V2 C152
Kra-thoom!!!
Beryl fired off some variant of arc-bolt into the Stalkers maw, propelling the monsters body backward with a pained shriek. Vaughn and Michal were both pushed back, caught in the electrical runoff from having held the monster. Michal stumbled onto his back, scrabbling at the dirt for his spear as Vaughn moved down for Beryl.
“Shit, oh fuck, that’s bad.”
“I know its bad! Shut up and help Mich— ah! Aaahahaa.”
Beryl was struggling, and as I got closer I could see the damage that had nearly immobilized her. The Stalker stomped flat along a section of her tail, blood flowing as her scales were pulled back where its three clawed toes managed to hook in place, possibly accompanied with a hand full of broken ribs.
“Shit, Beryl.”
I nearly stopped in my tracks en route to Michal, if not for the fact she was arching her back in pain.
Fuck, I was too distracted.
I glanced at the Stalker, its body heaving, then falling limp.
That’s a pair, right? We should be clear to—
Raaaahg
Another charged out of the darkness, alongside Brony’ox and Brachiosaur in droves, as the herds fell into a stampede on top of us.
“Shit!”
“Where the hell was your mind, Kiyomi?!”
Beryl groaned, trying to get a hold of herself. The stalker charged at Michal, the spear he’d been given raising within his hands as he leveled it at the monster. Side-stepping Michal’s spear point, it got within ten feet of him as Vaughn brought up a wall of stone with his earth magic.
“Michal, to Beryl!”
The spear dropped as he turned on his heels, and I grabbed Wyrmstooth where I’d dropped it, trading places with him.
End it fast, we don’t know if there’s more. Three’s odd enough!
I charged, slamming myself through the stone wall with violent impact as the stalkers silhouette from predatory instinct moved to round it. Stone went flying, and bird-like shrieks filled my ears as it pushed the Stalker back with the secondary impact.
“On its flank!”
Vaughn managed to route the monster, falling in behind its left hip as he sliced at the calf with his short sword. The Stalker rounded, taking its attention away from me to nip at its heal in pain, giving me the prime opening for cleave.
End it!
I brought down Wyrmstooth with all my strength, nearly striking until the fire was suddenly stomped out by a Brony’ox as the stampede came through camp. The sound of the Stalker crumbling to the ground was all the confirmation I needed, but with the stampede in full swing, I couldn't tell where anyone was. I forced mana through wyrmstooth, turning the sword into a giant torch, vaporizing any of the blood on it and illuminating our surroundings. A Brachiosaur was at full sprint towards us as I did, the beast struggling to change directions as the sword lit.
“I'll throw up Bulwark!”
“Got it, I'm on Beryl and Michal!”
I turned back, Michal now actively using his mana to stitch the wounds closed while Beryl was clawing at the stump that remained from the tree that was smashed.
“Are we clear?”
Michal yelled over the chorus of stomps and roars, not daring to look away as he worked.
“We should be.”
I yelled, looking back to Vaughn as He placed two more makeshift rock walls. The herds were almost cleared of us, but the heavy thoom of something larger than the Stalker’s followed in their wake.
Fuck, one of those?
“Vaughn, behind the wall!”
Vaughn plastered himself To the rock, crouching as he did.
“Michal, stop your work and lay down!”
I grabbed at the fur blankets, throwing one over Michal and the largest section of Beryl’s tail I could manage, before throwing another over myself.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Please work!
The heavy thooms grew louder and in frequency as they approached.
Shit! Disguise! That's it!
With the fur over me, I hugged myself around Beryl, pressing her up against the stump as disguise hopefully did it's work. To our collective relief, that or either the newest monster’s ignorance, we were unseen, as a massive hulk of muscle and scales bounded past us at what for it must have been a trot.
Rooaaaaaaaauuooo-o-o!
A Skulker, larger in size than anything we had faced, passed over us. Scales and feathers shook as its muscle and skin rippled under its movement. Towering, a tyrannosaurous in its closest likeness, its lower jaw splitting wide as it bellowed and bit at the side of a straggling brachiosaur. Its tail swept at the trees, knocking branches and trees themselves down as it moved.
The thing is massive!
I watched as it walked further into the dark, it's mana silhouette fading as it approached the edge of my range, and disappeared.
“Uuughhh- hah- hah, gods damn.”
I dropped the fur, kneeling on it as I caught my breath after holding it on instinct. Beryl groaned, but thanks to the work already done, was no longer clawing at the stump.
“Almost done, Beryl, just a moment earlier.”
“Gods, holy shit, how do you put up with that shit! Myrs chest that hurts so much.”
I posted myself on wyrmstooth.
“Kooo, sad it wasn't me in your place?”
I joked, but through impulse, I’d already worked a hand to one of her shoulders, resting it there for a moment before gently patting her.
“A little, damnit– ah–”
“Sorry.”
Michal muttered, pulling one of the scales back to observe.
“It’s best if you refrain from moving at—“
“Michal, just work!”
Beryl slapped the end of her tail against the dirt.
“Crap… that one hurt.”
“It’s clear? The Skulker is gone?”
I looked back into the darkness, bringing the mana draw from Wyrmstooth down to just a dim torch worth of light. I couldn’t see any mana save for a few smaller animals.
“We’re in the clear.”
“Good. Figure we should take parts of the hides as proof? Send recovery for the rest?”
I looked around us, spying the two surrounding the camp, one of them smoking whilst the other was sheared in half just behind the shoulder of its vestigial arms. I looked over my shoulder at the third, only the vague red of its scaled body could be made out from this distance.
“I figure that's our best bet.”
I nodded in the direction the Skulker disappeared in.
“We can not keep camp up here, we should head back to town. I'll remove all three of the left arms as proof of our kills.”
I looked down to Michal, still hard at work as Beryl's scales began to overlap themselves.
“You’re doing well, Michal.”
The words followed naturally as I mentally sighed in relief, that the overall team call, was the right one. He was proving a skilled healer, especially for such an abrupt fight.
“Thank you.”
He took a stolen glance at me, then back at Beryl’s face.
“I’d just wish I was better with mitigating the pain.”
In response, Beryl grumbled, turning her head away from the stump almost mechanically.
“Not much you can do for the pain, Michal; that’s what adrenaline is for, and alcohol– fsss!”
Beryl inhaled sharply, then let out a heavy, long-winded hiss as she released herself into my side. The scales were sealing back over each other, and the few visible pops and readjusting sections were hint enough that it must have stung.
Ko?
“You owe me, Kiyomi. You better wear that dress for my birthday.”
“Huh?”
“You were absent-minded, that’s easy enough to tell. With how you were locked in place when we woke. You didn’t fall asleep into one of your nightmares, did you?”
Ah. No, no that wasn’t it.
“Sorry, I was–”
Go ahead, keep another secret, it’s not like you're still lying to them about things.
“It won’t happen again.”
The words sounded pitiful, coming from my mouth.
“Whatever happened, we can talk about it later. We need to pack up camp, now. It’s not safe here, and even if we could climb up–”
Vaughn motioned to the canopy of the trees above, his eyes tracing along the few openings of starlight above.
“I doubt any of that would deter a Skullker.”
I nodded, easing Beryl’s weight to the ground so she wouldn't fall backward.
“We’ll have to just sleep in tomorrow, I’ll start collecting the proof of our kills.”
I pulled my hunting knife, pushing wyrmstooth into the ground so its remaining glow would give some workable light.
“I’ll help Vaughn pack.”
Beryl groaned just as she was able to raise her body again, but Michal forced her to stay put.
“No, I will, you had a damned monster step on you. Take the time to recover since we’ll be stuck moving all night.”
I found myself smiling, Beryl finding herself on the receiving end of an admonishing healer for once.
“Get used to it Ber-ber, take your own advice here.”
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The walk back to Brenton was a slogging affair, the chill of the night and early morning leaving us chilled to the bone as the humidity condensed on our clothes and soaked us. Beryl was sluggish, so I’d kept myself in lockstep with her slithering and wrapped us in her fur blanket to share my body heat. Wymrstooth could serve as a warming torch, but I could only spare so much mana to repeat the trick over the near several hours of walking. We’d walked through the outskirts, the guards greeting us as we entered, and a few offering to go as far to let us warm by the fire within the quarters.
“Are you sure that’s a no?”
It was John Egger, one of the militiamen, a mail hood and coif dropped around his shoulders as he recognized us.
“Kiyomi, Stannis will have our heads if none of us tried to push it.”
I waved him off.
“Nah, home is right there–”
I pointed to the section of town where the Adventurers Guild was located.
“No point in collapsing here when our own beds are so close. Know what I mean?”
John nodded hesitantly, cringing to himself as he did.
“Still, best you all warm yourselves up nice and right. Winter’s due soon, and two of you are still well on a sun at the minimum. The sickness is a lesser danger, but a danger nonetheless.”
“Stop nagging ’em, John, they’re the kids of the ‘revenants’ anyway. They’ll be fine.”
Another guard waved us on, making us home free.
—————————————————————————————————————
“That makes three.”
I tossed the Stalker arms onto the counter, leaning myself over it as I took the weight off of my legs.
Fuck, Solah’s bullshit, then the walk back. I’m beat.
I groaned, Getting Avery’s attention as she finished up some paperwork at the same counter. Looking over the collected arms, she took a talley of them, then leaned next to me from her side of the counter.
“Tough hunt?”
“Uuuuugh.”
“Really tough hunt.”
Avery raised her brows.
“You brought in more than your initial tag requirement, come across an odd trio?”
I nodded, leaning on to my side so I could talk easier.
“Splattered the first one after it drove me through a tree, haven’t had to do that in a while. Second one got the jump on Beryl just as the first separated me from them.”
I grumbled, standing at full height once more as I stretched my shoulders, an odd pop coming from my left side.
“The third, well, Vaughn had that one handled. Slowed it down enough for me to catch it in its side after throwing myself through a rock wall.”
Avery scratched at the counter as she listened for each kill, raising her head as she looked over each arm to ensure they were all of the same side.
“That’s unlike you three to let them get the jump on you. It wasn’t thanks to the new guy, was it?”
I thought over the conversation that’d broken me from my concentration over the night.
“Nah, it was me this time. I let things get out of hand myself, I was distracted.”
“Tsk, can’t let yourself be distracted in that situation. How’d you get in the area of the Stalkers? Hunting a predator like this is never the simplest, since they rarely bed down outside of mating season.”
“We set camp next to a herd of brachiosaurs and Brony’ox.”
“Brony’ox?”
Avery raised a brow in confusion as she pulled out hooks to mark each of the arms. She set out a touch map of the region for me to mark, and I continued my explanation as I did.
“Herbivores, armored bipeds, hunched forward like a theropod. ‘Know, stalkers, skulkers, raptors— The things are more common down south.”
“I thought they were only herding predators into our territory.”
“What was that?”
Avery seemed off somewhere else, shaking her head as I caught her words.
“Ah, ignore me, just some gossip from the up and up. Ah, speaking of gossip, there’s a drake roaming to the south of town if you’re wanting to cash in on it, though, no one’s been able to actually get anything past a glimpse of it before it up and vanishes.”
A drake? That’s— nah, if we went for it, that’d close off another one of our tags for our rank.
I swayed to the opposite side, bringing up one of my legs as I tapped my toe against the floor.
“Nah, for now? No, maybe later, if the reward gets to the point that it’s worth the effort.”
I brushed my hands through my hair, collecting my thoughts for the remainder of the work.
“Sign here.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill, fuckin’ boobie spider.”
Avery did a double take as I spoke, proving I wasn’t as quiet on the tail end as I’d wished.
“By the hells you turned out to be such a brat.”
I nodded hesitantly as I took the pen, signing for the waiver for recovery of the Stalker corpses.
“Well, tends to be the case when I have a terminally depressed elf, and an overly enthusiastic bar hopper arachnae for mentors.”
Avery cringed, leaning back on her abdomen slightly at the call out.
“Ah shit, rumor mill on that reached even you now… They’re not that big are they?”
Avery whispered in self doubt for a moment before shaking her head.
“Massive, can I have my ticket?”
Avery held out the ticket, yanking it away just as I was about to take it.
“Y’know, the mean girl thing doesn't work when anyone can see how you feel. You’re shite at the act.”
I reached out, snatching it from her.
“Are you speaking from experience, auntie?”
I threw out a smirk, keeping with our usual mood. Joking was good, considering I couldn’t speak like this with Vaughn and Beryl, and definitely not with Mother or Callum.
“A little, just stay out of trouble, Kiki.”
“Haha, will do auntie.”
