rone | more salvatoresque crap — avert your eyes while you still can (part 2) (Reply)

I hadn't gotten very far, though, when i heard a large screech off to my right. As i vacillated about my next course of action, a large beast with the wings, claws, tail and head of an eagle, and the back and legs of a lion, burst out of the woods in my direction and screeched at me. It was, no doubt, one of Teraad's gryphons; one of the first things we did after sneaking into his keep was find the gryphon riders' rooms and lock them in (Ti!la wanted to kill them, but we reminded her that this wasn't a per-head job). "Great," i mumbled to myself, "i survived all that and now i'm going to get eaten by a fucking gryphon." I grabbed my axe, planted it on the ground and leaned on it so i wouldn't fall over. I stared at the beast, trying to react to it.

It didn't come after me. It screeched again and started pecking on its left rear leg. There was a large piece of timber stuck through it, probably a result of the keep's explosive immolation. It turned back at me and screeched again.

I laughed once. "As if," i told it.

It limped towards me. I held up my axe like a child trying to hold up a ham hock. It swiped with its claw and knocked my weapon out of my hands. "Thanks," i told it, "i was getting a little tired of it." I waited for the end, but all i got was a face full of gryphon breath. It went back to pecking at its leg for a few seconds and looked at me again.

"Fine." I held my hands up. "Fine. Why don't i pull that sliver out of your toe?" I walked around and grabbed the timber and pulled. The gryphon gave what sounded like a pain-tinged screech and pulled its leg back, yanking the timber out of my hands.

I yelled at it, "Hey! This is gonna hurt, so buck up and quit being such a damn baby!" It growled and hunkered down, then looked at me and squawked. I exhaled and grabbed the timber with both hands and put a foot to its leg. I heaved and pulled the thing out, then quickly dropped it in a vain attempt to shield my ears from the beast's screaming.

I opened my eyes and saw it somewhat ineffectively licking its leg. "Now what?" i wondered. I didn't have any healing potions left, but i had a first aid kit in my pack. I did what i could, but it was human-sized and it barely had enough bandages for a gryphon-sized thigh. I looked at the gryphon and told it, "Maybe there's some dreamgrass around here. Stay here." I made a staying motion with my hands. "Staaaay." It gave me an indescribable look. I turned around and started looking through the forest.