((Just wanted to explain Shroud here a bit so her reaction doesn't see strange. She grew up and has lived in virtual isolation and has only seen one or two sam's before because he dam was paranoid and delusional. she raised Shroud to be wary of strangers and to fear that which lay beyond the grotto she lived in and the immediate forest beyond. She has no clue what a Misery is or why they are different from other Sams- that goes for all other species with the exception of lamanayrs.
Oh and here is were Shrouds home looks like- it s a little hard to describe but since its based on a real location I've visited I figured I'd like a pic- http://image.examiner.com/images/blog/w ... tto(2).jpg - behind the pool in the back of the cave is a large sandy beach))
Tucked inside the granite dome that was her home, Shroud was relatively protected from the cold breeze that had started to blow through the forest of late. Still she could feel the change of seasons in the large pool of water that filled most of her home. The mists that usually dispersed by mid morning had taken to lingering low over the water for most of the day, keeping the cave from ever truly warming up. She knew she ought to be out in the forest already gathering food for the coming scarce months but she loathed to leave the pocket of sand that had warmed up up while she slept.
Allowing herself a moment more, Shroud laugidly got to her feet and delicately stepped into the cold water, the mists wrapping around her knees like a thick white carpet as she moved quickly to the far side.
Nothing like a cold dip in the morning to jolt one to there sense, she thought scrambling up the almost invisible path over the steep granite incline. Her mother had chosen the grotto for just this reason, looking down from the top of the path you could see nothing but a steep ravine strewn precariously with massive boulders and trees, many of which had thier roots hanging down through the earth and rock into thin air. Not even the stream that fed her own pool and those below it could be seen, though she could hear it winding its way down between the rock. None of the things her mother feared so much would have been able to find thier hidden home.
Up in the forest the signs of winter's coming where more apparent. Not only did the wind nip at her skin as she walked but the lush green of the trees and plants had thinned, exposing patches of dirt, moss and dried leave that hadn't been visible in prior weeks. She didn't mind the change so much for with the thinner foliage came clusters of hidden mushrooms, edible roots, soft moss she could use to warm her cave as it got colder and best of all, the hidden winterberries she loved so much. All this was easy to come by if you just knew the right places to look.
Coming up to one of her favorite spots where some of the largest winterberry bushes grew, she froze, the sound of another creature moving around in her clearing. Was it one of those creatures her mother had warned her about, a Oquiesa? Or worse, one of those things that looked similar to herself that her mother had always refused to talk about? She had seen them once or twice before in the forest but always from a distance and they had never noticed her.
Quietly, her hooves muffled on the damp ground, she darted behind a tree and peered around, trying to spot the noises source. There- at the foot of a tree, red hooves, and just a little above that a green head with a short tufty mane. It was like her, sort of. Looking closer Shroud could see what looked like scales and little nubs of horn, like her horn had been when she was little. Was this a young one? Despite her mothers warnings about these creatures, Shroud couldn't help but feel curios about this strange little thing. If it was young surely it couldn't harm her.