(Bounty) The Ancient Rises (The Admiral, Roland Rutledge)

The sound of cicadas pierced through the forest's dull thrum of noise. Having grown up in the city, it was still something that irked Roland; he had expected forests to be eerily quiet. Instead, he had trouble thinking to himself over the racket of branches brushing against each other, and birds crying out mating calls. With a deep sigh, Roland pounded the hilt of his blade against a nearby tree, causing a loud 'snapping' sound to erupt in the local area. He thought he could hear the birds stop for a brief three seconds before starting up again. "Damnit..." he quietly cursed to himself as he sat up against the tree he had just slapped.

Why was he out here, again, anyway? Some new quest, apparently hunting down Treants with a randomly assigned partner. It was odd how often the game was willing to assign him one, but he wouldn't fight it. In almost all situations having an extra hand will make things easier even if that player was at a significantly lower level. "Of course a spell caster is always a good compliment to my martial prowess," Roland thought out loud as he inspected the sword Sera crafted him. It wasn't like her usual fair; the blade was curved into a scimitar which made thrusting with it almost unwieldy. Idly Roland thought about the limitations of blacksmithing in this game and wondered how much she relied on the in game assist function.

With a shake of his head, Roland forced himself back to focus on the task at hand. He had come early to scout the area and had success in finding some of the monsters. There were some tall, lanky tree creatures pushing their way slowly through the area. Additionally, there were a handful of monsters even larger seemingly made from oak letting out terrifying howls. From what he understood was that once his partner showed up, a man by the name of the admiral, they could take their choice of the two. Obviously, the smaller monsters would be an easier course, while the larger ones might need the help of another high-level player. He guessed he'd let the man make a choice for which creature he'd like to hunt today and opened up his in game interface pounding away a quick message.

Roland

Hey,

I've gone ahead and scouted the area. Looks like there are two different monsters we can hunt here. The first is the smaller treants, they stand a few feet taller than a human but move extremely slowly because of it. The second is the oak hearts, they are much larger and seem much more dangerous, but likely will get us home quicker. I'm not sure of your skill level, so tell me which one you're more comfortable with hunting.

Also, I'm waiting at the attached location, let me know if you have trouble finding me.

-Roland

@The Admiral

 

Beautiful a thing as nature was, there did come a time when one got utterly sick of it. Between trudging about in the wilderness and getting into trouble to both the east and west, it was about time for something relaxing. Something to take his mind off of things. Something like hitting some god damned trees with some god damned hammers and clubs. He received Roland's message with gusto and immediately responded, insulted that the man would even think to consider the easy road. Kill a few larger creatures, or MORE small ones? Any real man knew to pick the superior numbers, because that was the greater challenge. But he couldn't fault this Roland fellow for wanting to take the fast road to victory and take on fewer threats.

The Admiral

I have no issue hunting the larger, fewer ones since that sounds like your preference. I suppose we ought to make the most of this, though. It's not often I meet strange men alone in the wilderness to take wood.

Chortling, The Admiral approached the point Roland had said to meet and forced himself to sober, though a childish grin still littered his face. Scooping a hammer and a... table leg club... into his hands, the man investigate the enormous beasts they would be going to fight.

"Do you think their bark..." he began with a snicker, turning to see how amused or pissed the other man might be. "...is worse than their blight?"

Thrown die:

60

• As an OOC note for future readers- the dice being rolled in this thread by me are not determining attack strengths etc, but are something I've come to call the Fucking Idiot Fate Factor. My character is so out-classed that it doesn't make sense for him to be guaranteed survival. So, I decided before the thread's start that if I roll and get 351-600, he dies somewhere in it. 350 and below, he lives at the end. We're required at least six posts, which means 6 D100's. It's roughly a 58% chance of survival, which I'm happy with, because doing something so reckless when so weak should have a serious risk of failure.

 

Rolling his neck, Roland waited on the man, his onscreen display blipping up briefly with his reply. "Good," he thought, "he must at least be worth his weight if he's willing to deal with the oak hearts." With a yawn, he forced himself up stretching his arms to the horizon as he did so. He had a few moments to blow, so he unsheathed his blades and began practicing in the forest. It didn't actually increase his skill level, but when push came to shove in a fight the more muscle memory you had the better. "Is digital muscle memory even a thing?" Roland thought as he ran through the paces, "It almost has to be, it's sometimes easy to forget that this is a game."

As soon as he finished his set, he saw someone on the horizon. The man had a childish grin wiped across his face, and wore two odd looking bludgeoning weapons on his back. There was no doubt in Roland's mind that this was The Admiral.

"Do you think their bark..." the man said, "...is worst than their blight?"

In response, Roland chuckled flashing the man a lopsided grin before replying in a rhythmic tone that grew faster as he spoke, "I'd worry about their blight if they were any bit bright, luckily they're the tree's so they're about as bright as the night. So let us end their plight and get on with the fight". With a wink, he finished the chant, turning back to a normal tone, "The name's Roland you must be the admiral." Roland took a moment to glance at his gear, despite the weapons, he seemed to be rather unarmored, "I'd fight the oak hearts don't get me wrong, but I think unless you have a death wish we should stick with the treants today. I don't have any magic to heal broken limbs. Just a pair of swords, and some good ole fashion wit." With that said Roland cocked his head to the side waiting for a response as he rested his hands on both his hilts. He wouldn't fight Admiral's decision, either way, it was just a game after all if the man wanted to chance a difficult encounter that was his choice.

 

There was no mistaking the impish grin of joy that began at the corners of his mouth, spreading like wildfire with each syllable Roland threw his direction in what seemed to be the first like-minded poignant prose that was prophetic of their pugilist proceedings. Tapping club to hammer as if in silent salute to Roland's quipping retort, he gave thought to the reconsideration of what they should face. Apparently the Admiral was himself too ill-equipped to handle a few shrubberies, even if they were enormous and powerful and about as welcoming as a peppermint enema.

"If I might," he began in earnest, his feet beginning to take him rapidly towards the oak hearts in order to get on with things. "...it seems right not to fright at the sight of these wight and bite'd woods." Pausing, he swung both hammer and club at one of the large creatures, choosing one that was a considerable distance away from its compatriots and therefore less likely to aggro the others.

"Rather kite and then smite on this site, despite their height, would be a task worthy of one to write. Not to spite your good intentions..." The massive thing swung and the Admiral went scrambling, flailing like a madman with little skill but plenty of OOMPH! and spirit against the base of its trunk and the branching of its rooting legs. Small branches snicker-snacked against his skin and left rivulets of blood to drip into the grass while hammer blow and club bellow left splintered bark; doing little damage perhaps, but impacting its armored hide and ablating it steadily. Like a corgi against a carwash, really.

"So if you've the delight, don't take flight. Stay and... hang tight."

Thrown die:

36

@Roland Rutledge

 

Roland's lips tugged to a frown as he watched the man chase off after one of the oak hearts. The beast was extraordinarily large with legs the size of full grown tree trunks. In fact, it was hard to distinguish them from the latter less they moved in the slow, but the inevitable process in which they did, uprooting a wave of soil while doing so. The beast only grew from there taking on the appearance of something like a wooden bear, whose massive back was covered with a variety of branches and moss that acted like extra appendages for the monster. As The Admiral approached, the wooden monstrosity's maw opened revealing a series of jagged teeth each about half the size of a normal man, and let out an earth piercing howl that stunned the nearby forest into silence.

Roland couldn't help but wince as Admiral took a seemingly direct blow from the beast sending him tumbling backward. "Fine then be an idiot," Roland called as he rushed to catch up, "If you want to die so be it." The man had continued to sing a tune, picking up from the rhyming Roland had started. Unsheathing his blades, he replied in kind as he danced around the monster's leg opposite of the man, slamming his blade's into its trunk like legs, "If you knew how to quit, you wouldn't be bit or find yourself in some monster's pit, or even worse be split in two. Instead, you stupidly commit, to plans only meant for a misfit, of which your poorly unfit." Roland was forced to take a breath as the giant howled once more, shifting its full attention towards Roland in a fit of rage as it slammed its mighty fist into the ground. The strike landed several feet from where Roland had retreated too, but still, the subsequent shockwave of heaved earth sent his footing flying into the air. Coming back to the ground, with a loud thud, Roland barely managed to roll away from the second attack in the form of a branched tentacle slamming into the uneven earth before him. "Damned beast!" Roland yelled slashing at the appendage with both blades, which severed it from the creature with a loud snap.

 

Pleasant though their little exchanges had been, the mind could not process clever wordplay appropriately when the only words streaming through it were "oh Christ, oh fuck, oh god, oh why, what is this, how is it so big, why is it so strong?" All were silent and rhetorical however, left as little more than fleeting panic behind the eyes of the Admiral as he fought to take hold of the situation and remain calm. Well, perhaps calm was the wrong word... but in control? As the damage began to mount from a lashing here and the outskirts of an AOE there, he felt a sort of fervor whisper at the character's mind. Like a prompt, wanting to guide him through a skill set so far unused and- OH FUCK!

"TUTORIAL OFF!" the Admiral screamed as he somersaulted away from the crushing blows the oak-heart was delivering Roland's way. He did NOT need the system to start telling him how god damned berserk worked just because he was finally taking some significant damage in a combat situation. He found himself squinting his eyes against the pitter-pattering of shattered pebbles flying through the air at him; remnants of the attacks against his partner who seemed to be doing a pretty okay job of not dying right away. What they needed was a way to minimize the DPS of the creature. Provided they could both continue to avoid its more stern main attacks, the actual threat was those vines and branches on its back. Roland seemed to be doing an ample job of keeping its attention, which made sense... he was the stronger party member. And he seemed well suited to protecting himself from situations exactly like this.

The Admiral on the other hand was brash and possibly a total idiot. Unlike Roland, he was meant to swing and swing until either he or the enemy stopped. There were no dances and tactical retreats; just desperate and bold action, mingled with a lot of prayer. Focusing his attention away from the body of the beast, he began to swat at the branches and vines, trying to break them apart and reduce the amount of attacks the creature could take.

Thrown die:

72

@Roland Rutledge

 

(Fighting Music)

Roland gasped for breath as yet another powerful blow had landed merely a few feet away from him, sending him plummeting to the earth. He had only a few seconds to move, opting again roll out of the way of the secondary attack in the form of lashing branches colliding with the ground where he had previously been laying. This wasn't going to work for long, sooner or later the beast, no matter how dumb it was, was going to figure out this dodge strategy. He needed to do something about those extra appendages, and soon.

As if reading his mind, Admiral somehow managed to get behind the beast and begin to hammer away at them. "Keep that up!" Roland cheered on as he forced himself to his feet, meeting the monster's gaze straight on. "Ok asshole, let's do this." The oak heart was none too thrilled at the admiral's attack and began to turn in his direction slowly. Taking the moment of distraction, Roland bolted forward brandishing his swords on either side.

"YOUR OPPONENT IS ME!" Roland screamed as the flung himself towards the beast entering a high-velocity spin as his blades began to glow a bright blue hue. "WHIRLING-" he thrust each blade out to either side of him slamming into the bark of the beast's face with a loud crack, "-DERVISH!" A pile of wood chips flew into the air as Roland streaked past leaving a gaping wound on the monster's face that oozed with a dark tree sap.

The infuriated wooden titan tilted back as it let out a tumultuous scream that echoed through the forest. Its entire body rumbled in anger and sent its roots and appendages flying about wildly in the immediate area forcing Roland back several feet. "GET BACK!" Roland tried to shout over the monsters growls, "It's going to attack!" Without further warning, the beast lurched forward as it heaved a voluminous black cloud into the ground before it. The cloud quickly spread out from underneath it consuming the different vegetation still standing and turning it into dust.

@The Admiral

 

(His own fighting music in this situation)



A brief pattern of success came into being as Roland and the Admiral focused their separate yet combined attentions and styles upon the oak heart menace. Where his own mad flailing and desperate bashing worked beautifully against the chaos of the branches and sent them careening away in splinter and crushed twig, the man with whom he had partied made elegant footwork of rolling, jumping, and otherwise avoiding the worst of that could be thrown at them. That sort of fanciful movement was envious yet... he questioned whether or not it would be for him. On the one hand, being do deft of form and fleet of foot had its appeals! How the enemies would pale to see a fast berserker running down upon them with weapons flying wild. But then there was the heavily armored option, to protect himself from harm such as this by shrugging off a good portion of the damages he could receive. Decisions, decisions!

He would have time to make them later, but for now there was fighting to be done. As the creature continued to try and turn to face him, the Admiral danced to the side behind it to keep it strafing, giving Roland the opening for some -very- impressive skill use in the form of a human buzz saw. Pity a hammer couldn't do that.

"That was pretty cool, you should probably do a lot more of that," he shouted as Roland's attack landed him somewhere off to the side. Granted you had to watch your energy level in this game and they had two more of these things to kill after this one... They were certainly in for a ride. As if tormenting them with that fact, the creature suddenly switched its attack patterns and started being... weird. Whatever was going on it had Roland sprinting for the hills, so the Admiral followed suit and didn't even bother looking over his shoulder at whatever it was he hoped to avoid. Cool guys don't look at explosions. He hated having to retreat so far, because it opened them up to all sorts of clobbering once they decided to run back to it.

"Line formation- you in front to draw its attention, because you're good at dodging? I run right behind you, and whichever direction you circle, I circle the opposite way once it locks on you. Crash and burn, rinse and repeat! Let's do this." Nobody said you had to be serious to have a battle plan, so trying to trick its targeting by presenting it with an obvious choice seemed like a decent enough way to get back to the grind. They couldn't let it keep them this far away, where it could take the time to heal or throw rocks or god knew what else. Their best defense was a good offense. He wiped some of the blood from his brow to keep it from obstructing his view, lost in how realistic this all seemed.

@Roland Rutledge

Thrown die:

9

 

Roland covered his mouth as the Oak Heart vomited its poisonous gas onto the forest floor covering the area in a thick ink like a cloud. Even outside of its effective area Roland began to grow uneasy at the toxic stench. Luckily Admiral had pulled back, coming to Roland's side as they took a moment to regroup. Catching his breath, Roland focused in on the creature as he tried to determine their best course of action. First, he looked for how much damage they had caused thus far. The creature's legs were covered in a variety of long slashes the bled a sticky black substance, its back appendages were mostly broken thanks to Admiral's efforts, and the creature had a long gash on the side of its head due to Rolands.

It wasn't enough.

Just put the monster's armor like bark was simply resisting their attacks too much to do any lasting amount of damage. Roland grimaced as he watched the giant tree monster slowly mosey over to a large boulder and quickly heft it up in the air. Grabbing Admiral's arm, he coaxed the man over several feet away, as the Titan hurled the stone in the air. As expected at this distance the boulder went wide, but the tree was already pulling another from deep within the earth. Thier break was over.

With a sigh Roland charged forward following his plan of a line formation. "I have an idea!" Roland screamed over the sound of the passing wind, "But I'm going to need an opening, move behind and distract him, and then wait for my signal." With that Roland sheathed one of his newer blades in favor for his old trusty copper sword. He'd need to buy the Admiral time to get behind the beast, so he slid forward in the mud slashing at the monsters ankles drawing its ire as it dropped it's massive boulder to the side.

@The Admiral

 

As expected, it didn't take long for things to go from bad to worse in their fight. The noxious cloud of toxic fumes slowly dissipated around the massive chia pet of doom, just in time to reveal that it was starting to heft up some boulders to chunk their direction.

"A chia pet with pet rocks! Weird day..." he shouted as Roland dragged him off to the side and away from the site of the boulder's devastating landing. He watched the stone go rolling off for a moment, fully aware that more were coming and hating that he didn't have a very large baseball bat to send them flying back.

Roland seemed to have something of an idea of his own, remaining delightfully cryptic about whatever it was he had in mind. Damn! Now why hadn't he thought of doing that? When he told stories about this later, it was going to be filled with revisions that painted him in a more flattering and less supportive role. Though, contrary to custom, he wouldn't write Roland out of the story or use him as a heel character. The man had a wit about him, and was probably the closest thing to a "friend" The Admiral had made so far. Certainly there were genial companions to talk with, but few had the sort of horrible personality he so enjoyed. Roland was just a shitty enough person to call a pal.

"Got it!" he shouted in affirmation as Roland went into a power slide, slashing at roots and the sturdy legs of the beast. He circled himself around to the rear of the monster and grunted at the growing cuts and bruises on his body from its landing blows. He'd dealt with some of those branches, but not all... and whatever Roland had in mind needed to be good, or they might not last a war of attrition against this thing's raw power and tough hide.

"At lest now it can't fire another bitch-missile at us. Or... what would happen if it started to AOE the area with boulders it just scoops up and drops? I forget how evil coders can be."

@Roland Rutledge

Thrown die:

33

 

Roland grimaced as he tumbled backward avoiding another one of the giant trees blows as he did so. A quick glance at his health bar indicated he was in the red, at a chip below three-quarters down, with his adrenaline pumping he hadn't even noticed the variety of tears and cuts he had received from the flying debris. "This thing hasn't even landed a direct blow on me, but just from the indirect damage, this thing is whittling me down. We need to end this." Despite this Roland was forced to continue to dodge, dip, and weave out of the way of a variety of attacks and aftershocks as he waited for an opening.

After what seemed like an eternity the beast finally began to turn towards its back, intrigued by some goings on behind it. "Ok, Roland its now or never." pushing himself off the destroyed turf Roland, sheathed one his blades leaving him with only his copper sword. That left finding the target. Roland quickly scanned the monster for some weak spot, up against this close he should be able to tell where its brain or heart was located. A few moments worth of time were all he needed, eyes narrowing at the monster face. Behind the slashes he delivered to the monster's head earlier he could see a giant pulsing black orb, it had to be what was allowing the beast to stand upright.

The admiral wouldn't only be able to distract the monster for so long, so Roland quickly moved about his task efficiently scaling up the back of the monster as it turned away from him. This was going to be the tricky part, the skill he wanted to use normally required he activated it on a flat surface, but he didn't have a choice, he'd just have to run with it. Trying to find the best balance he could on the monster's neck he drew his sword back behind his hip balancing the tip of it on his finger causing the entire blade to glow a bright blue. Taking a moment to gather his strength, Roland tipped his blade slightly downwards before activating his skill with a yell, "Piercing Strike!" Like a bolt of energy, he burst forward a foot slamming into the back of the monster's head with an incredible 'THUD' driving his blade inward through the bark that made its skull.

In response, the creature howled in pain heaving itself unnaturally in the air sending Roland tumbling off to the side, unable to maintain its footing on the mossy surface. As he looked above he could see his plan had failed, the creature's health bar still more than half full. However, a glint high in the air refilled Roland with hope once more. Lodged three-quarters of the way into the back of the monster's skull sat Roland's sword, exposed and vulnerable. "ADDDDDMIRAAALL!" Roland yelled at the top of his voice, not sure where the other man was currently, "HIT THE SWORD INTO ITS BRAIN! ITS THE ONLY WAY!" Even as Roland shouted the Oak Heart began to shift in a dangerous shade of purple, it was preparing to enter frenzy mode.

@The Admiral

 

Keeping the creature distracted while Roland did his thing was less about defensive skills and more about finding the breath to cry between panicked sprints out of the way of its attacks. How did he do this crap?! There was a newfound respect for cowards acrobats in his mind, because this was definitely not something that he could continue putting up with for long. Thankfully whatever Roland had in mind hadn't taken too long to prepare, and he allowed himself a sigh of relief as the oak heart stopped its assault in order to howl in agony, a splash of syrup ichor seeping across the ground around it as Roland's blade sunk deep and true, heralded by a mighty shout. And then he was thrown like a toy.

"THAT WAS YOUR BRILLIANT STRATEGY? TO LOSE YOUR FUCKING SWORD IN ITS FUCKING HEAD? Granted it's a risky move, Roland, but I'm not sure I really see where you're going with it! I'm pretty sure it can't die of tetanus, and you were doing a better job of shearing EARLIER!" Honestly, why hadn't he done more "buzz buzz buzz" spinning hoople-dee-doop like the Admiral had suggested earlier? Maybe it was one of those once-a-day skills that were stupid, and shouldn't belong in games! He watched as Roland picked himself up and seemed to be staring at the oak heart, then shouted at him to go and hit the sword deeper into its head with his hammer.

"I mean... Yeah? I guess that could work!" Rushing, he began to climb up the broken branches and scramble across its mossy back, ignoring the remaining branches that began to lash at his back. He focused on the hilt before him and began to slam down upon it with hammer in club. God bless duel-wielding, and with his health rapidly diminishing, the berserk skill began to kick into higher and higher gear, exponentially growing the damage he performed and sending the copper blade inwards faster and faster. It wasn't until the ground hit him in the side of the head that he realized the creature had died and he had continued to drive the sword in, riding it down in its death throes, unaware that he could have... possibly should have... stopped. Picking himself up off of the ground, he panted heavily and gave a delighted hoot of victory, raising his two weapons above his head before putting them away and walking around the creature to where Roland stood to talk with him.

"...I thought you couldn't un-equip weapons like that. How the fuck did you pull that one off? Who the hell writes code for a game like that?" No matter. The day was saved, and they were definitely going to have to grab a strong one and tell this story now. Just... whatever they went to drink, he didn't want to be nutty, or oakey. Vodka. That's what he needed. Lots.

• OOG: completed necessary posting lengths, possibly still open for closing IG remarks

@Roland Rutledge

Thrown die:

44