Complete - Hunter or Hunted?

Rodger did not know how long he was stalking that rabbit, one minute he was lining up a shot to take it down, and the next it was scurrying away, spooked by some invisible force. OK, well maybe a few of those times he'd actually scared it himself while trying to ready his bow, mumbling curses all the while. And then there was that other time where he accidentally snapped a twig as he was inching forward, causing it to bolt. To be honest, he didn't even know if this was the same rabbit that started this whole thing, but what he did know was that he wasn't going to screw this up again.

The rabbit-erm a rabbit, was sitting in the clearing munching on some type of vegetable while Rodger watched from a few yards away, hidden behind a tree. His bow was in hand, arrow notched as he slowly slid from behind the tree. He raised his weapon, arrow on the tiny bunny frame as he pulled his arm back to fire. He felt the invisible hand of the system guide him into position before locking into place. Just as his fingers twitched to release the arrow, a grey blur lunged into the clearing right onto the rabbit. Surprised, he let the arrow fly. A yelp of pain echoed afterwards.

Rodger walked into the clearing, curious as to what he hit. When he arrived, he found the rabbit he'd been aiming at still on the grass, eyes glazed over in death. It all looked so real. Next to it, was a whimpering dog of some kind, not full grown but likely in adolescence. The hound had his arrow lodged in its back hip area, a small trail of blood running down the leg. Rodger couldn't help but wonder what kind of wild dog would be loose in the woods. His unasked question was answered when it let loose a weak howl, a feat that caused Rodger's throat to dry instantly. This was no dog, but a wolf. And while Rodger thought lone wolves were cool and mystical, he knew that in nature wolves usually traveled in packs.

With no regard for the free kill, Rodger turned and bolted back towards the road, no longer caring how loud his movements were, 'Ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap!!!' He hoped that the town of Honeywhatever wasn't too far because he had a feeling that he was going to need some help. A few moments later he heard another howl, followed by another and then several more. He tried to urge his legs to run harder, not sure how long it would take the beasts to find and track his scent.

 

Emerath had gotten lost somewhere. It was really that simple. One moment he's being stalked by a chicken while looking for a farmer, and the next he's lost in the woods. Again. You would've thought that finding things would have been easier considering the very obvious pathways leading around, and signs, and... whatever. Emerath just had to accept that directions weren't his strong suit and he had ended up following the path the wrong way.

Upon this thought, he was about to turn around when he heard loud footsteps storming through the foliage. How odd. Either a bear was making its way to him, or someone was running through the forest in a very loud hurry. And then it had passed him, a blur that appeared to be shaped suspiciously like a man, running straight away from him in the opposite direction down the path. "Sir?" Emerath questioned, but the man was long gone. "Huh," he commented as he watched the man disappear in to the brush, before hearing what sounded like howling wolves.

"Alright," Emerath concluded, "I think I know why he was running. I think I should follow." And Emerath turned on his heels and was off after the running man, though at more of a jogging pace. Last thing he would need is to rush and get more lost. He'd catch up to the other man eventually, hopefully without any wolf bites.

 

Rodger was in a full on sprint when he passed by what looked to be a man with red hair, so stopping on a dime was not going to happen. He did slow his pace and eventually come to a stop, sucking down air as he turned to look back at who he'd passed. The man was coming his way when another howl echoed out into the forest. Rodger wasn't sure if that was good news or bad.

Figuring he shouldn't be idle for too long, Rodger went to meet the man half way, eyes on the look out for the beasts that could be giving chase. As he approached the stranger his words came tumbling out, "Sorry for the rush, I'm a little in over my head. You wouldn't happen to know which way it is to town would you? Pretty sure there are wolves after me for injuring one of there young."

Rodger tried to get his bearings, yet every direction seemed to be forest as far as the eye could see. 'Just how long was I after that rabbit? I didn't think I went that deep into the woods.'

As he waited for the man's reply, Rodger heard a twig snap and instantly went on full alert as he leg began to shake with tension. He wondered if wolves could climb trees, because he might have to take refuge on one of the hundreds of sturdy looking branches high above.

 

Emerath huffed lightly as he jogged up, a bit surprised as he saw the stranger stop and jog back to him. Emerath gave a wave, and jogged the rest of the way up to him after he had stopped and started to explain. He was a little miffed that this man didn't know the way back to town. Emerath had rather hoped that he had, and as he asked if Emerath knew the way back to town, he knew that they were hopelessly lost.

"So, here's the bad news. I don't know where we are. I thought you knew where we were. A fine kettle of fish we have on our hands. Or wolves." Emerath stroked his chin as he said this, before continuing with, "Man, a kettle of wolves actually sounds gross. Although I don't like fish either..."

But his musings were interrupted by more wolf sounding noises around them, as he heard a howl and then a bush made a loud rustle as a wolf jumped out, directly at the two of them. And this was about where time slowed down, as Emerath's immediately kicked into reflex and pushed the man out of harm's way, placing Emerath between the wolf and the man. He called upon any strength he had in that moment, as he swung his fist around. And then the rest happened like magic.

Lightning Fist

As Emerath began the motion, it was as if the game took control of his arm like a puppet, and followed through on the swing, punching the wolf directly in the snout. He heard a solid crack, and hoped it was the wolf's nose and not his knuckles. Either way, the wolf went sailing back into the bush with a loud yelp.

And for a moment afterwards, Emerath just stared at his fist. "I've not done that in this game yet. That felt really good," he finally said, before looking back to the other man, offering helping him up if his push managed to knock him over. "I think we should keep running, before this whole situation becomes a kettle of us," Emerath paused for a second after saying that, "Man, this analogy just keeps getting worse..." before shaking his head and starting to run through the forest again.

 

Oh boy.

The redheaded man explained that he too was lost in the woods and Rodger couldn't fight the grimace that fell upon his face. Lost in the woods and chased by a pack of wolves. If he had have found a damsel in distress he might have actually called this a scripted event.

The man was saying something about a kettle, but whatever the analogy it went right over Rodger's head. Before he could ask for clarification there was a rustling from a bush before a gray wolf, much larger than the one he shot, jumped out at them. He moved to draw an arrow, but a push from the other man sent him stumbling, forcing him to abandon the action as he settled himself.

It looked like the redhead wanted the beast for himself, 'Fine with me, I'll watch your back then.'

He notched his arrow and turned his attention to where the first wolf had emerged, but the a sharp snap followed by a yelp caused him to turn back and his eyes to widen. "D-did you just punch that wolf?"

Admittedly, that was pretty awesome. He looked down at his bow and sighed, maybe he should have picked something more engaging. Before he knew it, he and the man were running again, "Well, we should be headed towards the road. Its were I started. I didn't exactly walk in a straight line from there but I know my back was against the sun the entire time."

He was like, ninety percent sure that it was an accurate statement.

 

As they ran, Emerath considered the situation. "If we see a road, a sign, anything, we should follow it in whatever direction it goes. It would have to lead us to civilization eventually right?" But Emerath wasn't sure how long he could run, or even worse, how long the game would let them run. But in all the confusion, he had forgotten his manners.

"My name is Emerath by the way," he commented between hard breaths as they ran, before wrapping it all up with, "We can't run forever. If we don't reach a town, do you think you'd be prepared to fight? I can't guarantee that I can do that amazing punch again reliably. I'm not exactly good at this game yet. But if we work together we might be able to manage, even against a pack of wolves."

As they ran he heard more howling, along with some growling. He didn't want to think about it, but wolves were generally faster than people. If they were surrounding them, they wouldn't have a choice but to fight, and Emerath wasn't entirely certain in his skills yet. One lucky punch wasn't enough to ensure survival, and he had no idea how experienced this other man was.

"I'm going to have to trust you to know we're going the right way. I'm pretty directionally challenged. That's how I got lost in the first place. You see I was looking for a farmer..." and then Emerath was rambling as they ran, talking between huffs of breath.

 

Rodger's frown deepened as they continued to run, there was still no sign of civilization or the road. The man Emerath introduced himself while they were running, an impressive feat really, but he also pointed out something that Rodger didn't want to admit. They were likely going to have to make a stand to defend themselves. Crud.

"The name.....is Rodger." He began to slow his pace, calling out for Emerath to do the same so they could make some sort of plan, "Even if we keep running, there is no guarantee that we'll find help on the road. The town is likely to far off as well. The only thing I can think of is to climb. If we get up high, we should be able to recover some stamina and I can try to weaken them while they're out of range."

It wasn't much of a plan, especially since they didn't know how many beasts were chasing them, but it was the only thing he could think of on the fly. He heard a few barks not far off, they would be here soon, "Can you climb, or do you wanna risk it on the ground? Either way we gotta make a decision before they make one for us."

 

“...and then a chicken poked me in the butt, and decided to be my friend until I lost it again...” Emerath had continued rambling until Rodger spoke up, and Emerath realized that there were more important things than his stories right now. As Rodger spoke, they came to a stop, and Emerath huffed, trying to catch his breath as Rodger spoke.

He liked the plan, at least as a basic one. He could work with and expand on basic. Once Rodger had finished and was awaiting Emerath’s decision, he stood back up straight and leaned against the tree. “Alright, use me as a boost and I’ll stay down here. Get to a position that you can fire your arrows and I’ll try to keep the occupied.”

Emerath pressed his back to the wood and held his hands out so that Rodger could climb up, and added, “And hey, bonus objective if you can. Try to fire from multiple spots, make it seem like there are more people in the trees. Even if you miss, you’ll probably scare them off, allowing us to get to safety. If not, we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way.”

 

Rodger was happy with the results of his plan for the most part. He'd hoped that Emerath would join him in the tree and thus safety, but the man seemed comfortable fighting with his hands so he said nothing of it. Though he did have a pretty neat idea about raining arrows down from different places.

Rodger glanced upwards and was pleased to see that there were plenty of sturdy looking branches to climb around on without putting himself in too much danger of falling. Turing towards a tree to his left, Rodger hoisted himself up and began to climb, "Yeah, that sounds like something I can do so long as accuracy doesn't matter," He glanced down to find Emerath propped up against a tree and blinks, "What are you doing?"

Shaking his head, Rodger finds his footing and notches an arrow for what felt like the thirtieth time today, 'Weird. I kinda feel like I've fired off a bunch of arrows, but I think I only shot two.'

The brush began to shake as numerous growls started to close in on them. Rodger let his arrow fly at the first wolf that came into his view, piercing its hide as it didn't expect the projectile from up high, "We got incoming!"

 

"DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAAAAAAAMN EEEEEEEEEET!"

Bradwynne was still running away from the wolves that was chasing him from the forest where he started. It helped that he was not tiring out while he was running, which meant that he could do it forever if he had a good mental fortitude, but the terror was there. Although he had been playing a good amount of VRMMO games before Terrasphere, being chased by wolves in his first time in the game was definitely the first for him. Although he would never want to experience this type of outrage again, he thought it would happen some other time, and there would be no use thinking about it. He would just need to run away from them until the wolves would not get him within sight, which he just hoped to happen but might be impossible given that this was an RPG and not real life, or a lone wolf would be at the forefront of the chasing team, which should be easy pickings for experience points, which might increase his capability to fight, and hopefully, finish all of the twenty or higher wolves that were chasing him. Well that should be the essence of RPGs right? "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger"? Bradwynne set himself on that thought, which would, hopefully, get him out of this mess that he unwittingly made.

But the Fates... or what should be said the Random Number Generator Gods, had other plans for Bradwynne as he encountered a small rock to his left foot, which tripped him down to the grass as two wolves were still chasing him. Bradwynne groaned due to the pain he felt on his body, which he only last felt some months before. Some people said that it was the beauty of MMORPGs in the VR world, that everything including pain was almost realistic, and Bradwynne actually agreed to them; but still it was painful. The wolves that were chasing him were about to pounc on him when, suddenly, an arrow came hurtling down and pinned down one of the wolves. Bradwynne, seeing this event, thought that he would want to hug the archer who shot the arrow, saying "You saved my life! I love you!" But he quickly shrugged his thoughts and then delivered an upward kick to the second wolf, which sent it flying. He then stood up, scimitar in hand, and then delivered an upward slash, which decapitated the wolf. And then, after finishing the wolf pinned down with the arrow by a swift but powerful slash downward from the momentum of killing the second wolf, he then turned around, and saw a figure on the tree who was wielding a bow. Assuming it was the person who shot the arrow that might have saved him from dying within the game, he shouted, "Those wolves had plans to make me into their romantic dinner, but then they took an arrow to the knee! Well anyway, thanks for the arrow!", and then ran towards his direction.

 

Emerath couldn't help but give a light sigh as Rodger ended up hoisting himself up into the tree all on his own, as Emerath moved his arms across his chest and grumbled. "Well you know, I was trying to do something along the lines of teamwork. But noooo, you can get in the tree yourself." However, Rodger took his position, and it took little time for the wolves to catch up to them. Turns out they had been on their heels the entire time, though that was little surprise considering the one Emerath had clocked.

Rodger had managed to get one from up on high, and shouted to him the obvious. Emerath chuckled, as multiple wolves surrounded him and his back against the tree. Emerath could count about four remaining with more howls in the distance. That's okay, it gave them time to dispatch these if the others hadn't arrived yet. One of the wolves leapt forward, and Emerath managed to grab the wolf by the scruff with both hands and throw it bodily into the tree, causing a yelp and a pretty audible snap, as the creature fell limp next to the tree, its eyes lifeless. Emerath kicked the corpse to the side and looked at the others around him.

Unfortunately for Emerath, these wolves decided that attacking one on one wouldn't work anymore. All three remaining wolves leapt forward at once, and Emerath only managed to knock one for a loop before the other two grabbed onto his arm and his leg. Emerath cried out in pain as the burning sensation drove itself through his body, before falling to the knee not being held ransom by the wolves. He managed to drive his fingers into the eyes of the one on his arm, as it cried out and stumbled off to the side after letting go of his now bloody appendage. The other one was a little more of a challenge, as Emerath tried to pull its jaws from its ankle, but it held fast and growled at him.

The pain was growing, and Emerath was worried that if he didn't get this creature off of him, it would snap his leg or his ankle. But then he heard some yelps in the distance, and then another person appeared, emerging from the brush, mentioning something about an arrow to the knee. Emerath, despite his pain and predicament couldn't help but roll his eyes, as he shouted at both, "Someone get this damn thing off of me, please! It's crushing my leg!"

 

Rodger grimaced at the grisly scene the swordsman was creating, but soon found his own gruesome task to snare his attention. The wolves were attacking his companions, there was no time to be idle. Not batting an eye, Rodger went to work trying to lower those numbers.

If only he had more skill.

Rodger found himself firing with haste, barely aiming for one wolf before turning his attention to another. Multiple times he had to stop himself from firing, for fear of hitting either Emerath or the Swordsman, but he was managing to wound a few. One wolf had actually tried circling around Emerath, a well thought tactic considering it was from a beast, yet Rodger was able to persuade the beast to run away with a well placed arrow.

Despite the increase in pressure from the additional fighter, the beasts were still managing to put up a decent fight, something that worried the archer. He let loose five more arrows at different targets, only two finding the mark but it seemed that their combined efforts had turned the tide as the wolves began to retreat.

Yet when Rodger checked on Emerath he found him struggling to fend of two wolves that had latched on to his appendages, 'Oh no!' Like a madman he descended from the tree, nearly breaking his ankle from the force of the last drop. Quickly he removed an arrow from the his quiver and approached the desperate creature. Locking eyes with the redhead he spoke, "Brace yourself."

Swiftly he plunged the tip of his arrow into the wolves ear, causing one final yelp as it jolted violently before falling still. After that It, he broke the beasts jaw to free his fellow warrior from it's grasp.

"From the looks of it, we've managed to fight them off," His eyes traveled over Emerath's injuries with a grimace, "I hate to say it.....but maybe you should have taken to the trees." A poor attempt at humor to lighten the mood, but it was all he could manage.

While he pondered if he could treat the wounds, Rodger turned to the other traveler, "Thank you for the assistance, although from up there it looked like maybe you were already in a jam. Either way, thanks for cutting down some of their numbers. Made our lives a lot easier. Name's Rodger by the way."

 

Emerath had been thankful when his companion came down to end the wolf that had tried to make a snack out of his leg. Unfortunately for Emerath, the wolf, in its death, had managed to bite down harder. He wasn't entirely sure that it hadn't gotten to the bone, and the pain was unimaginable as he watched his leg bleed into the soil. His arm wasn't looking all that good either, and his shirt was in bloody tatters. Thinking quickly, he ripped the tatters from his shirt, exposing the bloody arm. It appeared that the teeth marks there weren't as bad, and he could probably rip his other sleeve to wrap that up, but the leg was priority.

Tying the tattered rags around his leg, he strangled the blood flow, and saw it lessen the tighter he pulled, before finally tying the rags off. As he did so, he grunted at Rodger, saying, "Honestly, if I had taken to the trees, the wolves wouldn't have been as scared. I managed to kill one and run off another of the ones that attacked me, and you freaked out the rest. Someone had to be the bait, and the target. Sucks it had to be me, sure, but we survived. I care more about that than sitting in a tree waiting to die as wolves howl in the brush around us, hiding and waiting for us to tire or come down." Emerath grunted as he pulled the knot on his leg tight and then moved quickly to rip off his other sleeve and wrapped it around his injuries on his arm to staunch the blood there.

"But don't get me wrong," Emerath finished, once he had tied another small knot on his makeshift arm bandages, "I'm thankful. And I'm glad we made it. Good job, Rodger." Slowly, Emerath sat back against the tree, trying to let his heart calm and his wounds begin their natural healing process. He looked up to the swordsman, and gave a light wave with his good arm, saying, "I'm Emerath. A pleasure. I wish I looked better for first impressions, but that's neither here nor there."

 

As he ran towards the two persons, he thought he was at least relieved of the troubles of being chased around by wolves. But he was mistaken, as he saw the two other people are fighting their own battles after all. One was fighting the wolves near them with his bare hands, and one was shooting at them. Maybe that person who shot at the wolves who were chasing him back then was because he just thought that those wolves were a part of the pack that were attacking them. Something then snapped in his mind. What the hell he was thinking. Now he just made the problems worse for all of them, maybe much worse for the two. Because of his inability to fend off for himself, he just caused more problems for the two. IT IS ALL HIS FAULT. HIS FAULT FOR BEING WEAK.

"GUUUAAAHHH!" With a cry that almost cannot pass for a war cry, he turned back to the wolves that were chasing him. Although the two had a battle back there, he would make sure that there would be no reinforcement that would pass by him. As he turned around, five wolves pounced on him at the same time. He then made a stance as if he was in preparation to slice in sideways. Unbeknownst to him, his sword glowed yellow, and his body went into auto-pilot mode as it jumped while the sword sliced in sideways and made a full circle. Although the move only made wounds on the wolves that ranged from very shallow to somewhat deep, they end up in positions far away from his body, which he found after the action to be temporarily unmoveable. And so when the wolves found courage to strike again, he was quite ready to fight, when some arrows were fired at his direction, two of the wolves suffering fatal hits as they plopped to the ground with a whimper. After issuing a thumbs-up at the archer, he then charged at one of the wolves charging at him. The sword penetrated between the eyes of the wolf, instantly killing it, but two of the wolves managed to take a bite on him, one on his right arm, one on his right leg. Unimaginable pain coursed through his brain, but he took no heed as he plunged the sword on the wolf which bit his leg, while using his left hand to grasp the upper jaw of the other wolf to pry its mouth open, applying pressure on the nose so that the mouth would loosen its grip on his arm. The jaw being loosed a bit, he tore the wolf from his arm, and then threw it at his front, and then, charged at it with the sword on his hand, and, with a shout, dealt it the same blow as the first wolf.

The other wolves running away from the three, he then moved towards the two, quite hobbling on his right foot. Sure it was painful, but it did not bother him much anymore. They are alive, that's what matters the most for him. When the archer greeted him, he just said, "Well I just did what should be done. I was even thinking that I had caused you unnecessary trouble. If that is the case I am sorry." Turning to the other person, he said, "I might be the reason why you are wounded and in no good shape for a good first impression, and I apologize for that." Addressing the two, he said, "My name is Bradwynne, and I hope that we get together well. But maybe this place is never good for chit-chats." He then scanned the place all around him, fortunately there were no hostile monsters since the wolves ran away. But still there might be dangers that linger around, and so he was somewhat cautious.

 

Rodger watched and listened as Emerath tended to the wounds he suffered from the wolves while explaining his choice to stand his ground. The bowman had to admit that he painted a vivid picture with some valid points. He wouldn't have wanted to sit in a tree all night until they managed to either pick them off or get killed by the pack.

He fell into a sitting stance a few paces away, his back leaning against a tree as he waited for his stamina to return. It was quite a taxing ordeal, running and fighting for that long, and in the end his actions had come much slower with sluggish movements.

Their third companion introduced himself and apologize for possible making the situation worse, but Rodger waved him off, "If anything I should be the one apologizing. I managed to aggro those beasts when I accidentally injured one of their pack. Heck I haven't know Emerath for more than twenty minutes and I've drug him into my fight. I'm glad for the help by the way."

He adjusted his position, trying to get a bit more comfortable against the bark, "Yeah usually I wouldn't suggest hanging around here for too long, but until we recover it'll have to do." He paused as another thought occurred to him, "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know which way town is would you? I could have sworn it was east, but after all that's happened I'm not so sure anymore."

Blame it on the wolves. Yeah, that was a legitimate excuse.