Shinteractive Quest: The Dragon Quest

A spotty-haired woman strolled confidently into the village, scrutinizing the burn marks on the ground with a brief squint.

The rumors of the dragon reached her when she stopped at a small merchant encampment on her way out of the southern woods, and as a hunter who recognized the immense value of dragon parts, she'd come, bringing her friend along as well.

"Lethe, we can do some poking around later. These markets should be giving away meat cheap. It's harder to preserve and move around than other goods." Hanging out with her merchant friend in the desert had taught her some valuable lessons.

She wasn't in any particular hurry to get to the dragon for the moment. She knew humankind to be one with dulled senses, and though the dragon would be large and hard to miss, it obviously wouldn't be in hiding if it was too prominent of a thing. The gears in her mind were turning as she absorbed the words from around her, the rumors that split the crisp, morning air. Wings. Skin that no man can pierce. Many men have died fighting it. Naturally, it would be smarter to lag a bit behind the larger group of people so they could tire it out before her arrival.

Besides, she had the advantage of her keen nose. She waited at a meat counter for her hybrid friend to catch up.

[ EXP: 265 ]

Iskra approached a half-SUV, half cart that a man was stuffing several pounds of dried fishes into as Lethe asked his question. "It will be easier for us to kill the dragon if we wait for the people with no patience or discernment to kill themselves wearing it out. Hey, you, how much is the fish?"

After a brief negotiation, Iskra left a collection of firm bones and reptile skins with the man and had about ten fishes for her bag. She guided her friend back to the outskirts of the villages. Her ears were full of the hearsay, and his might be too. No matter. This presented the perfect opportunity for her to practice her tracking skills, since she was disinclined to want to run off to a location so quickly just because a bunch of humans, who at times seemed to know little of how the world actually worked, said so. It would be a last resort.

So in the dim of the early morning light, she made sure she was outside of the village and out of sight of the villagers or anyone else before she shifted back into her more bestial form.

Now more comfortable, she gestured towards the burn marks on the ground.

Making her way gingerly towards the marks of destruction on the ground, she began to use her keen sense of smell as well as her eyes to try and confirm which direction the dragon might have gone after his killing spree.

[ EXP: 271 ]

Request for Shinteraction!
Used
> Sensing - SML (2) [Honed]
> Sensing - TRK (2) [Mastered]
To try and confirm which direction the dragon went. Does Iskra find anything interesting?

"Well, I'm here for slaying," Iskra continued matter-of-factly. "That plant thing in the mansion gave up some pretty awesome goods. Just imagine how much we could get from something like a dragon." A vision of wealth danced across her brain, albeit it was the decidedly simple vision of getting that drafty hole in her building patched. "Dragon skin and scales can probably be used to make armor. Its bones and claws could be made into weapons. It's whiskers and tongue and eyes could be charms. I'll keep the teeth for myself, but could you imagine how much people would be willing to trade for such items?" She grinned malevolently as she sniffed another blackened spot. "It's exactly what my brothel needs for expansion."

With that in mind, she tried to keep herself from being distracted by anything around as she tried to pick up a living scent from the burn.

[ EXP: 180 ]

The beast stopped her examination of the ground when a woman walked up and addressed her group.

For a moment she paused. Though demons had a reputation for killing humans on sight, she was of the more gentle breed raised in the forests and knew some humans could make good friends. Moreover, she was a pack-hunter by mentality, so any more allies were good ones.

Additionally, she had very little experience with human females who actually did things like... wear armor.

The hyena turned and sat carefully, the gesture putting her head almost level with the woman's. "Competition?" she asked, as though it were perfectly normal for a giant, white hyena to use human speech. They were outside of the village anyways. On the off chance the human panicked or a bystander panicked and went to form a mob, there was plenty of room for escape. "We all seek the same goal, don't we? You sound like you want to kill the dragon. We want to kill it too. Dragons are big. Plenty of goods for everyone, but we won't be able to do it alone."

She chuckled nervously, a trait inherited from her apparent species, and gave a wide grin. "My name is Iskra. This is my friend Jack, and this other with white hair is my loyal servant, Lethe. I think we should be allies."

[ EXP: 250 ]

OOC: Sorry I didn't make it more clear that she was in hyena form > <

Location: Outside the Village [M12]

Yuki arrived. Iskra's mouth drew into a straight line as he heard the mercenary address her. "One moment," she said, quickly excusing herself from the conversation with her prospective ally before turning to the odd-eyed man. "If you call me little anything one more time, I will turn you into a woman again and rape you in front of all of these good people. That crap makes no sense. Look at me. I'm as tall as a man. Know your place or else."

Having said that, she turned back to the human woman. "I'm sorry about that. What were you saying?"

[ EXP: 115 ]

Location: Outside the Village [M12]

Iskra's brows furrowed at the... joke? that the other demon told. While she had no qualms with turning Yuki into a helpless woman and despoiling him with a brute and violent abandon, it never occurred to her to try such a thing with Jack. Perhaps it was his kindness to her when she first arrived in Barathrum Regnum, tired and alone. Perhaps he had always intimidated her too much for her to try such a thing without his permission. Perhaps it was because she'd only ever... enchanted humans with the odd, gender-swapping spell.

But now that the seed of the idea had been planted in her brute and, thanks to her hellbred bloodline, mischievous mind, the thoughts and curiosities sprang up like mental weeds. He'd come to no permanent harm thanks to such a prank, she knew, but...

Well, now wasn't the time to think about it. He needed dragon blood. She needed trade goods. Her new ally needed addressing.

So the hyena nodded gently, wondering if she should reciprocate the gesture when the human bowed. So far, Iskra liked this knight. She had the same clan-loyal mannerisms as the blacksmith from the Sun Village, and in a small way she reminded the beast of Lethe before the moon village's warrior owed her a life debt. As a wild spirit formed in the image of a pack animal, Iskra instinctively admired human militaries and their warriors, even if their governments and laws appeared a little nonsensical.

"I'm sure you'll do fine as long as we attack together," she said in response to both Jack's assertion that the toothpick wouldn't hurt the dragon and her seeming-humble statements afterwards. "I'd be interested in hearing about these other talents that you have."

The only pure human the demon had met with the ability to use magic had been-- well, nobody. If that's what she meant by talent, then maybe her bloodline had some wanton bit of spirit in it somewhere, unclaimed. She'd heard of the incubi who sometimes caused ghost pregnancies. She'd heard of kami who didn't want to be judged by their clans. She'd heard of people not knowing their full lineage after the Dawn. Anything was possible.

But then there was the matter of her form. No real reason for her to remain as a hyena remained, since her search had yielded very little that wasn't already readily observable with the naked eye. At least she knew what the dragon smelled like now. If they got anywhere near his home, she'd be able to detect him if he'd been there recently.

Much like a dog preparing to perform a trick, the large hyena looked strange sitting up on her back legs when she shifted herself off of the ground. She had two forms she could take at this point: her usual female form or the shape of a dark-haired male warrior. For some reason, the male form had a tendency to put people ill at ease. For that reason, she elected to keep her gender, though not her species.

Within moments, the large beast began to shorten. Her fur retreated up her back to form her hair, revealing utilitarian, human attire. Her legs straightened and lengthened, and her toes uncurled, the nails retreating into claws. Her tail retreated into her body as well as her rear plumped out and her spine forced her ribcage into the proper position for an upright posture. Her upper limbs spread as her chest widened and filled out, leaving her with arms, her snout retreated into her face, the spots becoming smaller until they were freckles on the darkened skin, though they remained their usual size on her short, loose hair. Many smaller changes took place concurrently with these larger ones, but in the matter of a few seconds, a five-foot-tall woman stood where the massive beast once was.

"We're basically done here."

[ EXP: 755 || +1 TEXP (1st post) ]

Iskra soundly ignored the question that Yuki asked. It was partially out of professionalism and partly as another show of dominance over the hybrid. Jack answered instead, which was good. It prevented her from having to address it herself.

This didn't mean that she wouldn't give him any commands, however.

"We'll come with you," she told the knight shortly after the bow. "Yuki, come with us."

And with that, the woman followed Alicia to the end, assuming that her company would follow as well.

However, she faltered upon actually arriving at the tavern.

Her eyes went wide, then narrowed. She inhaled deeply.

There were many smells. There were old, dirty men and youthful warriors. There were many males and but a few females. There was mead and there was ale. But through all of those scents dancing about each other like drunken patrons dancing to music at a village feast, one stuck out above the others.

"Kami..." the woman all but purred, a giggle following the word. The giggle didn't mean she found anything funny, however. It was simply a sound that her species made around food.

She wasn't far from Alicia, but she was very distracted attempting to find the source of the familiar smell. It wasn't just any kami, but one she had met before.

[ EXP: 263 || +1 TEXP (2nd thread) ]

Action: Used tracking [Mastered] and keen smell [Honed]
> Attempted to find Ashurei
Location: [M12] Village, in Tavern

"Well, he's not in here," the woman grumbled aloud to herself in disappointment. The scent in the tavern itself was very weak and had been stronger outside. Perhaps they'd been going in the same direction and she'd passed him in the crowd.

That scenario was the most likely, she thought, staring back at the door. If she moved now, she could get to his exact location and attack him before he knew what hit him.

Her instincts asked her to, yes, but stronger still was her desire to have the wealth that she needed. The death of this dragon would send her a huge step in that direction.

So for now, she simply ignored her impulse to hunt down and attack the kami until she'd first discussed what she needed with Alicia and met these friends of hers.

She made her way through the haze of alcohol and stood near the three humans, scratching her chin disinterestedly. "If the rumors are as they say and the dragon took out that many people and is really impervious to human weaponry, I don't think that we should rush into its nest. No doubt another bunch of humans will be nothing but nourishment."

[ EXP: 226 ]

Iskra sighed, knowing what was coming next. It was obvious and apparent to anyone with ears and a basic knowledge of pride demons, especially this pride demon.

The spotted one had a number of options. She could intervene in the conflict to protect Yuki. She could ignore it and try to remain the aloof leader of this group. She could join in on the fight.

But then she recalled his statement just moments prior. I'm not one of your lackeys Iskra.

Well, that was his choice if he didn't want to be under her rule or command, it's just that she wasn't obligated to help him in any instance. Besides, he'd undermined her slightly by not acknowledging her as the leader in front of these strangers. Rank was an important thing in the demon's mind, and the idea of just being without one relative to an entity who she'd beaten so thoroughly several times just bothered her.

Not to say that she didn't believe Yuki could defend himself against Jack. He was a mercenary, after all. He must've had to fight his way out of countless such situations, but she lacked faith in his ability to actually win and held considerable doubt in his ability to even run to safety, should he not be killed by the other's opening assault.

She grinned at Alicia, wondering if she'd be put off by the sight of two demons fighting as humans often were. "Oh, don't tell me that drunk humans don't sometimes fight too," she joked as the dark magic manifested in the room. "I guess we'll explain it as a smoke-and-mirror show. These people came to slay a dragon, not hunt demons."

I hope...

[ EXP: 325 || +1 TEXP (1st thread) ]

Iskra saw many things in a short period of time. Though she was clever for her particular type of spirit, she was still often regarded as slow. It wasn't because she was stupid, far from it. Simply that, if her life wasn't immediately in danger she tended to rely on a steady sort of comprehension over the instincts that often compelled her to act rashly and in a hot-blooded manner.

There were a few that didn't scatter. These were not important. There was the attack on Yuki, the success of which remained to be seen. Yuki claimed not to be her subordinate, so she had no obligation to protect him. At the same time, if Jack wanted to fight him, she wasn't going to ask him to stop because if Yuki wasn't leading and stated that he wasn't following, that made him simply a person in the way. She considered herself somewhat below Jack, as she'd never formally challenged him for dominance, so it wouldn't be her place to give him an order to stop anything anyways.

But Lethe was within her scope. "No," she murmured over the cacophony of battle and bell. "Our objective is the dragon. Jack can handle that person on his own. Come, now."

And with haste she made her way outside the tavern.

As she burst onto the scene outside, an odd transformation took her over, though it happened in a flash of ice and snow, leaving a slight trail of frost behind her as her tail extended until it was over half the length of her body and functioned as a counterbalance, not unlike a snow leopard's, and her eyes took on an ethereal glow. Even her spots seemed to lighten as her fur cast a slight light. The sky was instantly filled with clouds, and strangely enough the weather became snowy. When she ran beside Alicia, a bit of a whirlwind seemed to have seized the area along with a sudden downward pressure.

"It's a better day to live, my friend," she cackled, her glowing, blue glare focused upwards at the dragon as she waited for Lethe.

[ EXP: 400 ]

Actions:
> Used Transformation (Slot 1-4: Healing, Hasten, Whirlwind, Morph/Healing, TransMerger + Atmosphere Change, Pressure, Glow)
Location: Village, running towards dragon