Yankee — Roleplayer Guild

Word Count: 1471 (+3 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 493/90
Thursday Night -> Friday Morning
Location: The Frozen Highlands

After the chat with Heismay, dropping off the bio-sample he'd gotten earlier, helping complete camp preparations, and eating dinner, there wasn't much else for Ace to do other than retire for the night. Most of the other Seekers had done the same, since the weather was still bad and what daylight they'd had through the cloud cover was long gone. So the hunter claimed one of the tents in the circle around the campfire, did his nightly work maintaining his equipment (which included finally getting to the damage his ship rigging had taken the day before), and flopped down on top of a sleeping bag. 

Unlike the abandoned house they'd used last night, there was little besides the dwindling fire to take the edge off the cold. The cave might have protected them from the wind, but it wasn't insulated. So, sleeping in the thick coat and ice boots it was - the cold would be non-existent, and getting to sleep wouldn't be a problem!

Ace laid on his back with his hands laced behind his head. Though he thought he still wouldn't have any issues getting to sleep, it didn't come quite as quickly as he'd expected. Though the rest of the group weren't far, resting in their own tents or inside of the stagecoach, he felt weirdly... isolated. Maybe because the stay in the cabin had felt more close quarters, and the day in the village had been spent working closely together with the others. Now it was cold and quiet. Above was the dark fabric of the tent, outside the dull echo of roaring wind beyond the cave's mouth. It made for a more somber atmosphere than Ace felt; his spirits had been high all day after all. But still it seemed to bring reflections on the last few days and thoughts of the ones ahead. They'd reach the peak tomorrow, right? Or get close enough to set their lure. Would the Guardian take the bait immediately, and when he reached them, how did the hunter plan to help fight?

The Cadet shifted, picking up the pendant on the chain around his neck and peering at the shifting wyvern skull motif inside. At the very least he was going to make sure that he wasn't a liability or a weak link.

He was also determined to go to sleep in a good mood rather than get bogged down in too many worry-breeding thoughts. Ace turned over, cushioned his head on a bent elbow, and shut his eyes. Eventually he drifted off, sleeping like a log until morning. Unfortunately, the wake up call was much worse than the day before. 

The Cadet's eyes snapped open when the tremors really got bad. Though initially confused, he knew that whatever was happening couldn't be anything good. As he scrambled out of the tent a fissure cracked the ground beneath him in two, and a moment later the entire cave floor gave way. Ace fell with a shout of surprise, falling through the air along with everyone else - and the entire campsite. Items, equipment, even minions, pet monsters and the whole coach hurtled down to the bottom of the icy cavern they'd suddenly found themselves in. Ace had tumbled over a few times, the hood of his coat pulled over his head making it even more difficult to try and orient himself for long enough to try and fire his slinger's grappling hook to catch the wall and stop his descent. The ground came up too swiftly, and in the end the Cadet plummeted into the snowbank at the bottom. His vision was filled with white, and around him was the sound of items and debris hitting the ground as well. The tumultuous crash of the coach slamming through the cushion of snow was unmistakable, even though he couldn't see it.

Ace popped up out of the snow mounds, spitting a mouthful out. "Jumping Jaggis...!" he breathed, climbing out of the snow properly. The cavern they were in was actually pretty incredible looking, but it took a back seat to regrouping after that experience. What could have caused the cave to collapse like that? All the combined weight of the group and their vehicle? Ace craned his neck up to see where they'd fallen from and could not tell how far down they were. 

"I'm al-stalacright over here!" he called back when he heard Heismay ask after everyone's status. He wasn't in a good position to be able to see all of the others, but he looked around at them too while wading through the snow he began to pick up what he could find of his belongings. One silver lining was that they didn't fall too far away from his landing spot. 

It was long before Heismay shouted out to them again, warning them of the impending battle. As the danger got closer Ace was able to hear the sound of them rushing towards them too, and when the horde appeared he hadn't had the time yet to properly gather everything - but Ace was still able to fight, even limited to the weaponry not packed into his backpack.

Glyphids swarmed into the hollow and around everyone, and the first that leapt at Ace found itself with a series of deep slashes ripped through its front. The matched Frilled Claws, the dual blades he'd been waiting to get the chance to use, were held tight in the hunter's hands. The bug frost bug fell and was quickly replaced by two more, and Ace spun to slash along the length of their bodies as well. While it was true that fighting hordes this huge was not exactly the Cadet's forte, but he wasn't fighting it alone - around the area the other Seekers had all burst into action as well. Besides, a speedy weapon like the dual blades would be just fine for handling this. Rather than get bogged down and cornered with a slow one or trying to block with a shield, the superior maneuverability would help him avoid the neopterans sharp arms and teeth. 

Ace kicked up snow as he whirled through his section of the battlefield, not impeded in the slightest. He was proficient with the weapons, but it had been honestly been a long time since he'd wielded dual blades seriously. They were his master's preferred hunting weapons and were among the first he'd mastered himself, but after switching out so often the Cadet tended to favor others. So it took a few close calls -and some failed evades- to really get back into the groove. The glyphids' claws had torn shallow cuts into him while he learned their weak points, but after that each one that met the wrong side of his blades was put down swiftly with a strong stab or few slices to their heads. 

There were so many neopterans in general, but there were also a lot of different types all rushing in to defend what had to be part of their nesting grounds. The grunts that were most prevalent, along with much faster and slimmer versions that tended to swarm close together, were thankfully not as durable as they looked. Their more armored cousins were a different story, with enough bulk around their forelimbs that they could deflect blows and protect their fleshy faces. 

After glancing off of one of the bulkier glyphid's chitinous armor plating, Ace backed off to prepare for the follow up attack he was sure was coming. The guard grunt lurched forward but stumbled, collapsing into the snow when the dual blades' built in sedative took effect. It breathed, obviously still alive, and considering the weapons' source it wasn't difficult to put together what had happened.

"Out like an Espinas, huh?" A few more of the smaller glyphids charged in, losing their prey momentarily as Ace dove into the cover of the snow and rolled into a crouch with the blades readied at his sides, springing forward to dispatch them with a swift series of slashes. He looked back to the slumbering one, still asleep even after its brethren had scuttled around it or jumped over it. Its head was exposed, so the hunter wasted no further time in killing that one too, practically a freebie now.

Ace continued to fight through the swarm, gradually making his way closer to his companions. He hadn't seen the boss yet and wasn't sure if she'd been pinned down under the glyphids or the snow itself, but it'd be hard to look for her in the midst of all of this. He kept an eye out but instead he prioritized the enemies that he could see, making his way over whenever he could to help rid them of the more troublesome enemies with the combination of aggressively quick blade work and applied sleep status effect.
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