[IC] Plague-Hunters

[M127]

"I need to inquire some information regarding the Exicus spell 'Turn familiar'. Mainly if there is a way to delay the activation. Could you be so nice and inform him? Please tell him to give the information to the old hunter Joshua, in the camp just outside of Oakstown; thank you".
With that Iṃgor turns around, heading back towards the camp.
Having borrowed an empty flask from Joshua, he walks into the forest, while using his spell to find bunnies(or similar small creatures).
It doesn't take long for him to find some, which he proceeds to kill by using his levitation spell to stop their blood-flow by blocking the most important veins and arteries. Their blood is used to fill the flask.
Once the flask is filled, Iṃgor moves to another part of the forst, and uses the blood from the flask to draw 'Turn familiar' on the ground. He piles up some of the dead bunnies(and similar small creatures) in the center, as bait, and covers one of the 'letters' with leaves, which he used before to get the blood and the smell of the bodies off of his hands.
Once the trap is set up, he climbs a tree, waiting for a carnivore to be interested in the bait.

[Eklispe]

Alexander was surprised by the many obvious signs of life, given the numerous dangerous things that had been hinted at that lived here he would've assumed the wild life would be more lacking. He was just starting to feel relaxed when he heard a loud noise. He tilted his head curiously. That noise hadn't sounded like an animal, or a tree falling. Perhaps it was man-made, but who else would be in the forest at this point? As far as he knew Imgor had gone back to town, though he supposed it could be the girl, or Nick. He cautiously made his way towards the noise, unsure of what to expect but ready for trouble.

[agentmanatee]

Nickolaus dropped his neutral expression for a split second, transforming it to a scowl before immediately returning to neutral. What could she know? Why was a loose end of the fammily floating free? Didn't matter, he would simply side step the question as he had been taught.

"I was following you as Joshua suggested we remain together. Though.I also wonder... how did you pass so stealthily from the group? It was as if no one could see you leave, not even Joshua, who taught you that?" Nickolaus neatly avoided her question, but began to feel ever so slightly uneasy, he wasn't ready for such a strange development... and something about tge girl was off, though he couldn't quite say what...

[LHG100]

Alexander would hear something far off into the distance again, the sounds of... battle? Then, a thundering roar, and many foot steps, one inching closer and closer to himself... Imgor would hear a light buzzing sound coming from that direction, slowly increasing in volume. The other two, Nikolaus and Amaryllis, would now definitely notice the commotions in general. Alexander would see that the creature coming into his view was some sort of lizard, with a serpentine body, six legs, and very large 'plates' on its' back. Quite a ways away, but it quickly notices Alexander and goes into a defensive pose, snarling and hissing.

Imgor would begin to see a trio of very large 'Maneater wasps', as long as a man's arm, and a taste for the same type of flesh. They begin circling him, two clockwise, the other counter-clockwise, looking for an opening. They keep their distance, around 8 meters maybe, and appear to be ready to make a move whenever Imgor does.

Amaryllis and Nikolaus would likely be wondering what exactly is going on... And where is Joshua during all of this? This wasn't mentioned!
Before they can do much, the large thumping foot steps from before can be heard slowly going nearer and nearer to the duo, but for currently unexplained reasons, they can't pinpoint from where, or by what! It's almost as if it's all around them...

[M127]

"Since when do maneater wasps appear in groups when not near their hive or on a raid? And why raid this location, which isn't frequented to begin with?" are the thoughts immedeatly rushing through Iṃgor's mind, as he jumps down into the rune he had drawn onto the ground earlier.
Stepping into the center of the rune, Iṃgor uses his levitation spell to remove the leaves covering the essential parts of the rune. Whenever the first suitable target for 'turn familiar' would get near the center of the rune, it would be affected by the spell.
Within the slight temporary safety of the rune, he checks if a hive of the attacking wasps is nearby using his tracking spell, following with permanently casting the same spell to check for any possibly hostile creatures(either the creature is a maneating wasp or shows increased body tension) within 40 meters.

[Eklispe]

Alexander examined the creature curiously, it was quite large, nearly the size of a horse. Lizards were very fast when they were small so it would be safe to assume the same could be said of this one. It appeared to be rather heavily armed and no doubt it could climb well with all those legs. He wanted it. Hmm, now that he thought about it he didn't know if maiming a familiar would affect it when it would turned, in theory putting out one of its eyes would be practical for defeating it but he couldn't risk permanently wounding his familiar. He slowly approached the creature holding one hand out palm open and attempting to make soothing noises, it would be best not to have to fight at all but it would no doubt be necessary. He wished he had some meat right now, it would be invaluable in attempting to befriend the creature.

[NanoFreakV2]

Sapphire responded with lingering sadness in her voice.

“When you’re forced to live your life on the streets you tend to acquire . . .” she paused for a second “. . . certain skills.”

Another moment of silence passed before she continued this time almost sounding slightly proud,

”It isn’t really stealth by definition, but more the art of hiding in plain sight,-“

Mid-sentence she began observing her surroundings looking in all directions with a concerned look on her face,

“-making yourself look unimportant.”

As she finished her sentence she refocused her attention on Nickolaus and noted his face displayed slight discomfort the more he remained in her presence. His expression was subtle, anyone else might have dismissed it or might not have noticed it altogether, but to Sapphire it was an expression she had seen all too often. On many occasions she wished she hadn't been so apt at recognizing that particular expression. It wasn't like she was good at reading people, but for some reason, that one stood out above all else.
She then closed her eyes and whispered more to herself rather than to Nickolaus. “Just like the rest . . .”

This entire time she had been listening in on the background noises of the forest and immediately after saying those whispered words she reopened her eyes rather dramatically and suddenly grabbed for her Kris entering a guard stance much to the confusion of Nickolaus.
She then spoke out in a low tone “We’re not alone.”

Moments later the sounds increased in volume becoming loud enough for Nickolaus to hear as well.
She could feel her heart starting to race as the thumping sounds seemingly surrounded them. Sapphire couldn't see them but her sharp sense of hearing made her believe that an entire pack of unknown entities had encircled them.

[LHG100]

For Imgor:
The wasps continue circling around his position, ready to strike. The one circling anti-clockwise tries to play it smart and gains altitude, trying to go over you and hit you in the back, the other two instead go for the more obvious approach and try to sting you from the outside. However, something hits you like a brick, a memory of something Joshua told you in your private tutoring. "If two specimens enter the rune at once, it shall have... disastrous results on your pysche if you allow the rune to activate." The first one successfully goes over your head and behind you and stabs you in the back, injecting some sort of fluid dangerously close to your spine. The other two soon enter 'range', you parry the first strike of theirs by raw instinct.

For Alexander:
The 'Ironback', it's most common name, slowly continues moving away from you, and yet you continue trying to be as minimally threatening as possible. It keeps on walking away until it's backside reaches a tree, and it decides to climb it up. Backwards. Well, your forethought on the abilities of this creature was correct. It goes up halfway, it's surprisingly light body not curving the tree itself too much. It continues hissing while putting up it's 'front legs', tipped with sharp looking claws, in case you try to attack.

For the others:
Nikolaus and Amaryllis would hear a CRACK, and then something beginning to fall over behind them. By pure instinct, Amaryllis sidesteps to the right, Nikolaus, the left. In between them a tree falls, the branches of it annoyingly scratching the both of them. They'd both turn around to see the perpetrator, and see a strange, very large humanoid, it's arms appear to be covered in feathers, and has two additional wings behind it. Instead of hands, its' arms abruptly end into hardened points of bone. It also has no face, what skin was left appeared to have been flayed off, revealing a skull with no eyes, but muscle still supporting it. Obviously... this is a Beast... Likely made of what used to be a reclusive Harpy. It's 'mouth' is full of bile, and disgustingly curving, and long teeth, haphazardly pointing in every which way. It looks like it would have difficulty not impaling itself whenever it wished to close it's mouth, even.

It growls, the poor, dumb thing is obviously in pain, even with it's aggressiveness apparent. It quickly lounges to it's right, near Nikolaus, Harpies had unnatural speed, and being infected by the Plague only increases that potential. In seconds it circles the duo until it's to Amaryllis' right, ready to pounce. From Joshua's teaching, Nikolaus can tell it plans to take a chunk off, dodge, then finish her off before moving in to take him on. The tall creature, Nikolaus and Amarrylis' heads coming up to its' stomach at most, begins its' simplistic plan, but there is enough time for Amaryllis to parry at least once.

[agentmanatee]

Nickolaus heard the sounds Amaryllis spoke of just in time, as the tree came down between them... followed by a beast. It was terrible, just like all beasts are, but Nickolaus didn't have much time to think further on its hidious visage as it was already moving.

As the ruined beast circled them Nickolaus guessed the beasts intent, though it largely relied on the separation of its pray and their being unprepared, which Nickolaus was not. He waited for just the right moment, watching the beasts muscles closely, then just as it was about to make the first lunge Nickolaus burst into action. Flinging himself over the tree, he landed neatly skidding to stand right next to Amaryllis right as it pounced, his family training kicking in, and quick drew his pistol. He loosed a shot, aiming for the beasts forehead, then dropped the pistol going for one of his knives in case it carried threw the shot. He hoped Amaryllis was ready like him.

[Eklispe]

Alexander was surprised by the creatures agility, climbing a tree without even looking was rather impressive. If it decided to attack he would have to be careful. More importantly how in the nine was he going to turn this creature? Fighting it seemed difficult at best, no the thing could easily overpower him and either attempt to kill him or run. He was beginning to regret not bringing someone along, an extra body could be quite helpful right now. Worse yet he had nothing to convince it to trust him- Alex suddenly flashed back to the picnic, he had stashed a chicken leg wrapped up in a napkin in his pack.

Perhaps that would suffice. He would've tried setting up the rune and then baiting it in, but if the lizard touched any part of the rune it could be ruined. Well he would attempt to make it trust him, or at least stay in the same place long enough to draw the rune. If that failed he could kill some of the wildlife he saw everywhere, track this lizard down again and see if he could convince it then. For now he tore off a strip of chicken and set it on the ground in front of him, backing away several feet still holding his empty hands out in a pacifying gesture.

[NanoFreakV2]

Sapphire was on guard the moment she started hearing the sounds. Sidestepping the tree was pure instinct, but she did not expect it all and was left slightly shaken by the event. She promptly turned around to see who or what was attacking them. The sight of the being left her with dread creeping up her spine. Almost all her life she had spent her time without a home, on the streets for the most part. It was a mystery as to how she had managed to not run into such a creature before. Maybe it had something to do with her sheer luck in surviving this long. The more she stared at it, the more she could feel her hands starting to shake and her heart beating with a speed she didn’t think was possible.

As the creature lunged at Sapphire she froze. It was as if her mind tried to make the parry motion but her body just wouldn’t listen. For a moment she thought she was going to die that very instant.

“After all I’ve gone through in my life this is what I’m reduced to. A shaking mess ready to freeze at the sight of danger? Pathetic . . .” she thought as time seemed to slow down the closer it got.

All these emotions, dread, fear, self-pity, she experienced them all in an instant, the same time it took for Nickolaus to intervene and fire at beast.
Sapphire felt immensely grateful for that, as it gave her the moment she needed to regain her composure. Her hands stopped shaking and with new-found determination she gripped her Kris tighter.

Despite the abomination being unlike anything she’d seen before, seemingly torn right out of her nightmares, it wasn’t the first time she’d faced a plagued beings and it wasn’t the first time her life had been in danger. She knew what she had to do.

The shot fired by Nickolaus grazed the disfigured harpy staggering it for a mere moment as it attempted to dodge the shot. Sapphire immediately took advantage of this. The moment Nickolaus’ pistol hit the ground Sapphire was no longer standing beside him. A dash and jump later, Sapphire landed feet first on the lower chest of the harpy, clinging to its feathery arm with her left hand. Using the Kris in her right hand she slashed at the creature twice before pushing herself off the creature. As she did this she used her air burst spell to put even more distance between her and it, creating the illusion of an additional mid-air jump. This sent her flying backwards which would most likely end up in her landing rather painfully on her back.

[M127]

The sedative poison of the wasp being injected, the area of the sting begins feeling dull, and expands. Seeing as the rune was useless even with a wasp being in direct contact with him, who crouched in the center of the rune, he decides to run for his life, before the sedative slowly paralyzes him temporarily. In his haste, he forgets to 'defuse' the rune by covering up essential parts.
Using his spell he locates Alexander, Joshua and Nickolaus, and runs towards the closest one, Nickolaus.
The wasps obviously chase their prey, and have no trouble doing so, due to their ability to fly.

[LHG100]

Alexander's Ironback begins to take the bait, it slowly comes back down to the ground, but keeps its' claws ready. It keeps an eye on you, yet does not make eye contact. Joshua said that that was a good sign.. It fears you, but not to the point it wishes to run away, or fight you. As decent of a start as any. It begins to come towards Alexander's piece of meat, and soon grabs it. It retreats a little backwards with it and begins to slowly eat it, eyes still fixated, now on your feet.

You remember Joshua telling you that Ironbacks are a very common, and good choice, for hunters to have. They're generally quite clever, if old enough can be sort of ridden, can defend themselves easily, and will eat nearly anything you shove into your mouth, which helps with their voracious hunger. They can, however, be extremely over protective of their charges, and jealously guard you, which can be awkward if you wish to 'get close' to another Hunter.

Plus, they do attempt to 'mark' you occasionally, to tell you that while they're yours, you're theirs' as well. Harmless, but annoying.

Across the forest...
Imgor's pursuers hastily begin to chase, the one that stung him though begins lagging behind, the poison it injected making tiny droplets as its' stinger is still 'in action'. The event can be sort of heard by everyone, their buzzing gets louder and louder... And more specimens can be heard entering the vicinity. It sounds like an additional three, or four, even. Joshua's words echo in your mind again, "Don't run away... just always remember, you, are called a Hunter for a reason! Whatever you face is your prey. Always make sure your prey is worthy, and your cause is just."

You are a hunter... called that for a reason. These are but wasps! You won't run so easily, will you? The sacred Adage of the hunters guild coms into your mind again, "We are hunters for a reason... Our enemies, however foul, are simply our worthy prey.". It is said the phrase itself makes you just strong enough, if you truly believe in it.

Again, in a small clearing...
The Harpy-Beast is stunned by those visceral attacks, and can only slowly get up. It sharpens its' claws with themselves, making anomalous sparks as it scrapes them. It's mouth begins producing more and more viscous liquids, the green, thick fluid trails down it's mouth. It seems to begin to choke, then snort. It then pukes onto its' own boney points. "One of the beasts' greatest weapons are their own fluids... They gain anomalous properties, such as being both highly poisonous, and highly corrosive. Do not let them spit at you, or god forbid, puke down your throat. If the latter happens, you will certainly die afterwards, if you don't manage to get it out yourself.", Joshua reminds in Nikolaus' memories, at the sight.

At this point, if you allow to hit it once, you'll have to waste a large amount of medicine just to survive the after affects, if you do live, anyway.

[M127]

Annoyed by the slow but steady decrease in strength of the muscles in his back, Iṃgor uses the levitation spell to compensate for the lost strength, as it can apply a force in any direction the user desires.
Occasionally he turns around, shooting an arrow at one of the wasps' wings. Their chitin exosceleton is too hard to be penetrated by normal arrows, but the fragile wings are a suitable target to effectively ground them.
Afterwards he starts running again, as it can be hard to take aim once the wasps circle around one.
He repeats the process multiple times, until he arrives at Nickolaus' location.

[Eklispe]

Alex grinned, so far so good. He liked the idea of having an Ironback for a pet, a few cons but the pros far outweighed them. He dropped two more pieces of meat and then the whole leg in a trail of meat leading to the center of the small clearing. Then he slowly grabbed his Naginata and began drawing the first circle of the rune around the area with the blade, with the intent of finishing it quickly. He gave the creature plenty of room so as not to scare it off. As he began the process he heard a loud buzzing sound steadily getting louder and a gunshot as well. It seemed like the others finding creatures as well, if he finished this quickly he could see if they needed help. Hopefully the Ironback would stay still long enough for him to complete the rune, though he had a feeling that it wouldn't be so compliant. Hope for the best and plan for the worst.

[LHG100]

Since the rune is relatively simple, Alex finishes the basic rune, bloated to the point where the Ironback would likely fit inside the central portion. The lizard in question follows the little trail you set out, as you finish it's just outside the rune itself, and notices the bounty in the center. It still is aware of whatever you're doing, and is curious on what exactly that is. It continues to the leg of meat and begins eating, while the rune 'activates', beginning to glow more and more brightly until it stops, then goes dark.

"Oh, you should probably drop anything dangerous first. You'll wail your arms around like an idiot. It's an... indescribable feeling of pain and renewed understanding.", You distinctly memorize Joshua saying, again about the rune. You drop your Naginata and wait for the worst. You first notice the Ironback screaming and writhing around in excruciating pain and mental stress, and it eyes are apparently on actual fire for a split second. Afterwards, you feel a sharp pain in every single organ, as if a small army of demonic creatures were trying to rip out your guts and nibbling at them.

You can't help but scream for a few seconds, while you claw at your own eyeballs in unceasing mental agony. You soon go comatose for what seems like a few minutes in blessed unconsciousness, and then wake up, near what looks to be a nest at the trunk of a large tree, and drenched in sweat. You can't see anything as your vision is still blurred from the ungodly amount of hellish fire that reverberated through your very soul for a few seconds. You then hear your new Ironback familiar puking up something from behind you while clawing at another thing. You turn around and notice that it's puking up that chicken from earlier while waving around like an idiot, and you can hear what it's thinking. You think.

As it isn't actually sentient or all that smart, it has no words to say; but you still get what it's saying. For obvious reasons, it's wondering what the hell that was and what you did, and it also wonders if you have any more of that chicken stuff because that was delicious. It then wonders why it can directly think with you, but then stops, as it's more worried about getting more delicious food. You then notice the Ironback also has your Naginata in it's mouth, trying to eat it.

Well, you just got your new Familiar! That was easy, aside from peeing yourself a little.

[M127]

Since the wasps didn't manage to land a single attack since he started running, Iṃgor calms down a little.
The wasps' main advantage over him is their ability to attack from multiple directions, he asserts, before one of his arrows hits a wasp's wing, causing the wasp to lose balance and fall from the air.
With only 2 wasps remaining to be an immedeate threat, he stops, drawing his knife.
"A mere two directions are easy to keep track of and dodge or parry" are Iṃgor's thoughts, as he launches himself at the nearest wasp, attempting to stab or cut it with his knife.

[Eklispe]

Alexander got up somewhat tiredly, that was certainly... different from what he expected. Although since he wasn't sure what to expect he supposed it could've been anything and it would be different from what he expected. Carefully getting to his feet he looked behind him to see his new familiar puking up the chicken it had consumed. A side effect of the ritual no doubt, but the dang critter was trying to eat his Naginata. "Hey stop that!" he said angrily worried about the condition of it. His mother had given that to him and it doubtless had teethmarks in it now. Hopefully the thing obeyed him, he wasn't sure whether this ritual thing let him control his companion or simply share his thoughts with it.

[LHG100]

The Ironback immediately dropped your Naginata, and sat down patiently, seemingly awaiting orders. So it does allow you to control them...to a certain extent. On a closer, safer inspection, it's definitely a younger Ironback, Its hardened back still isn't completely formed, but it's definitely there. Its' easy to say it's still quite developed though, and obviously, can survive in the wild by itself. From what Joshua told you of these things, you can also tell it's probably a little over-grown for its' apparent age, its' legs are a bit longer then usual, as well as its' neck you think.

Still, a specimen with plenty of potential, he should serve you well. In any case, you inspect your Naginata, thankfully it isn't broken or anything: it just has very notable teeth marks.

Imgor can easily defeat two wasps in battle, even with the knife he has now. They dumbly do not maneuver out of the way fast enough, and you kill them all in one slice, cutting them in half. Well, two leave before you do, but it's fairly obvious they're retreating.

Well that was easy. You then hear the snorting, wheezing, and growling of some sort of Plagued Beast behind you.

[LHG100]

Nikolaus dives to catch Amaryllis before she falls, he plows face-first into the ground, and Amaryllis lands on his back, "Oof!".

He quickly pushes Amaryllis off before continuing to do battle with the 'Harpy'. The Harpy quickly goes at Nikolaus, and they exchange blows; the Harpy's first strike is thwarted by Nik's second shot, parrying the blow. Nik plunges one of his Knuckle-daggers into the creatures torso, ripping out a small amount of organs and bodily fluids, the smell makes everyone relatively close-by want to puke. The Beast tries to slash at Nikolaus, but he deftly manages to lessen the blow, just enough. "Help me, dammit!" he lets out as he barely manages to stop two more strikes.

At the second, the dagger he's using is broken in half, and a wound is on his hand, an amount of the Harpy's bile slowly seeping into it. Nikolaus jumps backwards and clutches his right hand as he realizes this. He carries on, grabbing his other dagger. Gun in one hand, blade in the other, he dodges a hay-maker from the Harpy and goes in to shoot it in the face, before parrying another light stab from the Harpy. Amaryllis can just tell the Infected is going to use this opportunity to just kick him.

Alexander's newfound Ironback familiar freaks out as a disgusting new smell reveals itself, images of bountiful rotting carcasses flood his mind. It's obvious the 'little' guy is looking forwards to eating whatever that scent is, and is very willing to fight for it. Alexander can also hear a faint "Help me, dammit!", from the direction the smell seems to be coming from.