Open - Hunting Wolves

Rory knelled in the woods, watching a lonesome wolf. Rory sadly still only had his peasant clothing, but he did find one of those easy to find, easy to break weapons...perhaps the name for them is 'Trash' weapons? He found a [Rusty Sword] and a [Broken Barrel Lid], Rory smiles, proud of what he has found...even though it doesn't even compare to common level items. Rory stood up up and then charged the wolf with a battle cry.

The wolf, thankfully, was sleep from a meal. Was it a player? Animal npc? Who knows, but it was sleepy and lifted his head up just in time for Rory to awkwardly miss it and trip over the wolf. Rory rolled up to his feet, slightly embarrassed about the trip, but it didn't matter as his surprise was now lost. It was Mano to wolf, wolf to mano. They began to circle each other, the wolf growling at Rory who peeked behind his shield. Then Rory charged suddenly and at the same time the wolf pounced. It ran into his shield and tried for a bite, knocking Rory over mid charge. Thankfully he was able to keep the wolf at bay with his shield, but the wolf was cm's away from biting his face off. Rory with a grunt started to stab the wolf repeatedly, where? Rory had to clue, just on the wolf somewhere. After about 5 stabs in the wolf started to slow down and eventually stop another 10 stabs in. Thankfully it only drooled on his face and scraped the tip of his nose. Rory sighed a sigh of relief and pushed the wolf off of him with a groan and he stretched his shield arm after he sat up. There was no way in hell he was going to be able to have the strength to do that again. That's when he heard more growls.

@Emmeline Valenick

 

Brisshal, sweet miserable Brisshal. She knew it well by this point; a familiar hunting ground for the newcomers to hone their skills and ply their trades among one another. Littered, here and there, with dungeons and instances to attract party creation and teamwork exercises that would be necessary in larger raids once they were skilled enough to survive in other zones. She bemused herself beside a tree that was scarred from scorch marks; a clear indication a first time pyromancer had been practicing with their ability upon logging in. Elsewhere, trees were pock marked with the obvious strikes of arrows from eager young archers, or striped with cuts from melee users. She grinned at a sturdy looking tree that had some barkless areas upon its hide from where people had beaten it all off, and then removed a gleaming hammer from her side, winding her arm back. As she held it raised, her body began to glow slightly with the clear indication of a weapon skill being used and, upon release, the hammer flew in an arc and struck the tree. Struck through the tree. With a mighty explosion of splinters and the roar of shattering wood, a portion of its trunk was obliterated into toothpicks and a horrible cracking noise filled the air as its own weight caused the remaining portion of injured trunk to twist and buckle.

The din of the crashing timber filled the woods and she smiled, impressed with how far she had come in a seemingly short amount of time. Once the echoing thunder of falling tree died down, her ears noted the all too familiar growl and snarl of wolves, off and to the left. Perhaps they had come upon a new player and were about to tear into an overly ambitious fighter? Maybe they were making prey of a hapless hunter, or mangling a mage. The Admiral marched in the direction of the noise, a gleaming hammer of beauty in one hand and a rusted relic of a hammer in the other. They were her prides and joys, the things she used to knock things down a peg or two, and hammer her opinions into place. People HAD to listen to you, when you were among the top five damage per second players around, didn't they? Probably not. Nobody did so far, at least. Well nuts to them!

Entering the copse in which @Rory Ulric found himself tangled with a pack of wolves, she leaned comfortably against a tree and decided to watch the man's struggle. It wouldn't do him any favors to jump in and solve this problem for him, now would it? Rather, he should be allowed to fend for himself. She could always help if he asked for it. If she felt like granting it, when he did... Or, she could watch him save himself or die trying. A rude beginning to the game to be sure, but everyone had to know their limits, and he was the one who had gotten himself surrounded by wolves all alone in the woods.

"Bit of advice," she offered aloud as she watched the creatures begin to circle in opposite directions around the man.
"...A shield is nice and all, but it doesn't do you any good if you let a single one of them circle behind you. Which, since they hunt in well organized packs, they're obviously going to try doing."
She scratched her chin in a pensive manner as if considering how he might be able to prevent such a horrible fate, ignoring the snarls of wolves which were now regarding her as a meal too. Still, roughly twenty yards separated her from Rory, so the beasts had plenty of room to choose their prey, and she was wearing considerably more metal than the man with a barrel's lid for a shield. Shrugging sadly at Rory, she watched the wolves that had been about to lunge at her turn, and move to help surround him.
"If I were you I'd probably not try running but... Here's a thought? Get a tree behind you so they can only come from the front and sides. Oh but watch your legs- keeping your back to a tree will make your stance awkward and they're likely to bite your legs out from under you at that point. Really what you need is a team member."

 

Rory immediately sat up as he saw a very large amount of wolves. Rory was about to panic, but panicking never did anyone good in a tournament, you just wear yourself down and then someone takes the advantage, causing you to lose. Rory started to back up slowly, shield arm up as he took a couple of deep breaths, in through his nose, out through the mouth. He began to count...dang nine wolves, he must of misjudged the situation. That's when he heard the woman's voice as he spared her a glance. Armor, two weapons (Maybe their hammers?) and looks relaxed against the tree. He missed the first thing she said, but listened to the rest, allowing it to echo in his head as he pushed himself against a tree. He heard his heart thumping as things looked like they slowed down around him, but that was adrenalines work. Thankfully it gave him time to look around, and there was indeed wolves around him, in a slow moving growling circle, their eyes showing hunger and delight as they began their dance. He gave another look at the woman and saw her relaxed against the tree for real.

And thats when he got it. It was a test, to pass is to live, to fail is to die. Life or death, win or loss, eat or starve. All are the same in a way, and all vastly familiar to him. He felt the tree bark on his back as he pressed in deeper, it actually felt like a tree. He shifted his footing to something more stable and less easily bitten, she was semi right, up against a tree made it hard, but it was just like a boxing rings post. Besides everything thing has a place, even some stances.

Everything speed back up to speed as the wolf pounced from his sword arm. He smiled, it may not be the ring, or a street, or an ally, but it was a fight none the less. He slammed the hilt of the blade into the wolves head as it leaped, causing it to smash off the tree. Unfortunately, that caused his stance to widen, causing his shield leg to come out a bit.
Taking the advantage another wolf went for the bite and another went for his throat from another angle with a leap. Rory yelled in pain as it bit his leg, god, realistic pain sucks. He ducked suddenly, pulling his bit leg back and slamming his shield on to the wolf's neck twice to make it let go. He heard the neck break and recovered his position a little bit while wincing in pain as his ankle bleed. Any later and that would of snapped it, and there was still eightish wolves left. About seven since the other is injured, the one that missed circled back around and charged straight at him, the others watching carefully for an opening. He used his shield to make the wolf bounce into his sword as he stabbed at it, causing it to go into his mouth, and through his back, cutting the spine. He slowly pulled it out as the wolves began to circle quickly once again, so he wouldn't cause an opening. Once it was out he regained his composure and slowly stood again, watching all around him. Semi-ready for the next charge as he gritted his teeth in anger at his own ignorance at putting himself in such a tough challenge.

Health:65%
Energy:60%

 

The woman sighed and watched as Rory was surrounded on all sides by the wolves. Too many for him to deal with alone, obviously... despite his best efforts he'd never be able to engage so many. There seemed to be quite a few in this pack, which concerned her. Were all new players going to encounter this degree of danger from the wolves of the area? If so, it would be a rough start for more than just Rory. She had to do something about that then, and with a grunt of almost bored disapproval, she started to walk towards the ring of snarling figures. It was as though this were a waste of her time, nothing else.

One of the wolves turned to her and crouched low, snarling as it lunged up towards her. She swung with the nicer of her two hammers and the weapon glowed, her whole body glowed, as a skill was activated to strike down the beast in one hit. The wolf did not just crumple to the ground dead- it flew off into the trees as a mangled pile of broken bones and bloody fur. She made a "tsk, tsk, tsk..." sound as she shook her head sadly at the creatures and held her ground. Pulling her arms up to her sides, she threw both of her hammers together and sent a shockwave out as they collided, blasting all of the wolves several yards backwards by the shockwave created. Weapon skills weren't a thing she employed often, but they had definite uses in some situations. This just so happened to be one!
"You should get over here," she recommended to @Rory Ulric, then slammed both her weapons together and sent out another shockwave at the wolves.

 

Rory took this opportunity and sprinted towards her, it was embarrassing to say the least since he's being saved by a lady, on the other hand she is by far the more skilled and he must bow to it. After Rory ran over he put his back to her as the wolves got back and began to circle. Thankfully this chick killed two like nothing leaving...four left? Well after the latest shock-wave, there was only two (man, got ta get me some skills). Rory kinda chuckled, she killed most of them in as much time it took for him to kill one and a half. So scary, but at least she was on his side for now.

Rory took a deep breath before asking "You to take one or two?" a blunt question yes, but it seems this one like a challenge, of course two wolves weren't a challenge for uber woman here, but if it saved his hide, then it'll do. Rory adjusted the grip on his weapon as a wolf lunged at his other leg, he cut at it, the sword hit but it broke (damn the rust to hell and back!). It barely hurt the wolf as it went to by again, thankfully he had a shield which he used like a giant metal pan to bat it away. At least one of the wolves was hurt, though he was curious at what the chick will do.

 

The Admiral held her ground as Rory ran over and deposited himself in range of her weapons, which for purposes of dealing with these few pesky wolves might as well have been an instantaneous death field. Why the two remaining didn't follow nature's law and run back into the woods to save themselves was beyond her; after slaying so many of their kind in such a short amount of time, even the bravest or most stubborn beast would give up and run off to preserve itself, and to try to repopulate the pack. Or protect the cubs that remained back home in their den and would still need an adult to fend for them. She recalled a quest some time back that had been available, to go and slay a bunch of wolves and their cubs. Had that lead to the vicious attacks by these beasts? Well, it hardly mattered. They were refusing to back down, and so had to be put down.

She listened to Rory's struggles behind her as one began to bite at him, and the easily detectable sound of metal shattering apart as his sword broke off against the wolf's bone. It gave a snarl of pain and attempted to limp back, moving too slowly to avoid being slapped backwards by Rory's shield. The Admiral slid to the side and spun around to face the injured beast, slamming one of her hammers down on the ground and causing a line of force to shoot outwards in a small fissure. The ground beneath the wolf exploded upwards in a shower of dirt and stone which left it bloody and dead on the ground, pin cushioned by slivers of rock that had torn out its gets and penetrated its heart and lungs. She turned to the remaining wolf and charged at it, caving in its skull with one quick stroke of her hammer. Huffing, she stood up and set both of her hammers away, then clapped her hands together to try and get some dirt off of them.
"That was almost a workout, wasn't it?" she mused aloud, looking at all the dead beasts. It seemed as though she was more bored than anything by the fight, as though it had been so far beneath her that only charity had caused her to step up. "Got a name, wolf bait?" she asked as she turned to face @Rory Ulric again, looking him over and checking out his gear. Broken sword and barrel shield; she was far from impressed.

 

Rory actually underestimated her speed. After she quickly killed the other, Rory spun to beat the other one to death...but she got there first by a landslide as she pummeled it to death. Rory put his shield up. He looked around for more threats before looking back at his savior, she didn't even break a sweat. The bitch.

As she asked for his name Rory responded "Rory Ulric, yours?" Rory wasn't scared of her, being scared meant death, she could kill him in an instant but he highly doubted it, other wise she would of watched him die. He dropped his broken sword and wiped his hands off and offered his before saying "Thank you, I will return the favor when called upon." Rory would offer nothing less by his honor. She saved his life out of kindness, by honor's rights, or at least his, he would return the favor any way possible, even if he had to be some lackey for a little bit. He would return it, even breaking the other parts of his code for her, life for a life, eye for an eye. Rory would give a quick look around just in case there were more wolves. He didn't see any, but one must be careful. After his look, he would look her in the eye, showing his respect and his acknowledgement of her power. He would of been embarrassed at his poor state, but one starts somewhere. He was more proud than anything, in his mind, he passed her test, fully? He didn't know, but he must of passed something for her to come save him and if not. Then he had no clue what so ever.

 

She moved without much sound or hurry, traversing through the wooded area. Eleanor took the journey one careful step at a time. She had entered the region with a mixture of motives: one to examine the vegetation and plant life in the area, and the other to perhaps further her alchemist competency. While caution had kept her from a swift demise so far, the land was still unfamiliar territory to the cobalt colored girl.

With the sounds of weapons clashing and the yelping of beasts catching her ears, she first dismissed the suicidal idea. To step towards the danger... Eleanor was definitely not that kind of person. Still, she wondered if a bit of dangerous curiosity could do well for her. After all, her everyday lifestyle had taken upon itself an unnecessarily monotone shade within the real world. What had she to lose?

Approaching what she assumed to be a conflict between man and nature, her index and middle fingers reached towards her temple. She entered investigation mode. Eyes flickering up light a lighter, a low blue glow radiated from them. Upon some of the plants and wildlife nearby, labels containing names became visible. Some sounded more scientific, while others remained much less so. Maneuvering closer to the sound of battle, Eleanor's eyes were fastened forward.

As a result of this tunnel vision, it was only at the last moment that the cobalt colored girl became aware of the faint rumbling of a growl behind her. In a swift spin, she took a cautionary step back, the jaw of a wolf snapping at her. As her other foot transitioned back as well, it caught minimal grasp upon the ground. Instead of touching dirt, the bottom of her shoe planted itself upon a tiny, round branch.

Stumbling back, it was as if the wolf was smiling at her. Such foolish prey she had been, not to look behind her for so long. Eleanor cursed herself for such insolence in the face of reason. What use was a proficiency in hunting if she didn't make use of her abilities?

Just before landing, it was all she could do to fire an panicked arcane blast from her hand. Not that she had much control over it, having little practice with her magical affinity, it was as if she were firing a gun with her eyes closed. Luckily, part of the shot brushed past the snout of the creature. This left it temporarily dazed long enough for the detective looking girl to scamper to her feet and run in the other direction as fast as her feet could carry her.

Without knowing, she sprinted nearly directly towards the two brutish looking characters. Their physical forms seemed to appear much more competent than hers, and in a way, they seemed to intimidate her much more than the wolf had. About ten feet away from the two, Eleanor screeched herself to a halt, panting. "Ehm... Excuse me, I-- Emm... Hello." She muttered. She had no good way of explain herself to these two barbarian looking people.

Not no one's surprise, the wolf was still hot on her trail, after regaining it's senses. Just as she finished speaking what little she'd said, it burst out from a bush behind her, soon hoping to sink it's teeth into the short, thin young woman. Eleanor spun, raising her arms to shield herself, hoping to at least decrease the incoming damage.

 

It seemed as though things had finally calmed down some. Rory introduced himself by name and looked her in the eye, promising to return the favor should she ever need something from him one day. She was about to dismiss the offer, considering he was too weak to be of use and she didn't know how much credit to put in his word, but the intensity in his eyes caused her to reconsider. If he could grow his skills and become useful, then she had no qualms with making good on his promise one day.
"I'll keep that in mind, Rory," she responded to the man as she gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. Whatever camaraderie they might have been about to build was interrupted as a cloud of blue colors ran into view. She spun around, hammer poised to strike, but tensed up and stopped herself from caving poor Eleanor's head in. "Wuh?" was her response to the girl's stammering introduction, which was interrupted by the snarling emergence of a wolf that lunged at the girl's back. The girl in blue raised her arms to defend herself but the Admiral was already in motion. She stepped past the girl, one arm stretched to the side to shield her and catch the wolf in case it made it past her own attack. But the beast had no chance, for the second arm brought a hammer down upon its back with a vicious snap. She immediately spun turned and took a golfer's pose, slamming both hammers into the dead mutt and knocking it away into the bushes so that it wouldn't trouble them with its presence.

"You okay?" she asked the newcomer, looking her over for any bites or scratches. She seemed to have dirt on her bum from a fall, but was otherwise no worse for wear.

 

It was a moment, before Eleanor's dark blue pupils peeked out through the small gaps between her fingers. Luckily, it seemed all of those phalanges were still intact. That was not entirely what she had expected, considering how grim her situation had been, before she had shut her eyes. Certainly, it was a miracle that she had all limbs intact.

In front of her, standing in what might actually be a pretty heroic looking pose, at least from Eleanor's perspective. The woman, probably with more muscle in her bicep than the girl in the blue coat's entire body. "Yes. I'm alright." She was still panting, at least for another moment or so. "Thanks for bailing me out there." Her eyes flicked up towards the larger woman, who seemed about a little over half a foot taller. Then, Eleanor shifted a cautious gaze back, towards the other giant, muscular figure behind her. "My name is Eleanor."

"Sorry about that." She raised a hand, gesturing towards the area where the wolf had been golf-ball launched. "Was not my smoothest moment, that's for sure." Chuckling to try and at least lighten the mood a little, Eleanor rubbed at the back of her neck, shifting her short, dark blue hair slightly beneath her hat. With an awkward sigh, she transitioned back into her usual, more serious tone.

 

Rory was ashamed of his self, he shouldn't be embarrassed being saved by a woman (it still hurt, just a tiny bit) but he was in the presence of a master class warrior and should be thankful that she even took the time to help him. Rory nodded as she patted his shoulder, he will return the favor, even if it killed him and one day he'll catch her in power. Then hopefully he'll be a worthy challenge and be worthy of her respect as a warrior!

Rory's day dreaming ended soon as the girl game through, he was just about as confused as his new friend as he pulled his shield out, holding it menacingly as it fell to pieces. Then the wolf came. Rory was about to pull the little blue lady when Admiral smashed it to dust, then Rory went to help her up and she was already on her feet. Man, Rory must be more tired than he thought. Rory huffed before saying "Rory." rather bluntly as he held out a hand to both Elenor and the Admiral. He kept his ears open for more wolves, thankfully he didn't hear any at the moment and relaxed. His wounds throbbed but it was a lesson well learnt and a person(s) well met. Perhaps this new comer was doing the same as he was, hunting wolves. He didn't ask though and kept his mouth shut, she was no friend of his nor ally. Maybe she would in the future, but for now, who knew. She was just another person. Rory blinked, stopping his thought train as he looked around, might as well keep look out as the ladies talked.

 

A shrug was the Admiral's general reaction to Eleanor's apology for her graceless entrance which, as far as the larger warrior woman was concerned, had not been any sort of intrusion or hindrance. She looked the smaller and thinner woman over and noted the more intellectual demeanor that Eleanor held. She was clearly less inclined to hitting things with other things, which happened to be the Admiral's favorite approach to conflict resolution, and instead appeared as though she might actually use her brain to fixate on and work around or past a problem. Not just... muscle through it.
Rory's almost embarrassed seeming introduction made her want to snort at the man. From the way he was looking around and playing guardian, she suspected he had a thing for the newcomer and was hoping to impress her with his toughness. Well, she was hardly one to stand in the way of the man's progress...

"Rory here was fighting off all these wolves all his lonesome when I happened by," she explained to Eleanor so that the woman could get a... accurate if not embellished account of events so that she was both caught up to speed and made to see Rory as a heroic figure.
"Fought so hard that he broke his own sword, in fact," she said as she gestured to the shattered pieces on the ground nearby. "So, I helped him finished off the last two. Then you came stumbling in, which couldn't have been more ideal for you: apparently the wolves in this area have gotten increasingly more violent lately. Why, we're not too sure, but Rory here is on a quest to find the source of their aggression. And if he can't figure out a way to ease their anger, he'll limit their numbers to keep the area safe for more newcomers like yourself."
She turned her back to Eleanor and tossed Rory a wink, encouraging him to play along.

"Then again... hard to finish his mission without a sword. Perhaps we ought to find a village nearby so that he can purchase a new one and patch up wounds? Then we can grab lunch before setting out again."
And of course she would find a reason to ditch, so that the two baby newbies could talk about how exciting the game was and form some nice little bonds. Perhaps even hit it off, and hook up as more than just a party? She kept her voice and her face calm and professional, careful not to reveal the giddy and devious intentions she had in setting them up together.

 

Rory wasn't paying attention to the conversation, until she started to put him in a heroic light. As far as he was aware, he was the one who got saved because he underestimated his opponent he turned around about to say something when she winked...why did she wink?

Then it occurred to Rory, she was trying to set him up with this chick, but why? Did he trigger some social que he was unaware of? Or does she have a secret hobby of match making? No matter, he owed her so he'll play along, perhaps she sensed his embarrassment towards her and misunderstood. Rory wiped the sweat off mentally, thank god she didn't know. The last time he had a semi crush when his coach wasn't chasing away woman who were after his heart, was a tall Brazilian chick. Now she was hot, Rory shook his head, now was not the time for woman as he grunted in agreement keeping a neutral face. Lunch sounded like a good idea anyway as he looked at the two and said "She boasts me to much, it was her that saved me from my foolishness, I wasn't that heroic in the slightest." bluntly, being humble was necessary, hopefully this won't ruin what the girl had in mind.

 

Eleanor listened in to the information being fed to her through @The Admiral , having a good chance to really catch her breath. Some of the information regarded troubles with wolves, while other bits regarded @Rory Ulric . Quietly as she listened, she pressed two fingers to her temple, idly scanning the ground in investigation mode. Eleanor found that it was full of wolf footprints and human footprints alike. She figured that it was just a result of the conflict that had been conducted mere moments previously.

"You two seem a lot stronger than me." Glancing about herself, it seemed she could barely recall which way she had come from, considering that her thought process had been so scrambled by the wolf's surprise. Still, Eleanor figured it was safest to stay with those two. "Ehm, alright. I'll follow, you two can lead on." They seemed much more, at least physically, competent, and one of them seemed better equipped. The cobalt coated girl was still operating without a weapon and, ultimately, trash gear as well.

Leaving two fingers of her left hand upon her temple, she allowed her right to return leisurely to it's assigned pocket. Silently, she continuously scanned her surroundings. A final time, Eleanor cursed herself for nearly getting herself killed on a foolish whim. She had been tremendously lucky that the two she came upon were not looking to maim or devour her as well.

 

"And modest too," she said in response to Rory's humble dismissal of his falsified heroic deeds. Having almost totally misread his situation, she smiled and nodded as Eleanor agreed to tag along with them as far as the next village for the time being, which would allow the two a chance to bond while she walked ahead and kept the road clear.
"So, tell us what you're up to out here Ms. Eleanor," she asked the smaller woman over her shoulder, taking the lead so that Rory would be forced to walk closer to the rear near the woman in blue. "New to the game, I take it?"