Mossflower Woods: Bank of the River Moss You stand at the river bank. The trees stand behind you as you face the water. further east,down the river, you see a bridge to ceoss the river. You glance at the muddy band and think the river might have overflowed every now and then. Exits: [N]orth into [R]iver [M]oss, [U]p [R]iver, [W]est to [R]oad

Johnathon is sitting here on the banks and now looks pretty scary... Mud, dead leaves and all sorts of forest junk gives him a scarecrow or monster appearance. To paw is a raw fish that he's munching on happily.

Belliger has decided to give looking for this "mystery shrew" one more go, apparently. Staying to the cover of trees, he travels, his eyes and ears peeled on his surroundings for any giveaway... He's sure that Johnathon is the right shrew, but something in him that makes him wish it weren't true keeps convincing him otherwise.

Johnathon finishes off the fish and goes for another from a small lot beside him. The bones are thrown back into the forest behind him.

Belliger's ears perk as something hits the ground not too far from him. He freezes, staying low, his vision crossing the surroundings... Squinting at what appears to be a big moving ball of forest debris. He pauses, sitting still.

Johnathon snorts as he sneezes, turning it into some warped growl through the fish in his mouth. He seems to be looking at something on the other side of the river.

Belliger's ears pin back, having never seen something like this before, Belliger is slightly frightened... But he won't let that stop him. He continues his walk, trying to stealthily sneak past the strange beast.

Johnathon mutters something jibberish towards the spot he's looking at, the voice raspy and wheezy. He coughs and resumes muttering, waving the fish.

Belliger is just too curious! XD He starts to tip-paw out of the forest towards the strange looking beast, to get a closer look, his paws lightly, almost noiselessly falling to the ground.

Johnathon is too busy now arguing with the empty space in jibberish to notice Belliger creeping behind him, even if he was a little louder.

Belliger gulps as he creeps closer to the beast, stopping several pawsteps from the odd-looking creature. "Uh... Ahoy, there!" He grins, making sure to keep his distance.

Johnathon halts his argument suddenly. Deep raspy breathing (no he's not turned into Darth Vader) as the shrew-debris-ball turns slowly to regard Belliger with wide, bloodshot, mad looking eyes. He yells something at him that sounds like it could be jibberish again.

Belliger backs off a few steps. "'ey, there... Uh..." Gulp. "'ave ye seen anybeast wot looks like me recently?" His paw falls on his scimitar, just in case.

Johnathon picks up a fish and flings it at Belliger with another angry shout of jibberish. His arms go up and down in a trail of vines, sticks, mud, tiny bones and leaves.

Belliger flinches, and puts up his arm at the last second, letting the fish bounce off and drop to the ground. He frowns at the rather uncivilized-looking beast. "Now, no need t'get angry with me. Jus' asked a question..."

Johnathon picks up a stick, the point has been sharpened to produce a crude spear. The angry pile of debris huffs and flings it at Belliger preceding another rant of jibberish.

Belliger widens his eyes, and hits the dirt, letting the spear fly overhead. "EY!" Belliger scurries to his footpaws, brandishing his scimitar. "That wos uncalled fer!" He starts to approach the creature, assuming he just threw his only weapon at him. "I jus want an answer, is that a'right?"

Johnathon begins throwing the other fish at Belliger, raspy breathing still.

Belliger doesn't know how he feels about being pelted with fish, but he doesn't even bother blocking them, just kinda lets them hit him. A few of them kinda hurt. "'ey! Ow! Stop... stoppit, wot's yer problem, anyway?"

Johnathon moves backwards as he runs out of fish, but this is a forest. Sticks and pawfuls of mud and dirt are thrown.

Belliger growls, trying to deflect as much of the mud as possible, wincing as some of the rocks in the mud collide with him. "If'n ye don't stop throwin' tha' stuff at me, I'll charge!"

Johnathon growls back and yells something, drawing his rapier as one last pawful is thrown.

Clunk. The last pawful contained quite the heavy rock, and hit Belliger squarely in the forehead, stunning him slightly, his eyes slightly rolling back in his head. He wavers.

Johnathon charges suddenly at this, trying to slash at Belliger's chest, still breathing heavily.

Belliger regains himself just in time to see Johnathon charging at him. He raises his blade just in time to stop some of the strike, the blade still going deeply into his chest for the inch or two it does connect. "Argh!" He presses his blade against the creature's, trying to push him back.

Johnathon growls as he's pushed away and tries to kick at Belliger or trip him up, keeping his sword to the shrews.

Belliger is still not all there from the rock to the head, and doesn't catch the trip, the shrew stumbling backwards, before falling on his behind, blood now freely spilling from the deep cut on his chest. He keeps his sword up, trying to stay as much on guard as he can.

Johnathon actually wanders away from the shrew and resumes his argument with the empty space across the river, now indicating Belliger at times. Actual words might be heard in this now such as, "Kill", "Death", "No" And a definite "Go away!"

Belliger growls, his paw temporarily staunching the blood flow, before he gets up, and charges the muddy creature again, putting his head low and trying to push the beast into the river, figuring he's a shrew, and would be able to outperform any other beast in the water.

Johnathon turns as he's charged and lowers his blade, hoping to impale the shrew. He blinks as he's in the water, river weeds added to his appearance, yet some mud washed off.

Belliger swims downward, trying to pin the other beast down on the floor of the river, claws digging into the beast's arms, a few air bubbles escaping his nose, but not many.

Johnathon tries to kick the shrew in the chest and swim downriver quickly.

Belliger oofs, losing a lot of air as the kick is placed in his gut... Still, he hangs on as best he can to the shrew, his scimitar having been left on the shore. His claws still dig into the other's arms, the shrew still trying to wrestle the resistance out of the other creature.

Johnathon tries to kick again, still trying to scrabble away and swim downstream, loosing more and more debris and becoming more visible.

Belliger is running out of air, quick, and lets a few bubbles out of the nose to get the bad air out of his system and buy him a few extra seconds... He hesitates a second as he sees that it's a shrew... and Johnathon! He gets kicked again, and loses his air, and with one last bit of fight left in him, he tries to ram the other shrew's head into the river floor.

Blood rises upwards from Johnathon, yet he remains concious. He lets out some air too though, but remains underwater, letting the current take him downstream.

And that's it... Belliger has lost all his energy, and is forced to watch, his eyes slowly lidding shut, and his claws relaxing, letting the other shrew down... Slowly, he floats upward, surfacing and beginning to flow down the river, floating atop the flow, a thin streak of red following him as he travels unwillingly whereever the river takes him.

Johnathon surfaces slowly, coughing water out and watches what he thinks is a dead Belliger floating away. He crawls onto the surface and glares at an empty space silently.

Further down the bank was a silent badger. His large form loomed over the cold river. He breaks off bits of the frozen surface, trying his best to get to the middle of the river which was still flowing as thought it was still summer. Bart licked his lips, trying to see if any fish were making their way to his paw. Just upstream, Belliger floats, his lungs slowly filling with water as he flows downstream, the current taking with it the shrew's unconscious form, the same thin, faint red streak trailing behind him.

Bartholomew was still looking close under the water. His head turns not an inch, therefore not noticing the unconcious beast until he was just around arms-length away. The badger sat up with surprise and looks at the floating thing while his mind processed what to do. Not a moment later the badger was plunging into the stream, going up to mid thigh in the freezing water. He lightly scoops up the wet rag of a beast, cradling the form in his arms. Looking down, Bart wrinkles his nose as a result of a frown. He turns silently, moving through the water and back to the shore.

Belliger lay completely limp in the badger's hold, the wound in his chest still bleeding quite rapidly, the blood looking watered down because of the river. His eyes closed and his mouth slightly opened, the shrew looks all but dead.

Bartholomew moves onto the back, sheltering himself in the lee of a tree not far from the bank. He keeps cradling the shrew, not wanting the thing to loose any heat if it was still alive. Barth gently pushes a paw up against the side of the neck, feeling relieved to feel a pulse... though faint. The badger starts talking to the shrew, feeling as this might help. "Now c'mon, lad... Belliger is it? Right... yer going to be fine." His voice is gruff, yet soothing, the badger working off his coat, wrapping it around the shrew. He shifts the shrew's weight to his leg and arm, grabbing his bag with the other. Barth pulls some extra cloth and presses it up against the wound in attempt to make it stop bleeding.

Belliger still lays motionless, the bloody wound being staunched by the cloth, although there was a lot of blood lost, pooled on the shrew's chest and dying his tunic red. Beneath his fur, his skin is pale, which gives his grey fur a lighter tint than usual.

Bartholomew brings the shrew into his own chest, sharing his warmth with the other. "Snap outta it... c'mon Bell... what in blazes happened t'yeh?" He questions, lowering his gaze. The badger sighs, rummaging in his pack for his herb pack. He plucks it out and takes out a small vial. Barth pours the contents into the wound, watching it seep in.

Belliger doesn't answer the badger, only the faintest signs of life are visible on the shrew, who still remains limp in the badger's grasp. The herbal mixture seeps into the wound, which is already stopping its flow a little from the makeshift bandage.