The Hunting Grounds IV: Drops Contain 0% RNG

[Green Elf]

Aaron helps look for a corpse as well.

Sorry for the delay. Had to figure out what Guinness has available to him.





[Ravaged Village]

Buttered apple croutons, that's dark. Ah well. Least they're pragmatic about it all. "Yeah, no problem. They can keep the monster busy for a bit I suspect." Guinness pulls out that weird looking ritual knife of his and rolls up his sleeve. Muttering some incomprehensible words, he cuts into his already scarred arm and lets a few drops of blood drip onto the ground before stepping back. A flash of light later and what looks like an anthropomorphized horse holding a sword rises out of the blood.

"Let's go get the body," Guinness says, heading over to collect a corpse. Or more exactly, to have the demon collect a corpse. Bodies are heavy. Better to have the help do the heavy lifting.

Spoiler

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Both are able to get a body. This specific body was one of better conditions with only a huge gash from claws; no bite marks. They are let out to do what that please with it.

[Reinholdt]

[Ravaged Village]

"This'll do," Guinness says after appraising the body's condition. The Mezuki (horse demon) picks up the corpse. Turning, they set out to travel to find the cave based on the directions the villagers gave them.

[Rebonack]

[Primordial Jungle]

Things that are different?

Nah, nothing is different.

Nothing at all, as a matter of fact.

Except that whole fondue fountain sitting right over there. That's new. No doubt the nice people who travel through the jungle have decided to just cut to the chase and bring the treats to the beast rather than forcing him to go tromping all the way to the road to get his fill of delicious melted cheese. It's very considerate of them, as a matter of fact.

Yellow, meanwhile, has climbed into the canopy of a nearby tree, the one that offers as much cover as possible. She was quite careful to make sure to remain downwind from the beast, as she's found creatures of this sort typically have pretty lousy vision paired with an excellent sense of smell. If she's fortunate and the wind doesn't change, she'll be able to get the jump on the beast when it bumbles into the pitfall whilst investigating the fondue fountain.

If not...

Well.

There's always plan B.

Which involves quite a bit more violence.

[Shadowcaller]

Mysterious Crater

Kurrack blinks, then furrows his brow.

You think you can kill that beast with that pea-shooter? You'd be lucky to kill an ant with that silly thing. I've faced far worse than this boar as well! Daemons, Ork hordes, Space Marines, and the Tyranid Scourge at blood ridge! squawks Kurrack.

Mysterious Crater

"Look, buddy. It is not just me. We're an entire team of, er, hunters, and we've been chasing this bad boy down for hours. So if you just stop being in our way, we'll take it down and you can go back to huntside and celebrate, or whatever it is you people do. Just grab some trophies around here." He gestures at many cadavers laying around the meteor crater.

[Green Elf]

[Ravaged Village]

"This'll do," Guinness says after appraising the body's condition. The Mezuki (horse demon) picks up the corpse. Turning, they set out to travel to find the cave based on the directions the villagers gave them.

Based on the directions given, the three (including the demon) will be on a hill top. They will see two cave entrances. One being close, the next mountain away in fact (200 meters) that is elevated about 10 meters with a steep slope of gravel leading to it, and a further yet more easily accessible cave in the midst of a pass (600 meters). It is nearing evening, with the sun just setting behind the mountains they are looking at.

[Deathkeeper]

[Primordial Jungle]

Sam hides behind his rock. He's terrified, but he keeps his breathing in check, not winded at all after his sprint.
He's not completely downwind from the monster, but given that he smells like a thundercloud and not like a creature, the monster might not realize that there's a person there and not just incoming inclement weather even if he does smell the spigre.

[8BitNinja]

Based on the directions given, the three (including the demon) will be on a hill top. They will see two cave entrances. One being close, the next mountain away in fact (200 meters) that is elevated about 10 meters with a steep slope of gravel leading to it, and a further yet more easily accessible cave in the midst of a pass (600 meters). It is nearing evening, with the sun just setting behind the mountains they are looking at.

Aaron pulls out a range finder and points it at the cave entrance and puts it back. He says "Alright, set the bait up at the entrance, I'll set up for a shot here. Get ready to ambush the target if he exits. I don't know what other powers this werewolf has, but I can't be certain that my shot will take down the target." Aaron assembles his Intervention on the hill and puts up the bipod. He puts down his SCAR and puts in the silver bullets. After that, his suit and gear changes to match the terrain of the hill.

[Reinholdt]

[Cave Entrance]

"Yes, but which entra-" Walloping raisin beans, he's gone. Snipers and their camouflage. Guinness sighs and makes another cut into his arm, summoning a second demon. This levitating grotesque monster seemed comprised of faces fused together and little else. Its bulbous flesh made it more resilient than it seems even if it isn't particularly fast.

Theoretically, Guinness could summon all the demons at his beck and call. In practice, summoning a third banishes the first, making him unable to have more than two out at a time, for reasons he refuses to explain. So the dwarf settles for these two and sends them on ahead, instructing the Legion to stake out the closer entrance along with the corpse bait. The Mezuki is to go to the one 600 meters away since it is faster and can get back to the other entrance if need be. It'll be on its own though if that's the right entrance to be at. The Mezuki's potential death will make for a good warning signal at least.

Guinness personally makes himself scarce and settles for ducking behind some bushes about a hundred meters from the closer entrance.

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[UncleWolf]

Primal Jungle

No, the place didn't appear too different except for the offerings as far as the beast could tell, but there was something on the air...

There.

A slight whiff of ozone through the rotting wetness of the marsh around him. It was slight, but the beast could immediately feel the spines on its back bristle in angry anticipation as it recalled the damage the last one who smelled of such was able to do to him. Yellow can see the dark blue-black spines on its back begin to glow a little as they heat up, and the dinosaur's jowls curls as it lets out a low growl. With an angry lash of its tail behind it, it breathes in before letting out a deafening roar. The roar is loud enough to cause the water of the marsh to ripple, the trees to tremble slightly, and the boulders to vibrate. The challenge lasts for several seconds, not asking but telling those who have trespassed to step forth. The Glavenus stays on its small island for a little bit afterward, waiting to see if there's a roar in response, but if nothing comes forth it will slowly back its way back into its little shelter, wary and on guard.

[8BitNinja]

[Cave Entrance]

"Yes, but which entra-" Walloping raisin beans, he's gone. Snipers and their camouflage. Guinness sighs and makes another cut into his arm, summoning a second demon. This levitating grotesque monster seemed comprised of faces fused together and little else. Its bulbous flesh made it more resilient than it seems even if it isn't particularly fast.

Theoretically, Guinness could summon all the demons at his beck and call. In practice, summoning a third banishes the first, making him unable to have more than two out at a time, for reasons he refuses to explain. So the dwarf settles for these two and sends them on ahead, instructing the Legion to stake out the closer entrance along with the corpse bait. The Mezuki is to go to the one 600 meters away since it is faster and can get back to the other entrance if need be. It'll be on its own though if that's the right entrance to be at. The Mezuki's potential death will make for a good warning signal at least.

Guinness personally makes himself scarce and settles for ducking behind some bushes about a hundred meters from the closer entrance.

Spoiler

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Jacob says, assuming that they are still within earshot of each other "Sorry, I'm new at this commander thing. Take the near entrance. I can take the far one better."

[Green Elf]

[Cave Entrance]

"Yes, but which entra-" Walloping raisin beans, he's gone. Snipers and their camouflage. Guinness sighs and makes another cut into his arm, summoning a second demon. This levitating grotesque monster seemed comprised of faces fused together and little else. Its bulbous flesh made it more resilient than it seems even if it isn't particularly fast.

Theoretically, Guinness could summon all the demons at his beck and call. In practice, summoning a third banishes the first, making him unable to have more than two out at a time, for reasons he refuses to explain. So the dwarf settles for these two and sends them on ahead, instructing the Legion to stake out the closer entrance along with the corpse bait. The Mezuki is to go to the one 600 meters away since it is faster and can get back to the other entrance if need be. It'll be on its own though if that's the right entrance to be at. The Mezuki's potential death will make for a good warning signal at least.

Guinness personally makes himself scarce and settles for ducking behind some bushes about a hundred meters from the closer entrance.

Spoiler

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Aaron says, assuming that they are still within earshot of each other "Sorry, I'm new at this commander thing. Take the near entrance. I can take the far one better."

The sun sets as the demons travel. It will be about an hour before anything happens, so everyone may have lost focus during this time. As the Mezuki at the far entrance is waiting outside, the demon will be quickly attacked by a very large werewolf from behind, attempting to stab it in the back with its' large claws. Yes, in the back. It hadn't come from the cave entrances.

[8BitNinja]

The sun sets as the demons travel. It will be about an hour before anything happens, so everyone may have lost focus during this time. As the Mezuki at the far entrance is waiting outside, the demon will be quickly attacked by a very large werewolf from behind, attempting to stab it in the back with its' large claws. Yes, in the back. It hadn't come from the cave entrances.

Aaron says "I have a visual on Tango, taking the shot" and fires a silver .408 round at the werewolf.

[Reinholdt]

[Caves]

The Mezuki lets out a terrible death whinny as it is stabbed in the back. Though to be accurate it doesn't immediately die, and does spin around, wildly cutting at the air with its sword. A desperation attack by somepony caught by surprise and unlikely to connect. It hadn't considered that their prey might be returning to the caves instead of coming out of them.

The noise at least, alerts the others and snaps Guinness out of the semi-nap state he was in. Startled, he pokes his head up to see what's happening.

Legion just sort of rotates, still floating. It has too many eyes to be easily ambushed, but it can't do anything this far away either. It'll start floating away from the cave it is guarding to tighten up formation with Guinness.

[Green Elf]

Aaron says "I have a visual on Tango, taking the shot" and fires a silver .408 round at the werewolf.

[Caves]

The Mezuki lets out a terrible death whinny as it is stabbed in the back. Though to be accurate it doesn't immediately die, and does spin around, wildly cutting at the air with its sword. A desperation attack by somepony caught by surprise and unlikely to connect. It hadn't considered that their prey might be returning to the caves instead of coming out of them.

The noise at least, alerts the others and snaps Guinness out of the semi-nap state he was in. Startled, he pokes his head up to see what's happening.

Legion just sort of rotates, still floating. It has too many eyes to be easily ambushed, but it can't do anything this far away either. It'll start floating away from the cave it is guarding to tighten up formation with Guinness.

They will now notice in the darkness that a shadow lurks behind the Mezuki. It seems to be a silhouette of the werewolf, except for the fact that it isn't in the right place for a shadow and appeared out of nowhere. The werewolf doesn't even try to dodge the attack but morphs into the shadow, essentially teleporting to the other shadow. This causes not only the Mezuki to miss, but also Aaron. The werewolf tries to slash the Mezuki in the back once behind it.

[Deathkeeper]

[Primal Jungle]

Like hell Sam is coming out from behind his rock. Maybe if he knew the monster could understand speech he'd say hello, but it's roaring at him, so instead he's staying curled up as small as possible behind his rock, nice and safe.
Safe-ish.

[Rebonack]

[Primal Jungle]

Great.

Great.

It caught a stench. Probably from pigman's personal miasma.

With a deep scowl, Yellow decides to hastily swap over to Plan V.

V as in Violence.

She grabs the chain dangling from the back of Arf, flips the chain-chomp around in several tight arcs, and then hurls it like a cannon-ball toward the huge dinosaur!

"ARF ARF!"

While Arf's teeth are no laughing matter, Yellow isn't expecting it to be that effective on such a heavily armored beast. If anything, she's just looking to draw the monster's attention. With some luck, she still might be able to get it to go charging into her pitfall. Otherwise, she'll just have to settle for the old stand-by of beating it into unconsciousness.

[8BitNinja]

They will now notice in the darkness that a shadow lurks behind the Mezuki. It seems to be a silhouette of the werewolf, except for the fact that it isn't in the right place for a shadow and appeared out of nowhere. The werewolf doesn't even try to dodge the attack but morphs into the shadow, essentially teleporting to the other shadow. This causes not only the Mezuki to miss, but also Aaron. The werewolf tries to slash the Mezuki in the back once behind it.

Aaron whispers some words not forum appropriate to himself and puts another round in. He takes about a second to aim and fires again.

[Reinholdt]

[Caves]

"Great whispering barnacles. Some kind of shadow-walk." Guinness whispers into the comm unit. He'll need some sort of light magic to even begin to attempt to counteract that ability. Something demons aren't usually specialists in. He might have one demon that's a decent substitute to legitimate light magic though.

And he's probably going to need it too. The Mezuki goes down under the weight of the new injuries it suffers from the werewolf's second back attack and starts dissipating into sulfurous smoke. Guinness readies his knife and rolls up his sleeve.

[UncleWolf]

Primal Jungle

The chain-chomp flies through the air only to find the broad side of the beast's tail right in the way as the monster curls it around his body. The beast, braced for such an impact, snarls when it is hit, and flicks the tail outward. The chainchomp will be thrown aside if it didn't manage to get a grip, but even if it did, the dinosaur-like monster ignores the added weight to its tail. His eyes lock onto Yellow's position, and instead of charging forward, he takes a deep breath before spewing out a ball of molten debris. If it doesn't hit Yellow directly, she'll find a rapidly cooling red-hot mass of goo solidifying in the marshy water next to her. It gives off a lot of steam and there's a hiss as cracks form in the surface and it seems she'll have just a moment before it explodes...

Sam however, seems to have been forgotten about for the moment.

[ThePhantom]

Mountains

Stark peaks and dark caves, some of the rarest minerals can be found in these peaks. Of course, ones who hunt for stones in this place must also come prepare to hunt for beasts, for this is the hunting grounds. In this part of the stone towers, groves mark the ground and rocks, signs of a beast who made its home here.

[Morty]

[Mountains]

Wenomir is there, leading the Vigil expedition to discover the rare metal. He does his best to pretend he's more at home in this rugged wilderness than he really is.

"We should be getting close now, but something big seems to live here."

[Celticbear]

Mountains

Xavouir Markard's hair and face blend in with the surrounding cave, as does his intelligent sword, Kitty. The only things that stand out among the darkness are Xavouir's green robes, and Kitty's enourmous (relatively speaking) eyeball, whose pupil is engraved at the pommel of the sword and is shaped as a cat's pupil.

Mysterious Crater

Kurrack is about to furiously retort, then ***** his head. Kurraack then sighs, and reaches in his fetish pouch and procures a jawbone. He drops it, and smashes it with his foot while muttering a few words in his native language.

Fine. We're blood-brothers and sisters in this hunt then. The symbolized the argument, the prayer was to my ancestors to bring strength to the coming battle. With the jawbone snapped, and the prayer uttered, we can continue without palaver.

EDIT: Seriously? That gets bleeped? Kurrack tilts his head then.

[Felandria]

[Mountains]

Wenomir is there, leading the Vigil expedition to discover the rare metal. He does his best to pretend he's more at home in this rugged wilderness than he really is.

"We should be getting close now, but something big seems to live here."

Well, that's a relative term, isn't it?

Felandria looks around the area, cautiously.

That being said, these marks are rather unfamiliar.

Best be wary of camouflage, any one of these rocks might be the aforementioned beast.

[Morty]

[Mountains]

"This place has a lot of creativity when it comes to monsters." Wenomir touches the wall and look around. "If it's inside, we should try to lure it out. I'd rather not get stuck fighting in close quarters again."

[Rebonack]

Primal Jungle

Arf continues gnawing on the huge beat's tail.

"ARF ARF!"

This may or may not cause it any real degree of discomfort. Chomps CAN gnaw through metal if they're given the chance, so maybe it might become a nuisance?

Yellow, meanwhile, reacts to the molten blob in a fashion that might surprise the huge beast at least a little bit. She leaps from her perch toward the incoming projectile and-!

"mLOM!"

She lashes out her tongue, snags the huge thing in mid-air, yanks it back into her own mouth (somehow), and-

"PLEH!"

-spits it back toward the beast with impressive velocity. A moment later she hits the ground sprinting, making good time in spite of the marshy soil. Her route is taking her away from the beast for now, though carefully calculated to get the creature to run straight into the pitfall if it peruses. And if it doesn't... well. She'll just have to double back around and try to get it really angry. With any luck, Sam might even do something helpful!

[Deathkeeper]

[Primal Jungle]

Sam creeps out from behind his rock, carefully placing himself behind the pitfall. Then, he readies his caravan gun, and fires it at the monster. Now, with its sawed-off barrel it's unlikely he'll be able to do much damage from a long range like this, but that's not the point. The point is to make it annoyed. And that he thinks he can do, even while hastily shoving another shell into the barrels.

[Shadowcaller]

Mysterious Crater

Kurrack is about to furiously retort, then ***** his head. Kurraack then sighs, and reaches in his fetish pouch and procures a jawbone. He drops it, and smashes it with his foot while muttering a few words in his native language.

Fine. We're blood-brothers and sisters in this hunt then. The symbolized the argument, the prayer was to my ancestors to bring strength to the coming battle. With the jawbone snapped, and the prayer uttered, we can continue without palaver.

EDIT: Seriously? That gets bleeped? Kurrack tilts his head then.

Mysterious Crater

The goblin blinks, looking completely bewildered by what Kurrack just did. "Uh, that really isn't necessary pal. It's more of a private thing. My boss would kill me if I got an outsider involved."

The goblin opens his mouth to continue but suddenly Kurrack might notice a flash of light behind him and a dark booming voice interrupts the goblin. "Would I now?" This is odd considering a experienced hunter such as he would most surely have heard someone approaching behind him.

If Kurrack turns around he can see three additional goblins whom are dressed very differently from the one he was talking to. They are are clad in full plate armor, two of them in armors in a material black as night and the last one in a silver-like armor so clear it reflects Kurracks own expression. There is also a crown shaped around the third goblins head, signifying him as the leader of the trio. The two others appear like his honor guard, wielding what appears to be some kind of flamers that appear too large to be carried by mere goblins.

"W-what?! Y-ou-"

The silvered goblin just need to lift his hand to silence Kurracks conversation partner however, having only having eyes for Kroot at the moment. As their gazes meet, Kurrack might notice that the goblins eye have a eerie blue glow about them. "If you want to hunt the boar, then by all means, go ahead. However, we're going to be using the crater a while so it would be best if you didn't returned here. Just get whatever you came for and finish your hunt and everyone is happy." The newcomer says with a confident smile.

If Kurrack is paying any attention to his body guards, he might notice that their eyes have a intimidating orange glow, as they glower at him passively. He could get the feeling that these goblins are in a different league altogether.

[ThePhantom]

Mountains

Deep within the cave, a rumbling noise starts. Looking closer, the marks are somewhat similar to tire tracks. Something very heavy with lots of flat points of contract made those.

[Celticbear]

Mysterious Crater

Kurrack folds his arms, and says: Noble hunter, I apologize of how I treated your your companion, and I hope you have the capacity to forgive me. However, while I hunt the boar, I ask that you make camp elsewhere. This area is the domain of a great goddess, and she holds much power. While I cannot force you to leave, I can at least warn you of possible danger.

Kurrack has no idea what this "Lady of the Waterfall" (name he came up with) really is, but from what little he can remember, he knows she has great power. Kurrack was responsible for one disappearance in Huntside, and no matter how bad*** these newcomers look, he could be responsible for more.

[Green Elf]

Aaron whispers some words not forum appropriate to himself and puts another round in. He takes about a second to aim and fires again.

[Caves]

"Great whispering barnacles. Some kind of shadow-walk." Guinness whispers into the comm unit. He'll need some sort of light magic to even begin to attempt to counteract that ability. Something demons aren't usually specialists in. He might have one demon that's a decent substitute to legitimate light magic though.

And he's probably going to need it too. The Mezuki goes down under the weight of the new injuries it suffers from the werewolf's second back attack and starts dissipating into sulfurous smoke. Guinness readies his knife and rolls up his sleeve.

The bullet grazes the arm of the beast. It fully realizes that Aaron is shooting from somewhere and runs back to its original point behind the hill. The darkness makes it much harder to see, but someone with good night vision (most likely not a problem to this group) could see a silent shadow of the wolf sneaking towards their general direction.