Gwyn took note of her companion's reactions, as well as that of the stag. It's stance had shifted and it appeared that it had been given an order or decided of its own volition to target the man she was immediately and soundly proven right about. Racists were racists, raging or not, and this was one certainly a raging piece of shit racist. It felt good to be right. It would probably feel less good if the madman managed to get a hand on her. She nodded toward the other two with a grateful expression before her features returned to a more serious set. She had a nagging feeling this man wasn't going to go down easy.

Like their healer, she moved backwards to keep her distance, strafing slightly to one side. She avoided where the illusion had been before in the event their mysterious former-slave friend in hiding had any more traps awaiting them. Instead, she focused on the heavily armored hunter and turning him into a pin cushion. The armor would be an issue, though. When he raised his arms to strike The Admiral next, she loosed an arrow toward the gap beneath the arm in the heavy armor, where the armpit was left near unprotected. The Swallowtail Shot was a wicked thing, the arrowhead lengthening and sharpening with two tails curving from it. It was made to cut and cut deep, to bleed its target like a stuck pig. This man was certainly a pig.

She tried not to let laughing at The Admiral's declaration throw off her focus too much, but she certainly didn't muffle the snort of amusement. No dinner, all show with this one.

Thrown die:

5

[ +15 Ranged: Proficient ]​

 

Dungeon Master

The enraged man found little relief for his hate from any member of the party, any semblance of possible reason had almost drained out completely as he pressed forward on the offensive. The admiral's blows swinging down with reinforced holy might no doubt empowering them with a bit more strength. Unfortunately her unique choice of target, no doubt a stylistic choice made her called shot much more difficult to land, so much so that the armored man had the luxury to casually evade with a step rather then make an effort to parry the reinforced blow. Her mace and hammer kicking up dust and debris rather then landing on his body as she might have hoped.

With her weapons down in the dirt, the man swung his blade back up the rush of his axe dug up stones, grass and dirt as it swung, the debris pelting the party members like small bullets causing some minor damage in the process. The damage from the man's swing was much more vicious at close range as it struck the Admirals body thrusting her to the side once more. Though her armor had managed to protect her from penetrating damage once more, it was clearly growing worn and dented indicating that this type of reckless offensive couldn't continue without severe consequences.

After sweeping away the front line, the backline would be exposed to danger, Gwyn's attempts at aiming for a chink in the man's armor proved not only to be an incredibly difficult shot normally but was only made that much harder by the wave of soil and debris sent in her direction. The arrow wouldn't even have a chance to make it half way before being interrupted by a barrage of stones that pelted the ranger's body like hail. Leather armor unfortunately not doing much to protect her from such an offensive. Jack on the other hand, as someone who'd yet to acquire the man's ire made it out without as much pain, the slave hunter that was ruled by hate and emotion didn't seem to even acknowledge Jack's existence since he hadn't yet taken a hostile action. As if invisible on this battlefield from the start the soil didn't even make it past the tree he was using as cover.

Unfortunately, without the front line in position though, the hunter locked eyes on Gwyn, the archer that had tried locking him down at first. His slow heavy steps sank into the grass seeming low at first, but he began picking up speed as he charged towards the ranger woman who was struggling to create distance. While he might seem slow with that much heavy armor, ruled by rage his encumbered frame didn't seem bothered in the least by the weight as his slow run continued picking up speed. In the chaos the deer creature making an effort to help the Admiral back to her feet, as if weary of the man who's murderous intent was almost thick enough to see with the eyes.

Jack

100 HP

MAX HP

90 EN

MAX EN

Conditions -

Gwyn

80 HP

MAX HP

80 EN

MAX EN

Conditions -

Admiral

70 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Conditions -

OOC: Note: I'd forgotten to doc EN for Gwyn's skill usage in the last round, have updated EN to properly represent the amount she should have at this point.

Additional Modifiers:

• + 5 for every weapon rank when attacking
• When buffing Allies please indicate Offensive or Defensive, AOE or single target

 

Who the fuck was this guy? How the fuck could he hit so hard? WHY THE FUCK. WAS THE DEER. NOT HELPING?
"YOU WANNA CHIP IN, MAYBE, BAMBI?" she gently and patiently asked the forest beast as it stood at her side after helping her up and essentially drooled in a stupor, apparently having just stopped the need for higher brain function. Whatever this quest was, it was glitched, with !surprise miniboss ku klux klan asshole! on one side and !blue screen of death system crash deer! on the other, unbalancing the entire thing and playing hell with their health and team comp. Despite his heavy armor the man was magically able to just step out of the way of harm, and then still close the gap to Gwyn to begin wailing on her AFTER the Admiral had just soaked up a whole hell of a lot of damage. Honestly, the only thing keeping her from logging out was that it didn't read "IMMORTAL OBJECT" when she hit him. Still, it would be nice to know what damage, if any, they were doing. Growling, she stumbled a step as she tried to regain her footing, and began shouting orders to her party members so that they could, hopefully, take this guy down.

"GWYN! Back up and use the GAME'S INVESTIGATION FEATURE on him, so we know what his HEALTH POINT situation is like and any BUFFS and SKILLS this NON PLAYER CHARACTER might have. Jack, you do you!" She chose her words deliberately, knowing that the system handled NPCs one of three ways:

• They could not hear what you were saying, and there was a "....." blank space in what you said, that they could not detect, to prevent immersion breaking.
  
• Mention of a "real world" or this being a game caused them horrible pain.
• They assumed you were insane, and became horribly confused by things.

Whatever would happen to him, she didn't care. Either there would be blank moments where he couldn't hear their plans, he could break down screaming in pain, or he would hear them and run his stupid fucking mouth as normal. And that would just make her angrier, and more capable of smashing his skull in. Speaking of... With his back turned to her, focusing on Gwyn with his attacks, she charged up and swung both hammer and club inwards, clapping them together... hopefully on the sides of his head. Over, and over, and over, hurling both weapons together to crush his head between them. While doing so, she tried to cheer herself up with a fun little song.

"If you're HAPPY and you know it, clap your hands!"
bang bang!
"If you're HAPPY and you know it, clap your hands!"
bang bang!
"If you're HAPPY go on and brag; kick the bucket you douche bag!
If you're HAPPY and you know it, clap your hands!"
bang bang!

Thrown die:

92

92 + 20 = 112 (possible offensive buff)

 

Though not too particularly concerned with the damage output done, it was most definitely higher than the rate at which Jack had restored health earlier. Shaking his head with a bit of uncertainty, he’d watch as his allies attacks effortless pinged against the man’s armor. Did the man have some sort of defensive skills to function as a tank? Perhaps the man’s armor quality was simply that high. It was difficult to tell considering they hadn’t properly inspected the enemy yet.

That would have to wait however. Jack’s attention now focused on serving as the team’s support, he’d quickly begin chanting once more. This time he’d opt for a multi-target spell though, attempting to restore the bars of both his allies simultaneously. "Kyrnawi ta soth sula!" Similar to before, additional beams of holy light radiated down on their specified targets, patching their wounds with an unnatural degree of alacrity.

After having done so, the man would stop to inspect their surroundings, beginning with the strange deer like creature, then the slave hunter, then the girl off to the side as time permitted. Hopefully he’d be able to glean something out of this all. Their party was sorely lacking in the information department.

OOC: AoE Heal to @The Admiral @Gwyn ap Herne
Inspecting the deer, slave hunter, and girl as time permits

 

The Admiral was an impressive sight to see in combat, her body wreathed in heavy armor and weapons to be wreathed holy flame to soon be in the same in blood. It was swiftly becoming a very fond image for the huntress. Specifically when having her on her side. She sent a small prayer of thanks to any gods listening that the two party members hadn't turned on her. There would have been no way to fight against The Admiral with a pocket healer, even without the help of the deranged 'professional' they all now faced. She would say she regretted picking a fight with the lunatic, but she didn't. A man like him deserved to be put down. He was nothing more than a rabid dog frothing madly at the mouth with only cruelty in his eyes. At least animals didn't make an intentional choice when they went savage with sickness. This man? This man was just a monster.

She watched as the wicked arrow was shattered early in its prime by rocks sent flying, the same flint-like sharps slamming into her from some unknown skill the man had used. It hurt. It in fact hurt a fuck ton more than a shower of pebbles should have and she snarled at him with a hateful leer. Her eyes lit up an unnatural white as she activated the Investigation Mode at The Admiral's behest to see what he had to offer.

The ranger had to drop it not long after the look though as he advanced. He moved like a fucking semi truck. Slow to start and then once he had the momentum behind him it had him moving. However, momentum was a hard thing to control and instead of backing up and getting steamrolled she used the advantage of medium armor. Less defense, more mobility. His heavy armor could only do so much and she was willing to guess his turn radius at that speed was shit. Physics didn't vanish just because they were in a video game. Not one this realistic.

Gwyn sprinted to the side, attempting to move in a circular motion to bring herself back toward her small party. She readied another shot and intended to turn for a moment it she had the time and sure footing to send a Power Shot behind her. The force of it might be enough to slow him or even prone him as he ran.

Hopefully her pathing would have the slave hunter after her and would leave The Admiral a nice opening to slam into his side with a fury of blows. If he tripped up she was sure the other would love to wail on the grounded man even more so. The skull-faced stag nearby still seemed reticent and for such a fearsome thing in appearance and it's initial reckless charge, she found it horribly... disappointing that it now found itself so afraid. What fucking guardian cowered while their charge was still in danger? She wanted the glory of fighting at such a strange beast's side, but instead she was going to get stepped on by a racist while it played nanny to The Admiral. She did, however, have the time while running madly to lift her draw hand to clap against her left wrist behind the body of the bow. Sure, things were dangerous, but she could humor the freight train of a woman she fought with. The warm glow of the healing spell put her closer to 'happy' on the emotional scale after all.

[ OOC: Like Jack intends to heal then inspect if allowed, Gwyn will inspect then attack if allowed. ]

Thrown die:

72

[ +15 Ranged: Proficient ]​

[/b2][/b2]

 

Dungeon Master

The admiral's blow would swing wide but manage to strike true as both weapons landed at the armored hunter's shoulder. His charge and attack efforts interrupted by the blow, though he was unfortunately with the blow coming from above he wasn't blown back in the same way the Admiral herself had been swept away. Instead, the man dropped to a knee briefly, the earth beneath him cracking when he was struck but almost simultaneously his eyes glowed with a brighter red as the damage he received increased. His words growing more belligerent and incoherent, vague insults could be made out but anything beyond that was difficult to discern from beast-like shouts as he began to rise back to his feet. A swing of his weapon preventing the admiral from wailing on him as she pleased, it was clear he wouldn't just allow himself to be beaten on while the woman sang a song.

The Healing spell cast by the supporter however seemed to go off without a hitch, as he inspected his surroundings though things would seem to grow a bit more clear and make a touch more sense. The dear creature that had originally come forward against them was taking a hostile but scared posture, it's elegant frame leaping back with a few hops to escape the armored man's range. As if it recognized a natural enemy the beast didn't try to involve itself any more then necessary and instead stuck to the periphery much like Jack trying to lend aid in whatever way it could. It recognized an opponent it couldn't defeat and instead prioritized supporting mutual enemies to the best of it's wild abilities. If approached, it wouldn't reject anyone in the group, even huff out a pride-filled breath as it nodded it's head trying to say 'something' as it lowered it's body a little, as if asking for support so it wouldn't have to face it's predator alone.

While examining the man however, he would seem 'strange', all appearances and senses would seem to indicate he was in good condition, as if all attempts at harming him proved useless somehow. A mind-boggling and frankly impossible reality was playing itself out right before his eyes. Fortunately, Gwyn in Investigation mode would get a better idea of the reason why as she took the time to look deeper into what was going on with the man's abilities. She'd see his health had actually dropped to 55%, despite appearing fine, he was actually far more injured then anyone in their group from the admiral's repeated blows and the initial pinning arrow. The reason would no doubt have something to do with his status effects; Berserk Fury +5 and Unyielding Rage, though exactly what they both did would take more time investigating and 'testing' to figure out, Gwyn wouldn't have that chance as she instead chose to attack instead. The power attack striking his body visibly denting his armor though not quite to the same extent as the Admiral's blows when it landed, but the high quality equipment didn't allow for much penetration. Instead, the man tried to step through the powerful blow still, determined to soldier on and kill his enemies even if it meant dragging them down with him.

Jack

100 HP

MAX HP

60 EN

MAX EN

Conditions -

Gwyn

90 HP

MAX HP

70 EN

MAX EN

Conditions -

Admiral

80 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Conditions - Holy Flame - 1 turn remaining

OOC: Note: Seems I'd forgotten Holy Flame's Timer as well, Updated to show remaining buff duration.

Additional Modifiers:

• + 5 for every weapon rank when attacking
• When buffing Allies please indicate Offensive or Defensive, AOE or single target
• + 5 for every rank of Beast taming when mounting Forest Guardian
• +10 for every rank of Riding when mounting Forest Guardian

 

“You guys are getting damage numbers… right? Just double checking.”

It was a valid concern. Should things take too long, they’d soon find their healer dry as a desert. Though his energy bar was draining a bit faster than Jack had anticipated, he’d nod acceptingly at that fact. Considering how the current battle was trending, he should be to be able to hold out long enough to see it to completion. His attention was more focused on the fact that the slave hunter appeared to be seemingly unhurt from a visibility standpoint as well as the uneasy creeping rage that had over swept the man. The support had seen something similar to this before, as displayed previously by a companion that also made good use of the berserk skill set.

Rather than actively engaging in combat, the dark haired man would instead sit idly on standby while regenerating his energy. The situation seemed stable at the moment so for now he’d prioritize recovering his resources in order to sustain combat should it drag out longer than expected. In the mean while he’d quickly toggle investigation mode in order to take a closer look at the individuals and their various status bars. Sweeping from the deer to the woman in hiding to the slave hunter, he’d begin taking notes of various things that were revealed.

OOC: Regenerating mana while investigating everything again since it didn't register... Must be a glitch.

 

Her eyes lit up with wild emotion as the odd light of the Investigation Mode faded away. "Yeah, he's halfway down his health bar and it looks like he has two status effects. Berserker +5 and a status called Unyielding Rage. I think we can all figure out the first based on starter mastery choices, but I don't recognize the second one." She tried to stick to game terminology with her limited knowledge like The Admiral had done, trying to mitigate what exactly he could piece together of their static-shrouded talk. While Jack did whatever in his daze, Gwyn charter her course for the guardian and whistled sharply to catch its attention. With a firm hand she pressed down on the withers of hauled one leg over its back as it knelt slightly. See that armored motherfucker try and chase her down now. "Thank you," she said quietly to it as she settled her weight evenly on the back of the beast. "Now, let's you and I hunt a hunter."

With a press of her heels to its side she'd give it the go ahead to move. She trusted its sure feet in the woods that surrounded them and she was adaptable enough to adjust as needed regardless of where it moved. They knew their combined target even if they were strangers to one another. Between the knowledge of beast taming, riding, and hunting? Gwyn felt a common thread uniting her, the wilds, and the many creatures within. The huntress didn't kick at its sides like one would a horse with the knowledge that it needed no more direction than the goals of keeping them both safe and laying low the berserker they faced. Even with horses once really shouldn't go kicking them. That was just poor communication and a lack of basic understanding when it came to the training of animals.

Gwyn ensured her boots had a decent enough hold on the curvature of the guardian's musculature and straightened her posture from the mounting to pull the bow up into firing position. The longbow creaked ominously, the dark wood of it bending slowly as she drew back the string with another arrow fitted snug to fire. Emboldened by her temporary companion, Gwyn readied another Swallowtail Shot to seek out the chinks in his armor and leave the berserker bloodied and bleeding beyond the otherwise immaculate appearance he maintained with the armor's help.

Thrown die:

86

[ OOC: Changes have been made MP-wise so Ranged for Attacking was Proficient +15, but is now Adept +20. Beast Taming for Mounting is +15. Riding for Mounting was Trained +20, but is now Proficient +30. I don't which ones you want me to use for this, RIP. ]​

 

Weevils wobble, but they don't fall down! And neither did this motherfucker, who despite a series of powerful blows against his armored head and shoulders, seemed to be handling things just fine.The situation made marginally more sense when Jack asked about the health situation and Gwyn, who had been able to investigate, informed them of his status bonuses and the lowered health he had. Well, at least they were making progress, embarrassingly slow as it was. Gwyn seemed to get it into her head to ride the deer creature in order to move around the battlefield, and the Admiral wished her all the luck in the world getting the stupid thing to do anything useful. It seemed more concerned with cowering than helping, despite how out numbered it had originally been. But now that things were in its favor, it just huffed nearby and lowered its head as if waiting for somebody to come along and cleave its head off. Deer jerky. That's what she was going to make it, when they were done with this asshole.

Looking to her weapons, she noted that the pale glow of holy fire was beginning to wane, and she decided that whatever actions she wished to take she had better take quickly. Turning to Jack, she observed the man waiting idly by, either bored and observing or almost out of magic. That man really did need to invest in better armor and a nice grimoire, or he'd never keep a team standing for more than five minutes.
"Jack, can you spare us one last spell to... I don't know? Calm him? Offset his berserk ability by neutralizing his rage, so he loses his offensive and defensive buffs! Then we can make short work of him!"
Could illumancy do that? She didn't know. But she hoped it could be used in some sort of 'calm fears and rage' fashion or this fight was not going to end well for all of them. The lower his health got, the crazier his attacks would become. Speaking of...

Stepping forwards, she raised mace and hammer once again and began to slam them down upon the man's body, attacking over and over again from every direction wildly. If he moved to defend his left with his blade, she had a club to swing in on his right. If he guarded his middle or top by catching her club, she had a hammer ready to come in from below, or the side, to strike him. She moved quickly, furiously, trying to offset whatever guard abilities he might have by making her attacks come in wild and unpredictable and on opposite ends of one another so that stopping both would prove difficult. The downside was she had no power behind them, and felt them ping off of his armor the rare moments they did make contact. Panting in exhaustion of the onslaught, she took a step back and did the one thing that really annoyed her about this game: special attacks. They felt silly and immersion breaking, but they also had their uses, she had to admit. With the level that her combat skills had grown to, she had unlocked a few 'mighty blows' and 'sweeping hammers' and other silly attacks that made no sense outside of a game. It was one of those that she used, jumping up into the air and bringing both hammers, glowing with holy light, down towards the top of the man's head.

Thrown die:

88

88 + 20 = 108 (+holy damage)

 

@Kess

 

Dungeon Master

Investigation mode certainly made all the difference when looking into the enemy's HP as well as everyone else's. Jack would be able to notice almost immediately the man's HP was at 45% after Gwyn's previous attack had struck. The Forest Guardian on the other hand had some rather unique properties that Gwyn wouldn't have noticed after simply taking in the armored hunter's status and abilities. The Forest Guardian wasn't wounded, it's condition particularly pristine but there was a persistent 'Fear - X Turns Left' harming the creature. Following that there was a positive buff 'Nature's Blessing' but more perplexing condition would be near the bottom of the creature's statistics and abilities that read 'Owned by: ???'. Similarly '???' was the name that appeared indistinctly amongst the trees, the shadowed figure still concealed within the layers of an illusion as everyone fought.

Gwyn would recognize the effects of 'Nature's Blessing' almost immediately, a refreshing feeling coming up from below her. Pain from earlier rocks pelting her would fade little by little as that refreshing feeling took over. The creature hopped around still, trying to bring Gwyn to places where her shots would be most effective, the intelligent creature was cautious though, determined to stay between the hunter and a particular end of the forest clearing. Even if it meant dying, the creature would make sure the Hunter didn't get too close to that place as the fighting continued.

The Slave hunter was starting to get worse for wear, even if his high quality armor remained in good enough shape, his body was beginning to fail, the sudden sneaky arrow finally managing to hit a mark stabbing into the man's underarm on the left side. The admiral also striking him only made his condition that much worse, Jack would be able to see the man's condition drop rapidly from the pair of blows from the initial 45% to 15% but he didn't seem to be restrained by the damage even as crimson red began to stain his armor from various places at his neck and left arm. His rage clearly building, he once more stabbed his axe into the ground fiercely swinging again, in an effort to turn up debris and soil against his foes. The Admiral however would have plenty of time to avoid the sweeping blow in his wounded state while Gwyn wouldn't even need to move as the Forest guardian hopped away with complete ease.

Jack

100 HP

MAX HP

65 EN

MAX EN

Conditions -

Gwyn

90 HP

MAX HP

60 EN

MAX EN

Conditions - Nature's Protection - X turns remaining

Admiral

80 HP

MAX HP

90 EN

MAX EN

Conditions -

OOC: The Finishing Blow

Additional Modifiers:

• + 5 for every weapon rank when attacking

 

A soft laugh sounded from Jack as he’d notice the deer’s status effects. Considering the previous yelling from The Admiral’s earlier grievances, it made a bit more sense now. That said, the man contemplated whether or not to dispel the creature’s malady and had instead opted not to. With Gwyn now climbing aboard the steed’s back, the support had decided leaving the status in touch would result in the best effect. After all, things would get rather complicated if the creature had opted to charge directly into the fray with a ranger in tow. No, things were best left as is.

Upon noticing the slave hunter’s health rapidly plummeting, the dark haired man would instead watch cautiously for his next movements. Keeping in mind the berserk nature of the man (now confirmed from his investigation), he’d watch with weary eyes while continuing to remain in safety behind the tree. Instead, he’d call out to his allies using the in game communication system so that his words went unheard by other ears.

“Looks like this is the final pass. Stay cautious… that berserk effect is about to get real nasty. If possible, we should probably take him down from ranged.” His warning sent to the others, the man would remain at the ready to intervene. Though not immediately taking action, Jack had already flipped through his spell book in the interface. Should the need arise, all that remained was a simple, quick button press in order to erect a protective barrier against any last ditch efforts the slave hunter would make.

OOC: Jack is ready to cast a protective barrier if needed.

 

The world exploded violently up and into the sky as the professional's axe came singing downwards, cutting the air with a terrible shrill before it slammed into the ground and stone and mud went flying in all directions. It was a trick the Admiral had seen before and so she quickly stepped backwards, letting all of the worst of it avoid her and fly out into the woodlands where stones embedded themselves in the trunks of trees. Mud slid down her bloodied and beaten armor, but she was far better off than the berserker who seemed to be doing mighty poorly. Jack spoke and warned her of the danger his lowered health could mean, but she trusted the healer to be able to do something about it if things got too severe for her out there. The healer wanted to let Gwyn finish the man off, and the Admiral had to agree... but not because she felt the professional was too big a risk to face in direct combat. No, this had been Gwyn's fight to start. Her challenge that she had begun. Her hunt, her prey, her kill.

Rushing back up to the man, the Admiral attempted to slam him down on the ground by throwing her entire force into a bull rush, hammer and club swinging at his legs to knock them out from under him. If it worked, he would be thrown down into the mud of these woods, and the huntress could shoot him and stick him like the pig he was. Then, they could figure more of this situation out... Possibly heal the man enough to ask him questions, after disarming him. But that would require listening to him talk, more, and she wanted nothing less.

Thrown die:

48

48 + 20 = 68

 

@Gwyn ap Herne

 

As she threw herself up onto the sturdy back of the beast and found herself a decent stance for her shot, the odd magic caught her off guard. The soothing balm of the buff was a second wind to the archer and she spoke a low thanks to the beast as it moved. Her attack struck cleanly with the help of the fearsome-faced buck, though the fear debuff on it hinted at the berserker being far more intimidating to it. She didn't have time to worry about why it alone was enduring the debuff when the slave hunter had used no skill she had seen, but perhaps it was a passive skill or an enchantment on his armor? To frighten beasts sounded all well and good to anyone besides those with beast taming skill sets.

It wouldn't matter soon. The man's health was plummeting fast and the huntress grinned wildly as she pulled back on the string of the longbow. Jack's words were muddled in her ears, drowned out by the beat of her pulse and the sharp sound of the forest guardian's hooves as it moved with all the speed of the winds. The Admiral struck him hard, her sweeping strikes battering into armor and attempting to unsteady his footing. It wouldn't matter. He'd hit the ground, but he would hit the ground dead between the ferocity of their combined might. This man's foul hunt and sick soul would be put to an immediate end. She didn't waste the energy of a specialized strike this time. He could survive any number of strikes, dodging or muting the damage, but he couldn't escape the bleeding effect or her ire. His armor was already stained with the judgement of both. She loosed the arrow, satisfied regardless of its hit.

Thrown die:

84

[ +20 ]​