The Restoration of Erihal [GAME START]

At the boat:

Leah takes a good long look at the claw marks with a practiced eye, measuring their length, depth, and spacing. Crouching down closer, she can even see a snagged scale on the splintered wood. Picking it up, she feels its texture between the pads of her fuzzy fingers. From her experience, and the description of the attack, she pegged the beast for a water monitor - though the claws were certainly bigger than any she'd seen on a monitor lizard. Monitors usually aren't too aggressive towards humans, but they can be quite dangerous, with a venomous bite, sharp claws, and fast tails.

Xanthi notices that the claw marks are unusually large, but can't tell anything more with just her eyes. However, when Leah picks out the scale, she thinks to try some of her equipment. Pulling out a small contraption made of metal rods and carved stone weights on strings, she gingerly sets it up on the ground. Xanthi scrapes some of the wood from the claw marks, hoping that the creature left behind more than just the scale, and deposited it in a bowl suspended in the middle of the rods. Watching it carefully, she notices a definite resonance in the bobbing of one particular weight - the one with a carved leaf and a rune she was pretty sure was "Ta". Or maybe "Ra". Unfortunately, she was a bit rusty on this particular device, and the meaning of that resonance doesn't come to her. Perhaps Duril or Malik could help?

In the village:

Duril stands around, his lens thoroughly cleaned and polished. Klyalson's declaration of noodles gets the attention of some, and a woman goes up to him offering the use of her cookpot if he makes enough to share with the village. As for Kamille, the people look at her strangely, but a teenager leaning against one of the houses claps for her.

Jow wanders the outskirts and runs into a man coming back to the village. He seems rather out of breath, and looks Jow up and down.

"A newcomer? You sure picked a bad time to get here."

"Hm. Hm!" Xanthi began scribbling notes down, squinting at the assemblage of weights that might have looked like complete bullshit to the untrained eye. Maybe to the trained eye. Depends on the training. "Got something. Maybe. Need to consult."

And just like that, she was off, looking for Duril. Or Malik, if that failed, but she knew Duril slightly better. "Duril! I have something! Maybe."

Knowing that if he refused, he would sully the fame of the.... "Care-avan", Klyalson agrees to make some noodles for the hungry villagers too. Delicious! And maybe nutritious.

"Oh, monitor lizards...didn't realize they were endemic to the place. Hoho!"

Leah ponders a bit, or makes a dramatic gesture of it.

"I assume the village does respect these reptiles enough to leave them alone...so I wonder what riled them up? Is a territory thing?" She said to no one in particular.

Duril was looking for where everyone had wandered off to, and saw Xanthi approaching. "Yes? Yes, what've you found? I think I just got my lens working again..."

Jow tipped his hat to the fellow. "Perhaps, buht sometaimes tha raight man in the whrong place can make all te diffrence. What's the troubl' friend?"

Xanthi triumphantly thrust forth the weight that had resonated with the scales. "Positive readings! But, positive readings whose meaning escapes me. A bit of residue left behind by our... mystery creature resonated with this particular weight. I thought you might know what it means."

"Oh! Let me have a look!" said Duril eagerly, inspecting the weight. "Can I see the device you were using? And the residue in question? Let me just go and get some of my equipment..."

Jow:

The man looks Jow over and swears under his breath.

"The name's Adair, I'm one of the village hunters. There's a terrible beast stalking the lands, and, well..."

He makes a religious gesture to the heavens.

"There were four of us tracking the thing. Then, it attacked, got Suyen, and gave Finn a nasty bite. I don't know if they'll make it. I left Prim with them but with the fangs on that thing? Finn's probably dead already."

Klyalson:

With a cookpot acquired, Klyalson gets to work making noodles. Several people crowd around him, curious as to his methods. Soon enough, he produces a steaming bowl of tasty noodles. The woman slurps a bite and nods approvingly. Success! Kamille also gets a few more nods now that the people of the village see that you're legit. A potter approaches her with a glazed bowl and offers to show his wares.

Leah, Duril, and Xanthi:

Leah thinks on the lizard. Hm. Usually they just steal livestock and catch, not attack humans...

Meanwhile, Xanthi and Duril take a look at the mechanism again. Duril recognizes the markings as an archaic rune system detailed in the monograph "Strings of the magical resonance" by A. P. Laramye. The rune in question is listed as follows:

The Rune R-a-T: Resonance of life, growth, change. First harmonic Ta-Ra, continual motion, the essence of vitality

Looking through the lens, Duril can see the scale outlined sharply, thin threads of energy wrapped around it but fading slowly. Something had imbued this creature with an overabundance of life energy, it was evidently clear.

"An abundance of life energy..." said Duril, squinting. "That's what that means. Life out of balance with itself, with so much in one creature... Someone powerful, or possibly some residue of the war, must be behind it. This imbalance doesn't occur naturally."

He looked around, suddenly seeming a little less excited and a little more worried. "Life energy makes things bloom and grow. This much? I don't know. We could have something humongous nearby, or possibly something that decided to grow a few extra sets of limbs. I've never seen this much life energy, and this is just a cast-off scale - I can't imagine how much is in the actual creature!"

"Brilliant thinking, my good chap!" Leah exclaimed. "I mean if it was a ginormous beastie... it shouldn't be too hard to track down, yes? Unless it just embiggen recently! Ha!"

Leah ponders if the increased life energy might lead to a more energetically-taxed state. Perhaps, these poor abominations were starving!

Jow gave Adair a look, making a call on the spot. He turned back to the town and bellowed out "MAN WOUNDED!" then slapped Adair on the shoulder and gestured back the way he came.

"Ca'mon, quickly like. Its fastah if yah show me th' way than me following yurh tracks. Need t' get Prim outta there before it tracks Finn to them."

Klyalson is beaming with pride! And also, beaming with a great offer of Sample Noodle Packs for someone who dares to travel back to Sylenna, with the news that this town is now a tentative official Checkpoint for future caravans and supply lines.

Kamille is satisfied with a single clap! That's more than she's ever gotten with her big speeches, and she's grinnin' like hell now! She marches over to look over Xanthi and Duril's shoulders, deciding she's curious as heck about this, now!

"Whatcha guys lookin' at?"

Xanthi paced back and forth in contemplation. "Hm. Life energy? Interesting. Very interested to know how that would come about. Villagers want us to hunt the creature down, but..."

The huge lizard looked up with a glint in her eye. "I wonder if we could capture it. Study it. Find out how it got to be... whatever it's like. Not often you get the opportunity to study the aberrant!"

She blinked, only then noticing that Kamille was right behind her. "...Oh. Hi. We're... trying to figure out the nature of the 'monster'. Some scaled beast infused with life energy."

"Capture it? Well, I'd love to get the chance to study it," said Duril. "I wonder if we can convince them to try. It certainly would be useful for finding out how it got like this, to help make sure it doesn't happen again."

After much commotion, the group find themselves trekking through the boggy riverlands, led by Adair the hunter and followed by the old Mau from the village (who was apparently their doctor). Adair was not very talkative, keeping a wary eye on his surroundings as he retraced his steps to the other hunters. Meanwhile, Duril and Xanthi, looking through their various instruments, can see traces of the beast's energy everywhere, and getting stronger as they trek. Malik walks well behind the rest, a strange expression on his face. Even Lucas is quiet, although he hums notes under his breath occasionally and writes something in a journal every so often. Adair holds up his fist to stop the group. Ahead is a tree covered in gashes, with fresh blood staining its bark. Apart from some torn scraps of cloth and an abandoned rucksack, there's no sign of the other hunters.

"Gods.... we're too late."

Jow muttered something fowl under his breath, seeing the scene.

"The tracks shou' till be fresh. It can't hav' been ayble to haide the trail, considering now." He said darkly, looking around to see what trail in and out could be found.

"Oh...oh dearie me..."

Was it also a komodo dragon? Leah investigates the blood...

Klyalson tries to be at the center of the group, utterly terrified...

Duril seemed to quail, somehow becoming smaller. "We shouldn't-" he said, looking around, and then shakily raising his crystal lens to his eye. "Do we think capturing this thing is really an option? I'd love the chance to study it, but look at those claw marks..."

Kamille rubs her chin. "This beast sounds like a mighty big problem... I'm of one mind with Duril! This beast's definitely too dangerous to let live, assuming it's not sapient or something. We'll have to shoot to kill if we're going to keep this village safe!"

Xanthi strides forward to survey the scene, coat billowing with the usual amount of excessive drama.

"Hm! Yes, this is... quite something. Very dangerous, there's no doubt. Very unfortunate. Maybe there are still survivors? Hm." Xanthi turns back toward the group. "It'd be ideal if we can get eyes on the being without alerting it. See what we're really dealing with. I'd still like to capture it if it's feasible. Find out how this happened. If it could happen again. But if it's too dangerous we do need a plan to kill it. Might still be able to learn something from the remains."

"It's important we find out where it came from," said Duril, nodding, seeming to regain some academic fervor at Xanthi's sure tone. "There's no telling whether it's some residue of the war that might lead to similar effects on other creatures. If that's the case, it needs to be discovered before it mutates something else."

Jow, aided by the other hunters, easily finds the trail. Adair leads the way, somewhat conscious of the fact that he failed to defend his companions. After trekking farther into boggy ground, he stops and stares.

In front of the group is a clearing with a rock formation jutting out of the marshy ground. Ferns and reeds grow densely in the undergrowth, making it hard to tell ground from water. Many of the nearby trees have been clawed or bitten, and the stench of death is overwhelming. A trail of blood leads to a sheltered hole in the rocks, within it a scene of horror.

A large and bloated lizard sleeps in the hollow, a bloody arm dangling from its mouth. Its scales seem diseased, growing too thickly in places, shedding to reveal wet and shiny skin. It breathes fitfully, taking large gasps of air. As the group looks, they see more chunks of human body strewn around the place, and...

"There! I think Prim's still alive" hisses Adair, pointing to an unconscious form poking out from the lizard's overgrown leg. "We must get to her quickly if she is to remain that way," muses the old Mau.

"What's the plan," asks Jani. "I mean, how do we kill that thing?"