OCC: This should exsplain my absence. I really need to stop sleeping-in

Drisk watched as he saw a few more druids came to the Great Tree. They seemed ok, but drisk was'nt the type to just start introducing himself to a bunch of druids who did'nt know who that sweet voice was that visited them from time to time.

Drisk walked over to Altas, who was busy doing something? Drisk did'nt really like altas because of his over active mouth, but he had to meet someone that would have to be good in a fight.

"Altas, how long have you been out in the world?", drisk asked with a fake smile and a friendly handshake...

OOC: What happened was that Arathorn's char went off, and claimed she wasn't of Shen and others, Shen ran after her and told her some stuff, Shen then saw your char and went over and greeted you. Fliss and JT are going off somewhere together.. and please, try not to make this thread into a OOC convo thread. ;o

OOC: Lol, I should have picked a diff name. Everyone seems to be getting confused. My overly loud chars name is Altas.

IC: After being ignored from three people in a row, Altas looked to his side, surprised to see someone actually starting a conversation with him. It was the dark elf Drisk. Altas shook his hand and greeted him then replied. "It depends on what you mean by the outside world, friend. Do you mean society? Or do you mean out with nature? Or perhaps are you asking me my age?" He smiled at Drisk, eager to make a new friend, after being by himself for so long.

Edhelas had observed the drama carefully, he clearly heard the words 'Hircine', 'Druid' and 'Heritage' being mentioned. This was not shaping up well, from what he had seen, the Imperial called 'Shen' seemed a bit sheltered, and Ed found himself feeling sorry for him. A sheltered existance was probably one of the worst things Edhelas could imagine, he thought that the possibility of missing nearly all of life's experiences was a huge disappointment. His hands had returned to his sides and were no longer gripping weapons. He decided to hang back, nobody was bothering him and he certainly wasn't interested in talking to them, especially if they were involved in some druidic or daedric cult.

Drisk shook Altas' hand and quickly drew it away.

"How long have you been in society, unlike Shen, I've been all over cyrodiil and the other provinces. I've travelled from Valenwood, to Hammerfell in three nights and two days. I've been to every rainforest and forest in Tamriel!", drisk quieted down just so the man could speak.

He was axious to hear what was going to happen. He once again was loosing patience...

OOC: 'authorisation mismatch' seems to occur to me more often these days, and now you are posting so fast my post is already obsolete...
ah heck I'll post it anyway

IC
"Give it a rest, let her decide what to do, if she indeed belongs here she will find out herself." Desmond said, a bit suprised with the way he said it, he felt more confident at this place, whether it was divine power or not he did not know, but the great tree sure did something with Desmond. he looked at JT, the forrester, Desmond always had great respect towards forresters but didn't meet many as he spent alot of time in the guild, hr words however did linger a bit longer in his mind "Druids a legend, my parrents and ancestors were druids, I am a druid..." the thought was confident at first, but Desmond hesitated, nowadays the memory of morphing seem like distant fragments of a dream more then a real memory, but some dreams were clearer then his memory too, a memory of a great crocodile in the waters of Reed river...

Desmond shook off the memories and the cold feeling that acompanied them and put his mind to the present and the matters at hand, more had arrived at the clearing, not many had spoken though and Desmond was observing more quietly now

"Ah I see your a traveler? Traveling doesn't interest me." Altas let out a sigh and the smile disappeared once again from his face. "You probably heard me say something about my two druid friends. We three were raised by an old druid. I don't remember much about him. He died when I was five. After that us three druids wandered out into the wild, doing whatever we pleased. We grew up together. We lived in a treehouse a mile or two from the great tree. We never wanted to join the other druids though, we wanted to be free. Then Hircine attacked when I was 15, I escaped but my friends weren't so lucky. After that I went into society again, I wanted to make new friends, like the ones I had. But like I said earlier it didn't work out so well." Altas stared at the ground again. "I lived in society for a year, before I went into the wilderness again. I decided to take full responsibility of being a druid, and dedicated all my time to working on my powers. It wasn't long before I discovered Talis inside of me, and started communicating with animals. It's been about 10 years that I've been working on my fighting skills and druidic skills." Altas looked at Drisk, and a grin appeared back on Altas' face. "Sorry if I made you listen to that old boring story."

Amynd glanced at the person approaching him,

"Druids?" he questioned. He had heard rumours amongst the theives of the city but he did not know that they exactly existed, or that they beleived him to be one of them.

"I am not a druid" he exalaimed, "look at me, I am just your average lower class man trying to make his way in the world not some magical being" he knew that was a slight exaggerating considering his magical and transformation abilities but he was not a member of some nature worshipping cult.

Drisked looked at Altas for a moment, acting like he really cared about his past. The druid seemed to be sad over his friends deaths, but if he had been out in the world, he would have known that its life or death. This man is just someone trying to get some sypathy, drisk thought as he layed his hand on the mans shoulder.

"I'am sorry for your loss. They will not have died in vain, for you are about to avenge their memories!", drisk walked away and sat alone on the ground thinking.

Why have you called us here Kynareth. I wish to help you in your struggle, but without the proper knowlege I'am useless, nothing replied, not the sweet voice of Kynareth or anything. Drisk sat there quietly and calmly...

Jackie looked over at Shen as he tried to call the woman -Fliss apparently- back and assure her with more preaching of his druidism, but she seemed to ignore him as she walked past her with head hanging towards the ground. Jacquelyn looked at Fliss, then back at Shen, before putting on an apologetic smile.

"Listen, Shen... this is a bit much for me, and I'm sure she's got a bit of a culture shock as well from it." Her voice was gentle and considerate. "We'll just be at a stream a yard or two west of here, just shrubbery and a few trees between us and the edge of the glade. We'll be within calling distance, I promise you. I just need the peace to think on things, and she likely does as well. Leave us ladies to our heart-to-heart; you wouldn't understand it." She gave a jesting grin at this and waved him off casually with her hand before turning away and striding ahead of Fliss, Sheela walking along behind them both like a constant companion.

Jacquelyn was one of the few Foresters to have claimed physical presence in Dying Giant Glade since it's discovery, and knew much of the general area mentally. Finding the stream was therefore much easier than it would have been for Fliss alone. Though, with its proximity she likely would have found it by sound alone. Upon reaching it, Jackie felt much more at ease than in the glade, and approached the stream bed casually, comfortably sitting upon a stone jutting from the ground there. Her eyes watched the water flow gently over the smooth mountain stream pebbles, glitters of sand crystals, quartz, and likely even gold reflecting the sunlight into her eyes in little sparkles. Sheela moved like a shadow to Jackie's side, roaming around behind her and grazing upon the soft grasses there.

A druid...

"I guess so." Altas looked at Drisk disapointed. And here I thought I was going to make a friend. I guess not. Everytime I try, they just seem to ignore me. Altas thought. "Well it's getting kind of dark, maybe we should start to make camp or something. Dusk is approaching." he said to anyone that was listening. He also noticed that most of the people that were arriving knew nothing of their druidic heritage.

Felicity gazed down into the depths of the shallow stream, its very current pulling her in as if she was one of the many ripples that spread across its surface. The river glistened with beauty its shimmering surface reflecting the beaming light of the sun. The calm and serene environment had always been Felicitys' best companion, the human silence too also comforted her, but she knew she had to break it. She felt that Jt was her only way into the group, the bridge between the differences and that she must get to know her before attempting to cross across.

Now that she saw her alone, she imagined a peaceful lady, one at ease with the environment, confident in her being and her abilities. She could have been wrong, but there was a certain air about her, the way she sat, the way she listened, and that horse; there was a bond far greater than any human could muster with another human. But were the whole group not like this, being Druids its what you would expect.

As the birds high above in the trees sang, and the water hurrying downstream whistled, Felicity knew it was time to break the silence.

"So what is your 'real' name? I deem it far less personal calling you Jt. My name is Felicity, or Fliss for short, but I prefer the previous." Felicity sat down upon the rock next to her, her gaze first resting on the brilliant chestnut horse, before turning to catch eye contact with her new company..

She must not have heard the first time. But then again, she was looking rather down around that time. Jackie thought, still looking at the stream. As she opened her mouth to reply she turned her head to look at Felicity. "Name's Jacquelyn. And I'd prefer Felicity too. It sounds much more lovely than Fliss." She smiled at the short bosmeri youth. "I prefer Jacquelyn, but my enlisted identity is JT. It's my initials."

Her smile slowly slipped off her face as she turned back to looking at the stream. Her hands clasped together in front of her, and she looked far more calm now than when she'd been talking with Shen. But she still looked uneasy about something.

"I..." She paused, her mouth closing again and moving as if chewing her words and considering them. "I always wondered... what it would be like to be one of those legendary druids. With the power over nature, weather..." She looked around at the beautiful scene around them, before her eyes fell on Sheela, serenely grazing. "Talk with animals. I dreamed of it when I was young, fantasized about it. But... the idea I might actually be... be..." She paused again, biting her lower lip before shaking her head.

"It's absurd. There can't actually be druids... can there?" She turned to look at Felicity as she asked this, hoping she would have the answers.

"Oh yes" Felicity replied without hesitation, "I have lived with them my entire life, a small village just north of Skingrad. Its very remote, shut off from the world, so I am unsurprised that you have your doubts. They are out there; you just have to know where to look." Felicity sighed, gazing once again at the chestnut mare. "It is clear from your presence here that you are one of us, and although may not have been born into Druidic society, somewhere deep in your past will have been."

This was the most the young girl had conversed with anyone but her Mentor for some years, and she felt nervous, somewhere deep down she knew Jacquelyn would make no judgement.. "May I ask you a question.." she offered timidly, however she continued without reply, "Can you morph?". As Jacquelyn was unsure of the Druidic culture itself Felicity was interested to know. This was a sure giveaway of who she was, but had this woman been ignorant in recognising her power, or did she hinder compared with the group back at the tree like Felicity herself..?

"Oh yes." It was words Jacquelyn dreaded. Just when she thought she knew this province like the back of her hand, understood the ways of nature like a mother knows her own child... just when she thought she had little left to learn; Druids. An entire society secreted away from the world in the very depths of forests, or out in the open within the Dying Giant Glade. An entire society living in places she did not yet know, had not yet seen... people she did not understand, or could even pretend to understand.

And yet, she was one of them. By some estranged destiny she was a member of these powerful, mystical people. And she was with them now. This young, timid child of a woman beside her was related to men who made fireside tales at Forester camps. She was one of them. It was a dream come true, but too true to be believable. Contradictory to the core.

"Can you morph?" The question caught the older woman off guard, and she blinked in surprise, leaning back slightly from Felicity as if the elf had just lengthened her ears twofold.

"Um... care to elaborate on that one?" One eyebrow raised inquisitively. Sheela snorted, a puff of air into the soft grass behind them.

Unable to find the words, Felicity stood up, her feet on the rough texture of the hardened stone. She gave a small leap, her feet barely leaving the earth but enough time to transform. She, during the jump had morphed into her Falcon figure, she had only just learnt how too do so and was unsure of her risky demonstration, but the take off had been successful and she soon circled above the older woman. Flying higher she let out a loud screech, the powerful sound echoing around the local area. Probably heard back at the tree, she realised why she was here.

She was different, and although not as powerful as the others, more powerful than the mere citizens of the world, she had a purpose. And with that humble recognition, she soared down, landing softly in the same position as always. As a human, her head bowed with one knee on the ground and her hands out in front of her.

"Morphing" she calmly exclaimed, as too explain the whole episode of drama that had unfolded in the past few minutes.

Jackie watched as she stood, rather than answered, and hopped off the rock. Only for the little elf's body to get even smaller, shrinking, sprouting something like... feathers. It all happened in an instant, a single blink of an eye, and a falcon was soaring into the sky proudly where a girl had once jumped. The bird circled around her, and Jackie's eyes followed the encircling raptor in awe.

When she dived, and morphed in the blink of an eye to land gracefully down on the ground, Jackie's jaw sank along with the draqes of Felicity's dress. Awestruck, wonder-hit, disbelieving. But she'd just seen. "Morphing." Felicity stated.

"I-if all druids can... and that Panther is... so other animals could be... and when I hunt..." Jackie's color went from healthy to pale, and she fiddled with a strap of her leather armor to try and distract herself. It failed miserably. She'd made the leather from deer and boar hides. Those animals could have been druids. She could be wearing her own kind! It was enough to bring bile into the back of her throat, but she was determined to keep it back and remain calm, controlled; capable of handling the situation. "Gods..." She began to shudder, not heavily, but enough to make Sheela come over and nudge her shoulder. The Forester jolted in surprise, before hesitantly stroking Sheela's snout.

"Are you a druid too? Something you ain't been telling me?" She asked the horse accusingly. Sheela shook her head gingerly, avoiding hitting Jackie with her snout. Jackie seemed immensely relieved by this, her shoulders relaxing as she placed her forehead on the horse's snout. "Good... I don't think I could handle more of it." She muttered into the horse's head.

Can you morph? Well if morphing was that, then the answer was obvious. "No, I can't do that... 'morphing' thing." Jackie answered, lifting her head to look at Felicity with obvious unrest. Or is it? "But... I have had... dreams. Where I feel like an animal, going through city streets, sometimes fighting with dogs and cats, and rats and whatnot. Sometimes rummaging for food. They... feel like very real dreams."

OCC you guys post too fast

IC
Still Quite a way from the rest of the group Ben slowly made his way through the undergrowth, he'd been walking for over a day and was finding the going tough. His arms and legs ached, he was panting and sweat poured off his face in torrents. The only reason he was still doggedly following the whispers of the wind was the fortification spells he stopped to cast every now and then, refreshing himself enough to keep going. The staff had begun to grow heavy in his hands and Ben could feel his magicka reserves running low. Yet he could feel that he was close, he was certain that he could almost see his destination and this drove him on.

You'll be there soon, soon...

The words revolved around in Ben's head and he was uncertain as to whom they belonged, he was just too tired to differentiate between Kynareth and his own thoughts right now. Finally he gave up, giving in to an urge to rest. The final straw was the soft tinkling of a brook, the tranquil noise pulling Ben back from the mindless rythm that sustained his slog and reminding him of a burning thirst that had been plagueing him for the past hour, unfortunately devotion could only push Ben so far. He crested a small hill, and the cool, clear water came into sight and, uncaring about who or what was around Ben let out a triumphant cry which quickly turned into a croak, his throat was parched. Staggering down to the water he drank deeply from the stream, staff discarded by his side as he leant awkwardly to reach the water whilst keeping the weight off his weaker leg.

OOC: I thought I would spice things up a bit, I did send you a message FC4, but received no reply, if anyone thinks that the below should not be included, feel free to say, I have an alternative post ready..

IC: "Hmm, I do have my wonders" Felicity mumbled to herself considering the whole possibility that they weren't simply dreams, rather a different state of mind, of an animal from, but she let it pass not wanting to confuse the poor woman any more. She was too, unsure about the horse, it had given off a strange feeling since arrival, and Felicity considered the animal to be more than normal. But she managed to let that slide too, looking up into the sky. "Its getting dark" she noted sarcastically, the cloudy grey sky was an obvious a sign it was nearing dusk, and looking back towards the befriended Imperial she noted movement in the background foliage.

Pointing, she was speechless, "Men" she scrabbled in time as they neared the stream. There were three of them in current view, each carrying their own style of heavy weaponry that could smash the brains from the girls' skulls. Unfortunately they had already been spotted by the vicious men and had no option of running.

"What do we do?!" Taking the more cowardice approach and laying her faith in the Imperial woman, Felicity had never fought for her life before. She felt the bowels of her stomach clench and every living breath seemed to take an age, they were closing, and Felicity was getting more nervous by the everlasting seconds.

Concerned with the current goings on, Felicity had failed to notice the elderly man appear on the other side of the stream, however she left him unnoticed, all her focus on the men heading her way..

OOC: I'm off too bed now, its 1:34am Gmt, and will be on all tomorrow to continue..

OOC well edited

IC
"By the Nine I needed that"

Ben rolled over onto his back, thirst now quenched as he delayed returning to his journey. Closing his eyes he could just hear a couple of people talking, upstream of his location. If they were still there when he'd recovered, he might go and see who they were...

"Men"

The word was said with some alarm, making Ben open his eyes. He could see the pair of women upon whom he'd been about to idly eavesdrop, one of them looked alarmed and, as he sat up, leavering himself up with the staff, she spoke again, the pitch of her voice rising still further as she seemed to panic.

"What do we do?!"

Ben could answer that, one of the pair was an imperial who looked like she could handle herself. Still unsure of the nature of the threat, sure only that he should be helping this pair, Ben raised his hand, and the flash of blue revitalised him, standing up quickly he tested his spell's work
Leg seems alright, I should have about 5 minutes before the spell wears off...
The thought passed quickly through his head, followed shortly by the nervous anticipation that signalled an adrenaline rush. No longer needing his staff as a prop, he brandished the thing, bringing back a rush of memories from his youth as his body settled itself in his familiar fighting stance. The happiness and exitement welled up inside him as he started to cover the 30 yards between himself and the pair, he couldn't help smiling, it just felt so good to be agile again! True he was still unfit and undermuscled but the fortification spell had taken care of all of that for now and, for the next 5 minutes Ben knew he would feel 20 again.

Jackie heard the rustle the moment Felicity had, but while she was whispering the Forester already had her bow out and was drawing an arrow. Three men. One hammer, one claymore, and a axe. She knocked the arrow as the men spotted Felicity, Sheela, and finally Jackie, and sneered. They began a steady approach, and hiding her bow behind Felicity Jackie knocked her arrow.

She glanced sideways immediately as a man with a staff approached, a man who looked possibly middle-aged. Dammit! A mage too!

Wait no- he's not got malice in that stance or gaze. Jackie whistled softly, and Sheela reared up in response, her front hooves pawing the air towards the approaching Imperial. Malevolent or no, he wasn't about to be and issue for them. The approaching charge of a Nord with a warhammer was though. "What do we do?!" Felicity cried out.

"Duck!" Was Jackie's answer, as she spun herself around Felicity's thin form and whipped the bow before her, twisted it to a diagonal, aimed and fired in the span of a second and a half. The arrow whizzed through the air and impacted in the man's lower gut, as she had fired from a crouched one-knee position. The Nord took the arrow and crumbled, the weight of his own hammer combined with the new surge of pain to bring him to the ground.

"One down! Felicity, help Sheela take care of mage-boy and I'll handle tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum!" She spoke almost with... excitement. Adrenaline pulsed through her as she drew another arrow and rose from her crouch into a full and proper stance, egging on the other two men.

ooc: Dammit some of us work >.< Two and a half pages of stuff And i Stated one minute he was a panther the next his khajiit like form

ic: He watched, waiting, listened chuckling as he was accused of being a servant to a deadric god. Looking the people over Shanji dropped from the tree landing silently like an assassin. "We serve every deadric and Aedric God in one way or another. In so you are just as guilty as being a servant to Hircine as I am." he said smoothly to Shen. Looking around at the others, he hoped that they wouldn't think he was an old man. Many assumed he was from his looks that and his staff. "I am Dro'Shanji." he said offering a paw.

Altas looked over to finally seeing the Khajiit land on the ground. Altas was the first one to run over and shake his hand. "I may have already told you, but the names Altas. Nice to meet you Dro'Shanji. And do you know anything about your druidic heritage?" Altas asked. He heard a faint ringing sound, like armor clinking off in the distance, but thought nothing of it.

A slight smile formed on his muzzle looking at the male. "Nice to meet you Altas. ANd Yes Druidic history I do know of. To a great extent that is. Now why would you ask?"

Drisk looked at the panther which turned into a Kahjiit. Drisk walked off into the forrest to find some kind of action or something?


OCC: Pandar, is Kynareth ever going to "Speak" or is this just a ruse, because you dont have a story line to follow yet? Everyone's character is near the Great Tree, so what are you waiting for?