[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

The fish hooked to her rod was beginning to stink and looked like nothing in Elysia. Covered in sand, especially around the maw where the hook had made it bleed, it was pretty disgusting bait. Good thing, then, that Daz didn't have to look at it.

Lying on her belly in the sand a good thirty feet away, with her chin propped in one hand and the makeshift rod clutched in the other, she yawned. She was bored to tears and couldn't ever imagine anyone doing this for a hobby, or even for a living. Granted, they were usually fishing for critters people ate instead of critters that ate people, but it was still a ridiculous way to pass the time.

Glancing at her watch, she sighed. This was the fifth time she'd come out here to hunt down the kraken bothering the local village, and the fifth time she'd come up empty. Clearly, it wasn't interested in salmon either, but it wasn't like she could hook a cow on the end of her rod. Well... she probably could, but she didn't think the rod would survive the experience.

Or maybe it wasn't even here. She didn't think the kid had been wrong - seeing your father get sucked under the sand by a bunch of tentacles was something she'd expect to imprint on the mind - but from what he'd said, there was a hell of a lot of running involved. Still, kraken had a pretty wide scope so it wouldn't matter if she was off by a few feet. "Time for Plan D, then." Except if she didn't find this beasty soon, she'd need to go home and feed the cub, and then it would be too dark to go hunting again.

Sighing with annoyance, Daz scrambled to her feet and slapped at her front to shake loose some of the sand. Reeling in the dodgy salmon, she dumped it and the rod a few feet away and stalked towards the ocean. Halting at the centre of what the kid had suggested was the kraken's territory, she jumped up and slammed her feet into the sand, then took to waving and yelling. She was going to get this beasty's attention one way or another.

[NPC]

(Kraken, played by Liz )


It was quite the youngster in terms of the monster years, only having lived for three whole decades and a little bit more. Over the years, more than one wily humanoid had tried to slaughter it as if it were a meek sheep in the abattoir, and so far, none had truly succeeded (though one humanoid had gotten away with a blade from one of its tentacles). It considered itself infallible and the ruler of this area, the one to be feared around here. While it didn't always stay underneath the sand, sometimes venturing out into the waters but staying near to its favourite haunts. Eating a succulent, unsuspecting sunbather was much more satisfying than the lousy shoals of fish it could feast on in the water.

There had been some controversy a short while ago after it had been ravenous one month and eaten a good number of people - the residents on the Ao coast could tell anyone who asked that the number was thirteen, and it had only actually snapped up a limb or a torso from each one -, and now it was unsure about how safe it was. A man whose little lady creature it had eaten had came after it yesterday, blinded with fury and desperation and waving a sharp stick thingy. He had tried to hack of one of its tentacles, and had wounded it, causing a dark, viscous liquid, that was its blood, to seep from a small wound. It had only been a scratch, but it hadn't liked that at all.

Well, it hadn't been hungry, but now there was a mangled corpse beginning the slow process of digestion, hastily chewed up and no doubt going to take a longer time than usual to get all the way through. That particular week it had just felt the need to know that it was still feared, and the humanoids had provided it with that sport - but, it had to be stated, the ones with the feathery things sprouting from their backs tasted particularly good.

After the little incident with the frustrated humanoid, it was now resting in a shipwreck, its huge, gigantic eye peering out of what had once been the hull. Just to see that nothing was entering its territory, because it hated little fishes forgetting their place - as snacks, what else? - and venturing down to its territory. It was a creature, and its first instinct was to rip apart anything that crossed the invisible boundary that was its own territory.

Aha, there! A glimmer of silver scales in the soft sunlight, filtering down through the clear waters, and the Kraken was out in a shot, scaring away a whole shoal of fish. While it wasn't particularly in the mood for eating, it was still intinct to grab one of the fish, tentacle constricting around the tuna. It didn't eat it, but left it for another sea creature to gobble up, and lazily drifted off nearer toward the shore.

Damn humanoids! The stomping could be heard where the Kraken lurked, and, it was absolutely infuriated to find, the thing was in its territory. The whole beach was its own lair, and it stretched out a little ways from the shore (it had claimed so, itself). A surge of instinctual anger rushed through its intelligent yet almost one track mind, and with a snarl - something which sounded like the cry of a whale, only on a much, more bass and resounding scale - it shot out of the water. Or at least, its tentacles did.

There it lashed its tentacles about violently, in all of its hideous, giantic glory, and one, perhaps a warning attack, lashed out toward the humanoid. The blade aimed for the thing's leg, the Kraken looked at it with one gargantuan eye (the irises were a sort of dim, orange colour), and it seemed definite that it could have one of those yummy little things that it liked so much for a meal soon. It'd drag the thing off to its lair, and there, it would feast away from the eyes of the human things.

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

Dazadi was aware that kraken could abandon their lairs in favour of the open ocean but she hadn't considered that might be the case here. If she had, she'd be much less annoyed by the fact that she'd wasted five trips on trying to bait a creature that wasn't where it was supposed to be. It did explain why she hadn't caught a bite, though, and made her feel slightly less dumb for the tactics she'd chosen.

Not that she ever really second guessed herself anyway. She just wasn't that into beating herself up about mistakes. Unless those mistakes were called Kade.

The tentacle came out of nowhere, but as big as it was, it was kind of hard for her to miss, especially with the rush of water hitting her ears as it erupted out of the surf. Her body reacted before her mind had caught up with the fact she was being attacked, and she leaped into the air with a wild yell that was cut off - with a startled, disgruntled expression to match - by the smash of salty water in her face.

With her back to the ocean, Daz knew she was already at a disadvantage. She may be powerful but it never paid to let her guard down and despite the fact she was battling one kraken, she may as well be fighting off an army of swords. With her dripping bangs in her eyes, Dazadi's wings worked rapidly to keep her in the air as she reached for the hilt of her sword and drew it quickly, brandishing the heavy weapon with glee. She'd wanted to kick some ass for the longest time, and she was about to get her wish.

Another yell, and Daz shot forward, aiming for the nearest tentacle, her sword sweeping out in a flashing arc. How much did kraken parts go for, anyhow?

[NPC]

OOC: Kraken, played by Emma

The Anyelos came out swinging but the kraken paid no mind, its tentacles whipping through the air in an effort to grab her and pull her under the water. The sword gave it pause, cutting through a fleshy sucker and driving the tentacle away, only to be replaced by another and another. One looped in on itself, trying to curve around the winged body with its suckers undulating inside the greasy bed of flesh, as another lanced up from the sand with its bladed tail as if to cleave its prey in two.

Meanwhile, beneath the waves, the kraken's beak snapped and its voice shrieked hungrily out of the water as it slithered closer to the shore on a bed of tentacles. In the disappointing instance that she tried to fly away, the kraken wanted as long a reach as possible without risking exposure.

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

That was the problem with kraken, and hydra to a lesser extent: They didn't come at you on just the one front. And they could be sneaky censoreds. The main reason they were so tough to take down, even for someone as strong and fast and skilled as her, was that it was so bloody hard to keep track of all their tentacles all at once.

Focused on the looping tentacle that could easily crush and shred her if she let it wrap around her, Dazadi's sword flashed with the intention of lopping it off. As she spun on the follow-through, knowing from experience better than to turn her back for too long on the rest of the beast, she glimpsed the lancing tentacle and barely managed to flip mid-air. Instead of splitting her down the middle, it lashed across her leg and split open a gash on her calf, ruining yet another pair of leggings. censored.

Knocked back by the force of the hit, Daz spun in midair, using the momentum to pull a cartwheel, her sword lunging for the nearest tentacle with a haphazard plan to hack-and-slash until the kraken was just a lump of flesh with a beak attached.

[NPC]

[d=black]((OOC:[/d] Kraken by Emma[d=black]))[/d]

The kraken let loose with an unholy scream that burbled out of the frothing water as a tentacle was lopped off, spraying dark blood everywhere. Its body still submerged in the shallows, the kraken halted its upward motion where it could see more clearly, continuing its multi-pronged attack. It landed a blow that spattered the Skotadi's blood across a tentacle that was rising up towards her, the kraken's suckers grasping hungrily at the viscous fluid, but she shot up and away before it could land another and set to with a frenetic attack that forced it to lunge and twist and grab repeatedly with all but its missing limbs.

In a fair fight, the Skotadi would tire before the kraken did if she kept on the way she was, but the kraken wasn't interested in fair, only its continuous hunger. It could still only respond to her attacks with countering lashes and blows of its own, and the occasional scream as its tentacles were nicked and slashed. Frantic, its beak reared up out of the water for a moment, the waves crashing around it, and it lunged with all its limbs in a co-ordinated attack meant to surround the woman and wrap her from head to toe in greasy, biting flesh.

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

This was taking too long.

Dazadi dodged and weaved, wincing as more of her flesh was opened up under the kraken's attack. No matter how fast her injuries healed, the beast dealt more faster than her flesh could knit back together, and it was seriously censored her off. She knew, too, that the longer they fought, the quicker she'd lose her advantage (well, not that being able to fly was much of an advantage unless she wanted to flee, which would defeat the purpose of baiting it out in the first place) and she was growing impatient.

Damn kraken. Who invented the things anyway? She didn't think even Xanth was stupid enough, although... Who knew with Purple Head?

Yelling out a warcry as she swiped once more at the ugly tentacles, pausing - rather stupidly, she'd have to admit - as a wall of ocean slammed up a few feet away, the kraken's beak exposed. She should have taken the opportunity, plunged into the frigid water and done some slicing and dicing, but she was suddenly drenched and freezing.

Glowering from under dripping bangs, Daz lost altitude as she slammed her wings back and forth to get the excess water off her feathers, dropping right into the mass of tentacles that reached for her. She wasn't great in the water because it made her wings thick and heavy, but it was way better than letting the kraken catch her so she snapped her wings tight to her back and made a spear out of her body. She almost made it and was about to "hah!" at the beast but then her ankle was caught in the clustering tentacles and sharp sucker pierced through her calf.

Spear forgotten, Daz whacked out with her sword, figuring she still had a chance if she could whack this limb off like all the others she'd gotten to. That, or she'd need to teleport to get out of this mess because she'd rather go chasing after Kade and begging him to come home than become this thing's next meal.

[NPC]

[d=black]((OOC:[/d] Kraken by Emma[d=black]))[/d]

The kraken gave a victorious screech as it managed to spear the woman, its tentacle slapping against her bleeding flesh as it rolled around and around her leg. She seemed to dangle, helpless, for a moment, and the kraken's beak lunged out of the water as it snapped its tentacle, its feeding instinct cutting in. Before it could fling her up into the air, where she would fall into its waiting beak, her sword whipped out once more, nicking its flesh deep enough for it to release her automatically.

Immediately, it was reaching for her again. It had by now lost half its writhing limbs, but it still had four left, and it continued its multi-pronged attack. This time, when it caught her, it would not wait - it would simply wrap her in tentacles and squeeze until the life was crushed out of her.

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

"Grah!" Dazadi yelled as a tentacle slimed its way around her, wrapping her in flesh-shredding suckers. Her skin and clothes felt slick, probably a mixture of the greasy substance coating the tentacles and the blood seeping - if not pouring - from her wounds, but the suckers were so powerful, and the sharp blades dug so deep into her skin, that she couldn't have squirmed free. Her lashing sword almost detached the tentacle but she was drawn back at the last second by the writhing motion and missed her shot.

It was getting harder and harder to think through the pain and blood loss. It occurred to her, very briefly, that she wasn't going to get out of this alive, but damned if she'd scream for help. Besides, she still had one hand free - thankfully the one with the sword clutched in it - so she wasn't defeated yet.

Not really thinking about the consequences of detaching the tentacle that was wrapped around her from the rest of the kraken, or the fact that she couldn't move because of said tentacle which had trapped her wings - and, gah, oh yeah. That was broken - Dazadi shrieked and slammed her sword-hand down with all her might. If this worked, it was time to pull out her shadowy cloak to hide from the beast while she regrouped and got out of this wretched tentacle-wrapping, because she sure as heck wasn't flying any time soon.

[NPC]

((OOC: Kraken played by Ironside))

The Kraken hissed as yet another tentacle was hacked off, its appendage still wrapped around its prey as it fell away, leaving a bloody spray trail as the rest of the tentacle still attached to the Kraken flailed wildly. Of all the tentacles the Kraken had possessed, it now had but three left... this prey was particularly elusive, devouring it was no longer a matter of feeding, but also a matter of exerting its dominance over a particularly dangerous opponent! The Kraken drew back, the saltwater scouring its fresh wounds as it blinked its huge eye furiously, burrowing its remaining tentacles under the beach, keeping them a few feet below the surface as it waited, biding its time as its tentacles slowly but surely wormed their way to the surface, ready to erupt suddenly in an effort to surprise and confuse its prey

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

"Hah! Aha!" Dazadi's triumph quickly gave way to a wave of "Oh, crap!" as the detached tentacle fell towards the crashing waves, a spray of blood catching her in the eye and mouth. Spluttering at the disgusting taste of kraken blood (some people thought this was a delicacy?!), she spun in midair, her sword lashing out to slice off as much of the kraken's tentacle as possible before she teleported. She didn't want to take the damn thing with her.

A split second before she poofed, she dragged a cloak of shadow over herself, making her as close to invisible as a body could get. Because she was still wrapped in slimy, bloody tentacle, and because her wings were saturated, Daz couldn't teleport into the air like she wanted. Instead, she was forced to land up the beach a little ways. As soon as she landed, she gave a mighty shove and the remains of the tentacle slithered off, down her body, to land in the sand with a wriggly thud, the suckers still opening and closing as if gasping for air.

Wrinkling her nose at the disgusting thing, she teleported another few feet away. She didn't go far. She wasn't about to lose this critter, not after the trouble she'd gone to to draw it out. She shouldn't have needed a break yet, either, but hell - she was getting old.

Where the hell had the tentacles gone? Standing as still as she could so she didn't give her position away by kicking up sand, she whispered, "Where are you, you wretched thing?" She'd never bothered to learn how well they could see so she wasn't sure if it could know where she was by the footprints impacted where she'd landed, but hopefully not.

"You better not run away, you coward," she muttered, her head turning left and right as her upper body twisted to get a good look up and down the beach, searching for signs of the blasted critter. If it had run off, she was going to kill it.

[NPC]

((OOC: Played by Ironside))

The Kraken’s brief moment hiding could not last forever, pain and hunger forcing it up once more as it rose up once more, its tentacles erupting out of the sand and lashing to and fro wildly as the Kraken fumbled blindly for its prey as its beak snapped form the foaming turbulent waters, hissing with rage as its tentacles tore at the beach, sending columns of sand billowing into the air as it viciously searched for its quarry, its razor-sharp beak constantly surging in and out of sight from the frothing sea. When any of its tentacles were unable to find something within their reachable vicinity they would disappear once more into the sand, emerging a short distance away or even in the sea once more as it continued its ferocious hunt.

However, the Kraken was growing weary from the constant exertion and pain and its relentless attack could not sustain itself forever... the question was who would last longer, the Kraken or its prey?

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

As an assassin, Daz had learned to keep hold of her patience; it was easier to lay a trap for a target than it was to try sneaking or fighting past their bodyguards or even entire armies. She was out of practise, though, and had gotten much grumpier as she got older, so she wouldn't have been surprised if she'd lost her patience before the kraken.

She wasn't going to question her good fortune, though. At least, she wasn't until she realised the ferocity it was coming out of the water with, the waves frothing violently as the remaining tentacles lunged and snapped and popped out of the sand in bursting showers. Dazadi's eyes actually widened and she backed up a few paces, forced to duck and jump and roll out of the way of one too many near-misses. She had no time to think, her skin splitting repeatedly under the razor-sharp suckers, barely managing to keep herself out of their grip.

A tentacle smacked her upside the head and she was knocked sideways, her sword arcing up out of her grip. Heat flared in a burst of pain as she was sent skidding through the sand on her back. She had to be thankful for the soft, yielding sand under her, despite the invasiveness of it; her wings might have shattered on solid ground and, even for her, that would have been a witch to heal. censored that she'd let things get this far, she used the momentum of her dive to her advantage, her eyes snapping up to find her sword as it fell through the air. Teleporting the last few feet while she was still skidding, she reached out for it and rolled to her feet, dropping her cloak instantly. "Here I am, you son of a witch! Come and get me!"

She'd lost all patience with this fight by now and wanted it over. With the kraken in the water and her wings already wet (and gods, were they sore!), she was at a disadvantage. So, what if she baited the damn thing up out of the water? It could burrow underground again where she couldn't follow, but she had to chance it. At least where it was dry, it couldn't move as well and they'd be on fairly equal footing. "Come on, you ugly censored!"

[NPC]

((Kraken, played by Emma.))

By now, the kraken had lost so many of its limbs and was in enough pain that it had lost most of its patience. It probably ought to be retreating back into the water, but it was angry enough to take the bait. She seemed weaker now, too, but the kraken was down to three tentacles and was haemorraghing blood into the water.

Heaving itself further up the sand, its last three tentacles reaching for the woman, the kraken swung them in opposite directions right across her path in an effort to catch her out with at least one of them.

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

Dazadi's eyes popped wide open as she realised she was about to become fish food. The swiping tentacles were fast - fast enough that one gave her a good whack to the midriff that knocked her flying sideways into the others and completely winded her - but not fast enough for the other two to meet her coming the other way.

She reappeared in a poof of 'port smoke further up the beach, a good few hundred yards away from the writhing beast. Collapsing to her knees in the hot sand, an arm wrapped around her stomach, she doubled over, straining to drag air into her lungs. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she as unable to stop them. And then, just as suddenly, air was rushing into her lungs again.

Wobbling, she got to her feet and turned unsteadily to face the monster. Blood soaked her shirt and breathing still hurt like a kelpie, but she didn't chance the time it would take to check the wound. She probably had at least one broken rib, and none of her injuries were healing now; there were just too many.

She dragged shadow around herself but she was exhausted and unable to cloak herself completely. Still, it would distort her appearance, obscure her movements a bit - even a tiny advantage was an advantage. And backed up, trying to gauge the best route to the kraken's central mass while avoiding the beast's death blows.

And then she was done backing away, braced her feet in the sand and flung herself forward, her wings tucking back to streamline her body. If she managed to duck and roll and get through the last of its tentacles, she was aiming for that gigantic, ugly-ass eye, and her hand reached back to curl around the hilt of her great sword ready to deal the final blow.

[NPC]

((Kraken, played by Emma.))

The kraken continued to drag itself up the beach, even when its victim teleported out of reach yet again. Taking a moment to relocate her, its giant eyes rolling behind its razor-sharp beak, it changed directions. Somewhere in the back of its seething mind, it knew it should give up the chase and bury itself in the sand to heal (although at this point it was probably going to die of exsanguination) but the kraken's instincts were to follow, grab, eat, destroy.

The shadow cloak did little to hide her and the kraken could sense she was failing, making it all too eager to reach her. It was a fatal mistake. When she launched herself at him, the kraken's movements were too slow to knock her aside, its vision starting to blur - a fact not helped by the fuzziness of the shadow cloaked around her. And then the sword she'd reached for was piercing its eye, all the way into its brain. The kraken gave a long, pained scream, its tentacles twitching and slashing in its death throes, then collapsed and fell silent.

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Mini Anden : Full Credit

Daz collapsed a few feet away from the kraken's ugly-ass head, her butt hitting the ground and kicking up a spray of sand. The tentacles either side of her twitched, but she didn't move - not because she didn't think they were a threat, but because she simply didn't have the energy. She'd used it all in that last burst.

She sat there panting for an age, her forehead resting against an upraised knee. The sand around her turned slowly red and she began to feel light-headed, but she couldn't be bothered to straighten up and check her wounds were healing over. Finally, the grasping blades fell completely still and people emerged from the sand dunes. Their approach cautious, as if afraid the kraken was somehow still alive, they brought knives and carts and baskets to carry the meat back to town.

Daz thought she might just throw up right there. Still, waste not, want not, and it was essentially just giant calamari. Right? Ew.

A sandy-haired kid raced up to her, kicking sand into her lap. Daz recognised him vaguely as the boy who'd lost his father to the kraken but couldn't drag up more response than a simple stare. He stared back for the longest time as if on the verge of tears or flinging himself into her arms, but Dazadi didn't make any encouraging movements. If he wanted comfort, she was the wrong person to ask. In the end, bottom lip quivering, he just sniffled and took off. Probably his way of saying "thanks for avenging my dad" or some baloney.

Wings limp and broken behind her, Daz finally moved. Didn't say a word, just 'ported herself into her shower cubicle back home and turned the water on full and hot to wash away the sand and blood. She stayed there for a long time, curled up under the water with her head bowed, until the water ran clear. Then, uncaring about the mess she was making - she wouldn't have to clean it up anyway - she dragged her sorry butt to bed and collapsed.

[d=black]((OOC:[/d] omg finally finished. Yay.[d=black]))[/d]