07.14?: A Walk in the Park

The goings on of courts
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Joshua
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07.14?: A Walk in the Park

Post by Joshua »

A deep forest some few days travel from the nearest town, trees and shrubbery abound and animals are wild. The midday sun creates fragmented, scattered rays of light that breech the rolling canopy.
Its thick, with only a few paths navigable that have been cut out by travelers, hunters, or the like.

Things are quiet, deathly quiet. Broken suddenly by the sound of a rampaging bear-like creature, a good 9 feet tall with a sharp beak and owl-eyes on its face.
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07.14?: A Walk in the Park

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One-thousand, five-hundred gold for proof of the killing of an owlbear rampaging in the area. The beast is charged with killing three herbalists and at least one woodsman attempting to gather in the forest.

The twisting forest surrounded him, glimmering fragments of light shining down from above as sunlight pierced the canopy. Shadows danced abundant in the rolling sea of green and brown around him. It was perfect. A figure of black, red, and blue darted in careful silence, following the shadows cast by trees and shrubs. It was difficult in the relatively narrow pathways cut out over the years, grown back over, and cut away again, but he knew how to keep himself hidden.

He heard the sound and made way in that direction, his pace swift and footsteps almost imperceptible. Closer, he moved. Closer and closer until he was just downwind of the creature. Just about thirty feet. An owlbear, some mad creation of an awful magical experiment gone wrong. The figure scoffed internally and softly, quietly, pulled his weapon from its place. With a rapid, quiet motion he notched the arrow along the crossbow's body and put a sharp gaze to the target. One good shot at this range, he could pierce an artery and the beast would bleed out in seconds. That's all he ever needed. One good shot.

The figure waited, watching the mad beast move about for a few moments in a study of its form. Thin spot in the fur just above the right shoulder, scars along the left arm, bit of a snaggletoothed beak. Shoot the thin spot and nail it's jugular at the right angle. Shoot the face and nail its brain through the nose, dead instantly. Arrow through the sternum at the right spot, nail the heart and kill it in seconds. A million possible shots were going through his mind as the owlbear moved here and there. All he needed was the right opportunity to get one.

The right one which just wasn't coming like he hoped it would, it seemed. So he downgraded the plan and waited for something he could bank on being right.

"Fucking fuck." He muttered, a pronounced grimace starting to tug at his face. The owlbear turned again, and seemed to be looking off at something. Its neckline was exposed. The figure grinned a exceptionally toothy grin, and didn't waste a moment pulling the trigger. His arrow struck true, flying right into the monster and sticking into the side of its neck. However, within an instant he could tell two things. The arrow didn't pierce a vein or artery, but it was bleeding quite profusely. Secondly, it knew exactly where that attack had just come from.

The hunter cursed, threw his crossbow back into its sling, and bolted off into the forest. If he could lose the owlbear, he could try again.
Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.
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Joshua
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Re: 07.14?: A Walk in the Park

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The owlbear chases the figure through the forest. Fortunately, it's fast but not very smart. Allowing you to dodge one step ahead for a while. At least, while there are trees to use and avoid. The bad news is there's a clearing that comes up rapidly, that drops you into a field of overgrown brambles and berry bushes.

The owlbear isn't slowed down by this one bit, but fortunately, there's a rock outcropping / cave with an opening that might be the right size for you to get away from the bear. Not a great plan, but it'll let the owlbear get bored and leave*.
______________
*: You hope.
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Re: 07.14?: A Walk in the Park

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Jaeger wastes no chances, dipping into the clearing and unsheathing his swords to cut himself a path on the run. It's a challenge, even for someone of his dexterity, but the only opportunity he'll get is to hide in that cave. He knows an Owlbear is stronger than he is and only fighting from a distance or by stealth will get him victory. So in a mad dash to cover he guts the brambles in his path and makes a bee-line for the cave. He scrambles in, going into a tumble once he's reached the end of the bramble field to give himself room to fit into the outcropping and bide his time in waiting.
Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.
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Re: 07.14?: A Walk in the Park

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The cave drops about twenty feet once you get inside, into a large chamber. A gold piece of glowing line-art is inscribed on the floor. A single glimpse of the pattern makes the entire rest of the cave feel less-real, somehow. There are a number of breaks in the pattern, with an idea that it might be possible to get to the center either by following the line and jumping, or by walking the gaps and breaks themselves.

One thing is for certain, this thing must have been waiting for you. It hums with power and promise.
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Re: 07.14?: A Walk in the Park

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Jaeger drops into the cave from his tumble and notices the sudden dip. With impressive reflexes the male snaps a hook and rope from the side of his belt and tosses the hook off onto the wall of the cave he tumbled in from.

"Nope! Not dyin' today." He grimaced, holding onto the rope as the hook caught against the wall and jerked him back toward it. He had fallen a good seven or so feet already and was anticipating the impact, but the rappel would be easier than falling flat on his face twenty feet below him. The male's boots impacted against the cave wall as he bounced once against it, then settled. The rope was holding, and there were only a dozen or so feet between him and the floor it seemed. He was, not for the first time, thankful his species had considerable low-light vision and he could see the fall coming.

"I know I got into this mess for a good damn sum, but with all this crazy shit happenin' I might just have to call in for a bonus." He grumbled to himself as he kicked off against the wall and started his descent down to the floor. A few feet at a time he dropped, each kick timed to letting the rope slip just a bit in his hands until he'd made it all the way. Jaeger left the rope hanging against the wall, giving him a means to scale the cave and get back outside once the owlbear had left. Instead, he turned to the weird glowing...humming thing not far from where he was.

"...the fuck?" Was all he could manage given the odd sense of unrealness permeating the air around him as he drew close. He could make out the pattern, but it was broken. There were pieces, gaps, missing. Somehow it called to him. Daring him to walk it. To traverse the length and see what impossible things lay at its center. A wry kind of grin tugged at his face, wiping the grimace away instantly. Something inside him was momentarily ill-at-ease, but he pushed it aside to step forward to the edge of the pattern.

"Alright, then. Magical graffiti thing, you better have somethin' good at the end if you're gunna put out that much of an inviting air about ya. Time to see what's at the end of the rainbow." He joked to himself as he took the first steps, overwhelmed momentarily by the feeling of impossible weight on his body. It was weird, weird and unnatural. Each step seemed to take more and more energy from him, but he was simultaneous invigorated to keep moving, like momentum guiding a slowly rolling rock. Moreover, as he slowly but surely made his way along the gilded path a mysterious, growing resistance and a potent feeling of...unraveling filled him. The broken pattern seemed to invigorate the beast, the animal instinct, the killing impulse, the prey drive he honed as part of his combat arts. Before he was aware of it, he'd reverted back to kitsune form, a pure-white anthropomorphized fox in leather and cloth armor, eyes piercing red with madness of the hunt, ambling along the way from start to end. He was so full of rage, so full of the need to see this to the end, the need to hunt and kill and tear through anything and everything before him. His mind shuddered to hold back the cascade of instinct and insanity driving him forward until the end.

Time passed, an eternity in an instant. Jaeger stood at the center of the broken pattern and was filled with impossible strength. A cursed power that filled him with madness. It took him only an instant to think of the owlbear, and how he wanted to rend it to pieces. At once, he found himself back outside the cave. The pattern traversed, the power surged through his body and mind like a bestial rage. He would locate the owlbear. He would tear it to shreds and feed on its entrails. He would hunt and kill and destroy the creature and anything else that had the misfortune of finding itself in his path.
Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.
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Joshua
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Re: 07.14?: A Walk in the Park

Post by Joshua »

(OOC: So, this is the first incidence of gapped pattern, likely at the 10 point level (leaving just the first veil). Unfortunately, the gap appears to be "rational thought".)

Senses and stats heightened to Amber levels (and beyond, but that's what's on his sheet), following the owlbear is easy. It clearly got bored and wandered off. In this case, it's chasing a small heard of deer, knocking over some trees to get there. It's easy to track, and seems a lot slower then when you first encountered it. Also, a lot weaker. You're currently stronger than it is, faster than it, and it's completely blindsided by your ambush.
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Re: 07.14?: A Walk in the Park

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Jaeger stalked the beast for a few solid yards, a malevolent kind of hunger and angry burning in crimson eyes as he moved low and swift to the ground. The owlbear was impossibly slow and hulking in comparison to the chase which occurred mere moments...ages ago? If he had any sense left in him it would have been strange. Everything about this situation would have been strange. But, gone were the vestiges of sense and wit. No longer stood the proud hunter, merely the fell berserker unleashed. Jaeger unsheathed his blades as swiftly as lightning and was off, propelled forward by a leap no human, nor any beastkin could manage. He off like a slingshot into the air, what previously was a tactic to spring forward and strike followed by a leap away had suddenly become a vaulting lunge.

Jaeger was up, up and forward with speed unimaginable before. His form launched over the creature until he was directly above it and coming down. The male drew both his weapons down in two vertical arcs. The blades intersected at the end of the neck and danced a perfect cross as they severed skin and muscle, slicing into the spinal column with impossible accuracy and purpose. The owlbear fell immediately, its entire body rendered inoperable with the lethal strike. The ground thudded with impact as it collapsed, and Jaeger was up and over in a wicked arc as his body operated on killing instinct. A macabre acrobatics show punctuated by perforation of flesh and sinew. Jaeger stood over the form with a toothy, manic grin. He threw his blades to the ground and dove into the beast, letting his claws and fangs do the rest of the work.

A kitsune without his humanity becomes a very specific beast, motivated by chaos and wanton destruction and very specific hungers. Jaeger tore two specific organs from the body, the liver and heart, and with gleeful abandon consumed them both nearly whole. His form by this point was a matted mess of blood, crimson on snowy white, deep red orbs and a blood-stained smile. The pattern had granted him the power of a monster, at the cost of turning him into one.
Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.
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Re: 07.14?: A Walk in the Park

Post by Joshua »

"Oh?" A voice comes. "I'm too late. Well, not much to do but get you back, I suppose." Says a fairly old-looking dwarf, who has approached unnoticed during the fray and feast. He has a symbol of something* starting to form in front of him, and is relaxed, but clearly ready for a battle. Tendrils are starting to form as the hint of an eye begins to open in the center.
________
*: Probably Logrus.
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Re: 07.14?: A Walk in the Park

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The old man should never have raised his voice to speak. A set of deep red eyes locked on to the source of the voice, a tongue licking against Jaeger's chops slithered back into his mouth. The male dipped his head low as his eyes narrowed into thin black slits in crimson. Something was happening. A threat was being assessed, and another meal planned. Jaeger shifted onto his haunches, seeing without realizing the danger of whatever magical attack was being readied. His brain was operating on instinct alone, the impulse to hunt and consume, and he calculated the distance between himself and the male in an instant.

In precisely the time it took him to realize he could spring off his haunches and launch himself claws-first at the male, he did precisely that. Tendrils or no, the hunt was on again.
Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.
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