Enter Trixy: The curious naga

Ha'dara heard Luna's brief description, especially the part about eating small beings and sighed, muttering "How surprising!". He went over to the river, looking down at the gems and started looking a little irritated "Typical, they glitter more when I'm here. You could probably see me half way across Felarya!"

“Well, bein’ seen when yeh be as tall as yeh be ain’ that bad, Ha’dara,” Trav said, climbing down from the tree branch.

“Anyway, I spoke o’ Larenei, me friend. She said she’d be in this area, mayhap she moved on to the jewel river,” Trav mused. After a moment, he waded into the shallows to pick up one of the gems. “Somethin’ else puzzles me. I’ve ‘eard o’ the gems o’ jewel river bein’ swept downstream to the sea. But to come upriver, someone must ‘ave brought… ‘em… ‘ere…” Trav trailed off as he realized the significance of the gems. Looking again, the gems formed a rough trail leading deeper into the river, and near to the aquatic plants coating the bottom. There, Trav saw a pair of large eyes staring intently at him.

Luna didn't notice the eyes as she kept staring at the gems. "They are really pretty they are," she chimed. Mike rolled to his side slid of Luna's shoulder and at the edge of the river.

"YEOW!!!" Mike cried. He rubbed his head and saw Trav and shouted, "Oi! Trav!"

Masurao had his Sharingan activatted, and noticed the slight movement underwater. It was large. "Trav!" He shouted as he sprinted toward Trav, running across the water's surface. He grabbed Trav, and sprinted back to the shore. Masurao set Trav down. "Damn it, Trav." He said in a worried tone. "You know better than that! You should never enter a body of water in Felarya unless you're abbsolubtly sure that nothing is in it first."

“Aye…I be gettin’ careless. Thank yeh,” Trav said. In the river, annoyed at Trav’s rescue, a pair of large mermaids swam from the river plants. Briefly they considered going after Trav, but changed their minds after seeing the nagas. Irritated, they gathered the gems back up and swam back into the plants. “Anyway, that be why Larenei left, I wager. Yon sea folk ran ‘er off. I wonder ‘ow they managed to do that. Larenei wouldn’t ‘ave gone without a…”

“You pathetic, brainless, muck crawlers! How many time have I told you not to hunt in my river! Get your drowned hides out!” A voice above them shouted. A harpy flew above, dropping a large pair of stones on top of the pair of mermaids. One of the mermaids was struck, while the other rose to the surface to hurl a rock back at the harpy. She threw it, but the harpy rolled to one side, dodging the stone. The harpy latched her talons onto a large branch, (more of a log to Trav’s perspective) and flung it at the two mermaids. The dove to dodge the huge branch, but decided they’d had enough. Both of them sped downstream as fast as they could.

“…without a fight…” Trav finished. “That be Larenei. Please don’ take offense at ‘er words. Harpies be coarse in speech, and fling out insults to foe and friend alike, even their most beloved kin. Respond in kind if yeh wish, but jus’ don’ insult ‘er plumage or call ‘er ‘drowned’,” Trav said. The harpy turned to land in front of Trav and the others. Lareni stood over eighty feet tall, and had sleek powerful wings and feet like a bird of prey. Her plumage glittered with iridescent hues of blue and sea green, striped with patterns of glossy black. She had long trailing feathers, also brilliantly colored, rather than hair.

“And who the heck are you? Did this bite-sized, helpless little vagabond con you into protecting his featherless skin?” The harpy said, addressing the group while pointing an accusing talon at Trav.

Ha'dara started to look slightly interested 'Do all Hapies really talk like that?' he wondered.

"Greetings, feathered one of great and overbearing incompetence." Kuroda greeted her, attempting to speak in her peoples dialect, as he gave her a slight bow.

Luna and Mike looked at the harpy. Mike heard this and said, "He didn't con, I gave him a sword since he dont have no weapons of his own and he is me friend...AND I'M CRAZY NOW! WOOT!" He fell to the ground and rolled over to Luna grinning.

Luna looked up at Larenei in awe. "Hello Larenei, nice to meet and Trav did not con me into protecting him," she said as she picked Mike and placed him on her shlouder

Larenei grinned at Kuroda’s response. “At least you know how to speak properly. And Trav with a sword? This I have to see!” She said, picking Trav up with one of her feet and placing him on the edge of a wing and bringing him close to her face.

“Ha! This is rich! Next time, maybe you could give the mermaid a paper cut before she gulps you down! Have you even used it yet?” Larenei said, laughed.

“Aye, and I might again, yeh flounderin’ buffoon. And if yeh eat me hat again, I’ll shave yeh bald in the dead o’ night,” Trav responded. Larenei laughed again and set Trav down.

“I suppose I should thank you all for looking after him. Trav really is quite a clueless little morsel, isn’t he?” Larenei said. She looked down at Trav again, and her face became more serious. “He’s never had the desire to carry a weapon before. Has anything been happening?”

Mike looked up at Larenei and shouted, "Yeah ya ovyrgrawn chickon, we got attack by a bloddy monster, attacked by fecking apes that are freaking prevs, dam undead that wont to hell die and by a god knows demon!"

Luna stared at Mike and just smiled.

“Do you want me to eat him for you?” Larenei asked in an offhanded fashion, pointing a wing tip at Mike. “He looks like a poor meal, but I think I could choke him down without gagging from the taste.”

“Actually, that be partly why I wanted to come ‘ere,” Trav said. Larenei looked at Trav and raised an eyebrow. “No, I didn’ want yeh to eat Mike. I wanted to warn yeh, Larenei. There be strange happenin’s recently. Strange as the tale be, Mike spoke the truth.”

“Oh. Yeah, I know. I saw the fight with that thing in the lake yesterday. I had no idea you were involved Trav,” Larenei said. “No wonder you came running to me like a frightened chick. I’ve never heard of the undead before. I thought such magic couldn’t work in Felarya.”

"MAGIC! THAT IS A LOAD OF FREAKING HORSE SHIT!!! MAGIC DON WORK ON DEM! THE WERE CREATED BY A VIRUS FROM MY HOME CALLED EARTH!!!!" Mike shouted flinging is arms up and storming off towards Luna. Luna looked down at mike and picked him up and placed him between her breasts were he muttered and grumbled in frustration.

Masurao stared at the Harpie in awe. "So...Why exactly do you curse all the time?" Was the only thing he could think of to say.

Larenei gave Masurao a confused look. “Why not?” She asked in all earnestness.

“Er, I don’ know why they talk so. I jus’ be the way they speak to one another. It doesn’ mean they be angry or upset. Yeh should not take offense at her speech,” Trav explained. He looked over at Mike an Luna, then turned back to Lenarei. “But be that as it may, Lenarei, I think it be best to try to refrain from your usual speech when talkin’ to me friends. We know yeh mean naught by it, but we cannot ‘elp but be affected by it.”

Larenei glared at Trav, but the little man met her gaze evenly. After a moment she grinned. “Alright, you win this round. I’ll try to talk like you little groun- I mean you people.”

“Thank yeh, Larenei,” Trav said.

“You owe me you realize,” Larenei said.

“Aye, I know full well, yeh ‘aven’t let me-Ack!” Trav yelped as Larenei suddenly knelt down and nipped Trav’s straw hat with her teeth. The harpy straightened, sucked the hat into her mouth and swallowed.

“Confound it all, Larenei! Why do yeh always do that?” Trav yelled, “First me shirt, then me hat. I’ll not ‘ave a scrap o’ cloth on me afore the week be through at this rate.”

“There, now we’re even,” Larenei smirked. “Just because I stopped eating humans, doesn’t mean I don’t like the taste anymore. Your hat is about the closest I can get now. Here, you can use this.” She plucked a downy, iridescent blue feather and gave it to Trav. The feather was big enough for Trav to use as a makeshift cloak.

“Just curious, are any of those apes still in the area? They taste almost as good as Trav does,” Larenei asked.

Ha'dara looked at Larenei, looking down slightly, and pointed back toward the lake "Yeah, there should be a large group over there. Some of them hid instead of running."

Mike scratched his chin and said, "riddance to them TOO! BLSTED APES!" He jumped onto Luna's head and sat there crossed legged with his twitching.

“Well, I don’ know. The monsters and undead be back that way,” Trav said.

“Ah, we can take ‘em!” Larenei said. “How’s about you? Want to go ape hunting?” Larenei asked, turning to the Luna, Rua, and Ha’dara. Trav, meanwhile looked up at Mike.

“Er, be yeh well, Mike?” Trav asked, seeing Mike’s twitching.

Ha'dara shook his head "No thanks, I'll just watch."

Mike sighed and said, "Yeah I'm fine...it's each time we try to rest, we just get into trouble all the time...and Larenei, if your wondering about the undead, don't bother, I killed them all, sorry."

Luna just watched the conversation while thinking in her mind at what to do next. She crossed her arm and leaned against a tree while thinking.

“Aye, we’ve ‘ad a tryin’ time and no mistake,” Trav said. “Me life’s been endangered not less than thrice in jus’ this day. I too would prefer to rest.

“Ah, fine. Never mind then, I don’t want to go by myself. I’ll just have fish tonight,” Larenei said. “If you want, you can use my river here, if you feel like fishing or swimming. I’ll make sure that no other mermaids or harpies bother you. They know it’s my territory and won’t try anything while I’m here. Oh, you can also have those gems and such the mermaids left behind.”

Kuroda hops over onto a branch and walks along it until he reaches the very tip overlooking the river. He calls back to the rest of the group, "Do any other small people want fish?" He would've offered to get fish for the giants as well, but he was unsure whether or not he could catch fish that were big enough or even enough smaller fish to be sufficient.

Mike looked at Kuroda and sighed. He suddenly got an idea and smiled. He jump of Luna's head and flew above a tree. "This is going to be fun indeed," He smirked. He snapped his fingers and a strange hover board under his feet, the front part was slightly bent down and the back was also slightly bent up, the middle was still flat and the bottom of the board was semi-flat.

He landed on the board and began skating down the tree, dodging every branch. He landed onto he ground and shot onto the river, hovering above while moving from side to side.

(I say this board should be renamed Exit Trixy: The curious naga)

Ha'dara leaned against a nearby tree watching Mike, curious.

“Aye, some fish sounds quite good,” Trav said to Kuroda. He cut a long, slender branch from a nearby tree and began to fashion himself a fishing rod. “I’ll join yeh if yeh be plannin’ on fishin’.”

“Now that guy knows how to have fun,” Larenei said, watching Mike. “Nothing quite like flying, just ask Trav. Any of you small people ever tried flying with a harpy?”

“Jus’ ne’er do it after eatin’, if yeh don’ want to see yeh lunch again,” Trav commented, as he began digging up some suitable insects to use as bait.

"Fishing..." replied Kuroda, "Yes, in a manner of speaking." Kuroda unsheathed his Ninjato and dove into the water to search for fish.