Welcome to Surrender Dawn. Before starting your journey, make sure that you read everything that's on the Beginner's Guide Board:
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For this, visit the Guide to Rules.
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In order to do so, go to the Guide to Lore.
Lastly, please take a close look at all the mechanics that dictate our roleplay and its characters.
You can do this by checking out the Guide to Mechanics.
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Create your Application Thread on the Character Creation Board.
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We hope you enjoy your time with us! Happy Roleplaying!
Updates
11/11/19: Open for Beta Testing! Feel free to explore the site and start creating your characters! If you have any doubt feel free to contact a member of the Staff Team.
The night was still young as Yazmyn carefully zoomed along the wilderness, bobbing and weaving between trees in a silent sprint. It had been a little while since she had passed by the last mercenary outpost she had seen but she wanted to make sure there there was some distance between her and them so she could operate unhindered. Using the darkness of the night and the light of the moon to her advantage, she remained quiet and unseen, laying a few traps here and there just in case she needed a back-up plan for her retreat. Some trip-wires here, a mine or two here. She had come prepared, fully aware that this might turn into a shit show where the getaway plan was nothing but a rain of fire. Jaeger always said to be prepared, and that was one of the things she had learned very early on.
The bounty she was looking for on a night like tonight was both simple and complex at the same time. It was two bounties, in fact. At least, one that she had taken on herself and another she was aware was put on the bounty board back in Vantalux. The one she had taken was to retrieve an heirloom - some rich noble had lost his daughter in a caravan that was attacked by one particular monster that wasn't exactly supposed to be prowling these areas. Early Hunter reports indicated that the entire caravan was completely eradicated with only one Vagrant managing to actually escape and report back what had happened. This noble, devastated, had put up a bounty - scout ground zero and find the one thing that would remind him of his daughter - a pearl necklace on a thin silver wire. Yazmyn had taken up the bounty and immediately set out for the Outlands. Finding the place of the killings wasn't difficult - the local wildlife was going nuts with this new beast tearing up the place, marking its territory. The blonde Huntress was well aware that there was undoubtedly a bounty to put the beast out of its misery in order to bring balance back to this area and so she figured killing two birds with one stone would land her with quite the profit.
Problem was... when she found the place, all she saw was blood and destruction. It wasn't just the remains of those the large beast had killed either but rather of the beast itself - blue blood and fragments of massive broken fangs. Somebody had gotten to the target before her and there were no signs of the necklace either. The nobleman wouldn't really accept that as a viable conclusion to his request, she figured, and so the Huntress put her best foot forward to find what remained of the beast. Bring him the monster's head and the necklace which was honestly probably still in its belly. It was messy and hard but it was honest work... to a degree. More often than not Yazmyn made it dishonest but hey, you had to do what you had to do.
In any case, Yazmyn had quickly picked up a trail. Footsteps - dozens of 'em. The blonde Huntress had a hunch that maybe it was a party of Hunters who had gotten to the haul first but there mere fact that the direction of the footsteps led towards the completely opposite direction of Vantalux told her everything she needed to know. Thus she began following the tracks - the blood, the footsteps, the trash they left behind. She'd found a makeshift camp or two - these guys probably found the beast moments after everything had happened and were taking their sweet time getting back to their HQ. Fair enough, she could understand that. From what she got out of the lone Vagrant the damn thing she was now hunting was a big one too so that's probably why they were slowed down.
Before too long Yazmyn realized who she was up against by way of coming across the aforementioned merc (or raider, by the looks of it) compound - a makeshift outpost with a few tents, nothing too spectacular. Probably just patrol area set just outside of the main compound which probably wasn't too big either. She'd found it easy to maneuver in such a way that she managed to avoid all of the patrols and snuck into their territory, using the veil of the night and the foliage around her as cover.
Setting a plethora of traps along the way - either to cover her escape or to keep reinforcements from coming too quickly - Yazmyn had eventually set her eyes on the main headquarters of these raiders. Thirteen tents, give or take, set around a massive bonfire with the largest tent left right at the front. All of these tents were made with red leather and a variety of dark black insignias. She reckoned there were about thirty or so raiders in the compound with some of them patrolling the vicinity. Then again, these patrols weren't exactly organized. Raiders weren't known for their precision and orderly conduct, what with half of them being drunk or high in whatever way they chose. They were sleazes who lived day to day by stealing from those less fortunate, not giving a single crap who they hurt in the process. The scumbags of yonder, as they say. Nobody would care if she snuck in unseen and stole from them, maybe even end a few along the way. That is, unless she herself gets found out, by which point things might get a little tricky.
Upon closer inspection she saw it - the massive, headless carcass of the beast she was out Hunting. Holy fuck this thing would've been about three stories high and as bulky as one of the trains they had back in Vantalux. Unsure if she would've been able to take the beast down by herself, she was somewhat grateful to the raiders for taking it down. Refocusing her attention, she reckoned that the head of this beast was stored in the main tent within which the lights shone brightest. She'd have to make her way towards the carcass unseen - dig deep into its belly and try to find the necklace. Fuck that'd be something. Then, if she could actually afford it, Yazmyn would try to infiltrate the tent itself, maybe somehow drag the head back... or at the very least some part of it. An eyeball? A tooth? Both? That could probably work.
One problem with Bloatguts choice of work, was the long trips. It took him a decently long time to get to the outlands properly, usually needing to use some more unofficial caravan rides of the sort. Of course, sometimes he could just find work closer-by or during the trip itself, which made it atleast a little bit more acceptable sacrifice... In this case, what he had heard, was that there was some rampaging beast running around the place, and giving a lot of grief to the local wildlife. Naturally, they wanted the creature dead. And naturally, Bloatgut himself was very interested to have the job. Besides, these other creatures would become a moderately easy targets to grab for a little bit of extra value. Fresh furs would get a good price from the market, and the thick meat usually lasted for a good while for the hungry coworkers...
However, Now that he was walking through the woods, his large form pretty much making a huge shadow in front of him, each step making his body sink a little bit into the soft ground... He was not very excited... Since this was more of a casual mission, he had worn just a scarf over his mouth, covering it like some sort of a vigilante. This sadly meant that some of the branches and sticks quickly whipped his face annoyingly... but what could you do. Besides, that was just some. MOST of them just snapped with him pushing himself against them enough. And thus, the trip was going smoothly. He was trying to keep an eye out for any tracks either way, which meant that small annoyances like this didn't matter. What mattered was the fact, that in this smooth ground, something running through it and ravaging the place should have been easily noticeable. Paw prints, claw marks on trees... Perhaps even little patches of fur...
However, he did notice a bunch of smaller tracks... Some people, traps By said people assumedly... and some... well, they belonged to the trio of quite small wolves surrounding him. The scarf rose a little bit, as Bloatgut snorted through his nose. "So... desperate, are we...?" Of course, he wouldn't call himself a bear. But wolves usually would try for something a little bit safer instead of someone hefty like him. Guess these were some of the creatures, that were troubled by the big one being around... He loosened the chain on his arm, and as the wolves left, He swung it once around him like a whip. Whimpers and gruesome splatters followed... With quick secondary slices, he opened their necks, hooked them to his vest, and started carrying this now funky smelling and dripping bounty. Not worth nearly as much as what the big thing was going to be, but worth something most likely...
He followed the footprints for a while. Talking with people usually gave the most information to use. And eventually he ended up finding a camp... there was a lot of celebrating. it reminded him of the drunken parties back at the wharf. And what he knew of them, was that usually everybody was invited, no matter who the person was. A little sip wouldn't matter... Besides, he had nothing to hide. Just an immense man, looking for an immense beast. Nothing weird about that. He walked in, an imposing figure that he was... he got some stares. Most of them chuckled, shouting out things about proper beerbellies, and stuffed piglets. Bloatgut didn't really care. The important thing was finding someone sober enough to tell him if they had seen the beast... for a person like that, you would need a guard probably, or the leader... but they were probably drinking too already...
Luckily he didn't need to wait for long, as one of the raiders started shouting towards him. "HALT! What are you doing here?!" Bloatgut snorted again. "Just looking for information... The usual..." He lifted his pants, with his stomach raising a bit with it. "A spy!?" "No, a coworker, if we are nice to each other..." He let go of his pants, as the sound of all the extra on top of it rattled. His stomach slammed back down with a lot of weight, which made the raider jump a little. "Uhm, Okay?! What do you want to know?" "Well... I've been hearing that there is this big beast around here... Admittedly, I would assume you wouldn't live here if that was the case..." He leaned his head down towards the raider, intimidatingly. "Oh! We got it! We got a big beast right over there! Biggest thing I've ever seen that's for sure!" There was a visibly change in mood for him... He groaned. Guess he was late... whatever creature it was, they had gotten it first. He fiddled the hook in his hands... "I suppose the creature is a bit too big to trade for three wolves, hehe?" He turned his back towards the raider, showing the tree still dripping, although way less than before... "Oh, yeah! It's INSANE!"
In the end, Bloatgut was kind of frustrated. This whole trip was made for nothing, time wasted on a hunt that was already done. But, since they already had it... "Would you mind showing me the creature? Starting to seem a bit more like a big fish tale to me..." And he had heard plenty of those. "I mean... the boss wouldn't like people going and hanging around it!" This time, Bloatgut reached his big, thick, and heavy hand over and patted the guy on the head. "Come on now... Fellow scavengers should be proud to brag about what they've done. For example, I hooked these wolves in one swing..." Admittedly, they were pretty malnourished. But hey, still impressive. He hooked him under his elbow. "So... How did you guys keelhaul this beast?"
With that, the scared raider started walking this person over towards the tent, explaining about the process of catching. However, for now, Bloatgut just looked at the tent... In the light he could almost see inside of the thing. He couldn't help but start drooling. Heck, he could almost see the creature still moving...
"I didn't bring enough alcohol for this..." was Yazmyn's immediate thought as she hid behind a box, pushing her back against it to remain unseen as a patrol walked by. The whole infiltration thing had gone smoothly enough; using the camouflage the shadow of night provided for her quickly scaled down the mountain this camp had been established next to, using the claws of the Epilogue to make her descent quicker and more fluid. Though granted with how dark it was out now that the full moon had been hidden behind the veil of a cloudy sky even she had trouble seeing where the heck to grab on to, resulting in her almost falling flat on her face. Almost being the key word, of course. Anyway, the second her feet managed to touch the hard ground below she sprung into the shadows, remaining silent and completely out of site. Turned out most of the camp was in party mode too, providing her with the perfect opportunity to use the on-going festivities as cover for her movement.
She darted from shadow to shadow, using a plethora of objects as cover from prying eyes. She'd occasionally dart into a tent as well, passing by with utmost silence. One tent was in the middle of some rather kinky and loud (seriously, she heard it three tents ago) lovemaking, though both parties engaged were far too into it to even notice the blonde Huntress pass by. Couldn't really blame them though. She herself has had quite a few rowdy nights so she kinda knew what that was like- In any case, Yazmyn was slowly inching her way towards the middle of the camp, at the same time mapping out the area in her mind's eye. The young woman also managed to snag a few things for herself that she was sure the raiders would only miss by morning: a silver pocket watch, a gold ring, some random diamond necklace... all thing she figured the raiders had stolen at some point anyway so it wasn't like they were going to miss any of these. That and Yazmyn could use the extra cash. This rent wasn't going to pay itself.
After making sure to leave her newly acquired goods in her satchel in such a way that they didn't clang against one another and make too much noise, Yazmyn kept on moving forward, going deeper and deeper into the camp. The further in she went the more people she encountered along the way, having to be more careful by the second. She'd occasionally cork her flask open when she started to feel a little irritated by having to sneak around so much, taking a sip of the finest whiskey the shitholes of Vantalux could provide. Though to be fair with the frequency of which she had to take these small pit stops her flask was getting drained quite quickly and she knew she'd run out before she even reached the damn hulking monster dead at the very epicenter.
"So there I was, staring at the biggest pair of bazongas I've ever seen in my whole damn life!"
Oh? This should be good.
"Though it turned out to be a man... sad days, really."
An interesting story, no doubt. But one that Yazmyn really didn't have the patience for.
Anyway.
The Huntress kept moving on, realizing that the danger was gradually ramping up by the second. She had rounded a corner a little too gung-ho and ended up being spotted by a raider in the middle of both drinking and taking a piss at the same time. Poor lad got so startled by the Huntress he almost choked on his own ale and pissed his pants... an opportunity which Yazmyn seized to grab him by the back of his head and slam his head into a nearby crate, knocking the male out cold and leaving him lying on the wooden shards of the box. She groaned to herself, looking around. Things were getting a little to close for comfort but she was almost there. A few more corners and she'd be by the beast to somehow claim her bounty.
Darting into what few shadows remained due to the large number of torches around the area close to the epicenter, Yazmyn did her best to maneuver herself towards the corpse. By this point she was forced to knock out a few of the patrols - who were luckily too drunk to notice her coming - the morons -- who would've far too easily seen her if she got careless. Plus, now she had a way to escape should she actually get discovered. The eastern side of the camp now had the fewest amount of sentries patrolling the area and would offer the least amount of resistance as compared to the other sides should she need to make a getaway, be it quiet or otherwise.
Before too long Yazmyn managed to find herself near the belly of the ginormous dead beast, finding some shade behind the massive beast's hulking mass. Looking around, she nodded when she determined that she hadn't yet been spotted and likely had a few brief moments to do what she had to do before the coast stopped being clear. Placing her hand against the beast's belly, she tapped it against its skin, trying to determine how hard would the scales be to cut through. Her eyes narrowed when she thought about how tough this son of a bitch must have been to kill and was somewhat glad she didn't have to go through that process. Pulling her knife out, the blonde Huntress stuck it inside the monster's stomach, using a good amount of strength so the blade could puncture it properly. Then, as quietly as she could, she pulled the blade horizontally against it, trying to open up a large gash. Surely enough blood and intestines began to fall through, making her crunch her nose in disgust. Those raiders would surely catch the smell soon enough, regardless of how drunk they were. She needed to act fast if she wanted to find that damn pearl necklace.
It's a bit frustrating that this thread stopped here, since it had a very solid premise and setup established. From Yaz's perspective, it was extremely tense to see her flitting from shadow to shadow! Not to mention leaving behind traps as a plan B of sorts in case things went south was a brilliant move to make from a certified Hunter. This thread was starting to give me like Metal Gear Solid vibes the whole time and the interactions of the NPCs as the two of you entered the complex in completely seperate ways was very amusing to read!
I'll bet if this went on, we'd learn more about the creature and now I'm pretty disappointed to not know what it's facial features look like. But hey, maybe this idea can be salvaged and used in a later Hunt? I'd love to see that! Bloatgut so effortlessly taking those wolves down really emphasizes the nature of a Scavenger and I absolutely loved the detail put into him lifting up his gut and flopping it down!
Hey Yaz! I thought those things smelled bad on the outside!
