Back-up Is... (Ray)

[Minor NPC]

Klaus growled with disappointment. He looked around again, quick, then muttered a quick, "Cover me," to his back up.

Pulling his knife out, the large tiger tried to quickly go about the business of skinning the beast's body.

"Too valuable," he muttered along with it, stomach grumbling more intently all the while. It was a quick, shoddy job, but it was the best he could do in his present state. He'd work more on it later, unless someone better wanted access.

He'd heard stories of material mages forming powerful items out of such skins. Claws and teeth were supposed to be useful as well, and he used the skin as a morbid bag for the rest of such important things.

One haunch would serve as a giant drumstick, to answer the hunger that had been bothering him for the last hour. One large bite would have to tide him over, before they got back home.

[Ray]

"Let me take it for you." He said, taking the materials from the tiger, and heft it over his shoulder. "Now, lets get back to the base before anything else finds us. Can you still walk?"

He took a last look at the remains. Such a shame, that all this meat would go to waste, but your life is always more important. You walk away, and the worst case scenario is that you get an empty stomach. If you stay long enough, then you might be dead.

[Minor NPC]

The tiger grumbled under his breath. He figured he was stronger then the smaller cat, even with the injury. He should be the one to carry it, if only so they move faster.

So he got up, and started walking as if to head home with the makeshift macabre bag over his shoulder.

The light headedness made him stagger a few feet out, as blood loss reminded him of the state of his injury. The growl offered his complaint to the smaller one, before he set it down and grabbed his shoulder instead. The bandages were darker and wetter.

"Fine," he mumbled, trying to hide the hint of embarrassment on his cheeks from having to rely so much on the youth.

[Ray]

Ray pulled the arrow up from where it was supposed to pinned the tentacle earlier, and nocked it back on his crossbow. With a low grunt, he heft the makeshift bag higher, adjusting it on his back, and started to walk back towards the base.

He kept quiet, since it doesn't seems like Klaus is in the mood for chatting, but he keep stealing glances over his shoulder to make sure that the tiger is following him.

[Minor NPC]

The wounded tiger nursed the injury to his pride as they walked, building up situations in which he took down the demonic beast all by himself.

The injury to his shoulder, he tried to keep from moving - if only the blood would dry. He trudged along behind the cat like Ray was towing him home.

He lazily chewed on the haunch of meat he'd taken, filling up the gnawing hunger in his belly. An empty stomach is a bad thing to be grumpy on. It wasn't like it was Ray's fault the beast attacked him first.

It attacked the bigger target.

That made him feel at least a little better about the whole mess.

[Ray]

Ray can't help but starting to wonder how much of the loot he'll get, if any. He's used to not getting any reward even if he gets the job done, and Klaus didn't seem like the kind that would compromise with a child. Or maybe he's just overthinking stuffs.

Shepherd had promised that the Resistance will be better than the army. He'd just have to believe him, for the time being.

[Minor NPC]

Maybe it was the scent of the demon skin, or maybe they were just lucky, but the return trip was blissfully uneventful.

Sentries detected them from a fair distance off, and recognized their own in trouble. A pair teleported in before they could make the last leg of the trip, eager to be of assistance.

"Igorei! Klaus! You're injured!" one said, anxiously animated as he looked at them both and then quickly moved in on the tiger's injured side. Hands gripped to support the big tiger's arm and back, and that was welcome - the healing magic that soothed his pain and carried his lightheadedness away, was more so.

The other sentry moved towards Ray, to offer any medical assistance necessary. Finding the younger cat uninjured, he offered his help in carrying the bag made of the demon's skin instead.

"You got ... You killed," he started in confusion, trying to tell what it was from the outside. "What is that thing?"

"What happened to you two?" the other sentry added in.

Klaus growled softly and looked away.

[Ray]

"You got ... You killed," The sentry asked when Ray handed him the makeshift bag. "What is that thing?"

"Some demon panther." The snow leopard answered. "It ambushed us in the forest."

"What happened to you two?" the other one added.

The feline looked towards Klaus, hoping that he would answer them so he wouldn't need to talk. But the tiger just let out a deep growl and look away.

"We were out hunting," he said. "But we got jumped by this demon. We killed him. Klaus insisted that we bring these back. Said that they're valuable." He explained, gesturing to the big bag of skin, fangs, claws, and meat.

[Minor NPC]

The sentry near Ray gave a small whistle of admiration at the object, even as they teleported them all back inside the boundaries of their warded base.

"Holy shit, you guys. You took down that thing all by yourselves?" he said, his disbelief held back by what was in front of his eyes.

"That's amazing. And you guys aren't even -" the fey sentry caught himself at Klaus' glare. Instead of saying 'mages', he opted for the less condescending of two evils. "Uh ... formally trained."

Klaus grunted once and turned away, shrugging the guardian off of his shoulder once he judged it was healed enough.

"Get it to a crafter. Kid deserves something," the big cat said gruffly before taking his haunch of meat and stomping further off.

"Shit, I bet lots of people would love to get their hands on these things..."

[Ray]

"Hey," Ray called out to the tiger, who is starting to stomp off grumpily.

"Thanks."He didn't know why he felt like he needed to thank Klaus, but he did so anyway. "I'll make sure to leave half of everything for you. I'll take care of it until you got yourself patched up."

[Minor NPC]

The tiger stopped his departure, when Ray called. He faced him, still looking rather sour faced about the whole ordeal.

"Thanks," the younger cat said.

Klaus just gave a soft grunt as he shrugged, testing his partially healed shoulder in the process. He wasn't used to being thanked - and didn't feel like he'd actually done anything to deserve it either.

"I'll make sure to leave half of everything for you. I'll take care of it until you got yourself patched up."

The tiger just shrugged again. "Just give me my bow back later. Work the rest out yourself."

And the tiger walked off, still munching away at the haunch of meat. His hunger, finally, was satisfied.

One of the sentries patted Ray on the shoulder. "Come along, kid. I'm sure a crafter will jump at the chance to see those."

[Ray]

"Okay." The snow leopard nodded, and started following him.

He wondered what could he get out of it. He didn't really know how valuable the loot is, but judging from Klaus' reaction and his persistence of retrieving them, it might worth more than he know. Maybe he can somehow duplicate the power of the beast. A decoy like that would be useful in a battle.

[Minor NPC]

The sentry guided him over to one of the above-ground buildings. The stone-like walls looked quickly made with someone's magic, but had since then been carved and modified extensively by its current occupant. Iron tubes extended here and there, for any number of purpose their creator had come up with.

A small burst of smoke suddenly blew out every tube at once, and the windows, before the door flew open and the 4-foot tall crotchety old dwarf scrambled to escape. His white beard was several shades of gray and black now, and goggles smogged over. He managed to push them up with one hand, while coughing up soot into his other.

"Note to," he choked again, "Self. Mixture of Ifrit blood, hellhound spit - hagh - and dragon breath."

He doubled over in another coughing fit.

"Needs diluting."

[Ray]

"Something exploded?" Ray asked while walking closer towards the workshop.

He felt a sudden reluctance about handing the ingredients away to the crafter, as it seems there's likely some part of it might be gone to some explosions, and he didn't have much to begin with, not to say that he'll need to keep half of it for Klaus.

[Minor NPC]

The dwarf coughed just a few more times, until the sentry sighed once, and pressed a hand to his shoulder. Healing light shined for only a moment, before the dwarf straightened up again.

"Pay no mind to that, boys," the dwarf went about brushing off the soot from his clothes.

"Experimenting with chemicals is the only way to make advancements. Experimenting with volatile chemicals, is the only way to make explosive advancements. The resistance could certainly use a few stronger weapons, now couldn't it?"

"Just don't blow up the camp," the sentry said with the kind of tiredness one gets from saying something over and over again.

[Ray]

"I was told that I should find you if I need to craft something." The snow leopard said, gesturing to the makeshift bag the sentry's carrying.

"Can you make something out of these?" He asked, taking the bag from the sentry and handed it to the crafter. "Or at least, half of it. The other half of these ingredients is Klaus', and he should decide what he gets."

[Minor NPC]

"This? What's this?" the dwarf asked, looking into the sack for a moment. He glanced back up at the snow leopard fast.

"Excuse me," he said, as politely as he could muster. He held up a finger, took a half turn to the right, and vomited the entire contents of his stomach upon the ground.

Realizing he was 'no longer needed' - and more likely, wanting to get away before anything worse happened - the sentry took a quick step back. "I'll just .. be getting back to my post."

He was gone with a wink.

The dwarf shook off his stomach's rebellion after a moment, standing back up to continue the conversation.

"Ooo. Oh my. Pretend that didn't happen. Was not expecting that. One of the displacement demons? What a marvelous find. Really quite impressive it didn't kill you. Quite a few mages would have had a problem with it."

"Of course I can make things with these. Many things really. This was a highly magical being. Magic is quite literally in its skin. It just needs someone to guide it in new ways."

[Ray]

"Guide it in new ways?" Carefully moving his feet away from the vomit, Ray asked.

The snow leopard always found material magic fascinating. Mostly because it seems easier mixing ingredients to create stuff than try to shoot some fireballs by imagining it.

"So what exactly can you make from this?"

[Minor NPC]

"Make? Could make many things with all this material," the dwarf answered. He then picked up the bag of the beast's skin again, and carried it along back inside his workshop - now clear of the smoke.

The dwarf touched a runic array on one side of the wall as he entered, and a mystical light quickly swept through the place, cleaning it up and fixing whatever might have broken in the small explosion. Glass reconnected itself to flasks and beakers, stone furniture became whole once more, and paper notes restored themselves out of notes.

Taking another moment, he then purposefully began to ready another table for the objects brought to him.

"Demon claws are made of an incredibly sharp material. Some are harder and more dangerous than a steel blade. Demon blood has a great number of mystic properties and makes ... powerful, if not dangerous potions. Those frequently have quite negative side effects. Why, I once knew a man who just loved to fuel his berserker potions with the stuff."

The dwarf stopped carefully setting the materials out and turned directly toward the leopard. "Knew. Emphasis on knew. But of course the real find here is the skin itself! You dealt with the thing. I'm sure you realize what a grand trick it has built into it."

[Ray]

Ray followed the crafter into his workshop, where he touch the wall, which the snow leopard assume is somehow magical, because a light swept across the room and repaired everything that's broken, Which left him feeling the convenience about magic all over again.

"Demon claws are made of an incredibly sharp material. Some are harder and more dangerous than a steel blade."Demon blood has a great number of mystic properties and makes ... powerful, if not dangerous potions. Those frequently have quite negative side effects. Why, I once knew a man who just loved to fuel his berserker potions with the stuff."

Ray nodded. He might just leave the claws to Klaus, as he wasn't that experience with blades. He prefer using guns, or other projectile weapons, for that matter. The potion sounds dangerous, whatever the negative side effects is.

As if to confirm his doubts, the dwarf continued. "Knew. Emphasis on knew. But of course the real find here is the skin itself! You dealt with the thing. I'm sure you realize what a grand trick it has built into it."

"It produces an illusion of itself, like a decoy." The snow leopard said, more to remind himself of what happened than explain it to the crafter. "Which would really come in handy in a combat. And it was invisible. An invisible cloak is also a nice idea."

[Minor NPC]

"Indeed. An invisibility cloak is quite possible with this. Against humanoid targets, such a thing can be highly effective - especially in our fight, against the army. Against other things, and high level mages? Less so."

The dwarf began carefully arranging the different items, setting aside the more perishable ones right away and sealing them in specialized boxes. Since they were talking about the cloak, he kept the skin out and carefully spread it out, investigating it for any problems.

"After all, many animals and magical beings, can sense invisible things. Sense of smell, you know."

[Ray]

"Smell can be easily masked," The snow leopard suggested, and sighed. "I don't suppose you can make two of that out of the skin, though."

And Klaus will not be happy about it. So now the problem is who gets to have it. He could probably claim it before Klaus could, anyway, but that wouldn't be nice, and he didn't want to get on the bad side of the tiger, not if he want to get in well with the Resistance. Maybe he should just come back later with him and decides who gets what then.

"An invisible cloak would be fine. And about the other ingredients......What are your suggestion?"

[Minor NPC]

"I could make two, if it was for a person of smaller size. Pixies and Gnomes - but not for a person of your size. It wouldn't be big enough to fully encompass you then."

He pondered more over the things, letting an inventor's imagination run its course.

"Mmm... if carefully extracted and molded to, perhaps some kind of steel base ... the claws could make a vicious saw-like cleaver. Like many demons, they have excellent night vision, and an uncanny connection to illusions. Perhaps ... I might have to work faster, but if I can save the eyes..."

The dwarf suddenly bolted to the side, where he pulled out a large drawer of tools. He tossed aside several of them over his shoulder, muttering to himself about details and knick knacks. When he finally found the molding device he was looking for, he squeaked with loud excitement, like some kind of woodland rat.

"Yes, yes, yes, just maybe, we'll have to see. No, no, don't ask me, I don't want to get your hopes up. This is delicate magic. Must be quick and careful. So many things to go wrong! Just like that time with the Dryad and the Ifrit and oh my you didn't hear that go away already!!"

[Ray]

The sudden outburst surprised the feline, making his fur on his tail stood on their ends. Unable to come out with a better idea, He walked out of the workshop while holding his tail in his hands, smoothing the fur down, leaving the crafter to do his job.

He closed the door and leaned on it, letting out a small sigh. It was a weird day. Well, maybe it was just another day in the Resistance, but it was weird enough for him. Or maybe it was just the first experiences. First time going on a hunt with a partner. First time he actually receive some compliments from it, rather than being scolded at and getting the loot taken away from him.

These experiences gave him some thing to think over, so much that he found himself still leaning on the workhouse's door five minutes later. Realizing that falling on the dwarf while he opens the door might not be such a good idea, he pull himself up and started walking towards the infirmary to check on Klaus.

[Minor NPC]

The infirmary was one of several of the many rooms in the underground part of the base - more secure locations, for one reason or another. It was their equivalent of a bunker, or the best they could do to make one.

But the infirmary was largely unoccupied at the moment, with only one person actually helping someone at the time. The elven man was laying on his front, shirtless, and the bear of a nurse seemed in the middle of reknitting his scars into whole, unmarked skin.

A male gnome with a beard almost as long as he was and a human woman were at a work station, dealing with herbs and other forms of medicine, chatting away about something before the gnome noticed the visitor. The woman put down her mortar and pestle, brushing her hands off before stepping closer.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked.

[Ray]

"I'm looking for Klaus." He said, tail flicking back and forth behind him.

"Something happened?" He asked, looking at the other occupants in the infirmary.

[Minor NPC]

"Klaus? You mean the big tiger?" she asked in return, though she already knew the answer. "We gave him a bit more healing, as well as a potion to restore his energy and blood loss. He already left though. I believe he was going to look for a teleporter, to retrieve the rest of the beast he killed."

She followed his gaze, to the man on the other side of the room.

"A recent arrival," she explained. "Anatoli is removing his scars ... from his years in slavery. Not too difficult a task, but one that does require more precision."

[Ray]

Knowing that Klaus went back for the kill irritated the young feline a little. It wasn't exactly safe to go back there. What if some other predator got there and decided that it was theirs to keep? There could be a fight. Or worse.

Probably that's why he went for a teleporter. They could jump in, grab the stuffs and jump out before anything recover from the shock of something appeared suddenly in front of their eyes, whatever they are.

His eyes lingered on the elf. A body of a former slave, covered in scars. Looking at that reminded him of Klaus, who have similar scars. He vaguely wondered what could they possibly did to deserve those.

He turned his head back, and noticed the nurse is still looking at him. He tried to come up with some kind of response, but all he managed is a flick on an ear. Feeling a little embarrassed, he step out of the infirmary quietly and started to head back to the dorm.