Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Narsi kept her fuming expression with her eyes off Lorag until he mentioned handing off the training. At that, she turned to face him with some surprise. She pouted as if to question him but she could not quite gather any words before he turned to leave.

"You troll shit!" Narsi's shout made Rhazii flinch. She huffed short breaths in and out of her mouth. Her knuckles were so white they looked as though bones were about to burst out of her green skin.

Rhazii stood perfectly still and frowning tensely, holding the point of his practice sword against the floor. After an awkward moment, he asked the wrong question. "...Are you okay, Narsi?"

"Fuck you!" She spat back. "Don't ask me that question!"

Taking a second, Rhazii exchanged an unsure look with Julan. He slowly turned his face back to Narsi with a twinge of annoyance at the situation. "Okay...alright..." His face brightened with an idea. "Narsi, we're doing weapon drills until you show us you're focussed again, understand?"

"I am focussed," she said through her teeth.

"Good, then it won't take too long, now, will it?" Rhazii quipped back with a hint of condecension. "Besides, we don't know your experience. If we have to train you, I have some questions." He was more civil with Julan. "Brother, do you think you can turn back or would you like to do drills in that form?"

---

Fendros didn't hesitate to take Ahnasha's hand, but he curled his lips in and lowered his eyes before answering. "Ahnasha, we can't just keep patching over this like they'll let it all go." He shook his head. "No, even if a story like that did add up, it would make no sense to leave it out of the letters." He sighed heavily. "Would it be possible, perhaps, to tell the truth to Vasiq first? Rather than go through your mother and father's reactions all at once. He seems a reasonable man. And, just like the rest of your family, he cares about you."

Kingmaker [Pathfinder]

Rosie kept up her assault as the cloaked man fought back. She could barely focus with all the heavy noises and profanity behind her. After taking another swing that the cloaked man promptly dodged, she shouted over her shoulder. "What the hell are you all doing back there?!"

Actions

Swing-and-a-miss vs. cloaked bandit: 13

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rhazii saw his chance and took it. He moved only a small amount to the side closer to Julan's outstretched arm, then suddenly changed direction in time for Julan's adjustment to fall for his feint. Rhazii brought his sword to his chest height to cover himself as he thrust the point at Julan's oncoming throat.

Perhaps surprisingly for Julan, he did not even feel the wooden sword touch him. Rhazii usually loosened his arms at the last moment to keep the point from jabbing too hard. This time he pulled the sword point away completely and backed off a few steps.

"Y-your neck," Rhazii said quickly, pointing towards his own throat. He swallowed back a sudden nervousness.

---

"I don't think there is any way to just ignore what happened. You saw how scared they were." Fendros mirrored Ahnasha's posture. "I don't think it's a good idea to lie about this anymore. But you are correct, we cannot tell them everything." He glanced sideways at her. "What might happen if you do tell the truth, do you think? Apart from, you know, fussing."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rhazii took every one of Julan's movements seriously. With the first swing, he stepped back and brought his sword high over where Julan's arm was to follow through and began to step forward to counter with a thrust above his shoulder. His shoe skidded him to a sudden stop and he pulled back again at the last moment to avoid Julan's second swing. He had to bring his guard low to avoid his sword getting struck, but he lost the momentum to effectively strike. The opening moves had been indecisive.

In the seconds that followed, Rhazii had no intention of letting Julan get comfortable. He swiftly ducked and thrusted low at Julan's middle a few times. Not to finish him, or even necessarily to hit, but to keep him either moving backwards or leaning forwards.

---

When Fendros entered the main room of the inn, his first stop was the bar. After patiently waiting for the barkeep's attention, he ordered two mugs of water and then looked around for Ahnasha. He attempted a smile when their eyes met. He was no less nervous, even if there were more things on his mind.

Fendros walked up to and sat down beside Ahnasha, placing one of the mugs in front of her. "Sabine brought me back. Rhazii stayed behind to catch up with Julan -- he and the others returned today as well." He looked up from his water at Ahnasha, hesitating. "How is the family? Have they spoken to you yet?"

Kingmaker [Pathfinder]

"Hey! Stay down!" Rosie lashed as hard as she could at the scrambling bandit in front of her. A solid hit didn't quite stop her as she retreated around the corner.

Rosie grunted in frustration but did not dwell on it. The cloaked leader was still at large. She caught his eyes and ran forward shouting for his blood. "You son of a bitch!" She swung too high on closing in and her opponent ducked under the chain.

"Get that fire out!" She shouted over her shoulder at a spare moment.

AoO rolls

Bandit triggered AoO by trying to stand up from prone!
To hit: 12
Damage: 6 piercing

Actions

Moved to engage cloak dude from his south.
Swung and missed cloak dude: 7 to hit.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan's more defensive position forced Narsi to pull back before committing to her attack. The sudden change exacerbated her frustration, leaving her footwork less than ideal against Julan's shoulder check. She managed to twist away just enough to stay on her feet, even if she was off balance for a moment. She barely got to start thinking of a new approach before Lorag spoke.

Rhazii's eyes lit up with surprise. "Yes sir," he quickly responded. His tone was more certain than his demeanour, but he did not hesitate to collect a wooden longsword from the practice weapons.

Narsi's reaction was to lower her guard slowly, almost falling into a slump. She was still angry, to be sure, though a hint of confusion kept her quite as she stepped back over to Lorag and Rhazii.

Rhazii raised his guard high, with both hands holding his weapon and brought up near his face, the point of the sword directed to Julan. His eyes blanked into focus. "Ready, Julan?" He said to shake off his nerves. He did not spar with Julan's werecrocodile form too often.

The bout started with Rhazii shuffling in and out with much more controlled footwork than Narsi. Even being head-and-shoulders taller than Narsi, he glided this way and that without any trouble. His reach helped him, too, forcing Julan to think twice about advancing without keeping his neck open to attack. However, Rhazii's strategy was not fiercely aggressive either. He kept out of reach of Julan's claws and tried to bait him into overswinging or gaining too much momentum.

If Julan could overcommit, Rhazii knew he could get around him, put the blade to the outside of his arm to keep it controlled, and follow in to go for a thrust to the neck or the underbelly, depending on which way the point of his sword ended up. That was the idea, at least.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Just about to write up another post, but for the next one, did we want to skip ahead with the Cheydinhal events to do write the scene where Ahnasha deals with her family after the previous events? I could have Fendros return to help for the sake of having a character there but I don't know how you'd like to do it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rossarm's stony expression was only interrupted by a firm nod before Meesei turned around. He closed the door behind her and that was that.

---

Narsi fell to the side like a scrambling kitten upon getting struck. She at least managed to frantically get herself back on her feet before Julan could follow up. She looked at Julan's core with her eyes blearing up. She took some paces back to give herself enough room to wipe her eyes and sniff back her running nose. Rhazii's ears twitched at the tiny whimpers she was making despite her raging front.

"Uncle Lorag?" Rhazii asked quietly, peered across to their instructor. His ears pinned back with some worry. "Is this the right way to do this?" He glanced at Narsi again and winced, trying to find the right words. "She's...she doesn't look very focussed right now."

After cautiously finding an opening, Narsi let out another furious scream. She tried to bob under Julan's arm to jam her practice sword in just below his armpit. She had little inkling as to exactly where the sensitive parts were, though it was as valid a guess as any.

Kingmaker [Pathfinder]

Rosie flinched aside as the arrow flew past. She quickly retaliated, aggressively stepping to follow the back-pedalling bandit. "Oh no you don't!" Rosie snarled through her teeth before swinging her chain low. The bandit had relatively little reach to stop it wrapping around her ankles.

"You stay right here!" Rosie punctuated herself by using her whole body to pull the chain up and back. The bandit found herself sliding and flipping onto her back with a thud.

Aczions

Rosie 5 foot steps up to the bow bandit at ground level.
As a standard action, rosie attempts to trip the bandit (CMB check): 13
Succeeded in beating CMD! The bandit is knocked prone!

Rosie donates her move action to charity.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rossarm stood looking tiredly at Meesei for a silent moment. It was unclear how he was felt about her words beyond the small frown he wore. Judging by the pause, he was thinking carefully.

He took a long breath in and then opened his mouth. "From one warrior to another, champion," he said slowly, "I would advise refraining such words from the likes of Commander Teroiah and Legate-General Gro-Tagnud. It proves nothing to make comparisons on such grounds. Let the subordinates prove themselves to me."

---

Narsi kept her eyes to the ground, but her jaw tightened enough for veins to bulge on her temples. She scrunched her eyes shut during the moments where Lorag raised his voice loudest. Her fists clenched by her sides.

Rhazii nervously looked on from the sidelines in the silence that followed. He kept a close eye on Julan.

"AaaaAAH!" Narsi screamed out in rage. Rhazii could see the beginning of tears forming in her eyes as she stomped over to Julan's dropped wooden sword and swiped it up into her hands. She bared her teeth at Julan and held the wooden blade forward, half-swording. "Come on!" Her voice cracked as she shouted. "Beat me up, then!"

Contrary to her words, Narsi still held up a guard. Her footwork kept her sprung to dodge and evade while outside of Julan's reach. The best she could do with what she figured she had was to counter-strike at Julan's arms with the point of the practice sword -- for the little it would do to halt Julan's momentum.