Naunet

This is a massive understatement.

Thal staggered as though struck, stumbling half off the body, one hand still gripping the weapon. He'd felt the mana in the air, as surely as he used to feel mana in the plants throughout the Shroud, but it didn't remain there. It hit him like a blow to the face, warming the mask against his features and sinking into his skin before running like water down his spine and outward to each limb. His tail shivered and lashed. He flexed his fingers, feeling a strength in them that he didn't recall knowing. The mana that had fled from the Amal'jaa vibrated under his skin and pulled him upright, and then as soon as it had come, it was absorbed. In its wake, Thal stood wide-eyed and feeling more rejuvenated than he had in years, despite the gash across his chest. He let out a long breath through his nose and, almost absent-mindedly, yanked the barb out from the dead guard. "So that's the old man's trick," he muttered in half disbelief, and stifled a shudder at the disconcerting thought that followed. "... Guess it'll be useful for this," he added lowly to the corpse. Stepping around it, Thal glanced back the way he'd come through the crag, suddenly anxious that the Amal'jaa's cries might bring others. He saw nothing immediately, but that didn't mean they weren't coming. Turning quickly, he broke into a run down the crag, keeping to one wall and gripping the barb at the ready.

Thal found himself crouched on the back of the Amal'jaa when the beastman began to flail. Ears pressing back at the roar, he struggled to maintain both balance and grip before levering his weapon down in one direction, with every ounce of strength he could muster. He tried to ignore the sick crack of bone and scale and organ as the metal spike tore upward through the thrashing Amal'jaa's chest.

For a moment, Thal remained frozen behind his rock. "Convenient," he muttered low under his breath. Though he thought it also might mean he had less time than he'd like. After a few moments, he crept from behind the rock to sidle towards the gate. When nothing immediately impaled him, he continued at a more hurried - though hopefully not too obvious - pace, keeping to one wall. His bare feet moved with a natural silence across the packed sand, and soon he crossed through the gate. Now, though, he found himself a new challenge. The Amal'jaa tasked with retrieving the Chah moved ahead of him, and the crag was too narrow to pass unnoticed. Blue eyes narrowed to slits in the shadows of his mask as adrenaline directed his thoughts efficiently towards staying alive. Or, at least, animated. Well, it was just one Amal'jaa. And the spike he'd found was very sharp and nasty looking. If he took him by surprise, perhaps... Not allowing any more time wasted on thinking it through, Thal slipped the weapon free from his robe and hastened his silent steps along the rocks. When he was only a short distance behind the guard, a worry flashed that maybe this wasn't the best idea. Then he was in the air and driving the metal barb into the beastman's back.

The Amal'jaa hunter had been correct when he'd told Thal the disguise would let him pass unnoticed. Still, it had been difficult to walk through the stronghold of Ifrit's children as though he belonged. The roars from the beastmen and their drakes as they went about their tasks left him jumpy, and as he skirted around the occasional clusters of tempered miqo'te and hyur, he prayed silently they wouldn't look his way, confident they would see right through the disguise and recognize him as not one of their own. At least he had managed to find a weapon early on and now hid the black metal barb beneath his stolen robe. The kid better appreciate him after this. He didn't think about what he might do if it turned out Baoht Zuqqa Roh was lying in his promise. When the drake he followed approached a pair of Amal'jaa who loomed in front of a massive gate. When the spear went through its neck, Thal froze, and when it screeched and thrashed, he skittered behind a close rock. There he listened to the growling voices and silently cursed. If he could barely take on one Amal'jaa, what hope did he have in succeeding to cross two? None. Ears laying flat, he shifted behind the rock and thought hard. Perhaps he could simply walk past if he behaved as a tempered going about his work? A grimace behind his mask tossed that idea. If it didn't work, he'd find himself skewered just like the drake, and though it wouldn't kill him, it would definitely blow his cover. Leaning his back against the stone, Thal inched towards one side and peered around and up along the cliffs that lined the gate. Perhaps he could sneak past another way...?

It's funny they say this, because when you take a highly desired game feature and then price it beyond the reach of tons of people, plus make it insanely limited, you... actually possibly encourage people to make use of RMT.

I have had a long-standing position that SE went in the exact wrong direction they should have when designing their housing system, by placing the massive goldsink as a barrier to entry when it should be placed in the enjoying of one's home. It is this very fundamental flaw in XIV's housing that is at the root of pretty much every complaint. They threw up a barrier of money and a barrier of limited space, while providing an extremely bare-bones housing experience, with the intent that most of a player's effort would go into the obtaining of the house, rather than decorating and improving upon it. I'm with you all the way in that I was oh so very much hoping for instanced housing so that we could maybe actually enjoy a fully fleshed out system. Take WildStar as a great example. I have spent far more gold and far more time in housing in that game than I have in any other aspect of the game, because the system is just that well-designed. The barrier to entry is almost nonexistent (get to level 15), and then the sky is quite literally the limit. SE wants a gold sink? They've apparently forgotten the number one rule in making people spend as much money as possible: you make them spend it in numerous small amounts over time, not one big lump to wall them off from fun. I can pretty much guarantee they would sink more gil if they expanded the decor system and brought it up to snuff with other MMOs in terms of customization, than they do nowadays with people just purchasing houses. And hearing SE continue to gripe about server space just further cements the notion that they are running on some seriously outdated and horribly coded tech. Each individual plot in WS will soon (as of the next patch) have an item limit of 2080. Not long after that patch, they intend on implementing communities, which are somewhat smaller versions of the Wards we have in XIV, except you get to pick who all of your neighbors are, as well as guild neighborhoods. I just can't wrap my head around any explanation for SE's decision to go with the housing system they have other than 1) they are just that blind or 2) their equipment sucks. I can understand the motivation of wanting to create a living player-driven neighborhood, but really... if you can't pull it off without the extreme restrictions that XIV has, I'm not convinced it's an appropriate design decision. The whole thing is disappointing. I'd been juggling coming back to poke at personal housing, but now it's pretty much guaranteed that I'm not touching the game again. Forum RP only for me. ;.;

"Ugh, that--gah, hey, wait!" Leaning forward on his toes, Thal hesitated long enough to cast a glance over his shoulder towards K'aijeen. She wouldn't be able to see the apologetic look he gave her, though, and he quickly turned back. The drake was already a good distance away, moving between a number of cliffs, and he let out a curse before springing after it. No time to think about this more. He ran after and hoped that the Amal'jaa had a habit of leaving weapons conveniently unattended.

He caught the cloth, but not without twisting his face behind the mask in a look of distaste. "Eugh, what died and... uh, on second thought, nevermind." His ears shifted, and the short fur along his tail prickled up; it wasn't hard to imagine how the drake had obtained such an item. The thought of wearing it was almost as unpleasant, but there didn't seem to be many other options. And it made a sick kind of sense, if he thought about it. "Just a hunter's cloak," he muttered to himself has he shook the sturdy cloth out and hastily pulled it around him. It had a hood, which he fidgeted with before pulling it up over his head. Who knew how well these people recognized their "pets". Turning towards Baoht Zuqqa Roh, he lifted both arms out to either side of him in a shrug. "Alright, then. Off I go?"

Rolling his eyes unseen, Thal bit back a quip that maybe it would be more honorable if this hunter killed his enemy on his own, instead of asking some wimpy Child of Man to do it for him. But that probably wouldn't end well. "Mkay, then," he muttered, ducking his head to rub at the back of his neck. He breathed deep, the gesture accompanied by a faint whistle of escaping air through his chest, and spent some time picking apart the loose scents of the sands around them. In a space so open, he felt like his senses had expanded to fill the space.

Thal quirked one brow, which could not be seen, but the ear that followed the expression could. "O...kay. Any more elaboration?" He kept near K'aijeen for the moment, hoping his presence would at least comfort her and knowing he couldn't really do much else. Swinging his weight from one foot to another, he crossed his arms. "I mean, this is a great view and all, but if you've got a plan, I'd love to hear about it."

Tearing his eyes from the sands, Thal squinted at the drakes and the object in the beastman's hands. "I didn't think you'd care about comforting me." How sweet, he almost added in jest, but for once wisely held his tongue, more than aware of how powerful this hunter was. Turning from the momentarily, he sought out a small stand of rocks a few fulms back the way they'd come and gently set K'aijeen down behind them. "Okay, kiddo, you just rest up here." He didn't let himself wait for a response before straightening back towards the Amal'jaa.

Thal looked up but was slow to break his silence, instead peering past the Amal'jaa to stare out across seemingly endless dunes. He felt like he might get lost in them, but that prospect strangely didn't scare him. Finally he spoke the the beastman's question, in a tone far more somber than his usual, "Yeah. I am." He didn't know how he knew this, but it felt true.

Blue eyes rolled behind the mask with a muttered, "Fine, whatever." He would follow the hunter in silence afterwards.

"Right, but, I've never met the guy," Thal felt like he should just reiterate that. Sure, he could kinda sorta understand someone who had once known him wanting to... re-kill him. As unhappy as that made him feel. But some random beastman? Tilting his head back, he swung his tail in vexation. "Man, whatever. I'm so tired of this. Starting to think I should've never left that forest."

"Eh?" Red ears shifted uneasily as he made to follow the Amal'jaa. "I've never met the guy. How the heck would he know to, uh... hunt me?" The talk of tempering disturbed him as well, but strangely not as much as the former. He made a face behind the mask and shifted his grip to hold K'aijeen a bit closer, absently petting her hair with a few fingers.

"You're a real pleasant guy. Mind telling me what he did to get you so riled up? I don't really like killing people, y'know." Nevermind the fact that he actually had never done so at all. The thought of it made his stomach churn, but he didn't trust himself to be able to outrun this hunter in an escape attempt. He let out an inward groan. What had he done to deserve all this crap, really?

"Yeah, well, I'm not a drake, and neither is she. We can't all be... whatever you are." Thal shrugged as he stood, and then turned to move towards the Amal'jaa. Part way he paused, shifting K'aijeen in his arms so he could bend to pick up his mask from the ground. For a moment he just stared at its empty face and the strange lines drawn across it. Then his tail twisted in frustration, and he set the object on his own face, covering his features save for now shadowed blue eyes. Turning to once more step towards the black hunter, though keeping a healthy distance between them, Thal called out, "Let's just get this over with."

Thal let out a faint groan and scrubbed at his face. When he returned his eyes to K'aijeen, they were sad. "Okay, kid. I know it isn't... look, for this guy to leave us alone, I need to help him with something, okay? It shouldn't take long." His ears shifted. "So... I'm gonna take care of it. Real quick. I'm gonna find you some place safe along the way, and then when I'm done, I'll come back. Okay?" Shuffling forward, he moved to try and lift her off the ground.

Thal tossed the arrow to one side forcefully, not bothering it with a second glance as he crouched near the girl. "Sorry, kid," he muttered. "I kinda botched the whole protecting you thing. Think you can forgive me?"

"Ah, okay, okay, stop moving around," Thal broke his cautious movement to hurry towards the girl and dropped down to one knee next to her. He grimaced at the gruesome vision. The arrow had shattered bone and tore through muscle such that he was surprised her hands were still attached. Pulling in a deep breath - one that he stopped almost immediately at the uncomfortable sensation of air pushing out from a hole in his chest - Thal worked past a wall of mental nausea to rest a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing. "Lay back down and, uh, we'll get that out, okay?" He urged her down and gripped the arrow's shaft, moving his other hand to press down on her arms over her face as he pulled.

[AUGH can't delete posts. x.x]

"Right..." One ear twitched. "Let me just.. I'm gonna check on her." He sidestepped away from the river, keeping his eyes on the Amal'jaa but heading towards K'aijeen. When he got closer, he spoke to her and tried to keep his voice light, "Kid, can you hear me?"

Thal's expression went slack for several seconds in surprised bemusement. "That... uh... what? Okay... Wait, hold up--" His tail swung in time to the asking waving of his hands. "Hold on a sec. I was taking care of... well, I mean, I've got some responsibility to that kid. Y'know. I mean, I guess I could help you... I'm not an assassin, y'know. And, uh, I need to get her some place safe." With a grimace, he gestured towards where K'aijeen lay.

"Woah, woah," Thal's hands came up in front of him, one of them bloodied. "I think we already established shooting me isn't gonna make a difference, so let's just... maybe there's something else I can do to help you, eh? Get you a new drake maybe? And... besides!" Blue eyes frowned, eyeing the bow warily. His toes shifted in the mud. "I may not be... well, y'know. But I still exist. I was defending my existence. That counts."