21 - 40: The cabin here is reduced to a chimney and some foundation stones, but a rickety barn still stands. Should you choose to investigate, see below.
The barn appears, despite the general disrepair, to have been used recently for something. You find the following things in a row: an empty plastic container of the kind used to transport small animals, a small plastic kennel, a large crate of the sort used to house a dog (there is a very worn leather collar hanging on the corner), a pen with a dirt floor covered in the hoofprints of a goat or sheep, a stall full of fresh hay and the droppings of either a cow or a horse, and finally, a stall with an old farmer's jacket hung from the corner and a coil of rope in the center, cut cleanly through. There is, in the back of the barn, an old, crumbling table tilted slightly upwards, scored with a deep groove that is stained a dark reddish-brown.
"Nah," he said, looking with a distinctly mournful face in the direction the dog had gone. "Just a feral dog, not used to people."
Ever's silence on the other end of the headset had put his nerves on edge; never mind that he'd been safe after all--he shot him a look and silently, over Shu's head, indicated the button on the headset he'd need to press to actually talk.
There was a barn on the property too, and after considering it Taym informed them he'd go take a look at it, his thoughts running ahead to the strange things that had happened in the cabin, a desire to keep two brand-new trainees out of unknown trouble displacing his uneasiness. He could not help but think, for an instant, of torrential rain and muddy arms, but he pushed the thought aside. His flashlight beam was visible through the gapped slats, sweeping to and fro, as he took in what there was to see with an increasingly unsettled feeling; it was followed by the blue glow of his phone screen and then its flash, as he documented what he could with photographs. He sifted through the jacket's empty pockets, and scraped up a bit of whatever it was that had collected in the trench, telling himself that he couldn't be sure it was anything specific. It went into an evidence bag, just in case.
He distinctly hesitated at the threshold before he emerged, and Shu would know why, even if Ever didn't.
"Someone's been in here recently," was all he said.
and be blue
meegane
and be blue rolled 1 100-sided dice:
95Total: 95 (1-100)
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:54 pm
81- 100: BOSS ENCOUNTER: - You load up onto the ATV to set off to the next cabin, but its engine sputters and dies in classic horror movie fashion halfway to the next destination, near a small tree. The tree shifts in a wind that you do not feel, and you realize that it is no tree at all, but a writhing shape something like a tree and something like the thrashing legs of a dozen goats. It immediately attacks. Occasionally you see in your peripheral vision the stock-still shape of a handsome, bearded, but inexplicably odd-looking man dressed in jeans and flannel, his hands in his pockets. As soon as you attempt to focus on him you find that he is no longer there.
- BOSS MECHANICS: This boss has 100 HP. Every time you attack it (following the general battle rules), you TAKE 8 damage. It appears by turns to bite you with heavily-toothed mouths on the ends of branches and to assault you with thrashing hooves. If no team member is defending you, you may feel a blow to your FEAR shield from behind or off to the side--only to find nothing there. Make sure to tally the boss's total HP (the damage you did to it) at the bottom of your post as well as your total HP and the damage you did that round. If the boss's HP hits 0, you have defeated it, and your team can now take the portal back.
"Someone like..." He hesitated over the question, eyes sweeping over Shu: fidgety waiting outside on his ATV, and it showed in the nervous circling of a pack of cigarettes over and around his hand. Ever wanted to smoke, and it showed badly now, but he was also resisting, and maybe that showed he was taking this more seriously than it seemed.
He didn't finish the thought. Instead he shook his head and put it away, fishing for his flashlight to have it in hand and settling back into place. "I don't know, let's just. Finish. I mean someone has to be here, or else they wouldn't have...have bothered sending...."
Two trainees and Taym. Wonderful. He started up the ATV and jerked gracelessly into motion, determined. They could follow along behind -- hopefully would follow along behind, because it wasn't too long before something crunched in his engine and his vehicle shuddered into a timely death.
"s**t." He whispered, and then pushed the button.
"s**t." He repeated, and this time they'd hear it. "Something broke."
As he climbed down off of it, to poke pointlessly at a machine he knew nothing about, the tree behind him shifted and swayed in the lack of wind. Ever didn't notice.
Shu was worried when Taym said he would check the cabin by his own, stared at the direction he disappeared. Her heart bounced like a drum, although it might not be the Taym she knew, he was still a Taym, like Fleur in another world she saw in caterpillar's dens. The girl held her hands together and wished the hardest that he will be fine and appeared soon, her wish was granted. "W-What did you find and see?" The news that someone was there got on her nerve, might be just a homeless man, she comforted herself, but couldn't get rid of the ill omen drifting in her mind.
Ever's words just happened to tense her up even more, she clutched the totem necklace hanging on her neck and prepared to fight anytime she was required. Through the spars and training courses, she felt much easier to engage herself into battle, even though she didn't want to or hope it would be uneventful......!
Ever didn't notice but Shu was watching him because his vehicle made weird noises from inside. Thus, she saw the thing, a monster hidden within the trees, she believed. "Mr. Ever!" She yelled and dashed forward swinging her hammer at the shadow, she wasn't sure if she hit it, but at least the hunter was unharmed. As she turned to tell Ever what she just saw, she felt a wind blew but there was no wind, just a silent forest next to them. Shu frowned and remained alert, turned to the two to explain there was something in the woods.
"I saw something moving behind Mr. Ever......I felt the need to swing my hammer, I might be just over-reacting....but please better be alert." The girl said in a not so confident voice but serious, she disliked the bad feeling haunting her, a voice non-existing told her to be careful, she grabbed on the shaft on her weapon tightly.
Something was there though she couldn't see it yet.
His weapon was to hand almost immediately, and as he crept forward to examine what it might have been that had Shu on edge, a branch--not a branch, just a branchlike something--snaked out and caught him hard in the shoulder.
In less than a heartbeat he was in front of them both, partially out of instinct and partially out of a little voice saying: this is your job now, meat shield. It was not an unwelcome thought, but what was unwelcome was the realization that given the team make-up his best defense was going to be a solid offense. It was still, even now, an uncomfortable thought to hold: that he had more power in his hands than the people around him.
Well, now was as good a time as any for a little lesson in Mist's flexible division roles.
"Good instincts, sweetheart," he said to Shu, shifting to give her room to swing the hammer. "Ambrodiel," he barked, "cover her."
HP: 52 CHG: 1/3
BOSS HP: 89
Meegane
Now Shu has defense biggrin EVER WILL PROTECT YOU
and be blue
Yay
and be blue rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-6)
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 11:27 pm
The flurry of the other hunters around him was -- well, more alarming than whatever it was they were fighting, for sure, if only because Ever could see his fellow recruits and not the creature. Shu in action, with a hammer that looked far too large for a seventeen-year-old-girl to wave around, Taym with his dagger glowing with runes. Altogether, it kind of made him want to duck and cover.
For a breath, he did just that, scrambling down behind the ATV and struggling to gather his thoughts. Dark eyes were settled on Shu, now, because damned if she wasn't tiny, and that combined with Taym's barked orders were what drew him out again.
He could focus on defense, on watching Shu's back and staying out of the arc of her hammer, Amory appearing in his hand. It had been a month and a half, and already the stiletto was familiar and reassuring, grounded him enough that he could strike out when a flailing branch shot at the girl. There were others he missed, at least, but at least he could keep some of the blows away.
Besides, keeping his attention on Shu kept him from listening too hard to his hammering heart.
HP: 40/ 40 Action: Defending Shu DEF: 2 Charge: 1/3
She heard of the compliment of her observation, but taking down an aggressive monster became their top priority, there was no time for a blush. Ambrodiel? That were just three of them, so Taym must be calling Ever. The petite Asian had a quick turn to say a thank you for Ever's back up and then set her hammer aside while she scanned through the woods, spotting for any movement. It was just like playing Red light, Green light to pick the one who moved under watch.
Shu barely blinked and scowled at the trees very carefully and suddenly hammered at a place, she swung the hammer as if it was very light. "Got you! Sneaky big monster. Bad monster that attack Mr. Thompson and Mr. Ever!" She said in an angry tone. "Don't you think you can hide your big body up" The girl jumped and swung her hand not holding the hammer, trying to irritate the furtive monster so that they can locate it.
The monster growled and a branch smacked at her for retaliation, not enough, she still only saw part of it.
It seemed to Taym that the more he struck out the easier it became to separate the limbs of the thing from the night sky and from, more urgently, the trees around them. A solid blow yielded a noise halfway between a hiss and a bleat--an unsettling sound, to put it mildly--and then Taym reeled under a blow that apparently came from nowhere, although he caught in the corner of his eye, for a half an instant, an almost-human face that should not have been there. It was gone by the time he wheeled for it.
HP: 44 DMG: 8 CHG: 2/3 Boss HP: 76
and be blue
See it's already 1/4 of the way dead and we've got several heals between us WE GOT THIS
meegane
and be blue rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4Total: 4 (1-6)
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 11:02 am
There was very little more soothing than hearing Shu yell at the monster -- very little that took the edge of terror off. Horrible hellbeasts being scolded by teenaged girls were definitely less intimidating. But this creature was still enough to put his heart in his throat, his back not quite to Shu's, driving away attacks from the rear while she handled the ones coming at her head on.
He flicked a look to Taym, though, licking his lips uncertainly. "Are you sure I shouldn't...should I go after it?"
In truth, he was perfectly happy where he was: defending. Shu had reach, and he didn't. But the girl was starting to look just a bit battered, and he still hadn't even been touched --
HP: 40/ 40 Action: Defending Shu DEF: 4 Charge: 2/3
Shu was busy to lure out the monster by her failed skill of irritation, so she couldn't check on Taym or Ever's condition. "Y-You are a coward! You are not strong enough to handle three of us at the same time or just scary of us? Sneaky chicken-hearted er-tree monster!" She already tried her best to say something offending, but surely not up to the level of some hunters on twitter, but she was learning.
The petite huntress was anxious because the tree didn't fall into the trap yet.
"Just watch her back," he barked. "You get an opening to lash out that doesn't get in the way of that you take it. And Shu, you tell me if your shield starts to crack," he added, although the last of it was swept away in a ragged inhale when something, again, caught him in the back. He wheeled, the dagger just clipping--something. Something that wasn't there.
Every ******** external assignment, he thought grimly, it's something we can't even see. Hadn't they recruited them specifically because they could see things other people couldn't?
Ever didn't look much more pleased than Taym -- felt strange, perhaps, a giant bodyguard behind Shu, driving away lashing tentacle-like branches as they zoned in on his charge. It would have at least felt like something if he'd been able to lash back at the creature. That was what drove him to tip his head, even as he held Amory up to keep something from biting at Shu, and speak to the girl behind him.
"If you want to switch, at any point, just let me know. Til then, I'll stay here."
HP: 40/ 40 Action: Defending Shu DEF: 4 Charge: 3/3
The petite Asian girl puffed her cheek and kept scolding the sneaky monster to draw it out, but it wasn't working so smoothly. Even the shield was there, she could still feel the pain and she was sorry for Mr. Ever who was defending her. "A-Alright, Mr. Thompson!" She yelled back politely.
The hammer was glowing with blinking runes as she hit and vexed the monster, she pulled the hammer low to unlock the ball of the size slightly smaller than a bowling ball and began to swing the hammer with two hands, creating a temporary barrier by the fast swaying and with a jerk, send it out to the area of suspicion.
However, she accidentally twisted her ankle and the path of the ball was distorted, smacked a normal tree trunk before it bounced back to hit herself.
She sat on the ground, deflated while trying to recover her stance. "I am so sorry...." The girl gave a sad puppy look to Ever when she was still sitting on the floor, requesting a switch of role without saying it out.
Shu: 12/ 40 (Defended for 4, self-destruction for 14) Action: Attacking DMG: MISS Charge: 3/3 USING
"Jesus Christ, what is it with tiny girls and self-destructive weapon charges?" he demanded, and he was on his way to go take care of her when it became obvious that she was stepping back.
"Tell me," he repeated, nimbly dodging a half-hearted swipe from a branch more keen on other targets, "if your shield gets low."
It was too late to stop it: he redirected it, instead, took it in. It felt profoundly wrong to be the only Moon Hunter on site and using this charge on himself, but they had backups and they had, besides, pendants. These were the little reassurances he gave himself: that he wasn't already ******** it up, that he wasn't already forgetting his job, that he wasn't already backsliding.
HP: 53 DMG: none, healing CHG: 0/3 | used y2 chill Boss HP: 70
meegane
Since Shu is going on defense I'm not healing her, but if you want to attack again let me know--Taym's got another heal once he's charged and also has runic band aids :O I THOUGHT EVER HAD THE CHILL I made a mistake lol
