How Do You Say that in Elvish?

 

Ritter, Ace, and Crow watched the wagon burn. The smoke was black from the unknown potions and oozing liquids they had glimpsed inside. That, and the creature now crisping in the flames.

The day before, the pirate captain Droth had given them some important news about a shadowy figure lurking in the Dreamwood. "Misha the Wylderkin has seen and smelled this stranger. Misha says they smell like burned hair."

Misha was one of the few forest people who would deal openly with the outpost, and their keen eyes and nose had proven invaluable. Misha had take a special liking to Captain Droth after being mesmerized by his many flowing tattoos.

Ace, whose Elven name was almost too complex to shape on human tongues, had remarked, "Yes, I feel it too. Something has been moving, veiled, on the edge of my dreams for many days now."

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Before daybreak, three shadows slipped away from the outpost and followed a narrow trail through the Dreamwood. Ace was in the lead, moving with the silence of a hunting owl. "We are close," he whispered after an hour of careful maneuvering. "I feel it. My thoughts are muddled, though. I cannot explain it."

A wild, warbling cry erupted from a stand of young pines. It was filled with pity and pain and vast sadness.

A figure stumbled into sight. Even in the predawn gloom, the feathery eyebrows and hair revealed it was a Biata female. Her glossy green robe was torn and muddy. A trickle of blood ran down her cheek.

"It's alive! Run! It's alive!" The Biata stumbled toward them, grasping small trees to keep from falling. "Run, you idiots!"

Three swords snicked out of scabbards. "What is going on?" Crow asked, pointing his sword suspiciously at the Biata.

"It's alive!" She ran past the three adventurers and collided with a tree. She fell like a rock.

Ritter noted motion in the stand of young pines. In the growing light, he could see a covered wagon. It was rocking from side to side. Then a huge green tentacle burst from the canvas roof.

"Shit," Crow said.

"What is it?" Ritter took a step back and flourished his sword - it was a nervous habit.

"Now I understand," Ace said. "I felt this creature's spirit, but I could not understand it. It is not from this world; it was summoned." He motioned toward the groaning Biata.

Another tentacle burst out and gripped a swaying pine, pulling itself out of the wagon. Ritter glimpsed the wagon's interior: elaborate tapestries, a table with plates and cups, and large clay pots, some turned over and spilling a thick substance like honey.

Now Ritter could see the creature was some kind of living plant. Part vine, part flower. It was covered in long spines, and it glistened with pale ooze like a newborn demon.

"Shit," Ace said in Elvish.

Crow drew his bow and began plunging accurate shots deep into the slimy creature. Each of the dozen flowers was a mouth, and they roared in pain and anger. The monster started toward them.

It moved with deceptive swiftness, dodging around trees. Ritter had seen a small squid once that moved like this along a shallow reef. It was a boneless, fluid kind of motion.

Without thinking, Ritter slipped into battle mode, moving to the right, bringing his shield up just in time to block a spray of oozing spines that launched from the creature's body.

"Shit," Ritter cried out. "This thing shoots thorns!"

More of Crow's arrows landed; Ace and Ritter maneuvered around the creature and lopped off various leafy parts. Ritter took several blows, and the oozy secretion was smeared on his shield. It smelled like burned hair.

Eventually, the vine monster staggered and fell. The adventurers panted from their exertion. It had been a hard fight, but they won. Barely.

Then the wagon started rocking again.

"Shit!" All three yelled.

Out of nowhere, the bloody Biata ran toward the wagon and screamed some unintelligible words. The wagon burst into flames. Sobbing, the Biata stumbled off into the Dreamwood, her feathery eyebrows singed. She never seeming to notice the adventurers or the dead vine monster.

Ritter, Ace, and Crow watched the wagon burn. Crow walked around the dead creature and recovered some of his arrows.

"So, remind me," Ritter said to Ace. "How do you say 'shit' in Elvish, again?"

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Original image by Chrysander Mandragora (Instagram @mandragora_media).

For more, visit Alliance Atlanta LARP. 

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