Maneback Hunting in Silvervein - RPLOG
From Rusted Promises
Participants
Date
22/9/478
Log
Light rain falls onto the trail that curves through the forested valley, though the weather could be far worse. There is no sign of the pack yet, however some distant howls can occasionally be heard from somewhere nearby.
Fenris rides along on the back of his enormous purple buffalo. "What do you think brought the manebacks down this far?" he asks, checking the large, long-bladed spear strapped to his back and looking around at the rainy landscape.
The plant being walks across the valley, a gentle smile on his face and a salamander on his side. "Hmmm, lovely rain." he says as the rain showers the young being's flower hair, "Hope you are ready for a fight, Zuri. Manebacks tend to be aggressive when in packs." he tells his companion with a smile.
Natska walks along next to Fenris, Cassidy at her side. The jaguar gives her head a small shake, then glances up at Fenris. "Could be anything. Other predators pushing them out. Searching for food. The jarls are related to manebacks, as well, perhaps they were misidentified."
Cassidy shuffles alongside Natska, holding an umbrella over their heads as she trecks through the pass. "Maybe. If they're from the north, I do not know what would be causing it, honestly. Can't imagine they have much competitors aside from other manebacks. There's not THAT many varied things until you get really far north. At least, not that I have seen."
A deep howl can be heard through the bickering of the rain and the unnerving feeling of being watched is spreading through the group.
Cassidy pauses in her tracks, furrowing her brow. "We're already being watched," she says, slipping one of her throwing knives from its holster. "And I would like to get further before we start getting hounded," she flicks her wrist, hurling the knife towards the underbush. She hated to kill it, but she supposed that was what they were here for anyway.
Zuri smiles at Rokarion, nodding at his comment. "Of course I'm ready for a fight! Mind, I had to leave my usual weapons back home, because.." He would happily have continued on his distracted ramble were it not for Cassidy suddenly stopping and flinging a knife at a brush. He blinks. "Huh?" He scrambles to grab his shortbow and notches an arrow just in case another fight happens. "Did you get it?"
Fenris hops lightly down from his mount to stalk toward the bush. "Well spotted," he compliments Cassidy, bending down to examine the downed maneback, "How is this one so far from the pack?" He loosens his spear in its bindings to let it slide into his hands as he looks around.
Rokarion nods his head at Zuri, "Ah, left them..." he attempts to say before their conversation is interrupted by Cassidy. "Hmmm, being watched by the manebacks or someone else?" he asks as he looks at Zuri, putting a hand on his shoulder as he begins casting a calcified flesh spell.
Natska frowns. Her ear flicks and she looks around, then nods at Cassidy. "I don't think the others will be too far away..."
"Probably not," Cassidy agrees, looking towards the others. "It was a maneback. Just one. Why it was this far? I don't know. Maybe it was a sort of... Scout? Seems odd for a maneback, but I've encountered lone manebacks before. Bring my knife back, would you?"
As if on command, there is another howl to be heard right after Natska finishes her sentence. Only this time it is echoed by a whole choir and the first sounds of rapid movement can be heard around the group as suddenly two relatively small manebacks pounce out of the undergrowth and onto Zuri and Rokarion. The small salamander is knocked over as the beast bites into his arm, but remains relatively safe thanks to the calcified flesh spell that has been cast earlier. Rokarion suffers a similar fate, having been knocked over by the surprise attack and having a maneback attempt to chew on his magically protected calf.
Zuri yelps as he's pounced on so suddenly that he barely had the time to react. Pinned as he is he cannot make good use of his readied bow. He lets go of that weapon and, since his right arm is currently being chewed on by the wolf he raises his left hand at the creature and tries to grip its flank while weaving a little bit of Fire Math into his touch.
Fenris plucks the knife from where it is lodged in the emaciated maneback's throat to pass back to Cassidy. "Looks hungry," he says, "Hunting has not been good, it seems." His head jerks up at the sound of the howl and surprise attack. The tiger gently flips Cassidy's knife to her as he whips his spear into action to slice into the attacking pack.
Rokarion lets out a soft not-so-surprised eep as he falls down on the ground, the plant being having just enough time to weave a quick spell to quickly raise some of the dirt to cover his calf as the maneback attempts to chew on it. "I don't like needless cruelty, but you forced the issue." he tells the maneback with a hint of guilt in his gentle tone. With that, Rokarion quickly draws a circle in the air with his finger as he attempts to arouse the ground underneath the maneback, planning on impaling him and lifting him in the air.
Natska tenses and turns as the group is attacked, her long sword sliding from its scabbard. She lunges forward and chops down at the maneback's exposed neck, trying to help Zuri get free.
The maneback that was attacking Rokarion is swiftly, yet brutally killed by the earthen spike the plant being created, while the one on Zuri, which had initially let go of the Salamander, due to the heat, is swiftly decapitated by Natska. The sense of victory does not last long however as two more of the canine creatures sprint at the group, one of them jumping up at Natska and finding an exposed spot in her armor, where it gives her a nasty bite. The one headed for Rokarion is in for a nasty surprise however, as its paws sink into the ground and get stuck thanks to his magic.
Zuri rolls out of his supine position, throwing Natska a thankful smile after springing back to his feet. He watches as one of the manebacks tries to charge at Rokarion, and draws both daggers to charge back at the creature, twin blades slicing through the air to both thrust at the beast simultaneously.
Fenris bellows a nonsense word command to his shaggy buffalo, sending it stampeding into the pack while he himself charges into battle, his long spear arcing toward the beast attacking Natska.
Rokarion takes a deep breath, the plant being excessive use of divine maths in such a short period of time causing him a light headache that keeps getting worse. Shaking his head, Rokarion decides to let out another spell as he bites his lower lip and begins drawing three different geometric symbols in the air, attempting to wrap his allies in a layer of earthen armor and soothing water magics to ease their wounds, and of course protecting himself as well.
Natska turns, arm moving to throw the maneback off, only to find Fenris had already finished it. She gives him a small nod, then readies her sword, ears perked as she waits to see if there is another wave.
There is a moment of silence and it seems like the pack is not willing to throw more of them at the well armed group, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath. The quiet moment does not last long though as about a dozen of the creatures slowly close in on the group in a nearly perfect circle. The whole pack is made up off relatively small individuals that look like they have not eaten in a long while.
Zuri resheathes his weapons and retrieves his discarded bow before heading back towards Rokarion. He looks over the plant being with concern, looking him over for any injury. "Are you alright?" He glances sideways at the brush nearby, just in case another maneback is about to jump them from there, but then shifts his gaze back to the jasmine.
Fenris turns his back to the other freeswords and holds his spear ready. "Never met a pack hungry enough to stick around after losing so many members," he observes, waiting for the manebacks to move. The tiger whistles loudly, sending his buffalo trampling toward the line of the pack.
Rokarion rubs his forehead with a palm before finally standing up and looking down on Zuri, smiling, "Nah, not injured at all. Just head hurting, is all." the plant being says with a smile as he gives Zuri's stone covered head a gentle pat, "What about you?" he says before he looks at the pack surrounding them, "What a hassle. I wonder if there is a problem with the local wild life that caused those manebacks to become this desperate." he comments idly.
Natska pins her ears back for a moment, then glances at the others. "You could be softening them up before the charge."
Cassidy draws her sword, keeping it at the ready as she takes up a position near Natska, glancing at her. "Let's try not to get bit, hmm? Bite wounds are awful," she nods, taking a defensive position as she appraises the situation.
The manebacks continue closing in on the the group of beings, no further away than 15 meters by the time that several of them charge the beings. Two of the canines jump Zuri, but the small Salamander swiftly ducks under assault, evading them both. Rokarion is attacked by two of them as well and knocked down again, the teeth of one of the manebacks breaks through the rock cover of his left arm and gives him a small wound, while the other one has its jaw closed tightly on the plant being's right leg, though unable to break through the covering. Fenris is faced by one member if the pack, but easily shakes it off himself after its attack did not breach his armor. The worst off of the group is Cassidy, who was jumped by three of the manebacks and only managed to escape two of them, the third one has bitten her right ankle and caused her to fall.
Zuri bounds away from the manebacks that tried to pounce on him, the small salamander turning around to face them. He raies his hands and focuses on them as he visualizes a mathemagical phrase that is rather well known to him: Flaming Arrows. He fans his fingers out, letting the flaming bolts arc out towards the two creatures, hopefully to good effect.
Fenris spins into action, his long bladed spear a silvery blur as he flings himself into action, slashing and spinning and dancing through the angry manebacks.
Already right by her wife's side, Natska is quick to try and plunge her sword through the skull of the maneback accosting her fennec. Then the armored feline snarls a challenge at the pack, and holds a wary stance between the rest of the pack and Cassidy.
Cassidy avoids two of them, but the third manages to catch her leather pants, causing her to stumble and fall. She doesn't stay down, though, quickly rolling back to her feet and lashing out with fire magic towards the remaining ones.
Rokarion sighs as he falls down again, accosted by two other manebacks who had managed to attack him. The plant being shakes his head as he begins to mentally preparing more equations, planning on introducing the two creatures attacking him to the previous earthen spikes that had killed their previous friend.
A surprisingly high number of the pack goes down after the combined attacks of the beings. So many, in fact that the remaining manebacks, which are not too many, flee the battlefield and vanish into the undergrowth. This leaves the group standing alone with nearly a dozen canine corpses, several gruesomely impaled on stone spikes, some decapitated and others burned. A very successful culling, but the missive did say to get them all...
Zuri returns to Rokarion's side, looking at the other wolves as they bound off. "Mmm.." He looks to Fenris and Cassidy for leadership in this situation, letting them decide how to proceed.
Fenris is done. A culled pack is a finished pack. Or at least one that lacks the power to be a threat to travelers and locals and that might be able to support themselves on their normal diet again. Though this pack's peculiar bravery was a little disconcerting. "Anyone plan to give chase?" he asks, wiping his spear on the grass.
Natska takes a moment to check Cass' leg, then carefully helps her up. She gives Fenris a small nod. "They should be, yes, but I would prefer to follow them if we have anyone capable."
Cassidy pats her coat down, returning her sword to its scabbard and smiling at Natska. "It's alright. Didn't break skin or anything, though I might need new pants. I don't want to kill them all off if it can be helped, but if that is what we are going to do, I'm probably capable of giving chase."
Rokarion let out a sigh as he finally stood up, good thing he had a layer of stone on him, he didn't want to have to clean the all the blood that was covering him right now. The plant being looked down on Zuri and smiled, "Don't worry, I am fairly fine. That sure the first time I fought someone so directly. I think it well enough." he adds with a snicker before looking at the manebacks, "Hmmm, I don't think we need to hunt them down. They have been culled down enough. I hope they actually manage to survive, unlikely with how famished they looked."
