1629, Fire Season, Fertility Week, Godday
Context
Nayale had a vision while she was being used as a proxy crocodile on the Oslir. Session S5O-08.
Events
Nayale lies in the hot sun, as the river swells under her. There is hunger in her belly, a fact rather than a demand for action. Her belly holds hunger or meat, and nothing else.
Deeply and dimly and far away, she hears a call. The river. The river’s shape, perfect for fitting around a crocodile.1Decided to roll on Movement versus Stasis and passed one and utterly failed the other.
She begins to move into the water.
The water accepts her, and her unformed eggs swim beside her, things not yet ready to be born. She is her own shape, and around her is the element where she lurks. Ahead, though, is a sinuous red shape, a challenger of some kind.
A challenger? Threatening her eggs. No. She puts her body between them. She will remove the threat and then her children can be free.
The thing launches itself at her, an enemy as soon as it appeared. A red eel, blotched with black here and there, it would be delicious except that it is so, so big that it threatens merely with its bulk. It could crush her.
She looks for an appendage or something else that she can grab onto. She needs a toothhold and then it’s hers, despite the size. She knows it to be true because it has always been so.2Passes Battle to find one.
The edge of the gill, just there…
She clamps on and readies herself to roll. This is how it always is. Bite and roll. Tear and drown. Then eat.
Past her, she sees her children escape. Three are swimming. The last, its tail damaged, hauls itself along the bottom with powerful legs.
The eel roars in pain and cannot reach her for all it tries. It dives for the mud, to smear her against the bottom.
She has plenty of time. Her lungs are full of air and her jaw is locked. She is as strong as the river and unafraid. This thing will fill her belly.3Fails Spirit Combat. Nayale is knocked out of the fight to be an outside observer.
The spinning fight begins, and Nayale is knocked out of it. A crocodile and a black-red eel are locked in combat. The waters are churned and full of air and mud and blood that glows red.
Nayale watches, unable to look away despite her terror.
The tumult grows, and Nayale sees the eel flee. The crocodile spirit rolls with a chunk of flesh in her mouth, and steadies, then sinks to the floor. Her eye watches Nayale.
Nayale returns the gaze.4Fumbles Death to see if she can accept this thing. Oppos. But passes Beast and accepts a Water Rune to help her escape.
The enormity of what she faces strikes her. An ending. Nothing else.
Her tail flicks, and she gets into the cover of weeds just before the jaws snap. A tiny fish, Nayale flees, and then the darkness takes her as she hides in a cave.
She wakes. Maalira has sweets for her, and Berra is alive.
She chokes back a sob and is relieved when the healer’s attention returns to Berra.
Resolutely, Nayale returns to the river’s edge to wash the mud off. She suppresses a shudder while her eyes scan the water continuously.
Berra, who has Death cut into her, who is tattooed with it, who carries it, lets her go.
Four crocodiles are sunning themselves on the bank, where Nayale lay. Their colour is delicate, green and black like the newtlings were. One is missing most of its tail.
Outcome
-1D6 Death, but no psychic turmoil. Nayale will have to meditate a day on Death before she can use it, though. +1D10 Grapple, +2D6 Water, and +1D6 Beast. Wild terror kept her alive. She also has a scar on her abdomen in the shape of the Water Rune. In addition, she is natural prey to crocodiles, and will be chosen first if the group is attacked.
- 1Decided to roll on Movement versus Stasis and passed one and utterly failed the other.
- 2Passes Battle to find one.
- 3Fails Spirit Combat. Nayale is knocked out of the fight to be an outside observer.
- 4Fumbles Death to see if she can accept this thing. Oppos. But passes Beast and accepts a Water Rune to help her escape.
