[OOC: This is a continuation of the Kaeda and Emerath's adventure in Megathread - First Login: Honeyhome Village] Emerath stood in the forest, still incredibly lost, and it was incomprehensible to him how anyone, except those with a road and tons of signs pointing them where they needed to go, could understand where they were. But yet, Flints seemed to understand it. This caused Emerath to grumble, but he knew that if he didn't follow her he would have no idea where to actually go. Not that he realistically even had any idea on where to begin looking for chickens. "Do you know how to hunt down chickens? Or anything for that matter? I'm mostly just a scientist. Though I guess I'm not yet anything in this game. But I plan to be a scientist. Not a hunter. Do you think I can make science stuff to track chickens?" The man rambled on a bit as they walked, his talking turning a bit stream of consciousness as all the thoughts ran through his mind. He had no idea what he was doing, but he hoped that she could make some sort of sense of it. "Chickens would leave feathers right?" he continued, scanning the ground for any such evidence of the creatures, "Especially if a wolf ate one. It'd probably be an explosion of feathers. Have you seen any feather explosions yet? Admittedly I haven't really been looking at the ground... I'm kinda worried if I look at the ground too much I'm going to get lost. Well, more lost. I'm already pretty lost. But I'm glad you seem to know where you're going..." and the rambling would keep going. At least until something changed. He was nervous, but also strangely excited? This would all be worth it to have a chicken friend in the end. Provided they could find more chickens. He hoped they could. @Kaëda Flints
Flints continued to follow the ground, eyeing it and following the light dotting and X like footprints left by what she could only hope was a chicken, when she was younger she used to live close to a woman who kept chickens in her very small apartment and they would occasionally escape to the empty sand lot around the corner, poking curiously at the artificially made orange sands left behind by companies too lazy to finish what they started. She remembered back fondly on chasing them around and helping them find the occasional scraps, it wasn’t until she noticed they started to dwindle in number that the old woman was actually eating her friends. Ever since then Flints really didn’t ever see a live chicken, they weren’t all too common in the big city. Emerath’s sudden burst of randomness coupled with Flints’ thoughts on her childhood clouded her mind. She stopped abruptly just as Emerath rambled in about “Chicken Explosions” hoping he wouldn’t smack into her from the sudden delay in movement. She shuddered as she looked up at the man, her tail slightly puffy and her ears pinned tightly back against her hair in annoyance. She wasn’t sure if she was happy that he opened up or Regretful. Flints’ eyes scanned the man over before cocking her head and placing her thumb at her chin, as if to be inspecting the man for a solid answer to all his questions. “Wolves make great pets, finding these chickens is fairly simple, well I would certainly hope you aren’t a hunter, you get lost to easily. And let’s hope there’s no explosions.” Scoffing she shook her head and let her ears perk back up. “Chickens aren’t common in New York, but I knew a few growing up.” She chuckled and pointed towards the ground where the..chicken scratch..was. All the little pecks and X’s from their beaks and feet have them away. “As long as we don’t lose site of these we should find them soon enough. Do you know how many their are exactly..?”
Emerath had to put on the brakes as the woman stopped and answered a string of answers, prompting Emerath to actually remember what he had asked her in the first place as she fired them off all in a row. But at least some of the answers were pretty obvious on their own. Though he was a bit miffed by the comment about how easily lost he got, even if the woman wasn't wrong. But, she had pointed out to him the chicken feet on the ground. If nothing else, the little X's that their feet made told him one thing, which he repeated aloud to Flints: "If they're leaving tracks, that means that they survived the wolves breaking into the chicken coop." This meant good tidings he hoped. But he was a bit concerned by her question to him. "Unfortunately, I don't know how many chickens there are. So we're going to have to just keep searching until the tracks run out I guess. Worst case, all we find is wolves. Best case, we save lots of chickens." And so, Emerath started walking again, following the chicken feet like a hound who finally caught a scent. He just hoped that Flints knew how to get back to the town once they did find the chickens. That was realistically the biggest problem he had with all of this. "Hey, if you hear any squawking or bawking, let me know. I'll be keeping my own ears out." But at that moment, all Emerath heard was some howling in the distance as he followed the trail.
Flints watched the man curiously as he became absorbed in tracking chickens, her tail swished quickly as she settled on doing the same. “What are you going to do if there is no chickens to return? You could just..buy your friend back.” She gave a shrug as the prints became more uniform, occasional pecking dotted beside the little foot prints, As if they were eating a trail of food, Flints’ eyes followed it out into what seemed to be an opening in the otherwise dense forest. “Well there doesn’t seem the be blood everywhere yet. So I’d say your chickens are fine for now..looks like someone is tying to lure them out into the open.” She pointed at the very obvious line the chickens tracks had made, all the way out into the open. Distant howls made Flints’ hair bristle. Were wolves smart enough to lure the chickens? Was that even possible? Making her way to the clearing she turned back to Emerath and cleared her throat. “We have to be close. Whatever is after the chickens clearly lead them to this opening. Maybe it’s the farmer..” She waned to keep her hopes high but she had her doubts. Without warning Flints gave a surprised yelp in pain and wrapped her tail around her thigh, plucking off of it a very small, brown chick that shook furiously in her hand. Both slightly confused and irked, Flints pushed it against Emerath’s chest. Not sure if he had seen the confusing exchange between the two. “Uh..I found..half..a chicken?” She petted her tail, still miffed by the peck. The small chick was puffed up and ready to fight. The fact that it picked at Flints’ tail showed it was probably hiding from a large tailed beast.
Emerath was able to see what Flints had been talking about, even as dense as he was when it came to hunting and tracking, as she pointed out the line of multiple tracks that appeared to be leading into a single spot. But as he looked, he couldn't see the chickens, and he wondered what could have happened if they were all lead here only to disappear. The farmer couldn't have taken them. He wouldn't have sent them out if that were the case. Perhaps it had been someone close to the farmer? A child of theirs? Wife? But it was dangerous in the forest. Surely they wouldn't be dumb enough to come out here without protection, right? As Emerath mused, he rubbed his chin and stared out into the distance in the forest, as if that would give him the answers he sought. But these musings were interrupted by an annoyed and surprised yelp given by Flints behind him, only for him to turn with worry to find a chick shoved into his hands. The chick bristled and squeaked, and once Flints had relinquished it, the little creature began to bite at Emerath's gloved hand, gnawing at the leather with its tiny beak. Emerath's other hand moved to stroke the creature's tiny feathers, and it gave an annoyed squeak and moved to gnaw on the fingers that had stroked it. "Clearly something attacked it, or chased it. or something. It shouldn't be this riled up, unless the mom was or it was driven away from its mom." Emerath didn't need a degree in hunting to understand that much about the creature at least. Slowly, as it realized that Emerath wasn't going to put it down, and that its tiny attacks were doing nothing to Emerath's gloved hands, it just squirmed and squeaked at him in his hands. "So the chickens were led here. If something else took them, wouldn't they leave tracks? I'm pretty sure I should leave that up to you, my dear huntress. I'll tend to this little creature and try to calm it down in the meantime." Emerath grinned at Flints, before continuing to pet the squirming creature to try to put it at ease.
Flints watched the small chick and it’s barrage of attacks to Emerath’s hand but to no avail. Flints huffed and released her tail, letting it swish freely. “If that chick was separated I’m sure there’s more. And since it’s alive that’s a good sign. Predators always pick off the small, easy kills first. It’s mom has to be close, searching for it.” Making her way into the opening in the dense trees and brush of the forest Flints was filled with an uneasy feeling. It filled her chest and made her hairs stand on end. She felt like she was being watched. Her tail puffed, giving away her wary state. “This isn’t good..” she growled just under her breath. She looked to Emerath only for a second, but a second she couldn’t afford. Within a single blink she felt like she was hit by a ton of bricks. A loud growling filled her ears as her eyes widened. A large black wolf with deep amber eyes pinned her to the ground. Nearly twice her size Flints stayed glued beneath it, her mind not grasping the situation at hand. Drool dripped from its jowles and onto her cheek as it opened it’s mouth, prepared to bite down onto her neck.
Everything had been calm, and quiet, aside from the chick's anxious cries ringing through the small clearing. But that had all changed in an instant, as a black shadow leapt from the trees to tackle his companion. She had been caught unawares, which surprised Emerath, but that was neither here nor there for them. The wolf was about to make a meal out of her. And then it would all be over, her first death in a matter of moments. Of course, Emerath, the gentleman that he was, couldn't let that happen. As the wolf growled, Emerath instinctively slid his knuckles onto his left hand, gripped them tight, and shotgunned a solid gut punch into the side of the snarling creature, causing it to yelp and stagger sideways before it could bite down. He held the chick tight in his right hand, not wanting to put his knuckles on and risk the metal injuring it, so he would just have to make do with one fist and two feet. Following up on the punch, he hopped over Flints' prone body and gave the wolf a solid kick the rib cage, causing it to back off more and snarl at him again. As he focused, he could see that he had managed to take a dent out of the wolf's HP bar, but it was clear that this wasn't an ordinary wolf. Most of the other weaker ones Emerath had fought in this forest had been white, or gray. This one was pitch black. An alpha, probably. At the very least, a veteran hunter. He had tricked them with this chick. And of course, where there was a leader, there would be more. Emerath kept his eyes on the creature, but held out his hand behind him to offer Flints a hand hold to stand up again. "It's time for combat, mi'lady. I've got your back if you've got mine."
Flints was shocked, she didn’t tremble but she remained still beneath the large beast, it’s hot breath and heavy body felt all too real, but was short lived as Emerath began to attack the wolf. It’s amber eyes darted from his meal to the man, snarling and snapping at him as he attacked, Flints was more shocked by Emerath attacking than anything else. This confused, lost, curt man..actually able to fight? And now he was..being nice to her? Whether out of pity or actual concern Flints didn’t have time to mull over the idea of fully understanding someone she just met. Blinking to clear her thoughts she quickly accepted his hand and pulled herself up, dusting herself off and sticking closely to his side. This would be Flints’ first fight in game. Emerath made it seem easy. The wolf’s heckles rose, it’s anger towards the two almost seemed personal as it began to charge them and snap its jaws, Flints backed more into the opening. Was this a trap? She swung her blade downwards onto the wolf’s snout but it moved away quickly. And howled loudly into the open air. The wolf’s somber call was followed by more distant howls. Flints turned to Emerath, her eyes wide. “It’s calling for help!” She shouted before rushing the wolf, quickly slashing at him with alll her might. She landed a few light hits but overall the wolf seemed unphased. She definitely needed practice. “They’ll be here soon..what do we do?” She called back to Emerath.
As Emerath watched Flints, it wasn't until he saw her fight that he really began to understand that this was her first time in the game. Luckily for her, it wasn't his first time, and he knew how to tango with wolves by now. Thinking of his encounter with Rodger, Emerath knew that the idea of outrunning these creatures was out of the question, so he had to come up with a different plan. "We won't be able to outrun them, there will be too many, and they will be faster than we are. We're going to have to stand our ground. Perhaps if we beat this guy, the others will run off, or at least be demoralized in the fighting, giving us an edge," Emerath tried to explain, as she slashed wildly at the creature. It snapped at her, but before it could close its jaw around her arm, Emerath delivered a roundhouse that send the wolf reeling for a moment of respite. "What are your other masteries? If you have something that can give us an edge, now would be the time to tell me!" he said, as he considered his own ideas. "If they surround us, I might be able to keep them off of us with a lightning storm, but it's going to take a lot out of me, meaning you would have to finish this big boy off alone, if you think you can handle it." In the meantime, the big black wolf seemed a bit tired of getting pushed around by Emerath, as it leapt for him, but not just at him. He was aiming for the chick in his hand. Instinctively, Emerath pulled the chick against his chest to hide it from the attack, as Emerath threw his shoulder into the creature's jaw. Both hits connected, as the teeth dug in, but Emerath had a firm charge behind his own counter, making the wolf's grip loose and the teeth only managed a flesh wound. Still hurt like hell, but Emerath could live with that.
Flints growled frustration, watching Emerath easily stand his ground against the wolf made Flints’ skin boil, she was jealous. Hell, she didn’t even know what she was viable in. Not answering Emerath she took yet another swing and the wolf just as Emerath barreled into it like a fool, forcing himself into the teeth of the beast that was now fueled by blind rage, that chick was probably more trouble that it’s worth at this point but she knew better than to back down. They were in too deep. But she couldn’t help but mentally agree with Emerath at least, this couldn’t go in forever. They had to end this before it got any worse. Flints ears perked at the sound of the other wolves coming to the rescue of their dear leader, without hesitation she dragged her sword a long the ground behind her as she ran towards the Alpha, leaping quickly and gripping tightly with both hands to bring her sword straight down onto its back with a deep unsettling crack, of either the swords of the beasts spine, at this point Flints couldn’t hear anymore, she couldn’t think. Her eyes widened but she was lost in a haze as the wolf collapsed beneath her. She looked up to meet the gaze of four other wolves, smaller than the Alpha for sure. They stared on, looking lost and confused by what they should do next, Flints was equally confused.
Emerath backed off as Flints came at the wolf, and allowed himself a moment to tug the ragged sleeve of his shirt away from the wound he had been given. But the woman proved herself in that moment, crushing the wolf's spine with her sword. It didn't appear to be enough to cut the creature in half, but it was enough to incapacitate it. The creature groaned and growled, despite the agonizing pain it must be in, and Emerath figured it was time to end the poor creature's suffering before it got any worse. With a sigh, he lifted his fist after taking the wolf's fur in his other hand, and brought it down into a solid skull crushing blow, allowing the leader its eternal rest. "That won't be any trouble, now what of the other ones?" he said, a somber tone in his voice as he held the chick to his chest. The creature was practically screaming its little head off, probably incredibly frightened both by Emerath's fast movements, and the wolves. The remaining pack stood in the trees, gazing upon them and their dead leader. Some howled in protest of the events they saw in front of them. Others just quietly snarled. Emerath sighed and shouted to them, "Go on, get! We don't want to kill you too!" Not that the wolves would understand. So he balled up his fist and then summoned his energy to point a finger at them, sending electric shocks at the creatures in protest. They weren't meant to harm, but just to scare, as they hit the ground, sending rocks flying with each blow. Slowly, despite the protest, the wolves angrily howled and snarled, but ultimately left, sensing only death. Emerath sighed again once all was said and done. A heavy sigh of both relief and remorse. "It's too bad they're such aggressive creatures. This could have been avoided if that farmer had just kept a better hold of his chickens..." he muttered to Flints, before handing her the chick, and moving to pick up the corpse of the wolf. It was a bit hefty, but he was still able to get it around his shoulders. "No sense in letting this guy go to waste though. I'm not all that good at cutting up animals, so maybe we can take him to the butcher in town to get him processed for food and pelts and such. Probably make us more money than saving the stupid chickens anyway, right?" And with that last bit, the smile went back to Emerath's face as he looked back to Flints, "Just, uh, one thing. Can you lead the way back to town?" A nervous chuckle followed the question, as he hoped the answer was yes.
Flints watched as the man did the wolf a favor, he ended its life quickly, halting the pain she had left it in. “Don’t pity the creature. I’m sure he didn’t do the chickens any favors.” She spat. Watching Emerath carefully as he handed her the chick, which she juggled in a confused manor before sticking him in her belt bag, leaving the flap open so it could see. “You could get some nice pelt off of him. But I’m sure those wolves would be on you any time you venture out here.” Shaking her head she looked up to the sky, it was getting dark fast. Giving a small sigh she spoke softly. “I can lead you back if you really want, but you wouldn’t really learn that way now would you?” She smirked but quickly coughed to hide it, turning as she spoke she began to walk back into the tree line, from her bag she could hear the small peeps of the brown chick, it wiggled and peeped louder as the went along, she wondered why it was protesting so much but her thoughts were quickly answered as four hens revealed themselves from the bushes. Cooing and clucking softly as they followed behind her as if they knew where she was heading. She wasn’t sure how many chickens there were originally but this would have to do. She blushed, thinking of how silly they looked leading a small parade of chickens back to the farmer. At least they would be compensated, Flints looked over her shoulder at the red headed man to see if he still followed her. She wasn’t sure what to make of him. He was certainly stronger than her. He was rude at first but now he seemed a tad warmed up to her. Furrowing her brow Flints wondered if everyone was just like him. Would their paths cross again? Only time would tell. But for now she didn’t know where to place him. “We’re here.” She motioned to the small farm. “And there’s the path back to town, I remember you saying that this was your bounty. So, go for it.” With that she turned her back to him and began to make her way back to town. The small chick angrily peeped, reminding her that he was stored in her bag. Quickly scooping him out she placed him on the ground and continued on her way. She wasn’t good with goodbyes.
Emerath was about to get incredibly worried when Flints pointed out that Emerath wouldn't learn anything from simply following her. And she was right, but he wasn't really interested in getting better at wayfinding. He accepted a long time ago that he simply needed to rely on others for that. He carried the wolf off on his shoulders as she seemed to reluctantly lead the way, and while he could hear the howling of wolves in the distance, none of them seemed willing to actually approach him or his companion. Which was probably for the best. Fighting with a corpse on his shoulders would not have been his idea of fun. Much to Emerath's surprise, there was a brood of hens that followed her, most likely drawn to the chick's cries after they were sure of the death of the pack leader. Emerath smiled, glad that some of them survived. Even hopeful that this was the majority of them, though he doubted it. But he was thrown off when they stopped abruptly and Flints pointed Emerath to the farmer's hut. "But, I'm carrying a dead wolf, and the chickens are following you. Surely you can't just leave like that. Besides, you've earned at least half of the bounty, and you have to come sell the wolf parts with me to make that money too. You can't just leave!" Emerath protested, but Flints' mind seemed made up. However, she started to walk off, and the chickens followed her. Emerath smiled, even after she had placed the chick on the ground, it seemed to follow her too. Emerath even made a show of saying, "C'mon hens, come with me!" But the hens ignored him, and continued to follow the brooding woman. He chuckled and called out to Flints, "Looks like you have to collect the bounty. The chickens don't seem to want to follow me!" He had a smug look on his face. He rather liked Flints, even if she was brash and abrasive. He could live with that. She was good in a fight, had tracking skills, and didn't completely hate him. Just mostly. "So are you going to collect the money, or are you seriously going to make me force these chickens into a bag or something?" he asked, the smug grin on his face not fading.
Flints gave a growl at Emerath, he seemed to actually want her to finish this. She still didn’t know what to think of the man, Watching as the hens clucked behind her she swished her tail and tried her best to move away from them but to no avail. Looking back to Emerath she pouted before stomping off to the farms gate. “You’re lucky I have nothing better to do..” she huffed. At least after this was over she could figure out what to do to get herself stronger and probably never see this Emerath character again. He gave her a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that she didn’t appreciate. Knocking swiftly on the door to the small farm house Flints tapped her foot impatiently, occasionally sneaking glances at the hens and Emerath who was still awkwardly hauling around a wolf carcass. The sight of the wolf’s body sadden her, he looked so much like Tuna. Maybe that’s why this whole ordeal was so hard on her. “Oh hello! I see you’ve found some of my hens! Thank you so much! I owe you a great debt for saving my farm!” Flints bristled at the sound of the farmers voice that snapped her from her thoughts and quickly cut in. “Give the man the stupid chicken we first gave you in exchange for your flock.” She nodded in the direction of the hens, not even sure if it was possible to haggle with an NPC. She hoped she hadn’t made a fool of herself for trying.
Emerath walked up behind Flints, and overheard her mention the hen that Emerath had wanted, in exchange for the chickens they had brought, and Emerath couldn't help but smile at the thought. It did seem that Flints cared, more than he might've otherwise thought with her abrasive nature. Emerath quickly cut in to the farmer, still carrying the wolf on his back, "No, it's fine. I appreciate the thought, but I don't need a chicken to take care of. I'll come back later if I need one, for now you can keep her." While it was true that Emerath did initially want the chicken, realistically, how would he take care of it? Where would it live? He just needed to let this one go, and that was the end of it, but it still meant a lot that Flints had been willing to try. As the farmer, confused but happy, paid them for their time and the two walked off, Emerath said, "Well, do you want your share of the cut from the wolf too? You practically killed it. Which was pretty awesome by the way." Emerath smiled a goofy smile, and otherwise just felt a bit awkward. He knew Flints was going to try to leave again, but he had appreciated the company on this little quest. "Look, if nothing else, before you go," he said, bringing up his friend list, "At least add me as a friend? I'd like to go on another quest. Maybe one that doesn't involve life or death situations, or something." And after typing her name in, pulled up her profile and sent her a friend request in the game. He hoped she said yes. Or at the very least didn't just disappear on him.
