The Hunting Grounds III - Second Most Dangerous Game

[UncleWolf]

Jungle - Night

The Wolfen Alpha sighed happily as the sounds of a crackling fire and the scent of cooking flesh filled her nose. Even though there were several pounds of anaconda flesh currently cooking on the fire, Brokenfang continued to butcher the giant snake. The 20ft long snake had ambushed her in the river, nearly crushing her ribs, but thankfully her claws had made short work of it. The memory of the struggle sent a shudder down her spine, but even with the fear it had brought, it had also came with rewards. She now had pounds of wonderful flesh to power her through the journey and had even been given a minor gift.

The Wolfen pops a piece of uncooked meat into her mouth, chewing it carefully as she feels the new musculature of her jaw. It felt quite a bit more powerful and she'd already learned how to unhinge it in order to bite things so much better. Not only that, but her remaining fang now ended in a needle point and had a razor's edge to the back of it. The thought made her tail wag and after leaving the guts of the snake on the ground, she turns back to the fire to sharpen her meter long spatha. She'd chosen to leave her armor off for as long as she could, keeping just her claws and blade at the ready.

Now with the scent of blood in the air and the light of a fire, all she had to do was wait for it to attract something bigger.

[Slii Arhem]

Jungle - Night

It must be a disappointment then, when the blood and the signs of struggle attracted something rather... smaller.

About the size of Brokenfang's head, all told, the thing is broad across its chest and tapers into a smaller set of clawed, scrabbling hind legs that burrow into the dirt and grasp at the roots they trod on. It has a wide, flat, gormless face dominated by two upward-pointing tusks, behind which sit a pair of open and curious eyes.

The thing snuffles and snorts with its crushed, wrinkled nose, its black and brown mottled fur gleaming dully in the firelight as it stairs at the kill. It looks up to Brokenfang, pulling its upper lip in a high snarl as if daring her to stop it before suddenly darting in at the food and attempting to gore and haul away one of the portions.

[UncleWolf]

Jungle - Night

Brokenfang snorts at the creature in amusement before sliding to the side a bit, allowing space near the fire if it wishes it. "Come closer and enjoy the warmth." She tells it, reaching into the fire to pull out a good pound of half-cooked meat and setting it on the ground near by. "Feast and grow strong."

[Zefir]

[Have you seen my daughter, Alexis? - Swamps]

Zefir rides a motorcycle, eh? Does he happen to have a fine leather jacket? If not, I know what Alexis is gonna buy for his birthday!

Now to figure out what Zefir should fight today. Let's see here...

We want to stick with the theme, so Zefir should fight something you might find in a swamp. Giant leech monsters are cool. Crocodile/alligator beasts could work too... Hmm...

Ah-ha! Yes, yes, that'll do. It's not exactly a swamp-dweller, but it's close enough.

You've heard of a lungfish before, haven't you? Imagine, if you will a lungfish that's about twice as long as Zefir is tall. It's head is mud-brown, bumpy, and spherical. A row of razor sharp teeth line its mouth, some bent at odd angles. A lipless monstrosity it is, with slimy scales and a short tail. It stands upon two stubby legs mounted atop two webbed feet. Two arms terminating in claws protrude from its sides. It is a grotesque creature with yellow eyes and a misshapen face.

Yes, one of these creatures rises from the mud in front of Zefir, glaring at him with those disturbing yellow eyes.

[Have you seen my daughter, Alexis? - Swamps]

A lungfish? I never ever heared of it befor.

Why does it allways need to be soemthing unnatural big? Can't it be a challlange to cuddle fluffy bunnies?
Ok for now Zefir reamins on his position, maybe the beast can't see him if he doesn't move.

((Are you going to resurect KINDER?))

[Slii Arhem]

Jungle - Night

Brokenfang snorts at the creature in amusement before sliding to the side a bit, allowing space near the fire if it wishes it. "Come closer and enjoy the warmth." She tells it, reaching into the fire to pull out a good pound of half-cooked meat and setting it on the ground near by. "Feast and grow strong."

Jungle - Night

It backs away from the hand warily, but soon comes back to pluck the cooked meat away as well. Its mouth opens wide, revealing rows of grinding and tearing teeth behind the tusks that swiftly pull the chunk within its gaping maw and masticate it into a pile of mush that it swiftly swallows, all without it moving its jaw once its mouth had closed.

The meat, and possibly the command, seem to be bolstering to the otherwise tiny beast. Within moments, its hind legs have become muscular, more shaped for pouncing and raking, and it stands taller than it had before. The change is subtle, but anyone watching it for the duration would notice it occurring.

[UncleWolf]

Jungle Night

Brokenfang does notice, but instead of picking up her sword or making a big deal out of it, she just stands and heads over to her pack to pull out one of the blankets she's brought with her. A moment later and she lays it on the ground, folded slightly to help make it softer. She smiles slightly, amused as she lays another piece of meat on the edge of the blanket and takes one for herself, watching the creature.

[Lord Magtok]

The Striped Pool

The guardian of the pool looks him over carefully before reaching beneath the surface to pull out a small golden decanter, a pair of goblets, and a small red stone. She walks over to the edge of the pool before turning around and sitting on the shore, her feet still connected to the liquid. Apparently she can never leave it completely. Once she takes a seat she blows some air over the stone, causing it to begin glowing and give off warmth and the smell of cinnamon. She gives Krait a small smile before setting it between them. "Cinna-Stone. It'll keep us warm through the cold night. Wine?" She asks, holding up the decanter before pouring some for each of them. "You will never have to fear me telling your secret. I swear that I'll never reveal your face to anyone for as long as I live and more."

"I believe you," Krait nods, before accepting some wine. He returns his attention to the tablet only a moment later, tapping away at the screen. Let's start with a map, maybe start right at the Striped Pool, and then zoom out. Of course, the last satellite to be taking this kind of footage was destroyed a while ago, so things are going to be fairly out of date, but not by so much that Marz would notice, right?

[Slii Arhem]

Jungle - Night

Again, it shows hesitation but in an even shorter span of time than before it is on the blanket and grinding up the meat into a fine paste to ingest. Its toothy mouth works like a food processor, bulging and pulsing on muscle alone without any work from its jaws.

Brokenfang will note, interestingly, that the moment that the thing stepped onto the blanket its massive hind claws retracted, disappearing entirely. The paws appear to be soft, and well adapted to being used on delicate surfaces.

And yet even as it removes some of its weapons, it grows taller and broader in the chest and nearly doubles in size in those dimensions alone while gaining powerful musculature that ripples across its back.

[ThirdEmperor]

[The Hive]

That ought to stir things up. Wenomir attempts to leave the hive and take cover outside the entrance, to see if anything answers the cry of the larvae.

By the time he's managed to pull himself through the narrow tunnel of the hive, the screaming of the larval things has nearly faded away entirely. Instead, it's the sound of wingbeats in the air. A fast, droning buzz, like an entire swarm of bees.
The sound grows nearly deafening, and then a shiny black blur goes sweeping overhead as it's shadow glides over the abandoned camp. Something like a giant wasp with painted wings - bright orange with circles of black and dabs of bright red - and a scorpion's tail lashing the air in it's wake. It circles above him, each pass making the fir trees bend and shake in the wind.

[Morty]

[The Hive]

That's one ugly thing, Wenomir decides. He climbs the nearest tree to gain some elevation, as he waits for the thing to attack or approach.

[TechnoScrabble]

Forest

Atop a mossy embankment, a tree stands sperate from its fellows, it's thick, weather worn and centuries aged grey and green trunk leaning far over the edge. At the top of the trunk, where the branches split, a small plate of worms is pecked at by a foolish bird.

The hunter that set the plate lies mangled at the foot of the tree, disemboweled and bloodily devoured by a lithe, powerful tree cat. The mottled fur of the sleek feline killer helps it to hide in the undergrowth that once sheltered the late hunter, but now its eyes move to the bird. It stalks slowly up the side of the trunk, leaving bloody paw prints and raked marks on the ancient bark and lichen. As it steps over a growth, deep brown eyes snap open on the tree beneath it, and the growth reveals itself to be a cleverly camoflauged naked man - Griffin Murphy.

Griffin's mimetic skin shifts and shivers over scarred flesh and a malnourished body as he moves, shaking free moss and revealing a shock of fiery orange hair atop his head. He moves faster than he has any right to, bringing a sharp stick up and into the side of the cat with such force that the half that doesn't pierce its ribs splinters, doing as Mich damage to Griffin's hand as it does to the cat. Griffin kicks up at the vat's soft, underdeveloped quadruped abdomen, and the two roll off the tree and down the slop with the strike, the cat yowling and kicking at the mad Bostonian as he latches onto its jugular with his teeth and starts shaking, his hands finding purchase on the golden, slit-pupiled eyes of the beast. Both scream in anger and defiance as they roll down, but by the time they've come to a stop, the cat lies dead, Griffin's face covered in thick arterial spray and fur, his thumbs still latched into his prize's eye sockets.

He shivers briefly, bleeding from a number of deep scratches and abrasions, and allows his mouth a slight twitch. That felt good.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Forest]

As Griffin almost smiles, a trio of small, circular, discs hover out of the forest behind him, and moments later, the ground around him is most likely peppered in some sort of needle-tipped darts, which start to emit a sweet-smelling gas, almost invisible, though it does shimmer a bit where the light catches it! Should he breathe it in, it's pretty likely to knock him out at least long enough for their mistress to get to him and give him something more long-lasting.

[TechnoScrabble]

Forest

Griffin's first move is to dodge the darts, catching one with his newfound pelt. Second, a good dash up and over the fallen tree nearby, which he rolls over, and once on the other side, punches through to retrieve his weapon from within, unable to feel the pain the splinters on his hand. A weakly enchanted bone boomerang is flung at the discs, magically sharp edge gleaming.

In the time between the boomerang leaves his hand and the time it possibly strikes a drone, Griffin notices the dart in the side of the cat streaming a gas visible to his enhanced eyes. He drops his prey, then remembers his mods protect against neurotoxins, venoms, paralysis, and suffocation.

Knock out gas, on the other hand....

Thud!

The drones will have only a short amount of time before they need to move the young man or drug him again...

Plains

Weaving its way across a sea of tall grass, supple black leather armoured and tricorne flashing in the sun, a small gray rat darts from stash to stash, frantically checking them. He is Terrance, Bandit-Prince of the South Plain rats, and as his squeaking suggests, someone has stolen all his food!

[Lady Serpentine]

[Forest]

And thus falls Griffin. Sadly, one of the drones is cut in two, and falls to the ground, sparking feebly - though that isn't all, as the boomerang takes a chunk off the next one too, though it tries to evade, sending it spiraling down to earth, and then, finally, carves a deep gash into the third, leaving it to fly around at random until it slams into a tree and explodes.

However, as all this is going on, a lithe figure entirely encased in light power armor steps out of the trees, her cloaking field shimmering away as she kneels next to him, injecting him, if she's able to, with a sedative of her own devising, which should keep him down just long enough for him to wake up strapped to an operating table.

[Plains]

At the next one, the rat prince might find himself facing unexpected resistance, namely, a Pixie, about his size, waiting for him! Said pixie, a moment or two later, attempts to stab him with a sturdy bone-tipped spear, aiming for his belly with it, though the quick, hard, thrust will probably leave her a bit off balance if he manages to avoid it.

[TechnoScrabble]

Forest

Griffin's only defense against injected non-venom toxins is a fast metabolism. He kicks and twitches, but the sedative keeps him..well...sedated.

The whole way there, he mumbles about lazy demons and chicken fajitas.

Plains

Terrance's indignant squeak of anger becomes a panicked squeak of pain as the bone spear slides across his armour before pressing in and leaving a shallow but jagged cut! One paw clasping his stomach, he draws his own knife and lunges at the pixie!

[Lady Serpentine]

[Forest]

In that case, he gets carted off to Random Plots! Likely by way of some kind of aircraft.

[Plains]

The pixie gets a nasty slice through one of her wings! Whatever happens, that's not going to heal easily... However, painful as it is, it doesn't stop her from turning and trying to sweep his feet out from under him with the butt of her spear, then aiming a thrust for his legs, trying to keep him from being able to get in close where he can use his knife again.

[TechnoScrabble]

Plains

Terrance squeals as he goes down to one knee, the spear twisting in hisnkeg! Blood wells up from beneath his armoured, running down in gouts rather than rivulets, and his little ratty heart pumps insanely fast, like a man clawing his way out of a coffin!

[Lady Serpentine]

[Plains]


Bone grins just a little, though the expression is rather pained - that injury to her wing hurts -, then tries to plunge her spear through his throat! Though, she's angry and hurt enough to overextend herself, despite just having tried to take precautions to keep him from getting to her so she could use the length of her weapon against him, so if he manages to get out of the way, he'll have a good shot at stabbing her or otherwise retaliating somehow.

[TechnoScrabble]

Plains

Terrance clutches at the spear as it plunges into and out the back of his neck, scruffs of fur twitching around the shaft. As a final act of defiance, he flings his knife at Bone, and twists as he falls, trying to wrench or break her spear!

[Hattish Thing]

Forest - Legend of the Phoenix

After making his way beyond Ariel's laboratory and descending from the city of science, the figure walked. He walked endlessly, it seemed, until finally he found himself in a forest, somewhere. He knew not where he was, but it mattered little to him. He was clad in a dark coat, torn and bloody, giving him the appearance of a man resembling more a hermit than a warrior. A dark colored belt hangs limply from his waist, and most of his chest is visible. An odd colored carapace seems to grow out from his chest there, composed of a hardened biomaterial. The same material makes up his entire right leg, and most of the left from the knee down. Might be why he's not quite tired just yet.

His arms are built of the same matter, his left from the elbow down, his right simply the hand. A fraction of his chin has been worked upon as well, the lower jaw and left cheek capped in bronze. His gray eyes stare forward with a gleam, his unnaturally white hair matted and dirty, flowing in the wind around him. A burnt cloak hangs behind him, the bottom singed away. He wears a single boot, the other long gone. He appears weaponless but an odd sort of aura surrounds him, protecting him. He felt no fear here, but knew better than to feel entirely safe. There was an odd energy here.

He walks across a twig, over a fallen log, gazing around him as he did so. The sun was coming up over the horizon, it's rays of gold and vibrant red visible. Soon, he comes to a cave area with a small opening, it's depths spilling below the ground. He'd be safe there to rest, wouldn't he? As he walks forward quietly, he notices a long stick on the floor. It seemed just thick enough to be a suitable weapon, but not quite as powerful as the lightsabers he was used to. He grabs it, and slides into the empty cave, working upon the staff until morning, sharpening the edges with a small knife he kept with him. After about twenty minutes, he falls asleep.

Who knows what might awaken him?

[Lady Serpentine]

[Plains]

...Well, crap. She's unable to fly now, that wing might not ever heal right, and not only did the little bastard snap her spear, he got the head of it stuck in his spine. There's this hunt ruined. Or pretty near, anyway... Still, might as well check his body, see what he's got on him. If noting else, maybe some of that armor will fit or something.

[TechnoScrabble]

Plains

The armour is still usable for the most part, and he has a fighting knife and a pair of salted acorns! Yay!

As for special loot, once Bone is done, she'll be granted a cloak of supple black leather and soft grey fur that is enchanted against the cold!

[Lady Serpentine]

Plains

Well, that's... Better than nothing. Even if it will be a bitch and a half to wear any of that right now. Still, the gloves and boots work, though the rest needs patching and cleaning anyway, as well as some modifications for pixie use. And, so, with those put on, the knife belted at her waist, and the cloak stowed in her bag, off she goes!

[Aric Kale]

Plains

Unfortunately for Bone, the Hunt isn't over. Just a little ways behind her, an odd shape crawls out of the ground, covered in dirt.

The figure shakes itself off and reveals itself to be...a potato. With wings. And claws.

Nyor?

It pauses for a moment, seeming to sense Bone's presence, but not quite sure where she is yet.

[ThirdEmperor]

[The Hive]

That's one ugly thing, Wenomir decides. He climbs the nearest tree to gain some elevation, as he waits for the thing to attack or approach.

The wind is nearly blinding as it comes to rest, perched carefully with each leg bending a different tree underfoot. Monstrous pincers clack as it stares him down, each of eight eyes broken into a dozen green lenses. It's a strange and awkward creature seen this close, too ungainly for a wasp and too slender to be a scorpion, and the ruff of bright red spines around it's neck resembling neither. Vorphesphid, was the word the monster board used for it.

The monster's wings buzz in threat as it scuttles forward, moving cautiously as the treetops groan and creak beneath it's weight. It lunges forward suddenly with a serrated claw, but just as quickly feints back, and that poisonous tail comes crashing down, the curved barb aimed to run him through.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Plains]

"...How...?" That's about all that Bone manages to get out for now, and she doesn't manage to do much either, aside from turning to stare at it, and fumbling a little for her unfamiliar knife. Curse that rat for breaking her weapon, she doesn't even know how to get this thing out of its sheath, much less use it!

[Aric Kale]

Plains

The spud-drake turns to face the sound, slowly lumbering towards the pixie while flapping its wings unsteadily.

Unbeknownst to Bone, this little tyke is young, and only just breaching the surface for the first time. Still, should it get near her, its claws may prove deadly.

[Morty]

[The Hive]

Wenomir heaves himself on top of the tree when the queen charges, and then he drops down when the tail heads his way, not falling for the feint. As he falls, he swings his sword, the razor-sharp and diamond-hard steel blade attempting to slice through the appendage.

[ThirdEmperor]

[The Hive]

His blade slices deep past the black chitin armoring, foul yellow blood splattering joining the spray of broken branches and pine needles as the tail slams against the tree instead. Wenomir can't quite finish the strike though, as the Queen withdraws with frightful speed, pushing off from the canopy with a single beat of her wings and tearing her tail away. The stinger hangs useless and broken now, halfway cut through. A hissing cry joins the drone of wingbeats, and she throws herself against the tree tops with enough force to make them buckle and tear up at the roots, bringing them toppling down after the warrior.

[Morty]

[The Hive]

Wenomir sees the tree start to fall down just as his feet touch the ground. He snags an adamantine knife from his bandoleer and throws it, with great precision and force amplified by his gauntlet, trying to nail one of the monster's legs to the tree.