LizardFolk Burrow

[Afternoon Day 7]

ZardHatta returned home with Many prizes. Two corpses and a guest. He assumed he'd get many looks from the surrounding Zards. He kept close to the Human as Zwardfae had caught up to them, having shed the torn up scales from the Horned Rabbit, even she noticed the attitude change. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.  ZardHatta could tell the Human was nervous. He'd be nervous in a human borough burrow too. He'd search and find ZardGrammy to show the human. The wisest of the Zards should have wise words for him. ZardHatta would give the human an assured smirk before he began speaking to ZardGrammy. He pulled off the leg of the bunny and passed it to the maternal figure."Grammy! Here something from my hunt! Oh yea! I found a human! And I was able to bring them here! They were crying in the woods. I want to help but i don't know how... so... can I keep it?" He asked as he didn't get the talk so didn't know of the Dwarves deep within the burrow. His plea to keep the human was far more innocent then his brethren.

Zardgrammy would look at the new bounty with a slightly narrowed eye before nodding at the Zard who had brought them another potential source for hatchlings. "Wonderful, we can add her to the breeding room you did well Zardhatta!" she said with a smile patting him on the head, if he wanted to keep her she understood that usually those who captured a civilized race wanted to have first dibs. Sometimes they even refused to share but that was up to him, after all so long as the girl knew her place there wouldn't be a problem, but if she ever hurt one of them then her autonomy would be forfeit and assuming she killed one of them well, there were ways to get revenge on such creatures.

ZardHatta was confused. ZwardFae had an idea something like this would happen... ZardGrammy wasn't making sense, yet she patted him on the head like he did an excellent job. "Breeding room!? What? This is my friend Grammy! Stuff like that only happens between Zards!" He didn't know any better but at least his strange sense of morals was there. He didn't find the human attractive so he was confused to what she meant by breeding room. He had made an egg with Fae, other lizard skin was all he knew. To the Human Hatta would look a little distressed as he paced around. "We found her! Maybe we can put her to work! That way the others can't break her!" He meant in the literal sense and not the other implication. Afterall at the least he knew was that Zards can get rough when they play around. Just the thought of trying to breed with a human. It was strange.

Zardgrammy would shrug as she didn't have any pressing jobs for them to assign the human with but she thought about stuff that was easy and then decided to toss out a suggestion. "She can prepare our food then, should be easy enough. If she is as trustworthy as you think she is you will be the first to eat from her, that way if she tries to poison us all it'll be on your head." Zardgrammy said before walking off so that she could take a nap. As for the other Lizardkin some of them would look lustfully at the Human but most were either curious or disinterested for the most part, it would be interesting to see how the movers and shakers of the Lizardfolk Burrow would react to her though as for the most part all of them were busy or not present at the moment. Meanwhile the girl was rather confused as she didn't understand anything any of them were saying, she figured that at some point she would understand them as she had heard stories of how captives ended up learning the languages of monsters that had captured them but perhaps it took a little while.

The immediate dread had halted. Seems ZardGrammy was a bit tired and assigned meal prep to the Human. A sigh of relief. ZardHatta had seen the food storage once deeper in the burrow yet didn't know the way, he had some food on him thankfully. Man communicating with this human was tough. "You could make a bowl... From the Tanuki." Fae offered to him. ":0" Hatta was caught off guard by the brilliance of his companion. "This is why you're the brains!" Hatta looked happy again and began to Carve the Greater Armored Tanuki. Hoping to get A bowl from the shell and maybe find a strong bone amongst the results of his carve. He'd have to carve the rabbit later but he needed to hurry. As soon as he was done with the Carve he would get a fire going. They were in their little bit of the burrow. Seeing as he couldn't talk to the Human. He could just show her. "Fae can you clean out the shell with some water?" Fae was interested in what was going on here so she pulled out her stone and sprayed the new Bowl out of blood. Hatta put more wood down and lit the fire up. Then as simply as he could. He'd point at the bowl. Then at the fire. Then at the Rabbit. Hopefully she'd get the picture.

OOC: Using Carve twice on the greater Tanuki and Firestarter.

Zardhatta would manage would carve a Greater Tanuki Shield, but unfortunately he would fail trying to harvest anything else from it, ruining his chances of getting more from it at a later occasion. Other than that it seemed that things were going well in terms of preparation and with Zardhatta managing to start a small fire he would manage to keep that going but without fuel it would probably not last that long. Fortunately he added sticks and thus he would have a rudimentary set up which their captive was actually familiar with which would cause her to look at him with bright eyes as she didn't think monsters were capable of cooking. She just figured they all ate things raw blood and all without any qualms about how barbaric eating in such a way was.

On the other side of things Zarbyoshi was finally done with whatever it was he was doing before and Zwardsnow would yawn before looking at him with a smile. "So what are we going to do today?" Zwardsnow said while Bearursa was sniffing around the cave in boredom.

Spoiler:

It seems the Zards would not bother Hatta or his new friend. Good. “Hey Fae. I’m going to do some practicing for a bit. Can you watch over the human?” Hatta said as he brushed his scales a bit. ZwardFae should be able to guard the human. “Fine but only because I need to shed.” Fae wasn’t as kind as ZardHatta so she coiled up near the human and kept herself in eye sight of the Technically captive girl and began Hatta had a little understanding of breeding with humans but if ZardGrammy immediately opted for it then it didn’t take much to figure out that other Zards might bother his scared friend. He’d stay close. He was intending to practice his [sneak] skill for a few hours.

ZardHatta would use his own fellow Zards as test puppets. After all his sneaking was getting pretty good and it was getting late. Most Zards should have came home to the Burrow. The setting sun would be a great backdrop to his little escapade. He’d sneak over by Grammy and kept himself as hidden as possible. As soon as he felt it was safe to move he’d go off and continue to sneak through the brush of the burrow. Sneaking by ZwardFae and the human to ensure they were safe. He’d bring firewood and stealthily placed it near the Shedding Fae for her to point out to the human. He’d then rinse and repeat. He’d sneak up on a zard and would sneak away, hopefully without alerting anyone. Gather a bit of firewood and then sneak it back to his little corner of the burrow. He was making sure no one would bother his ladies. He’d keep this little pattern up for a few hours as he wanted to make sure he blended in with his surrounding. He wanted to be a master of the sneak and he was determined to keep his little rounds up until he did.

Yoshi rose with a yawn, curious if the little Zard had decided to join them or not. However, a burning question was in his mind this morning, something he had clearly been thinking about while he slept. He didn't even bother to check the nest of his minions, figuring if the zard did join them, he'd know soon enough. I'll be back, then we hunt. Yoshi said to Snow and Ursa as they too rose and looked to him for his usual leadership. However, he looked for Zardgrammy, finding her as the rest of the burrow began to slowly wake up. Grammy, something has been bothering me. Yoshi said, looking at the older Zard. Considering all of the killing and posturing the last 10 days, it felt odd calling someone "Grammy" but he supposed that was her name and the only one he had ever been given by her. When we were attacked, by the red bear, he had strange markings. He could breathe fire, even burned Snow. What was all that? How could he do that? Yoshi asked, knowing that magic existed in this world but realizing he himself had never really dabbled or looked into it much. Perhaps Grammy could shine some light on this.

Spoiler:

The little Zard didn't join unfortunately as while he was sure Zarbyoshi was powerful he didn't think he could protect him, perhaps it was because Newtrex was just more intimidating and he felt that if he joined up with the former the latter would find him and hurt him worse than before. Still the sneaking Zardhatta would manage to accumulate a fair bit of skill practicing on his fellow Zards as the vast majority of them were unfamiliar with the concept of sneaking around, and those who were familiar weren't familiar with noticing others who did sneak. While he was going about this the human would try her best to work with the materials she had and suffice to say in the end it came out alright perhaps it was nerves or something that was why she couldn't do her best.

"You've seen the markings of the gods then! Indeed there exist various deities within this world of ours and those who have earned their favor have markings which show their allegiances. I personally know of the Goddess of Heat who is our patron deity. But I do know about those apex predators who are notable due to markings they possess, the Red Hind Bear possesses markings of the Demi-God of Fire, while the Eclipse King Cobra has markings of the God of Poison, but other than that I don't know much about deities. But I'm sure our captive would know a bit the Civilized Races are more likely to worship the Deities us monsters we don't have the luxury to concern ourselves with things other than survival most of the time."

Spoiler:

OOC: Ty based god, now i may rest

ZardHatta had finally felt as if he had gotten some decent training done. No Zards had approached the human and it seems she had made something with the bowl, water, rabbit, and fire. He had never eaten anything cooked. But he saw some older zards cooking meat over a fire. He was sure it would be good. He looked over to Fae and spoke to her. "It looks like you guys are okay. The sun has set. It's definitely time to rest. Let me make sure the human doesn't do anything weird." He said as he looked over to the girl. "She's been speaking to herself as she cut meat off the rabbit. You may need to talk to her for the bones for you to carve. Overall she's been quiet. I'm going back to my shed and most likely sleep..." She coiled up against herself and continued on her shed.

ZardHatta approached the Human girl and looked around. She probably had made something for herself to eat. He passed her some more firewood to keep the fire going. He then pointed to Fae and then to himself and then crossed his arms and put his head into it to signify that he was going to sleep. He left his Club next to the girl and nodded at her. It was time to sleep.

OOC: It's my afternoon/night and Kenji's Morning so ima just sleep and catch up. Finally time to rank up :3. I'll use my Luck E- to influence my rank up!

Hatta's skills:

Returning from the hunt, Zwardyaya led the group having moved a little slowly due to her new injury, followed by Zwardtenor and Ophij'tali carrying together the three bodies. With plans to rest up for the night, they dropped the bodies in J'Tali's bunk. When the Zwards were leaving for their own, J'Tali grabbed the both of them to bring them back in. Tenor might have not been as surprised after the last night, but Yaya hadn't expected it. "Just want time," Was their only answer, setting out just what they had got, and split up their spoils of the barbs. Just a little something extra to fight with if needed. But once done, they would curl up to rest through the night huddled together.

[Ending Day/Night 8]

Would you like to Rank-up?

If Yes:

If No:

Upon awakening the next day Zardj'tali would see that some others weren't around it seemed that everyone seemed to be rushing in preparation for something and Zardgrammy was currently in a conversation with Zarbyoshi while the other more notable members of their burrow were seemingly making some last minute preparations. Newtrex was fully geared up and was brandishing what seemed to be a large hammer which had been made most likely out of a Hind Bear Femur and two of their skulls. Quite the dangerous weapon indeed but it was Zargeggy's things which were the most interesting to behold as she had seemingly refined her makeshift wings making them easier to wear without sacrificing her aesthetics. Still as this went on others would enter the burrow one of which was not reptilian at all but despite this new appearance Zarbyoshi would recognize the gear that the individual was wearing to be identical to that of Zardbion. It seemed that he had been fortunate enough to rank-up as well and his purplish skin made him quite a distinct Bullywug.

Spoiler:

Hatta:

With all the buzz going on it only made sense for OphiJ'Tali to remain in the burrow for the day. Not that she planned anything otherwise. She had plans for the day. First she would do a quick little wander through the burrow, noticing many had seemed to get some of the same ideas and crafting garments, she just needed the inspiration for what she was trying to do. Once she had this, she returned to her nook with Yaya and Tenor, and set out to work. She carved first, slowly, showing and helping the other two in making sure they were getting it right. Over the course of the whole day, they would skin the three kobolds, each doing so on the kobold they individually targetted, creating some form of leather pelt armours from the furs.

Our captive? Yoshi asked, surprised by Grammy's words. He had been listening intently to everything she was saying about the gods and blessings, trying to take it all in and understand just what she meant. These blessings were certainly interesting and he had never heard the Goddess of Heat mentioned, though she was apparently someone the Lizards worshiped. This world was truly a strange place. As he opened his mouth to follow up with a few more questions for Grammy, some commotion within the burrow caught his attention. He looked to the open mouth of the entrance, finding a strange creature entering the burrow after a long night. It seemed ranking up was becoming more and more popular as, what once was Zardbion, strode into the burrow. He was flanked by his hunting party, another successful night hunt by the looks of it. A tinge of guilt and rage washed over Yoshi as he though of his fallen zard, but he quickly let it pass. There was no one to hold accountable for this loss, not here anyway.

Grammy, last night when I was...talking to Rex, you mentioned a tournament or festivities or something. What was that? He asked, remembering how Grammy had done her best to de-escalate the animosity between the two lizards.

An interesting night filled with dreams. ZardHatta could fly. Soar just like a bird. Then just in the apex of his flight he nose dived down and as he flew his scales seemed to fly off, as if he was shedding mid flight. The new scales shone beautifully like a rainbow. A screen popped up in his mind’s eye. ‘Fortunate. It is time yet again. Would you like to Rank up. Here are your options...” Hatta didn’t know what that word meant in front of it but it sounded more impressive then the prior option he had. “Yes.” The rest of his scales flew off and his new scales and size enveloped him. The little Zard has finally joined his brethren and ranked up.

Spoiler:

Ophij'tali had spend the whole day carving alongside her companions and as a result had gained three cloaks and three skulls all of which were in the best condition possible, it was very fortunate that they had taken the time to carve their spoils in such a way as now they had new equipment for them to utilize. When she went to sleep and woke up back in the morning she would wake up to Zarbyoshi talking to Zardgrammy while others seemed to linger within the burrow. Speaking of Zardgrammy she would turn to regard Zarbyoshi before speaking again after she had smiled at Bullybion's new appearance. "Ah yes, Zar- ah I guess now it's Czardhatta captured a human who he is having cook meals for him, I thought it would be smart to not have her prepare our meals as she isn't trustworthy yet. If she doesn't poison him in a couple of days then maybe we can have her prepare more meals as the civilized races are better at having food last longer in comparison to us." she said before spotting Ophij'tali and beckoning her to listen before clearing her throat so that all of those within the burrow could hear her speak.

"When the sun goes down we shall have a tournament to determine who is the strongest within the burrow. I shall be acting as the judge and for those who place in the top five I have a special reward for them in the form of Spirit Stones. 1st Place will get a Standard Heat Spirit Stone while the others will each get a Lesser Heat Spirit Stone each. I would not advise anyone to go out to hunt today but instead refine your skills in preparation for the bout as it would be best if you all were at full health as my staff only has a certain amount of healing charges in it." she said gesturing to what seemed to be a simple walking stick. Though it did seem her statement resonated with the others as the other notable evolved Zards started to practice their skills with their groups except for Newtrex who would head deeper into the burrow rather than practice in the general area.

J'tali:

Hatta:

CzardHatta woke up and noticed his new scales. They were just like ZwardFae’s but a whole lot more shinier. HOLD UP THAT WASNT A DREAM!? ”Fae! Fae! Look at me!” ZwardFae was already awake and by the human. ”Oh you’re awake. ZardGrammy came by earlier and noticed you ranked up. She called you Czard now. Congrats.” CzardHatta. Huh had a ring to it. An elegant ring. Czard Czard. What a fun jingle to it. ”:0” He looked up and down at his new form. “That’s awesome!” He noticed the new way he was talking. Just like Fae. He noticed the human who he was now near the size of her. He kept it nice and yipped at the human. “Hello Fren it is I CzardHatta!” ZwardFae let out a sigh and looked at the dummy. “She still can’t understand you. Maybe you can figure that out today. ZardGrammy says theirs a huge party later and to stay in.” Fae looked around and noticed how jubilant the whole burrow was. ”You’re right! We can try learning from the human! That way we can try more of this food she can make!” CzardHatta looked over to the most likely confused human. He pointed at the human and then to Fae and then himself. He then made a talking motion with his hand and smiled at her in hopes of her getting it.

OOC: Hatta and Fae gonna practice speaking and learning the tongue of the humans until night unless someone chats me up in particular.

Hmmm. Yoshi mused to himself, considering what Grammy had said. He was going to send the Jurassic Squad out today for another hunt. They needed to get stronger and that was their best chance, not to mention food was running low. He had enough stocked up to feed everyone for one day, but after that they'd have nothing. Still, a tournament could help them grow just as much and, hopefully be a bit safer as well. He'd leave it up to them to decide. The other bit of info that piqued his interest was the mention of a human. Yoshi had been too caught up in his own training and duties to notice the newcomer to the burrow earlier. Now, he turned his attention to the squawking lizardkin, a variant he hadn't seen before as he tried to communicate with the human, who clearly looked confused but smiled pleasantly. He'd have to chat with her later.

Wandering back to his nest, where Snow, Ursa and the Jurassic Squad sat patiently, Yoshi said, There will be a tournament tonight. The three of us, he said, indicating Ursa, Snow and himself, will be participating. The stones promised by Grammy are simply too valuable to possibly pass up. Not to mention... His thoughts went to Bion in his new form and Rex, disappearing farther down the burrow. Regardless, you four were supposed to hunt today, but I've decided hunting and fighting in the tournament will have equal benefits, so the choice is yours.

Zardtor looked at his brothers and sisters as they murmured quietly among themselves. Ursa and Snow wandered off to a farther section of the burrow to begin their training. Finally, Zardtor looked up at Yoshi, We'll fight. He said with a look of determination that impressed Yoshi. The black lizard nodded, Good, then go train. and the Zards left as a squad at his command. That left Yoshi alone, gazing across the various groups of Lizards eagerly training, he considered what he would do. Hunching down, he made his way to the far wall of the burrow. He would use his time to walk along the wall, doing his best to stay out of sight and out of mind, sneaking around the various zards in training and attempting to study just what they were doing and how they fought. He'd even make an attempt at going down the path Rex had forged earlier to see what he was up to.

Spoiler:

Now that had OphiJ'Tali's attention. The notion of a healing staff sounded the perfect thing. "How I make?!" She said excitedly, briefly having reverted to her old basic Lizard manner of speech she clearly had not completely grown out of. "Sorry. I'll stay inside for today, I feel like I have much to do. But I am very curious how you made that staff? Would very much like to learn that type of magic," She knew she wouldn't have the time to deal with that today, but once she had that information she would store it in her mind and go back to her duo trying on their new cloaks. With a wide grin, J'Tali gave them a thumbs up in her own cloak.

Finally after the day, the trio ate their meals, J'Tali's insistance, and settled in for sleep again. Only J'Tali would pull them aside, hushing them, and handing them each a stone. Tenor recieving an earth, and Yaya a water. "Eat. And sleep. Best option." She knew the risks, she remembered the feelings as she fell asleep after eating her own. She only hoped that the two would come out of it just as well as she had. Her and Tenor could fight about the same currently, and Yaya was still finding her footing, so a little variety would go a long way. Finally, she would eat a water stone herself. With a silent prayer to... she wasn't even sure... that this would work for them. And in a pile, the trio slept.

The day would come and go, and those who stayed in to train would reap the dividends while Ophij'tali and her group were both hungry and thirsty due to their extremely busy day previously. It was actually fortunate that they slept yesterday as it reduced the amount of hunger and thirst they would suffer had they stay up at night as well seeing as they had all skipped a meal the previous day. Despite that they were all rather hungry, with each of them feeling weakness now that their hunger and thirst limit were below half capacity it definitely wasn't conducive to a tournament setting but it was better than starving and being dehydrated. As for the Zarbyoshi he would try to sneak to see what Newtrex was up to but would end up being unable to go any farther as one of the rooms within the burrow now had a new door in front of it which was fairly barricaded. The only thing he could hear from within was the sounds of moaning. and grunting.

Anyways when he returned to the main area he would see that the Human captive had actually managed to speak their language much to the excitement of Czardhatta as his conversations had eventually came through for him. It seemed that Zwardfae was slowly being replaced as the most important female in his life, something that she was noticing and was gradually getting more irritated over. It seemed that all of the Lizardkin were in the main area despite this the center was actually kind of barren as the only one standing there was Zardgrammy. "Now is the time, to host our tournament to see who among your generation are the strongest within our burrow! This is important as in about 5 days from now the older generation should be arriving back from their journey in search of food, gear and most importantly captives!" Zardgrammy spoke projecting her voice so that all of them could hear her and she would pause to see if they understood. This would be the time for those who didn't want to participate to withdraw, those who did to determine who among themselves would be considered their seed.

"Now then, I know there are factions among you, my eyes have watched and waited to see who would group together and I have been pleased for the most part. It is obvious who are in charge of the various factions, as such they will be seeded in parts of the tournament so that they do not fight too early with one another. Zarbyoshi, Ophij'tali, Czardhatta, Bullybion, Newtrex, Zargeggy. You will all be seeded appropriately, Pets and Captives can not participate in this tournament and it seems that we are missing two factions who I had hoped might be back before the tournament started... Still We should have enough participants that this will be quite fun." Zardgrammy said before some Zards arrived from deeper within the burrow with a large piece of bark which seemed to have the names of those who were in the tournament, but to make it easier for those who were unable to read due to not possessing any language skill, Zardgrammy would still announce who would fight who.

"For the first round we will have eight fights, four at a time, everyone who is not participating back up against the wall. You all will fight in these spots, if you notice on the ground I have sectioned off areas to determine where you can fight, if you cross the line it'll be an automatic win for your opponent!" she said gesturing to the various spots and indeed they could see that the main area was now separated into four squares and Zardgrammy would personally point out who would go to which square. The battles would begin with earnest and would conclude after a bit with the initial batch being mostly those who were randomly pitted against each other as well as those from the various factions who weren't really notable. The winners were victorious while the losers were dragged off so they could watch while only the winner's injuries were tended too. However the next batch of participants was were it would get more interesting. She would wait for them to go to their assigned squad (1 to 4) before shouting begin when they were ready.

Tournament:

Exp Calculation:

A whole days of trying to communicate with the human proved fruitful as the two were able to actually communicate finally. CzardHatta was happy yet he noticed ZwardFae’s frustration again. He was a noticing a pattern but he kept quiet. He knew how ugly her bad side was. He rather not be there again. Yet the two of them were getting better at this communicating as Hatta was slowly becoming more articulate.

After awhile of helping the human and at least grasping the basics of speech, ZardGrammy spoke. A tournament! To prove the best? CzardHatta gave a worried look as he knew he was strong. But what about his kin? Everyone was doing their best to get stronger. And he had just ranked up. His new abilities were strange to him. He heard from Fae how interesting her breath was to use, yet he hadn’t attempted it just yet.... soon he’d think to himself. Yet as he listened, both Fae and himself were eager. They hadn’t the real opportunity to actually test themselves. Hatta didn’t know if he would win but hey he could try.

CzardHatta would help lighting the area with his Firestarter technique. A nicely lit playground was always fun. Soon the matches would begin. He was up nearly last so got the chance to simply watch. Most of the fights were interesting to say the least. But then. Blood. Carnage. Rex had taken it to far. He killed his kin in his match. Survival of the fittest and only the strongest survived. But he tore apart his opponent. CzardHatta and Fae both agreed to themselves. That if they came up against Rex. They would do their best to punish him for his excessive behavior.

ZwardFae’s match had come to. Her general bad mood was clear in her fight. Fae was a cold fighter. Calculating and to the point. Her favored claws proved her ally as she scratched up her opponent, and with her temper, she pushed her opponent out of bounds and quietly returned to the stands. She didn’t care for being the strongest. But it would be a nice bragging point.

CzardHatta’s match had come up and he was vs ZwardYaya. He knew of everyone’s name but he didn’t know this Zard well at all. Oh well. He had his small shield and his club. He awaited for the match to start. If weapons were allowed he would gladly Wield his heavy club against the opponent. He would just jet off and would swing his club at the other Zard’s Belly! He had hoped that he could knock the Zard out of the ring and if not cause them to drop any weapon they may carry by knocking it he wind out of them. Then he raised his shield and tried to use his new breath weapon. Not aware of what it would do but wanted to prove that he could contend with the best.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

It was time for the event Grammy had teased earlier. Yoshi, Snow and his minions had waited quietly, absorbing the information as Grammy and some other Zards began preparing the area for the tournament. Ursa had wandered off back to the nest to hibernate for the rest of the night. Pets weren't allowed in the tournament and while this initially irritated Yoshi, he understood the reasoning behind it. Ursa's raw strength alone would almost certainly end up in the mauling, if not death, of one of the other Zards matched against him. It seemed only fair, if not unfortunate. The first round began and Yoshi was surprised to see Tor come out on top during his fight. Well done, Tor! Rest up for the next round. Yoshi said as the other Zards congratulated their brethren on his victory.

Bion was next, and it seemed the new strength and abilities the Zard had gained through his rank up had paid off. It was a quick, decisive match with Bion simply tossing the other Zard out of the arena with little effort. Perhaps Bion would be more difficult to take down than he had initially expected. Eggy's fight was, as expected, entertaining to say the least. She seemed to be playing with her opponent throughout most of it, like a hawk with a mouse. After awhile, she grew bored and simply ended the match. There was a clear divide between those Zards who had ranked up over the past few days and those who had yet to. Finally, it was Rex's turn. His fight was less than a minute at best and ended in bloodshed. Many Zards in the crowd looked away in disgust as Rex's opponent was beaten to a bloody pulp, but Yoshi continued staring, his anger mounting within.

Finally, it was he and Snow's turn. It seemed the two were matched with another hunting group. This group had gone with them when they encountered the Red Bear several nights ago, but Yoshi realized other than that, he had little interaction with them. As the white Lizardkin known as Zwardtenor entered the arena in front of him, Yoshi reminded himself that he had no intention of killing or even maiming his fellow kin, but he also had no intention of losing either. The mantis claws were strapped to his back, beneath the lizard hide cloak he wore, but for now he would simply rely on his natural abilities. As the match started, Yoshi charged Tenor, letting out a ferocious Battle Cry in an attempt to intimidate the White Lizard. Perhaps he could convince the creature to willingly forfeit and thus prevent any bloodshed. However, if Tenor did not, then Yoshi would jump at the Lizard, attempting to rake his claws across the lizard's right arm where her elbow met her forearm. Hopefully the damage would be enough to prevent the use of that arm for the remainder of the fight, but not leave anything permanent.

Yoshi's Attack:

As for Snow, she would be paired with what could only be assumed as the leader of this hunting trio. The long, snake-like body of the lizard confused her, as she looked nothing like Snow or Yoshi. Snow would enter with the shield and spear Yoshi had given her for the tournament. She'd raise each in preparation for the fight, but unlike Yoshi who dashed in head first, Snow was slower and more methodical. She lacked his raw strength and even abilities, so she'd need to fight more defensively, more carefully if she had any hope of winning.

:

As the whole big event was getting underway, the trio got to dealing with their morning hunger and thirst to alleviate that. The three didn't even really go anywhere, they were just a growing triad of comfort. Tenor had all but moved to J'Tali's nook, and Yaya was pondering it too. But before too long, it was time to begin.

Orphij'tali was ready for this. She just told herself that. She stepped in to the ring stretching herself off, swinging her tail behind her as she stretched off that limb too. She was against one of the Zwards, and not one of her two friends. "We met properly when fighting the bears. But to say myself. I'm Ophij'tali. Let's have a good fight, yeah?" Overly friendly was her defining trait, but even ZardGrammy might be surprised by how seriously she was taking this. She didn't care about proving herself really, but the others seemed to value strength, ands he wanted to show she was keeping up with them. She was in the ring without weapon, and in the new kobold fur cloak, and the skull that her trio shared from their recent conquests. And Snow had a shield and spear, things she hadn't fought before. So she could just smile. It was going to be fun. She hunched low, and made her approach, keeping her eye on the long weapon. A weapon like that in the Ophidian's mind was one made to keep an enemy at range, but close range was her speciality, and she wasn't always one to completely watch herself. She'd take a blow if it meant she was getting the advantage. So she would watch out for the spear, and drive herself forwards, finding a point to sink her poisoned teeth in to Snow.

Spoiler:

Zwardyaya was excited but also wary as she was fighting against one of the "leaders" and this one seemed to have ranked-up into something quite distinct, sure she had faith that Ophij'tali would pull out the final victory in the end but she knew it was up to her to try her best so his tactics could be exposed. She would wait in place as he rushed at her crossing her arms so that she could block his club with her forearms and when he opened his mouth she would open hers and try to contest his breath with her own White Lizardkin breath. Unfortunately for her she had underestimated his power and overestimated the reliability of her newly gained technique as her breath failed to manifest whereas his did and would engulf her body dealing damage to her on top of what his club did and more importantly chilling her body down enough that she would move noticeably slower. The reason this was important was simply due to the fact that she was already not that skilled in dexterity as such when she was inflicted by cold she was now unable to move effectively enough to dodge.

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OOC: Err... I guess I claim autohit on Tenor with Yoshi? Vix will clarify.
+100 skill exp for Basic Monster Weapons
+200 skill exp for Battle Cry

Yoshi wasn't entirely sure if his Battle Cry had been so intimidating it had frozen Tenor in place, or what, but for whatever reason the white zard didn't even bother moving out of the way of his attack. He smiled as his claws raked through scales and flesh, his attack successful. He had to be wary now, his small lizard brain raising. Again, he had no desire to kill Tenor, but he wanted to win and he wanted to win decisively. Up close like this, Yoshi decided to use his impressive strength to his advantage. He lunged forward, attempting to knock Tenor off his feet and to the ground. If successful, Yoshi would plant himself on Tenor's chest and pull out one of the Mantis Claws from behind his back. He'd hold it up to Tenor's throat, Yield, I don't want this to be any worse than it already is.

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Snow kept her shield raised, covering much of her white scaled body. The sword lay in her other hand, ready to strike, though she questioned her proficiency with it. She hadn't mad much practice with weapons of any kind, never mind a spear. Its length and weight made it seem a bit unwieldy to her, but hopefully she'd figure it out before the end of this fight. The creature in front of her was...reptilian at the very least, though she questioned just how much of a Zard it still was. Its body moved and swayed and Snow sensed a swiftness in those movements that she didn't much care for. Still, even if she hadn't practiced with the spear, she knew how to defend herself and that's exactly what she was planning on with her shield. The Ophidian moved quickly, striking out with her dangerous looking teeth. However, it was a head on attack and with her shield already at the ready, Snow had little trouble blocking the attack. As teeth scratched against the iron of her shield, creating a shrieking noise that filled the arena, Snow raised her spear high above her head and attempted to bring it down on the Ophidian's foot. At best it would lock the creature in place and at worst it would injure her enough to slow her down. Or...she could just miss all together. Who's to say?

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