Private - Brisshal Completionist

All right! Ash stepped out of Stokbon's gates with a big grin. She'd been playing Terrasphere for a while now and she felt like she was getting the hang of all this adventuring business. When she saw that quest from Trinity, she couldn't resist. What better way to test herself than to run through a gauntlet of everything in Brisshal? Sure it was just the tutorial region, but it didn't mean that there weren't any threatening monsters or locations around. And if she couldn't handle everything that Brisshal had to offer, then she definitely wouldn't be able to manage any of the other regions.

It was a pretty long quest with a ton of different objectives, so she made sure to keep a reminder for what she still had to finish floating at the corner of her vision. Okay, it was a bit dangerous to block off some of her peripheral vision, but it was so much more convenient than constantly having to pull up the quest notification.

So, first thing that Trinity suggested was mapping out the plains near Stokbon. Sure thing! She'd spent a fair bit of time out here, Ash didn't think it would be a problem. There were actually some ingredients that were pretty exclusive to this part of Brisshal, so she could get a bit of a head start on the gathering portion while she waited for her partners in this quest. Investigation mode active, Ash started scanning the area just outside Stokbon's main gate, Naixi by her side.

@Harveste, @Gwyn ap Herne

 

She'd been more than a little relieved to have a friend she knew well on her team for the quest for knowledge. Unintentionally, she'd ended up getting caught by some of the monsters in Brisshal's forests on her way to the meeting spot- but, surprisingly, she'd found it easier than usual to trap them with plants and either beat them or get away, depending on what felt better at the time during her rush. A couple went down, a couple were caught in vine nets for the others to help with later.

With a deep sigh of relief and a mild fatigue from her run through the forest, she finally found herself where the group had opted to meet for the test of wits and knowledge. "Ash!" Smiling, she waved as she slowed herself to a casual walk, wandering over. "Morning! I caught some beasties on my way here. Some I was able to finish off on my own, but others were too much for me by myself, so I drew a map the best I could of where I trapped them so we can all go after them together. Think that'll help with the quest at all?" Giggling, she couldn't help the next thing to come from her lips.

"It's kind of annoying, but I make really good monster bait..."

Peaking around, she noticed it was still just the two of them. Well aware there was a third in the party, she wasn't really sure who it was yet- she'd just jumped at the opportunity to work with Ashiore, someone she knew from quests in the past. "Who's the last person we're waiting for? I don't think they're a person I'd met before...I hope we'll be able to become friends."

 

Gwyn still found herself avoiding the Falderen capital a little bit more than she did most settlements. There was only so much of interest in towns, but she didn't want to meet any NPCs she had previously during the siege. It was likely just paranoid of her to be so conflicted, but that was just something more to work on. Gwyn shook herself back to focus and jogged to catch up to the meeting point set for their little Brisshal exploration party. It was harmless fun to be had. The ranger didn't overly care for just how over the top the mascot could be, but she seemed kind and happy enough. The challenge to completely map out the region, collecting items and heads in a grand scavenger hunt of sorts, and running through the minor dungeon in the region sounded like a nice break from some of the higher level content someone her tier faced. It was like a vacation minus all the boredom of sitting around on her ass. She had already gotten to tick a few fights and locations off the list in getting there with her companions, but she'd have to revisit them anyway with her team.

To match the pace of the run through the region they'd be doing, Gwyn had elected to leave Nathair back in Astorea while she took her two newer tames. They needed more socializing after all and could do with harmless exercise. The two were built like bully breeds, but their thicker fur and markings reminded her of guardian canines. Kangals, perhaps. She caught sight of her two partners as the twins stiffened up and gave low alert barks. "Good dogs. Easy." Their tails wagged at the praise for their warning and for the moment seemed content to obey her command not to attack. They were getting better, kinder.

She smiled and held back a laugh as she made her way closer. The one speaking had her back to the ranger and Gwyn was quick to answer @Harveste's question before Ashiore got the chance. "I'm sure we can make a token effort, if nothing else. The name's Gwyn," she piped up before looking over to @Ashiore Evretto. "It's been a while, Ash. Not since Norfova if I'm remembering right?" At her heels the canines snuffled at the air in caution, but neither of her party members were a thing like their previous owner. It was hard to be intimidated by these two. The lion had them rumbling low growls, but a scratch behind their ears settled them. The twins took cues easily and if Gwyn wasn't worried about the lion, then surely they didn't have to either. The bond of her animal empathy still hummed lowly with anxiety, but she pressed her own calm over their like soothing strokes over their burly shoulders. "Now, if we're ready to start this up we should tick off these fields, the items here, and the few enemies. Everyone ready for some cardio?" She laughed with her hands slung low on her hips. She was already enjoying this and it hadn't even begun.

 

"Hey @Harveste! Morning. Oh, that's great! We'll get this quest done in no time!" It was always great to see a familiar face when on a quest. Even better when it wasn't just one face, but two! She saw @Gwyn ap Herne walking up with a pair of large dogs.

"Oh, hello! Gwyn, right? It really has been a while!" Ah yes, Norforva. Back when Ash was a fresh-faced newbie with no idea what was going on. Wow, wasn't that embarrassing, looking over that memory again? But she was better now, and this would prove it. "And who are you two?" she asked, smiling at the dogs. She vaguely remembered that baring teeth was aggressive to dogs, so she made sure to keep her body language as nonaggressive as possible.

After a bit of conversation, it was time to set off. This area of Brisshal was mostly flat and rather well-traveled, given how close it was to Stokbon. So there wasn't any trouble getting around. Ash kept an eye out for any special items to share with her party members to steadily work through the item list, and left the navigating up to Harveste who would lead them to the monsters she had trapped earlier. And Gwyn was rather keen-eyed from what she recalled, so Ash felt safe about relying on her to spot any enemies before they got too close.

Naixi walked along at a slow pace, mostly content in keeping to herself. If the dogs, or anyone else for that matter, did get a bit inquisitive about her, she bore it with something that was either quite patience or just plain exasperation. Looks like the lion hadn't forgotten her earlier encounter with an overly-curious canine.

Together, they made steady progress through the list. No wonder Trinity had suggested to start here. There weren't any hidden secrets that she could see, no special enemies that required weird trigger conditions to appear, no rare items that only dropped one time out of every hundred.

It was still a bit of work, though. As she was getting better control of her energy, she was feeling less exhausted from all the fighting. Combined with all the walking around the plains, she was beginning to feel a burn in her legs, just a little. But Ash wasn't at the 'keeling over from exhaustion' stage yet, so that was a plus! Looked like all the time she spent running around in game was doing wonders for her stamina!

...If only it carried over to real life... Shaking off that wistful thought, Ash marked another objective off her checklist. "Is that it for this part of Brisshal?" she asked her companions.

 

Ashiore's greetings left her with a smile as she hugged her fellow naturamancer without thinking. "It's been a while, huh Ash? Since the sheep incident, I think?"

With a bright grin, she was surprised to watch a stranger arrive. Based on Ash's reaction, this woman was someone she knew- and the discussion had made it clear they were going to be partners on this quest. "Um...I'm Harveste. I'm not good at much besides tending plants and acting as human bait, but...I promise to do my best with you today!"

Like Ash, she had an interest in the pups and was quick to play with them a bit, enjoying their conversational ease before the group began to work on their mission. The trek from one checkpoint to the next was long and tedious at best, but with friends, it felt much better. A few of her traps ad gotten loose, so at moments, she had to stop the monsters attacking her again- but despite being embarrassed, she was happy to show she'd gotten stronger.

At the next spot, Ashiore stopped and Harveste was quick to follow. "I think it should be...Can you show me the repertoire again?" She peeked at the list of objectives once more. "I feel like we're missing something..."

 

"Yup! The twins are Hati and Skoll. I figured they needed to get out and get used to my day-to-day... and Nathair is too lazy to keep up the pace for this quest so I left him behind to eat his fill of rats. And hopefully no players," she lifted her tone at the end to make it more of a joke. Though she was entirely certain the massive snake could easily eat a Faerin without too much trouble. The ranger lifted a brow curiously at the smaller of their group's mention of being useful as human bait and she couldn't quite stifle a small laugh at that. "Well, as a fairly skilled hunter I'll catch up any slack. No need to use your to bait my traps." The little bit of chatter between then wrapped up fairly quickly and off they went.

She was proud to note that the dogs had accepted some petting from @Harveste before they slunk away. They were still too new to people that didn't hit, that didn't hurt. The lion's disinterest towards them was enough to lessen their nerves and soon enough the canines were paying more attention to the world around them and combat than they were her companions. Improvement.

The plains went by quickly, content for lower leveled players and things they had all done enough of to breeze through fairly quickly. They marked off plants, drops, monsters, and locations efficiently with one always checking the list while others would occasionally scout around and call for the remaining two when something was found. It was easy going, but she was enjoying herself in the low stakes combat and scavenger hunt feel of it.

Finally they had made it back toward the traps Harveste had left behind and were quick to deal with the monsters still caught and those that had managed to free themselves. After that it was only a short amount of time before the other two women were huddled over @Ashiore Evretto's UI trying to piece out if that was everything on the list for the fields. "If we're done here then it's the coastline, woodlands, and the Beginner's Dungeon. I don't think I ever did run through it when I started." Gwyn brought up her own to scan it for a moment before action to her left caught her eye. Well, she wouldn't say they had missed them, but that was certainly on the list she remembered. Less location-based however and more a roaming event. Goblins. A metric fuck ton of the little runts for starters too. "Heads up! We got a raid coming!" The hunter shifted position and stance, readying a single arrow to fire out in a streak of color toward the charging monsters. A few seemed to even be riding boars with scavenged together saddles and reins.

As the arrow arched over their heads it suddenly split into many, raining down into a devastating volley. It seemed something more fitting of a castle's walls than a lone archer, but such was the way of the game. Gwyn whistled shrilly and the dogs bounded forward with savage barks and snarls to meet those that hadn't fallen under her arrows. It hadn't had a wide enough range to take out the whole horde, but it would do. A few upon being slain even tripped up others in the charge or the ridden boars. "Better gets some before the twins wipe them out," she called over to the other two cheerfully. They could only bite so many at a time after all, so Gwyn wasn't too concerned about them not getting in enough involvement to be counted as taking part and marking the event off their list.

And after that? Well, their dangerous, merry band of players would move on to the next region in Brisshal and clear it just the same.

 

As she and @Harveste put their heads together to look for what they were still missing. Wasn't the ingredients, and it wasn't the enemies killed... Brow furrowed, Ash continued scrolling through the list. And she would've continued to be very preoccupied with it if it wasn't for Gwyn's warning.

She looked up in time to see a single arrow split into dozens of smaller pieces, each deadly sharp and raining down above the incoming goblin horde. A whistle from @Gwyn ap Herne had the two dogs rushing into the fray before she could react.

Ash gave Naixi a nudge towards the battle and the lion needed no further encouragement to pounce in as well. But she and Harveste could hardly stand there and not do anything. Turning to the other girl, Ash smiled and said, "How about we work together on a distraction? We could tangle up the field to stop the goblins, and if we both do it at the same time I think we can get the whole field."

Regardless, Ash felt like she would be best suited for a more indirect approach to the fight. She started getting the spell ready, placing her hands on the ground and directing energy towards the grassy plain that the goblins were running on. The grass began growing at an accelerated pace, tangling up the feet of the charging goblins and boars. Not all of them were caught up in it, and some tore through, but many of the goblins were now sitting ducks waiting to be picked off either by Gwyn's arrows or the animal companions.

As the energy drained from her fingers, an alert reading [Event: Goblin War Band!] flashed at the corner of her vision. At the same time, the first part of Trinity's quest turned green, signaling that this was what they were missing.

 

'Goblin War Band' was a unique way to describe the event around them. It'd help their quest and experience, but these goblins were not going to make their lives easy! As she felt herself tremble slightly (her last run in with goblins had been quite a unique experience) she heard Ashiore's idea of how to stop them with their own power.

With a nod, she was quick to chant a spell. As the vines began to bloom around the field, she realized she wasn't sure if Gwyn was in on their little plot, and edged closer to Ashiore all the while "Um, Ash? Should we have told her beforehand? I mean, she's taking the brunt of the attack for us...And we can only do so much by trapping them."

Still, the plan was working. She could see a few of the offending warriors falling over the vines and plants. "It's working, Ash! That was a great idea!" Her worries began to melt away. But still, why was it a 'band'? There was no music, unless their war cries counted a bit.

Something struck a chord. A small part of her was beginning to grow more fearful again. "Even with this many...Something tells me there's a lot more coming."

 

As the other two were finally alerted the field of war shifted. Not having magic of her own, Gwyn didn't often see her skills complimented by spells cast. Either people were protecting themselves with ice or earth, laying waste to enemies from afar like her with fire or lightning, or they were healing her or others with supportive magics. To see the line of twisted earth and roots as the grass and magically grown vines burst forth was a welcome surprise. It cut the speed of the war band immensely and while many of them weren't entirely trapped, a fair few were cut off or tripped up. Gwyn could work with that. The dogs could work with that. The lion barreling down on them could also, in all likelihood, work with that.

A few more well placed arrows culled the numbers down around the three tames to keep them in decent health despite the numbers around them. It didn't drag aggro back to the ranger or her two supports, but it would help how long their tames could take the heat. It helped that even with the higher level event, this was still well lower than Gwyn. They could handle it. Hati and Skoll bite into the limbs and torsos of the goblins, leaving the boar mounts for the lion. They both howled in the blooded rage Hadrian had taught them, but the skill was useful in keeping aggro on them. Even one of the boars turned to attack them despite the lion in close proximity.

Gwyn kept her distance, eyes scanning the battlefield and watching the progress of the movement through the trees. Two blue eyes turned an unnatural pure white as she activated Investigation Mode to better ready herself for the fight coming. With the added notifications and details her Hunting mastery offered? She was ready before the two broke the treeline. What had sounded like the distant roar of another party their size or larger was instead two goblin war chiefs mounted on dire boars. Tuskarr to be precise. A shame really. The archer hummed lowly to herself in idle thought, almost bored. Her bounty hunt for Tuskarr had gone masterfully and after all that time fighting them she didn't even need the advanced UI to tell her their weaknesses. She dropped the skill with a blink. Those two would be a potentially deadly encounter for newer players or unattended support, but against them? Gwyn would make sure they were nothing.

She readied a Precision Shot while the dogs finished the rest of the goblins. Gwyn released the bolt and sent it flying, the shape of the arrowhead having shifted for the ability to take on a longer and thinner form for speed and accuracy. The critical hit sunk through the right eye of the leftmost Tuskarr mount almost all the way to the fletching. It went down hard and crushed the war chief beneath it.

She straightened and turned a curious eye toward @Ashiore Evretto before looking back to the tamed lioness. She wondered just what the beast was capable of after all and at this point she didn't want to risk firing down the remaining enemy when the other was half in her line of sight. If the big cat needed help at all, the twins would jump in. With the dogs finishing up the last of the trapped goblins, one of the war band's leaders dead under his ride, and the left one left charging toward the other woman's tame? This particular event was about to be summed up quickly.

"I wouldn't worry too much, @Harveste. I promise not a single one of them is getting up this hill. Since we're already at the treeline though, once the last ones are dead I say we grab any loot for the list down there and then head into the forest. Then we can circle around to the coast and head back up it to get back to Stokbon. After that it's just a quick jog through to the back of the Beginner's Dungeon."

 

Ash let out a quiet sigh of relief that the plan looked to be working. With @Harveste's own talent at Naturamancy, the entanglement spell was no problem at all. Going up against this many enemies wasn't anything she had ever done before, even with a few people by her side. The dogs, Naixi, and @Gwyn ap Herne were really making use of the goblins' limited mobility and even with the unwelcome addition of two more heavily-armored goblins riding even larger boars, things were coming to a close.

From what Ash had researched about lions, they generally hunted in groups, but Naixi had adapted well to fighting on her own. She made use of her relatively larger size to bring down the struggling boars with a powerful leap, and then bit down on their necks with her powerful jaws.

But now came the challenge of a beast who was about her size, commandeered by one of the higher-ranked goblins. It would be a tough fight, but Ash tried to even the odds a bit. She hadn't had much prior success with growing vines and also controlling them to grasp on specifically what she wanted, but she was growing better with her magic. With that thought, she chanted another quick incantation and a vine burst from the ground. Moving her hand like she was controlling it, Ash wrapped the vine around the rider's ankle and yanked it off the charging boar, sending the goblin crashing into the ground near the vicinity of Hati and Skoll.

The boar's head jerked as its reins were yanked to the side, and Naixi took advantage of that momentary surprise. All it took was a quick scuffle until the boar was no more, and it looked like the last of the goblins were already down as well. The battlefield was littered with loot drops outlined in a slight glow, a reward for their efforts.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Ash looked over her companions. Didn't look like Harveste or Gwyn suffered a single scratch. The dogs and Naixi were lightly wounded, but it didn't appear serious. She and Harveste could probably patch them up soon.

"Good plan. We don't want to spend too much time retracing our steps. I don't think we're missing that many items, so this should be quick."

 

It was easy enough for Harveste to agree on picking up loot- in fact, that was the one thing she was good at! A bit of a hoarder and becoming better with her rogue skills, she was quick to pick up anything dropped by the killed monsters, or even just the ones that tripped on vines near her. "I think I got most of what we need right here!"

She held up a rather large load of loot, a pile bigger than her head most likely. Some of it wasn't what they needed, however- it was just stuff she liked and found. "What's the beginner dungeon like, anyway? I haven't actually gone in. I spend a lot of time here in the forests and some of the towns, but..."

A bit timidly, she kicked at the ground and found an interesting shaped rock, stuffing it in her inventory because it was 'cute' and she wanted to write about it later. She seemed to be adjusting her thoughts back and forth quickly, the anxiety of the dungeon seemingly strong.

"Just to be sure...There's no ghosts or angels or anything right?" Her legs shook as she spoke, tears at her eyes. "Dungeons are often full of religion...I'm scared just thinking about it. Can I hold someone's hand in there?" Looking to @Ashiore Evretto and @Gwyn ap Herne, she trembled. "I-I'm sorry, I must sound strange, but I..." She trailed off, ashamed of her own fear.

 

Hati and Skoll did their work well and they did it quick. @Ashiore Evretto's impressive lioness seemed to fearlessly grapple with the boar the same she would any ungulate that crossed her kind's path. The rider lasted only moments as soon as its weapon knocked into Hati's haunch as it well. She didn't feel the low simmer of fury from a new wound so she figured it was more of a startling touch than a harmful one. Hard to attack when one was falling off their charging mount at a break neck pace. The war chief was armored, but the jaws of such a massive breed of dog cracked through the ramshackle armor the goblins used and punctured something vital. The blood ran and the dogs seemed all the more excited for each and every drop. It came to the point that Gwyn wasn't sure if Hadrian had beat blood lust into them or if it was a given status of their species in the game.

The tames made mince meat of what was left and Gwyn started down the hill with the other two to fetch the loot. @Harveste made quicker work than the dogs on the goblins and she gratefully accepted her portion of the haul long enough to check it off. "A lot of this won't do much for me if you two need any. For use or for selling," she offered and handed over what of the various materials and low tier armors or weapons the goblins had had on them. She let the dogs eat their fill of the boars as the players took the moment to speak and catch their breath. Gwyn quirked an eyebrow up as Harveste spoke nervously about the Beginner Dungeon and would have been tempted to laugh had she not previously grappled with her own odd fear from the game. "No, no, it's fine, Smalls. Before I visited the temple ruins just... unsettled me. Made my skin crawl. It was arguably really fucking awful, but that's gone now. So you don't sound strange, the game has a weird effect on people sometime." She lifted a hand to scratch nervously at the back of her neck before she shook herself away from the line of thought and focused on the real issue here. The dungeon.

"From what I've heard, no. It's just a small cave system with things like bats and slimes. No religious nothing." The archer hoped that'd be enough to soothe her fears, but fear wasn't always logical. Phobias had a nasty habit of digging their claws deep into brain matter and twisting into all sorts of knots of convoluted logic. The human brain was a weird cluster fuck as is, it really didn't need the extra help.

With that settled, and Ashiore's agreement, the woods awaited. They were already on the treeline from catching up to where the war band had charged through and where she had been content to linger behind the Naturamancers previously? Now this was her turf. The hunter was pleased to take point, eyes flaring up the unnatural white once more of her Investigation Mode as she led them into the shadows of the towering trees. They had a connection to nature, yes. Of that she could not argue and though she was a true ranger, druids were closer. Regardless of their power level, the wilds could answer them in a way they would never answer Gwyn. That did not hold true for beasts.

She brought up the list as she stealthed through the underbrush, her blackened longbow at the ready, and scanned it quickly. There weren't as many creatures in the forests and instead far more items. "I'll leave you two to harvest herbs and such if you want. There are a lot here, including a rare mushroom that grows on trees. If you two want to handle that, I'll go set a few traps and kite enemies on the list into them. Once they trigger, we can all take them on in a good old daisy chain of death. Sorry if I'm stealing your flawless method though, Harveste, but imitation is the best form of flattery and all that," she joked good-naturedly with a wink. Gwyn didn't have vine traps, but she had ones with teeth. Awful, metal teeth.

 

Ash hadn't ever heard of the Beginner Cave before but what @Gwyn ap Herne said sounded right. She smiled to try and reassure @Harveste. "Yeah! Really, don't worry about it," she added, when Harveste seemed embarrassed of her fear. "Did it happen after you died? Because I've got one of those things right now too, and it's not that fun. It makes me want to step on small th- ow!"

Well speak of the devil. A sharp pain in her foot made her look down to see that she had subconsciously started stepping on a few of the looted trinkets that none of them had wanted to pick up. This one like some sort of belt buckle. It could've been worse. Could've been the broken glass vial. The moment she spotted that one on the ground she resolutely stared up ahead at the forest beyond their group, even though that tempting, tantalizing glass called to her. Specifically, to her feet.

It was a relief when they agreed to head deeper into the forest and away from any potentially sharp and rusty objects. She was still compelled to step on every single pebble along the way, but at least none of them were pointy. Checking her list at the corner of her vision, Ash noticed the same thing Gwyn did. Looks like Investigation Mode would be seeing a lot of use here.

She nodded as Gwyn set to work preparing the traps for the forest creatures, and then turned to Harveste. "How about we split up a bit? Let's not goo too far, but we can get through this list faster if we're searching different parts of the forest."

 

As Ashiore asked how she got the fear while she was being carefully comforted by Gwyn. "Yeah...I died in a chapel." The word itself triggered her into a fit of shakes and trembles, eyes watering slightly. "I'm not like this offline...As much. But...It even haunts me there. I have to work hard to get rid of it soon, so I can actually get more out of life. Like looking at some of the ruins for story ideas."

In the end, though, she'd be happy to take on the role Gwyn offered. There were three of them, but only two really working on the harvest- a word that naturally made the girl giggle over her own name. Glancing at her partner in this part of the quest, she began to ponder the best strategy for their mission.

"I know the side of the forest near the shore better than the opposite, so should I take that side? I'm fine with either, really, but splitting up to at least a small degree is probably the best way to go." She then giggled as she saw Gwyn's traps, smiling brighter towards her in the end. "It's fine! Like you said, I should be flattered. In fact, we both should, right Ash?"

 

Hearing about @Ashiore Evretto's odd death affliction sure was an experience and the hunter watched with a raised eyebrow as her feet apparently gave into the impulse. The poor girl looked rather bothered by the whole thing. It could have been much worse, at least. Not that that was a good response to anything. There was that whole "your broken leg doesn't make my broken ankle feel any better" kind of view. Ever if people like Gwyn or @Harveste got phobias instead of strange quirks, it was still something imposed upon Ashiore that she had no control over. That loss of control was easily far more terrifying a thought than the fear of ruins had been. That one was natural. It was all her, haunting her hobbled steps in the real world. Thankfully her return to her good health from before the fall in the game and the ability to heal and pop back up if she did die helped. Not that Gwyn feared death. Sabine didn't either. There were many things worse than death and she'd rather be trapped in a coffin than trapped in her bed or in her mind.

Gwyn shook herself from the wandering thoughts to catch the tailend of talking of flattery. What had they- oh! The traps, right. She gave them a nervous smile and reached up to card her hands through her hair for a moment to give them something to do. "Sounds like a plan. You Naturamancers do some tree whispering and find those rare shrooms and such. I'll go spook or lure some critters around town. I'll have the dogs bay for you guys when I finish. Just follow the howls." With that she saluted playfully and took off.

Hati and Skoll were quick on her heels as the trio vanished between the tall trunks and set out on the hunt. She contended herself scanning the forest floor as the two canines spread to either flank, noses snuffling for a trail to follow. Hati found the first, tensing up and making a low boof of a noise to catch her attention. It was, from the tracks, nothing but a fox. She'd thought it a coyote for a glance, but the gait was off and the paw prints weren't bunched together like a feral dog or coyote's would be. They moved on, Hati whining lowly until she scratched soothingly behind a folded ear. War dogs? Yes. Hunting hounds? No. She was glad for the help all the same.

Soon she had traps left on gametrails and Hati had finally come through with a good trail. Skoll had helped in grappling with their found quarry: An incredibly irate Owlbear. Gwyn wouldn't have been happy to face the creature down back when she was properly leveled for the zone, but now it was little challenge for the twins to act as harriers while she set up combination Bear Trap and Barbed Trap. When she whistled for the dogs to return to her side, the Owlbear charged. A few steps back and she was perfectly safe to watch as it blundered straight into the gnarled teeth of the trap and triggered the barbed net to spring up and wrap around it. It was packed with powerful muscles, but not powerful enough.

Distant sounds clued her into traps being set off, the bait luring in two Dire Wolves and a Warg leading them, as well as a large stag. She had also spotted a strange birdlike creature swoop above the canopy, but it had vanished as soon as she saw it. There was nothing on her list that sounded like a flying creature so she figured that was a dead end. The will-o-wisp, however, was. How the fuck was she going to catch that? The rest of their prey was ready and lined up for the other two, however, so she gave the signal to let the two dogs set to bawling their heads off as they pleased. Whatever dogs found in making such a racket, she wasn't sure. She was glad to see them enjoying it at least.

[ OOC: Sorry I'm so late! I forgot this existed insert a good excuse here. ]​