Between Gems, Worms, and Lurmen

[Lief]

Mygeeto was a world of many wonders; large crystalline glaciers dominated the landscape, lakes were locked under a sheet of ice, and danger lurked around every corner. If you didn't lose a toe to frostbite, the giant Whiteworm was likely to swallow you whole while a pack of Lurmen stole your valuables.

Or so she had been told.

The crew that Mysa ventured to this frigid planet with were full of stories. One claimed to have brought down an entire rancor once, which made the girl smile as she recalled young Darien who had stated the same. She was as dubious now as she had been then, but decided against voicing such beliefs.

Now, what would a girl such as she be doing on a world of ice? It wasn't simply that it reminded her of home, of Midvinter, nor was it the calling of the Gods this time... Truly, Mysa simply needed a crystal. Not one which pulsated with warmth and cold, like that she had found on Vanquo, but a more basic variant. One which could be used as a focusing crystal.

She did not have the components to make a lightsaber. Not yet at least. But she was well on her way to acquiring them. She relayed the Crystal Code in her mind each and every night before bed, prior to her nightly prayer to the Old Gods of course.

The only problem was, Mysa wasn't having much luck.

Before her a tundra spread, an icy wasteland with winds of blistering speeds which threatened to pull the hood from her head. Burrowed down into the furs of the Vhaanir, as ever, Mysa did her best to press on.

In the distance there came a screech, and the very ground beneath her rumbled. She was reminded of the Ice Worms from Midvinter, fearsome creatures reminiscent of dragons without the wings. Mysa had never seen one up close, nor with her own eyes, but she knew people who had. And the people of Midvinter were not so likely to make up stories as space travelers were.

So it was that when the Whiteworm leapt from the snow into the air the girl turned as pale as her surroundings.

Okay, so maybe not all of the stories told to her on the journey to Mygeeto had been a lie...

[member='Amata Santii']

 

[Vaermina]

Amata's seemingly endless wander across the galaxy had now taken her to Mygeeto. Though the planet probably had its charms, its native species blocked the view and kept her from seeing it. It was ironic, how a species of such a slight stature managed to block anything. The Lurmen disgusted her. You'd have to look far and wide to come across a weaker congregation. Safe to say, her values and world views differed greatly from that of the mostly pacifist Lurmen. She would find no army to recruit here.

An army would have been an unexpected bonus. Her reasons for coming to Mygeeto were different. In part, it was because it was one of the destinations she could hitch a ride to, but also, she had come here looking for something else. She had heard the planet held crystals, and she was sorely in need of one. Despite any heritage or ambitions of greatness, she had no lightsaber to wield. She considered the weapon far superior to the ones she otherwise carried. Thinking back on her sword-training as a child, she remembered having requested one many times. Her demands had never been met, however. She had been told it was not a weapon one simply gave away. It wasn't bought. It was earned. And Amata had been found undeserving to carry it. That would change now, she decided, and set out on a quest to gather the parts and construct her own. Of course, the young girl hadn't the slightest clue as to how to go about doing just that. Details. One thing at the time.

Amata prided herself on her survival skills and ability to cope with whatever nature threw at her, but rarely had she ever had to deal with this cold. The wind didn't do much to help either. She felt like a packing mule, stacking layer upon layer of furs intended to keep out the lethal cold that was all around her. As ever, her face was painted. This time in red. One thick horizontal line from one side to the other, crossing over her eyes, and one thinner one from her lower lip to the bottom of her chin. She had dropped the white paint today, and it was just as good, for the snow carried by the wind painted her in that colour all the same. From a distance and all covered in snow, and with her fur headdress resembling montrals and lekku, she might've looked a Togruta.

And then suddenly, the ground began to shake. It started as a distant rumble at first, and Amata had thought it passed. Then it came again, stronger, closer. Earthquake? Her vision was blurred, but what came next was something impossible to miss. It left her mouth wide open in a gasp, and her body unable to move, as some giant worm leapt out from the ground only to dive back into the snow. What...The kark. Instinctively, she had drawn her vibroblade. How to combat this thing, she had no idea. When she felt the same rumble again coming from directly beneath her, Amata's legs regained their will to move. The Togruta halfbreed broke out into a full run. This wasn't retreat, or admittance of surrender. It was a tactical withdrawal. Simply manoeuvring

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

Her first instinct had been to flee.

With the grace of Éar and the winds of Odiir on her side, perhaps she could outpace the demon before it was upon her. The girl had no fondness for fighting, she had seen enough battlefields in her time and experienced the true horror of fighting for her life. It had ended in the taking of another's. True, that being had been a frigid ice-zombie... But it had been gut-wrenching all the same.

She found, however, that she could not move at all to begin with. Her feet had firmly grasped the tundra, boots sinking slightly into the iced snow. Well, so much for that plan. There was no way she could outrun it now, it was at an advantage.

Mysa did not carry a lightsaber. She did, however, have a bow - not unlike the one Aerin carried - and a sword of Valkyri styling. They would have to do in place of the more elegant weaponry. The child refused to use a Lightsaber until the time came that she could make her own. Such things were, after all, highly sacred!

Reaching for her bow, since the distance was still considerable, the girl wrenched her foot from the sinking platform it had become stuck within and allowed her other hand to find her quiver. Fingers wrapped around an arrow of crude styling, nothing like the energized ones which accompanied bowcasters, and she swiftly notched it.

But she was reluctant to draw.

In her eyes any creature was sacred. But one made of the very land she worshiped? Of the Ice and Snow gifted by her Gods? Well, that did not sit right with her. Perhaps that was another reason she'd found it so difficult after slaying the Vinterbound. Then again, they were a blight sent by Velkar himself. Was this beast of the same making?

A sharp wind, set against her back, brought the answer. Odiir was not a God to ignore, and right now he was pushing her on toward her quarry.

"So be it, if it is what you will."

There could be no doubt where the Gods were concerned. She had devoted the past nine years of her existence to them, she had developed her own methods of knowing when they were around, she had learned to see the Galaxy in a new light. She knew what they wanted.

A slight creak accompanied the draw, which had the girl frown. She had owned the bow for some time now, since she first properly moved to Midvinter with her parents... Was it time to have it mended?

The arrow whistled as it broke its way through the air, Mysa already reaching for a secondary arrow to notch in its place. It soared toward the crystalline worm, and the girl carefully judged the creature's distance by where it landed. It did not stick within the hide of the beast, she knew that it would not, it had been more of a marker than anything else. No, it's hide was too tough for an arrow head - at least where the crystals grew. Between the chinks in its natural armour though? There, there could be hope.

But she had its attention now. And it reared on her at an almost terrifying speed.

[member="Amata Santii"]

 

[Vaermina]

Amata ran as if her life depended on it. It was by no means a stretch. As confident as she was, and as competent as she viewed herself, never before had she come upon something of this size. The young huntress still felt like her journey had just begun. For it to end here would be rather tragic. Surely, she was destined for more?


In a gruesome sound that Amata figured was what passed for its roar, she felt the ground and herself shiver. Though she would never admit it, her soft voice had cried out in a near-panicked yelp. A mere moment later, she stumbled forwards and fell face first into the snow. Good thing there were no one around to witness her stumbling. Any relief over this was cut very short by her imminent death.

Amata quickly turned around on her back, blade in hand. The human halfbreed nearly became one with the landscape, everything from furs to skin covered in the white snow. She was preparing herself for her final fight. If she was to perish, she would at the very least do so a warrior, though the notion terrified her.

She waited for a death that never came. At the very least, it lingered just out of reach. Something had caught the creature's attention. The arrow that struck it was something Amata Snow White had failed to notice. Even so, the beast's reaction was harder to miss. It had found something better to do. While Amata must've seemed an easy prey, there in the distance stood someone who offered it challenge.

The sudden release from death's grip almost seemed an insult. She was dismissed, a loose knot to tie up sometime later when there were no more pressing issues. Excuse me, Mr. Worm, but you have not seen the last of this Santii!

What compelled her to rise to her feet and charge after the beast was anyone's guess. She did not know. It wasn't even on her mind, it was simply something she did. The smarter choice had no doubt been to run. Today, Amata chose not to be smart. Today, she chose to dive into the biggest hunt she had ever played a part of. For better or for worse, she committed herself to this task.

Regardless of cruel intentions, she had no idea how to actually follow through with her promise... The beast raced ahead of her with great speed.


[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

(OOC: Sorry for making you wait! It's been a weird week, haven't been able to post at the pace I would have wished. Hopefully back in shape now)

 

[Lief]

It was far faster than she had anticipated.

Her finger loosed the secondary arrow back into its quiver, the bow being replaced upon her back with a careful swiftness. Two sharp strides back prepared her for her next action, as her hand fell toward her waist in order to grasp at the pummel of her sword. It was small and to any grown man it would've been a one-hander, but for Mysa it was more of a hand-and-a-half. Her fingers teased the leather bindings which wrapped around the hilt while she muttered a prayer under her breath.

Odiir keep me as swift as the winds, Runa grant me the strength of the land, Teign allow my blade to strike true, and Helm keep them just, Éar watch over my quarry.

Mysa did not want to kill the creature. But she could not permit it to kill her.

Gods, forgive this transgression.

As the icy beast neared her, Mysa's stance became centered, focused; her senses stretched outward, and she counted back from five within her mind, her breathing regulated. And when it finally came upon her, in a sweep of snow which rained down upon her, Mysa let out a gut-wrenching war-cry to raise her own morale.

And then she leaped.

It was not quite toward the beast that she sought to propel herself, however, but off to one side. The worm-like creature, in all its formidable haste, cannon balled into the spot that Mysa had been standing just moments before.

Luckily for Mysa, she was not crushed. Instead she had dived toward the left, blade arching upward though not striking her foe, more of a defense mechanism, and she landed with a slight slip within the snow, struggling to regain her balance. She would not have long to turn and attack before the beast sniffed her out.

But for now the beast was slowed, if only for a second.

[member="Amata Santii"]

 

[Vaermina]

The fur-covered blonde chased after the beast, sword in hand. Unlike Mysa, Amata's heart was pounding.It was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. But this was why she lived, and she would keep chasing this rush until it became the end of her. All Amata could do was try to make sure it did not end today.

The sudden war cry alerted Amata to the presence of another. It was confirmed now. The worm seemed to be chasing after the both of them. For the time being, it targeted Mysa. Amata was not the kind to let them be and hope that she would not be noticed. If anything, she demanded everything within a certain proximity to acknowledge her presence. Then they would bend.

Swept up in the moment, Amata roared with a war cry of her own. The Force powered her steps, allowing her to sweep through the snow at a greater than natural pace. Then she leapt into the air. She was no expert when it came to the Force by any means, and this was more or less as fancy as it got with her.

She threw herself high into the air. Her aim was to strike at the beast from the side then slide downwards, the sword carving her path to the ground. How effective she did not know. For all she knew, the exterior of its flesh would reject her vibroblades and no damage would be taken at all.

What her role in it would be, remained to be seen. What was for sure was that a battle had started, and Amata would not back down. One of them would die today


[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

A resounding crack echoed through the air, alongside a cushioned thud as something heavy fell into the snow.

Turning, and raising her blade in a guard, Mysa saw several slithers of crystal find their place against the ground while the wyrm screeched and tossed its icy body against the sky. Through the flurry which was kicked up Mysa saw another, felt their presence, and in turn felt an even greater need to bring down the creature as swiftly as possible.

She would not be responsible for another's life. She would not allow this stranger to fall while in her presence.

With a grunt the young would-be-Valkyri swung her blade around and brought the steel down against the beast's crystalline hide. It did little to sway the tide of battle, save shed a few more splinters of its armor, yet she hoped in doing so that she could goad it.

As much as she didn't wish to die this day, she likewise had no intentions of dropping her own threat levels. In her mind it was best the creature kept its attention on her, so that the other might survive.

"Flee, while you can" she yelled above the brewing storm.

Whether the being would listen, however, was another matter all together.

[member="Amata Santii"]