Farmland Trapping - RPLOG
Participants
Date
28/3/477
Log
A hawk stands alone on the farms, his robes fluttering in a bit of breeze as he eyes a cackle with intent. The creature darts left when he attempts to grab it and he grumbles before a strange bit of math, and the cackle falls over on its side and does an amazing wheelie spin in place. The hawk chuckles and tries to construct a cage on the spot.
Erika makes her way to the farm, her large, comparitively, cannon across her shoulders. She glances around, then spots the hawk seeming to play with the cackle. She watches a couple minutes, then walks over, smiling cheerfully, "Heya! You had work?"
Cedric travels down the road to the farm, having heard that there was some work to be done involving math. He spots the place and heads on over towards Erika and the hawk with a friendly wave. "Hey there. I assume this is the right place? Something about work involving math?" he asks, scratching his cheek idly.
Rixo may not be the most math-oriented being on Promise, but she took interest enough to show up. Unlike earlier, she's wearing her full plate again, humming a merry tune as she shuffles down the road. "I heard there was a request for help with some critter round-up?"
Long coat fluttering in the wind, a scarred up lion heads down to the farm with a large tower shield bouncing upon his back with each and every step. Math? Well of course! He could add, subtract... Yeah! Math! Arriving not too long after the others, Dio waves towards the others and observes the Hawk's fascinating behavior. "This'll probably be an' interestin' one," the lion comments with a slight chuckle. "But if it's roundin' up critters, then I'm up fer it."
Selena stretches, taking a deep breath of the country air as she makes her way along the long path to the farm, peering ahead at the group for a moment and opting not to pick up her pace so much as wave from a short distance. When within earshot proper, she calls out to the others. "Hey, Angus, Bite... Dio? Give me a minute." Aparrently quite keen to have her stroll and stop to smell the proverbial roses.
Daniel didn't actually know of the gathering going on, having just been walking down the road and kicking a stone idly with his foot, feeling the subtle vibrations in the ground with a light use of earth magic. The occasional footstep from passerby make it a little harder to detect where the stone lands though, the tactic still being worked and focused upon. Hearing voices, he turns his head and heads right over, typical rodent curiosity in him. "What's going on over here?" The little mouse asks, child-like wonder dancing in his blind eyes.
The hawk has constructed a rather crude cage, and trapped the cackle in place for the time being. He swivels towards the voices and looks the group over with a nod. "Hello, yes hello... my young assistant, and hello to everyone else." says the hawk with a bow. "I've got a deadline, so please, assist me in collecting these subjects for my studies. You will be rewarded, they will be... well I can't promise they won't be harmed, but they will be pleasantly cared for until such events transpire. I have to collect my studies by midnight, and then tell off a certain group hanging out in a restful place before I go into hiding with my works. Can you all assist me? I require cackle and squirkik."
Erika tilts her head slightly and looks over the creatures. She shrugs her shoulders and says, "Do you want them unharmed? Because I'm not the best at that. I can help these others, though. If you don't mind them being a little scuffed up, though, then sure! I can help gather them!" She looks around the farm, humming softly before saying, "And I doubt the farmers will complain about us getting rid of their pests for them! How many of them do you need?"
Cedric doesn't appear to have a problem with whatever they plan on doing with the cackle and squirkik and nods to the hawk. "Sounds good to me. Shouldn't be too hard to round some of the little pests up for you." he replies, looking around for a moment with a quiet 'hmm'. He then notices that Selena has made an appearance and greets her with a friendly little wave. "Oh, hey there! Almost didn't see you there. How's it going?"
Rixo glances around the road, nodding slowly. "Yeah. I think we can do that. What math I -do- know is pretty good at... Slowing things down. Should be alright for catching them. And I'm always happy to help out with research!" She takes the larger sword from her back and plants it in the ground, setting her helmet atop the pommel to lighten her load a little.
"Dio indeed!" Dio proclaims shortly after noticing Selena's pause. "Did ya ferget my name fer a moment there? Didn't think I was that fergettable now." But perhaps he does appear quite differently, along with his smell! Floral? Groomed mane? Perhaps Dio had a brother he never told anyone about? Without much care, the leonine figure makes his way towards the newly made cage, stands a few feet from it, and crouches down to get a good look at the poor critter. "I gotta wonder what yer usin' 'em for. If it's somethin' well an' good, then surely ya wouldn't mind tellin' us."
Selena chuckles quietly, tsking a little. "No Bite, then. I could've sworn I saw her here..." The wolfess mutters, rubbing the back of her head as she finally draws within speaking distance. "A Cackle and Squirkik? Hmm. That could be interesting enough. What're you looking into? I'm curious what you're researching."
A simple nod and smile are given to Rixo and Cedric. "Hello to you as well, Cedric. And Dio - in case you didn't notice I was half way down the road and you were in a group of beings. It doesn't lend itself to the easiest recognition."
Daniel recognizes the voice of the cloaked hawk, memory hazy but it's still enough to shock him into saying, "Teacher!" He remembers getting a little mentoring from the hawk, the mouse smiling just a little bit. It's because of him that he learned to properly focus on his math. Listening to his instructions, he nods his head just a little bit, a confident little grin as he focuses on feeling for vibrations in the ground. Taking a deep breath, he feels something from a nearby field, giving a nod to the hawk and running off in that direction... tripping on a clot of dirt higher than the ground he was walking on, but getting right back up again.
The hawk snickers to Daniel and shakes his head. "No... it's not done yet, but it's an unsavory math that I'm trying to further develop, and one that I need to develop in peace, not under some thugs watchful eyes, damn that Jos... anyhow. I need.. I'd like, a multitude, but perhaps four cackle and a squirkik would be sufficient. I do need room for error..." he says as he adjusts his cloak and looks to the caged beast. "I have one, so three more is preferable. Feel free to help one another, I'm paying a group not individuals. Anything else?"
Erika swings her cannon off her shoulder and nods her head, seeing to be checking it over. "All right then! So! Who am I gonna be working with? I'm not the fastest out there, or the best at maths, but I know some air magic, and I can run decently well. And a few shots of my lovely here," her small hand pats the side of her cannon, "Would likely send them running the other direction. So we could try herding a group of them that way."
Cedric recognized the bit of math as dark magic. Not any that he's personally familiar with, but it was definitely dark magic of some sort. He stays quiet about it, however, not planning on telling the others about it. "Nope, no questions here." the badger says to the hawk, with a shake of his head before turning to the others. He looks to Erika, nodding again in agreement. "That sounds like a fairly good plan to me." he says.
Rixo glances over to Erika and gives a smile before waving over towards Dio and Selena. "Hello to you two, as well! And hes, herding them does sound great. Though a bit of warning, in all of this armour I'm not the swiftest runner, either. But I'm sturdy! So if you need me to like... Tackle or sit on one or something... Well, I'll do what I can, yes?"
Hardly knowing any dark magic, if any, Dio was quite unaware of what spells were being cast under his nose. He continues to look at the trapped creature while listening to the hawk and eventually stands back up after getting a mostly satisfactory answer. "Can't say I feel too good 'bout lettin' these critters bein' tested on, but it ain't like I 'aven't smashed a bunch in my life time. An' good day to ya, lass," he waves to Rixo. "An' if ya got some food, we could make a nice trap for 'em."
Selena gives the hawk a bit of a look, tsking quietly. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. I'll ask you again, what are you trying to do with the creatures; what's being developed?" she asks flatly. "It's not as if I'm asking for your proof of concept." she questions, tapping a foot on the path.
Daniel doesn't bother the brush the dirt from the rags that he called his clothing, not yet at least, he had a mission. His footsteps fall heavily until he reaches the field he felt vibrations at, stopping dead in his tracks as he closes his eyes once again. It didn't really matter whether he closed them now, it was mostly a reflex more than anything. Focusing, he tries to find the direction the creature's feet are falling from, taking a deep breath to try and focus himself. Grinning a little and turning his head to the west, he flops himself onto his belly, and begins to sneak towards it.
The hawk shakes his head. "I'm working on dark mathmatics, furthering the field of study that I am seasoned in. If you had to classify it, I'm developing new ways to weaponize it, not unlike someone trying to spruce up a cannon's destructive power or hone a swords edge. I'm going to make it better. If you don't want a part in it you don't have to participate, that is up to you, however time is wasting." he says before he moves off to see what Daniel has gotten up to, he seems to already be at it. "Partner as you wish, results are all I seek."
Erika nods her head and starts off into the fields. "Right! Well, I'm going to head this way and I'll fire my cannon off, a blank charge only. That should set any of them to scattering away from me." She pauses and glances back, saying wit a smile, "And I, at least, don't care what you're going to do with them! You're paying, after all."
Cedric nods to the hawk, but doesn't seem very surprised by the revelation, and waits for a moment to see if the others still around are still planning on hunting down the pests after hearding the hawk's plans for them.
Rixo frowns at Dio and offers a shrug. "Not much! I've got some bread, but not much else on me, I'm afraid." Looking to Erika she flashes a grin. "I have an idea, maybe! If I can hide behind a tree, maybe you can scare them off towards me and I can step out in front of it? Maybe if it runs into me it'll stun itself on my armour and shield?"
"Bread! That's good," Dio procliams as he shifts through his coat pocket. After a few moments, he pulls out a small bag tied with some string. With a little fiddling, the bag releases, revealing a lovely piece of jerky the lion had been saving for a special occasion. "If ya want lass, my jerky an' yer bread might make fer some good bait. Either way, I'm gonna give it a go an' see what comes up." Not wanting to disturb the mouses' hunt, the lion takes off in a different direction and tosses out his jerky in hopes something takes the bait. As he waits, he hides behind the nearest tree ready to pounce.
Selena nods. "That's all I wanted to know." She replies simply. "I'd have objections with... Other parts of dark magic. It's an interesting field to be working in, but I hope it's not one of the mental-oriented spells I've heard bits about." The wolfess sighs quietly, tapping her foot on the ground for a moment before looking up a little. "I can try to knock some cackles out of the air. And if you give me a moment I can mire down the soil to make it a bit harder for any squirkik to run past."
Daniel can hear the chittering of a squirkik right in the distance, his grin growing as his stealthy mouse skills obviously haven't failed him. Sure, he was as stealthy as an enraged shadow in a glasswear shop, but it hasn't failed him yet! Carefully, the little rodent presses his palms to the ground below him and begins to draw out a mathemagical equation in the earth below him, then slaps it, sending a rumbling through the ground in the direction of the little pest. A small earthy boom signals that his trap hit the intended target, hopping to his feet and springing towards where the creature was, now surrounded by a deep depression in the earth, trapped. His hands wrap around the little squirkik, and the mouse runs back towards the group was, creature squirming and clawing his arms. Hah, jokes on you squirkik, they were mostly scar tissue anyway.
Daniel gains 20 wounds for RP reasons.
The squirkik fights and fights but does not break free of the small mages grasp, its tail thumping him along the way. As he runs towards the group the hawk claps his hand and smiles. "AH good work apprentice. You haven't failed me, superb." he says as he begins to construct another crude cage. The group with the trap waits, and waits, and soon they have nothing to show for their efforts. However a laurel folk soon stumbles upon the group during his stroll, and for a while stares at the jerky, before moving to grab it. "Ifin yah don't mind..." he says. "This is pure waste."
Erika makes her way to the edge of a field and shrugs her shoulders at Rixo. She reaches into a pouch at her belt, pulling out a packet of gunpowder and packing, then dropping it into her cannon. "If you think that'll work!" She waits for Rixo to get in position, then angles her cannon up at the sky, well over the crops, and with a practiced hand uses a bit of flint on a steel striker on the cannon to light it, causing a bright flash and loud noise.
The badger is about to head off into the fields to try capturing some pests, digging through his pockets for the right soul gem to switch to. And some more brief rummaging through bags and pockets. Until he realizes that he's left them all behind and has almost no actual means of catching anything at the moment with his current soul. Which catches him rather by surprise as he usually has a fairly good memory. His embarassment at this fact leads him to just, sort of... slink off back towards the city without bothering to let anyone know he's leaving. It's more of a brisk flee, really.
Rixo tugs a small pouch from her bag and tosses it over towards Dio with a grin. "Catch, then! Just try not to use it all, eh?" Her bread given, she runs off behind a tree to wait for Erika's shot. When it rings out, she braces herself for one of the creatures to hopefully run towards her. If, or when, one does, she quickly steps out and braces herself to body-check the creature with her armoured form.
Dio waits and waits, but it would appear that nothing was going to take the bait. He makes a silent curse under his breath and tries to play off his failure to the being that walked by. "Good job there, lad! Ya win a free piece o' jerky. Now if ya will excuse me..." With that plan crossed off the list, he hears a loud boom. Maybe some critters will pop out? Regardless, he keeps his eyes peeled, waiting for the perfect opportunity to rush at the nearest subject.
Selena waits for the first sign of cackles as the cannon blasts into the forest, readying her air magic for the the inevitable scattering of animals... "Well, good luck." she offers quietly to the rest of the group.
Daniel squeaks as his ears are assaulted with an explosion, eyes wide with fear. He certainly wasn't expecting something like that! His hands are kept tight enough around the creature, but not enough to hurt it... he probably wouldn't be able to if he tried, given he wasn't the most physical creature ever. Once the cage is done, he... does nothing. He can't tell that it is ready. Should the hawk give him a vocal que though, he's more than happy to drop it right inside!
The hawk ducks his head as the sound rocks the area, before instructing Daniel to deposit the beast into the makeshift cage. The sound makes quite a few things stir, a few local fauna dart every which way, most importantly, another squirkik takes off out of a nearby field, nearing the group but keeping a distance from them as he tries to move past everything. The laurel looks to the jerky and tilts his head to the prize, before departing with it.
Erika hums softly, her part done, and waits for her cannon to cool. She is watching the squirkik dart off, waiting to see who gets it and how.
Rixo takes a breath and waits. Just as she said, when one of the squirkiks takes off she waits for it to draw near before lunging out from behind the tree, taking a low stance as she braces herself for impact, hoping the creature will run right into her plated figure. Hopefully stunning it long enough for her to grab it.
Dio watches the squirkik head on a collision course straight for Rixo, guessing that she's probably got it well and handled with her heavy armor and such. In case more happen to pop out, he continues watching for any more potential catches.
Selena sighs a little, nothing moving through the skies. She does catching sight of the small animal and more than obviously considering something - if a slight shift in the mud on the surface of the ground is any indication - before noting Rixo's movement and leaving well enough alone. Much like Dio, her attention shifts back to the surrounding area...
Daniel dusts off his shirt as he plops his butt down on the ground next to his cage, glancing into it as he waits for the others to return with their spoils of the hunt. He prods his finger at the crude bars before it slips between them, tutting his tongue at the creature inside, then jerking his hand back as he feels a sharp bite to his finger. He guesses it was still angry at him for capturing it or something. Sucking on his cut finger, he grimaces a little. "So you've been working on dark math all this time, Mister Mentor?"
Kalt arrives to the scene as the loud noise had seemed to riled up the vermin, her swords left who knows where leaving her instead with her usual brawling gear... Mainly a arm guard styled buckler, knuckled gauntlets and weighted boots. The vixen while late, did understand the need to not hurt anything as she looks around and makes her way closer to Daniel and the Hawk as she dips her head. "Figurin' I'mma tad bit late ain't I?" She smiles a tad sheepishly to them both as she looks back to the others to see if anyone would need help.
The squirkik bolts headfirst into Rixo, staggering as it does so before stopping to reorient itself. It doesn't seem like it'll put up much of a fight to bring along. The cages are brought together as the hawk nods, unseen by the rodent. "Yes yes, dark magic, you knew that from the tower I believe?" he offers before he nods to Kalt. "Yes please assist in a few more roundups before our work here is complete." he says before the sound of feathers can be heard. Many many feathers seem very riled up by the sound, a delayed fleeing flock of some thirty cackle are making their way past the group.
Erika tests how much her cannon has cooled off and, finding it cool enough, swings it up onto her shoulder. She starts back toward the group at the cage and says, "Unfortunately, mine's a tactic that only works once. Well. Without finding somewhere far enough away that they didn't bolt." She looks up as the cackles start fleeing, but doesn't think to do anything, instead shrugging and sitting down, singing softly to herself as she fishes out some items to clean out her cannon with.
Rixo reaches out to scoop up the dazed squirkik in her arms, like giving a bear hug. Once she has it, she carries it back towards the hawk with a grin. "Got one for you!" Seeing Kalt, she gives a polite nod. "Hello there! Welcome to the party."
The jerky trap wasn't a success, but not all hope was lost. Dio was getting quite distracted by all the commotion, but something managed to catch the corner of his eye. A cackle! And it's trying to sneak up on the bread gifted to him! With quick feet, perhaps he could score both the bread and the cackle. The lion preps himself and then takes off on a full sprint at full leonine pace, attempting to pounce the bread thief and take it within his clutches.
Selena chuckles as Rixo gives the squirkik a hug, glancing up at the sky as the cawing starts, the wolfess pausing for a moment. "Okay, there actually are some cackles here." She mutters, waiting for a few moments before making a tugging gesture at the flock causing several of the cackles to pitch into the ground abruptly. "If you could pick them up quickly.." she comments, making her way over to the one nearest to her.
Daniel shakes his finger a little more as he pulls it from his mouth, shaking his head a little bit. "Back then, I didn't even know dark math was a thing. I was only aware of the four elements, which I have studied in my free time." He says proudly, listening to the various sounds of chaos coming from his team mates. Goodness knows what trouble they could be getting themselves into. He'd help out more if he weren't blind, he'd probably just get himself hurt, or worse, someone else. For now, he pumps his fist, his voice faintly ringing out from where the group started. "Ra ra, go team!"
Kalt nods to the hawk and Rixo as she unties her breast plate and lets the heavier portion of her armor fall free, leaving the leather base, gauntlets, and plate covered leggins still as she turns in time to catch the bolting cackles... The vixen crouching low before she sprints after the large group of vermin, hands spread wide as she tries to get close enough to try and scoop one or two up into her arms... Knowing full well it's going to bring some pain to her, but the possibility of getting hurt is better then caving their skulls in!
Dio makes the greatest save possible, the cackle and the bread in hands after quite the sprint, both delictable in their own rights, one can only wonder how they would fit together. Selena's work downs quite a few easy to catch cackle,w hich are then deftly captured by the group and a vixen. All in all the hawks haul is a great one, to which he busily constructs cages to cart them all, panting when he is done with the hasty work. "My that was more than expected..." he says as he looks over the corralled critters. "What a catch, thank you so graciously. I do believe I've made enough to keep my work going for quite a while, and now I must tell off a certain scoundrel. So, I take it you would all care for your pay now hmm?" he asks with a nod as he adjusts his cloak.
Erika nods her head, climbing to her feet and swinging her cannon back to her shoulders. "I would! I mean, no offense, but since this isn't the sort of job that lends itself well to a song being written about it, I'll be wanting coin." She hums softly then smiles and sings, "The foolish freeswords scampered through the fields." Then she wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. "Rather not write a song about this making myself an object of ridicule."
Rixo snorts a little and nods. "Yeah... But the pay would be nice, I reckon. I can use it to get myself a round of drinks later. I'll say, though. It went pretty well. I'm pleased. Most of the times, even simple things get complicated by pesky Solacious foxes!"
One piece of jerky already fell to battle. A piece of bread would simply be too much. Using his full leonine strength, Dio makes a sprinting dive at the dastardly criminal, chest sliding across the floor towards his target at a quick pace! Before the feathery perpetrator managed to react, Dio's teeth clamp down upon the bread while his hands descend around the pest with an iron grip! "Goot yoo," he says with a mouth filled with bread, taking both prizes with him to make the deposit. "Try not to be too 'ard on 'em," he claims as he drops the critter into a cage. "An' thanks fer the bread, lass! Came in 'andy."
Selena shakes her head. "Well, that depends. I might just be interested in your work more so than money, but that depends on how much you feel like telling me." she replies with a quiet chuckle. "Hopefully they'll be useful."
Daniel had simply dealt with his wounds with pieces of his torn up clothing, tearing at the sleeves and turning them into bandages, tying them tight around his arms to halt the bleeding. Sure, the cuts weren't serious in any definitition, but the last thing he needed was another reason to get a fake limb. He was already considering getting his bad leg replaced. "Oh, has the group returned already? Gosh, my cheers must have worked a lot better than I thought..." He says with a little smile.
Kalt wanders her way up to deposit her cackles in the cages before moving to put her breast plate back on with a gentle shrug. "If'n you gotta moment an' all from the workin' an' makin' cages an' such. Ain't figurin' I'd be needin' more than a quarter what you offerin' to pay, what with showin' up late an' all." She nods to herself, not wanting to seem like she's taking equal credit with the others for pay.
The hawk smirks and laughs to Selena. "Why maybe someday we can discuss it, but perhaps the agreed pay would suffice for now, miss..." he says as he thinks to himself, not sure he got anyones name. "Well here we go." he finally concludes as he spreads bags about to all those present with a smile. "This has been a great help." The hawk loads everything onto a cart and departs with a smile. "Another time."
