Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
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Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
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Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Nov 29, 2021 0:09:40 GMT -5
Not for the first time, Katiana's nose wrinkled. She felt as though she'd just walked by something that had perished and baked in the hot, summer sun for a full day. She looked around and tried to find the source... and nearly ran right into it. Her mind took a moment to realize what was in front of her. It wasn't a wall, and it wasn't water. The texture was somewhere between that. She took several steps back, and finally, the creature took proper shape and sense in her mind. Another slug! Her jaw dropped in awe at the size of the thing. She couldn't remember having ever seen anything like it!
After gazing at the new amoebalike creature, ankles wobbling, the hunter leaned back and stared at the pale fragments littered across the soil. Katiana put two and two together fairly quickly, but she also knew it was just a good guess. There could easily be more than what was on the surface here, but this told her she had to be incredibly careful. Pausing, she wondered again if she should let Coatl and Cuate know. At some point, she decided that she would, but for now, she needed to push forward just a little more.
It took her a long moment to take her eyes off of the black slime, but she did manage it long enough to make her way toward the shelf. Picking through the vines in hopes that something wouldn't sting or bite her was tedious and nerve-wracking, but it was every part of the adventure that excited Katiana. Every moment of mystery was a spark fueling the fire that drove the woman forth.
When at last she came upon the shelf, she peered down, hand grasping one of the vines so that she could lean further. How curious a thing, this dark crevasse, and how tempting this was.
Logically, this is where she should have turned back. This was the apex of one adventure so that she could secure her company and start another. Yes, this would have been the best time to do it... but that feeling, more powerful here now in front of all the possibilities that awaited her, that she might not make it out alive, that there was something great just beyond the veil of darkness that only she could find, hung like a forbidden fruit at the cusp of her lips.
With a smirk, she took a stone from the ground and chucked it below, testing the drop before descending.
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Coatl of the Imilla
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 143
Appearance: Skin just a skosh darker than an old clay pot. The shade of his hat occludes black, sun-beaten eyes, wavy, matted hair, and just enough beard to protect his chin. His hands are coarse and leathery, with wiry tendons. His height isn't quite imposing, it's but enough to lend credence to a purposeful stride and posture.
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Equipment: An old duster, scarf, and cotton shirt and slacks. A thin brigandine with copper plates and a military-grade pitchfork.
A single candle, a reagent of now forbidden degrees of power.
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Skills and Abilities: On his home turf, Coatl could manifest formidable elemental magic. Here the magic is suppressed down to more subtle manipulations. However, the spirit of Cuaté, the "Witch", is still with him.
Coatl is, at his core, a simple farmhand. His experience working on ranches and plantations has earned him a strong physique and a way with animals. When he was a teenager, he also spent some time as a city guard and militiaman, giving him basic competence with a variety of weapons.
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Biography: The Imilla Clan were migrant farmers and laborers, selling themselves to wealthier kingdoms. They were a people bound by working shanties, and stories of an Eden from whence their ancestors came. As a youth, Coatl felt they were naive. They possessed the most basic of martial skills and required the aid of capricious spirits with weak magic to protect them.
His suspicions were half true, for when they encountered a malevolent kingdom, they were very nearly enslaved. However, his parent's commitment to peace earned him, and him in particular, the loyalty of an ancestral spirit that was far more dependable.
Using the power of this spirit, Coatl and a few other "chosen ones" helped bring prosperity and safety to their clan, ensuring that no one else would try to enslave them. The golden years of their people came to an abrupt end, however, when the flood waters came...
Registered: Mar 20, 2021 23:42:08 GMT -5
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Post by Coatl of the Imilla on Dec 7, 2021 1:07:32 GMT -5
The descent wasn't that deep, a few meters at the most. With the help of some vines and a good sense of footing, she could easily climb down. The shelf had hidden the fact that there was quite a bit of space around the crevasse, a large crescent blanketed with leaves and-
-a FUCK ton of not-slugs!
The few species she had encountered so far had barely scratched the surface. There were in fact dozens of varieties. Some were puffy and white. Some were fruity looking, translucent purple, like living cranberry sauce. There were brilliant verdant emerald gem stones crawling up the rims of the shadowy crevasse, accompanied by colonies of rubies. Concentrated in some shadier patches of leaves were animated grape bunches, pulsating lazily. If Katiana truly wanted to catalog every species, it would easily take her days, maybe weeks!
The floor of the cave entrance was totally carpeted by not-slugs, slowly crawling their way inside like a sea of slime. It'd be nearly impossible to enter the cave without stepping on dozens of the creatures.
With all the biological activity, the air was surprisingly warm and musky. And the smell was... not that bad. In fact, it was a fairly sweet cacophony of odors, a bakery, farmer's market, and garden all rolled into one, only occasionally punctuated by notes of skunk and death.
Katiana had discovered a slime city, a slug utopia, a mucky metropolis.
Now, the not-slugs themselves didn't make much noise. But things weren't exactly silent. There was a faint murmuring and buzzing coming from all around the cave, but with no obvious source. Did Katiana dare climb down and continue exploring? Was it safe? Or was her luck about to run out?
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Dec 27, 2021 0:30:14 GMT -5
Katiana knew she had luck in droves. She wasn't afraid of her luck running out, as she'd decided long ago that the moment that happened, she would die. A life of caution wasn't one for her.
With that in mind, she entered the cave, bow drawn, eyes up. She found herself fascinated with every slug around her, and briefly, she wondered if one of them would be a good option for breakfast. The idea was swiftly dismissed, as any one of them could be deathly poisonous, but it was exactly the type of critter Coatl would be drawn to. She smirked at the thought.
There was no time to draw her journal to start sketching, Katiana thought with dismay, so she studied every detail as closely as she could to do it later. Right now, the most important thing was what dwelled within the cave!
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Coatl of the Imilla
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 143
Appearance: Skin just a skosh darker than an old clay pot. The shade of his hat occludes black, sun-beaten eyes, wavy, matted hair, and just enough beard to protect his chin. His hands are coarse and leathery, with wiry tendons. His height isn't quite imposing, it's but enough to lend credence to a purposeful stride and posture.
-------
Equipment: An old duster, scarf, and cotton shirt and slacks. A thin brigandine with copper plates and a military-grade pitchfork.
A single candle, a reagent of now forbidden degrees of power.
-------
Skills and Abilities: On his home turf, Coatl could manifest formidable elemental magic. Here the magic is suppressed down to more subtle manipulations. However, the spirit of Cuaté, the "Witch", is still with him.
Coatl is, at his core, a simple farmhand. His experience working on ranches and plantations has earned him a strong physique and a way with animals. When he was a teenager, he also spent some time as a city guard and militiaman, giving him basic competence with a variety of weapons.
-------
Biography: The Imilla Clan were migrant farmers and laborers, selling themselves to wealthier kingdoms. They were a people bound by working shanties, and stories of an Eden from whence their ancestors came. As a youth, Coatl felt they were naive. They possessed the most basic of martial skills and required the aid of capricious spirits with weak magic to protect them.
His suspicions were half true, for when they encountered a malevolent kingdom, they were very nearly enslaved. However, his parent's commitment to peace earned him, and him in particular, the loyalty of an ancestral spirit that was far more dependable.
Using the power of this spirit, Coatl and a few other "chosen ones" helped bring prosperity and safety to their clan, ensuring that no one else would try to enslave them. The golden years of their people came to an abrupt end, however, when the flood waters came...
Registered: Mar 20, 2021 23:42:08 GMT -5
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Post by Coatl of the Imilla on Dec 27, 2021 19:11:12 GMT -5
Katianna would live, but she was about to regret her choice.
The floor entrance to the cave wasn't very solid.
As if a trap had been set, the dirt and leaves would give, and Katiana's entire body would slip through the ground and disappear into a dark pit. Dirt and mats of confused not-slugs would crumble beside her. It was a short fall, unlikely to result in serious injury. But her behind was still in for a THUMP!
All around her would be sticky, slimy cobwebs. They'd stick to her gear, to her hair, to her everything. It was dark, so she might not notice exactly what was all around her. Her eyes might need a bit to adjust. The not-slugs were surprisingly resilient. Most of them would survive the short fall, and silently wander as if nothing had happened. As her eyes adjusted, she'd see that around her within the pit wasn't solid dirt or air. It was a fortress of stickiness with lots of hollows. Leaves, dirt, chitin, and desiccated not-slug bodies were held together by strange webs. It was as if she had fallen into a giant sponge made of nightmares. From within the gaps and hollows, she'd start to notice movement emerging towards her. And the buzzing was no longer muffled. It was deafening.
Wasps! Gigantic black wasps, some the size of small dogs, started mobbing around the massive injury in their nest. They looked just like the wasps that had fed on the lazy not-slugs from before, only some of them were much, much bigger. Meanwhile, her hands and feat were surrounded by smaller insects of all sorts, including grubby worms, ants, and beetles.
Katianna had discovered more than just Slime-topia. She had also discovered Bug-topia. Dozens of species of insects had developed a mutualistic relationship with the not-slugs. The not-slugs were their food, and also their protection. Meanwhile, any bugs that died also became food for the not-slugs; slimes even fed on the waste of the bugs themselves. There was more to their relationship than even that, but the nuances would take much longer to study than Katiana had.
The gigantic wasps (the obvious dominant species here) arrived and surrounded her. They weren't quick to attack Katiana (they weren't used to large mammals dumb enough to step into their domain). But they did posture and beat their wings furiously, and raise their abdomens in the air, revealing long, shiny, needle-like stingers. They were not happy to see her.
To make matters worse, smaller wasps of the same species started to emerge from the cave, flying about and coating the walls with their footsteps, threatening to cut the literal homewrecker off.
It was probably time to go, if she could manage to crawl her way out and escape in time.
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Jan 1, 2022 13:02:45 GMT -5
"Shit. Shit."
Katiana felt her ribs impact hard on the surface below her, along with her ankle striking an odd angle beneath the opposite knee. They weren't egregious injuries, nor was anything broken, but it would smart for the journey to come. With a groan, she looked around and started to get her bearings. Unable to see anything at first, she instead focused on what was below and around her... something sticky, gelatinlike... and moving. With a sheer bit of disgust, the hunter attempted to rise onto her feet, finding it unsteady. It wasn't too long after that she realized the intense buzzing that filled the air around her. Katiana blinked and squinted her way into sight, which felt like more of a mistake than a boon.
Though at first, she was amazed, the emotion sunk into a pit of terror, much like the environment she was in now. With a defeated sigh, she turned around and tried to find some purchase in the nest to climb it to safety. Failing that, she would retrieve two arrows from her quiver, grab one in each hand, and try to dig them into the nest to lift her enough so she could scrabble out.
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Coatl of the Imilla
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 143
Appearance: Skin just a skosh darker than an old clay pot. The shade of his hat occludes black, sun-beaten eyes, wavy, matted hair, and just enough beard to protect his chin. His hands are coarse and leathery, with wiry tendons. His height isn't quite imposing, it's but enough to lend credence to a purposeful stride and posture.
-------
Equipment: An old duster, scarf, and cotton shirt and slacks. A thin brigandine with copper plates and a military-grade pitchfork.
A single candle, a reagent of now forbidden degrees of power.
-------
Skills and Abilities: On his home turf, Coatl could manifest formidable elemental magic. Here the magic is suppressed down to more subtle manipulations. However, the spirit of Cuaté, the "Witch", is still with him.
Coatl is, at his core, a simple farmhand. His experience working on ranches and plantations has earned him a strong physique and a way with animals. When he was a teenager, he also spent some time as a city guard and militiaman, giving him basic competence with a variety of weapons.
-------
Biography: The Imilla Clan were migrant farmers and laborers, selling themselves to wealthier kingdoms. They were a people bound by working shanties, and stories of an Eden from whence their ancestors came. As a youth, Coatl felt they were naive. They possessed the most basic of martial skills and required the aid of capricious spirits with weak magic to protect them.
His suspicions were half true, for when they encountered a malevolent kingdom, they were very nearly enslaved. However, his parent's commitment to peace earned him, and him in particular, the loyalty of an ancestral spirit that was far more dependable.
Using the power of this spirit, Coatl and a few other "chosen ones" helped bring prosperity and safety to their clan, ensuring that no one else would try to enslave them. The golden years of their people came to an abrupt end, however, when the flood waters came...
Registered: Mar 20, 2021 23:42:08 GMT -5
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Post by Coatl of the Imilla on Jan 4, 2022 14:51:21 GMT -5
Not built to withstand the claws of clumsy over-sized adventurers, the sticky nest crumbled under her weight, making it difficult to climb up. However, the arrows stuck in easily. And as the nest collapsed under her, it formed a sort of ramp which she could crawl up and out of using her impromptu ice picks.
The added damage to their home made the wasps even madder. They lunged forward and stung. Luckily they didn't know which parts of her were the soft squishy bits, so their first targets were her backpack, boots, and arrow quiver, and anything else that stuck out. Their lack of experience with clothing and equipment would buy Katiana a few more seconds to get the hell out of there. If she took too long, however, she'd start to feel sharp pinpricks which would evolve into numb, swelling lumps.
A bit of time had passed since she first left their camp, and now the sunlight was starting to burn away the morning mist and paint the forest floor with golden hues. Some of the more colorful slimes shined like gemstones as light passed through them. In the distance, the large black detritivore slime she'd spotted earlier was slowly oozing down the depression leading to the cave. The slimes were downright oblivious to the life-and-death struggle happening just meters away.
There were three obvious ways of escape. First, she could climb back up from the somewhat steep drop she descended before. This wasn't too hard, but might be taxing and time-consuming depending on her stamina and injuries, and the wasps were right on her tail. She could run sideways around the dip, taking her past more harmless slimes. But going through more not-slug territory meant possibly falling into more nests. Finally, she could take a middle ground path; there was a gentle slope next to the short drop which she could run up very easily, if she was willing to stomp within inches of the massive black not-slug from before...
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Jan 5, 2022 12:15:55 GMT -5
Katiana could both hear and feel the violent assault of the wasps at her pack. The first few surprised her, causing her to lose her grip briefly and slide down several inches, but she soon found her grip again, gnashed her teeth, and pulled herself up, arrow by arrow, even as she felt one of the stingers pierce her shoulder, then another one at her hip. Tears welled up in her eyes before waterfalling over her cheeks as an intense burning pain radiated through her skin and seized her muscles. Once she finally drew herself up, she tumbled forward but used the momentum to shoot into a sprint out of the overhang.
With scarcely any time to think, the huntress skittered backward and gazed at the dip she'd trapped herself within. She hunched, one hand flying to her shoulder as the stinging spread, though she never stopped looking for an escape. Finally, in a moment of panic, as the wasps escaped the nest, she sprinted towards the gentle slope with reckless abandon. Katiana didn't keep in mind the massive, living gelatin that fed itself on rot and death and nearly collided with it a second time. She yelped, dropping herself close to the ground to stop her momentum. With harried breath, she took a glance behind her but didn't hesitate further to try and squeeze by the massive creature.
Sweat beaded her brow, dirt streaked against her skin, and bugs skittered through her hair and across her skin. It was all ignored for the pain, and Katiana had to wonder what would become of her in the minutes to come.
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Coatl of the Imilla
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 143
Appearance: Skin just a skosh darker than an old clay pot. The shade of his hat occludes black, sun-beaten eyes, wavy, matted hair, and just enough beard to protect his chin. His hands are coarse and leathery, with wiry tendons. His height isn't quite imposing, it's but enough to lend credence to a purposeful stride and posture.
-------
Equipment: An old duster, scarf, and cotton shirt and slacks. A thin brigandine with copper plates and a military-grade pitchfork.
A single candle, a reagent of now forbidden degrees of power.
-------
Skills and Abilities: On his home turf, Coatl could manifest formidable elemental magic. Here the magic is suppressed down to more subtle manipulations. However, the spirit of Cuaté, the "Witch", is still with him.
Coatl is, at his core, a simple farmhand. His experience working on ranches and plantations has earned him a strong physique and a way with animals. When he was a teenager, he also spent some time as a city guard and militiaman, giving him basic competence with a variety of weapons.
-------
Biography: The Imilla Clan were migrant farmers and laborers, selling themselves to wealthier kingdoms. They were a people bound by working shanties, and stories of an Eden from whence their ancestors came. As a youth, Coatl felt they were naive. They possessed the most basic of martial skills and required the aid of capricious spirits with weak magic to protect them.
His suspicions were half true, for when they encountered a malevolent kingdom, they were very nearly enslaved. However, his parent's commitment to peace earned him, and him in particular, the loyalty of an ancestral spirit that was far more dependable.
Using the power of this spirit, Coatl and a few other "chosen ones" helped bring prosperity and safety to their clan, ensuring that no one else would try to enslave them. The golden years of their people came to an abrupt end, however, when the flood waters came...
Registered: Mar 20, 2021 23:42:08 GMT -5
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Post by Coatl of the Imilla on Jan 5, 2022 14:13:29 GMT -5
As quickly as the danger had arisen, it subsided with an almost eerie promptness.
The secret of the large black not-slug was that it was completely non-aggressive. It only ate dead things. As Katiana rushed passed it, dead bugs and not-slugs would flake off her and land near the black ooze, whose amorphous form extended tendrils to gobble them up as it went on its way.
As quickly as they were upon her, the wasps let her leave. They seemed to avoid the giant not-slug as servants might bow out of the way of a great lord.
The wasp's stings, while painful, were non-lethal. Their venom was poorly adapted to human physiology.
Katiana had successfully survived her encounter with slime-topia, and had the dubious honor of being the first human to do so.
What became of her over the next few minutes was completely up to her.
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Jan 6, 2022 19:53:45 GMT -5
That was, rightly, when Katiana decided that their breakfast would consist of the dried meat they'd brought for the journey. With a dozen groans and a lot of hissing through her teeth, Katiana trudged back to camp. Even though she kept a wary eye on the way there, she hardly had the strength to pull her bow, what with the giant sting on her shoulder. Eventually, the pain began to subside, but the heat of the wound was unbearable. If it was anything like being stung by a normal wasp, the scratching was going to drive her mad later on!
The moment she reached camp, she deposited her pack, her bow, and her quiver onto the ground and did the same for her blouse, leaving her in bindings that looped around her shoulders and under her arms. She moved the straps aside and craned her neck to look at the growing, red welt there, angry and the size of a Shinty ball. She bit her lip and cursed, half concerned how Coatl would react when he found her.
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Coatl of the Imilla
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 143
Appearance: Skin just a skosh darker than an old clay pot. The shade of his hat occludes black, sun-beaten eyes, wavy, matted hair, and just enough beard to protect his chin. His hands are coarse and leathery, with wiry tendons. His height isn't quite imposing, it's but enough to lend credence to a purposeful stride and posture.
-------
Equipment: An old duster, scarf, and cotton shirt and slacks. A thin brigandine with copper plates and a military-grade pitchfork.
A single candle, a reagent of now forbidden degrees of power.
-------
Skills and Abilities: On his home turf, Coatl could manifest formidable elemental magic. Here the magic is suppressed down to more subtle manipulations. However, the spirit of Cuaté, the "Witch", is still with him.
Coatl is, at his core, a simple farmhand. His experience working on ranches and plantations has earned him a strong physique and a way with animals. When he was a teenager, he also spent some time as a city guard and militiaman, giving him basic competence with a variety of weapons.
-------
Biography: The Imilla Clan were migrant farmers and laborers, selling themselves to wealthier kingdoms. They were a people bound by working shanties, and stories of an Eden from whence their ancestors came. As a youth, Coatl felt they were naive. They possessed the most basic of martial skills and required the aid of capricious spirits with weak magic to protect them.
His suspicions were half true, for when they encountered a malevolent kingdom, they were very nearly enslaved. However, his parent's commitment to peace earned him, and him in particular, the loyalty of an ancestral spirit that was far more dependable.
Using the power of this spirit, Coatl and a few other "chosen ones" helped bring prosperity and safety to their clan, ensuring that no one else would try to enslave them. The golden years of their people came to an abrupt end, however, when the flood waters came...
Registered: Mar 20, 2021 23:42:08 GMT -5
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Post by Coatl of the Imilla on Jan 9, 2022 23:26:14 GMT -5
Katiana'd spot a massive plum of steam gushing from their camp.
"How much syrup you think this'll make?"
Not much, a few ounces at the most. But we can always collect more. Those trees are bursting with sap! It's unbelievable! We'll have to make sure any lumberjacks that make it here don't cut these trees down.
Katiana would find a shirtless Coatl stirring a pot over the fire. The air was filled with sweetness and steam. Cuate's spirit was active in a humanoid state, supervising their little alchemy project and occasionally stealing glances at Cabot. The baby bat monster was frolicking nearby, batting a strange object back and forth.
Coatl waved as Katiana approached. "Oi! We found ourselves a botanical goldmine out here in the forests. These nearby trees are filled with what in carnation happened to you?" He stopped stirring and stepped over to Katiana, eyebrows raised and scanning her up and down. Cuate's spirit also appeared next to her in a blink, immediately perceiving the lump on her neck, which she examined with glowing opals for eyes.
"You look like you picked a fight with thorn bush and lost." He said bemused. "Though knowing you I hate to see the sorry state the bush must be in."
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
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Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
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Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Jan 13, 2022 15:48:35 GMT -5
The woman couldn't help a small smile from creeping through her grimace when she found Coatl and Cuate huddled together over a pot with the beast child playing off to the side. Something about it hit home. With as much pain as she was in, the sight gave her comfort unlike anything had since the flood.
She lowered herself onto one of the logs as they fussed, letting out a nervous laugh. "Well... you wouldn't be wrong. It had thorns, but it was no bush." Poking at it, the huntress hissed. "There were wasps larger than cats. I fell into their nest." Pausing, Katiana looked at her friends guiltily. "Looking for breakfast. It looks like you discovered something, too."
The woman stretched out one foot, the ankle of which was starting to bruise and swell. She placed a hand on her back, feeling the skin where she'd impacted the worst. A little ache for now, but who knew what it would be like in several hours?
"I futzed it up good, didn't I?"
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Coatl of the Imilla
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 143
Appearance: Skin just a skosh darker than an old clay pot. The shade of his hat occludes black, sun-beaten eyes, wavy, matted hair, and just enough beard to protect his chin. His hands are coarse and leathery, with wiry tendons. His height isn't quite imposing, it's but enough to lend credence to a purposeful stride and posture.
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Equipment: An old duster, scarf, and cotton shirt and slacks. A thin brigandine with copper plates and a military-grade pitchfork.
A single candle, a reagent of now forbidden degrees of power.
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Skills and Abilities: On his home turf, Coatl could manifest formidable elemental magic. Here the magic is suppressed down to more subtle manipulations. However, the spirit of Cuaté, the "Witch", is still with him.
Coatl is, at his core, a simple farmhand. His experience working on ranches and plantations has earned him a strong physique and a way with animals. When he was a teenager, he also spent some time as a city guard and militiaman, giving him basic competence with a variety of weapons.
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Biography: The Imilla Clan were migrant farmers and laborers, selling themselves to wealthier kingdoms. They were a people bound by working shanties, and stories of an Eden from whence their ancestors came. As a youth, Coatl felt they were naive. They possessed the most basic of martial skills and required the aid of capricious spirits with weak magic to protect them.
His suspicions were half true, for when they encountered a malevolent kingdom, they were very nearly enslaved. However, his parent's commitment to peace earned him, and him in particular, the loyalty of an ancestral spirit that was far more dependable.
Using the power of this spirit, Coatl and a few other "chosen ones" helped bring prosperity and safety to their clan, ensuring that no one else would try to enslave them. The golden years of their people came to an abrupt end, however, when the flood waters came...
Registered: Mar 20, 2021 23:42:08 GMT -5
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Post by Coatl of the Imilla on Jan 15, 2022 1:30:45 GMT -5
Coatl cocked his head and chuckled. "Like a drunk dragon tamer tryin' to win a bet."
Cuate extended her golden, ethereal hands over the busted ankle. Did any of the wasps follow you? Fixing you up will use a chunk of my power for an few hours.
"We can save some of her power by applying ointment, if you don't mind being a test subject." Coatl walked to the side and grabbed a bowl with some sticky substance in it and some cloth. "We found a few things from those trees. First is sap. It's edible. Cabot snuck off for a bit-"
Not really, I followed him. Hehe.
"-ahahahand she caught him licking those trees. Figured it was worth the risk, tried a bit, didn't go blind, and decided to collect and boil some of the stuff. Those trees also produce a resin which, if it's anything like the ones back home, makes a decent ointment. Kinda jury rigging this bit, a lil' sticky and messy, didn't really have time to..." He mixed some water and dabbed the cloth with the mixture.
Sometimes healing magic works better when its used with mundane treatment, rather than as a substitute.
If Katiana allowed him to, Coatl would start dabbing her sting and wounds with the cloth.
As for the strange object Cabot was playing with, eventually he'd get bored of it and then crawl his way back into the tent, giving the poor little thing a chance to crawl away and escape. It was a not-slug, of the marshmallow species.
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Feb 8, 2022 20:40:52 GMT -5
“No. They flew back as soon as I ran into the Black Death Slime,” said Katiana, regaling her tale of all the fascinating creatures she ran into on her morning hunt and how it turned badly so soon. With some difficulty, she flipped out her book to show them the few charcoal drawings she was able to make.
“I also noticed the sap! Everything looked like it was feeding on it. Well, just about,” she answered. “It couldn’t hurt to try. I can’t imagine it’ll put me in a worse predicament. If it does, tell everyone I perished in a much more exciting death than one of sickness. Come up with something heroic and incredible.” She grinned daringly. “I must be remembered as such and no less.”
Her eyes followed Cabot as he crawled after the marshmallow slug and raised a brow. “Do you think those are edible? Should we pocket some to carry to Laute?”
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Coatl of the Imilla
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 143
Appearance: Skin just a skosh darker than an old clay pot. The shade of his hat occludes black, sun-beaten eyes, wavy, matted hair, and just enough beard to protect his chin. His hands are coarse and leathery, with wiry tendons. His height isn't quite imposing, it's but enough to lend credence to a purposeful stride and posture.
-------
Equipment: An old duster, scarf, and cotton shirt and slacks. A thin brigandine with copper plates and a military-grade pitchfork.
A single candle, a reagent of now forbidden degrees of power.
-------
Skills and Abilities: On his home turf, Coatl could manifest formidable elemental magic. Here the magic is suppressed down to more subtle manipulations. However, the spirit of Cuaté, the "Witch", is still with him.
Coatl is, at his core, a simple farmhand. His experience working on ranches and plantations has earned him a strong physique and a way with animals. When he was a teenager, he also spent some time as a city guard and militiaman, giving him basic competence with a variety of weapons.
-------
Biography: The Imilla Clan were migrant farmers and laborers, selling themselves to wealthier kingdoms. They were a people bound by working shanties, and stories of an Eden from whence their ancestors came. As a youth, Coatl felt they were naive. They possessed the most basic of martial skills and required the aid of capricious spirits with weak magic to protect them.
His suspicions were half true, for when they encountered a malevolent kingdom, they were very nearly enslaved. However, his parent's commitment to peace earned him, and him in particular, the loyalty of an ancestral spirit that was far more dependable.
Using the power of this spirit, Coatl and a few other "chosen ones" helped bring prosperity and safety to their clan, ensuring that no one else would try to enslave them. The golden years of their people came to an abrupt end, however, when the flood waters came...
Registered: Mar 20, 2021 23:42:08 GMT -5
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Post by Coatl of the Imilla on Feb 10, 2022 21:53:25 GMT -5
Coatl carefully dabbed ointment onto Katiana's wounds and bumps. He was followed by Cuate's healing spirit hands, which poured warmth into every spot. The ointment glowed a bit and seemed to refract light more intensely as she passed through each spot. The smell was of pine on steroids. Coatl himself, despite being shirtless, didn't give off much odor as he did bathe himself regularly.
(He was also built like a lumberjack, if a little on the fuzzy side. The man didn't seem to believe in razors.)
"Cabot tried to lick the thing, but then spit and gagged right quick. Guessing it ain't edible. And Cabot thinks leather straps are edible. So if he says don't eat something, I reckon you'd do well to take his advice. I'm sure Laute will have a field day with the weird things."
Cuate made ooing and ahhing noises as Katiana regaled them with her heroic tale. When she was done, Cuate spent a few minutes speculating on the ecology of slimetopia. She then started to come up with suggestions for how she could embellish her story further:
And then, with quick wit and singing arrow, you collapsed the stalactite right onto the wasp queen's head, knocking it out! Despite the horrific pain tearing apart your insides, you bravely surged past a batallion of soldier wasps, dodging their great and mighty stingers like a veritable dancer. You leaped over the death slime and barely avoided its ghastly necrotic tendrils. You moved with blazing speed. Your arrows struck like lightning. And with your dying breath, you successfully deposited the baby bat monster into our waiting arms before tragically succumbing to your mortal wounds. Your last words were of well-wishes to Port Argentium and all future generations of great adventurers. Maybe your spirit watch over them for eternity.
It took a while, but the large bump and Katiana's various other wounds subsided.
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Katiana Graves
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 109
Appearance: When you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. Similarly, if you wanted to hide Katiana, you would put her in a crowd of humans. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin features, and an unremarkable height may not set her apart, but the way she manipulates her expressions and gallivants around certainly do. Those who know her are familiar with a particularly mischievous left-sided smirk, above which forms a dimple. Those who have yet to meet her will immediately know her for the way she bounces from one place to the next, holding her skirts in her hands.
____________________________________________________
Equipment: A recurve bow made of elm, a small wood-cutting ax, and a skinning knife complete Katiana's non-exhaustive equipment. Being an adventurer who often loses herself in the wilderness, she also favors flint and tinder, rope, medicines, a waterskin, sewing supplies, and food rations.
____________________________________________________
Skills and Abilities: Though not particularly concerned in the art of warfare, Katiana has been a hunter for as long as she could hold a bow, and over the years, she became proficient with it. One could assume that if she needed to point her arrow at a charging warrior rather than a boar, she would have the same chances of hitting it. Years of adventuring have also taught her skills in survival.
Though she has no skills in magic, nothing is stopping her from learning. Katiana's family has a history of mages, though none have been particularly gifted.
Registered: Mar 17, 2021 16:34:46 GMT -5
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Post by Katiana Graves on Feb 12, 2022 19:18:45 GMT -5
In the midst of her wounds healing and Cuate telling the story, Katiana could only find herself laughing enough to echo through the forest, head lashing back. "Oh, wouldn't they get a kick out of that? I bet Shyv'Ahna would have left one of her fancy stools at my grave thinking about that. Even Roxanne might have given me a half-saddened grunt with such a story. Yes, I've decided you will be the one to tell them of my end, should it come in the time we are together." A hand plastered over her mouth as she held back the giggles.
Once healed, she smiled at them warmly. "Thank you for this. I will hope my mortal binds do not trouble you for long, but I find it hard to be anything north of careful in a place like this. My home was never so dangerous and it was easier to be reckless. I suppose it makes sense: I was made for the world I came from, but I wasn't made for a world much larger than that." She shrugged. "I suppose I'll just have to learn, then!"
With a hand on Coatl's shoulder, and a glance that lingered just a second too long, she braced against him and lifted herself onto her feet. She flexed her ankle and popped her eyebrows upward. "Bloody hell! That's fast. We had magic, but never this good."
And then her stomach growled.
"... what do we have of rations? Has Cabot eaten it all yet?"
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