Monster Hunt in Eastbank Forest - RPLOG
Participants
Date
20/7/478
Log
The area described in the missive at the guild seems calm, too calm for a forest. Neither land animals nor birds can be heard. Some bushes have been trampled and even two smaller trees have been uprooted here, a clear sign that the beast must have at least come through here.
Fenris saunters casually down the forest trail, humming a little walking song to himself. The big, fluffy tiger does not seem to mind the little bit of rain that trickles through the canopy overhead. In fact, the only thing that seems to indicate that he is not just out for a walk in the woods is the presence of his lumbering, bear shaped golem Bao Bao. On closer inspection, his walking stick is a heavily reinforced fighting staff. Not that he carries it like one. He stops to look at the ruin left in the wake of the mark he must be following and pokes at a trampled bush, looking around and listening to the sounds of the forest.
Cara walks through the forest with a large warhammer in her right hand. As she walks along, she raises an eyebrow at the trampled bushes and smiles upon noticing the bear golem and the accompanying fluffy tiger. "Hello again, Fenris. So, I take it you're here to help handle whatever we're dealing with today, right?"
Bao is dressed for trouble, kitted out in full mail and bearing a small targe blazoned with both Creator runes and the Solacious emblem. A short rod of living cypress is slung across his back. Everything on the sea lion is clean in ways no amount of rain could explain, even the toes of his boots.
A silver furred wolf walks along the forest path, wary of the creatures of the forest that may challenge him. He stops at a set of tracks leading through a trampled bush. He begins the examine the the area and notices a small group ahead. Cautiously approaching the group he calls out, "Friend, Or foe?"
The only thing to be heard is the quiet rustling of the wind in the leafs of the trees and the words of the assembling group itself as they slowly gather in the area. Enough light shines through the crowns of the trees to illuminate the forest ground well, and with the path of destruction the beast left, tracking it should not be too hard.
"Foe!" Fenris calls out cheerily in response to Aruc's challenge, "I have always wondered about people who ask that question." The fluffy feline strolls casually into the disturbed underbrush. "Honestly, I have always wondered what they would do if I yelled 'Foe!'" he says, his staff thumping rhythmically as he walks, "And now I get to see! Keep up people!" He shoots a smile over his shoulder, but does not wait, assuming the others will follow along.
Cara quickly turns to face the new arrival, "Well, come on. We
Cara quickly turns to face the new arrival, "Well, come on. We're just taking on another monster." She instantly follows after the giant fluffball of a tiger while she carries the large hammer with no trouble at all. "I wonder if this thing can take several pounds of force to the skull."
Little bothered by his armor, Bao slides past Fenris to take point. He winks at Cara. "We'll find out. The Rangers want to know, too." The sea lion moves comfortably through the forest despite his armor, pausing now and again to check the damaged growth and gauge just how big the invasive creature might be.
Aruc Looks at the strangers with a look of confusion and slight annoyance. He states " Why would you just randomly state foe... you know what nevermind. You are all after the moster aswell correct? Then I see no reason for us to cause trouble for eachother. Let's just focus on killing the thing in time for supper."
The group makes its way into a deeper part of the forest, the trails being easy enough to follow for even the most basic hunter and with the ranger leading the way, they quickly come to a small clearing. Here the trail ends, but it is easy to see that the creature has been here and moved on, with trampled bushes to both the north and east of the clearing.
Fenris does not even slow as he passes through the clearing. Nor does he speed up. He just saunters cooly along beside his golem that looks nearly as cuddly as himself, heading to the north. "I'm just saying," he says amiably, "It seems like a silly question. What foe is going to give himself away like that on the road? I mean, if you surprised them, maybe they would let it slip, but I don't know that I have ever met a foe that was -quite- so easily tricked." The tiger does not look around as he talks, his attention focused on the trail before him.
Cara sends her attention over to the trail as well. "I haven't really seen any tracks like this before. It'll probably be easier than that one reptile." She continues to follow after the male tiger as well after waving to the Solacious sea lion.
Bao turns back to the wolf, slowing but not breaking stride. "Tracks going east are older, in case you're wondering why Fenris here didn't stop." He doesn't yet have a weapon in hand, but makes no attempt to hide that he's increasingly expecting trouble.
Aruc looks at the being that addressed him and states, "That is no suprise, I dont expect a creature of its size to go very far very fast. Still, not knowing what the creature is makes my feel, uneasy." With that the wolf firmly plants his right hand on the Hilt of his blade.
Following the keen eyes of Fenris and Bao the group wanders the forest for about half an hour, tracking the beast with no major problems. Suddenly the relative quietness of the forest is broken by a thundering roar and the dying scream of an animal.
Fenris smiles over his shoulder. "That sounds promising, don't you think?" he asks, sauntering on, the thumps of his staff heavy in the dirt of the forest floor. "I don't know that I've seen anything quite like this before," he admits, "Makes me think of a Maneback, but it is far too big. But I imagine we will find out what it looks like soon enough." He does not look around, but his attention goes to Bao for a moment. "I did not realize that Solacious knights were often loaned to the rangers," he says, making conversation in spite of the animal shriek.
Cara's ears perk up as she hears the sound of the roar and a small smile begins to form on her face. She shrugs at the sound of the animal's shriek, "Well, it was going to happen considering the expected size of the creature. It reminds me of the Manebacks as well, Fenris." She looks at the silver furred wolf for a moment, and then braces herself as she begins looking around for the large beast.
Bao shrugs and draws a short, heavy blade. He swings it back and forth a few times to loosen his shoulders. "Auxiliary captain. Special case, I guess. Everybody wants t'borrow me, nobody wants t'own me." He looks over to Cara and Fenris' golem. "I'll try and keep its eyes on me. You lot can do the smashing."
Aruc draws his blade with one hand and readies a herb filled satchel with his other. An eager look crosses his face as he says "Hmm never seen one of these, I wonder how I should cook it?" He looks over his companions and dryly states "try not to get cut up too badly, I only have so many bandages."
The beast must have either a very good sense of hearing or smell, because it certainly has noticed the group! Loud footsteps are closing in and several small trees on its path fall to the ground. It only takes a moment for it to reach the group of freeswords: The creature seems to be a very large, bulky wolf that stands 8 meters at its shoulder and is covered in gray scales instead of fur. A pair of mighty horns crowns its canine head and its tail is long, fleshy and strong looking.
"Bao Bao!" Fenris commands, sending his golem crashing toward the beast to hold it at bay.
Cara immediately brings up her hammer and begins running to the left side of the beast. Her legs begin pumping as she runs and her small smile turns into one of rather strange delight.
Bao lunges forward, leading with the creator-inspired shield. He answers the beast's roar with a much quieter one of his own. Keeping his shield high, the ranger tries to hold the beast's attention and prepare for its inevitable attacks.
Aruc attempts to stay out of the beasts rage. Looking for opprotunities to lay snares in its path or to support the others.
The beast runs past golem and straight towards Bao! The sea lion manages to block the swing of the creature's paw, but his shield is knocked out of his hands. Taking the chance, Cara manages to smash her hammer onto the left hind leg of the scaled wolf, which cries out in pain. Bao Bao, the golem who was ignored by the beast too manages to connect, giving it a bruise on its right flank.
Fenris stands back, resting against his staff, letting his golem do its job. The mechanical panda digs into the beast's side, opening its mouth as light starts to build within.
Cara practically jumps as she smiles in a manner similar to that of a crazed loon. She notices the tail of the beast is currently open right now. She looks at her large hammer and back at the tail, "Let's find out if we can crush the beast's tail." The crazy feline runs over to the tail of the beast, raises her hammer high into the air, and swings it down with plenty of force.
Bao feints at the monster's head before diving after his lost shield. The move has all the grace of his serpentine patron...which is good, because it would look distinctly awkward otherwise.
Aruc attempts to set snares in areas the beast is likely to walk over, He also takes a moment to take a more detailed look at the creature in order to identify any possible weaknesses.
The beast roars once moar as the hammer is brought down upon its tail, giving Bao enough time to retrive his shield. Although the hit only seems to have made it more angry! It thrashes at Cara with its tail, though it misses the nimble feline by a good bit. The creature tries to jump forwards, but only manages a relatively small leap, due to the damage to its leg. However it is dangerously close to Aruc now, who, distracted by working on his snares, takes a strong swing that sends him about a meter through the air. Curiously the beast has kept ignoring the golem so far.
Bao Bao will be ignored no longer! The panda golem's short prep time is finally finished as a flash of burning energy gushes from its mouth against the monster's leathery hide.
Fenris, in the meantime is watching carefully, curious about the beast's actions. Usually a creature like this would assume that the large golem was the greatest threat. He prepares his staff, just in case.
Cara groans for a moment and immediately starts trying to crush the tail once more. In her mind, it seems like a dangerous game of dodging the tail and crushing it down. Once the tail is broken, it will be much easier to climb up the tail and to also break its back. "Darn it! Stay still so that I can break your back!"
Bao maneuvers to take advantage of the monster's whirling. The hamstrings are out of even the tall sea lion's reach, but there are plenty of tendons in the lower leg to aim for. The ranger slashes at the beast's legs with his cutlass.
Aruc attempts to recover his senses and tend to his wounds. Bandages and herbs go a long way when in these situations, But he must be more carefull.
The beast yelps in pain as it is hit from three sides both by blade, hammer and fire. The beast spins around itself in an attempt to hit the attackers with its mangled tail, though sea lion, tiger and even the golem are quick enough to evade the blows. The creature sniff about and charges Cara, its massive horns pointed at her, giving Aruc enough time to tend to his most severe wounds.
Cara smiles and shifts to the side so that the horns aren't pointed at her any longer. Then, she proceeds to charge directly over to the beast with her hammer at the ready and her attention kept on the side of the beast's skull. As soon as she gets close enough, she swings her hammer, hoping to make contact with the side of it
Fenris circles the clearing quietly, watching the fight and mentally directing his golem as he moves to help the fallen wolf. "You alright kid?" he asks, though it seems he can't be much older than Aruc, "May want to get out of the way if that thing is going to start charging around.
The panda golem lumbers after the charging monster, raising paws the size of serving platters to slam into the thing's side.
Cara smiles and shifts to the side so that the horns aren't pointed at her any longer. Then, she proceeds to charge directly over to the beast with her hammer at the ready and her attention kept on the side of the beast's skull. As soon as she gets close enough, she swings her hammer, hoping to make contact and to consequently knock a few brain cells loose.
This isn't going according to plan, Bao thinks, but there's still plenty he can do. He chases after the monster, continuing to slash at its legs. It'll be a devil to put down regardless, but much easier if it's hobbled. He wishes, absently, that'd he'd brought a pike.
Aruc shouts out to the others "This may not be working! We need to find an advantage and quickly, Try to injure its legs! Cut its mobility!" Aruc Then examines both the creature and the surrounding area for anything noteworthy.
The beast misses Cara narrowly, at least with its horns, the feline is still graced by the beast's paw, causing her to reel back. The wolf trashes about and kicks at Bao as he gives it a nasty cut on its leg. Thankfully it misses the knight. The golem is able to bruise the creature once more as it is barely, if at all taking notice of it.
Fenris nods to Aruc, seeing that the wolf is alright, then decides it might be time to add himself to the fray. He directs his golem to charge the monster once more, and lines up his own charge perpendicular to the construct. When they meet near the wolf thing's flank, Fenris uses the mechanical ursine as a springboard, launching himself up onto the monster's back as lightly as a seven foot tall tiger can be said to do. Which means that he lands with a hard, downward strike while his golem strikes from the side.
Cara is pushed back for a moment and then sighs, "Okay, you know what. I'll just see if this thing like fire arrows." The feline instantly begins concentrating on her fire magic for a moment as the fire arrows are being conjured up and she aims the expected fire arrows directly at the right eye of the beast.
Bao shouts in satisfaction as his blade again hits home. "Keep at it! It bleeds! It will fall! For Promise!" He pays less attention, for the moment, to injuring the beast than he does to inspiring his comrades.
Aruc aruc takes a moment to collect himself, then launches himself at the beast Attempting to use the panda golem for cover as he cuts into the beasts leg.
Fiery projectiles hit the beast, the same as blades, harsh words and a tiger, though the last one did not connect too well and quickly slides off the sleek scales of the strange creature, but not without giving it a nasty, but small cut. It brings down its paw on Fenris and pins him down, giving a fearsome roar.
Fenris grunts as he finds himself pinned beneath a huge paw, but does not waste time panicking. Instead, he wraps his big, burly arms around the paw holding him down and commands his golem to do what large, metal constructs do best. SMASH!
Cara shouts, "Hold on, Fenris! I'm coming!" She immediately heads over to the side of beast's head and yells, "You will not hurt my friend!" and once more attempts to swing her hammer into the side of its skull.
Bao hopes the creature's attention is limited and wholly focused on the pair of tigers. He angles to get beneath the beast and strike something more vital than its shins and knees.
Aruc attempts to stab the beast's upper leg, While doing so he yells to the tiger controlling the golem " Use the Golem, Throw me onto the beast!"
Suddenly everything goes rather quickly. The hammer connects with the beast skull, which stuns it for a moment, allowing Fenris to slip away. At the same time the punch of the golem connects and Aruc gives the animal a small bleeding wound as well. Bao however, manages to sink his sword into a soft spot on the belly of the beast, cutting deep into it and seemingly hitting at least one vital organ. The beast lets out a loud shriek as it sinks in on itself. The sea lion only narrowly manages to roll away from certain death, avoiding the fall of the beast.
Fenris lets the falling beast pull him to his feet as it reels. The tiger uses his momentum to place one more blow on the suffering beast's throat as he comes from below. The poor blind thing has suffered enough.
Cara shouts out as she notices the lovable fluffball strike the its throat. "I'll help out too." She also steps onto the paw and rears her hand back for a moment. Then she proceeds to step forward, send all of her momentum into her hand and delivers a powerful palm strike to the beast's throat as well.
Bao shakes his head and pauses a moment to catch his breath as he watches the giant scaled wolf's death throes. When they begin to quiet, he slips back in to retrieve the sword he lost as he scrambled clear. "Wolf--you okay?"
Aruc looks over his wounds, before replying "Yes I am fine. That was not the worst I have been through." After a short pause he turns to face the rest of the group. "Well it is good that we have defeated this... Creature I must ask, Is this the creature we where tasked to kill? And perhaps more importantly, Is it alone?
The creature has ceased any movements and just lies there now. The group of freeswords can finally catch their breath now that their job here is done and the inhabitants and those who work in the forest are safe once more.
Aruc With the creature Now dead aruc gets to work setting up a fire, Prepping his cooking utensils. He says to the other "Hey Wish to join me for supper? I happen to have come accross a large supply of meat for the night."
Fenris sighs as Cara mashes the poor beast's corpse. "It's dead, Cara," he says, "Poor thing was half in the grave already." He waves at the monster's staring eyes. "It was blinded," he says, "had probably been hurting itself all on its own." The tiger places a hand on the monster's great head for a moment, then turns away, collecting his staff and sauntering back into the forest.
"I have to report. Perhaps Ser'ther has some insight, too." Bao says. "Something blinded it? That smacks of cruelty and intentional chaos-making." He sighs. "Stay safe. I am certain business will bring us together again.
Cara's ears furl down, "Wait, what?" She slowly frowns as she walks back to town. "Maybe I should stop being so violent if it makes other look at me like this."
