Guess Who — Roleplayer Guild

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“How did things escalate this quickly?” Robert asked himself as he pushed another rock out of the entrance to the cave he had found himself trapped inside of. “It was supposed to just be a simple and easy S-level mission… Okay, now that I say it out loud I feel like I shouldn’t be surprised that everything went this bad so quickly, but still…” he continued to say to himself as his efforts to remove the rubble in front of him finally provided results with a small amount of light breaking through the small cracks.

Another hour passed with the boy continuing to talk to himself until he was finally free of his stone prison. Pulling his scroll out of his pocket, the boy called his team to confirm that he was still alive and unharmed. “Hey Grane, it’s Robert… Fallson… Your teammate... Anyway, I’m still alive and since you’re not picking up I’m guessing it’s because you’re still mad about what happened and decided to leave me to complete the mission with everyone else… just like last time… and the time before that… and the time before that... Don’t you worry though, I’ll make it back home on my own just like I have before, you’ll see. Anyway, see ya when I get back to Beacon.” With that, Robert hung up his scroll and began the long trek back to the airship port.

More hours passed as Robert realized just how little thought he had put in this plan of his considering they had rode in a convoy of trucks just to get where he was now and that still took most of the day. There was no way he’d make it back before sundown unless he found some kind of shortcut. “Maybe if I can find one of the locals that live around here. Even if they don’t know a faster way home, maybe they can provide some shelter or- Oh hey, would you look at that,” he said as he spotted a short, hairy, and burly man in the valley below, only a few yards away. Running towards him, the hunter-in-training began to call to the stranger and wave his arms above his head.

“Hey there,” the boy said once he was close enough to have a normal conversation with the man. “So… you wouldn’t happen to be from around here would you?”

“Shut it, kid. Can’t ye see I’m busy starin’ at the groun’ doin’ nothin’?”

“Umm… Okay. Well I was just hoping to ask-”

“Alright, listen ta me ye red haired cunt! If I hear another word come outta that shithole ye call a mouth, I’ll bury my foot so far up yer arse that they’ll have ta put a gravestone over it. I’m gonna pick up a coupla’ stones from the ground ‘ere an’ surgically sew them ta where yer manhood oughtta be, all so I can kick ye in the balls since I doubt ye have any already, ye twat!”

“... I think I’ll just-”

“I fuckin’ knew you’d say somethin’ ye soulless shite! Listen ta me ye lanky bitch! The socks are off! It's raw toenail-up-asshole arse kickin’ time! I’m going ta turn yer internal organs inta external organs! I will unscrew yer ‘ead and fuck yer throat hole. I bet yer mother wished she swallowed ya, but since she didn’t I’ll have the pleasure o’ rippin’ out yer entrails an’ shittin’ down them. I’ll remove yer anal sphincter an’ use yer colon as a condom. Usin’ yer femur as a paddle, I’ll kayak down the river o’ yer blood. I’ll fuckin’ headbutt ya ‘till there’s nothin’ but a butt left. Usin’ yer bones and ‘air as a brush, I’ll paint that pansy green jacket of yers red. Ye pustule lookin’ zit on the face o’ reality!”

“I just wanted to know if there was a shortcut to the airship port,” Robert cried, his spirit broken by the man’s barrage of hurtful threats and insults.

“Oh, is that all? Just ‘ead down that dirt path there, through the forest. Should get ye there in thirty minutes at most.”

“W-what? Really?”

“Ye callin’ me a liar?!” the man screamed angrily.

“No, no. Thank you, sir.”

“Yer welcome. ‘Ave a great day.”

Not wanting to upset the strange and violent man any further, Robert quickly began to make his departure. Little did he know though, was that the place he was going to would be an absolute Hell for him.

The first thing he noticed was how dark it was. The trees surrounding him were several hundred feet high with countless leaves and branches blocking out the sun and giving people inside the forest the illusion of night. Due to this intense darkness, he didn’t notice what else stretched above him that darkened his surroundings further: Webs. Lots of webs in fact, either belonging to a lot of spiders or a spider the size of a small car. Or more likely, both.

Robert looked at the time on his scroll as he began to wonder just how long he had been walking for. “Has it really only been ten minutes? Feels like it’s been an h-” A quiet sound like a foot crushing leaves underneath it cut off the boy’s complaint though. “Hello? Is anyone out there?” he asked, a worried look on his face as he began to frantically search his surroundings. “If it’s you short-guy-who-told-me-to-come-here, just know that I am a student at Beacon. I know how to defend myself and have my weapons currently loaded. I won’t be responsible for any actions I may take if you try to scare me.” Then another noise, this one sounding like creaking. Robert couldn’t place it at first, but the source was a branch above his head under strain from a large Broodling descending down a web from the tree as it closed in for the kill.

When he did look up though, he was met by eight bright, red eyes that seemed to stare into his very soul and an open maw, ready to close itself on his head. Robert screamed as he fell to ground in terror, firing wildly at the creature with his bracers. The Broodling let out a shrill scream as it fell on top of him dead, alerting the rest of the horde. “Spiders. Why did it have to be spiders?” the boy said as he pushed the dissipating, smoky corpse of the Broodling off. The sound of thousands of legs trampling fallen leaves underneath their weight seemed to fill the forest now as they approached the area where they heard gunshots and the death cry of one of their brethren.

Robert ran, faster than he had ever gone before and in no discernible direction. He just needed to leave the immediate area as fast as possible. Ducking underneath a low hanging branch, he took the time to look back and see if any were following, only to find himself stuck in a Broodling web. Vibrations spread through the web, alerting all nearby spider Grimm where the redhead was. The blades on his bracers extended as he began to cut up the sticky silk to free himself. While his struggling proved successful though, he soon discovered he was now surrounded by the creepy crawlies.

Several began to shoot more of their webbing in his direction in an attempt to entangle him from afar, but they soon learned that if there was one thing the boy was good at, it was evading. So they closed in. “I. Hate. Spiders!” Robert shouted as the first Broodling lunged at him. Arm extended, he caused the creature to land directly on his blade before throwing it away. Three more attempted the same maneuver from opposite directions, but two were met with his bracer blades just like the one before and the third with a kick to the face.

---

An hour passed, but soon all that was left were countless smoky corpses of fallen Broodlings. Robert began to dust off his clothing as he thought back on what Professor Port had taught in Grimm Studies. The only thing that really came to mind though was to avoid their webbing as they were extremely sensitive to its vibrations.

“Wasn’t there another thing though? Something important that I’m just forgetting… Oh yeah! They’re usually passive unless there’s… an… Ariadne… around.” As these last few words left the boy’s mouth, he began to slowly turn his around to face the giant mother spider behind him. Despite its bulk, the creature was as completely dead silent up until the moment Robert turned around. With it’s position given away though, the monster decided to let out a loud, deafening screech that shook the forest canopy above.

“Nope! Nuh uh! I’ve had enough,” Robert replied before pointing an angry finger at the beast. “Screw you. I’m out.” And with that, the boy was gone. In that small moment after he had finished speaking, he had taken off faster than what could be humanly possible. Fear and adrenaline tended to do that. Of course the Ariadne began the chase, but neither it nor its countless children could even hope to catch up.

---

The airship pilot looked down at his watch, counting down in his head how long until his shift would finally end. The Sun was already dipping below the horizon and in just a handful of seconds he’d be able to go home and see his family again. The sound of running and heavy breathing threw away any dream of getting home soon though as he looked up to see a redheaded teenager with leaves and cobwebs seemingly covering him from head to toe. “You look like you just went through Hell and back, kid,” he said casually.

“Is-” Robert went into a long cough fit after saying his first word. When he finished he tried again, “Is the airship…” He took a moment to breath in a large gulp of air. “Still going…” Another gasp. “To Beacon?”

“Yeah, you made it just in time for the last flight.”

Robert collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion and happiness, a single fist raised into the air as he proudly proclaimed, “Nailed it!”
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