Tegan) Ghost Town (Zo

"Indubitably!" She had a bit of a painful time walking on her bitten ankle. "Are you sure you're alright, my friend?" Her limp didn't seem to be too bad and she hardly worried over herself if it wasn't a broken bone. She kept herself on high alert for any sounds or movements despite her need for sleep. "Do you suppose this is why nobody knows about that ghost town? Those wolves kill anything that gets within a certain range of that place? I suppose the sooner we get out of this region entirely the better off we'll be, but first your injuries and a bath if there's not some horrifying sea serpent ready to tear us to pieces at this water way."

She sighed. "Well if there IS a sea serpent the skin will make a few lovely pairs of boots. I'm no longer worrying over senseless killing so long as we're in this place." She glanced back toward the town and thought for a few moments. "This accursed spell must go for 50 miles. If it's less than 50 it's probably not by much." She looked at her ankle and snorted. "It'll be fine. If I can still stand then it must not be too bad." She turned toward the water and straightened her back. "I say we go to the water anyway to clean up and whatnot, it's been quite a long day." She nodded. "It would be more humorous yes, but I still think the idea of getting to make snakeskin boots is promising."

"This could very well be an inland sea you know, Akar." She paused and steadied him when he stood up. "Careful now, watch your step." His small rant only succeeded in making her smile. "This is a good learning experience, but I can do without the injuries for sure." She inhaled and sighed. She had missed the salt water, but what she didn't miss was the dangerous wildlife that usually lived in salt water: snakes, crocodiles, even a few dragons had been spotted by the local fishermen near her home town. "I think I'll wait till morning to do any swimming. . ." she said with serious hesitation. She sat at a happy medium between the forest and the water and looked around. "Whoever cast this spell knew what they were doing and has LOTS of power to maintain the upkeep. Barriers like this tend to weaken as they get bigger and eventually taper off at a point." She looked out over the water and narrowed her eyes as the water rippled. "If you have any sense you'll stay in the water. Otherwise you will be gutted like a fish." With that warning in place she knew she wouldn't be sleeping that night. Didn't matter what came out of that water she was going to kill it and nothing was going to stand in her way of doing so.

"Maybe is a rather broad word though. And if anything crawls out of that water anywhere NEAR here it's going to die. I'm not taking any more chances-" she cut herself off when something rose slightly out of the water then disappeared again. "Sorry saw that whatever it is move again. Hmm. . ." She drew out a small picture in the sand. "I hope you don't have phobias of large marine life, because we're being watched. I know that's not a pleasant thought, but something knows we're here." It definitely wasn't a nice idea but so long as it didn't crawl out of the water she was okay, for now. "Sooner we can get away from here the better. This place feels so weird to me. The sooner we're away from all this evil magic the better!" It was starting to give her the creeps. "I'm getting rid of all those old books on magic when I get home."

"I'm a magic-retarded elf. . .Never been able to use it, and glad I can't." She smiled slightly at him. "Trust me I'm proud not to use magic, makes people lazy and takes the satisfaction out of working for something. And magic is nothing but trouble." She watched the water closely and jumped as she saw a snake-like head rest atop the water and look at them. "I really hope that thing can't get onto land, or I'm going to panic." It looked ancient even to HER, and that was something. "That or it's too small to do much damage to us and isn't of any concern." She took a gulp of air and moved back just a bit from where she was sitting. "I REALLY hope that thing can only swim. It doesn't look like something I want anywhere near me."

"Looks like we're going to find out. . .It's getting closer. . ." She decided sitting wasn't her best option and stood up. "And it doesn't look nearly so big up cl-" she stopped herself when it dragged its body out of the water and was longer than Akar was tall. "That's one outlandish lizard!" She waited to see what it would do before she decided to go through with her boots, after all if it didn't eat meat it wasn't a threat, and therefore didn't need skinning. Though sadly, it kept walking closer, and closer, and closer. Eventually it decided to take a snap at her and she jumped to the side. "Akar you wanted range attacks now's your chance to have your wish those jaws are lethal! I can't get too close or I'll likely lose an arm!" Each time it snapped its jaws those interlocking teeth clicked and send chills up her spine. This was NOT how she planned to spend this journey!

She actually laughed as she moved away from the water. "I'll keep that one in mind now please incapacitate this commodious collection of cumbersome cuspids!" She swung with one of her knives and jumped back again. "If you don't do SOMETHING I will take you up on that offer to hit you to shut you up!" She decided distracting it was a smart option and rattled off some random things. "Look over here you parasite-infested perfidious pebble-brain!" She rolled out of the way of its jaws again only to have her dress ripped by its interlocking teeth. "Yikes!" She made a long jagged cut along its snout and continued to move away. "Please take the shot!" she pleaded. "I think I just made it angry!"

"Well excuse me for being a target." She hopped on its back and literally decapitated the creature before it could react. She got off the dead lizard and hugged Akar out of impulse. "I'd be dead if it weren't for you, thank you Akar!" She pulled away and composed herself after a few minutes. "Well, time for those boots I talked about. And this thing's got enough meat on it for it to be of use, and so're the teeth in those massive jaws." She decided skinning first cooking later, as cooking was a weak point for her. She left the head alone for the time being, deciding that it might still be able to take a snap at her even though it wasn't attached to the body. She pondered just HOW she was going to skin this thing for a few minutes before starting at the shoulders and working down the length of the creature. "This thing is huge. How on earth did it survive in that water for so long?"

"Who knows what else is in there that CAN'T get onto land?" She continued her work slowly but steadily as she began to peel the skin away from the animal. "I got to watch my father do this with scaly fish at home when I was a kid. It's a bit different I guess, but it's still sort of fun." She set the body down and decided to prop open the jaws with a large rock so rigor mortis didn't clamp them shut. As she began to yank out teeth she decided to answer him. "I'd think the water's rather deep seeing as nobody has ever seen one of these things before. But then again around here nothing is like it seems. Probably plenty of fish for this thing to eat in there." Once she had all the teeth she took them back to the body and resumed her skinning. "You sure you're okay there? At least the sun'll be coming up shortly."

"I'm going to do just what I said: make boots. Reptile skin is good for sealing out water and in this case the skin isn't heavily armored. By the way the teeth look like they'd make good arrowheads, you should see how that works out." It took her another hour or so before the thing had no skin. She looked a bit green as she turned away from the body to measure out the skin. "I guess we keep heading away from the forest. . .Whichever way that is. When we come to a town that ISN'T cursed I suppose we'll start from there." She began cutting up the skin and looked through what few things she had brought with her for some twine. Once the sewing started she paid a little less attention to it, and looked at her companion. "Some things don't die that easily, and if it gets a snack you'll never find your sister." She glanced at her needlework and continued her task as it started to get lighter along the horizon.

She smiled and looked toward the rising sun. "Well at least now maybe we can do some traveling and not worry about getting attacked." The smile fell slightly when he said he didn't know where to look. "We'll just keep looking till we find her okay? Don't give up on her." She couldn't understand why she was doing this for a stranger she'd barely known a day, but she pinned the blame on it being what she'd be doing if it were her own sibling she wanted to find so badly. She looked at the teeth and found serrations on them. "If you could get these in the right shape you'd have some very sinister arrows. . .The teeth're made like knives." She set to work on the soles and when she tried to pick up her needle she jabbed herself in the hand. She gave the tiniest flinch and continued her work. "We've had the worst luck so far, I wonder what else could possibly happen." she said with heavy sarcasm.

"Doesn't matter how dangerous, nature's wonders are a beauty aren't they? And yes indeed you pick up skills fast." she said looking at the arrowhead. "All it needs is some smoothing out to reduce drag and you're good." She finished her boots and yawned. "A whole night without sleep. . .We're getting to a town with an inn today, no questions asked on that." She took the remaining skin and ended up with a second set of boots and gloves, both consequentially were made with Akar in mind. "These go to you. No asking why, just nod your head and accept them okay?" she said smiling. Honestly she now had what she wanted, so she thought it would be a nice thought to make something for him.

She waved off the offer and smiled. "Yes, yes, whatever will make you happy at this point, and you're welcome. You've just seen what happens when you back me into a corner so I doubt you'll do anything stupid." she said gesturing to the corpse. "Of course after all this I think romance is the last thing on your list of things to do." Guess he really had money burning a hole in his pocket if he was wanting to pay so badly. She brushed that thought aside as the sun started to illuminate the area further. "Thank whatever higher power exists. . ." she paused to yawn tiredly. "That it's finally morning. That was the worst night ever."