Nothing to Fyr

He’d read up on fyrhunds as much as he could in the Monster Hunter’s Guild journals (after making his own recent entry on lials for future hunters) and then posted a note to the Guild message board to let people know where he was going.

Heading to Angel’s End to find a fyrhund. Be back in a few days. Wish me luck. -Tal

He had his axe and the steel spear he’d used to slay the lial, plenty of water and food, a couple of dead arctic rabbits stuffed in his Bag, and his rope and bandages. And of course, Boreal flew overhead, keeping a weather eye out for any suspicious movement across the blasted surface far below her. Tal’s feet moved lightly over the hardened lava rock covering the isle he’d chosen, but the prints he was following had sunk into the thin crust and left a trail even an unpracticed eye could follow.

He whistled and gestured Boreal to come a little lower as clouds over the ocean in the distance grew both darker and nearer, and Tal looked around at the forbidding island and chewed his lip fiercely in thought. He was weighing the chance that he’d find his prey before the bad weather moved in, or if it was time to find shelter, first.

are you telling this story or am I?

"What'cha doin'?"

Alright, there are a lot of reasons why the Greatwood's super amazing and successful self-proclaimed Tugboat Queen might be wandering around the Climb, but you don't get to know any of them.

Regardless, she's been tracking Tal for some time now, if hopping in the prints left by the creature he's following counts as 'tracking'.

"Reckon that's quite a big dog, don't you?" she adds, indicating the paw prints as she hops through another one, very close to her fellow traveller by now.

Fiadh

Tal had been secretly hoping one of his guildmates would follow him, and when Boreal had reported someone behind he'd assumed it was one of them. He'd studiously pretended not to notice their approach, playing a game with himself by trying to guess who it was. Hotaru, maybe? Or Delia?

But the voice that called out was complete unknown to him and he stiffened from where he'd been standing to examine the sky. He turned slowly to the sight of another red-head; not Melita, for which he was both grateful and disappointed in a confusing mixture, but she didn't seem hostile, so...

"Big fiery rock dog," he agreed cautiously. "Least, I hope it is. Who're you?"

Boreal landed heavily beside him with a whump and rolled her eyes expressively at Tal's usual lack of courtesy in introductions.

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"Ooooh, even better," Fiadh trills, as if big fiery rock dog is naturally a step up from an ordinary canine. Then again, she supposes in a place like this that it would have to be some sort of fire-dog, or at least have very sturdy paws. "You tryin' to find it, then?" She assumes so, peering over Tal's shoulder to see where the tracks potentially lead. "Oh, I'm Fiadh. I'll help you find your dog, for a price."

This is probably the part where she should return the favour, and yet as Boreal lands, Fiadh is much more interested in the young dragon. "Now aren't you a lovely one?" she coos, leaning down to see the companion better.

Fiadh

Tal looked dubious at her trilling; not agreeing, but refraining from openly disagreeing until he knew more about this confident girl who had appeared on his trail. At least she was friendlier than Mel...

"...'m Tal," he mumbled, shifting back a step to keep a little more space between them and turning to follow her gaze across the smoking isle. The tracks disappeared over a roll in the land, but the clouded sky cast dark shadows across the ground that obscured details of the rise beyond. "An' it's not exactly hard to find," he pointed out, gesturing to the marks in the ground at their feet. "But I guess y'can tag along, if y'want." So gracious!

Boreal crooned her approval of the young woman's attention, straightening under the cooing praise and padding forward to present her horned head for scritches. Tal looked at her with fond exasperation, his scowl trying to lighten up at the dragon's antics. "An' that's Boreal. Uh. Nice to meet you, Fiadh?" It probably shouldn't have ended on a rising question note, but at least an attempt was being made?

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"Nice to meetcha, Tal and Boreal?" Fiadh says with a toothy smile, imitating the questioning rise at the end of her sentence as if this is some kind of local accent he's sporting. Straightening up after delivering the appropriate amount (read: many) scritches to Boreal's scaled head, Fiadh puts her hands on her hips and looks around.

"It's a deal, then," she announces of her tagging along, though she'll absolutely demand payment for said deal later on down the line. Buckle up, Tal. "So what'cha need to find this dog for?" she wonders, already breezing past him to follow the prints fused into the hot rock. "Gonna get one as a pet, like your dragon?"

Fiadh

Fiadh's mirroring flew over Tal's head and he nodded confirmation of her 'question.' "Yeah, that's right." The Boreal under discussion was quite happily leaning into clever fingers and letting Tal know in no uncertain terms that she liked this new human! When the scritches ceased she sat back and shook herself to settle her scales, looking between the two with interest.

"I need some of its armor," Tal admitted, scowling down at the ground and scuffing at it with his foot. "An' Boreal's not a pet. She's my partner." To which the dragon let out an approving rumble.

Thunder in the distance echoed back the sound, and a small flock of gore crows rose from beyond the rise ahead, circling and crying out their grisly calls for meat and eyes before descending again. Tal glanced uneasily at Fiadh, but resigned himself to being stuck with her for now. "What're you doin' out here?" he asked as he started to trot after the fresh tracks, keeping a wary eye ahead.

are you telling this story or am I?

"Some of its armour? I figured it would need that all for itself," Fiadh says, hopping from print to print as if she might imagine herself as a big-rock-fire-dog herself. Alas, as many shifts lurk in her bones, this isn't one of them. "You might have a fight on your hands if it don't want to give it up," she adds, like Tal might not be aware.

Tilting her head up and grinning at the gore crows (she's never seen them before, and wow), Fiadh pivots to walk backwards and address her new travelling companion. "Oh I do 'pologise - I ain't ever had a pet or a partner, so..." She shrugs. "An' I heard there's real interestin' stuff out here. I thought I could add some to my wares." She waggles her eyebrows.

Fiadh

"I only need a little," Tal protested, but it sounded weak even to his own ears. It wasn't like the animals could just take off a bit because he asked nicely. "Figured I'd try an' knock some loose with my spear and then run for it," he admitted reluctantly after a long, grumpy pause. It wasn't the bravest plan, but even if he wasn't as scrawny as he used to be he still had a skinny kid's self-preservation instincts.

Okay, walking backward across the uneven ground and fyrhund tracks without tripping was maybe a little cool, but Tal wasn't about to admit it to the girl. "...s'all right," he muttered, reaching out to rest his hand on Boreal's winged shoulder as she padded beside him. All of her attention had shifted to the area ahead of them as they neared the top of the rise. Rd lightning danced across the black clouds that were still over the sea and Tal chewed his lip as he noted the weather before glancing back to Fiadh. "Uh... what kind of wares?" he asked cautiously, a little afraid of the answer.

Just out of sight but not too far away the cries of the Gore Crows started up again, more frantic this time and joined by a low rumbling growl that sounded decidedly annoyed.

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"Well, I ain't ever seen a rock-fire-dog run, so I s'pose it might be slow. Either way, not sure I'll be much help with the..." Fiadh makes jabbing gestures with her hands, implying the armour removal part of the exercise. She raises an eyebrow and glances up at the decidedly ominous weather patterns, cocking her head to listen more for the growling over the cries of the gore crows.

"Reckon you might be close. Maybe it's old or sick or hurt. That'd be easier for you, right?" she says to Tal, spinning on heel to walk the right way again. "Oh, a little of this an' that. You need it, I prob'ly got it, or I can get it for you. Anythin' you need?" She grins over her shoulder at him.

Fiadh

Tal had never seen a fyrhund run or do anything else, including exist before today either, but he wasn't about to admit it. "Nah, s'okay. I got it," he boasted confidently, unable to help but try to show off for a cute red head.

It was a lie. It was very much a lie and Boreal gave him a look of draconic disbelief before huffing a curl of smoke from her jaws and speeding up to scout ahead, slipping out from under his hand. He watched her go with a slightly pained expression but it only lasted a moment before rumbling growls and angry calls for meat and eyes sobered him up again and he took a tighter grip on his spear.

"Reckon it's just over the rise," he countered but gave her a short nod of agreement for her optimism. "Wouldn't say no to that, t'be honest. Any of those things should slow it down when we start runnin', too." That wasn't how his luck usually ran, however.

She surprised a grin out of him with her bold saleswomanship, reminding her a little of someone else he knew who was good at promoting themselves... Him. "Sure. Y'don't happen t'have a magic weapon handy, do you? Or somethin' that cuts through rock? Now would be a good time for it." He slowed as they reached the top of the little ridge and looked down into a valley between solidified lava flows. A slow, red river flowed sluggishly through the center but the action was happening a short distance away from it. A broad, messy crow nest had been tucked up on a thrust of basalt, seemingly away from danger. Unfortunately the fyrhund had risen up onto its hind legs and stretched its full length up the rocky column. Big and heavy with stony armor, she was just tall enough to bat at the edge of the nest, trying to knock it off its perch.

The reason why was obvious on second glance: a young pup, about Boreal's size, hid between his mother's feet while several Gore Crows furiously flapped and pecked at its mother's face, trying to force her away from the communal nest full of eggs and Flowerbirth hatchlings croaking piteously for eyes as their home wobbled and rocked precariously.

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"Okay, if you say so," Fiadh almost sings back at Tal, smiling over her shoulder at him and wondering if he has anything exciting on him that she might be able to sell once the fyrhund brutally murders him. But more on that in just a moment, the girl clambering up the rise after him and peeking over it, grinning cheekily to him. "Oh yeah sure, loads of stuff," she assures him. "Most of it's back on my boat though, sorry."

Besides, there's some much more interesting circle of life shit happening down in the rivulets of solidified lava, Fiadh raising her eyebrows and glancing back to Tal. "You wanna distraction? I don't like your odds against the mama, but if you're into killin' babies, you can get the pup pretty easy..."

Fiadh

"Fat lotta good that does us here," Tal sighed under his breath, wondering what sort of incredibly useful treasures were so frustratingly out of reach.

But there was no use dwelling on 'might have hads' when the object of his hunt was just on the other side of the rise. He might have been considering exactly what Fiadh suggested, but the way she worded it made him scowl and glare down at the fyrhunds. "No, I'm not gonna kill a puppy," he grumbled. He reached up to rub the back of his neck furiously while he watched the little drama unfolding below, trying to figure out...

Boreal crooned softly, offering support, before looking back to the Gore Crows with glittering reptilian eyes.

"Okay, distraction. Yeah. It's not like I have to beat her or anything. I just need to knock some of her armor loose. When the nest falls, I'll move in. Hit her while the crows are comin' at her, too. Then I'll start runnin'." Fyrhunds were probably slow with all that heavy armor on them... right? Fiadh had said something about that, he was sure of it. "Boreal can grab whatever got knocked off her while she's chasin' me an'... you can distract her so she can't catch up." He spun the plan(??) out in one rushed breath, afraid that if he stopped the ideas would dry up as well. "So uh... what can y'do for a distraction?"

If Deimos heard about this, he'd probably be on probation in the Guild for life...

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The answer to that question, Tal, will simply have to wait. Besides, that will give Fiadh more time to come up with whatever tall-tales she's going to tell you, eh? In the meantime, it's with loosely folded arms and a skeptical expression that she nods in response to his determination not to kill a puppy (it would be easier though, be real, Tal), huffing out a breath to blow a lock of red hair out of her face.

"Mmhm, mmhm. Okay, I can see how that would let us get away with all this and no one'll die," she agrees slowly, nodding her head. As for a distraction? "Ohoho, what can't I do?" She grins, rolling her shoulders and letting her arms drop so she can focus on shifting. At first it appears more like a partial shift than anything - a harpy is still half-girl, even if the rest is bright and ruddy feathers. Arms morph into wings and feet into large and deadly talons, and with a literal shake of her tail feathers, Fiadh nods to the fyrhunds.

"Ready when you are!"

Fiadh