Kalura

Clan Leader; Scavenger; Explorer

Recent Events
Kalura has departed to the aid of Cindercone, and of the others who think to help them. Her Strangler is with her, and she wears charms that her "cousin" gave her some time ago. She may have more insight into what is happening at Northslope's closest ally than others do, but she did not share before she left.

*

Kalura's presence and actions are without question the only reason the other rescuers are alive, let alone the ex-Cindercone wounded whose assailants they drove off. She is currently leading the little group, while they try to become able to travel. Currently, her overt project is to knock the stupid out of Raider before he gets everyone killed.

*

While Kalura pronounced the group ready to travel overland, and led the trek to the shore, she maintains that no one is up to flying across the Outer Sea to return to the Icefield. On the walk, she scavenged a working heating coil, and on arriving at the shore set it up. This has allowed them to heat the water she desalinates with her elemental powers; wounds have been much better cleaned, and now they are cooking a broth for the wounded Wildclaws. Kalura has additionally been enforcing rest on the no-longer-paralyzed but still clumsy, weak, and half-blind Raider, to prevent him from making either his own or the rest of their problems worse.

*

Kalura has left the camp briefly, seeking something to bolster their dwindling food supplies--dragons who have been injured in combat eat a great deal. While she is out, she uses her Strangler-cuttings to signal Anthrax. She and Spinel are not going to be able to carry the wounded out in their current situation, and the Imperial is correct that they do need a healer. Anthrax should be able to carry the Wildclaws by sea or air, and if he brings Noctilucent as they discussed, they will have another warrior's support on the trip.
In the meantime, they wait, and she will keep them fed enough to continue healing.

*


Kalura returned to camp to find that everyone was either stupid or wanted to die. Kmereh had roused and was now trying to stand, and both Raider and Spinel were gone, though the former had left clear stumbling tracks for anyone with nose or eyes working at all to follow.
She quickly brought Kmereh to the ground and wrapped her in a large piece of blue cloth that she had had the sense it would be good to take. The Wildclaw struggled weakly, but did not otherwise respond to either Kalura's lecture or her ministrations. She placed a bit of her catch directly in Kmereh's mouth, which at least she swallowed rather than spitting out.
Spinel returned while she was doing this, having clearly found his own trouble. He was traced with the characteristic scarring of a direct Lightning strike, and walked as though everything hurt. At least the scent of infection was no longer on him, so there was one good thing about this. She turned her lecture on him, who at least seemed to listen.
Now she had to decide if it made more sense to go after Raider now, leaving this collection of poor judgement alone yet again, send Spinel after him and risk the Imperial's life as well, or simply wait for backup to arrive and hope that Raider managed to survive his own stupidity in the meantime.

*

Lacking a clear argument in any direction, or any good options, Kalura went with her water sense--to wait. She has conveyed as much to Anthrax as she can, but not received any response. She hopes at least that her injunction to hurry got through. Kmereh is restrained from hurting herself any further, but is showing sign of infection, and they need Anthrax' elemental power to turn it aside.
Kalura paces the shore, gathering what she can and keeping watch, but not going far from camp lest Spinel do something else ill-advised, or Kmereh somehow escape her wrappings and flop like a fish to her death. She is full of frustration and agitation like unspent Breath, and finds herself uncharacteristically lacking in patience--probably some combination of having to spend it freely not to further wound Raider herself, and the salient fact that the longer they wait the worse things get.

*

Kalura feels she is going mad with impatience ad frustration. Her sense has not changed, so she waits, but she does not know what is going on and she hates it. Anthrax' Strangler-sprout seems to still live, and still remain tied to its parent, but she cannot contact it nor learn from it what has happened.
Kalura likes having water-sense, and finds it very valuable, but she truly loathes being forced to rely on it exclusively. It feels as though she has had nose and eyes covered and given a personal guide instead who will never explain anything.
She wonders if the sense against pursuing Raider meant that he would survive until help came, somehow, or if it meant that he was doomed before she ever returned. She hopes that the continued sense to wait means that Anthrax and his companions are all right and will arrive in time to help.

*

Kalura is beginning to be able to sense the sprout Anthrax carries in some way beyond "is alive," which is reassuring. It seems to be gradually coming out of dormancy, and not up to transmitting messages, but should hopefully be able to soon. Water sense still tells her to wait, and so she does, but she feels as impatient as Spinel looks. They are in general doing all right; Kmereh seems to be improving, and it is not difficult to gather enough food for them all on this beach. She is still disturbed by the sense to wait regarding Raider, but in the absence of a clear reason to ignore her sense she continues to do so.

*

She felt Anthrax's Strangler-sprout wake up with a great deal of relief. They were well and they were coming. Even as she listen to her foster-son's report--separated, the arrival of two responsible dragons would be invaluable. Kalura went to tell Spinel that help would arrive soon.

*

When Anthrax and Tulefog arrived, Kalura immediately set them to tasks; Anthrax went to pull the Plague out of Kmereh, bringing her to readiness to travel, while the rest would prepare everything else. All the changes should have made it so that the Winds would take them, so that is how they would go, Kmereh borne by one of the larger dragons. As Raider still needed to be found, someone would have to go after him. That would have to be Kalura herself, as having the best nose, foresight, and warrior's skill, so she set about preparing everyone to return without her. Tulefog volunteered to accompany her, which she accepted as some of his abilities were likely to prove useful.

*

Once Kmereh was cleared of infection and the two recent travelers had rested, Kalura saw all her companions save the Skydancer off to the Winds. The two of them then set out, following what remained of the trail Raider had left. This went largely uneventfully, until the trail ended--while it did so in an intersection with another, that trail also cut off not long thereafter. Unable to progress further immediately, the two dragons camped there, hoping for a clue after rest.

*

It was Tulefog who found the clue. Far in the distance, in the same direction the trail had been going, his Skydancer magic-sense picked up flares of mixed-elemental magic. What Kalura could divine with her Water-sense supported going after it, so they set off. They trekked on for some time, pausing occasionally to gather what edible plantlife presented itself or for Kalura to raise up some nearer-than-typical groundwater for them to drink, and a few times to make camp. The found a few small skirmishes, but nothing truly dangerous.

*

Eventually they came to a solid packed dune, which, while quiescent at the moment, Tulefog identified as the source of the flares. The place smelled strongly of ozone, with layers of hydrocarbon-smoke, hot fishfat and several different metals. They circled the dune, looking for the source of the scents, the magic, or, in theory, both. The dune seemed unmarked. They found a seep from which the scent seemed to emanate in greater strength, but in all other ways it seemed the same as the rest.

Still it was something, and Kalura set her elemental power to investigate, searching under the sand for any source of water below. As she began to find something, she was distracted by a metallic screech, and a flying golem burst from the ground yelling obscenities.

Fortunately it did not attack them, and once they explained what they were after, the golem said that "the little boss" would see them.

This turned out to be an enormous Ridgeback, a powerfully-built female with massive spines. Her eyes were hidden behind a shining pair of safety-glasses, and her scent--largely buried in machine oils and metal dust--did little to betray her element.
"I expected you" she said, gesturing at Kalura. "You may not have him yet"
Kalura was ready to do battle, and it certainly looked as though Tulefog was about to attack her--but her own Water-sense agreed with the stranger.
"She's right" she said quietly to Tulefog, "I think this is good for him."
To the Ridgeback "When, then?"
"When he is ready, and has paid his debt. Take Kt'rrr with you; she will tell you when you may return." She pointed a fish-claw at the golem.
Kalura nodded, and ushered Tulefog away.

After an explanation, emphasizing that it was important, the two dragons, bird, golem and strangler were ready to seek the Winds again. Kalura had a great deal of research to do, and the rest of them would need to speak with others back at Northslope.

General
Kalura came from Driftwood Shore after setting out for adventure as a fledgling, trailing younger-yet clanmates behind her. Since arriving, Kalura has become an increasingly important part of Northslope, She is an excellent scavenger, with a particular talent for finding valuable items--especially unhatched eggs and especially Plague. She was the first in the clan to display Facet, building a layer of stone over her wings.

Combat
Kalura uses her stony wings to catch the energy of enemy blows until she has enough to either turn her paws to literal blades of high-pressure water, or to strike a bone-snapping final blow. She is quite fast, both in raising her wings before anyone else moves, and in landing her blows. She is also fairly good at getting a wing in front of a companion, preventing their injury and gathering more energy for herself.

Kin
Kalura is a child of Driftwood Shore, with a long and varied history.
Her father, the Plague Tundra Rennic, goes back scores of times over to the dawn of dragon society, and is descended almost literally from every ancient and venerable family in all of Sornieth, with a terrifying concentration of Plague dragons and (especially Nature) Exalts to Plaguebringer. She seems to have inherited a good measure of his sneakiness and ability to win loyalty, but has yet to display inheriting his malice. We don't talk about her half-siblings on this side, even most of the known ones.
Her mother, Arcane Skydancer Gillis, has an ancestry nearly as large, though much less disturbing in content. It is possible that Kalura got her restlessness from this side.
Kalura has hatched two nests with different fathers, and her son Sunflare still resides in Northslope. She's also surrogate mother and the leader who commands the most loyalty to the babies from "her" scavenged eggs, Anthrax and Cryptosporidia.

Familiar
Kalura brought her Strangler with her from Driftwood shore when she set out on that first adventure, and it has been with her since. Its awakening (at which it threw a cutting which has yet to find a home) has allowed direct communication, and if anything seems to have enhanced Kalura's sneaky tendencies. The Strangler seems to have grown while it and Kalura were away during the Season of Nature, but it has not changed its general behavior.