Abalathaia Spine Village Reconstruction Project: The First Expedition
Log date: 7/31/18
OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the reader’s enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participant’s knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!
Due to the length of the log, it is instead being linked to an outside location.
OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the reader’s enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participant’s knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!
Tags: @ragizi @wyranimh
Rageant Lacordaire: "Gather around, those among you with the will to serve Gridania this eve."
Hestia De'bayle sighs, reaching up to tug down her turbans mask over her gaze.
Cinnabar Prentice returns! Praise the Sun! A smile speaks well enough to a successful order.
Bruno Suvois asks her as he sets about tying the weapon to his belt. He gives it a few testing tugs, before nodding.
Svana Heart: "Sounds like a call for drinks to me, and aren't those hard to turn down."
Bruno Suvois: "That works! We'll have to figure out a night for it soon, then. Until then, though, duty calls!"
Rageant Lacordaire: "The Elder Seedseer has declared a reward for the adventurers, or in this case the house, who can dispense with a pest that has eluded the Order of the Twin Adders and the Wood Wailers alike. A relatively new gang of cutthroats and vagabonds who go by the "Black Mites;" I'm not certain what's so black about them yet. We're to patrol the roads and see if we can lend our benefactors assistance in the matter; after all, we call their land home."
Svana Heart nods along, keeping a gregarious grin just long enough for Bruno to set upon his task before the more honest, distraught grimace of worry is set free.
Cinnabar Prentice 's head slowly cants aside. An expression of inquiry; confusion; set upon her face as she looks to Hestia... though attention returns to Ragi when he recites the order.
Bruno Suvois: "What're we aiming to do, exactly? Just put on a scary show for them? If they're familiar with the woods, then a band of armored knights trudging through their turf out to be pretty easy to avoid, wouldn't it?"
Rageant Lacordaire: "Mayhap, but their modus operandi seems to be to ambush even well-armed convoys. They're ruthless and territorial, or so it is told. It might be that we'll catch them unawares, as we are more experienced than those who typically wander the roads."
Jacline Kerelle: "Mm, mm. Lotta them caravan guards don't even know how to fight, really. Just strap on a mail shirt and sword, call it a day. Easy money. So I've heard."
Rageant Lacordaire: "We shall go forth without delay." Rageant slung his axe from his back and set the blade in the grass between his feet, gripping the haft in both hands and lowering his head. "We who have gathered this day shall go forth as one and see these roads safeguarded. Fury walk with us, for we are driven by our sense of duty, of which there is nothing higher. Say the words with me and feel their truth within thine blood; Aucun Supérieur."
Hestia De'bayle peers over toward Rageant, before looking out toward the rest of the group as they all spoke amongst one another. A flared sort of breath leaves her as Rageant recites the House's motto, she repeating it out dutifully, "Aucun Supérieur."
Bruno Suvois: "Aucun Supérieur!" repeats with a boisterous tone.
Cinnabar Prentice bows her head and brings close her arm in the house salute for the maxim: "Aucun Superieur." Fuck you, all I can do is ümlauts.
Jacline Kerelle: "Acken Super-roar!"
Jacline Kerelle psychs herself up alongside Rageant Lacordaire!
Bruno Suvois: "I look stupid."
Their patrol began as dusk descended upon the woods, a cold breeze from nearby Coerthas weaving its way through the trees, rustling the leaves, and numbing the cheeks and digits. For an hour their path winded before them until at last something of significance emerged; a wagon, sitting down the road beyond the range of their voices, with its belongings seemingly scattered about the path. Rageant stopped them ere they drew close. "Halt; there's something ahead."
Jacline Kerelle snerks and covers her mouth. "N-no. It's... it looks good! Very, uh.. Round."
"Mm," Hestia lifts her visor, allowing for the group to move forward before her.
Jacline Kerelle seems lost in thought.
Rageant Lacordaire: "Look alive; my eye sight isn't so keen as it was in my youth, but I see something."
Bruno Suvois rolls his shoulders as he marches along, head held high the entire time. His body ached, but he didn't let it show, and he certainly didn't let it slow him down. Thankfully his shoulders were much more comfortable thanks to Vilette's tip.
Jacline Kerelle glances around the trees as she strings her bow with practiced hands. "I see it, too. Looks like a trap, from here, don't it?"
Hestia De'bayle: "The mask I don is built for archers and darkness, I shall reposition to a higher viewpoint."
Cinnabar kept relatively quiet for the travel. They were on a hunt of sorts; it demanded attention. Her ears saw as much as her eyes as they marched along, treading lightly- ere they come to the scene just ahead... Her eyes narrow a touch, scanning high and low nearby, for any signs of presence beyond their own...
"It does seem precarious; we'll wait for Hestia's appraisal. Gods, and I had begun to doubt we'd find anything this eve,” Rageant murmured.
"A trap? What if it's people that need help?" Bruno questioned. "Someone could be hurt up there!"
Hestia sees that there is a single man, an Elezen, sitting among the random junk strewn about. He appears to be sitting on some kind of silver blanket.
"Shh... It, very well could be... You remember the, wagon in La Noscea? In the rose bush, Jac?" Cinnabar asks.
"If they need help, they needed it a long time before we ever got here. Watch the flanks." Jacline cranes her neck, scanning the treetops.
The shell lights up with Hestia’s neutral tone. "I have repositioned. There is what appears to be an Elezen man in the distance sitting upon scattered clutter. Some sort of blanket shimmers beneath him, it holds a silvery hue. I would approach with caution."
Pressing his forefingers to his ear, Rageant gave a nod to the others. "Bruno may be right; we should proceed, albeit it cautiously."
Bruno exhales through his nose. "A silver blanket? What could that be?"
"I shall keep watch over the area and keep my arrows ready if needed."
Cinnabar’s brow dips for the words from her pearl. "Mh... Silver... blanket..?"
"We'll soon see, for speculating may do us no good." Rageant turned and waved to Hestia, gesturing toward the scene she'd survey as if to signal their intentions, and then made the approach.
Jacline answers him with a quirk of an eyebrow and a shrug of a shoulder, then spreads out to their flank to advance on the site while keeping an eye out.
Bruno does the same, scrambling up the hill on the right side, moving cautiously and keeping an eye out around the trees.
Jacline hunkers down next to a tree, watching from the undergrowth.
"Thank the Gods," the Wildwood Elezen opened immediately, rising to a kneel and then a stand. From the looks of it he was a tailor - uncut cloth and rugs were strewn about the dirt, virtually none remaining where they presumably belonged in his chocobo drawn wagon - the chocobo, too, was missing. "Bandits," he sputtered immediately "They've gone and run me of my merchandise." The coast seeming clear, Rageant offered no response but instead waved to the two lingering on the periphery of the site.
With the wave given, Cinnabar rises from her crouch at treeside, approaching with eyes a-scanning the surroundings; the scattered goods and the like…
Bruno trotted forward, coming up behind Rageant. "Did you see which way they went?"
"No," said the Elezen, who raised his arms and began raving. "They gave me a whack and ran off with my goods and my steed." His gesticulating was peculiar, as if he was a stage performer attempting to impress with his words.
"Gave you...a whack?" Bruno questioned.
Jacline sniffs and glances down the road the way they came. "As bandits're wont to do, eh. Must be some tracks or somethin'..."
"Aye, with the blunt end of a spear, he did." The Elezen whistled loudly, in the manner of one who had seen something spectacular and was at a loss for words. He then began rubbing his head as if the blow were fresh. "Aye, was a right good blow, too." He whistled once more.
Bruno gives the man a skeptical look. However, he'd leave it for now and instead turn his attention to the wagon itself, moving over to get a closer look around it, and inside of it.
With the mention of chocobo, Cinnabar’s eyes take to the road... fresh tracks... droppings... feathers... all would aid, just as much as her question. "... I am, pained for your loss, sir... Have, any come this way, before us? Ere you were, attacked? Any which, you are aware, for?"
Jacline quirks her mouth at the man. "Musta left quite the bump, huh? Mind if I take a look, make sure you're okay? I'm a healer, by trade."
The man appeared nervous now, perhaps by Cinnabar's line of questioning. Bruno could find some few of the rugs not been removed from the wagon; too heavy for the effort perhaps. "I err... yep, a real big bump. No need, no need, I'm sure I'll be fine. Uhh, what did you ask again, you spectacularly tall woman, you?" As he spoke, the man lifted a nearby fallen bough, a small enough branch that he could begin tying a black piece of cloth to it.
"Have any others, passed through?" Cinnabar reiterates, eyes abandoning the road in favor of the man... Her brow quirked, with that response. Eyeballing his cloth-tying motions... She takes greater account, now, of what the man wears…
More suspicious, now, Jacline casually circles around to his rear, keeping an eye on his hands as she cuts off the easiest escape route. "Really must insist," she says, louder. "Let us check your wound. Man gets hit that hard, he's got somethin' nasty to show for it. Unless, of course, he's lyin'." For emphasis, Jacline draws one of her long daggers and taps it against her thigh.
"Oh, right, you know I'm not sure come to think of it," replied the man cryptically. He was garbed poorly in a drab tunic and trousers, dirtied by the elements - not exactly the finery one would expect of a merchant who traded in cloth and materials. As Jacline approached, he raised one hand defensively. "Hold on, now, what're you going to do with that?!" His other hand was, curiously, waving his brand new makeshift flag to and fro. Sweat bead upon his brow despite the bitter cold.
Hestia spots some figures encroaching slowly, stealthily, from the northeast using the trees and underbrush as cover.
"What, this?" Jacline holds up her knife, giving it a flip and turning it this way and that, so he can watch the light gleam off its edge. "Just lettin' it breathe. You like breathin', don't ya?"
“Oh for crying out loud..." Bruno sighs, turning on the man. Lacking any hesitation whatsoever, he'd raise a fist and aim to crash it against the side of his head.
"Attention," Hestia voice rang again, "an undetermined number of figures are approaching from the northeast. They are using the shroud of the trees and nearby foliage for cover by the looks of it. If they grow close, I will shoot a warning shot."
Cinna's eyes widen, taken by the man's motions- she looks around, then reaches to press right to her ear--
Rageant's posture changed visibly at Hestia's warning, and just as Bruno clocked the man, sending him tumbling to the ground - not unconscious, but reeling in pain. "Ah, what'd you go and do that for?" He'd dropped his flag now and laying on the ground he, too, seemed privy to the change in demeanor. His immediate course of action - scramble to his silver blanket, or what was more closely identifiable as a blanket made of chainmail. "About bloody time," he cried.
"Remain calm, scouts and rely on one another. This situation is still within our control."
A singular, distant "wark!" echoes through the wood. One of the birds chased off the man's wagon? Unlikely, given that it sounds from the south of the trail already passed....
Hestia's warning had come just in time; the figures in the woodland emerged, more than a dozen, charging closer to the scene and raising their shortbows to nock arrow and loose their volley upon the patrol. To their fortune, that upper hand was robbed them by Hestia's scouting. They loosed their arrows, certainly, but not before the gap could be closed or cover could be taken.
"Black... Mites. Black Flag..." Cinnabar turns her attention northbound along the trail- taking but a moment ot gather her bearings; hand upon her weapon and hairs standing on end with attention. "En garde... En garde," she repeats; firm and audible to the others in company.
From her position above, Hestia fires more than just a warning shot. Aiming at one of the on-coming figures that threatened her companions, the woman let loose an arrow into one of the mens chest.
Jacline sneers and rushes to intercept the man going for the 'blanket', aiming a kick square at his face as he reaches down! So much for playing!
"En garde!" she reiterates, had any not heard! Her halberd in hand, she aims the business-end forth; core firm and arms tensed as springs as she moves to intercept the reinforcements.
Bruno curses as the arrows come flying. He'd duck behind the wagon for cover, and struggle for a moment to draw his sword and shield. He hangs back for now, waiting to see how the others fare before he chooses his course of action.
Not quite as expedient as hoped, Svana at last reveals her change of heart and attire. Astride an overworked porter's chocobo that already grows anxious to the sight and tension of the scene she charges into the fray, leaping with the selfsame reckless vigor as she did untrained in joust. Drawing steel in midair she leaves the panicking bird to flee and closes the few yalms yet to the archers with a howl of laughter!
Rageant rushed into the fray alongside Cinnabar, but their assault was met by lancers who braced their spears and prevented them from being able to engage the archer force. Svana's unexpected attack however allowed her to break into their line, sinking her steel into an archer and incapacitating them. All the while another of their numbers were felled by a soaring arrow that came from the silent woods.
Meanwhile, Jacline had successfully driven her boot into the side of the batman's head, and he fell limp before he could take his cover.
Their line broken by Svana, a half dozen lancers paired off and engaged the three melee combatants with their spears, attempting to pierce their flesh and drive them back.
Jacline gives the downed bateman a second kick in the face for good measure. Then the arrows come, one nearly catching her in the neck as it thwips through the fur at her collar, a few more thunking into the wagon. With a grimace and a curse, the elezen ducks behind cover and returns fire at the back line!
Rageant charged his pair of foes, whipping his axe in a frenzied horizontal slice that caught one of the lancers on the stomach, drew blood, and sent him doubling over onto his knees. His armor absorbed the brunt of the other lancer's glancing assault, whom he turned to address next.
Cinnabar Prentice's attack was stifled by the barrage of arrows. Nothing managing to penetrate her layers of armor just yet. Seems they might have opted to assail the largest target they could spot, first... Typical. Even so, she intercepted successfully with the others; thrusting and chopping at the frontline- working to keep them at a distance!
Bruno stands once there's a break in the arrows. The adrenaline starts to kick in, making his blood warm up. He charges forward with a yell, into the line of lancers, managing to bat their weapons aside with his shield before he'd shoulder tackle one to the ground, and make to bash his head with the shield.
Not stopping an instant even as the line reforms in her wake, Svana becomes a winding trail of steel and mocking laughter. The two lancers contesting her are met with an unrelenting pressure of false-starts and feints to draw out useless reprisals. All but dancing around them she slips through the threat with a pair of arcing slices and hounds the retreating bowmen in turn.
Some bowmen frantically nocked their arrows in shivering hands, while others broke rank and fled at the sight of their combined assaults and their falling comrades. The lancers, embroiled as they were, pressed their impotent assault upon the Bayle fighters, though their numbers had dwindled such that they no longer outnumbered them - and Jacline's unfortunate victim was out and unconscious straight away.
She's on fire! Jacline jabs a handful of arrows into the dirt, then kneels and fires one after another, unleashing a one-woman volley on the shaken archers.
Bruno stands from his unconscious target, turning as another drops their bow and charges him with a shortsword. He blocks with his shield, chuckling. This shield served him far better than the kite shield did. Another tip from Vilette paying off. He skips forward, bringing a heavy kick down on the man's knee, breaking it backwards and sending him to the ground screaming and holding it. Another bandit is soon upon him, slashing at him with an axe. The first blow clips him, scraping his mail, before he parries a second, and then a third with his sword. He thrusts it forwards on instinct, and impales the adversary through the chest. Bruno tenses up, his heart skipping a beat as he lowers the dying man to the ground. He releases the hilt of the weapon, standing up. He looks around with a blank stare, watching as the others continue their fights.
Clink! Clack! Rip! Arrrgh! As the enemy falls, Cinnabar's advance presses forth, swallowing the remainder as the lower jaw to Svana's upper in the formation, swallowed by Bruno and Ragi... Jac? Jac was the tongue. Licky lick, slurp poke, delicious~... While most of Cinna's attacks maimed, she didn't seem keen to pursue the coup de grace on any who were unwilling to fight, from there on... Taking to defense, and scanning around for any actual threats- eye on those laid low besides.
With as many targets near at hand, none of them yet armed to ward off a close-in foe, Svana makes short work of the bandits that do not scatter quickly enough from the pursuit. Wasteless at first, hamstrings, throats, her violence becomes ever more cinematic as the final marks are made with the rest maimed or fled. In a show of excess she lets the last man draw a knife and make his defense, all but humiliating him with petty counters and persistent evasion.
With uncanny accuracy, Jacline's arrows find more marks than not, evident by the shrieks and cries. The ones that don't end up curled dying on the ground are limping or running into the trees in full rout. Hurray!
With a falling swipe of his axe, the end of his foe's lance was severed, a prelude to what awaited them. He threw his weight forward, his stocky build advantageous for doubling his foe over and brought the haft of his weapon between the foe's legs, lifting him over the Miqo'te's own back and hurling him to the ground where a final unceremonious chop parted the aggressor from his head. By now, the entirety of the attacking mob had been killed or incapacitated (but for Svana's plaything).
Even as the sounds of fighting died down around him, Bruno still just...stood there. He looked down at the deceased man who still had his sword lodged in his chest. Bruno's face looked pale, and his hands shook at his sides.
Once it's clear there's no more arrows coming her way, Jacline sets her bow aside and goes to rifle through the bateman's pockets, if he had any. Then she checks the mail shirt to see if it's her size!
<Hestia De'bayle> "Status report of everyones condition?"
Beckoning the knife-swinging-slasher with a free hand and a winded scoff even as he fights on to the brink of exhaustion and panic, she steps aside as he lunges forward in a desperate last-ditch effort to close the distance and outdo her weapon's reach... only to find that same blade at his ankle with her step aside, by its flat, as he trips and careens off the small ledge behind her.
<Rageant Lacordaire> "Bruised from an arrow hitting my chainmail but fully intact."
<Jacline Kerelle> "No holes I didn't have already! What're we doin' with the survivors?"
<Hestia De'bayle> "All apprehended personnel are to be brought to the Twin Adders nest for interrogation."
"Poor sods hadn't the faintest they were up against a gladiator." Rageant murmured.
Quiet... Relative quiet... Nothing was visible above them- around. Cinnabar was breathing hard, but steady through flared nostrils. The trembling of her hands in the adrenal rush was only noticeable once she stowed her weapon and began to settle, eyes around the fallen... She counts those who are still squirming...
<Cinnabar Prentice> "M-milady, they are numerous; wounded... some gravely... m-might we hail the, Wailers, to aid in, their return?"
Grin just a bit too cheery not to be wicked with flecks of blood scattershot across her pristine white coat, Svana quips along to that assessment, "Giving them the runaround works best when they expect discipline and rigor. Nobody'd see me in a uniform."
<Hestia De'bayle> "Yes. I will see that they are fetched to assist in the transport. Standby until then."
"I must say, I am glad I did not have to do this alone; I may've fallen prey to their trap, clumsy and slow-sprung as it was. I'll take it from here, and see that they're all given to the Twin Adder's custody. You should return to the Dawn Vigil for rest; or whatever it is you do after a battle." Rageant noted to them all.
"Bruno... Are, you injured?" Cinnabar queried the lone man of silence- though eyes flicked hastily back toward Jacline first, before finding him catatonic. "... Bruno...?" And... down, to the sword-embedded corpse.
<Hestia De'bayle> "The Wailers from Treespeak Stables are accompanying me back to the location. We shall be there posthaste."
<Cinnabar Prentice> "Aye, aye..."
Jacline takes the time to strip the batman of his shirt, then use it as a makeshift rope to hogtie him in place, then returns to searching the wagon for potential loot. Her size or not, she drapes the chain shirt over one shoulder. That'll surely trade for something good!
Bruno blinks back to life, head raising to look at the others. "Huh? Oh. I, yeah, I'm fine." He swallows heavily, trying to parch his dry mouth. "Some scrapes...bruises."
Hestia approaches with three Wailers behind her, one of them holding a hand to their ear as they seemingly report back to Gridania. "I will visit the Adders nest myself and offer them a full report of the situation," she declares. "This could potentially put the Shroud on high alert for some time."
With a grin, Jacline gives Bruno a sharp swat on the shoulder. "Heh! First time you ever stick somebody?"
Cinnabar’s still-vibrating hand comes to rest on the man's shoulder, giving the novice a pat of comfort. "... He... Would have, done worse... had he only, managed, before you," she calmly reassures him; eyes locked to his.
"How fare you three?" Hestia inquired.
Bruno looks between them, settling on Jacline. He nods slowly. "Yeah..." Was all he said. "Plenty of fights before, but never...killed anyone before."
"Mh... Shaken, but hale and whole. Mhm." Cinnabar boasted some arrows dangling from the extremities of her chainmaille and underlying padding, but nothing of flesh and bone.
Bruno reaches up, tugging the coif down and wiping his sweat-caked forehead.
"Fights for life or death are often the ones that leave their mark the deepest. I mean not to sound melodramatic in saying such, but it is only the truth: tonight will see you a changed man, Suvois. For better or worse. Let us hope it is the former." Hestia consoles.
"Where precisely did you learn to fight like that, Svana?" Rageant asks.
Cinnabar Prentice gives Bruno another pat on his shoulder, ere reaching down... The elezen is spared the gruesome deed of withdrawing steel from the corpse, but neither the unsightly wound it left behind nor the sound thereof. blade grasped behind the guard, the brand is offered pommel first to Bruno to take once more.
Bruno looks to Hestia, and simply nods to her before turning away. "Something to get used to, I guess." He said, his voice evening out a bit as his body calms down. Yet he's lacking the usual cheerful confidence that he usually carries. He takes his weapon back, pulling a cloth from somewhere in his armor to wipe the blood clean.
Jacline clicks her tongue at him and winks. "If they didn't wanna die, they'd stay home, eh? Better them than us." Despite the casual air, the elezen is visibly on edge, and she can't quite hide the tremor in her hand as she relieves her bow of its string to let it rest. She nods and smiles at Hestia, and pats Cinnabar on the arm as she passes. "Gonna get my arrows back. Waste not want not!"
"Understand this as well... Bruno. There is no shame, in sorrow. Even knowing it was either your life or his, it was still a life. Still someone who maybe had a chance to be different. But they did not give you that option. You are not weak for the pain you might feel. You are strong for it." Hestia insists.
Cinnabar Prentice jerked at the pat- clearly on edge a bit herself! But she's quick to shine a smile and nod to the dusky elezen!
With her eyes first to the scene down below Rageant's question stirs Svana along to a distracted and belated answer, "...Hm? Oh, damn good question. Couldn't tell you precisely. Somewhere between Hingashi and Sharlayan." Useless as that is she's quick to clarify, "That wasn't fighting though, mostly. Bandits, thugs, even hard ones like these... They'll lose to even numbers in trained hands, every time. This-... More of a show, really."
"...Right. Thanks, Hestia. I knew it was going to happen someday. After all, man or beast, blood's going to have to be spilled if we want to protect the good folks of this world. Probably better that it happened so suddenly,” Bruno murmured.
"Halone smiles upon you, Bruno. She understands the squall of your heart, and will help see it mended in time. Often, death is a mercy. Some are too lost to be saved," stepping forward, she offered the man a firm. comforting pat on the arm before turning and walking away.
"That doesn't exactly answer my question but I get the point. Aye, untrained rabble the lot of them, hoping for easy killings by my reckoning, they'd planned to pelt their own with arrows if that chain blanket is any indication." Rageant lowered his axe's blade so it hovered just over the grass, giving it a swift twist that shook the blood loose from its mythril edge.
".... Was there not a, chocobo?" Cinnabar blinks, looking back up the hill again, whence the bandits came.
"Yeah...Well, either way," Bruno turned to Cinnabar. "Thanks for the concern. "Today came as a bit of a shock, yeah, but I'm glad to have been surrounded by friends during the ordeal."
"If there was, it more than likely has long but run away. Cinnabar, Rageant, Bruno. I am returning to the estate and wish to see you three in my office once you return. Madame Kerelle. Svana. Excellent work as well." Hestia calls out toward them.
“You shouldn't go off by yourself, Dame de Bayle. Do you want me to accompany you?" Bruno asks.
Jacline flits from one body to the next, relieving the living and dead alike of their arrows. Along with any pocket-sized valuables they might have been wearing. There's a shrill cry as she yanks the earring out of one man's ear, only to discover he was still alive. "Ahh! Eheh.. sorry," she mutters, pocketing the trinket. Then takes the arrows out of his quiver to claim as her own. That'll save time making more later!
Hestia offers him a wordless stare, it masked behind her hawk-like visage. "I can assure you, I will be fine on my own. Thank you for the offer, regardless."
And Cinnabar blinks back to Bruno, giving another warm, if odd smile! "Mh! I... I remember the, first time I had need to... dispatch, another... I, do not care to... Kill. If, it is. Is not with need." She nods softly,. then looking to Hestia. She gives a slow nod of affirmation. "Mh... A-aye, Dame..."
Raising her weapon in a brash salute, Svana returns Hestia's praise with a chuckle, "Fast as I could get back, not quite as quick or clear as those arrows. Practicing more than a lance I see."
"An old lesson from that of my instructor. He always ensured I was well rounded. I had not much use of my old bow, but now incapable of wielding my lance, it has become far more useful." Hestia responds.
“Alright then...Just worried about there being more, is all. After all if I was them, I'd be hungry for payback right about now." Brunk adds.
“I can't land an arrow worth a damn. Depth perception issues and all that." Rageant responds with tempered jest.
Hestia snorts some. "My humblest condolences, Rageant," she reaches a hand to tap her mask. "Hawk-eye goggles. They help with viewing more than what the naked eye can see alone. Very useful for archers. I wish to have them made for any ranged units the House employs."
Bruno looks down at the life he'd ended, considering it closely. He couldn't deny the way it made his stomach turn, but he mentally steeled himself and told himself to get over it. It worked, for the most part. "Is it weird that I kind of wish I knew his name?"
Jacline returns to the group, her quiver positively bursting with new and used arrows. "We really gotta find a better class of bandit," she says, pointing a thumb over her shoulder. "Don't think these guys ever seen gold before."
"Mh... I, suppose they'll have, no such chance, now." Cinnabar shakes her head, smiling to Jacline. Something of pride in it, for the arrow-slinger's prowess!
"His name will not bring you comfort, Bruno. It will only bring you remorse forever more. You are better off." Hestia assures.
"I have to head back. Well-fought, Svana. Or rather, good show." Rageant says.
"I am taking my leave as well. Forget not my request for your presence," Hestia says without further remarks, turning to march away.
OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the reader’s enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participant’s knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!
Due to the length of the log, it is instead being linked to an outside location.
OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the reader’s enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participant’s knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!
Due to the length of the log, it is instead being linked to an outside location.
Scholar! Grant me the understanding and wisdom to continue on my path. All of us. As this pilgrimage comes to a close, so much has changed. It is through your river that we shall come out anew, our once blissful ignorance shaken. The more knowledge I gain, the more I am certain I know nothing.
The Knighting of Cinnabar Prentice and Rageant Lacordaire
Log date: 9/11/18
OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the reader’s enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participant’s knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!
Tags: @ragizi
Hestia De'bayle: "Welcome everyone, to this glorious ceremony. Tonight we will be welcoming two new knights under the Bayle banner. In sun's gone by, there have existed many recognized for their skill and honor, thus allowing their proper induction into the Temple Knights or the Order of the Knights Dragoon. In the service of their Lord Commander, and in the defense of the noble ideals of chivalry embodied in the very Holy See, did these orders achieve their exalted rank. Tonight we shall bestow upon two worthy squires, that same mantle, under the service of House de Bayle as a vassal. The Viscountess now calls upon Cinnabar Prentice and Rageant Lacordaire to come before the Court of the House, and their company.”
Rageant Lacordaire climbed upon the dais after Cinnabar, lowering himself into a kneel.
Carina De'bayle: “Prentice. Lacordaire. Have you undertaken to accept the accolade of Knighthood that was offered to you through your outstanding performance in trial against the Lord Inferno himself, along with your loyal service to this House?”
Cinnabar Prentice: Cinnabar, lips pursed and eyes focused upon the viscountess: "I do..."
Rageant Lacordaire: "Aye, by honor and by my sense of duty do I accept."
From behind, Hestia held on one arm two white sashes, and in the other a small case that contained two crisply minted chains; the Ishgardian coat of arms. Stepping to the side and turning toward Carina, she offered the case forward first.
Carina De'bayle: “These chains have passed from knight-to-knight throughout the ages within the Holy See. Let them now pass from knight-to-knight once more.” After showing them the chains for some moments, she returns back to Hestia for the time being. Unsheathing her sword next, that of the Fury, she set its blade in her other hand and out toward the duo.
Rageant Lacordaire: Rageant extended an armor-clad hand, offering up his sum of strength to support the blade as bidden.
Cinnabar Prentice: In kind, a bronzed gauntlet raises to cusp the blade from below, lending her aid in the blade's support.
Carina De'bayle: “Cinnabar Prentice. Rageant Lacordaire. You both have been deemed fit for this high estate by your peers, and have indicated your willingness to accept this honor from our hands. Do you now swear by all that you hold sacred, true, and holy that you will honor and defend the House, the Holy See of Ishgard and all of Hydaelyn when called upon?”
Cinnabar Prentice: Cinnabar bows her head once. "I shall."
Rageant Lacordaire: "By my honor, I shall."
Carina De'bayle: “That you will honor, defend, and protect those weaker than yourself?”
Cinnabar Prentice: And twice. "I shall."
Rageant Lacordaire: "I shall."
Carina De'bayle: “That you will be courteous and honor your peers?”
Cinnabar Prentice: Thrice, for certainty. "I shall."
Rageant Lacordaire: "I shall."
Carina De'bayle: “That you will conduct yourself in all matters as befits your peers, drawing your sword only for just cause? That you will enshrine in your heart the noble ideals of chivalry to the benefit of your own good name and the greater glory of Hydaelyn and our Fury?
Cinnabar Prentice: "By the Fury, and our Twelve... By mine own, good name. For, the folk of Ishgard, and Hydaelyn over. I shall."
Rageant Lacordaire: "In Halone's name, and to honor the Father Isarn Lacordaire, I shall."
Lifting the sword from their supportive hold, Carina turns slowly to offer the blades hilt out toward Alleria, awaiting her to accept it.
Alleria Surlaint: Steps forward taking the blade with her right hand she lifts the blade slightly pointing it outward past the two kneeling.
Carina De'bayle: “Then having sworn these solemn oaths, know now that I, Carina de Bayle, by right of arms, Viscountess under House Fortemps, do dub you with our sword and by all that you hold sacred, true, and holy. Once for honor… twice for duty... and thrice for chivalry.” Carina sets her hand onto Alleria's shoulder as the Knight-Captain proceeds in the knighting.
Alleria Surlaint: lowers the blade just above Cinnabar's shoulder first over her right side, then left and then hovers the blade just above the woman's right shoulder once more.
They moved over toward Rageant. "Once for honor… twice for duty... and thrice for chivalry.”
Alleria Surlaint lowers the blade just above Rageant's shoulder first over his right side slightly tapping his large shoulder pad, then left and then hovers the blade just above the man's right shoulder once more.
Carina De'bayle: “Arise, Ser Prentice and Ser Lacordaire!”
Alleria Surlaint brings the sword back with both hands offering to the viscountess.
Carina De'bayle accepts the sword back into her hold, taking its hilt in hand and sheathing it away. Carina proceeds over to Hestia, accepting now the two white sashes she held.
Carina De'bayle accepts the sword back into her hold, taking its hilt in hand and sheathing it away. Carina proceeds over to Hestia, accepting now the two white sashes she held. “Accept this white belt, symbolizing the purity of your honor, the sign of chivalry, and of your knightley rank and station.” Carina takes this time to meticulously tie the belts around both Cinnabar and Rageant's waists. Moving back toward Hestia once more, she took back into her hands the coat-of-arms chains once more, returning to hold them out before her in a similar fashion from the beginning. “Accept from our hands this chain, passed from knight-to-knight, for each knight is a link in the honor of Ishgard. It symbolizing your fealty to Fury and Kingdom. Take this chain and swear.”
Rageant Lacordaire: "I am by all rights an outsider to Ishgard, and so I am honored to be recognized thusly, by my merit, o honorable and faithful people of Ishgard. Therefore, on this day I do declare my fealty to my sovereign by right of arms, the Lord Commander Aymeric de Borel, to the Lord Fortemps, and to the Viscountess de Bayle - who will, from this day and ever forward, be my Liege Lord and Lady. I will remain true in all ways, serving them faithfully - this do I swear, by my belt and chain and by my honor - and by the high ideals which I hold as a Knight to this Realm. So sayeth I, Ser Rageant Lacordaire." Rageant holds his offered chain in both hands, offering his oath as he holds it upright.
Cinnabar Prentice: With the chain in hands, the roegadyn smiles first to Rageant, ere to Carina. “This sun, do I, render homage, and fealty, to my sovereign by right of arms, Lord Commander Aymeric de Borel, Lord Fortemps and Viscountess de Bayle. Who will, from this sun forward, be my Liege, Lord, and Lady. I will remain true in all ways, serving oath, faithfully. This, do I swear… by my belt and chain, and by my honor and by these high ideals, which I hold as a Knight, of this Realm...”
Cinnabar Prentice: “So sayeth I... Ser Cinnabar Prentice.”
Carina De'bayle: “We accept your homage and fealty and pledge to you that from this day forward until the end of our leadership, that we will honor your order and defend your rights as a peer, and that we will protect the trust that you have placed in us, mighty with justice, tempered with mercy.” Carina holds the chains high, it being release from the duos grasp as she set one chain over her wrist and held the other in both hands. “Accept these chains, which shall symbolize your duty and your bond as a liegeman in fealty to the Holy See of Ishgard. Never forget the burden of this chain.”
Rageant Lacordaire: The Miqo'te bows his head so that Carina may bestow upon him the chain.
Unclipping the chain, Carina works it around the Miqo'te neck. Once properly set, she moved toward the towering Roegadyn woman.
Cinnabar Prentice: The roegadyn takes a knee before the viscountess to accept her decoration.
Offering Cinnabar the same treatment as she clips the chain on, Carina steps back into her previous position before Alleria and Hestia.
Hestia De'bayle: "For Ser Prentice and Ser Lacordaire! HIP, HIP...!"
Jancis Milburga lets out a cheer.
Jacline Kerelle cheers Cinnabar Prentice on and claps for Rageant Lacordaire.
Lionnet Blodoint congratulates Rageant Lacordaire and Cinnabar Prentice.
Jacline Kerelle: "HOORAY!"
Hestia De'bayle: "And thus, the ceremony of Ser Prentice and Ser Lacordaire comes to a conclusion. We thank you all for bearing witness to such a glorious event."
Jancis Milburga claps.
Hestia De'bayle: "If you all wish to celebrate, we may all return to the estate to feast in the bakery!"
Cinnabar Prentice agrees wholeheartedly with Jacline Kerelle.
OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the reader’s enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participant’s knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!
Due to the length of the log, it is instead being linked to an outside location.
OOC Note: The text in these logs are strictly for the reader’s enjoyment. Anyone using the knowledge displayed within this text without the participant’s knowledge risks the potential of blacklisting from future communication and roleplay. Please do not meta-game!
Tags: @ragizi
On Hestia's latest arrival to the Dawn Vigil, the familiar din of Rageant's clattering armor approached from her flank as he arrived in the foyer from the bakery and offered her a curt nod in greeting. His hands were at his sides and one held parchment in its steel-clad grip...
...The Miqo'te accompanied his nod of greeting with a nearly emotionless... "Hestia," though in the urgent tone of a man on a mission.
"Hmm?" Turning her head from where she stood collecting her batch of missives, Hestia offered Rageant her attention. "Yes, Rageant? What might you need?"
"A companion, most like," he said. He set his dark brown eye upon Hestia's own and raised his right hand, which bore the parchment, into view for emphasis. "At last; a commission worthy of interest. A notorious monster."
"A notorious monster was listed on the board?" Hestia asks with some instant concern, tucking the letters she had under her arm for the time being.
"Yes," and he gave the parchment a small wave as if to punctuate his point. "I've seized it ere someone more reckless could acquire it; t'would seem the Order of the Twin Adder is desperate that an adventurer may put down a giant boar terrorizing the southern reaches of the Twelveswood. Dispatching such beasts is my specialty."
"Good gracious, they never learn! I have told them that S ranked beasts are not permitted on the board!" She moves toward him, taking the page into her hands to review over. "You wish for my assistance in removing this? I mean, it would be an easy job for the two of us. Truly I would take on more notorious monster quests if I was a monster hunter. But alas, I am a dragonslayer, one whose job see's little light. If you wish for my spear, I shall offer it."
The leaflet was crisp in her grip, freshly penned in the familiar fonts and bearing the Twin Adder's seal.
By order of the Seedseer, the Order of the Twin Adder hereby declares a bounty on the enormous wild boar known to the Sylph as "Phaia." A reward of five-thousand gil will be bestowed upon the party which brings proof of the beast's demise.
Further details and an illustration of the beast accompanied the text, including a signature from a high-ranking officer. Rageant spoke up after offering Hestia some time to examine the note. "I have seen thee firsthand in battle and know the task suits you; it would be best not to allow thy skills to taper, especially with motherhood upon the horizon. Pray join me in tracking this beast, then; a trek which may take some few days, as the Twelveswood is untamed in its fringes. Ah, but alas, I must needs purloin a chocobo from thy stables.”
"I could not be more honoured, Keeper," Hestia nodded, offering the sheet back toward Rageant. "And your words ring true. When do you wish to participate in such an excursion? I can have myself armoured and readied at any given time. I will also need speak to the Adders on not pinning such dangerous ranks on our board, but I doubt they will stop. At least they must first be approved."
"We should depart at dawn, that we may be well rested. Soon is by mine reckoning the ideal, for 'tis incumbent upon us to see this business done ere this beast brings harm to anyone else. I am duty-bound to aid the needful and weak, and none-too-particular about which such needful need be thusly aid."
"As you say. I shall be sure to have my armour more appropriately fitted in the meantime," she shifts her weight, "thank you, by the way. For asking that I accompany you. I fear in my current state, many are already brushing me aside as though I am completely helpless and unable to hold my own. All because I carry my children close. A warrior can hold anyone in protection while fighting for the greater good, this changes nothing."
Huffing out, Hestia pulled the missives out once more. "I many need your help with something as well, in the coming suns. Though details on such are yet to be seen. I will inform you when I am made more aware."
"I am ever at thy beck, o Fury of mine," affirmed Rageant with somewhat of a ceremonious bow, chastened somewhat by the cry of his shifting armor. He departed the foyer shortly thereafter, most likely headed for the barracks where the squire yet did reside each passing night if he wasn't keeping nocturnal hours.
Come dawn he stood rested in the courtyard alongside a yellow-plumed chocobo from the stables, his axe upright in his left hand with its sizable head and vicious mythril blade gleaming in the morning sun. He wore his godly namesake in armor, the Armor of Althyk or so he unimaginatively dubbed it, and a white cloak draped his shoulders with a golden trim and a hood drawn over his oily black mane such that his ears ever so slightly splayed it. In his right hand he clutched the reins of his chocobo which itself bore laden saddlebags - supplies for their journey, one might assume.
Entering onto the estate grounds only moments after the man had readied himself, Hestia stood donning her Drachen attire. Its resplendent byzantium violet hue shimmering with the still infant morning rays and clinging dew. "Good morn, Keeper. I pray your night offered you fitless rest?" She offered in approach. Helm attached to her side for the time being and satchel slung over her shoulder, it could be noted that the leather that typically wrapped the exposed expanse of her abdomen was instead replaced with fitted chainmail.
"I dreamt," replied to Miqo'te, as though the remark was intended to address the lady's inquiry. "You are fit to ride, I trust."
"Did you dream? What of, if I might as? I am well to ride, if the bird is Draught, it will be a smooth journey."
"I'll tell you as we ride," replied the Miqo'te. With his free hand he pulled himself astride his feathered steed, holding his axe across the saddle with the reins in his free hand. "I will not demean you by offering to help you upon your steed."
Requiring little to no effort, Hestia mounted the back of the giant bird with ease. Clawed gauntlets gripping the saddle and lance firmly strapped to her back, she huffed out a breath. "I am ready, onward."
Rageant drew their feathered steed to a brisk and steady gait. He was silent for a time, as if acclimating to the ride and choosing their path with care, but finally he pierced that silence with an answer to Hestia's previously posed question. "I dream often, and of a great many things. I studied the dream when I was among Sharlayan. Its meaning. Its origin. Its purpose. I thought them visions of other worlds and other times, though I realize now that perhaps I don't dream as the ordinary man or woman does."
"Mm. Why is that? Do you have other dreams to compare your own to?" The woman asked in a steady voice as their bird carried them forward through the Shroud. "I often think I too do not have average dreams, but I dream of an entirely different star."
"The ordinary fare, certainly. Sometimes though, I have... vivid and long dreams. Experiences, I would sooner call them. Journeys, even. Your dreams are like mine, I trust. Many stars have I beheld, many peoples. They are... fountains of wisdom."
"Truly? How do you know they venture off onto different stars? Do you find yourself in the shoes of another?" Hestia asks aloud.
"Your guess is on the mark such that it is troubling."
"I would not consider it too troubling. Dreams are often strange and unexplainable,” she assures.
"And ephemeral most of all. They still fascinate me." His eyes drifted toward canopy of boughs above, where shone dapples of golden morning light. "What they are. Why the gods grace us so with these visions. And how to truly listen to them."
"Perhaps I should take better note of mine own. I often consider them dreams of the 'what if' in regards to my time on that other star, but perhaps they are more. Reflections of what could be, rather," Hestia's gaze rose along with the Keepers, wincing as some of the slight poured through onto her face.
"I spoke to thee once of the ancient beast tribe dream magicks I studied in the past, in Sharlayan. 'Twas that magic which opened my mind, which induced these dreams. They are... intoxicatingly real. Oft I question if 'tis the dream, and I've yet awoken. It is a lonesome thing, to live many lives so to speak. The people I've lost, vanished within the lost annals of my mind." His gaze fell road as it bent in every which direction before them. A somber countenance became him and his ears lowered. For a moment he was silent but for his breath.
"I could not imagine. Mine life has only ever been mine to witness. Well... to an extent..." she murmurs quietly, following suit in Rageant's moment of silence as she peered over toward the wyvern that perched ever dutiful on her pauldron.
Their ride took them into the deeper reaches of the Twelveswood, where only the bold may tread. The roads here were not tread by man but by beast, though it suited their chocobo well. The brush was thick and the boughs swung low here, a challenging proposition to navigate but it would seem Rageant had the experience and knew their route well. "Tell me about Nogelle," he stated abruptly, splitting right through the silence just as their road opened up and became more navigable.
Having taken some time to push up any foliage that neared too close to chocobo as they pressed on, Hestia turned her attention back onto the Miqo'te as he eventually spoke up again. "What do you wish to know of him?" She asks in a patient tone.
"Whence we spoke of the struggle I endure with my Beast, your eyes were drawn to Nogelle. There is a connection there, I suspect, and I would like to know more."
"You deserve to know such, as someone I consider my closest confidant," Hestia turns her head toward Nogelle at mention of her stare, the beast glaring back at her. "He is [REDACTED]" She paused, her sight raising once more. "The [REDACTED].” Hestia shakes her head. "But even with that, [REDACTED]."
"So, [REDACTED]... she always did seem out of place," remarked Rageant during Hestia's pause. He listened in silence, the ears that protruded from his mane angled backward where they remained still; attentive. He had reduced their chocobo's pace to a steadier walk that they may converse while navigating the tangled thicket. When she finished, he replied quickly as if he knew already what he meant to say. "Do you worry for your offspring?"
"I want to tell you no. That... Killian and I too every measured necessary to ensure they would be born safely. The same my mother and father took for their second child, my brother. Born safe. I took every precaution. But of course I still worry."
"Steel thyself for what lies ahead. Blessed art thou who bringest new life, in spite of the struggles thusly begotten. That hardship will imbue thy life with meaning."
"More meaning than it might already have. Everything I have gone through. The time stolen. The [REDACTED] and people lost to me... those are nailed to my soul. I cannot forget, and I must make this miserable existence into something extraordinary. I must live, for those who could not."
"Never forget them. They are components of what thou art. Meaning is not something one can have, mayhaps, but what one pursues. And as we pursue it, so long as our heading is sure, we grow and we become better. Would that our lives lasted forever, that we might see just how we can go. Live, then, for what you so choose, but watch as choosing something meaningful elevates you. It's truly... phenomenal."
"Mm," Hestia remains silent for some moments, "what are you feelings on children?"
"I doubt I shall ever sire any," Rageant said after a thoughtful pause. His pensive stare forged their path ahead as he spoke. "I long for fatherhood, for a son. But my path is chosen. And a child cannot walk it with me."
"Your path will not be littered with hurdles forever. Some sun it may be smooth enough to walk with another. Why not adopt? There are plenty children in need of a father."
"No; I can be harsh, and bitter. My child would need a mother's love. Gods know I had no such privilege when I was a whelp, my mother made frequent reminder that I was not meant to be. At any rate, it is a frightening thought to love something so much, knowing you may one day awake from another dream."
"I can be harsh and bitter as well, do you think I believe myself to be ready for motherhood? I think no one is, but... as you say. It will change you. It is a frightening step to take, but one better to trip through than to have never done at all, no?"
"Mayhaps, but you have Killian, and a warm, fragrant home. You have a vast family. I told Bruno to defer to those better learned than he for wisdom, to use anything at his disposal to better himself. You can be cold, certainly, but you show warmth to Killian. You can learn, and you can grow. I have carved a lonesome world for myself, however. It would take a strong child indeed to survive my way of life, and a stronger one still not to resent me for it. I don't resent how I live, in fact 'tis the only life that I can truly sustain, but it is a life ruefully bereft of certain avenues of fulfillment and opportunities. Our star shall never be want I hope for the laughter and play of children, and I feel I do my part to see that vision fulfilled in my own way."
"Our home is yours as well, Rageant. My mother and I actually are in the works in building a nursery there. If it is a mother's warmth they need, they can be granted that. We are a House built around family and legacy. For all of our members. There need be more people hardened like you. While they are a babe, perhaps they can spend more time there... but as they grow older, I believe you taking them out and teaching them valuable lessons is of great import. My... instructor was the same."
"Your instructor, how so?"
"Severe. Harsh. Bitter. But he cared still. And he showed that he cared in his own way. And that was all that mattered to me. Past his hardened exterior. I knew what sort of a man lay beneath. And... well," she sighs, "my mother did not [REDACTED], but she did stay there for a great while. With him. They loved one another. I read it myself, saw it in his gaze when asked to watch over me. There was scorn for what I was, but also a love he could not deny. For half of me was regret, and the other was all he could have dreamed of."
"How terribly tragic," replied Rageant, nearly monotone but not patronizing - this was merely his way. "To hear thee speak of it... I had believed in my dreams. I knew them to be real, to be truth, but knowing you and mayhaps others have [REDCATED]. It is possible I never truly believed my experiences were true to all, but only to mine self. It is... validation. Oh, gods, the things I've seen. What bizarre designs Althyk has wrought."
"Perhaps the Spinner had reason for us yet, in that fateful meeting within the See. There is bound to be purpose to our paths joining together," the woman notes quietly and thoughtfully.
"The creature we pursue... the Sylph call it Phaia, and so echoed it is by the other natives and locals. It is an enormous boar, bred, fed, and raised to monstrous proportion for a Sylph elder's amusement in a boar fighting pit. So large did it grow that it could no longer be contained. As one might expect, it hath a violent temperament. Some few have been injured by it, mayhaps some fewer dead. To slay it would be to offer relief to the denizens of the Twelveswood, but 'tis no easy task, I wager, as would be with any great beast."
"Then that is what we shall do. It is our duty, to give back to the world what this life has offered us. And so we shall," she nods, reaching down to unclip her helm from her belt a set it carefully over her head. Her hair was neatly and tightly braided against her head, cleanly out of the way. "How close are we now?"
"See for thyself," replied the Keeper as he released the reins and gestured with an armored hand toward the woodland ahead. It had just come into view - the trampled brush, the cracked boughs, a sign that something large had come through. By the way some of the branches dangled from their trunks, it was a recent passage indeed. "We should dismount here."
"Mm," she nodded in affirmation. Once the bird came to a halt, the woman swiftly dismounted with a shot grunt, the sound of her armour and spear rattling with the weight, her graves crushing grass and branches beneath her feet. "Are we to return spoils as proof of our slaying? In truth, I have never gone about monster hunting."
"A tusk from the great beast should suffice," replied the Miqo'te as he, in turn, descended from the chocobo's saddle with his great axe in hand. Once more Rageant observed the woodland destruction, as if appraising where the beast might have gone. Shortly thereafter he began a tentative walk along the broken path. "It can't be far."
Reaching behind her to unlatch her Gae Bolg from her person, Hestia offered the chocobo a reassuring pat before beginning her trek forward. "No I imagine not," she hums out under her breath. "This will prove a beneficial excursion in finding what methods are most applicable while this heavy," she murmurs out, almost thinking aloud. "I cannot grow idle just yet. Not with so many moons still ahead of me."
"If this boar is so big as they claim, a fell blow may not be so easily struck. It would be best if we bled it while weathering its assault. No need for bold strikes, harry the beast and protect yourself."
Ahead and in the distance, where the canopy was so thick that a shadow pooled the forest floor, a rustling could be heard. Something large was shifting about among the trees.
"Mm, a tactical strategy. One that will leave us both hopefully unscathed," Hestia praised. As they stepped forward, the woman paused as soon as rustling was heard, her head turning slowly to inspect their surroundings.
Rageant led the traipse toward the trodden copse, where the unnaturally darkened woodland enclosed a clearing, cast ever in the shadow of the lush and tangled boughs. That clearing was approximately oval in shape, and they stood at an extreme end. At the other extreme movement could be discerned, a mass of flesh towering a story high with a stripe of razors running down its back and two dark, malevolent eyes. It bobbed its head and emitted a disgusting noise as a sickly scent of death filled the air. Blood coated its jowls and flesh dangled from its blunted fangs. The beast had claimed a fresh kill, and so was too gluttonous to acknowledge the intruders in its lair.
Rageant held tight the grip of his axe and approached, stepping over flattened grass and crushed roots as quietly as he could muster in his armor, to get near as he could ere the battle would begin. The pupil-less eyes of the beast gave little hint as to whether it could see them or not, but voraciously did it eat, and without cessation.
Hestia followed close, refraining from making any sudden movements or sounds. Once the beast was in view, she slowly began ilming her way toward its flank, taking each step slowly and silently.
As they approached, the beast raised its head from its meal and froze, its black eye fixed on the two of them as they approached. For a moment the woods were still; Rageant halted in place and watched the beast for any sign of movement. That sign was freely given soon thereafter when the beast lowered its head and loosed an aggressive snort, drawing its hooves against the forest floor and kicking up a cloud of dirt and shower of shrubbery behind itself. "Spread out," cried Rageant and the beast chose him for a target in that instant, sprinting into a full charge and trampling the grass and weeds beneath its massive hooves. Rageant raised his axe just when the beast gored him with its tusk, and a shower of sparks rained from his axe's head in the instant of impact. Rageant soared through the air, his back striking a tree which buckled slightly from the impact in an explosion of wooden splinters. He fell to his feet, his tail swaying for balance, and grunted in pain but kept his axe ready in two hands.
"Rageant!" Hestia cried from her position now at the boars flank. Swinging her Gae Bolg forward with a gust akin to the Fury's personal wind, the half-Elezen woman prodded the beast painfully, blood gushing from the wound inflicted at its side. Shrieking out and pulled away from the Miqo'te for the time being, Phaia turned their tusks on the Dragoon, somewhat frenzied by its injuries.
"Rageant! Take this time to reposition!" Hestia ordered out toward him, keeping a steady distance from the creature as she poked the tip of her spear at any sudden flinch or step it took. For now, it was a stand-off.
Rageant approached the beast once more, rolling his right shoulder as he gripped his axe in the left hand by its neck.
Hot red blood poured from the fresh puncture upon the beast's considerably large hide, though it seemed not the least bit fazed by it; quite the contrary, anger welled in its black eyes and a mist of humid air shot from its nostrils as it snarled, searching for an opening so it could visit Rageant's fate upon Hestia in turn. Rageant seized the opportunity to clutch his axe in both hands once more, bringing the axe head hurtling into the beast's right back leg where meat and hoof met, a brutal chop that cause the entire creature to shudder and issue forth a deep squeal of pain. It faltered in posture, its weight now supported on one less effective haunch, but in its desperate rage it was no less dangerous. Phaia whirled around at breakneck speed to slam its snout against Rageant. The Miqo'te wasn't sent flying this time; the attack connected with his right pauldron as he dug his feet into the ground, causing him to skid through the dirt leaving twin trenches where his feet held ground for a good six fulms between the beast and where he ended up after the slam. With a flourish he whirled his axe threateningly and brought it into battle stance once more, holding the beast's attention so that their plan could be further executed.
Pressing herself down into a crouch the moment the lumbering creature tore its attention away from her, Hestia thrusted herself into the air. The jump considered tamer than her usual, the distance not quite so high, she still managed to shift through the air gracefully, her body turning as her Gae Bolg was sent hurtling down toward Phaia. Cable connecting her arm to her polearm, the woman followed its direct path, piercing down on the spine of the creature with a devastating dive. While perfectly executed from presumably numerous suns of practice, the aim was not at the beasts head. Seemingly attempting spare its skull. Rather, its blade found itself at the crook where its spine met its neck.
The beast loosed a piteous squeal of lingering defiance as the weapon sunk deep into its thick hide, just deep enough to have a vital impact but not so deep as to kill it outright. Still, it's seconds were numbered as a torrential spray of sizzling hot blood doused the Gae Bolg and most likely its wielder as well, and the creature's nerves fired into overdrive at the extreme pain that was plain in its behavior. The vile beast began prancing in circles, raising its head as if it could snatch Hestia in its jaws, but she'd found the one place where this beast could not reach and struck it where it was weak. Rageant seized the initiative by gripping the neck of his axe with his right hand and the base of the haft with his left. He drew the axe head behind himself, poised to swing and waiting for the window to open. Aether curdled about his form and the earth neath his feet began to crumble and rise, as if boiling with the power brimming behind this prepared blow. At last, the dying beast fell to its side and began flailing about, its final death throes, and Rageant mercifully silenced those throes with a single vertical chop. The aether that issued forth from his axe severed the beast from its throat to where Hestia had struck the fatal blow, splitting the head clean from its body as well as leaving the earth sundered a fulm deep where the strike ended. The beast offered no further contest after that.
The Miqo'te then drew his axe from the earth, raising the head so that he could plant the butt of the shaft into the dirt at his side and wipe beads of sweat from his brow with the free hand, though the cold metal of his gauntlet extracted little in the attempt. He called out to Hestia, in hopes she was in good health. "Too simple thy spear renderest this task."
Adjusting her position over the corpse of the beast, Hestia postured over its sundered body. Gripping her spear, she ripped the blade free of the macabre flesh, gore spewing out. Indeed, the woman's vibrant Drachen mail had been layered in crimson, and yet she stood victoriously over the creature unfazed by such. "A beastkin is no match for a weapon so finely crafted from the bone of a wyrm, that it could sunder scalekin a thousand times over before needing a good whetting," Hestia scoffed, perhaps less in an act of hubris, but more so in simple truth. Cord winding its way back around the polearm, Hestia hopped down off the deceased body with a grunt, the force rattling her armour upon touching the earth.
"You speak though of the feats of my Gae Bolg, feast your eyes on the earth you carved with a single strike. Truly, you are a man I honour severely as my ally. Fury forbid I ever be at the end of your blade," Hestia steps forward toward him slowly, raising a bloodied hand to pat his shoulder without thought. "I am well, how fare your injuries?"
"A dark day 'twould be indeed, for it be so," proclaimed Rageant at the notion, and as she clapped her hand upon his shoulder he exhaled a sigh of relief as the heat of battle left him. "Only bruised. I am not broken easily, less so armored as I am. You are fetching indeed in crimson, o Fury." Rageant traded his axe into his opposite hand and approached the severed head of the beast, clasping the axe in two once more and with a single, precise swing severing one of its enormous fangs from its jaw. "That should suffice us as for proof of the deed; wouldn't you say?"
"Crimson is the Bayle colour. When needed, I wear it with pride," Hestia turns on her heel, setting the end of her haft into the dirt with a piercing slice, the sound radiating around them. "I would say so yes. What more proof can you bring than that of a fang of the beast. A true shame we cannot manage its entire head. With how clean the cut is, its skull would have been quite remarkable to inspect."
"Certain am I that the beast's head will be drag whence these woods once the Twin Adder see this," assured Rageant who raised the severed fang for emphasis. "Shall we away?"
"We shall. Thank you again, Keeper. For bringing me along with you." Stepping toward the corpse of the beast, Hestia went about breaking a fang as well. "For keeping. My instructor and I kept spoils of our hunts," she smiles fondly.
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