- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] You hide yourself. Whatever this is, it is fast. You don't fancy your chances in a fight against it and it is best to survive.
A Destiny in Bronze (Bronze Age Fantasy)
- Thread starter paebel
- Start date
- Mature Fantasy
[X] You hide yourself. Whatever this is, it is fast. You don't fancy your chances in a fight against it and it is best to survive.
Already killed a demon and saved dozens of souls, that's good enough for a teenager deep in enemy territory, time to try and avoid horrible grisly death at the hands (tentacles? pseudopodia?) of something much bigger and faster than us.
Already killed a demon and saved dozens of souls, that's good enough for a teenager deep in enemy territory, time to try and avoid horrible grisly death at the hands (tentacles? pseudopodia?) of something much bigger and faster than us.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] You hide yourself. Whatever this is, it is fast. You don't fancy your chances in a fight against it and it is best to survive.
[X] Try to lay a trap for it. If you can get the advantage... you might be able to kill it? Assuming your weapons can even harm it, that is.
[X] Try to lay a trap for it. If you can get the advantage... you might be able to kill it? Assuming your weapons can even harm it, that is.
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
To be fair, our patron deity has done most of the work here. I'm not sure how big our contribution to this confrontation is considered.
21--Kinsman
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Whatever that was, it was fast. And if it was fast, it was strong too. You might have killed a minor demon in a unique situation. But even that had taken some time and effort, even if it hadn't been especially dangerous. You hate to think what a demon in the fullness of its strength could do.
You have a few minutes to hide yourself, at least. It can't be anything especially well done. You break a few branches off a nearby tree and bury yourself in them, along with leaves and dead plants. It isn't long before the demon appears.
It is tall. You'd guess it to be about ten feet tall. It is dressed in strange clothes. Strange shells and a colorful rocky substance adorn it, and a sort of armor that looks like the scales of a fish protect it.
Its flesh is a rubbery gray and its face... has a long snout of some sort. A large fin protrudes from its back and it walks awkwardly on two legs. Despite the strangeness of its gait, it's fast. Occasionally, it lets loose a noise that you can just barely detect. Every time it does, it pauses for a moment and shifts its direction.
Gradually it grows closer to you. Somehow or another it seems to know that something is here. The sound it makes seems to be guiding it. As it grows closer, you hold your breath, and pray that it doesn't spot you.
It drifts closer and closer. The strange sound is growing clearer to your ears. You can almost imagine its clammy hand on your throat. You grip a spear tightly and keep Smattas' symbol near to your chest.
It had worked against the other demon. Even if it only provides an instant, that instant might be the moment between life and death. You also recall the strange... bindings that you had noticed, at the site of Tanaach.
You had felt strong. You had been powerful. Could you... remove some of them yourself? If you could, could you put them back on? You weren't sure you wanted to risk it. Memories of that terrible hunger still haunted your dreams. Death almost seemed preferable to that... but you think it might be better than being demon food.
You try to gently poke one of the bindings. A sense of terrible panic and danger fills you. You try again but cannot bring yourself to even come near to it.
So that's out.
The strange demon is almost upon you. The almost-sound is especially loud to you now. It reaches out a hand. As it comes near to you...
THWAP!
An arrow strikes it in the eye!
THWAP! THWAP! THWAP!
Several more follow! The demon lets out a terrible screeching sound. Your ears start to bleed. But you hold the symbol of Smattas in your hand and let out a great cry as you leap up to drive your spear towards it!
...the spear snaps in half, the stone tip shattering. The demon doesn't even look especially harmed.
"Get out of here, fool child!" a voice cries out to you. More arrows follow.
You turn and run. If your spear simply broke against it... you are not its match. You hear a great cry and a man comes hurtling towards the demon! He is almost as tall as it, and armed in beautiful bronze armor. His skin is the darkest you have ever seen.
In his hands is a spear. It strikes towards the demon and pierces into its hide! A screech rises from the thing's mouth!
You don't stick around to see what else happens. You run without much care to what sees or hears you for a few minutes before stopping to catch your breath. Your heart gives panicky beats in your chest.
You can only be thankful that someone--a Zepathan, in all likelihood--had been in these lands. You aren't sure why, though you do know that some of your own kinsman were supposed to be hunting demons near Zepath.
You wonder if this is one of them. Did it count as aid, if they were going to kill the demon anyway? Had you failed the trial? You suppose you would have to ask your father upon your return.
You travel at a more sedate pace for perhaps an hour when you hear a voice behind you.
"Girl! Stop!" it cries.
You stop and turn around. The man from before is approaching you. Black blood is splattered across his armor. On his shoulder is the demon.
"Are you alright?" the man asks you.
"I'm fine, thanks to you," you tell him. "Though... does this count as aid? I'm not supposed to receive aid."
The man lets out a laugh and reaches out for a handshake.
"No, no, I had been planning on killing this one for a few days now. It stopping to kill you actually benefited me. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Better to accept aid if the alternative is death!" he says. "Might I have your name?"
"Zana, daughter of Tudiya," you reply.
"Tudiya, huh? Good kid, not surprised his daughter decided to do something as suicidally stupid as this. I'm Asahel. I suppose you're a descendant of mine."
"It isn't that suicidal," you object. "I've been fine up until that point, I even killed a demon."
Pride is in your voice at that last part.
"Really? Do you have the body, or a part of it?" Asahel asks.
"Yeah, yeah. Check it out." You show him the corpse of the small demon. He examines it for a moment, poking it with his spear.
"Huh. El does provide, I suppose. I'd still highly suggest not going to Zepath itself, though Kavodel should be safe. It's... changed over the last fifteen or twenty years. I suspect it is father's doing, though I can't rule out some strange trap by sea demons. I wish you the best of luck," he says, then turns to leave.
You almost call out for him to wait. But this is your trial. You already feel like you've cheated, kind of, even if Asahel says he had been hunting the demon for several days by that point. You need to do this alone.
Old Kavodel itself is not far away. It is only three more days of travel when its walls become visible. They are strange, though. They do not have the same weathered look of Acco. The land around the city isn't a swamp, either.
It is surrounded by a small forest. Fruit trees are plentiful and birds fill them. They come in all variety of colors, a veritable rainbow. One eagle you see stands as tall as a man. It stares you in the eye for a moment before taking flight.
Your father had called it a den of demons. This seems to be anything but? The sense of foulness that your senses had felt since Tanaach falls away as you enter the gate to the city.
The city is empty but seems to be almost perfectly preserved. You think you can almost hear singing, if you but strain your ears. But no matter how hard you try, you hear only silence.
Your supernatural senses pick up an almost charged feeling in the air. Despite the strangeness of this place, you cannot be uneasy about it.
That night you sleep in an abandoned inn. The bedding is comfortable and seems almost fresh.
Your dreams are not plagued with nightmares for the first time since Tanaach. Instead, your dreams are filled with pomegranate trees and the gentle song of whales (what are whales?).
The next day you must decide what to do.
[] See if your more-than-normal senses can reveal anything about this strange situation.
[] Explore the city. Old Kavodel had supposedly been a city of smiths, artists, and demon slayers. There is bound to be something interesting to find.
[] This place is strange and Asahel said he couldn't rule out a trap. Leave this place and head directly to Zepath.
You have a few minutes to hide yourself, at least. It can't be anything especially well done. You break a few branches off a nearby tree and bury yourself in them, along with leaves and dead plants. It isn't long before the demon appears.
It is tall. You'd guess it to be about ten feet tall. It is dressed in strange clothes. Strange shells and a colorful rocky substance adorn it, and a sort of armor that looks like the scales of a fish protect it.
Its flesh is a rubbery gray and its face... has a long snout of some sort. A large fin protrudes from its back and it walks awkwardly on two legs. Despite the strangeness of its gait, it's fast. Occasionally, it lets loose a noise that you can just barely detect. Every time it does, it pauses for a moment and shifts its direction.
Gradually it grows closer to you. Somehow or another it seems to know that something is here. The sound it makes seems to be guiding it. As it grows closer, you hold your breath, and pray that it doesn't spot you.
It drifts closer and closer. The strange sound is growing clearer to your ears. You can almost imagine its clammy hand on your throat. You grip a spear tightly and keep Smattas' symbol near to your chest.
It had worked against the other demon. Even if it only provides an instant, that instant might be the moment between life and death. You also recall the strange... bindings that you had noticed, at the site of Tanaach.
You had felt strong. You had been powerful. Could you... remove some of them yourself? If you could, could you put them back on? You weren't sure you wanted to risk it. Memories of that terrible hunger still haunted your dreams. Death almost seemed preferable to that... but you think it might be better than being demon food.
You try to gently poke one of the bindings. A sense of terrible panic and danger fills you. You try again but cannot bring yourself to even come near to it.
So that's out.
The strange demon is almost upon you. The almost-sound is especially loud to you now. It reaches out a hand. As it comes near to you...
THWAP!
An arrow strikes it in the eye!
THWAP! THWAP! THWAP!
Several more follow! The demon lets out a terrible screeching sound. Your ears start to bleed. But you hold the symbol of Smattas in your hand and let out a great cry as you leap up to drive your spear towards it!
...the spear snaps in half, the stone tip shattering. The demon doesn't even look especially harmed.
"Get out of here, fool child!" a voice cries out to you. More arrows follow.
You turn and run. If your spear simply broke against it... you are not its match. You hear a great cry and a man comes hurtling towards the demon! He is almost as tall as it, and armed in beautiful bronze armor. His skin is the darkest you have ever seen.
In his hands is a spear. It strikes towards the demon and pierces into its hide! A screech rises from the thing's mouth!
You don't stick around to see what else happens. You run without much care to what sees or hears you for a few minutes before stopping to catch your breath. Your heart gives panicky beats in your chest.
You can only be thankful that someone--a Zepathan, in all likelihood--had been in these lands. You aren't sure why, though you do know that some of your own kinsman were supposed to be hunting demons near Zepath.
You wonder if this is one of them. Did it count as aid, if they were going to kill the demon anyway? Had you failed the trial? You suppose you would have to ask your father upon your return.
You travel at a more sedate pace for perhaps an hour when you hear a voice behind you.
"Girl! Stop!" it cries.
You stop and turn around. The man from before is approaching you. Black blood is splattered across his armor. On his shoulder is the demon.
"Are you alright?" the man asks you.
"I'm fine, thanks to you," you tell him. "Though... does this count as aid? I'm not supposed to receive aid."
The man lets out a laugh and reaches out for a handshake.
"No, no, I had been planning on killing this one for a few days now. It stopping to kill you actually benefited me. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Better to accept aid if the alternative is death!" he says. "Might I have your name?"
"Zana, daughter of Tudiya," you reply.
"Tudiya, huh? Good kid, not surprised his daughter decided to do something as suicidally stupid as this. I'm Asahel. I suppose you're a descendant of mine."
"It isn't that suicidal," you object. "I've been fine up until that point, I even killed a demon."
Pride is in your voice at that last part.
"Really? Do you have the body, or a part of it?" Asahel asks.
"Yeah, yeah. Check it out." You show him the corpse of the small demon. He examines it for a moment, poking it with his spear.
"Huh. El does provide, I suppose. I'd still highly suggest not going to Zepath itself, though Kavodel should be safe. It's... changed over the last fifteen or twenty years. I suspect it is father's doing, though I can't rule out some strange trap by sea demons. I wish you the best of luck," he says, then turns to leave.
You almost call out for him to wait. But this is your trial. You already feel like you've cheated, kind of, even if Asahel says he had been hunting the demon for several days by that point. You need to do this alone.
Old Kavodel itself is not far away. It is only three more days of travel when its walls become visible. They are strange, though. They do not have the same weathered look of Acco. The land around the city isn't a swamp, either.
It is surrounded by a small forest. Fruit trees are plentiful and birds fill them. They come in all variety of colors, a veritable rainbow. One eagle you see stands as tall as a man. It stares you in the eye for a moment before taking flight.
Your father had called it a den of demons. This seems to be anything but? The sense of foulness that your senses had felt since Tanaach falls away as you enter the gate to the city.
The city is empty but seems to be almost perfectly preserved. You think you can almost hear singing, if you but strain your ears. But no matter how hard you try, you hear only silence.
Your supernatural senses pick up an almost charged feeling in the air. Despite the strangeness of this place, you cannot be uneasy about it.
That night you sleep in an abandoned inn. The bedding is comfortable and seems almost fresh.
Your dreams are not plagued with nightmares for the first time since Tanaach. Instead, your dreams are filled with pomegranate trees and the gentle song of whales (what are whales?).
The next day you must decide what to do.
[] See if your more-than-normal senses can reveal anything about this strange situation.
[] Explore the city. Old Kavodel had supposedly been a city of smiths, artists, and demon slayers. There is bound to be something interesting to find.
[] This place is strange and Asahel said he couldn't rule out a trap. Leave this place and head directly to Zepath.
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[x] Explore the city. Old Kavodel had supposedly been a city of smiths, artists, and demon slayers. There is bound to be something interesting to find.
DangerKitty
shoddy writter
- Location
- lala land
[X] See if your more-than-normal senses can reveal anything about this strange situation.
- Location
- Ostren
[x] Explore the city. Old Kavodel had supposedly been a city of smiths, artists, and demon slayers. There is bound to be something interesting to find.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] See if your more-than-normal senses can reveal anything about this strange situation.
[x] See if your more-than-normal senses can reveal anything about this strange situation
- Location
- France
[X] See if your more-than-normal senses can reveal anything about this strange situation.
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
[X] See if your more-than-normal senses can reveal anything about this strange situation.
[X] Explore the city. Old Kavodel had supposedly been a city of smiths, artists, and demon slayers. There is bound to be something interesting to find.
Whalesong, huh? Why ocean sounds, thought they were the ancient implacable enemy.
Whalesong, huh? Why ocean sounds, thought they were the ancient implacable enemy.