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Post by Jenny on Jul 30, 2013 15:09:14 GMT -5
Tahki welcomed Sinjun's help and gave her a warm smile before beckoning towards some cooking she could help with, remaining silent so that Yiska could stay asleep. She loved Sinjun as much as she loved her son. Her brow prickled with worry and she gave Sinjun sideways glances and smiles when she was caught, but the smiles would quickly fade into a sadness. Even if Sinjun played it lightly, she was still in a position that could become dangerous, even with the two warriors accompanying her. She would worry until Sinjun was back home safe. Together, they wrapped hard tack, dried meat, dried and candied fruit, as well as a few fresher additions which they may eat before eating the dried food. She made a big breakfast, and would invite Hoti and Teru to eat their fill as they desired.
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Post by KD on Jul 30, 2013 16:36:46 GMT -5
Sinjun didn't know Hoti that well, though she knew from his reputation he was a good fighter, but she knew Teru because of his skill with the drum and she always delighted in playing with the musicians in the tribe. The fact both of them were concerned but not overly worried by the situation soothed her worries quite a bit, it was always reassuring to be around such confident warriors in a situation like this.
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Post by Jenny on Aug 3, 2013 18:16:02 GMT -5
Hoti was sober faced and serious, but gave his compliments to Tahki for the delicious food. Teru, being creative and artistic was his opposite. He laughed easily and often, his smile mischievous while his eyes sparkled. He did not by any means not take this situation seriously, he just enjoyed life for all of its moments.
He made Yiska smile and forget his troubles for the moment.
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Post by KD on Aug 3, 2013 23:59:36 GMT -5
They set out not long after, Sinjun waving to her family as they moved toward the deeper deserts, pulling a hooded cloak over her pale hair to shield her face and eyes. It was still early yet, the desert hadn't reached its boiling point as the sun was still climbing in the sky.
There were no figures of golems yet, but there was an eerie silence as they moved over the dunes and grass gave away to vast, rippling planes of sand. Hoti was the first to spot something unusual and told Teru to stand back with Sinjun while he investigated the figure half buried in the sand. After making sure he was dead, he called to Sinjun. He was visibly confused and distressed, his ears flat against his head and his eyes narrowed. Sinjun could see why, the sight was bizarre even for her.
It was a beetle. Easily ten times bigger than any beetle she'd seen before. Its carapace was made of tarnished metal and it looked old. Sinjun rapped on the shell, inciting a worried growl from both hunters, but the thing didn't move. It couldn't have even if it was alive. The sand it was buried in had solidified to a hard, glass like substance and the metal of its carapace was melted into it. Only one eye, a glittering green jewel, had survived, glaring at them lifelessly.
"Is that...is that a gol-em, Sinjun?" Teru asked hesitantly. Sinjun sat back and shook her head. "I don't know....I've never seen something like it before."
The crunch of metal against sand echoed over the dunes and both Hoti and Teru swung around. A shadow was growing, the crunching footsteps getting closer and closer until the head of one of the metal golems, easily ten feet tall, appeared over a dune.
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Post by Jenny on Aug 4, 2013 0:21:02 GMT -5
The two Yitoki bristled, both giving low growls as they stood in a state of readiness. They would not show outright aggression by removing their weapons to use them, but they were guarded. In unison Hoti and Teru took a step back and shielded Sinjun from its shadow. The warriors code of honor kept their feet planted firmly, even if they were afraid, they wouldn't back down willingly.
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Post by KD on Aug 4, 2013 3:30:40 GMT -5
To Sinjun's surprise, the golem did not attack, pausing several feet away from them and studying them with it's blank, utterly emotionless face, the silence stretching out. Sinjun spoke hesitantly. "I don't think it's got orders to guard anything, it would be attacking us by now..."
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Post by Jenny on Aug 4, 2013 16:24:41 GMT -5
"Does this golem not have a master, then?" Teru briefly glanced at Sinjun. Hoti had not taken his eyes off of the golem. He had not moved, keeping himself between the creature and Sinjun.
"Just what is it thinking about now?" Teru tilted his head as he examined it with some curiosity.
"Perhaps it would be prudent to put some distance between us and the golem," Hoti suggested. "Perhaps we are simply in its way."
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Post by KD on Aug 4, 2013 21:13:45 GMT -5
The answer to both those questions came over the dune a moment later, speaking in a language neither hunter was familiar with. Nor should they have been, since it came from far, far over the sea. "Move, you big oaf."
Sinjun's eyes went wide at that. Both the voice and the language were familiar to her. "A-aunt Klai?"
The yitoki had had many occasions to see strange things in the past couple of years, but it was a sure bet the woman that appeared beside the iron golem before them was the strangest. She was a compact woman with long, ash brown hair woven into dozens upon dozens of braids tied with metal beads, bones, and shells that clicked as she walked. She had so much metal on her, she gleamed in the bright sunlight. It flashed off the gauntlet that sheathed one of her arms- the weak one -from shoulder to fingertip and glinted off the goggles that shielded eyes that were the same gray as one of Sinjun's. She moved somewhat unsteadily on stilt like contraptions that acted as lower legs for her, for her real ones ended just above the knee, leather straps holding the false legs to the stumps. She leaned on a tall staff of polished metal and bone, studded here and there with jewels that gleamed oddly with magic and pulled her goggles up so she could stare at her niece, visibly stunned to see her. "Sinjun??"
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Post by Jenny on Aug 6, 2013 23:35:26 GMT -5
Hoti and Teru didn't know what to make of her. Her language was indeed strange to them. Her appearance was even stranger. What was even more remarkable was the fact that this stranger and Sinjun recognized one another. They had never seen artificial extensions of limbs, the Yitoki made do with twisted wooden canes hand carved, its wood harvested from the canyons. And their women were never in the position to lose any limbs since the warrior class was all men. The staff she used was beautiful, Teru with the artists eye had to admit. Metal was a rather rare resource to the Yitoki, and considered to be something of a high commodity.
“She must be weathly, indeed.” Teru whispered to himself.
“Greetings, stranger.” Hoti spoke first, being the elder, bowing in respect, an arm over his chest. Teru quickly did the same after he snapped his mouth shut from gaping.
“You are familiar with this female?” Teru looked to Sinjun. At least this meant they were likely not to be trampled to death by the golem.
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Post by KD on Aug 7, 2013 0:42:07 GMT -5
Klai was startled, realizing she'd been talking in her native tongue, and hadn't even realized Sinjun wasn't alone. She bowed in apology for her rudeness, speaking in the language of the area in a roughly accented but clear tongue. "Greetings to you."
Sinjun recovered from her shock, turning toward Teru. "This is my mother's sister."
"Not that she'll admit it," Klai said ruefully.
"All the information I know about golems I learned from her," Sinjun explained. "She makes them. Where I come from, there's no one better."
"Now, now," Klai chuckled, carefully making her way down the dune, gesturing the golem- since he was the iron golem, Sinjun was pretty sure his name was Janus -back.
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Post by Jenny on Aug 7, 2013 0:50:06 GMT -5
The two could barely make out what the woman was saying, but concentrated on her every word so that they may decipher her words. They both nodded in response to her greeting. Both Teru and Hoti looked from one woman to the other in introductions.
“I am Teru,” he relaxed enough so that his characteristic good natured smile came through. If she was one of Sinjun’s relatives he felt that there was a measure of trust to be had. “This is Hoti.” Hoti nodded again politely, but he wasn’t a talker. Teru made up for it.
“So this is what you call a go-lem,” he still accentuated the syllables since the word still tasted foreign on his tongue. “How do you make metal move?” He blinked up at it’s face. He had never seen so much metal in one place except on the carts of traders, and the price for metal was so exorbitant that they learned to make do without.
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Post by KD on Aug 7, 2013 1:09:46 GMT -5
"Well, it's a complicated technique to be sure." Klai glanced up at Janus, patting his leg fondly. The golem, surprisingly, turned its head to look at her. Sinjun remembered the golems her aunt made for herself, the ones that guarded her workshop and manor, had always had distinct personalities.
Sinjun, who knew how metal was regarded by the yitoki, couldn't help but be amused, wondering if Klai had brought Titus and Magnus, who were an adamantite and a mithril golem respectively, two metals that were rare and precious even among her own land and unheard of around here. She generally kept Titus fully activated and either locked up or out with her, he was simply too valuable and too much of a temptation despite the fact very few people would make it far enough to him, let alone subdue him enough to steal him. Sinjun was also one of the few people who knew her aunt could make golems out of solid gems as well, such as rubies and emeralds and even diamonds. "It has to do with infusing it with the right kind of magic. Or the wrong kind, depending on your temperament." She shot a dark look out toward the desert.
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Post by Jenny on Aug 7, 2013 1:15:37 GMT -5
Hoti and Teru exchanged glances. Only Yiska and the old shaman would know the most about magic, but they had the feeling that this was magic of another kind.
"Spirits live within this creature?" Teru gaped up at the towering golem.
Hoti had picked up on Klai's dark look. He followed her eyes on the desert. "There are others like this one?"
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Post by KD on Aug 7, 2013 1:20:23 GMT -5
"Spirits? No." Klai shrugged helplessly and looked at Sinjun. Sinjun also shrugged and looked at Teru. "No, spirits don't have anything to do with her kind of power. I'm sorry, Teru, I really don't have anything to compare it to." She struggled to find the words. "It's the magic itself that brings it to life...kind of like creating...well, almost a child."
"They are indeed my children," Klai said, smiling up at the iron golem. "This is Janus, by the way." The focused on Hoti when he spoke and shook her head. "No, not like this one. She looked in the direction they'd come from. You all got a good look at the big bug back there, I take it?"
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Post by Jenny on Aug 7, 2013 1:35:44 GMT -5
Teru's eyes went very wide. He looked down at Klai's belly, then up at the golem. "That's some magic..." He may have been lost in the translation. But this magic, this creature, was very different to what they knew, and had known, all of their lives.
They all nodded. “Yes, we were not sure what to make of it. What are they doing out here?”
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