Xankarvo raises his eyebrows and snorts at the sight of the giant.
"And what battle were you in that wounded you so grievously?"
Talk to giant amputee. Cripple Empathy activate!
[6]
You climb to the head of the war beast and shout a few words down at the half living being. It doesn't seem to notice you. You purse your lips and stroke your chin with your slightly oversized and quite pale fingers. After a few seconds you turn to the Engine spirit.
"Hey, Wormy thing, You make this thing walk, correct?"
"I do."
"Can ya make it talk? Maybe sing?"
"I can try, though this being was meant to fight, not to speak."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You better warm up those...lungs? Does it have lungs? Hm....Ah, Stretch out that jaw because here comes my dictation!"
The war beast takes a deep breath, the air echoing in the deep recesses of it's unnatural chest, and then speaks. Its voice is a deep rockslide growl, thundering and so low that you can feel it in your bowels.
"Annngd whaagt Bahttle ere yoou in thgat woounded yoou sho greevoously?""My! That must have been some spicy weaponry that he ran afoul of."
Can I see traces of whatever it was that took off his lower body on the surrounding area? Say, scorch marks on the environment?
You look down on the body. Hmm. There's nothing on the ground that explains how this all happened, at least nothing that isn't overgrown. However, there is one thing: The building the thing is laying in looks a lot like the other toppled high rises except for the upper most edge. The other buildings look as though they have been snapped in half, broken like twigs, with a lip of crushed concrete and bent rebar at the edge. This one appears to have been melted or sliced through by something intensely hot. The concrete is blacked, pitted and almost foam-like in appearance while the rebar has melted and run, forming rusted bands and puddles wherever it flowed.
"Should we put it out of its misery?"
- Look at the size of it, then at the size of us. If it won't make a move, we will move on, business as usual. I think there isn't much of self-awareness left in it at this point anyway.
Full stop - examining the legless giant. Let Xan talk to the thing and give Harry and Dave time so scout around.
The giant has ruddy red skin, like freshly dug river clay, and it's flesh is oddly ridged and rippling like wet fabric draped over metal bands. The musculature is obvious, but the creature looks quite thin over all, unlike the muscled giant you ride. Great veins and arteries curl and meander across the flesh, disgustingly large and pumping, and you could swear you see the contours of its viscera through the thin skin of its gut. Its hands are palm up and the talons, each longer than you and still gleaming, knead empty air. The entire beast is still moving, slow but restless.
"Might as well look too!"
There's probably magical artifacts here for certain! Look around.
[5]
You can't get down without help from either the war beast or someone else, but you can plant your little dino feets on the guard rail and peak over. You scan the area until you notice something. Down there, by the half living creature's left shoulder, is something that is producing light. It's intermittent and seemingly random but every now and again you catch a glimpse of a faint flicker of blue light.
Hyenakles: disembark the warbeast and begin feasting on the flesh of the still-living giant.
((You hush.))
Do we still have that monkey carcass? Eat some of that while Xan talks to the thingy.
You dig out the corpse of the monkey thing. It's starting to go a bit rotten. Perfect. You walk back out onto the deck and loudly crunch your way through the corpse, eating flesh and bone with equal vigor. The marrow is particularly tasty.
Wish I had a guitar.
You wish you had a guitar.
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Topic: The Infinite Heavens: More than one way to skin a cat. (Read 351379 times)