In the swavarni woodlands, the 14th of duvark in year 518, a kikika warrior and her band of travellers seek out their bounty - a dangerous 10 legged monster known as the duga-duga to the local elven tribes. Her name is dabunar, and she is a relatively new adventurer.
Kikika are small feline beings, once said to have been held as pets before the 2nd age event when the spirit world crossed over for a moment. In the modern age they're some of the finest, if rarest, warriors and rogues around. Their short arms stop them from using bows, but with their formidable agility and sharp hunter instincts they have been known to take down men and beasts far larger than them. Old tales even tell od fengoth, an old mage who slew dragons.
Among her crew are an elf named delendri, a fresh recruit from a nearby tribe who wished to see the world outside her tribal grounds. She's inexperienced but a well practiced hunter, and skilled with her bow made from the tusk of a ubari elder.
The muscle of the crew is a human man, hans shosi, stronger than the average of men and augmented by a great belt of strength that triples his already formidable strength. His uncle, franco of denvik a court mage, supplied the belt shortly after he was informed his nephew would be going into the world to adventure, he is dull but kind. And most peculiar, a limitri with a youthful energy is in their party. Gnor, is her name, and she speaks little. It is unknown where limitri hail from, as they speak little and do not travel with others of their kind. She is the first in many centuries of a youthful complexion to come of her kind.
They had been travelling for hours to reach the grounds the duga-duga was meant to infest, and had finally arrived. The trees seemed lifeless, the very soil as if it could hold no life. Skittering noises echoed through the woodlands. Anxiety overtook them, but they pushed on. Reacting to the death the gnors bioluminescent parts glowed brighter, but nothing was returned to life, for the bodies of the flora and fauna were not dead, their souls had been stolen.
They spoke about their hunt, sharing what they knew of the duga-duga. That it had 10 legs, and was difficult to pierce due to its hard chitin shell. Gnor revealed it was related to her people, the limitri, and had passed over from the spirit realm. It descended from an evil spirit however. It ate no flesh or plant, but sucked the souls out of anything with even a hint of life out. There was no afterlife for anything that fell victim to this beast.
The skittering noise had stopped. An ominous pressured filled the entire woodlands. Dabunar saw movement in the distance, and it was approaching quickly. She warned her crew to prepare. She got into a battle stance, low to the ground in order to pounce, kopesh pulled back to attack, and paw-shaped shield forward to block an attack. Delendiri hopped into a tree and pulled back her warbow with three bone-arrows. Hans ran into a separate location and got into a grapplers stance, and gnor began glowing even brighter and a spiritual pressure eminated from her. Everyone knew they had to protect gnor so she could kill this beast, or they'd all meet a fate worse than death. The beast charged directly into and through dabunar, to which she hopped up and slid across its smooth chiten with her shield, slashing it as she did, landing on the other side. It was rushing directly for gnor, of course. Delendri fired arrows at it, 3 in pair and in quick succession, taking out 7 of its 26 eyes. It did not falter. Finally hans charged in, grappling the beast and stopping it in its tracks. He slammed it into the ground. It's massive chitinous legs slashed at his back as he held it, leaving the wounds grey and dead as if on a corpse. He could not hold it long. Just as he was no longer able to hold it dabunar pounced in, peeling off one of the chitin plates over it's chest. The duga-duga threw them off, and rushed down to gnor once more. It almost sounded like it was giving off an insectoid laughter.
Barreling down upon her, it was ready to consume the limitri in entirety. Denliniri jumped down and fired 3 arrows point blank into its eyes and slashed manually with a 4th. It threw her off in a rage, breaking her arm and knocking her out with an impact on a dead tree. It prepared to consume her for blinding it, but in a sudden flash of blue gnor rushed with magical weaponry around her and trailing behind. She speared its heart with a construct spear, dissipating it into soul energy.
It was dead, conceptually erased. And they were alive, though injured. They returned to the elven tribe that gave them the bounty. The tribe shaman preformed healing magic on delendri. She could be healed, as her injuries were mostly physical. Gnor offered to heal hans once she recharged, as his wounds were more spiritual than physical. The scars would remain, but the soul would heal.
They were paid more than agreed for getting delendri out alive as well as slaying the beast permanently.
They ventured forth after resting a few days. More adventures to be had. But that's enough told for now
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Dabunar and the Deadwoods
AdventureDabunar and her ragtag crew of young adventurers take a task given by local elven tribe leaders to hunt a dangerous beast!