Tamra

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NAME: Tamra
GENDER: Female
AGE: 52

LOOKS: Tamra is tall and slender. She has long black hair that has been turning a dark shade of grey. She has a large nose, smart green eyes and wrinkles that show her experience in life. She has the sinewy built from people accustomed to moving around a lot. She has a lot of endurance and stamina.
PERSONALITY: Tamra has run through her fair share of problems and dilemmas. She regrets some but has found peace with the choices she's made. She is a person who's ground in the present. She doesn't stay stuck in the past nor does she worry about the future. She'll handle problems as they present themselves. She hardly has any long-term plans, believing that when she'll be too old to adventure, she'll just die out on the field.
SKILLS: Fighting with spear and shield.
LIKES: Soft bedding, light breezes and fish
DISLIKES: Being confined, Being told what to do and unhealthy food

FAMILY: Elderly mother that's being taken care of by her younger brother and his family.  
PETS: Blue with Purple Swirls Raptor Dryah (f) (gift from Nexus Discord)
BOND: Common Brown Gorena Theresford (f) from Sgiath Wolfkeep

Story
Tamra inched her way forward, hacking and stabbing at the horde of centipedes that were blocking her path. Sweat dampened her skin in the humid tunnels below the temple. She'd been one of the adventurers lured to take the quest by the promise of an immense reward that had been issued by Lord Zarad. He'd sent them all into the jungle with a copy of some vague clues and a raptor sentinel that would make sure they didn't run off with the treasure. Her own little blue and purple raptor had proven quite helpful with hunting, alerting her about traps and now by feasting on the centipedes as if they were a delicacy. 
As she finished more centipedes, a sickly sweet scent filled the narrow tunnel, making her feel light-headed and uncomfortable. She'd never been fond of narrow spaces and was now cursing herself for choosing the right tunnel. But though her clues had said all roads led to treasure, she was certain that every road had it's own challenges. Naturally optimistic, Tamra forced on. At some points the centipedes would give up or all be dead and that would solve her problem. 
Just then, a large form appeared before her and a giant centipede that dwarfed all the ones she'd killed so far. Grinning she lunged ahead, happy with the challenge to fight something her own size. The centipede hissed and clicked, making metallic sounds that echoed in the narrow corridor. Tamra's spear hit and got deflected by the strong chitin armour of the beast. Never mind, every armour had joints and openings. With her spear she could attack from a safe distance. 
Her raptor, Dryah, zipped ahead and latched on to one of the centipede's legs. The centipede focused on the little menace which gave Tamra leeway to attack once more, this time jabbing her spear in between two of the plates covering the creature. It let out a pained cry and more of the sticky, sweet liquid dripped down. Immediately a group of small centipedes clambered up and invaded the body of their gigantic cousin. The large centipede swayed, flicking it's head as it tried to pry the smaller centipedes out of it's body. But there were just so many and Tamra didn't wait to see what the outcome would be. She flattened herself against the wall and slid past the centipede guard. Dryah followed without problem, probably too full to want to eat more.
Leaving the feasting centipedes behind her, Tamra rushed forward, not caring whether the sounds of her footsteps would cause more monsters out of hiding. She had a feeling that being swift was of the essence. Maybe it was the confined space that was messing with her mind, but she wanted to get out of here asap. Visions of her family appeared in her mind. Sure she'd been set on living this life for as long as she lived, but she'd imagined her end would come in a field somewhere, bested by an opponent and her body returned to her family. Losing her life here where no-one would find her didn't seem like something she'd have peace with. So she'd just have to avoid dieing. 
Tamra had lived her life according to her own rules. She ate healthy, had plenty of exercise and though she worked a lot, she knew to listen to her body when it demanded rest. She could keep going for a while, but at this pace she'd crash sooner rather than later and when she did, she'd need a safe place to restore her energy.  Slowing down, Tamra started looking for a place where she could hide. Sadly though, this tunnel seemed to not have been finished and though there were places that looked like intersections, none of the other tunnels had been carved out of the bedrock. 
Up ahead, light suddenly shone and then vanished. Tamra stopped and waited. Dryah was right beside her. They both held their breaths as the light pulsed, and pulsed again in rhythmic fashion.  
"Let's go." Tamra said to Dryah.
Carefully she went closer. The light came from around a curve in the tunnel and by the echoes, she sensed that it opened up. Standing with her back against the wall, she stuck her spear out and waited. There was no reaction. Keeping her shield and spear at the ready, she traversed to the other side of the tunnel and took a step sideways, looking directly into the room around the corner, ready to jump back in a heartbeat. 
Beyond the bend the room was dark, until suddenly, fire sprang up. An entire curtain of fire ran across the floor. Tamra felt as if she was inside the belly of a living, breathing monster. The fire lit up every 40 or so of her heartbeats. Granted, her heart was beating pretty fast at this time. But if anything, the fire provided warmth and safety. Tamra's practical side immediately told her this was what she'd been looking for. She waited, hoping that no other parts of the floor ignited in slower intervals. After a while she noticed that there were other fire curtains, but they were far enough apart for her to safely rest in between.  
After spending quite a few hours shielded by the fire, eating and sleeping, Tamra and Dryah were ready to move on. Dryah navigated the fire traps without problems and Tamra followed, having developed a sense of their timing after hours of being in their presence. To her delight, the rest of the tunnel seemed to be wider and she felt less confined. The firetrap chamber led to a short hallway that opened up into yet another larger chamber. She walked inside and looked around. The room seemed like a dead end with no other door in sight. The room was well preserved, protected by the fire. The floor was made of stone tiles with markings, the walls were also adorned with runes and the ceiling was simple black stone. Some blocks lay around the room, obscuring some of the tiles. As she walked around, Tamra noticed that some of the tiles clicked under her weight. That didn't seem right in a room that was so carefully adorned. 
Checking the tiles that had rocks on them, she realised there had to have been someone in this room before her. On the wall opposite where she had entered was a runic inscription of 8 letters. On four of the tiles were rocks. Some adventurers had to have formed small groups  to conquer the quest. She didn't blame them, she could go for some company. At times like this she did miss a partner, someone to share the adventures with, maybe even more in her life. But she'd always been a solitary type and she knew that being around other people too long made her grumpy and unpleasant. There were enough rocks left, so she could pass this trial on her own anyway.
When she'd laid rocks on all the corresponding tiles, a piece of the opposing wall dropped down and she could walk on. The corridor behind it sadly hadn't been spared from natural decay. Water had seeped though the soil and the ground was muddy and rife with spores. Mushrooms in all shapes and sizes grew around her, making the air taste like rot. Tamra sure hoped she wouldn't come across giant snails next. 
"Who knows what we'll see next." she told Dryah and started walking, hoping the water wouldn't soak through her shoes too fast. 
The two of them slogged on and after an hour of twists and turns in the soggy tunnel, she finally felt like they were moving up again. The air lost some of it's humidity and there were less mushrooms around. She reached a flight of stairs that winded up to a higher level and entered another section of the temple. Tamra felt in her bones that she was getting closer to the treasure. The walls were becoming more ornate and the materials that had been used were of higher quality. Even if the colours hardly changed, Tamra could tell from her years of experience. 
The corridor got wider again and opened up into a large chamber with more marked tiles. Tamra started looking for a runic password on one of the walls but this time it wasn't so easy. 
"Well, it won't hurt to rest up and have a bite to eat while I think about this." she told Dryah and sat down. 
Dryah made herself comfortable at her side and begged for some of Tamra's food. 
"I do think breakfast was a while ago." Tamra admitted and gave the raptor some strips of jerky.
Dryah happily munched on the leathery strips of meat. Tamra rested for half an hour, thinking about her strategy. After that she got up and walked around, lighting the walls and floor with her torch. She could make out footsteps in the dust that seemed fresh. Two humans, one male and another either a woman or a boy with smaller feet, and two raptors. Either she was too late or something had kept these others from getting back. That wasn't an encouraging thought. Tamra decided to tread very carefully. She followed the footsteps toward a patch of wall where they vanished. That was the door. Looking around she noticed an intricate mosaic on the floor in front of it. Circles within circles of geometric symbols. If she could turn them in the right order and direction she presumed the door would open. But what was the appropriate direction? Which part of the puzzle should be up. Feeling her way around the mosaic, Tamra found a few that were fixed. Even with those, it still took her the better part of an hour to get all the circles aligned as the rings had the nasty habit of shifting back after some period of time. 
But finally the door dropped down and she could walk on. Carefully she made her way into the next chamber and dropped her torch as it's light reflected on the largest crystal she'd ever seen. Her torch sputtered and went out, but from somewhere light filtered in. The crystal drew the light in and reflected it out amplified. It's light was nearly hypnotic and Tamra couldn't keep herself from lifting her hand to touch it...

...Not certain how it happened, but in the sliver of time that she blinked Tamra'd gotten to be somewhere else. She looked around, feeling more than a bit disoriented. There were people about but if they'd noticed her arrival, they didn't seem perturbed by it. In fact, a man was walking her way, looking friendly and welcoming.
"Goodday." he said, "It's been a while since we've had people pop up at random. Are you here for the litter?"
Tamra looked around, making certain he was talking to her. She quickly thought about her options, which were quite limited to being truthful or acting like she knew what she was doing. In a more dangerous setting she would have gone for the latter, but given the cordial welcome she opted for the first.
"I don't quite know how I got here." she confessed, "So I don't know about the litter."
"Not a problem." the man continued as friendly as before, "I'll give you a tour and explanation and you can decide whether or not you're interested."
"Thank you." She nodded and followed him as he led her around. 

Tamra is a candidate for a Winged Wolf at Sgiath Wolfkeep

Pup
Being led to the place where the litters were reared, Tamra was amazed to see small canine puppies with wings gallivanting around. Some were playing, some were eating, and one was sleeping a little away from the others. She was a faded brown with lighter paws and looked perfectly content to be away from others. Tamra couldn't help but feel some kinship with this little pup. 
Inching closer, Tamra tried touching the pup's fur and was rewarded by one eye opening and a lazy yawn as the pup got up to a sitting position. The little female pup rubbed her head against Tamra's hand, encouraging her to keep on petting.
"Now that's odd." one of the caretakers said, "She hasn't been letting anybody close from the moment she was old enough to be aware of her surroundings."
"She's friendly." Tamra noted as the pup inched closer and leaned against her.
"I'd say she's yours now."

NAME: Gorena Theresford
GENDER: Female
BREED: Eastern Canese/Alskyrian
LITTER: 7
PARENTS: Brown Kiboi EarthenHope x Common Grey Yisu Theresford
MAGIC: Eastern Canese magic and/or low-to-mid-strength TP
PERSONALITY: lazy, solitary, and gentle
GENETICS: kk bb Ayaw ss

Wolf
Gorena was resting with her eyes closed but her ears were up and tracking every sound blue-purple raptor Dryah was making. The little raptor had been even more industrious than usual and Gorena imagined she was up to something. 
"What are you doing little one?" she asked in Human speak as the raptor seemed to understand it better than wolf-talk.
Dryah froze in place and chirped as if to say she wasn't doing anything special but Gorena's ears picked up the little nervous thrill that told a different story. 
"I know you wouldn't hurt us. I just want to know." Gorena added and got up.
Tamra would be returning shortly and had promised to take them running in the forest. Which was why Gorena had been wanting to take a nap in the first place. If she was rested then she wouldn't be as tired afterwards. Or that seemed logical. But thoughts about resting were far from her mind when she spotted trees inside. She could smell them too. The heady scent of mulch and abundant vegetation wafted to her nostrils along with flowers and wildlife that were quite alien but similar enough to put them in those categories. 
"Is that Tamra's home?" Gorena asked.
Dryah chirped affirmatively.
"So you noticed her crying yesterday too huh?" Gorena stated.
At that time the door opened and Tamra stepped inside. Before Gorena could speak up, Dryah grabbed her master's hand and pulled her toward the portal. Gorena jumped after them, being transported to another world but not all that afraid. After all Dryah would probably bring them back to Sgiath wolfkeep when she was homesick. Well, maybe she'd need a bit of a bribe but she would. 

Want to know more about the quest? Read the main story: [JUNGLE JUJU].
All background images found with Google.
Lantessama Isle