[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/MzWT21i.png[/img]
[h2]Keira[/h2][/center]

Keira’s eyes snapped open at the sound of a bell ringing. She tilted her hat back up off of her eyes, shoved aside the blanket of leafy twigs and then quickly scrambled down though the branches of the tree she had been sleeping in to investigate the noise. Hopes of free breakfast where dashed by the sight of a grunt dangling from a length of rope, its hand still grasping the knife she had baited the trap with. She’d hidden the knife, which was attached to the rope by a metal loop at its hilt, in just the right way that it would be noticeable only if the filth where already coming for her. Its violent shaking that had been ringing a cheap copper bell attached to the rope was still a few moments later by a second knife carefully thrown by the lass at the monster. 

Sadly she was unable to celebrate her skill at the moment as from below there came a rhythmic thumping. Peering down into the dark she saw that the monster's friends attempted to punch down the tree, scattering splinters to the ground as they gradually chipped away at its mighty trunk. The things were made, or where perhaps simply apt at, breaking down barriers of civilization, so a single tree, no matter how sturdy, would eventually fall if she left them to their devices.  

“Gods you bastards have gotten persistent haven’t you.” she complained as she reached up and retrieved a sling from her belt where it sat next to a pouch of stones. Using it in the branches was difficult, but with some careful climbing and the help of the rope she had used to secure herself to the tree she found a spot with enough room to swing the little leather strap around.

Using the sling she accelerated and then launched a small rock down at her attackers, the projectile punching a small hole in one of the grunts’ shoulders. A second followed up, hitting the head this time and this actually downed the monster.  As she gradually pelted the creatures to death with rocks in the dark she was lulled a kind of zen by the rhythmic [i]whir whir whir thunk[/i] of her sling. Either she’d take them all down or the tree would collapse she’d have to deal with the consequences then. It was rather pointless to worry incessantly about which event would occur, it would only make her more likely to flunk her shots, so instead she considered what the implications of the filth’s attack was while fending it off. 

In her mind it proved her hypothesis, that the crown she now wore beneath her hat had been the tipping point from the odd grunt knocking on her grandfather's door to a larger swarm coming for them lead by a Crawler the very night she had brought it home. Most of the time hiding in a tree, ditch or cave would be more than enough to avoid the filth. Maybe one would find her bait, but it having friends was rare and this many was almost unprecedented. 

Then again, maybe she had just gotten particular unlucky tonight.

On the other hand it was fortunate, Keira thought as one of her stones thudded harmlessly into the earth instead of striking true, that there wasn't a crawler with this lot. The scar marking her cheek was a stark reminder of how close one had gotten to ending her on the night before she and her grandfather had to leave their home behind.   

She was broken from her thoughts by two things. The first was that she was out of stones. The second was the groaning and splintering of timber. 

“Fuck” Keira swore, “fuck. fuck. fuck. Fuck.” she continued to swear as the tree slowly bowed in surrender to the filth’s relentless hammering at its trunk. The girl shoved the sling in the empty stone pouch before fumbling with the rope attaching her to the doomed forest sentinel. The knot came undone as the fall continued to accelerate, after which Keira hurled herself from the tree and fell into the arms of one of its lesser children, its leafy top cushioning her landing some but more importantly meaning she wouldn't follow her sleeping spot all the way to the ground. 

Branches splintered as the tree fell until it crashed into the forest floor with thunderous applause, which roused the early morning woods. Birds flew into screeching into the air all around as Keira half slid, half clambered down from the arms of her savior. There were still filth left after all, and she’d rather not risk them dropping her tree again when she was almost out of things to throw out of it.

The two who had survived her hail of stones and also not been crushed by their first and last foray into being lumberjacks where already barreling towards her. A throwing knife caught one in the arm while a second blade missed the other completely and thumped into the carcass of the tree instead. Party tricks where not good in combat she reminded herself as she hoisted her weapon, stood her ground and anticipated the enemy's attacks.

Keira carefully sidestepped the first one’s blow, grunts weren't exactly subtle about winding up their punches, and drove the point of her pickax into the thing’s head in retaliation. She kicked its melting body in the groin for good measure, giving her the leverage to pull her weapon out of it again just in time for its friend to arrive. She dodged around the now fallen body of its ally, putting the corpse between her and the stubby legged grunt, and baiting it to charge her again. It obliged and in the process got bogged down in the filth, allowing Keira to dance around it and drive her pick into its back.

She extracted the digging implement from her final foe, her breathing heavy as the adrenaline died down and the exertion of the brief fight caught up with her, causing her to tap the head of the pickax to the ground and lean on the end of its handle for a few moments while she caught her breath. 

“Are we done?” she asked the dark forest, foolishly tempting fate while still a little out of breath. When the night failed to produce any more horrors she grinned to herself and said “yeah I thought so” before taking some time to wipe her pick on some grass and then sliding it back into its holster. She dusted off her hands before getting to work cleaning up the mess.

It was dawn by the time she had collected all of the rope, knives and stone from around the fallen tree, so after a spot of breakfast consisting of stale bread and a few blueberries from a bush she’s spotted yesterday evening the girl headed for home.