..... Odin...

Unulaq briefly looks over his shoulder. He quickly notices the ocean had gained at least six feet on the beach since he had last noticed it. No tide rises that quickly.

ooc - Tornuaq Sanity check 1/1d6

[Andrew]

OOC: Sanity 78% (1d100=63)

Tornuaq gripped the knife a little tighter, "North... Odin..." He repeated.

"Unulaq, I have to go. The knife is telling me to go to the mountains, it's voice is elder. I do not know who this Odin is but perhaps he can explain what has happened here today or perhaps..." He paused and said in a softer tone compared to the excited one he was just speaking in, "Perhaps Odin is the cause for these strange things today."

[ImpInTraining]

Unulaq turns away from the ocean toward Tornuaq, "Is it really worth your life to find that out? You do not even have your climbing gear with you. How do you expect to climb anywhere?" He looked at the knife with suspicion... "Put the knife down and think about what you are saying for a while. Whatever answers in the mountains ... they probably have been there a long time and will probably wait there patiently for a long time to come."

He pointed out at the ocean, "Look, Sedna is trying to help her children. We should move further back from the coast."

[Andrew]

Tornuaq looked at the knife, then at the shore and then to Unulaq. He took several paces away from the shore and plunged the knife in the icy ground and then walked back to Unulaq. "Yes, we should move farther inland." He said in a monotonous tone.

[DSIGFUSS]

As Tornuaq throws the knife into the snow, the pale faced stranger groans. He quickly curls back close to the fire and resumes his labored breathing. Unulaq looks out over the sea. He can see huge waves forming on the water far off in the distance. Thunder cracks. Even further south, Unulaq could see giant storm clouds moving in ways nature did not intend, funneling into each other miles away over the open sea. The waves, however, will be on them soon.

Tornuaq's visions of the mountains to the North quickly subside. He knows if he picks up the blade again and holds it in his hands, he will have to go. Only one thing still bothers him. Tornuaq knows that noonelse but him will ever touch it again.

Tornuaq-Sanity check. 0/1
Unualaq - Sanity check 0/1

[Andrew]

OOC: Sanity 77% (1d100=14)

Tornuaq stares at the knife, even though it's charm was broken it somehow still had a hold of him. Dammit! How could he let such a thing go? It was obvious that he needed to go to the mountains, it was important for him to. However he knew that Unulaq was right, winter, no gear, it was suicide.

[ImpInTraining]

Unulaq shook his head at the weather change, "Not good at all." He turned to face Tornuaq and said, "So ... you still feel like climbing some mountains? Not good weather coming in for it. If not, then I suggest we wrap that knife up in something so that we are not touching it ... maybe you can give it to someone you do not like." He chuckled at the thought. "Anyway, we need to move. Let us get this man back to the dog sleds. Hopefully, these poor Beluga will be freed from their predicament very soon... but I do not particularly want to match their fate."

Unulaq made sure the clothes and furs on the Viking were snug enough that they wouldn't come off while he was being moved, then reached down and tried to carry the man by himself for some distance. He was strong ... and could manage it for a little distance, but the gangly dead weight of the man was burdensome. "Tornuaq, give me a hand carrying him."

With Torunuaq on one side, and Ululaq on the other, they put the viking's arms over their shoulders and held on with their outside hand. Their inside hand wrapped around the leg closest to them, and they began carrying him in that fashion. It wasn't the most comfortable way to move, but it was a lot easier on Unulaq.

[Andrew]

As they moved inland and set up a small camp again, Tornuaq turned to Unulaq and asked, "So now what? When the elders come what do we do then?" Tornuaq still wanted the knife, it was almost burning in him to hold it again but he knew that he must wait, when the elders came things would be made clear, he would tell them about the knife and what it showed him.

[DSIGFUSS]

Unulaq and Tornuaq move up the beach and build another campfire to keep the pale faced stranger warm. He shakes violently until the fire is finally built back up again. The three men sit peacefully and watch wave after wave, (some 13ft high) come crashing down, slowly covering the beach. Soon the water will even reach the Belugas as Unulaq had expected. The Beluga whales continue their song, clearly fightened by the anger of the sea.

OC- You will be fine until dark. An hour or two. Feel free to discuss what just happened or just chat amongst yourselves. I will be reading your thread every day but maybe not posting. If at any point you want to speed things up just pm me and I'll make time pass.

[ImpInTraining]

ooc: and me without my surfboard.

"Do not worry too much about what is to come." Unulaq watches the angry waters as the crash upon the rocky beach. He says "You know ... I hope that water does free the Belugas. I mean... we'll seem crazy to the others that come, but at least all those creatures will not die. And we can hunt them another day."

[Andrew]

"It would have been nice for them to see us with our spears standing in front of all those Beluga. That would have been an impressive site!" Tornuaq said with a smile. He looked out to the seas and wondered what Sedna was so enraged over, he then looked over at the man sleeping and again wondered about him. As hard has he tried to not look at the knife, his eyes fell upon it anyway and the urge to pick it up swelled again, at that he looked at his brother and just smiled.