Ravage the Land

Mystic Elder Rep! : 31

The sun peeked lazily over the treeline, yellow and fat, and brought light to the dew-kissed forests outside of the former Club Hype. Birds sang like a choir before an altar, greeting the coming of the morning. Clouds, like pillows, wafted lazily along in the slight breeze that stirred Iskra's fur as she lay, half awake, on the roof. Today promised sunshine and ease.

Her blue eyes drifted down off of the roof, surveying her domain. Below her was a massive brick structure populated by the thunder rat clan. Before her were the sprawling miles of forest. The land in about a 1600 acre radius was hers and only hers. The carnivore was fiercely territorial. In a makeshift pen that was a parking deck in an age far away and long ago, the goats bleated at each other and prepared to begin foraging for the day. One had borne a small kid on her own the previous day, and in perhaps a week that young creature would make for a delicious meal.

Yes, this was all good. For the moment, she couldn't think of any wants.

She pulled her feet under her and gradually stood up, her nose pointed towards the rising sun.

A deep breath, and then the hyena whooped and cackled out into the day. The sound would carry far beyond her domain. It was a challenge to any spirits who may have wandered into her area, and a call for any friends nearby to visit.

[ EXP: 272 || +1 TEXP (1st post) ]

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

As the morning sun rose over the horizon life sprang anew in the middle forest regions, songbirds breaking the silence of the night. Had this been a few weeks or a month or two in the past Lethe would have found himself on patrol, awake at the skeleton hours of the night and keeping watch. Lucky for him he had long since abandoned that lifestyle (servitude to another village) and now had his own men to do such things. Lethe himself had slept quite soundly through the night and had awoken at the beckoning of one of his patrolmen.

They group was quite a distance away from their home, but their trip had a purpose. Lethe sought an audience with his master, the hyena demon (or attractive woman, or man depending on her form) Iskra. The young warrior had brought half of his men with him, a number totalling 5, while he left half of them back in the tribelands under the command of Romulus. If it were just a friendly visit the barbarian king wouldn't have brought his men with him, but their meeting was in regards to the duo's eventual empire. The time for waiting and thinking was over, and it was time to act upon the dream.

Lethe quickly dressed himself in full attire while his men broke down the camp. In a matter of minutes they were prepared to continue their journey. When you were warriors of the forests as they were you learned how to move quickly and mask your presence.

As the group continued south towards Iskra's domain, Lethe heard a very familiar sound.

Ah, yes. She was close. Very close.

EXP: 304
PWC: 304
Other: +1 TEXP (June 15, earned 250 exp)

Mystic Elder Rep! : 31

The demon's cackles died on the crisp air and she laid down again for a moment. Nothing really felt better than a nice sunbath on a day like this. She rolled over on her back and allowed her eyes to drift closed...

But something came to her senses. Something familiar. Iskra stood up and sniffed the wind suspiciously.

"...Hmmm..."

She couldn't discern the nature or size of the company from such a great distance, but she could tell that it was a number of men and that they were past the borders of her home.

Her mouth stretched into a doggish grin. Men nearby meant prospective business without a great deal of effort.

She would definitely have to guide them closer and offer them some of her "wares" if they needed direction. There were a number of women she'd kidnapped and kept inside under various threats and shame. It was amazing what one could do with just a human's confounding sense of morality.

Not that she didn't have morals herself, she just didn't understand their embarrassment.

In mere moments, she was at ground level, in her default human form, and walking out into the woods, attempting to pick up traces of the men, as elusive as they seemed to be. Perhaps they were attempting to avoid detection?

[ EXP: 254 ]

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

The small squad moved through the forest with relative ease, traversing the land like a child would an open field. They weren't quite sprinting, but they were moving through the dense woodland in what would be a run for most normal humans, though they'd never be able to do it in terrain like this. The dextrous people of the woods that were born in these areas were skilled at such movements through areas such as this.

Lethe had with him a formidable company of men. In addition to himself, he has three blade specialist and two bowmen. The bowmen would prove to be particularly useful in a battle for him, since a ranged unit would provide excellent assistance to him ... provided they didn't have a wayward shot that struck him.

Judging by the change in the surrounding foliage, Lethe was sure they were coming to a clearing. With a raise of his hand his men's advance receded to a brisk walk. Knowing the type of company Iskra had been around before (namely demons and animals such as hyenas), the underling had no intention of rushing into her abode. Such actions could draw the ire of whatever else was living there.

EXP: 227
PWC: 227

Mystic Elder Rep! : 31

Iskra walked forward, her nose still attuned to the forest floor, the trees, and the air, attempting to glean from them any additional detail on these strangers, though it wasn't as obvious as it might be in her hyena form with her nose to the ground.

After some time, however, she stopped.

She took a few strong lungfuls of air in through her nose, as one might when walking into a newly-freshened room.

"Ah, Lethe..." she exhaled, practically purring the word before she turned to the bushes.

"You brought some friends?"

She tilted her head to the side, a common gesture when she was a hyena and felt particularly inquisitive about something. "I thought perhaps you might be travelers or adventurers that I could offer some of these women I just caught to... but since you're here, you must be here on business, right?"

Walking forward, she offered her underling a firm hug. "Unless you just wished to share my company? Bah, it does not matter. Come on to my home. We can discuss things there."

[ EXP: 210 ]

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

Seeing Iskra was a sight for sore eyes. Having been around a group of men for the past few days for the duration of the trip, as well as passing through small villagers and outposts that had people of less than acceptable moral background ... well, it was nice to finally see a friend. Lethe couldn't help but smile at her, chuckling lightly under his breath as she offered his men the services of women she'd captured.

On many levels Lethe was never one to show weakness to his men in any way, but the young man couldn't stop himself from blushing when the woman hugged him. It was a strange. He'd never have that kind of reaction to anyone else. Lucky for him the mention of the women where they were going was enough to distract his men from whatever he had done. There was quite a bit of whooping and hollering, and probably a couple high fives between the men.

Lethe raised a hand, indicating for them to fall silent. "You all are here for a reason. You will not allow yourselves to get distracted." There was an in unison groan. Lethe's amber eyes fell back on Iskra, nodding to acknowledge her offer and following her. "I can enjoy your company and inform you of my plans. I think you'll be quite pleased." In his mind he was referring to the carefully laid out plans he had for the expansion of their domains.

As Lethe followed Iskra, he called back to his men, "Form a perimeter around the area. I don't want us to be disturbed."

EXP: 301
PWC: 301

Mystic Elder Rep! : 31

Economically, it pained Iskra to give up 5 fresh virgins to the harsh whims of the obviously barbarian group, but it wasn't really that big of a deal. There were only five men present other than Lethe, and she had ten hopeless, dejected women in her custody. Besides, it'd be nothing to find another bunch. For every patriarchal village or horde of merchants with thoughts of nothing but wealth, there were several such virginal daughters. There were people, and objects. Though she valued humans like Lethe and even women like her new friend, Alicia, there was a vast gulf between them and these random humans in her mind that she'd kidnapped, like the difference between a goat and a fellow hyena. Both were made of meat, but one's feelings were more valuable than the other.

Lethe saved her inventory, however, by demanding his men keep their minds on business. That worked out well for her.

She guided her friend inside and sat him down at a makeshift seat of negotiation composed of a turntable; a cracked, granite bar; and two bar stools.

"Do you have something on your mind?"

[ EXP: 221 || +1 TEXP (5th post) ]

Intern Rep! : 5 Location : Almost Heaven

It wasn't until Lethe had already followed Iskra into her den did he realize that he didn't exactly agree with what she was doing in keeping those women hostage, to be used as sex slaved for the unwashed and rough people of this world. There was something about such actions that were appalling to the young man in a wide variety of ways, but he didn't hold it against Iskra because she wasn't like him. He briefly recalled long ago when he'd run into a similar conundrum on one of her orders and plans. He couldn't quite remember what it was about, but he knew he felt similar to now. At that point he'd put himself in her shoes, and look at it as if he (a human) was dealing with a bunch of animals instead of his own kind.

Even though he wouldn't personally do such a thing to animals any more than he would a human, he could see why Iskra wouldn't think much of it. Humans already had breeding pens for domesticated animals, and from what he could gather Iskra would look at this as if it was like that. At least that's what he told himself. One way or the other he'd have to deal with it, as it wasn't his place to question her.

"Quite a bit," Lethe responded, reaching into his cloak and retrieving a map. It was made of older parchment and was visibly warn. Lethe rolled it out in the granite surface, revealing a detailed recording of the known world. There were markers placed on the areas where settlements were around the world, including his own and Iskras. "This is a map of all of the known lands. As you can see, it has our own listed as well," He let his finger rest on an area just outside of her domain, "I want us to begin expansion. I've already planted markers in this forested region just outside of here. From there we can continue expansion to connect our two territories. Probably build a road to make travel and trade easier. From there we can continue to expand, even conquering those around us."

"What do you think?" The man's amber eyes drifted to Iskra, eagerly awaiting her approval.

EXP: 404
PWC: 404

Mystic Elder Rep! : 31

Iskra propped her head up on her elbow as she looked at the worn document on its aged wood-pulp.

To the North, she saw the Village of the Earth, and beyond it Lethe's claim. It was his human blood that made him so ambitious, she imagined, but it seemed like a good idea to expand. As a creature of a pack, the thought of additional territory appealed to her on a base level.

She held a thumb upwards, her fingers curled as she expressed approval in a distinctly human way "You've always been full of intelligence. Let's do it."

[ EXP: 110 ]

Land Grabbed!

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