Tweet
Blood. Rage. Frenzy.
Around her lay the skewered remains of too many gnolls and goblins. She saw them through a red haze, her eyes clouded by feral fury. Behind her were her young, bloodied by the attack, but alive.
No... that's not right... something...
They walked upright, and they were not of her kind. But for all that, for all the anger she felt at them being threatened, they may well have been. They were her children. She must protect.
... is wrong!
She bellowed her challenge into the woods. One was still out there. And it was huge. It was the one who had threatened them. It must be killed.
I lost control... The thought was fleeting, distant. I can't be lost! I must not...
Bloodlust drowned the little voice in the back of her mind as the huge Gnoll leader charged them again. Sanity receded, and she was the Hog, the dire creature, with only one goal in mind. Protect her young.
Roaring and squealing, she charged with her head lowered, butting, skewering with a frenzy only a mother can feel.
Kill... blood... kill... Red... red...
Light above, hold on to yourself...
And then it was over, the huge creature lay dead and mangled, her young-
NO!!! - her young were still standing, though one was grievously injured. She hardly saw it. Her breath came in harsh, angry gasps as she peered around out of bloodshot eyes, shaking her head and stamping her foot. The small voice in the back of her mind piped up again.
I am Annie... I am a human! I am a farm girl. I am.... ME!!
Pure animal instinct threatened to drown out the voice once again.
My father... is... Alric... my... mother is... Mallorie... my.. brothers... Rudgar.... Bruno... Sisters... Emily... Edda... I am Annie!
Her breathing slowed, gradually, as she forced thoughts of her friends and loved ones to penetrate the haze.
Calandra... Hano... Yashia... Lauan... Osclow... Katie... Zack... Leck... Sehron... my friends! I'm needed.... I'm loved.
While those with her were arguing over something or other, her titanic struggle went largely unnoticed - even if the fact that she was a giant, angered wild pig did not. Gradually, the Hog gave way, stubbornly begrudging every bit of ground the Human gained.
And then at last, she managed to regain control enough to force herself back into her own consciousness... to be the human. Her stomach clenched, her bones seemed to crackle with the strain of the shift back.
Weak with relief, she staggered a few steps, looking into the more or less concerned faces of her companions. There was no telling what the badly injured tiefling was thinking, or the oddly changed gnome, but Griffith at least seemed to sense some of what had been going on.
She pulled herself up stubbornly and saw about treating Zack's wounds. It was just as well they all had no idea how close she had just come to losing herself forever.
In her alarm at being attacked, in the final hopeless stages when she thought they were doomed, the Hog had sprung unbidden into her mind, the shift come almost instantly.
Her powers were growing faster than her control.
She had to learn, before their hold on her became stronger than she could handle! She would seek out the Keeper's council. He would know what to do.
Around her lay the skewered remains of too many gnolls and goblins. She saw them through a red haze, her eyes clouded by feral fury. Behind her were her young, bloodied by the attack, but alive.
No... that's not right... something...
They walked upright, and they were not of her kind. But for all that, for all the anger she felt at them being threatened, they may well have been. They were her children. She must protect.
... is wrong!
She bellowed her challenge into the woods. One was still out there. And it was huge. It was the one who had threatened them. It must be killed.
I lost control... The thought was fleeting, distant. I can't be lost! I must not...
Bloodlust drowned the little voice in the back of her mind as the huge Gnoll leader charged them again. Sanity receded, and she was the Hog, the dire creature, with only one goal in mind. Protect her young.
Roaring and squealing, she charged with her head lowered, butting, skewering with a frenzy only a mother can feel.
Kill... blood... kill... Red... red...
Light above, hold on to yourself...
And then it was over, the huge creature lay dead and mangled, her young-
NO!!! - her young were still standing, though one was grievously injured. She hardly saw it. Her breath came in harsh, angry gasps as she peered around out of bloodshot eyes, shaking her head and stamping her foot. The small voice in the back of her mind piped up again.
I am Annie... I am a human! I am a farm girl. I am.... ME!!
Pure animal instinct threatened to drown out the voice once again.
My father... is... Alric... my... mother is... Mallorie... my.. brothers... Rudgar.... Bruno... Sisters... Emily... Edda... I am Annie!
Her breathing slowed, gradually, as she forced thoughts of her friends and loved ones to penetrate the haze.
Calandra... Hano... Yashia... Lauan... Osclow... Katie... Zack... Leck... Sehron... my friends! I'm needed.... I'm loved.
While those with her were arguing over something or other, her titanic struggle went largely unnoticed - even if the fact that she was a giant, angered wild pig did not. Gradually, the Hog gave way, stubbornly begrudging every bit of ground the Human gained.
And then at last, she managed to regain control enough to force herself back into her own consciousness... to be the human. Her stomach clenched, her bones seemed to crackle with the strain of the shift back.
Weak with relief, she staggered a few steps, looking into the more or less concerned faces of her companions. There was no telling what the badly injured tiefling was thinking, or the oddly changed gnome, but Griffith at least seemed to sense some of what had been going on.
She pulled herself up stubbornly and saw about treating Zack's wounds. It was just as well they all had no idea how close she had just come to losing herself forever.
In her alarm at being attacked, in the final hopeless stages when she thought they were doomed, the Hog had sprung unbidden into her mind, the shift come almost instantly.
Her powers were growing faster than her control.
She had to learn, before their hold on her became stronger than she could handle! She would seek out the Keeper's council. He would know what to do.