A new Hunter on the Block [Open]

[Ruin]

Day 72 of Summer, AV 510 Time: Dusk

It was obnoxious. Ruin, the self-proclaimed King of the Zith found himself shifting his head repeatedly, each sound of the ever lively Jungle catching his attention. Every insect rattling, every bird fluttering in the nearby treetops, sometimes just above him, sometimes hundreds of paces away. The Zith sat quietly on the large branch, his large dark brown furred wings wrapped comfortably around his body as he watched, listened waited. What was he waiting for? A hunter. It wasn't often a predator hunted another predator, especially in their environment, but the Zith had a problem. The Sea of Grass proved to be too easy, boring, unchallenging. He heard of rumors from a few, long passed, captives of his that Myrians of the Jungles were 'formidable'. Ruin didn't know the word, at least not spoken in the common tongue, but he figured it to mean strong, since the rest of the story pointed towards it. The Zith had to see it for himself though. Since he was the ultimate hunter, he thought, he had to prove it in every region of the world. Falyndar was the first on his list.

[Corvo]

Another day, another obnoxiously loud group of parrots that don't know when to shut there damned beaks. Besides the parrots and the occasional snake this trip into the jungle had been a pleasant one. He tended to go on long outings into the jungle when he had free time. The pratical excuse was that it kept him deeply familiar with the terrain, which it did, but the real reason was that it was relaxing. He knew where to go and how to get there. He avoided the territory of the larger and more fearsome predators for the most part, but with sunset coming navigation would be far more difficult and make him easier prey for one of the nocturnal predators that dared to rear its ugly head.

He moved swiftly throughout the jungle at an extreme pace and only stopped to cut down large and overgrown weeds that got in his way. Corvo had stopped for the briefest moment to examine one of the slashes he had made with his blade upon a large grove of vines. It was a crude and jagged thing, barely befitting a Myrian warrior, but it wasn’t as if he had much practice with the gauntlet blade. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he was simply making excuses for himself.

He had ample time to train with the thing, but the allegiance to the ways of his clan had made him hesitant at best and had overridden the common sense of learning another style of combat. “Bah.” He had dallied to long and time was of the essence. Fleet feet had eventually brought him to a small clearing, something was wrong though. The pouring rain had masked some of the more natural sounds of the jungle, but the ever present sounds of insects looking for something to leech from was almost non existent. Instincts kicked in, small and quiet steps moved him ever further into the clearing, and there he spotted…it? A winged beast, two legs, two arms, and something that told Corvo he should kill it rather quickly. He glanced downward and there it lay. A large fist size rock that was just perfect for hurling. He bent down and picked it up as quick as was possible and then proceeded to aim for the back of the creatures skull and lobbed it at him.

[Ruin]

The rock was hurled at a nice pace, but unfortunately for the Myrian, his abilities in throwing large solid object was rather insignificant. Myri, however, must have blessed the wandering Myrian because the rock flew true, and the Zith, dazed and confused, hit the ground with a soft THUMP! in a matter of seconds. The winged creature, though dizzy, stood up, shrugging off the blow well enough to stand. He gazed around the area, listening intently as his ears picked up the sound he craved. The heartbeat, the steady slow breathing. This man either did not know what he was faced against, or was foolish enough not to be afraid. Ruin smirked as he slowly turned. He would make him regret that soon enough. Upon instinct, the Zith's wings expanded, ready to take flight in a vicious bullet-like charge towards the Myrian hunter, but he found his wings met by tree branch and base, he had no room, not here, for a horizontal flight. Flying upwards, though possible, did not bring him closer to his prey. This would be tricky. The Zith's wings curled up, folding against his back as he slowly walked towards the Myrian. Each passing moment increased the distance between Ruin's advantage, and Corvo's disadvantage. With light slowly fading, Ruin's eyes were becoming more effective as the Myrians, as most races, were becoming limited in their ability. "Myrian..." Ruin's knowledge of the Common tongue was poor, but he knew enough to say that. This was the prey he waited for, and it even attacked first! A hunter indeed. Once he within a dozen paces of the Myrian, the Zith would begin to run, his form would go low, almost like a crouch. The speed on his feet was not impressive, probably because he relied so heavily on his wings that he wasn't sure how to run effectively, another flaw in his poorly thought plan. Regardless, he would charge forward, hurling several vicious swipes from his clawed hands in attempt to gouge eyes, cleave the face, slit the throat. The head was a small target, but never a bad choice if one could get a fair strike in.

[Corvo]

Was that all? Corvo thought as he backed up. This…thing was slow and sluggish on its feet. The strikes were vicious to be sure, but did little if they couldn’t hit. He moved quickly and efficiently, not trying to waste a step. Once the barrage of strikes and swipes had stopped he moved forward himself, charging in silence with teeth barred. He was fast and light on his feet, much more so than the awkward creature that stood before him. He used his speed to his advantage, executing a quick slash aimed at the creature’s torso and dashed back quickly and fell into a defensive stance. He wanted to keep as much distance between himself and the creature as possible. Obviously the neck was the better choice, but he doubted he’d hit such a target so easily. While this beast looked like a humanoid, he had to assume that it was guided by instinct and instinct said to protect the vitals of ones body.

[Ruin]

The Zith watched in mild humiliation at his prey easily moved backwards. If only he had room to fly... Well, there was nothing that could be done about that now, he was here, he had to press forward. Improvise, improvise, what could he do? The man was backing up each time he tried to hit. There, Ruin could get him to back over an extended tree root, maybe into a tree itself. Having the man cornered or even fallen to the ground would surely spill death for the Myrian. Excellent thinking Ruin! The Zith, about to press forward still, saw the man coming in, he was significantly faster (and again Ruin cursed his flightless position), however he also noticed an awkwardness with the weapon. It was like a punch, yet slower, inaccurate. Could it be this hunter was not even a hunter? Ridiculous, the Zith almost lost it at the thought. The Zith waited until the strike was swung, then he stepped closer, past the weapon, putting himself inside of the extended arm, even with the Myrian's lightness on his feet, this would be difficult to avoid. The Zith, with his arms so low and having no room to raise them, and was intent on drawing blood in his anger, thrust his hands forward towards Corvo's abdomen, a piercing stab that would, without a doubt, be painful, probably not lethal, but what did Ruin know? He was a hunter, not a healer. He knew that if he drew blood, his target would weaken. A weakened prey was a dead one.

[Corvo]

Damn! The beast had moved in during his sloppy strike. Maybe there was moe to the creature than just instinct. Was it possible that there was other sentient life within the jungle, besides the dhani, that dared to encroach upon Myrian land? The thought was disturbing in more ways than one. Either these…things were relatively new or they had managed to avoid detection for a very long time avoiding the genocide many other species had faced. He didn’t have much time to react, he pulled back slightly, allowing to stab to connect but minimizing the damage and letting the creature think it had won a small victory. He winced, but refused to let out a cry of pain, showing weakness was simply not done in Myrian society. A vicious smile spread across Corvo’s dark and morbid features. This thing had underestimated him, thinking it could take on a Myrian in such close quarters. It was sorely mistaken. He cocked his head back and with one swift and fluid motion delivered a crushing head but aimed directly at the things forehead, hopefully it would rock him enough to allow Corvo to pull back and come in for the kill.

[Ruin]

Ruin felt his claws rend flesh as his fingers felt the warm moist blood underneath, he grinned, victory. He had proven himself to be the superior hunter in Falyndar. "I knew I was the rightful King." "King?" The Zith coughed out weak common word as his eyes fluttered, trying to both open and close at the same time. Where was he? Trees above him were swirling around, mocking him in their taunting height. They were outstretched, reaching into the sky. They Sky! Ruin had to flee. He made a mistake, too many, he would come back some day, but he could not be here, not now. Ruin stood up as hie wings expanded, straight up, the Zith soared... For about twelve feet. The wings, fully outstretched, felt a twinge of pain as a tree branch grabbed at him, scratching, blocking, and ultimately throwing the Zith back to the ground. The winged humanoid it the ground, chest first, and released a painful exhale as the wind was ripped from his body. His lungs quivered as he gazed up at the Myrian with blurry eyes. What was this? Fear? It's been so long since Ruin actually felt something so cold as fear. The Myrian, was that what fear looked like? Ruin could only stare. He would not beg, he was a Zith. Lived hard, die young, be fulfilled.

[Corvo]

Corvo watched the creature try and fly away only tumble back to the ground like the insect it was. “King? I think not.” He raised his blade high and brought it down swift and hard upon the creature’s neck, severing its head from its body. “This will look nice mounted on a wall…” He mumbled. The thing didn’t look particularly heavy, but the wings would make carrying the corpse through the jungle unruly at best, thankfully his fang wasn’t far behind him and would be well on there way towards the sounds of combat. Until then, he would simply wait and contemplate what the meat of such a creature tasted like…he had a feeling it would only strengthen his like of fruit though.

FIN

[Rage]

GRANTING OF XP Ruin - (Dead) Unarmed Combat - 1xp Lore: Believing rumors about Myrians Corvo Detection - 1xp Tactics - 1xp Unarmed Combat - 1xp Weapon: Gauntlet Blade - 1xp Weapon: Stone (thrown) - 1xp Lore: Keeping A Zith Grounded in the Jungle Item(s): A Zith's decapitated head Notes: Personally, I think the fight ended too fast but I'll credit that to Ruin letting himself be hit by the stone, even though Corvo has no skill in it (yet). I'll also assume the rock was big enough to scramble his brains that the headbutt later was enough to knock him out. Also, as we've talked about in chat, realistically speaking (and we aim for a certain amount of realism here in Mizahar), it is generally a bad idea to go out into the jungle alone, especially when it's getting dark. But it's good that Corvo mentioned the presence of his fang nearby. There is safety in numbers in the jungle. Just a few things to keep in mind in the future. Anyway, more points would have been give for Unarmed Combat if you guys dragged the fight a bit, but overall this is a good thread to get Corvo's feet wet with the combat system.