Secluded Lake

A metallic plop comes from Liebert's things shuffled inside her bag as they are dropped at the base of the Scardian Ironwood tree. The woman has been on the road since she entered Scardia via Cretu's harbor, and the woman has yet to take off the hood and cloak that concealed traits obscured by shadows; her glowing red eyes. As a Teronian, she was not very welcomed in Scardia due to the two countries general dislike of one another. Historically it was a rivalry that spanned generations, since Scar'd was High King of the lands, before he became a God. Her pale yet beautiful face turns to face the lake, her eyes scanning the surface as she silently crept to its surface, kneeling down to refill her waterskin with much needed water. Kilwood shouldn't be too far from here. I have perhaps half a day's journey North of here. She thought to herself, reflecting as she stared at her image that rippled in the water below her. She needed a small break, and thought that perhaps a nap against the shade of the tree would help.

The massive green scaled creature lay on her back at the bottom of the lake. Known by the locals as the Beast of Kilwood Loch, most tend to go without notice that her real name was 'Darzha'. Though, that was the lake monster's fault, as she didn't often leave survivors who got to know her personally. Those who got to know her on such intimate scales, tend to collect at the bottom of the loch as moss ridden bones once they outlived their usefulness in filling her temporary hunger. Most of the mortals thought she was a male of her kind, but the girth got in the way of identifying her as anything else.

Ugh... so bored. Hungry too. Damn locals have been quiet as of late... its the month of the fish in Scardia, they're in season- I should be dining on mortal flesh! She mentally groaned, her belly filled with 'boring' schools of salmon that she had to eat to sustain her energy thus far. It had been the same for the past few weeks, and the most exciting thing she ate was a local black bear and her three cubs. They were all gone now, and the fish were slowly digesting too, but she'd need to leave or else deprive the lake of its bounty. She may be a greedy lake monster at times, but she knew that eating all the local wildlife swimming about was a bad idea.

She slowly opened her large red eyes, bubbles exiting her horse like snout.... when she saw the silhouette of the mortal filling her canteen near the drop off. She could smell the woman's pheromones and oils as she partially dipped her hands and knees in the water. She could hear the bubbling of her canteen as it filled with water, and after focusing her sight long enough, could make out her feminine shape:



Darzha stared intently, and liked what she sees:



Very meaty, she'll solve these hunger pains! Hmmmm a traveller perhaps? I bet she has some treasure I can collect as well! Her tongue slips back into her maw, and she begins to ascend to 'introduce' herself to her future squirmy roomie. She shoved aside Jellmock and other predatory creatures as she swam upwards! She's mine! She exclaimed under the water, large bubbles escaping to the surface before Darzha.

Liebert filled her water-skin till it was firm and heavy, capping it off, turning from the dark depths for a moment before hearing the disturbance upon the still water's surface. Plop!

She turned her large, crimson gaze upon the surface where the large air bubble surfaced. Thanks to Sirius' eyes she shared with Him, she could see the threat even through the murky haze of the water. "Hmp." she grunted, standing up abruptly, clasping the buckle of her cloak which clamped around her neck, and as 'it' surfaces, throws the heavy hooded cloak off her body, letting it flap around the head of the ascending large, red-eyed creature!

Doing so revealed Liebert fully, though she sensed none nearby to witness her unbridled beauty as she leaps rather far from the lake's edge, landing on all fours:



She stands erect now that the creature made its scene, though perhaps not in the manner in which it had wanted to:



Liebert eyes the giant carefully with a stern and angry expression. "Figured you'd have yourself an easy meal? Eh, lake dragon?" she asked, her tone cold and not amused. "I'd rather not sully my clothes with your stomach bile, so I'll have to respectfully decline your residence." she added, reaching back for one of her sheathed Shadowblade kukri's...

Liebert Knightbane wrote:Liebert filled her water-skin till it was firm and heavy, capping it off, turning from the dark depths for a moment before hearing the disturbance upon the still water's surface. Plop!

She turned her large, crimson gaze upon the surface where the large air bubble surfaced. Thanks to Sirius' eyes she shared with Him, she could see the threat even through the murky haze of the water. "Hmp." she grunted, standing up abruptly, clasping the buckle of her cloak which clamped around her neck, and as 'it' surfaces, throws the heavy hooded cloak off her body, letting it flap around the head of the ascending large, red-eyed creature!

Darzha broke the surface, but it was odd as soon as her head touched the breath of open air, something wrapped around her face! "Wha?!" she growled, her massive form clumsily making way into the shallows, her long neck swinging left and right rapidly, her arms flailing at the cloak that had covered her eyes and temporarily blinded her. Was it a coincidence? How could it be?

Liebert Knightbane wrote:
Doing so revealed Liebert fully, though she sensed none nearby to witness her unbridled beauty as she leaps rather far from the lake's edge, landing on all fours:



She stands erect now that the creature made its scene, though perhaps not in the manner in which it had wanted to:



Liebert eyes the giant carefully with a stern and angry expression. "Figured you'd have yourself an easy meal? Eh, lake dragon?" she asked, her tone cold and not amused. "I'd rather not sully my clothes with your stomach bile, so I'll have to respectfully decline your residence." she added, reaching back for one of her sheathed Shadowblade kukri's...

She can hear the pretentious and cold tone from the mortal woman, which only made her all the more angry. "Huh... amusing. Like the prey has a say in when she can be my prey!" The creature roared, tearing the fabric literally into strips, the shredded remains of the woman's cloak drifting away from her now exposed, large red eyes!



She stood fully, walking bipedal towards the smaller human whom she easily towered, but wasn't so small that she wouldn't be a fitting meal!:



She looked down at the woman and narrowed her large red gaze upon the mortal being. She was definitely meaty enough to suppress the hunger within her for a little while, perhaps a few days at least. It would be long enough for her to make it back to Kilwood Loch at least, where the fishermen and fish were more plentiful in this season.

*Rooooooooooo~*

Her stomach growled, loud enough to be heard by the human. Darzha bowed her head and smirked. "I think it is in your best interest to simply resign to your fate, woman. I can give you a quick death before I swallow your carcass, or I can make you suffer and swallow you alive. You cannot escape this fate today, you will end up in my belly one way or another... its nothing personal, food has been... scarce." She explained, licking her lips once again in a lewd manner.

Liebert stared up at the towering scaly creature. In truth, Liebert had much the upper hand in this conflict, but at the same time felt as though if she used her true abilities it may draw unwanted attention if there were travelers close by. As it was, her cloak and hood were destroyed and it would make things somewhat hard on the road ahead thanks to her ever peculiar eyes.

"Ah, well you're welcome to try beast. I don't intend to end my life as a snack for an obese green monster. I can use a bit of combat practice anyhow; the road has been long and my blades dulled from the lack of battle!" She exclaimed, her other hand drawing back to mirror the opposite, unsheathing both blades in a reverse grip and hunching over, bouncing off her bent knees with the blades now in front of her. Her glowing red eyes glance at the creature's red eyes and her face remained a neutral and blank expression all the while, save for her inclined eyebrows that may have expressed a more serious demeanor.

Darzah stared at her with boredom. "*sigh* You see me fully and yet you're betting that salvation lies with a pair of steak knives?"



She stared at the woman's movements who declined her chance of a merciful and quick death.

The corners of her mouth raised into a grin then, and the beast chuckled maliciously. "Ah well... Alive and squirming it is then!" She roared, sprinting forth, bounding the distance between them in seconds as her massive girth bounced and her prehensile thick tail wavered behind her, her right arm reaching back before being propelled forward with Darzha's whole body working into the wide arcing slash with her clawed hand upon the defiant meal!

Liebert didn't respond immediately, watching the lumbering giant charge and looked for the movement of her strike. When she saw the right arm retract back, she knew what to expect, and as it was driven forward in a wide arc with the scimitar like claws extended out- she phased forward. It was too quick to be spotted in case there was a fearful observer, but she used her Teronian abilities to help get an initial edge in the battle by dodging the swipe via the shadows. Below the low sweeping arm, she flipped her blades into a regular grip and then drove her sharp blades into the forearm of the creature; dragging them down her rough leathery scales in a deep double line that went from mid forearm to elbow before her blades slipped away from the monster's flesh!

She continued to advance, avoiding the right clawed foot before it could land on her due to Darzha's charge, and once it landed upon the grass beside her, Liebert turned one of her kukris into a reverse grip, and twirls into a quick dance of blades. Her momentum in her spin combined with her blades pointed out as she crossed her arms and lifted her generously sized breasts (unintentionally) was like a spinning top, the blades driving into the flesh of her right knee and lower leg as she spun past her, ending her 'dance' when she was behind the creature. She hung her body low, and swung out her blades to remove the crimson fluid they had gathered. Their gleaming, silvery blades stained with small rivers of Darzha's blood!

Darzha's eyes widened and was perplexed by the woman's speed! In fact, she was sure it shouldn't have happened, even Scardian's would have had some difficulty in evading such a powerful swipe! It was worse as she felt something dig into her arm and then slash down in dual streaks of crimson and pain before she would feel a 'buzz saw' cut into her surface of her right knee! "*GROWL!*" the creature shrieked, half turning her long neck to face the mortal now behind her! Darzha grinded her clawed feet into the muddy and grassy earth, pain shooting up her right thigh as she slowly came to a stop; but her prehensile tail didn't! She struck out at Liebert, forcing her against a tree before her tail wrapped around both tree and woman, constricting tightly with the mass of scaly flesh and pure muscle!

Darzha eyed the mortal with a sneer, drool dripping from her sharp conical teeth as she was eager to feel the woman's flesh upon her own tongue! She squeezed hard enough to shatter bones and with an upward twist, uprooted the tree! Swinging her tail about in the air with the tree crushing Liebert's back while the flesh of Darzha's tail crushed and flattened her voluminous breasts against her scales!

I'll show you the err of your moves, you agile little minx! She thought, thrashing her tail across the tree line before throwing both Liebert and the tree into the lake! I'll finish you there... heh heh heh... She thought maliciously.

Liebert felt as though her entire body was being hugged, watching the tail whip into her before she could react! Being squeezed against the tree with her right arm crashing against it first, she lost the kukri in her right hand! To avoid having her torso crushed in a very painful manner she turned to face the tail, and felt her massive tits flatten against the wall of scales with an audible: "Ooof!" Her eyes were wide and jaw agape as the air was squeezed from her lungs. Her arms pinned at her sides and legs dangling below, maintaining a powerful grip on her left kukri so she wouldn't become defenseless. "Ahhhck... ugha!!" she exhaled in pain, her chest on fire and her head feeling light as she was yanked up, tree and all! It got worse as the creature began to swing her about like a rag doll, becoming dizzy as she was flung against tree branches and trunks that the creature swung her into in her rage!

She couldn't use her powers accurately during that moment, almost blacking out between the disorientation, pain and lack of air. However, she was soon thrust away, the pressure on her chest and back receding as she was now hovering over the lake! She cringed, looking past her knees while in her horizontal position, noticing the creatures lurid yet lewd glare as she continued to fall at an angle. Liebert closed her eyes, inhaling a painful sharp breath of air, as she arched her back, and flipped in mid air! Graceful as a swan with the balance of a cat, she landed upon the log which splashed against the water first, driving her blade into the trunk for support. She glanced up at the beast and reached behind her with her right hand, grasping some throwing daggers which she then flung out at the lake monster! Three balanced Teronian 'Fangs' shot at Darzha with surprising speed and accuracy! Travelling in a fast and straight path to meet their mark!

Darzha was mildly impressed by the mortal's recovery after such a disorienting trip, and managing to keep hold of her blade and her strength during the abusive coils of her thick tail. She saw the tiny blades being flung at her and casually swatted them out of the air once they got close, the tiny 'fangs' uselessly dropping out of the sky or being redirected. She shook her head from side to side, chuckling before rushing towards the lake, leaping towards her meal with an amazing distance as she splashed down into the water! The water is my element you fool, you have no idea for what terrors you are about to face! She thought darkly, the waves becoming like rogue ocean waves thanks to her 'cannonball' and it threatened to capsize and crush the mortal beneath!

Liebert watched as the waves crashed over her, and Darzha's inner monologue would have been ironic enough for the woman to smile if she was a mind reader. As she was, among her people, what they called 'Masters of Terror'. She embraced the forward crashing waves and dove through them, retracting her blade from the trunk of the tree as she dove forward. Warp striking would not work, for the wall of water would only act as a 'stop' to her thrown kukri projectile. Instead she broke through the wall, through the current that pushed her back while she thrust herself forward, getting her left arm through the wall enough to throw her blade upward!

As her body crashed beneath the surface, on her back and facing the sky; she could see Darzha's sinister grin, and smiled back as her body suddenly swirled with darkness; like a tangible shadow that sparked with deep blue electricity and was suddenly a pillar of shooting shadow that climbed through the water as if it wasn't there! It broke the surface, and then regathered around the twirling hilt of her blade, her hand reforming from the shadow as her body was now vertical with her eyes facing the lake's surface! She was suspended in mid air for a moment or two before gravity realized she was no longer shadow. She had to look for a spot by the lake where she could target her next warp, having become too invested in this fight now to simply cut and leave!

Darzha stared at the tasty morsel as she struggled through the waves, her body sinking after being tossed about like a rag doll! The lake monster narrowed in on Liebert, jaws widening to take in her prize--

--then she was gone! Darzha looked confused, halting her charge as the smoky substance Liebert became shot upwards with greater ease than the monster was capable of, and the water was Darzha's element!

What?! Where she go?!! The creature thought, desperately looking around before something dark appeared above the surface!

It was the woman, reshaped around the dagger she threw, her body suspended in the air before gravity returned with her! Darzha, both amazed and hungry dashed for the surface, breaking the waves and stretching her neck out fully!



Her large jaws agape, positioned just below the falling human's path, she lined up for the kill and lunged desperately forward with her maw wide; cutting the distance between Liebert and Darzha's dripping jaws!