The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

L -1 vs 3 M 1 vs 5
B 8 vs 20 | 18 vs 4
L 11 vs 9 M 4 vs 3
B 5 vs 20counter | 18 vs 2critical
Liz: 5/5 Mel: 5/5 Grappled: -3 to escapes, can't attack
Tentacle bear: 3/11
As Melbara drops her bow and attacks the bear with her sword, she manages to strike it, but her slash doesn't cut through the thick hide, and one of the tentacles manages to get a hold of her leg. Liz manages to tear herself free and deflects attacking tentacles with her sword, cutting off a couple while the bear shifts its attentions towards Mel. Melbara stabs the bear and is rewarded with blood, and another tentacle coiled around her, pulling her arms to her sides.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Having broken free and seeing the blood on Mel’s blade, Liz pressed her attack once again in hopes of finishing the beast off quickly, sensing that it was quickly approaching its last legs in this battle. She would aim first to try and help cut Mel free of the tentacles binding her, and then shift her attention to the beast itself.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel rages against her bonds, keeping a death grip on her blade as she stressed her muscles against the coils pinning her arms to her sides, trying to keep her legs moving so they couldn't be bound as well.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

L 9 vs 14 M 13 vs 12
B 21 vs 12 |12 vs 20
L 16 vs 21 M 3 vs 19counter
B 15 vs 1 | 13 vs 11
L 3 vs 20counter M 18 vs 11
B 4 vs 15 | 11 vs 11
Liz: 4/5 Grappled: -2 to attacks Mel: 4/5
Tentacle bear: 2/11
Melbara miraculously manages to tear herself free as Eliza is grabbed by the tentacles while trying to stab the bear. Though the tentacles grab Melbara again, she manages to cut herself free even as Eliza continues to struggle.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Eliza was pleased to see Mel manage to fight her way free of the bear’s tentacles, only to feel her own frustration grow again as she failed to land any blows, only managing to get herself entangled somewhat in the beasts writhing appendages. She could tell that it was tiring, but the effort being exerted on her part was beginning to take its toll as well. Even so, she continued to struggle against the tentacles, swinging her sword with purpose whenever an opportunity presented itself.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel growled as she fought, something starting to snap within her as she hacked at the creature, trying to simply chop off as many writhing tendrils as she could now.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

As another blow from Liz cuts her free, the tentacle bear turns and runs away, apparently deciding that it wants easier victims instead. The scouts' horses seem to have run away, but they probably wouldn't have gotten very far and the tracks look easy to follow.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Eliza watched with satisfaction as the bear fled, apparently having had enough of the beating that the two women had – perhaps surprisingly – given it. “Looks like we won that one!” she said happily, though her joy was tempered as she looked around and found that their horses and run off during the fight. She looked down and saw their tracks in the mud, though, meaning they should be easy enough to track down again.

“Well... I guess we should go find our horses now, then probably head back to the campsite...” Liz commented, pausing a moment to re-string her bow. “I hope they didn’t go too far, though...”

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel, reached for her bow and took a shot at the parting creature, the arrow thunking into a tree beside it just before it passed to far into the brush to be aimed at. She spat out a wordless curse as she picked her sword up off the ground before cleaning and sheathing it as well.

"Yeah, with any luck they won't have gone far. I have no idea why they spooked so badly this time, but were calm enough to fight from last time right up until we were dragged right off of them. The thing was bearlike this time around, but it seemed pretty obvious the thing was after the same food this time around as the last was." She muttered, checking to make sure they weren't leaving anything behind before following Liz in the direction of the tracks. "Any idea how we're doing up against our self-imposed time limit?"

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

“Hmm... I don’t know. It doesn’t really feel like it’s been that long,” Liz replied, looking around as the pair followed after their horse’s tracks. “Half-an-hour, maybe? Give or take? Depending how far they’ve gotten, we’ll probably have time to look around some more if you want to...maybe find whoever that bear was chasing...”

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

"Yeah, alright. sounds like a decent enough plan." She answered back, keeping an eye out once more as they slogged through the brush for their missing horses.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

The horses haven't gotten very far and soon the scouts are mounted again and following the tracks. As they get back to the scene of their earlier battle, they find that the tracks are already fading from the mud. Following them wouldn't be too difficult if they hurry, though.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

"The tracks are fading, we should hurry." Mel said quickly, leaning over the horse to pick the direction, then heading off with Liz behind. She kept her gaze mostly downwards, keeping them on the right track, and trusting Liz to keep a more focused eye out for danger.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

“Right,” Liz replied simply, nodding as she followed Mel’s lead as she followed the now fading tracks. As the other woman handled the tracking, Liz kept an eye out for any sign of the ones they were following, as well as for any more monsters or other surprises.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Another half an hour passes as they follow the tracks, but Mel and Liz don't seem to be catching whoever has left them.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

After what felt roughly like another half-hour of searching, the pair still hadn’t come across whoever it was that the bear had been chasing earlier. Liz wasn’t necessarily opposed to continuing to search, but they were approaching the time limit they had set for themselves, and there was no telling how far their ‘targets’ could have gotten by this point, or how much longer it might take to ultimately find them.

After a moment, Liz let out a soft sigh to break the relative silence. “I’m not sure we’re going to catch up with them, Mel. At least...probably not anytime soon,” Liz said, still keeping an eye out regardless. “It’ll probably take about an hour to get back to the campsite from here. I’m not opposed to looking for a little while longer, if you want to. I just figured it might be best to start heading back to the campsite soon.”

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

"No, I agree." She said, looking up for the first time in a while and noting how far they had gotten. "This was an amusing diversion, but chances are we're gonna fall behind in some thing or another if we keep trying to follow this." She said with a nod. "Let's head on back then."

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

As Mel and Liz start following their own tracks back to the campsite, the forest around them seems quiet in the cool air after the rain. After they pass the place where they fought the bear, Eliza spots a young woman in suspiciously skimpy clothing walking along, apparently following their tracks towards the campsite. The girl's clothing is simple, and she doesn't seem to be armed. A giant spider with black carapace with a cross-shaped white marking is trailing behind the girl, who seems oblivious of it.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

As the pair made their way back to the campsite, Eliza caught the strange sight of a young, barely dress girl walking along the tracks that she and Mel had left. Stranger still was the giant spider that seemed to be following her. Liz drew her bow almost by reflex, but before she simply notched an arrow and fired at the creature, she felt a tinge of curiosity at the somewhat odd scene ahead of them, not completely sure what to make of it.

If she was aware of it, the girl didn’t seem particularly nervous about spider following her, and the spider itself didn’t appear to be preparing to attack her...at least not from what she could tell... It made sense to assume that a spider – even a giant one – would be sneakier than to just follow after its prey in plain sight like this one was... The alternative was that this giant spider might be friendly somehow, which itself was odd and unlikely, but then again, Liz had seen several strange things in this game already...

With indecision evident on the woman’s face, Liz turned her head to look at Mel, asking with a shrug what her partner thought and/or wanted to do.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel shrugged, having drawn her own bow at about the same time. She had an arrow nocked, but was pointing it at the ground so far. "Hey, Miss! Look out!" She called to the oblivious woman, pointing her bow at the spider behind her. Something kept her from firing just yet though, she had a feeling thing were more than they seemed...