Welcome to Surrender Dawn. Before starting your journey, make sure that you read everything that's on the Beginner's Guide Board:
First, make sure that you get to know the rules by which we manage our site and community.
For this, visit the Guide to Rules.
After that, it's fundamental to read all that there is to know about the world your character will be inserted into.
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.
When you've done all of the above, you'll most likely be ready to start creating your character:
Create your Application Thread on the Character Creation Board.
To do so, follow the instructions on the Character Application Template Thread.
Once you're done, just copy the link of the thread and head over to the Grading Center.
To submit your application for review, use the General Submissions Thread.
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 Outlands, the only place, but also the place everywhere, that no one owns. For anyone living within the city walls it is easy to imgaine the city is the world. However, there is a much wider truth to be seen once traversing these tall mighty walls of steel. People naturally get more curious, who wouldn't want to see what's out there? No one truly knows the true size of this world, and no one will be able to in a very long time. That is why the official position and stand as a Hunter is sought out so much. Hunters are not only those who are dominates eco system around the cities, but also those who takes their job as their literal life. Being a Hunter to many is about pride and glory, while they may be under government's thumb doesn't hinder them to do as they please outside the walls with much freedom. However, you can never be careless or naive in the Outlands. For nature and people alike can be gruesome. Hunters must respect certain aspects of this world, and thus making the Hunter's Pass.
The Hunter's Pass is where Ace meets their deku, the kind of place where those grown and experienced can pluck out those not ready or simply incapable to handle what's out there in Ordus. The Hunter's Pass is as simple as it gets. A trial is handed to a handful of participants, they try their best, there are no expectations of them acing the trial, instead there are many experienced hunters watching the newcomers and judging with their eyes. The trial is held by an overseer, an elite Hunter that needs a new student under them, meaning the Elite has the dibs on the best participant, and as every may know, being tutored by someone from the top is a free ticket to great things, but the overseer can also be the final judge of everyone, if they believe the group of individuals are simply not qualified. The overseer's job is of course to pluck out the weed among the group, and to make sure each participant gets their chance to exceed themselves during the trial.
Flyers of the next upcoming Hunter's Pass has been going around for a few days already, and it was time for it to take it's roots and open it's doors for those wanting to have a taste of the freedom beyond the steel walls. Showing up to the wall as early as 5 am was required, and with a 5 minute window of time to let the group go past the metal doors made specifically for travelling hunters. After walking past those doors those participants are in the hands of the hunters and will have to obey their words. The group of twenty or so people are led by escorters, all members of the Hunter community and well equipped. Their destination is not a long one, infact the thick forest area north-east from Vantalux is their desired location. This seemingly endless forest had thick layers of tree roofs and blocking great almost all form of source lights, making it effectily a single huge room with thick tree trunks acting like mighty pillars.
''We are reaching soon to the gates! Stay quiet and be formal! When the higher ups speaks you -listen-, we are not hiring kids, remember that!'' One of the escorted firmly stated with his bold voice just as they got in sight with the gates far into the dark misty leaf roofed forest. Torches are lit up and makign things more visible. It was like a small city, or a town, where hunters gathered to shate information and finds, or even brag of their successful hunts. The arrival of the group participating Hunter's Pass was expected by everyone in the forest lobby, watching and observing the newcomers from both low and high points, some even halting the work on their weapons to take a look at them. It didn't take more than a minute within the lobby before the escorters raised their fists to halt the group of participants. They looked up, to one of the bigger trees in the forest, located nicely near the middle of the whole base. Someone standing on watch at one of the tree branches looked down at the arrival, hastily sprinted to the trunk where rooms and levels are carved within the massive size. They called out someone from the tree, and from the dark hole emerged a cloaked individual, who looked pretty small, but hard to tell with the amount of adornments on them. Wearing pale purple and dark green clothing they looked down from the branch and nodded to the informer before jumping down.
The height was quite the drop, made even one of the participants instinctively shouting at. ''H-Hey whoa! They're falling-!'' One of the escorters quickly shut their mouth and sighed, the falling individual reaches the ground and lands abnormally well, both feet smoothly planting into the ground before they began to walk casually from the fall drop. With now a closer look, they all could see it was a small female, brown hood, brown boots, purple hunter clothings and a dark green cloak, but what truly stood out was her two antlers. And it was no mere pair, they were twigs, acting like horns from her head, and her hair with the appearance of many leaves hanging onto eachother. Her eyes glowed a gentle yellow underneath the shadow casted by her hood, the stare was mesmerizing. ''....Greetings, newcomers.'' Her voice was soft, but with a small hint of raspiness, not the kind of voice one could shout with. But as everyone expected more words from her she suddenly stepped forward and took a close look at the first end of the group, slowly walking around past them all, her eyes not blinking, observing every muscle or twitch from the fresh dekus.
Then, she stops infront of a man, a young lad that did not have any particular trait on him, but her reaction towards him spoke otherwise. ''..Hm, you seem young, but not too young, you also have the height, and muscle build, but how come... when I am this close to you, that you start to... shiver?'' The guy did not expect her to say that, and infact, he had his knees shivering just so slightly, very slightly. ''And you actively tried to move away from those with unique traits, like that feline girl over there, what are you, scared of us?'' He gulped but tugged at his chest and brought out his confident side. ''No miss! That's f-far from the truth!'' ''I don't have time for his..'' She cuts him off shortly turning her attention away. ''Disqualified, no hunter can have such large fears.'' ''What?! NO! Hey! Where's my cha-?!'' And just like that he was dragged away from two escorters, those around him bakced away and sighed relieved. The Elite stepped further around the group, eventually eyeing up to Riina with her own pair of yellow eyes, but she didn't say anything, just silently staring for two seconds before continueing. ''That should do it I guess.. now, let's get serious here.'' She faced the group and held her thin arms behind her back, with the cloak pushed aside they all could see the large crossbow loacted on her back, and the many sharp arrows pointing out from her quiver.
''All you who are standing before me have taken the first step towards becoming a Hunter, welcome to Hunter's Pass, my name is Xyrwaz and I will be your overseer for this trial. First I will inform you all that I am not responsible for any damage from your recklessness, my responsibility starts once I get a new student, which I hope one among you all will be the right kind. And by right kind I mean someone who are not naive nor trying to impress me for the sake of impressing.'' She lifted up a coin in her hand, a hunter's badge, which was stained with some blood. ''Previous owner tried to do the stupid thing of going alone, in a task meant for two, at midnight, he paid the consequences and left me another deep scar.'' She put the badge back into her pocket and began to crack her knuckles idly. ''Now then, I suppose that's all you need to know, or at least should know, the trial will be starting once my arrow hits that sign..'' She pointed at the direction behind the group, a damagbed sign with unintelligble words, filled with small holes from sharp objects. ''The first part of the trial is simply a race, who is effecient with terrain, or those who are able to help eachother to overcome obstacles. I will fire from a long distance within the forest, just run a straight line, you have thirty minutes after the arrow lands..''
Xyrwaz turned her back from the group and walked to a tree where she suddenly merged into the trunk and disappears. Hunters that watched chuckled and just waited for it to start, those in the group stood ready, some even psyching themselves up by jogging on the place, but on stood with his arms crossed, yawning wide before brushing his hand through his crimson spiked hair. ''Mnh, let's just please get this over with..'' He idly commented, seconds before a trumping sound echoed through the forest, the sound of a balista artillery or something, but what came was a sound breaking arrow, in the far extreme dark distance, travelling at such speed that upon impact with the sign it created a minor wave of pressure air, getting half of the group surprised by the shot, but it also meant the trial had just started!
''Go get at it bulbs!'' ''WOOO! Now this'll get interesting!'' Hunters watching cheered and chanted excited for the start of the first part of Hunter's Pass, and with that the group began to move, and rather fast, fastest as they could go, some even tried to push another down at the starting line, what a cheap shot!
Post by Riina de Bastille on Nov 26, 2019 14:34:10 GMT
WORD COUNT: 1255
TAGGED:
TAGGED: Fluffy
To most of the group, being up at five may have been considered early. To Riina, however, it was just another regular morning. The girl could never stay idle for too long. Usually, cleaning the bars and other places was required prior to opening up for guests. Guests would typically arrive between seven and eight, meaning that if she wanted to clean multiple places to earn some coin, the raven haired feline needed to be up at around four. So, when the group gathered to take off with the hunters to reach the exam area, Riina was already there. Wearing a hunter's cloak over her shoulders, it marked her as a prospective hunter trainee before the trials had even started. The hood of the cloak was pulled over her head, while she had done her best to keep the mark on the back hidden, covered up. The girl was uninterested in gaining more attention than absolutely necessary. That meant hiding the fact that she was an afflicted. It meant hiding the fact that, the only reason she had been able to join the trials with such short notice, was because an actualized hunter was sponsoring her trip there. Granted, the cloak only had a singular star on it, so it likely didn't even arouse that much suspicion when other hunters at the area had several stars on their cloaks. Not that Riina understood the actual difference yet. There was another issue however, with being noticed. This was not the first time that Riina was at the trials. In fact, it wasn't even the second. It was the third time that Riina had stepped onto these hunting fields. The other times had been an interesting experience, to put it mildly. The other contestants were not too fond of her. Being a poor street cat, with quite an attitude, the attention she had gotten had been quite negative. Not to mention that, at the first trials, Riina was obviously too young to participate. Only fourteen years of age, it had been quite the joke to see the tiny female attempting to keep up with the others. Not that she was downright terrible... but breaking the rules so obviously had not earned her a good reputation, and no one had been willing to risk their hides on picking the wildcard.
When Riina had turned eighteen, the girl had attended the first hunter trials that she could. Even then, the reputation she had garnered from the first attempts seemed to still linger. There were a few words which had been dubbed onto her. Reckless, troublemaker, arrogant, uncontrollable, unpredictable. So, even if Riina had done rather well in the second trials, there hadn't been anyone too interested. So she had lowered her head, accepting that there'd never be anyone interested in picking her, over someone equally as talented without the stigmas that followed with picking the kitten. On top of this, there had been background checks on several of the participants, readily available for the mentors to sift through if they found an interesting prospect. Riinas background check came up practically blank. There was no family information, no significant achievements, only a whole list of reports of Riina having been arrested for theft and disorderly conduct in Fumehat. Not exactly a resume that was attractive to a potential mentor.
So, the fact that Riina had returned for a third and absolutely final attempt, was an odd conclusion to an interpersonal interaction. The raven haired feline had encountered an old bucket of bolts. A hunter in his own right, or at least so Riina had assumed. Tasked the girl with stealing a hunter's coin from a blonde. Being successful in stealing it, Riina had not been successful in making her escape. The blonde had questioned why, Riina had answered. Either way, this is where it culminated. The blonde had practically told Riina, that with the abilities she posessed - to steal a coin from an actual hunter, almost escaping - she probably had a legitimate chance to become a hunter. As the other hopefuls began noticing the jacket, word quickly spread among the group. Until her hood was pulled down by someone being an absolute ass hat. The boy jumped back, startled. A pair of amber feline eyes stared at him. A pair of cat ears pointed directly towards him, twitching a couple of times...
...The remainder of the intro had Riina somewhat standing off to a side, minding her own business. The people didn't much interest her. The introduction didn't much interest her. Afterall, the girl had been in these circumstances before. The whole heroic awesome entrance, followed by mysterious disappearance gig that the hunters often had going on may have woo'd the others. To Riina, it was almost repetetive. Though, in some regards, she supposed that the higher ups had to flex their muscles and seem a little awesome. What did manage to make her chuckle, was how the fearful little twerp of a moron that had pulled her hood down got kicked out before the tests even began. Then, the overseer as she was so aptly named, came to eye up Riina. Tilting her head to the side, Riina crossed her arms. Meeting the stare with one of her own. While it seemed she had glossed over most of the others, the two of them stared at each other for a full two second, without a single word being said. Riina could practically hear the noise of the silence, as if the entire gathering held their breath. Was the feline really going to get kicked out before the show began..?
No. It seemed not. Content with the remaining contestants, the overseer began parting ways with the group. Riina scoured the standing areas up above for a brief moment. A few of the mentors in the stands, she recognized from prior exams. It meant that they likely recognized her as well. Then there was the blonde. At first, Riina hadn't been sure that Yazmyn was going to participate, even from the stands. Yet, there she was...The first part of these trials was a race. The specifications were simple. Yet, to many, the words would've fallen on deaf ears. So, Riina, ever the observational young feline, trotted over to a small group that stood gathered. Likely three friends that had come here together. Intent on backing each other up. A perfect group to lodge herself with, somewhat. "...Yo, so like, the overseer spoke of working together to pass obstacles. So I thought--" Before Riina got to say another word, the large male shoved her backwards from the group. "Back off kitty! The girl of the three-man group pulled his arm. Under hushed voices she tried to explain that the overseer was an afflicted as well. That it was probably a bad idea to showcase such emotions...
Regardless, Riina had already changed her mindset. If cooperating with people willfully from their side wasn't an option... then she would inspecting them as chess pieces, using them as she saw fit. Sometimes even a mindless drone could have it's uses, if placed in the right spot. So just before the arrow was shot, Riina shrugged dismissively. "Man, I was just going to tell you that your laces came undone. Would be a real shame if you fell in them." When he had shoved her, she had intentionally stepped on his laces, making them come undone. A sloppy job from him. Oh dear. Who could've imagined that a group of three risked waiting on their leader finishing his laces, when the race had already started?
That was the question of the... month(?), wasn't it? How was she doing? She wouldn't necessarily call her state of being too bad, all things considered. She had money. She could get food. She had clothes. She had a roof over her head if she needed one. She had a home to come back to and a bum-ass-lazy-as-all-hell roommate in the form of a black feline named Vulcan. She really did love that cat. But, back to the point at hand. Yazmyn's life wasn't exactly all that bad - she had all of the basic necessities she'd ever need and then some. She had her job and the freedom of exploring the Outlands as she saw fit that came with it. Things were all well and good in that department.
But... of course not everything was sunshine and rainbows. The pain. It was always the pain, wasn't it? She had now been dealing with it for quite a few months now and it frankly just kept getting worse and worse. She tugged at her metal arm almost out of instinct. After Yazmyn's trainee had gotten himself killed, disobeying a direct order from her through a show of sheer arrogance, Yazmyn was required to get her Hunter's coin back. Encountering the massive beast that had killed Claude was a threat she knew she'd have to face and she still, to this day, regrets not bringing back up. With the state her body was now in, pride could go fuck right off. She had lost her entire right arm during the battle and had spent months in rehabilitation, having her new Vanta weapon - The Epilogue - attached in place of her lost limb. Technology, despite being state of the art, still wasn't there yet... and as a result the weapon had caused nerve damage to her body. Not only did Yazmyn had to get used to balancing herself when her body weight was all over the place because of her new limb, she was also consistently battling excruciating pain that could get worse depending on the circumstances, never lessen.
And today it felt like that pain was only climbing higher by the second.
"Hey, Cal," Yazmyn greeted the red-haired Hunter, tapping two fingers against her temple in the form of a casual salute. "Been a while since I last saw your ugly mug."
"Eastern reach, right?" He asked-replied, a knowing smile on his face... a smile that Yazmyn quickly mirrored. Ah, yeah, she remembered the little job they had way out East. An old ruin taken by bandits and infested by monsters. A grand ol' time they both spent around a week stuck in. Literally. The ground of the old ruin had caved in, sending them spiraling into what, at the time, seemed like a bottomless abyss. The two Hunters were the only ones who actually made it out of the original five. The other three died from severe food poisoning.
She did tell them not to eat cave monster, barbecued or not.
In her head the whole scenario seemed like a big joke. But at the time? Those were some hard times which was exactly why Yaz and Cal had a sort of... understanding between one another. A bond of trust not easily broken. They did, after all, save one another's lives on quite a few occasions during those five days they were buried underground.
Calonyr, or Cal, as his friends referred to him, eyed the blonde Huntress, clear curiosity shining through his viridescent orbs. "I heard the stories. Didn't believe 'em at first," he began, making her turn to regard him. "Claude, right? I remember ya said ya had a trainee back when we were out East. Mentioned there was a good reason ya didn't bring him with ya. Turns out ya weren't wrong, eh?" The whole time he was speaking, Yaz saw that he was eyeing her metallic appendage.
"Maybe I was. Maybe I wasn't. Who knows, really?" Yazmyn said, shrugging with what almost seemed like nonchalance. "I don't. Probably won't ever. What I do know, though, is that I gotta live with a piece of metal strapped to me for the rest of my life. Not the most charming of looks, I gotta say."
"Must look pretty cool to them girls. What with all them scars, y'know?" He grinned, she smirked back.
"You know it."
The two of them didn't linger on the topic for too long. Cal knew that Yazmyn wasn't too excited about discussing the topic and as such he didn't press - something that the Huntress was thankful for. Instead, the two one star Hunters focused on the group of trainees approaching, both having situated themselves up above, in a position that allowed them to overlook the entire area. Yazmyn immediately noticed Riina wearing her coat and offered the kitten a salute similar to the one she gave Cal once their eyes met. Cal, of course, hadn't missed neither the coat nor salute. He smirked to himself.
"Got yer sights on a new kid, huh?" He asked, yet his voice let the Huntress know that his words were more of a statement than a question.
"And you?" She asked, turning to him. "Just killing time?"
He shrugged, "Ya know me. I work alone. Doesn't mean I can't take a look at any potential competition."
"Fair enough," she replied, nodding. Watching the entire scene unfold before her, Yazmyn was unmoved by the Xyrwaz and her antics. Rather, both she and Cal shared a chuckle between themselves at the entire act yet kept any comments they had to themselves, preferring to just watch. While Cal didn't exactly care how this would turn out, Yazmyn on the other hand was already keeping an eye out for any individuals in the large group that might have piqued her interest. While she was initially sponsoring Riina, that didn't mean that the Huntress wasn't watching all of the participants. Might as well take her pick of the litter, if she was given the chance.
A loud and probably exaggerated heavy humming sound was heard. It appeared to come from a tall and well-built man, seemingly close to middle age, with his arms half-crossed and a hand brought up under his gray beardy chin. Clearly he was observing something and observing in strictly judging fashion. "No... No, no, no... That is still not enough, Karina!" What he watched was a moonlit, white-haired girl, most of her hair covered under a fashionable-looking hood, as a peculiar cloak of sorts flows behind her with the wind. Indeed, this was Karina; a Karina from a couple of weeks ago.
But what she was doing wasn't training meant for someone like her to do. A frail and harmless-looking girl like her, how could she be put through such torture? "Mnn...!" The sight was still an amusing one to say the least and surely even her master was loving it. Yet, he kept a focused and serene expression plastered across his features.
With rope tied around each of her ankles and connected to another thicker rope dragging along two rather sizeable boulders, she was really trying her best to push her legs forward, akin to sprinting. Enhancing leg strength was the goal. Knowing more or less what kind of challenges she'd be put through as a hunter, her master knew exactly what to do with her.
Yet, that wasn't all...
Apart from pushing boulders with her legs, she also had the same kind of rope tied around the palms and back of her hands, pulling along another duo of boulders, these not as large as the aforementioned ones, but still big enough to be considered a total exaggeration.
"Come on, Karina! Do not put only your body and mind into it! Put your entire soul into it! I want to see you try your absolute best!"
Of course, being a hunter was not all about possessing a Vel Power and a Vanta Weapon, and knowing how to properly use both. One also had to have solid physical capabilities; being able to outrun someone, being able to outpower someone, without having to rely heavily on one's Vel Power. This is exactly why Karina's master offered to train her, upon realizing her true wish to explore the world outside the cities. To explore the outlands.
Back to the present, Karina had spaced out for a brief while whilst the group of participants was close to arriving at the gates where the trials were going to take their place, or at least where they were starting. The girl was quiet for the most part, not being the kind to be rowdy, especially in a situation like this. But she was still considerably mobile, a curious gaze scanning the area around her, the people as well, all of those that she was most likely clashing against in the upcoming event, and those who escorted them.
Eventually, the group arrives. From going through a dark misty forest, to arriving at a probably noisy town of sorts, where seemingly only hunters were seen wandering about. A lot of them, actually. "Ohh..." Of course, being as easily fascinated as she was, and living where she lives, Karina parts her lips slightly to softly voice her surprise, her head turning about, up and to the sides, taking in the sight that were the gigantic trees and then the rest of the place, all of the wandering hunters and the many structures. She was mesmerized. So much that she was momentarily startled, even if not to the point of screaming or making any noises, when the cloaked and antler-having hunter descended down from one of the colossal trees. Once her voice was heard, greeting every participant, Karina took a firm stance.
Not much of a reaction was given to the first aspiring hunter being disqualified. It was so early too, normally it would spark something out of the white-haired girl, but it didn't. She was taking the whole entire situation seriously, remembering her master's words regarding the trials.
'Take it as if your life is on the line...!', were those words.
The following words were taken into consideration. Karina realized she wasn't here to impress, she was here to do her best. She knew that much. Whether she gets taken under a hunter's umbrella or not, it didn't matter.
The first part of the trials then nears. She notices most of the other participants getting into a proper stance, readying up. A race, was it? Perhaps all of the training she has gone through the past couple of weeks will allow her to shine through. Though, even in the last session, her master didn't look too impressed and he obviously had reason to. Perhaps Karina was just a slow learner and she had to deal with that simple fact. Getting a little more serious, she assumes a stance of her own, gaze narrowed into the distance.
Fwoosh!
The wave of air was felt, which only meant one thing; the trials had begun! Kicking her bare feet off the ground, her cloak swayed behind her as she started sprinting, her sights only in what was in her way. At first, the only obstacle were the rest of the other participants. But whatever else would come, be it someone trying to push her down or something similar, Karina was ready to be heavily challenged.
The intense pressure of the air soaring around the arrow had made a decent amount to fall back from either poor leg stance or simply startled to death. It seemed almost instantanious, although for many it was an expected signal to the start of the race, in other words plenty had taken a strong start with long sprinting steps across the rough earthy ground. But there was also a lot of cheap ones, to win this race sounded almost like a life or death case for many, to become an official hunter and to be lead by someone with great experience was a dream that could become true. Sand was tossed at someone's face, another person used someone infront of them as a literal stepping stool to gain momentum, and of course the dirty kitten sabotaged the leader of the trio with the biggest classic of them all. He buckled his knees and groaned out as he was forced on his four from the sudden restriction of movement. ''What the SHIT! You bitch! Come back here!'' The other two in his small team sighed out and aided him, but it didn't take long honestly, putting laces back on was a childs game, but such a small action had a massive effect on their morales, plus Riina got a decent distance away from them and the starting line.
Plenty of the hunters around the starting line got into a laughter fit and enjoyed the show, something tells the participants that most of these official hunters only watches for their own amusement, but among them was a few that observed quietly, and rather intense. Only a minute has gone ever since the arrow hit the sign, and the spread of the contestants was rapidly becoming bigger and bigger. Some was excellent with speed, while others utilized the terrain to their best effeciency. That is until the first obstacle was in the view. The very thick darkness soon got over every participants the further they ran into the dark misty forest, with no true lightsource all they coul rely on are their quality in dark vision or using their own light source. But ontop of that, a massive long tree was on the ground, fallen several years ago, becoming one with the terrain and acting like a literal wall. Climbing up such size could consume some time, however a single contestant ran to the left where he approached thin tall tree. The red haired man was among the first and took this opportunity to use his great speed to sprint up on the tree's side. And until the very end when he cant continue running up he kicked himself off from the tree and aiming for the top of the large obstacle. He lands barely on the stable side and continued afterwards.
Those who could see him execute this action widened their eyes, one even tried the same, but failing miserably. ''Gah! C'mon! That's some bullshit!'' ''Oh shut it! The only way is to climb up the real obstacle, use your weapons!'' And so began the many people climb up the huge tree, stabbing their tools into the old oaken wood as they are slowly but surely ascending. Over the other side of the huge fallen tree there was a tiny light in the far distance, Xyrwaz had put up a small lightsource to show the participants where the finish line was located. And it was quite the distance away, and it was hard to tell what else could come up in the way. But before any of that could happen, a man with heavy gauntlets being right behind Karina, grabbed from the side he shoves her away with a grin. ''You were in my way, kid!'' And then suddenly he gets entrapped by vines that emerges from everywhere, tripping him over and hindering his movement. ''GAH WHAT ARE THE VINES DOING?!'' He groaned while attempting to punch away the vines, with very little success. However, he was not the only one in such a sticky situation. Vines approached from every angle, ensnaring or simple lashing at the running participants. It became a zone of traps once you descend from the first obstacle. many got pulled away, but a few exceeded by using their sharp weapon to fight through, the red haired man was at the front, fighting off every single vine coming at him with his short sword.
As for Riina the kitty cat, she was quickly chased by vines travelling through the ground, emerging from the ground in attempts of grabbing her feet and stop her. The trio from earlier had caught up to her and also got assaulted by these vines. ''We have to stand together! Take them out-'' ''UWAAAAAGH!'' Said one from the trio, being dragged away so swiftly and mercilessly, pulled into the pitch dark mist with him screaming in fear. And before the second was about to get dragged the leader held her tight and tore the vines away in a swift motion. ''Keep your feet planted or else the vines will plant them for you!'' And with the race still ongoing the watchers of the trials had the opportunity to follow along by the top of the trees to observe the events unfolding down at the ground, bridges between the trees was made solely for this purpose.
Xyrwaz sat quietly by a large tree stump with the single large torch lit infront of her, swaying her legs idly as she awaited for those who are able to traverse past her traps.
Post by Riina de Bastille on Dec 2, 2019 16:45:50 GMT
WORD COUNT: 911
TAGGED:
TAGGED: Fluffy
It was a shame, truly. The boy, the leader of the little team from prior, had been given plenty of opportunities to cooperate from Riina. First, the girl had straight up asked him to join forces, to which he had declined. Then, when he was in a situation where he was certainly going to lose his team members, Riina had stepped in to offer them a chance at moving forwards. Lastly, the girl had thrown down a rope for him to move up on, so that he could avoid being an easy target while attempting to ascend the fallen tree, which he had ignored. Each and every time he had denied her, something terrible had happened. The first time, it had cost him her cooperation and an untied set of laces, making their group arrive late to the party and thus have more vines to deal with. The second time he had denied her, it had cost him several members of his team to the vines below. The third time he had denied her, it had cost him the energy of climbing up the tree purely by his own strength, while simultaneously being an easy target. Being an easy target then ultimately cost him his chances of progressing through the trials. In these moments, Riina had understood the lessons that she hadn't learned from the prior exams. Well, at least the girl understood some theory to it. Whether it worked in practice or not was something entirely different.
Moving on forwards, Riina's eyes remained active. This time, the raven haired female was moving a little slower, seeing the situation unfold ahead of herself before engaging. These vines were, straight up, more than she could handle with speed and agility. When the redheaded kid failed to move through despite his excellence in both of these skills, Riina knew that with significantly lower specs, her ability to do the same would be null and void. Grasping the knife in her hand, Riina gauged the thickness and approach speed of the vines, pondering if she could cut her way through. With the power needed to slice a single vine, it was also more than she could handle cutting her way through. Plus, the moment she would begin being restrained to any capacity, both speed and power would drop. In short, this was a straight up impassable obstacle for Riina's current skillset. Though, Riina already knew that this was the case. Fortunately for her, there was someone straight up ahead with a perfect skillset to get through here. Practically, the boy with the bladed limbs was like a lawn-mower when faced with the vines. Cutting through them, moving forwards, but more importantly, clearing a path for those coming behind. So Riina needed to simply make sure that she came behind him. Following in his wake, she kept low and unnoticed when the redhead attacked.
A soft breath of air left her lips and nose as she smirked. This kind of cheapshot is precisely what Riina would've pulled at any of the prior hunter exams. Creating some distance to make sure she herself could prominently arrive as the first one. Even if that never happened, because she'd run straight into the next obstacle and get herself disqualified by being unable to progress on her lonesome. This time, however, passing was more important to her than coming in first. Setting off, Riina kept to the path that the blade-armed boy had cleared, running straight at him. Currently, the best the boy could do was ram his blades into the soil to prevent himself being dragged off his feet. The vines lashed at him violently, trying to make him quit his hold, and he stood there, bearing it, because he refused to give up. Riina arrived, placing her back against his back, to prevent him falling over backwards, as she began sweeping at the vines that had grabbed his feet, digging into them with the dagger. "Eyes forward, keep going, I've got your back!" The girl called out as she did everything she could to free him, pressing against his back to make him move forwards. By placing herself in this manner, she ensured that if he kept moving forward, she'd reach the first finish line. The whips that came at his back, now came at Riina's front instead. While the kitten did her best to ward off as many of the vines as she could, she was inevitably whipped several times.
Should Riina and the bladed boy reach the little kindling fire, Riina would do her best to hit up the bladed boy with small talk. Offering to look at the lacerations and his eye, trying to make an ally. Much like Xyrwaz, the cat-eared female would be ignoring the redhead completely. Afterall, he had proven to her with his actions that he could not be trusted... Perhaps that is what everyone else had seen in the kitten at the prior exams. A hotheaded moron that could not be trusted? Riina's current condition wasn't great and she could definitely use a breather at the fire. Sweat was pouring off of her in droves. The usage of her Vel to this extent had begun to cloud her judgement. Thus, if allowed, she'd just sit there. Restore some of her energy and push the feral instincts back down some. Before Riina'd risk giving in to instinct completely.
Yes, she was ready to be challenged, but she wasn't at all ready to so abruptly see herself running behind most of the other nineteen contestants. Her bright, golden gaze widens in surprise, attempting to, in instinct, speed up the movement of her legs and feet, to try and catch up, but it was to no avail. "They're all so fast..." She mumbled to herself. "... Master was right... I'm still not ready..." The girl added in-between soft breaths. Looking over her shoulder for a brief moment, she could still at least notice a few falling behind her, including a group who had seemingly been trapped at the starting line. But that wasn't much to be proud of, was it? She had to do better.
A gentle influx of determination boiled within her. Even though it hurt her bare feet against the hard ground, she tried to sprint as fast as she could, in a last resort to close the gap between herself and the other aspiring hunters. Whilst it was still looking to be an almost impossible feat, she could notice that she was at least nearing them, little-by-little.
"Mm?" There and then, it seemed like things were starting to darken, as the atmosphere grew a little scarier. Not only that, after she was momentarily distracted by such a change, causing her head to turn around, once she straightened it forward, her gaze met with the sight of most of the other participants halting in their tracks, standing in front of a tall-looking structure. The more she closed in on it, the better she could notice:
A gigantic tree, blocking their path as their first obstacle.
Slowing down until she came to an absolute stop, Karina stood in front of the wooden wall, looking it up and down while from the corners of her eyes, she noticed the others trying to climb up the thing. She had probably missed that at least one of the contestants managed to easily parkour his way through the obstacle, as she was standing far too behind. But nonetheless, she could at least have an idea that most were still facing the same difficult task.
An arm extends, the palm of that same hand touching the trunk and feeling its texture. Perhaps it was sticky, or had holes where she could stick her hands on and more easily climb up. But no. It was totally plain. Sure, a few branches could be faintly seen, though they were too high up to reach. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she pondered. Until...
"... Woh...!" Something big pushed her to the side, causing her to be caught off guard and fall to the ground, most likely bumping against the legs of some other contestant. "Oi, look where you're falling!" A swift kick against her back pushed her forward, forcing her on her knees as the girl stared up at what had initially shoved her aside. Or who. "You were in my way, kid!", he mocked. Yet, instead of being offended by it, Karina only looked up in surprise, lips parted in curiosity about what he had just done. Amusingly, she'd have the opportunity to see him go through the same fate, if not worse, as vines suddenly started to sprout out of the ground, a group of them causing the brute to fall down as well. "Hehe." Almost like a child would, the white-haired teen smiled and snickered in a similar mocking manner at what had just happened to him, such obviously being met with the angry gaze of the man.
Nonetheless, she couldn't be lax for too long. The vines didn't only chase after him, they also chased after her and the rest of the other participants. A somersault backwards was made as to avoid the first sudden set of vines attempting to grasp at her limbs, before she shot her hands forward to send a couple of sharp golden shards to slice through them. They originally stick out of her cloak, a decent set of them almost acting like a scarf, held still by two belt straps wrapped around her neck. Indeed, her choice of fashion wasn't exactly the most proper, but for as long as it worked, there was no problem.
Looking back up along the wall, she had to quickly formulate an idea. As silly as it may perhaps be, it was the first thing that came to her mind. 'The Golden Gift...!' She remembered. The very thing coiled around her waist, that same spear blade, attached to a chain, that she could put to use. And so she does, rapidly drawing out the whole thing and moving a little farther away from the obstacle. Spinning it around with both her hands firmly holding on to the chain, Karina launched it up, aiming right at the trunk. Luckily, for her first try, she managed to wrap the chain around one of the thick tree branches. Now, all she had to do was run to gain some momentum and begin climbing. Sprinting towards the obstacle, the girl leaped forth and pressed both her feet plain and firm against the wood, still holding on to the chain, now starting to climb until she was able to reach the branch.
All the while, looking to the side, she could spot a few of the other contestants already managing to make their way up, specifically a cat-lady. The latter was moving up pretty fast too, certainly faster than Karina could ever manage. Then, the girl noticed. "She's using the green thingies? Woah..." Just as she mumbled that to herself, a few more of the vines came back to try and stop her in her tracks. Whilst still holding on tight to the chain, she used her feet and legs to weave her body out of the way of their grasp. Her arms hurt more this way, from having to set an even tighter hold around her weapon, though it was an absolute necessity for her to reach the top.
Eventually, and managing to catch up to the others a little more now, she arrived at the very top of the wall, coiling the chain back around her waist and attaching the blade to the right spot just above her rear. Karina huffed, looking down and returning to sprint after those few that were already ahead of her. She still had some more catching up to do.
"And they're off," Cal stated calmly as the contest started after Xyrwaz was done with her grandiose opening. Both of the two Hunters were standing by the edge of the part of the tree they were on. The red-haired Hunter had his hands in his pockets, watching with some interest, while Yaz's arms were folded beneath her chest, eyes locked on two girls in particular. Riina and, to her surprise, Karina. When did that little mischief maker manage to sneak her way in? The blonde Huntress was pretty sure she hadn't seen her with the main group. She hummed to herself, a thumb and index finger on her chin, pondering over the challenge as she watched.
"Y'think it's going to be another one of those?" Yaz asked, already watching for the vines.
"Would you really be surprised?" She shook her head when he asked back, sighing with a smile on her face. Xyrwaz never really changed. Far as she knew this was the third Trials run she's hosted and the previous two were exactly like this one. With what Yazmyn knew of their fabled overseer, things weren't looking too good for the trainees. Xyrwaz was almost famous with how absolutely zero trainees have passed her trials... and if what she thought was coming next was to be true, both Riina and Karina were going to have some issues.
"That ginger is pretty good," Cal commented and Yaz nodded as a response, having been keeping her eye on the same kid as he ran up the tree trunk and just kept going. Agile and fast. Prime traits for a Hunter... though from what she could see he was a little full of himself. Even more so than Riina was, which was honestly a little bit of a surprise. Then again, knowing Xyrwaz, the kid probably wouldn't last long. She'd sure as shit be surprised if he did.
"The pot calling the kettle black, eh?" Yazmyn jabbed playfully, smirking at the red-haired Hunter who only huffed as a response.
"It is what it is."
The blonde Huntress kept watching Riina, interested how the little kitten would proceed. Crouching down at the edge of the spectator area, her lavender eyes were firmly fixated on the young Afflicted, watching with keen interest. She hummed at how the girl was handling herself, quite impressed. "Good girl," she said aloud, watching as she whipped herself around and descended upon another group of trainees. Yazmyn couldn't help the snort that left her at her 'innocent crime' when one of the trainees was caught up in the vines that were chasing the kitten.
"She's smart. Nice find," Cal voiced, watching the kitten with as much interest as Yazmyn was.
"Think it's more accurate to say she was the one who found me," after having said this, she noticed Cal's eyes on her. "Well suffice it to say last night I ended up getting drunk on something I'd never recommend anyone and had my coin stolen. One thing led to another and little Riina over there and I had a good ol' time by a campfire singin' kumbaya together."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Yeah I thought so too," the blonde Huntress agreed, chuckling knowingly. There were many reasons why the blonde had picked the little kitten, none of which was because Jaeger had a good eye for potential recruits. Something about the young Afflicted had interested Yazmyn beyond a level she herself could really explain, hence why Riina was now attaching vines to Yazmyn's hunting knife that she got from Warduul and was wearing the Huntress's very own Hunter cloak... which she realized the ginger kid from before had taken notice of. Interesting.
"That other girl... she's good too," Yazmyn followed Cal's eyes, realizing they were on none other than-
"Oh, Karina?"
The other Hunter glanced at Yazmyn again, a brow raised, "Do you know everybody here?"
She chuckled again, "Nah, only people I've met before. While I met Riina only last night, I've known Karina for a while. Our paths crossed once. She had taken up a job-"
"She took up a job and is now participating in the trials? That's not exactly-"
"-legal, I know," the blonde nodded. "But well she was brave - or dumb, whichever of the two if not both - enough to try it on her own without anybody's permission. Yours truly just so happened to be the other person who took that job. She's quite good, believe it or not. Taught her a thing or two, too. Should do fairly well in these trials."
The two of them paused after Yazmyn's little exposition. A small smile crept up Cal's face, "Think this batch of younglings is gonna break Xyrwaz's mean streak?"
To this, Yazmyn just barked out a singular dry laugh, "Man I hope so."
Vines seemed to never go down in numbers, despite the effort and many counters from the remaining participants, those who still stood strong with viable combat methods had to halt their journey to the colossal tree trunk. The clear difference between participants was clear as day for those who watched from above, the group that started this trial has already been halved, the many individuals that has been dragged into the pitch dark misty forest with only screams and shrieks as their last effort of resistance. While getting over the obstacle was very much doable for those standing left it seemed like the vines had gained more speed, strength, and most importantly, aggressiveness. It was almost like the vines has learned to read the victims and their performance and overall fighting ability. Someone who has been using msotly their hands was quickly apprehanded, tied and strngled around their upperbody bythe vines and dragged away like the rest, yet another defeat to add onto the pile. But then there was the participants who had tricks up their sleeves and able to adapt to the situation when needed. The moment the second participant, behind the readhead, had gotten to the top of the tree trunk was quickly surrounded by vines coming from each side. He retaliated this large assault by roaring to encourage himself, his arms sharpening until possessing a pair of metal blades., activating his Vel that he has hidden until now, slicing and dicing his way through the assault and jumps down to the other side of the obstacle where he began his charge to the finishline, following up to the readhead.
Back at the other side however there was a lot of struggles to the participants, those who tried to climb the hard way all got pulled off and denied every time they tried, and with a few having to fight off far mroe vines than some, including Riina who was currently running away from chasing horde of the grass tentacles. However she had come up with a wicked yet effective plan to avoid this inevitable fate. If there was something Riina had and not the vines it had to be her eyes! With her own perception she could lead the horde towards someone familiar not too far away from her current position. The former trio, a duo, was struggling with their own vines, the big guy most importantly had been completely tangled up and struggled to get a good footing. He grunted and wanted to unleash some real pent up rage, but in a swift moment he was free from two slicing strikes. Riina used her knife and cut the vines off from the leader of the duo, grabbing the cut off vines and dashing off with a sassy comment left behind. ''W-what the? Hey! I was gonna deal with it myself! get back- UWAH!'' He yelled out as a new horde of vines entangled him from behind, the feline girl using the guy's body as a form of a shield, completely making her untargeted from the assaulting nature. And just as he was gonna get aided by his partner they got pulled by their legs, the second of the trio now gone in the blink of an eye, her scream fading away into the mist.
Riina earned herself a good set of vines, and the perfect kind to use as a rope! It was sturdy, and elastic enough to withstand her weight and momentum she was about to create with her stunt. With the combination of her knife and the vines she had created a new path up across the tree trunk. Along with her succesful ascention a fourth contestant had gotten up to the top, a lady with two horns and a big set of wild looking fangs sticking out from her mouth. She was panting and huffed, slowly raising herself up from the wooden trunk floor. ''Ugh, I-I truly hate climbing, huff huff...'' She idly spoke to herself under her breathing, not realizing Riina had gotten to the top aswell. But ontop of that, the fifth was coming quickly after, the silent Karina with her trusty Golden Gift finally reached up to the top, but as soon she stood up a vine had snuck very silently up to her, and when mere inches away it quickly snared around her waist and attempted to pull!
But there was actually a sixth contestant left, the leader of the trio was fully left behind, but this was no end for him, for he was just getting riled up and firing his engines up. He roared out and let out his pent up anger, flexing his tied up body, using his powerful build to tear off the vines with his body strength alone on the spot. He raised his fists and grabs all the vines that tried to tie him again, pulling them all with all of his might he surely tore them off from the ground. ''THIS IS NOT THE END OF ME! HUAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!'' He charged forward and ignored any vine that wrapped around his powerhouse body, and once he reaches the obstacle he heard the words of the kitten from the mist, he didn't know if she was down below or up there, but he could see the rope mentioned. However, he was mighty livid and did not trust words nor stayed rational, no, for he was only trusting in himself right now. ''As if I'm gonna get tricked again by you! No one's gonna stop me! RAAAAAAAARGH!'' He slams his hands against the wall of solid wood, penetrating his fingers into the hard mass and began to climb up, it was a slow pace, but a sure one, for none of the many vines was able to tear this big guy off from the obstacle.
Taking the attention away from the backline, the front was getting some action too. The redhead lad was in a complete stop, a hinderance that even he did not know how to approach. From every angle he was overwhelmed, forcing him to use every possible limb he could use, kicks and chopping strikes to fight off the nature, but while he was in a struggle, the blade man was charging full speed, his arms crossed and cutting any incoming vines. The redhead took notice of this, and he was not gonna let some mere pair of blades make the difference between first and second place. He had to ramp up his speed and aggressiveness, spinning with extreme kicks gave him a cut vine into his possession, and the moment the incoming bladed lad neared the horde of vines the redhead used the cut vine as a fearsome whip, striking dead on at the contestant's face and making him unable to see for a very brief moment. ''GUH! The hell?!'' He shouted annoyed, trying to rub the pain off, but with such an opening presented the vines took the chance to grab him by the feet, pulling him violently! But he was not giving up without a fight, he thrusted his blade arms into the ground and stopping the pulling force. ''You'll pay for that!'' ''Sorry pal, but I rather not be seen with someone when I get to the finish line.'' And thus he departed with a smug grin, letting the many vines lash at the blade wielder.
And finally, the first person to reach the kindling fire was the redhead, who causally jogged the last few meters before hopping down at his butt on the ground, sitting infront of the fire, stretching his arms up as he awaited comments from the overseer. But no words was spoken, he looked over at her who was fiddling with her flute, seemed rather bored. ''...Uhuh, not a fan of giving compliments? I get it, but can't I just like start the next trial already? I rather not wait on people, if they even are able to get here, hah.'' Xyrwaz gently sighed and swung ehr flute forward, catching it by the tip of her foot and balanced it as a form of a time killer. ''Rushing won't give you anything other than premature paths, just sit and wait.'' She then kicks the flute back and catches it with her left hand before playing it a bit, playing a soft melody that filled the silent misty wood, she truly wondered how the rest are gonna act the last bit of this first trial.
Post by Riina de Bastille on Dec 8, 2019 8:18:45 GMT
WORD COUNT: 911
TAGGED:
TAGGED: Fluffy
It was a shame, truly. The boy, the leader of the little team from prior, had been given plenty of opportunities to cooperate from Riina. First, the girl had straight up asked him to join forces, to which he had declined. Then, when he was in a situation where he was certainly going to lose his team members, Riina had stepped in to offer them a chance at moving forwards. Lastly, the girl had thrown down a rope for him to move up on, so that he could avoid being an easy target while attempting to ascend the fallen tree, which he had ignored. Each and every time he had denied her, something terrible had happened. The first time, it had cost him her cooperation and an untied set of laces, making their group arrive late to the party and thus have more vines to deal with. The second time he had denied her, it had cost him several members of his team to the vines below. The third time he had denied her, it had cost him the energy of climbing up the tree purely by his own strength, while simultaneously being an easy target. Being an easy target then ultimately cost him his chances of progressing through the trials. In these moments, Riina had understood the lessons that she hadn't learned from the prior exams. Well, at least the girl understood some theory to it. Whether it worked in practice or not was something entirely different.
Moving on forwards, Riina's eyes remained active. This time, the raven haired female was moving a little slower, seeing the situation unfold ahead of herself before engaging. These vines were, straight up, more than she could handle with speed and agility. When the redheaded kid failed to move through despite his excellence in both of these skills, Riina knew that with significantly lower specs, her ability to do the same would be null and void. Grasping the knife in her hand, Riina gauged the thickness and approach speed of the vines, pondering if she could cut her way through. With the power needed to slice a single vine, it was also more than she could handle cutting her way through. Plus, the moment she would begin being restrained to any capacity, both speed and power would drop. In short, this was a straight up impassable obstacle for Riina's current skillset. Though, Riina already knew that this was the case. Fortunately for her, there was someone straight up ahead with a perfect skillset to get through here. Practically, the boy with the bladed limbs was like a lawn-mower when faced with the vines. Cutting through them, moving forwards, but more importantly, clearing a path for those coming behind. So Riina needed to simply make sure that she came behind him. Following in his wake, she kept low and unnoticed when the redhead attacked.
A soft breath of air left her lips and nose as she smirked. This kind of cheapshot is precisely what Riina would've pulled at any of the prior hunter exams. Creating some distance to make sure she herself could prominently arrive as the first one. Even if that never happened, because she'd run straight into the next obstacle and get herself disqualified by being unable to progress on her lonesome. This time, however, passing was more important to her than coming in first. Setting off, Riina kept to the path that the blade-armed boy had cleared, running straight at him. Currently, the best the boy could do was ram his blades into the soil to prevent himself being dragged off his feet. The vines lashed at him violently, trying to make him quit his hold, and he stood there, bearing it, because he refused to give up. Riina arrived, placing her back against his back, to prevent him falling over backwards, as she began sweeping at the vines that had grabbed his feet, digging into them with the dagger. "Eyes forward, keep going, I've got your back!" The girl called out as she did everything she could to free him, pressing against his back to make him move forwards. By placing herself in this manner, she ensured that if he kept moving forward, she'd reach the first finish line. The whips that came at his back, now came at Riina's front instead. While the kitten did her best to ward off as many of the vines as she could, she was inevitably whipped several times.
Should Riina and the bladed boy reach the little kindling fire, Riina would do her best to hit up the bladed boy with small talk. Offering to look at the lacerations and his eye, trying to make an ally. Much like Xyrwaz, the cat-eared female would be ignoring the redhead completely. Afterall, he had proven to her with his actions that he could not be trusted... Perhaps that is what everyone else had seen in the kitten at the prior exams. A hotheaded moron that could not be trusted? Riina's current condition wasn't great and she could definitely use a breather at the fire. Sweat was pouring off of her in droves. The usage of her Vel to this extent had begun to cloud her judgement. Thus, if allowed, she'd just sit there. Restore some of her energy and push the feral instincts back down some. Before Riina'd risk giving in to instinct completely.
Oh, if it wasn't a major mistake that she had abandoned her hold on her most precious tool. This was simply the result of the girl's naivety, leading into clumsiness, sometimes being unable to locate herself in the moment and failing to realize that she was still in danger as the vine assault was still active. Success came, for a very brief moment, yet it wouldn't be going to last for too long as she was indeed caught off guard by a sneaky grass tentacle attacking at her waist, coiling around her like a snake and pulling her back.
"Ah!" The wide expression on her face was quite amusing to say the least, the pull of the vine so abrupt and so strong, as the young aspiring hunter was placed upside down for a moment, eyes meeting the ground below, so distant, one she had been stepping on not too long ago. And then, the whole length of the colossal tree trunk, that same one which she had the great effort to climb and reach its very top. Now, she was on the verge of being thrown off, on the verge of having all of that effort flushed down the toilet.
But...!
On her way down, as she was pulled off the top and started falling, another big fella was met by her eyes. Thinking fast, the first thing that came to her head was holding on to the large man. She had no time to re-equip her Vanta Weapon, so that was out of question. She probably lacked the necessary amount of gold to do something crazy and make her way back up, so that was also out of question. That person was her only savior. "Come heeeeeeeer--got you...!" Her hands first plant themselves firm on his shoulders, her arms pushing in afterwards and wrapping themselves along his neck, as her legs come to do the same, but instead around his torso. This hurt her, obviously, from the impact. It certainly didn't hurt him as much, considering she was probably so small compared to the male. Nonetheless, her quick planning had hopefully worked, as she now used him as a piggyback, holding on tight and having him climb up the whole structure for her.
No matter how much he most likely complained or how many times the vines now tried to also hold on to her, she wasn't going to let go!
Sharp pain lingered along her form from being punished by nature, yet finally, she had made her way back to the top, releasing herself from the back of the tall male and looking to rush straight forward, traversing through the rest of the trial. "Thanks, big guy!" Karina shouted to the male before starting to sprint onwards, her hands once more holding on to her Vanta Weapon, this time not letting go of it like she did before. With more vines in her way, if the other contestants hadn't gotten rid of them already, she spun her chain blade around, slicing through whatever came at her. Too bad that they didn't drop blood or that would be quite the blessing for the girl.
Hopefully moving through the rest of the obstacles successfully, the snow-haired teenager makes her way to the first stop, where other aspiring hunters had most likely already arrived at. Surely she wasn't going to believe for a second that she'd be the first, but she didn't want to be the last either. "Huff... Huff..." Tired and slightly weakened, she halted and almost dropped to her knees, her whole stance droopy, swaying from side to side in exhaustion. She lifts her head, that golden gaze of her own finally meeting with those who had already finished the first trial before her, then with the overseer. "Oh." At that, the girl quickly straightened herself, discreetly huffing through her nose, making her best effort to appear tough and unaffected.
It seemed like the competition was going to be put on hold for a moment.
It should be no wonder that this first part of the trial had drained so much energy from the remainder of the original group, to be constantly lashed and assaulted by relentless vines definitely required their whole body and focus to not slip up once. Riina and blade boy was an unlikely pair, but in a dire situation the fellow contestant knew they'd both benefit a lot more instead of going solo and get dragged off like the rest in a embarrassing manner. Clearing a nice thin pathway through the last distance to the kindling fire let the fourth contestant follow right up in pursuit. She didn't have to cut so many vines, instead she tried to dodge them with whatever kind of agility she possessed, and with those sharp deadly looking jawtooth of hers definitely aided to her front defence. However there was two remaining participants still in the harshest part of the trial. The brute with more strength and muscle than brain was slowly arriving to the top, and despite having used the most rough path he is definitely paid off nicely, honest strong work! But he was temporarely halted when a girl with ashen white hair fell down and yelped, but also clinging to his back which quickly became the only target left on the fallen tree's surface. He couldn't do much in theory, with all four limbs occupied and strength put into plowing his rough fingers into the hard wooden bark.
''Huh??? Get off you damn kid! I am not step ladder!''
Words of course didn't do much, even if he could attempt to shake her off it was a msot certain path to failure, because a whole new horde of vines had gathered up and launched at him and Karina! ''No way I am failing now! Just don't get in my way!'' With an angry remark he fought forward, clinging to the surface with all of his raw might and denied the many vines trying to pull him right off. He was a big man that had a size very difficult for many to move, and with his stubborn attitude it was practically a wall infront of another much sturdier wall! He hoisted himself up to the top, tearing off any vines on his limbs, and of course he expected Karina to get off him at that point, which she did galantly. ''That's the last time I'm being used as a fucking stepping stone! Gruarh!'' He jumped right off to the other side, and with such a size he landed with a thundering impact, and he was quite fine and alright, his legs could handle such powerful clash. But between him and Karina he was definitely the slow one, so despite the fast jump he was overtaken in distance by Karina and her small size and weight.
By the kindling fire, the first goal in the trial, slowly became more crowded with the people arriving. Xyrwaz looked up with one eye and counted those who came and their current state. The redhead was the first, not too sweaty, but jut having to catch his breath, she wonders what he might have used during the race. Second up coming was of course the guy with blades for arms, along with him was the feline girl who seemed to been cooperating with the second place, resulting her coming up on third place. Xyrwaz took back half of her attention from her flute and put her sight up to look at those near the kindle, listening to their conversations, complaints and what not. But what she noticed first was just how sweaty Riina gotten, droplets falling off from her chin, landing on the dry cold grassy ground. But it wasn't only Xyrwaz noticing such glaring detail, the redhead just needed a glimpse of Riina and began to grin. He crossed his arms and gave out a silent chuckle before opening his cocky mouth.
''Now ain't that just one lucky kitten, how many times have you failed again? Try not to add another one to that pile, for those sweat marks doesn't lie, you barely made it, hah.'' The boy with blades retracted them into his limbs and gritted his teeth at such comment. But it didn't stop the redhead to also direct a mean on to him aswell. ''Oh right, you also barely made it? Not often I have to use others as stepping stones~.'' The boy got heated, and mighty angry, even so much to pull one of the blades out of his left arm with a glare at the redhead. ''You god damn shithole of a cocky freak-!'' His sentence was cut short the moment he tried to walk towards the redhead, Xyrwaz launched an arrow right infront of the boy's legs.
''No fighting during breaks, the last two are coming shortly, which means the next trial will begin... And I do not have time for childish emotions brewing up between the contestants.''
He took the message clear as day and retracted his blade back, grunting under his breath and just sat down near the fire, and of course the redhead gives one last cheeky snicker. There was no more room chit chat once Karina arrived to the finish line as the fifth, and lastly comes the brute, who has spent so much energy and force just to get to the line, he was out of breath and way sweatier than Riina. He wipes his face with his forearm and slams his knuckles into his palm, having his stare at the feline raven haired girl. ''Dun think I am through with you!'' Xyrwaz sighed and quickly hopped from the tree stump before more conflicts are brewed up.
''Looks like these are the remains... of such a big group, not expecting anything less from my partner.. Anyways, congratulations on taking a step of a very long stairway, you six that are standing right here are considered 'potential' candidates.'' She held very low expectations to all six, she was not the kind to be impressed and she made sure to show that in every piece of word she delivered. ''You perhaps want a break and get your senses together, but when you're in danger you don't have time for that, so we're going straight for the next part of the trial..'' She raised her hand and held up an odd token in the form of a totem. ''What I hold here is a token of proof, for the next trial I want all six of you, together or alone, to find a token and bring it back to me. Out there, under this endless forest ceiling, is a man hiding and waiting for you. A kilometer from here is the distance he is hiding within, find him and take a token from him. Those who bring it back to me are proving to be both skillful and effecient, since the moment someone takes a token anyone else can try to steal it.. Use any method of tactic, what matters is that you bring it back to me, from your hand to mine, is that understood?.. Oh, also, a quick side note. When the first token is grabbed the hidden man will try to relocate, and if you fail to grab a token after ten minutes after the first delivery the second part of the trial is over.''
She walked back to her tree stump and hopped on it, then plugs her flut into her mouth as he whistled out a harmonic tune into the forest. The participants, at the most part, looked confused, but as soon as the melody had ended a powerful loud manly laughter echoed through the hollow misty spaces within the forest. The echo came from every direction so it was almost nearly impossible to locate such sound. Xyrwaz didn't comment further and sat silently, until seeing the group being confused. ''....What am I a darn alarm? Go!''
And as such the second part of the trial has officially begun, no break given so this was not as crazy fast like the start, most kinda just stood around a bit to stretch and catch their breath. But one did not move from their spot and that was the redhead. He just sat there and did not look at the others, silently watching the flames. The brute noticed that and kinda just laughed. ''Hua haha! What ya thinking of accomplishing by just sitting around eh? What a moron!'' He pulled his own shoulders and gave one powerful stretch, stretching his spine and back and he felt just like new. ''No more darn vines so this should be easy! The voice from this direction!'' ''What are you a darn pebble? The voice came from everywhere..'' It was true that the voice could be heard from every directions, and it was quickly realized by those who bgean to search. No one had a direction to follow nor knew what to do actually, all they did was to look behind trees, potential small pits, but after one good hour not a single trace of clue was found.
Post by Riina de Bastille on Dec 30, 2019 19:51:10 GMT
WORD COUNT: 851
TAGGED:
TAGGED: Fluffy
Sitting by the campfire, the redhead was being exactly as enormous of a prick as Riina had imagined that he would be. Throwing him a look, head tilted slightly, leaning somewhat to the side, the look spoke a million words. Give me a break, you complete asswipe. Yet, before Riina could give him a retort, the blade-armed male that she had gotten to the bonfire with, began wasting his energy in retorting. Riina knocked him with her elbow, waiting until he looked at her, before shaking her head from side to side. "Don't let him goad you. If you want to pass these trials, worry about yourself first." Though this was true, one thing had become very apparent to Riina through these little trials and the small exchanges of words. The redhead could not be cooperated with. He could not be trusted. He could not be indulged. Any attempt at reasoning with him would be met with a display of skill and power. Judging by how little he was sweating, judging by how he had arrived first, the boy was far from all hot air. In earnest, if these trials ever ended up with too many participants remaining and they decided to do a tournament, Riina was fairly confident in her evaluation that he would woop her ass. That is, Riina knew that she had only one card to play against this kid. His own ego. His own arrogance. On all other fronts, he had her outmatched.
Lying down on her side by the fire, she looked towards the other contestants making their way towards the bonfire. Some were snatched by the vines mere moments from making it home safe. Others took less obvious paths through the woods, avoiding the vines altogether and perservering through sheer hard work and an undeniable effort. The others that arrived, including the ditzy looking grey haired female, all seemed like they had gotten through to this point on willpower and perserverance alone. The redhead was different. Where the others struggled, he was something akin to a force of nature. Riina would've suspected the hunter's to place one of their own as a contestant. Just to make the others feel like the effort was hopeless. Yet, in this case, the raven haired feline knew that he was far too abraisive to be a hunter. Relying on yourself alone, when you got sent out with a team, simply couldn't be the correct solution. Or so, Riina concluded anyway.
The next trial was one that made Riina smile. To track down a target, interact with them and find a token, before returning back with the prize. When it came to tracking, Riina was fairly confident that her skillset as a kitten made her more adept than almost anyone of the others. Given that her Vel abilities were also suited mainly for tracking, following, finding or uncovering things, it brought an enormous smile to her lips. Though that smile faded somewhat, as she saw what the redhead was up to. He was simply standing there, not caring, not worried. The boy was aware, that to pass, someone had to deliver a token. He was aware that the tokens could be stolen at will. He was aware that, regardless of how skilled he was, five other individuals would have a larger chance of finding the token than he would running out there on his own. So taking it from whoever got lucky, having expended their energy to find the token, therefore being easy pickings. What a complete douchebag. What a complete asshat. It made Riina almost furious, but she couldn't dwell on it. The girl had to go searching for a token on her own...
..but there was one thing that the redhead was correct about. Searching together, or at least in a coordinated fashion, would yield results much faster than searching alone. So, what Riina did was simple. Following one of the others, trying to stay stealthy by hiding behind trees and generally breaking line of sight, the girl picked up small pebbles. Lobbing them into one direction, she was attempting to guide the others slightly. Effectively, Riina was trying to utilize them as a search party for her own sakes. If they ever found tracks or something interesting, then she'd have tracks to follow as well. If they found nothing, then she knew that there wasn't anything obviously visible in that area, allowing her time to dedicate her search efforts elsewhere. Hopefully, covering twice as much ground as some of the other contestants that hadn't even considered taking advantage of the fact that other hunters would be around searching, could give her the edge she needed. Then it was just a matter of facing the redhead at the end. Scratching her cheek, that truly was a problem she couldn't see an immediate answer to. Perhaps creating some kind of trap could do the trick...?
...Well, that time, that sorrow. For now, the girl had a hidden to find, some hunters to impress and some renown to claim!
Such was the result for finishing so late. When the poor girl thought she'd still have some time for relaxation, the Overseer totally ruined her plans by announcing the beginning of the second phase. "Awwh..." Scowling, Karina voiced out in a soft and quiet complaint, hopelessly sighing after being informed that no more time was going to be given for rest. Lucky those that arrived quickly, even if they didn't have that much time either to lay down. But it's not like they needed it; at least not one of them, the redhead prodigy. Though, unlike most others, the white-haired gal didn't appear too bothered or affected by his cockiness. Then again, it's not like anything he said was directed at her and thus she had not much reason to react.
Focusing mainly on her own efforts was what she cared most about.
Even for someone like Karina, the concept of the next phase wasn't anything too hard to understand. One man, a single kilometer away from the bonfire, held a token of proof which each participant had to grab and return with. The only issue was about how to even find such person, as no directions or clues were even given, only the manly laughter which loudly resounded across the area, coming from all directions. "Mmm...!" The girl deeply hummed in ponder, leading a finger over her lips and slowly turning about, carefully observing the somewhat darkened surroundings. It was almost like she was coming up with a proper strategy to beat the phase, blinking once like someone who appeared to have figured it all out!
Yet...
"Oh, yeah, I have no idea how I'm gonna find him!" She shouted, scratching at her head and pathetically giggling for a brief moment. Though, whilst falling deep in her efforts to formulate a plan, Karina had gotten distracted, once she turned around to notice most others already making their ways off in search of the man holding the objective. "Ah, wait!" In a quick jog, the girl rapidly joined the others in this desperation-inducing task.
For a good couple of minutes, she still hadn't even managed to find any sort of clue or sign. A few random pebbles distracted her for a few brief moments, causing her to believe that she had somehow progressed, nonetheless, they were just rocks and just that, nothing else. Hopeless, Karina wanders through the forest aimlessly, only worrying about going as far as she could, considering the target of the phase was located at a pretty distant location, or at least that was what the Overseer said. Until...
"Oh. Who is that?" From the near distance, she spotted a figure seemingly creeping about. Hiding or something? She couldn't discern whatever it was that the person was doing, thus Karina decided to quietly close the gap. Upon closing in from behind Riina, the girl extended a hand out to gently place it on the nearest shoulder or at least try to, totally unaware that she could perhaps be about to scare the crap out of the fellow contestant. The raised tone of voice that she used wasn't helping in avoiding that either. "Hey! It's you, the cat-lady! What are you up to?!" Karina curiously inquired, hopeful that this could be an opportunity to team up.
