The Beauty of the Garden

[the Steep Norns]

We appear to Thrash as a coven.

Thrash, you are the discoverer of this place. As such, we will grant you the answer to one question from anything we can see.
If it is something we cannot see, you will be permitted to try again if you can play suitable music on the Photocambic Tree.

[Diamond Master]

The creature is not infallible - though it notices many of the traps, it takes delight in setting them off behind your back. Sometimes you see it crouched low on the back of a gliding lizard, springing away as the beasts trip the snares. Finally, you hear a *snap* and turn around to see a tawny beige cat paw, the knee joint above bent like a biped's, caught in a trap. The leg leads to an oddly proportioned furry thigh and then into a shrub. The shrub swears and the trap explodes into splinters. The leg is withdrawn.

[Volatilus]

Ahh the slip I was waiting for! Volatilus (still a fox) will pounce on the shrub and attempt to grapple with the furry one.

[Yerkan of Elish]

Er... Thank you Volatilus. But I must ask you not to kill this one. Surely it knows a lot. Plus, I've rather learned to like it. It is a fascinating creature, and somehow manages to have a sense of humor in spite of these trying times. And it is truly a skilled trickster. I only want it because it may be a threat and it surely knows what is going on in this "game" that it is watching.

I am sorry cat-like sneak. But to watch this game, you will also have to play in it.

[Diamond Master]

The next few moments are a blur to Volatilus. He has the vague impression that he is wrestling not with a cat, but with a short chubby shirtless man. The next moment, there is a sharp BANG! and Volatilus is on the ground in the clearing, clutching a burnt haunch and a few tufts of tawny fur.

The creature is off, tearing through what passes for jungle and underbrush in this area. Giving chase, even the Huntsman is hard pressed to keep up. At one point, the thing (with a sizable lead, making it a mere outline in the distance) races across the surface of a bed of molten lava, spraying drops of ruby in a spume behind him. "Ahahahahaha!"

Yerkan, I presume you are also giving chase. Between the two of you, with Volatilus' hunting tactics, it looks like you will be able to head him off. What will you do when you catch up?

[Volatilus]

I will use the terrain to force the little man into a corner if I know of it. If not I hope Yerkan will relay cliff-sides, mounds, great fallen trees, and other knowledge of terrain to me to either maximize my closing distance, or use a pincer move between the two of us. I didn't care for the cheap trick he used last time and would like to keep a little distance, only a little. He seems like he has limitless energy to run, so perhaps heading him off in a mocking manner will trip him up at least.

[Steepest Durin]

I've asked Morbus Sano ta prepare a bit o' this an' a bit o' that which th' giants might like.

[Yerkan of Elish]

Yes, Volatilus, we shall do exactly that! Then, when I am just within range, I shall ever so slightly pierce it with the Loupe Estoc and hopefully learn what we are dealing with. I do not want to harm the creature - the puncture will hurt only as much as a small needle piercing the skin.

"Welcome to the Game."

[Diamond Master]

Surrounded!
The creature crouches down, and seems to go into a bit of a trance.
You get your first good luck at him.
The "tawny creature" is only catlike from the waist down. At the waist, his body slowly fades to that of a rather obese humanoid with a protruding paunch. His rather large head is hairy again, and sunken, something like a monkey's; he wears an acorn's cap on his head. His back is melded to a strange oblong box, with wires running from pack to lower back and right up to the base of his neck.

YERKAN VS TAWNY CREATURE

Tier: Hero Deity vs Steepest
Domain: Trickery, Knowledge vs Escape, ???
Weakness: None vs ???
Equipment: Loupe Estoc vs Pak
Circumstance: Surrounded vs Backup Complete
Spell: None vs Trilobite Effect (Oracular Muddying)
Insight: Hunting Tactics vs None
Allies: Volatilus vs None

The creature possesses a primal Steepness, the sort of being who might be kin to protogenoi tricksters in various universes. You get your flick of blood, but you get the sense that you were permitted to do so.

"You won't learn much from this move, Yerkan of Elish," says the creature, scrambling up a sheer wall like an ape. He seems to blend right into the rock.

[Volatilus]

Well, why is it that I feel like that fuzzy fellow isn't the only one who ran into a dead end..