Okay! Basic biology review (never mind that there was a reason Ashiore wasn't majoring in biology): animals eat other animals! So when Animal A isn't around anymore, there's nothing to eat Animal B. And then animals do as they are wont to, and a lot of multiplication happens. Put into practice, a number of larger carnivores had died off due to a plague in Brisshal's forests. And so the local farmers were ranting and raving about the routine boar invasions into their farmlands. Apparently buoyed by their sudden lack of predators, the boars had been getting very rowdy. While she was heading to the farm to get a quick briefing on what had happened, she had seen the domesticated cows and sheep with wounds from where the boars had presumably gored them, and ravaged fields of trampled corn and melons. This was only one of the farms that was affected, so it was no wonder that the farmers had put out a request for quite a few people to drop by. She met up with quite a few people who, as she found out quite happily, were also here about the same request. @Cain Darlite and @Stelluna she had worked with before. But @Amalia Leblanc quite a new face. Hopefully they'd work well together! And hopefully they didn't have a problem with Naixi, her lioness who was tagging along. They gathered at the farmhouse where the family who had put out the request were waiting. The woman, a large and muscled middle-aged lady, looked rather relieved to see them. "Great, you're here! Boars come in from the woods to the east. Just, do what you can to get rid of them. We won't have any crops to harvest when the season turns if this keeps up." A younger man who looked like their son scoffed. "I don't care what you do with them, so long as they don't come back. Hell, just kill 'em all. We can eat bacon all fall long since we don't got any more food left." The man chimed in, "I'd appreciate some help around the farm too. The boars bashed down all our fences, and some of our horses got out of the paddock. If you could round 'em up or help fix the gates, that'd be a great help too." So, looked like there were two parts to this job. Taking care of the boars, or helping out around the farm with repairs and guiding the animals back. "Maybe we could divide up the tasks? I don't mind doing either, but I think I might have more luck with the loose animals instead of, uh, killing. It's up to you guys, of course."
The farm was ravaged. Just add a few dying screams and maybe a burnt down house or two and you had the picture perfect scene of the aftermath of a bandit raid. Fortunately for the farmers, it wasn't a bandit raid that had caused the destruction. Unfortunately for the farmers, it was a bunch of wild boars. And wild boars were vicious things when riled up. She'd seen quite a few people gored upon the tusks of a boar, overconfident in their ability to take on 'just a wild beast.' Well, she certainly wasn't suited to do menial farm labor or gather up lost animals. She would likely break more things than she would fix or scare off the animals. Hunting down the boar seemed like a much better option for her expertise. Her Pyromancy was not likely to be used however, unless she fancied burning everything down. While effective, it would be somewhat counterproductive to the goal for helping the farmers. Well, it would technically help them by precooking the boar but she reckoned that the farmers would rather cook a boar than lose their homes. Fending off wild animals was part of her old job and having a spear would make it much easier. Killing a whole bunch of boars wasn't a major problem for her, but hauling back the bodies would be unless she got some help. If the boar dens were packed enough, she could probably smoke them out. The forest wouldn't even be in danger if she set it up correctly. "I'll be hunting down the boar. Anyone coming with?"
A plague in the forests of Brisshal, potent enough to critically endanger the populations of bears and wolves? What the hell was Fletcher doing about all this? A flash of irritation crossed Cain’s expression as he recalled that unpleasant druid’s propensity for being a disappointment as a human being and as a protector of the forest, before he recalled that nameless Faerin child as well, whose family was more or less all the animals within the forest. He’d have to check up on her, huh? See how she was doing, if her pack had managed to escape the terrors of the plague. Those were thoughts for another time though, as the muse stepped up towards Farmer Bill’s homestead. Smiling at the familiar faces, Cain waved at them. “It appears the fates have brought me to your doorstep once more, Farmer Bill,” he spoke, grinning, “A shame I wasn’t able to make it over to your Autumnal Feast, but were the turkeys succulent?” “Oh, Cain,” the gaunt man’s eyes lit up, “The feast went wonderfully. I suppose you’ll be bringing the same amount of effort this time?” “Naturally. I wouldn’t be the Double-Blessed Flagbearer of Miracles if I couldn’t make small miracles like that, hm?” The muse winked before rolling up his sleeves as the mission was explained in full. To recover the horses that had gone missing during the attack on the farm, as well as to cull the large population of boar that had erupted after the plague. With Ashiore, the reliable beast tamer that had been such a boon during the Brisshal Gold Rush incident, and Amalia, the songstress that had been so quick to gather information and all that, it was looking like another group capable of getting things done. Combine that with an Yladian adventurer who WASN’T a player, confidently wielding her polearm and having no qualms with getting her hands dirty in the boar hunt, and Cain could comfortably say that this was going to go all sorts of well. “One boar only?” the muse said, grinning, “With the combat skills that you undoubtedly have, and the words of power residing with my heart, I’m confident that we’ll be able to slay more than just a single wild swine in our hunt through the woods.” A higher goal must always be set, after all, if one planned on reaching for the stars. “I’m Cain Darlite, Flagbearer of Miracles, The Scourge of Swine, and the Bringer of Bacon. How may I address you, Flame-Haired Lancer?”
Well, looked like they were decided. It was probably a good thing that @Stelluna and @Cain Darlite were willing to take care of the boars. She smiled at the farmers. "Okay, we're settled! I'll be helping you around the farm while the others deal with the boars in the woods." As they were about to part to get to their respective tasks, Ashiore felt a big warm mass pressing insistently against her legs. Oh, yup, that was Naixi. Puppy dog eyes were apparently not exclusive to children and actual puppies. It felt weird seeing an actual grown lion trying to pull that on her, but here was living proof that apparently lions were not immune to also being little babies. "Oh, all right. Go on and hunt with them," she said, nudging Naixi back towards Cain and Stelluna. "Just make sure to find them when you're done, and uh..." Hmm, she already knew that Naixi could follow directions even when apart from her, but... Nah, maybe not. Not that she didn't trust the other two, but she didn't feel quite comfortable letting one or both of them the ability to command Naixi at their will. "Uh, just make sure to watch after them and stay out of too much trouble." Now alone with the farmers, Ashiore set off towards the fields. Farmer Bill said that he'd handle most of the major repairs on the fences surrounding the crops, and he'd leave wrangling the horses to her. "They're not violent, but they get real anxious if you go up to 'em," he warned, getting a set of tools out to start working on repairing the fence. "Haven't figured out how to corral 'em back yet. We got the paddock mostly fixed so if you can get 'em back in, we shouldn't have any more problems." "Leave it to me," Ash reassured him. "I think I've got an idea." Time to test it out again! Her trial run of her Possession spell hadn't gone very well, but this was kind of a do or die situation! ...A bit hyperbolic, but this had actual stakes. She eyed the herd of horses, wondering who would be the best target. Did horses have group leaders? 'Alphas'? Hmm. Well, there was one horse who looked to be at the front of the group merrily trotting about the fields, so... Concentrating, Ash murmured the incantation under her breath. Possession
Stelluna wasn't very thrilled on the idea of going with Naixi to hunt boar. While she trusted Ashiore with her life, she couldn't say the same for her lion. Nothing against it, it was quite fierce and brave but... it was still an animal. It also seemed like Cain would be going with her, she didn't really have any strong impressions on the man but doubted he could sabotage the operation to any meaningful degree even if he turned out to be completely inept at the job. Just killing the boar wouldn't do however, they would need to provide incentive to not ever visit the farm. She figured smoking out the boar could do the trick, if they were careful to not set fire to everything else. She turned to Cain, he didn't really seem like the hunting sort but it was always safer to ask, "If you don't want to head back to the farm and help around, I'm planning on smoking the boars out. Unless you have a better idea you're willing to share." She would have to make sure none of the boars got lit on fire, or if they did, they didn't just run into wherever and destroy everything. That's probably where her spear, speed and Naixi would come in although she wasn't sure if Naixi would really cooperate with the plan. Animals were fickle like that, so were most people but that was besides the point. While she wasn't very attached to the lion, she hoped it wasn't the sort to go traipsing through a fire. Because not only would it be dead, she was pretty sure everyone else would be if a forest fire started.
“Ooh, Naixi,” Cain cooed, affectionately smoothing the tufts on the tiger pet’s crown, “With you here, our boat-hunting power has just increased hundredfold!” Though riding the lion hadn’t been all that pleasant, the combat prowess of the beast was not to be questioned, especially considering how it had kept pace with Eldhi’s own blade waltz during both the fight with the bandits and thugs, as well as against those vicious, creepy, basically pretty disgusting giant spiders. If these were merely boars, wild animals that had not been corrupted by some malevolent force, then it was clear to Cain that there was no need for any more firepower, nor a need to worry about this boar hunt. Between the spear of Stelluna, his own words of power, and Naixi’s predatory instinct, they had this mission in the bag. With a cheery salute to Ashiore, the muse, the lancer, and the beast went on their merry way towards the tree line, no doubt on their way to complete yet another easy miss- “I'm planning on smoking the boars out.” Cain stopped mid-step, blinking. What? Smoking out the boar population of this forest with…fire? Sepia scenes of flames and blood flickered in his mind, flashbacks of the fight with the forest troll and the misuse of nature’s primordial destroyer causing another three days of combating the blazing pyre. This…wasn’t the greatest decision, was it? But on the other hand, it was very true that boars didn’t roam in packs, and expecting to kill off a sizable fraction of the population wasn’t possible unless a large amount of time was invested into it. So… “I can understand your reasons behind it,” the muse said, nodding, “What’s the plan here though? You intend on smoking out these explosively reproducing beasts, but how far out do you plan on casting your net, Knight Stelluna? Too shallow of a controlled flame would mean that the boars will just run off deeper into the forests, to return once the flames have subsided. What I’d recommend, then, is bait, something to convince a large number of these boars to come in close, before you start the burn.” What that bait would be, however, was the question here.
One blink, and Ashiore was standing in her own body. The next: she was opening her eyes to a... whoa... Being a horse was weird! Eyes near the sides of her borrowed equine face gave her a far wider range of view, which was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the differences between being a person and being a horse. Fortunately, the horse she had taken over was standing still, and so she didn't have to suffer the indignity of tripping over nothing and going sprawling across the ground due to suddenly not knowing how her legs worked. Well, better get to this quickly. She only had a few minutes in this form. Ash tried not to think of things too deeply because then she'd start realizing that she didn't actually know how to walk or run or do anything as a horse. Better to just let this body's natural instincts take over and she'd just focus on making the best of her Animal Empathy link. It was muffled in this form. But Ash felt like she had a handle on things. The horses around her radiated a faint sense of contentment, vague curiosity, but not much else. Didn't seem as though they would be too opposed to her urging them back into the paddock. Trotting on over, Ash let out a whinny which hopefully translated to something like, 'Hey guys, let's go back!' and then started walking over to the repaired paddock. Some horses followed after her, though there were a fair few that stayed back in the fields. Huh, that was so weird to be able to see nearly right behind her without even turning her head. But, well, anyway, horses were herd animals. Upon seeing a bunch of them moving towards the paddocks, it didn't take much longer before the rest of the herd was trailing behind them. And not a moment too soon! Just as she found a nice place to settle near a rear corner of the fenced in area, she felt a familiar sensation at her... temples? Did that correspond to horse anatomy? Well, regardless, Ashiore let out a huff and felt consciousness rocket back to her own body. Oof. Now being back in her body felt both wrong and better at the same time. Oh boy. Well, at least the horse problem was dealt with. Briefly wondering how @Cain Darlite, @Stelluna, and Naixi were doing, Ash wandered over to where Farmer Bill was working, ready to assist with other repairs around the farm.
Knight Stelluna? Well, he was certainly mistaken. Titles were something Stelluna disliked, she would rather have her legacy attached to her name rather than a title. And 'knight' implied that she had sworn fealty to someone, which she was rather sure she hadn't. Cain also seemed to have misinterpreted the plan a bit, assuming she meant to set fire to the boars. Which was not a good idea. What she planned was much different. They would run the boars from their shelters using smoke and kill a few of them. They would associate the area near the farm with fire, hunting parties and hopefully a natural predator. The last part really depended on Naixi. "First off, I hold no titles. Second, smoking out is to drive them from their shelters rather than kill them. Slaughtering all of them would take years. Driving them from the current region will not. And if any of the boar caught fire and managed to escape, there would be no farm or forest left." She gave a glance to the lion following them and they shared a look. Although she couldn't really speak with animals, this was different. The look said a lot in very little. Stay out of my business, and we'll stay out of yours. With that out of the way, she turned to Cain. "If you have a better idea on how to draw them out, I would be all ears. The key in my plan is the smoke, not the fire."
Oh, dead serious, was she? It stood to reason that a person who belonged to this ‘world’ was less enthused about Cain’s antics than a fellow player, and the muse made a quick personal note that it was just ‘Stelluna’ going forward. So, the idea was to smoke them out, to associate the idea of this particular region with ‘fire’, was it? And to kill a few in the process as well, give them a reason or two for not coming back either. Though a part of Cain wondered if it would be that easy to do so, if it was so easy to just chase the boars out with some smoke, there also wasn’t any other way of getting a quick solution, was there? Predator-prey relationships were inversely proportional. With an abundance of prey to get fat off, the population of wolves and bears would eventually recover, but that would take a generation or two. Genociding the boars now would limit the ability for the predator populations to recover from the plague, and ultimately, with no particularly solid ideas for the short-term problem, Cain nodded. “I thank you for the clarification,” the muse said, “And I’m willing to help further your plan. If the intention isn’t to hunt, my magic won’t be nearly as effective here, but I have a general understanding of how smoke is created, and Naixi will no doubt be a boon in hunting down dens.” Yeah, they really should have hashed out all these plans before setting out dramatically. “Shall we commence the quest properly, Stelluna?”
Horses, done. She didn't know much about masonry or carpentry so she wouldn't be of much help in repairing the fences around the fields, or fixing up damage to the barns and silos. She also technically didn't know much about agriculture either, but she figured that with nature powers, it was more likely that she could stumble into being helpful if she was dealing with the crops. Right now she was mostly paying attention to the farmhands who were going about uprooting crops that couldn't be salvaged, listening to their explanations on how to determine if crops were still useful or not. There was a lot of field to cover so they were helpful for all the help that she could get. This was a sort of manual labor that Ashiore wasn't used to, so she was sweating before long, especially in the heat of summer. The work gave her a lot of time to think as well. This stuff was important, tending to fields, growing and harvesting crops, raising livestock. Maybe she should take the chance to learn more about it... Hm. It was something to keep in mind, at any rate. Meanwhile... Aah. Her human was usually quite good about giving Naixi time to go out and hunt, but lately she had been distracted by other things. Oh well, it was no matter. Naixi ate enough to keep herself going, and she always made up for it the next hunting time. And oh, she was going to feast today. She knew the smell and taste of boar. They were not common in the grassy fields she had grown up in, but her pride had caught the occasional boar or two when she was still young. It would be good to have it again. Sniffing at the ground, she picked up a scent. Rather light, but it seemed to grow stronger off towards the forest depths. Now, as for the two other humans she was stuck with... She knew both of them. They were adequate companions for the time being. They could hunt together. Hmm. The red one had a lot of sharp things about her, and some hard armor covering her body. Therefore, it was better to go to the other one for attention. Naixi walked over to the riding one and shoved herself against him. Not enough that he would fall over (though that would be amusing) but definitely enough to ensure that she was paid attention to. Once she was sure that she was being acknowledged, she let out a growl and began following the trail. It was time to hunt. @Cain Darlite @Stelluna
At Cain's question, Stelluna responded, "Yes, it is time. Don't worry about starting the fire, I have that covered. When we get to the boar's dens, we should start setting it up so a little spark doesn't burn everything down. The boar shouldn't bother us if we aren't too close." The only thing now was to go towards the dens. Luckily, she had a vague direction and was almost certain that she would hear the place before she could see it. The forest's thick foliage ensured that it would be almost impossible to navigate purely with vision. Luckily she could hear the faint boar noises up ahead, and Naixi seemed to have found a trail, which was good. Further investigation lead to a clearing, while there were a few boar wandering, the majority of boars were conveniently asleep or nestled in the dens. Perfect. A large, immediate problem was the fact that grass covered the entire place, they would need to dig up or otherwise stop a fire from spreading too far if something happened. Turning to Cain, she said, "This is the place. I'll start digging up around the outskirts so the fire doesn't burn everything down in case something goes wrong. We'll need something better to make the smoke, see if you can find something that fits."
As Cain nodded and pretended that he had a full idea of what was going on, a fuzzy bump against his back caused him to stumble slightly, a few steps taken in a hurry to stabilize himself. Ah, the lioness was getting antsy, wasn’t she? Drawing his hand across Naixi’s muscled back as she turned and headed off, the muse looked at Stelluna, nodded, and followed along. With the lioness leading the way, the lancer standing beside the golden beast, and himself in the rear, the trio went unbothered through the forest, following animal trails and the like. While others kept their eyes on the ground, scanning for tracks and poop and tufts of bristly fur, Cain’s dark eyes tracked the canopy instead. Between Naixi’s aptitude for hunting and Stelluna’s implications of being an expert Firestarter, it was clear that his own job here was to collect fuel that would smoke up. Young pine branches were ideal, their lustre a healthy spring green even during dry summers. And so, as they continued their trek through the foliage, arcane magic occasionally burst outwards, slicing through evergreen branches laden with soft, young needles. By the time the trio made it to the clearing, there was quite a collection of branches wrapped up in Cain’s arms. Boars were populous here, in groups that featured their budding piglets (boarlets?), and the very fact that they were even hanging around in this clearing made it obvious that they had lost their fear of predators. The dry grass did pose a large problem though, the tinder easy to light once the flames got hotter. “Already ahead of you,” Cain said, with a hint of pride as he brandished his collection, “These hold water better than coniferous plants. Should be easy enough to light up the bark, but the moisture inside would cause white smoke. Could set up two fireplaces with these and flame the smoke over in the direction of the boars.” The muse thought for a bit, before nodding once more. “If you’re digging up pits, we could use the loose dirt to extinguish the flames later, if you have some sort of container, Kn- Stelluna?”
Ashiore was happily working on the fields and uprooting the worst of the trampled crops. After a bit of awkwardness as she fiddled about wondering how 'damaged' was too damaged, but she had settled into a pretty good rhythm after the first row of corn. It was rather quiet, all things considered, but the silence was palatable. She would have preferred conversation, but this was calming in its own way. And of course, this tranquility had to be broken by a loud panicked shout of, "BOAR!" and the very loud sound of splintering wood. Ash whipped her head around, barely able to see over the tops of the corn rows. That sounded like it came from the direction of the barn. Dropping what she was doing, she dashed out of the corn field and headed straight for the source of the commotion. There was no time to waste if a boar had emerged from the forest and was rampaging about. Meanwhile... Naixi had no idea what the two humans were doing. She had waited to the side, quite patiently she had thought, for them to finish up whatever ritual or preparations they needed before embarking on the hunt. But it appeared that once the riding one had gathered his branches, he had no intention of getting into formation with her. The humans had no claws of their own. She knew this to be true of her own human. Their inadequacies could be forgiven. As it seemed that they were not of a mind to join her in the stalking, she left them be. There was nothing in this forest that could harm them, aside from her. And so, it wouldn't be disobeying orders if she were to leave for a quick meal. Slinking into the bushes alone, Naixi left the side of the two humans and circled around the clearing, keeping her eyes on the boars. Most of the small and young ones were to the center, surrounded by larger boars. She was patient (though her human would beg to disagree). She could wait for her opening. @Cain Darlite @Stelluna
A container? Well, Stelluna had a spare bag or two she wasn't using. The idea of filling them up with dirt wasn't very appealing but it would help to stop the fire from getting too out of hand if necessary. She tossed him on of the bags then started going to work digging. Daylight was burning and there was a lot of work to be done, and they had to do it quick if they wanted it to be done within the day. "I have these." Clearing space, digging pits, filling them with fuel... It wasn't a very hard job but it was fairly tedious. In the middle of the second fire pit being dug, she spied Naixi creeping around. Hopefully the lioness would wait a bit before diving into the buffet. And not end up diving into the flames as well. After finishing up the last fire pit, she stood up to her full height. It was time to finally begin. It would be best for both of the fires to start at once so she asked Cain to gather a bunch of leaves in his hands. If he accepted, she would get ready to sprint to the other fire pit then set the leaves on his hand afire before repeating the feat on the other end. If he didn't accept, she would start off the fire over here then get over to the other end as quick as she could before doing the same. The result would be practically the same but there was something right about flames starting simultaneously.
The plan: Give the boars so much PTSD that they’ll never come to this area again. The method: Use smoke to create the image of a great blaze and scare them off. The current situation: Lots of sweat and lots of bags. While Stelluna worked on digging, Cain filled the bags with the upturned dirt, his pianists’ hands becoming dirtied as the sun baked them overhead. It was hard work, but, just like when he was down in Crystallized Zalra or digging for magical crystals in this very forest, the Muse found his rhythm eventually, a rise and fall that caused his legs to spring up and down as he brought dirt from one place to the other. As the flame-haired lancer moved onto the next hole, Cain filled up the trench with half the amount of branches he had collected while on their way, as if filling up a cone of ice cream. The pine needles blossomed upwards, while the snapped ends of the branches were stabbed into the earth. After a good half hour worth of work, they had two fire pits, two handfuls of dry leaves, and a Naixi that looked like she was on the cusp of pouncing a baby boar out of boredom. Doing his best to resist the urge to throw his smouldering bundle of leaves away, the muse pressed it into the bottom of the fire pit. Breathing in deeply, he blew more and more air into the bottom of the pit, before the flames caught on, and the pungent odor of roasting pine needles rose upwards. White smoke emerged from the moist branches, prompting Cain to take a step back. Behind the veil of smoke, the boars squealed, but this alone wasn’t enough trauma. No, if they were going to give the boars a true nightmare… His eyes twinkled as he turned towards Naixi, a toothy grin emerging, before magic filled his lungs and he roared out in an imitation of the most beautiful and most terrifying lioness he knew. Propelled by the magically augmented force of his roar, the smoke was blown forwards, a thick, hot, pungent fog descending upon the unfortunate wild pigs. They won’t be turned into bacon today, but they would definitely remember this. “RAWWWRR! GAOOOOO! WAAAGGGGGH!!” More semi-incomprehensible screams left Cain’s mouth as he did his best impression of a terrifying smoke demon, arriving amidst the nightmare fog and aided by the golden lioness of Ashiore. Work was boring, after all, so he had to do his best to make it fun anyways! Retrospectively, this might convince Stelluna that he was a total fucking idiot, wouldn't it?
