The yipping and cackling, the almost but not quite laughter, it was approaching.

From where I was, just to the left of the ridge of a long craggy hill, I tried tracking the sources. From behind me, to the left, which meant on the same side of the hill as I was. I crouched down in a futile and too-late effort to hide. Wishful thinking. I had never been accused of optimism before, I doubted I would be starting that now.

Of course they had seen me. Whatever they were.

My foes were moving fast, low to the ground. Humanoids, crouched low, gray fur, black spots, ridged backs, animal ears, and yellow eyes. Their snouts were directed towards me, their maws laid their sharp and mangled teeth bare. The creatures were naked, clawed, and there were at least three of them.

Hyenas. Their laughter reminded me of that, of hyenas. A vague memory of animated creatures surfaced, that crudely resembled these creatures. And I needed a way to refer to them. I decided to refer to them as gnolls. And given the drool hanging down their muzzles and plastering the sides of their necks, these gnolls looked hungry.

I began sprinting towards the broken mountain up ahead, ignoring the itch from my left arm. I needed to escape.

Body: 21 (+1)

As I ran, I had to watch my step. My balance was off, thanks to my non-standard and very non-wanted body additions. Rocks slid down the slope; I heard the gnolls gaining. Sharp rocks cut the pads of my feet.

Why did I not have shoes? I lamented.

Their footfalls kicked loose just as much loose shale. Motherswear it! They were fast! I pushed myself harder. The broken mountain up ahead was getting closer–maybe two hundred yards out. Crossing across the ridge, I began angling down the opposite side of the hill, towards a steep cliff face where the mountain met the hillside.

Their laughing barks pursued me and the gnolls closed the gap between us.

I stumbled on the loose slate, sliding down the slope at an angle, but kept my momentum. The rocks keep tumbling below me, forming a mini rock slide. And through it all, my left arm hurt.

Body: 22 (+1)

The gnolls crested the top, bark-yip-laughing; one of them followed the ridge to try and get ahead to cut me off; the other two almost frolicked down the slope, chasing after me like it was some sort of game. And to them perhaps it was. But not to me.

I pumped my arms as fast as I could, ducking low, keeping my center of mass lower to help with my footing.

Almost to the cliff. Just a little bit further.

One of the gnolls behind me leapt.

The slate slid out from beneath it as it pushed off. The sound of stone slipping on stone was the only warning I had.

Mind: 21 (+1)

I dodged right, tumbling further down the slope in a mess of loose stone.

The gnoll flipped past where I had been. The other two gnolls laughed at it as they continued to pursue.

This was my chance to escape: I refused to be caught.

I used my hands and legs and scrambled forward; I expected the posture to be awkward, but instead, the posture is stable and more agile than running on two legs. Perhaps not all of my new physiology was unwelcome.

Running on all fours, I kept just ahead of them, but only just.

I needed more space!

The gnoll following the top of the ridgeline reached the mountain first before me. The gnoll that had slipped down the slope was trying to cut me off from the right. The gnoll directly behind me brushed against my tail; an electric and unwelcome sensation ran up my spine and left my ears erect. I did not like that. Not one bit.

I yelped. The sound had burst out from me at the contact. The sound high-pitched and keen and irregular. Deal with it later!

They were within inches, practically upon me.

“Illusion.”

I mouth the word, as all my available lung space is going towards breathing as I envisioned [Flame].

A fire appeared before me at eye level and I ran through it, holding it in place as it passed through the back of my head. I could no longer see it, but I could hold it in position.

The gnoll behind me yipped in panic; it scrambled to the right and slipped down the slope, losing its footing.

I reached the face of the mountain, a steep, nearly vertical cliff. I turned my sprint into a jump and I latched onto the side of it. I began to scurry up.

The gnolls below screamed up in their shrill voices. One of them threw a rock at me as I climbed. It–no his–aim was not good. The rock pinged off the cliff several feet to the side from my hand.

The gnolls had yet to try climbing. Were they unable to, I wondered? They kept throwing rocks. One hit the back of my knee. It stung, but lacked the force to bring me down. If they hit my hand, at the wrong time, it could have been a different story.

I kept climbing. Putting distance between us, worsening their aim.

One of them jumped at the cliff face below me. They scrambled up a yard before they began slipping and sliding back down. When they hit the hill below, they continued tumbling, their momentum carrying them to the bottom of the hill.

The last gnoll, who had used the ridgeline to attempt flanking me, gave up throwing rocks and began circling the mountain, looking for another way up. Considering the wide and broken nature of the mountain, I expected that the gnoll would find one. The gnoll gave a keening cry, and the other two stopped in their tracks and began bounding after the first.

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Within minutes, I reached the top of the cliff face and crawled the rest of the way up the slope.

Body: 23 (+1)

Athleticism: Climbing: 2/9 (+1)

I had lost sight of the gnolls, but I was sure they would reach the plateau top soon.

Calling the top of the mountain a plateau was a little misleading. So was calling the mountain a mountain. It might have classified as an ultra-large hill. Fifty stories high at the most. The plateau was hardly what one would call flat, or level. The entire thing was at a slant, where loose boulders and canyons formed moles and wrinkles across its face.

It would be taxing to cross, but I figured this could be a good thing: plenty of places to hide.

I had no experience with dodging pursuers in the great outdoors. But I knew the basics, and those applied the same everywhere.

First, I made sure line of sight had broken. With the gnolls down at the bottom, and me at the top, that should have been the case. But to avoid making a poor assumption, I found an oversized erudite boulder to slip behind.

Second, I traveled as quickly as I could perpendicular to that boulder, to keep it between me and where the gnolls might have been. Of course, as I gained distance, that boulder lost its efficacy, which forced me to find another barrier. Fortunately there were many potential candidates. I gained plenty of distance, and had found myself towards the middle of the plateau, when I heard the gnolls once more.

They called to each other in that yip-cackle of theirs, from multiple points behind me. They had fanned out in their search for me. Sensible of them, unfortunate for me.

I needed to hide. Nothing drew the eye like movement.

I found an indentation in the ground, almost a culvert, or a ditch, although I doubted it had ever drained anything, and I ducked down into it.

Crouching, I ran along, sheltered from view. Unless they were in the small canyon with me, they could not have seen me.

But the barking laughter was still approaching.

How could they have found me, I wondered.

But if they were approaching, then I needed to settle in. Up ahead, I saw a further indentation, or a deeper branch coming off the culvert. I crouch-ran and dove in.

Mind: 22 (+1)

Body: 24 (+1)

I had time before they would come anywhere close. My ears kept me abreast of them. I had to trust that my enhanced hearing would detect them before they came within sight range. So, with that time, and in preparation, I practiced a new Illusion. I used the base form of [Blur], but attempted to match the coloration with the gray stone and deep shadows, as well as thickening the opacity. Holding the intended effect in mind started difficult, but each successive casting improved the ease. This pattern, I thoughtfully labeled [Chameleon].

I felt that familiar ache on my left arm. And also surprisingly, my right.

Mind: 23 (+1)

Spirit: 23 (+1)

Illusion: 2/9 (+1)

The gnolls continued their approach and they were coming in far too direct. They had to have had a general idea of my location.

Soon came their shuffling steps as they pawed across the stone.

“Illusion,” I mouthed.

[Chameleon] slid into place.

The nearest gnoll bark-growled.

At first, I struggled to understand the purpose of alerting prey by making so much noise. Perhaps they were attempting to flush me out. But when I heard a responding bark, I began to pick up on a few patterns to their guttural sounds.

Belatedly, I realized that these gnolls could speak. Although it was not a language I had ever even imagined hearing before, so crude did it sound, almost Germanic.

Listening to it left me with a headache, worse than when I had experimented with Illusions. My skull felt too confining for my brain, if just so. Naturally, my left arm ached.

Mind: 24 (+1)

They continued barking back and forth. I could pick up more and more of their constants and vowels. Listening must have been working, or at least doing something meaningful, as my left arm continued to itch and burn, and my head continued to ache.

Mind: 25 (+1)

The first one sniffed loudly.

I might not be able to see them, but they were less than a few yards away, in the culvert where I had been running.

Like lightning, it struck me.

They had been following my scent.

Failing to consider the possibility made another error on my part. A grievous error. Of course the dog people could follow my scent. They were animals. Contemptuous.

However, they still had not found me. My Illusion continued to hold.

They continued barking in their guttural language. They were practically upon me. I refused to move, to make any sound; my breathing came as faint as I could make it. I tried calming my thundering heart, lest they hear it.

My energy had almost expired. My Illusion would soon fade. If they then glanced upon me, I would be in a poor position. I had my knife. I could attack. If I distracted them with an Illusion, and then struck, I might succeed.

But they were sapient. They had a language. I was not a violent person in the first place, and murder had never sat well with me. I had no desire to see them dead, at least not by my hands.

They shuffled further along the culvert. Just as they progressed a bit beyond where I had run, my Illusion gave way. I bit my lip and begged whatever purported god that had allegedly sent me here that the gnolls would keep on walking.

My arm burned.

Mind: 26 (+1)

Spirit: 24 (+1)

They paused.

They barked at each other. One of them gave another sniff. I still could not see them from where I was. But I knew they had passed where I hid. They had traveled further along the culvert. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps, too soon.

For they sniffed again from where they had stopped. They barked, sounding irritated. And then, they started coming back! Motherswear these beasts!

“Illusion!” I mouthed.

My [Chameleon] blurred around me. I lacked the energy to keep it going for its fullest duration, maybe ten seconds at most.

They paused right where my ditch branched off from the culvert. They sniffed again. Looked around. Sniffed, again.

Slowly, so slowly, I reached down and put my hand on my knife. If I caught them by surprise, I could wound them, slow them down. Assuming I had any energy left for an Illusion after [Chameleon] faded. Which meant I needed to drop it now and attack sooner rather than later.

But could I do it?

The thought left me more than just squeamish. I had to convince myself that my life was in danger, that they had struck first, that I had every right to defend myself. It was just a hard sell, since it would be both premeditated and a surprise attack. I supposed I could call it preemptive self defense… but deep down, I knew that murder was murder. If a way existed to resolve this without bloodshed, then I needed to take it.

Just as I concluded my internal debate, an excited yip sounded from the direction I had been headed at first. Did they pick up another trail? Both gnolls yipped-laughed back. The third gnoll answered. And then the two nearest me were off running.

My Illusion faded seconds later. I remained hidden in that pit for sometime, catching my breath, and trying to relax.

Blessings: Rank (1/9)

* Body: 24 (+4)

* Mind: 26 (+6)

* Spirit: 24 (+2)

Talents:

* Athleticism (1/9):

* Climbing (2/9) (+1)

* Closed (5/9) (+4)

* Closed (1/9)

Spells:

* Illusion (2/9)

* Closed (0/9)

* Closed (0/9)

Gifts:

* Obsession (2/9)

* Closed (0/9)

* Closed (0/9)