Raggard Haffee

[Ethelo]

Raggard Haffee

Branches crack underfoot as Raggard treads slowly and carefully through the jungles of Chult. As he peers into the distance a humanoid shape moves closer to the lone dwarf. Quickly, Raggard jumps for cover behind a large tree where he remains as quiet as possible. His breathing is calm, his heart rate low. Danger was seen everyday; this was Chult after all. The jungles of Chult no less, where plants and terrifying creatures prowl searching for food, and to where countless adventures travel in search of the legendary riches said to hide within. Their journey is in vain, no doubt, as the countless deadly snakes and disease ridden swamps bring most to a slow and painful death.

It’s not long before the creature passes, it’s hiss echoing into the distance.

“Bloodeh buggers…” He mutters. Continuing his journey through the jungle, he soon comes across what he’s looking for. “ ‘Ang on, wha’s this ‘ere?”. A small cloud of smoke diffuses through the forest as the dwarf presses on, hunting the source. Within minutes he finds a small discarded campfire and the corpses of two dead animals.

“Damn adventurin’ types all tha same! If ye gonna kill ‘em at least eat ‘em! Buggers dun’ care abou’ tha wild at all!” Angrily, he stamps the fire out and scatters the rocks and burnt wood about the forest. With a small sigh he picks up the two animal corpses and moves on, peering in the smoke.

Raggard freezes. He can hear something. Something big. What is it? His eyes dart around in vain as he continues to move through the opaque air. Suddenly he sees it, the source of the noise, the source of his caution. Towering above the dwarf stands a dinosaur, at least 8 feet tall and breathing heavily. It notices him instantly and lets out a terrifying shriek.

“’Ells!” Raggard quickly begins to run, throwing the corpses over his head in an attempt to distract the beast. After a couple of minutes he falls to the wet jungle floor, exhausted. Laying there silently he listens. Nothing. The beast must have taken the corpses. He lays a few more minutes speaking quiet prayer to Thard Harr until his breathing relaxes, and heads back to the colony.

“Ah vuddor, could ye spare a mo’ ta heal up one o’ tha young ‘uns ‘ere? Go’ bitten by a snake an’ ‘ee seems ta –“

“Ah’ll see righ’ too it!” Raggard interrupts, and heads over to the other side of the colony.

[Ethelo]

Kenda

First Sighting

Another day, another trip through the jungles. Quietly, as ever, he creeps among the vines and snakes, looking for nature in trouble. Every now and then he comes across a wounded animal and does what he can to heal it. Inevitably, some have already passed and are beyond his aid. He checks them for poison and if clean, takes the corpse with him to feed the colony on his return.

“Kreeee!”

Raggard spins. A huge, towering deinonychus stands but 10 feet away, its eyes red and glaring. As he turns to run he stops himself. Something is different. He looks back up at the dinosaur and sees that it too is not moving. It stands oddly still with it’s eyes are fixed on Raggard’s waist, grunting lightly. He looks down at his waist.

“Ye um…ye wan’ one o’ these?” He says as he unhooks a small animal from his belt, holding it out to the dinosaur. Instantly, the dinosaur charges at incredible speed and snatches the animal out of his hand. Raggard cries out and closes his eyes, flinching. A few moments pass before he re-opens his eyes, realising he is not dead, not even injured. Looking around, the deinonychus is no-where to be seen.

“Well ‘aint tha’ somethin’…” He says as he lets out a sigh of relief and heads back to tell the others.


Friendship?

It was not until Raggard felt a small nudge on his arm that he realised she had returned.

“Bloodeh ‘ell!” He jumps back, trying to gain some distance from the beast. “’Ey..ye tha same one aren’t ye! Well ah s’pose…ah s’pose ye wan’ some more food?” He tosses her a dead animal and she jumps into the air, snatching it mid-flight. He watches her chew and devour the animal, folding his arms.

“Wha’s tha matter with ye! Why dun’ ye try an’ kill meh or somethin’!?”

The deinonychus looks up blankly at Raggard, and continues eating.

“Righ’…”

[Ethelo]

Exile

Deep into the forest, deeper and deeper. His recent sightings had troubled him. Corpses, mutilated by an intelligent hand, one after another, like a trail of breadcrumbs. He must carry on, he MUST find the source! A look of distress covered Raggard’s face as he picked up the bodies, one after another. Slowly now, he couldn’t carry them all and began to drag them, deeper and deeper.

“C’mon lad..ye can’t go further..ye know wha’ lies in the deepest parts” He says to himself, but still, the sight of each new animal only increases his drive to find the origin. Night was falling and time was running out. He stops for a moment to exam one of his new findings.

“Poison…dun’ see any snake marks or any o’ tha’…all cut up too.” A mixture of fear and anger overcomes him and he begins to jog, leaving the pile of corpses at a spot to be returned to later. “Where are ye!” He shouts as he runs on.

A force crashes into Raggard’s chest, sending him hurtling towards the ground.

“Bit late for the dwarvesss….isssn’t it?”

Before him stands a disgusting creature. A half-blood; half human, half snake, but far more deadly than both. A long, thick tail sidewides around the jungle floor, thrashing in the undergrowth. His arms wield a long, black staff with two rubies inset on the head. His forked tongue hisses with every word he says.

“Thessse are our landsss dwarf…you will DIE for your intrusssion!”

With these words the yuan-ti raises his staff high in the air, muttering dark prayers. Raggard begins to writhe on the floor, screaming the name of Thard Harr. The pain soon becomes unbearable and his shouting stops, now unable to muster the energy to speak. It was now, at Raggards end, that the deinonychus appeared from the darkness and mauled the yuan-ti to the floor, ripping its head off with one devastating bite. With the incantations over Raggard soon regains the strength to stand and see his companion.

“Ye…*coughs* ye bloodeh beauty!”

His joy was short-lived as many more yuan-ti could be seen coming from inside the jungle, weapons ready.

“We gotta go lass, there’s too many fer ye!”

Raggard runs as fast as he can with the deinonychus at his side, heading anywhere away from the incoming yuan-ti. As they run, his companion snatches an animal corpse from his belt and devours it whole. They must have run for an hour before Raggard slowed down to look back.

“Ah…*coughs, breathing heavily* Ah…ah think they’re gone lass.”

The dinosaur simply stands there, staring at his belt. Raggard tosses her another corpse and slumps against a tree, exhausted.

“We can’t go back lass…they’ll never stop ‘unting meh fer wha’ ‘appened. They won’t stop till ah’m dead. Ah know they won’t…”

He sits quietly for a moment before looking up at the dinosaur at his side.

“Kenda…we gotta leave ‘ere.”