On the Hunt -- Game Thread

Illia tosses the storage records before looking at the map of the fort itself, trying to see which building is which. I'll check out those people at the bar as soon as I finish with this map. Illia thought to herself.

Marth stands up and decides to check the other corpses with sonar, to confirm if they have similar wounds. Claw marks means something more than just some raiders or humans at all. This could be dangerous.

Doru ignores shinpi, and uses his powers to regrow his wings. Doru then jumps atop the building to the left of the survivor and looks around and towards the moon.

Though Shinpi and Synyster try with all their strength, the rubble atop the man merely budges. They need just a little more effort.

Illia now has a good idea on the layout of the whole fort. (Full map below.) As she looks up, however, she realizes the men have already appeared in the hole in the bar, in view of the whole party (except for Marth).

Marth identifies more claw marks on the surrounding bodies. It is apparent that they were not in formation when attacked, but they were all attacked from the front. He hears a noise, a scuffle, coming from the western side of the northwest building.

Wings erupt from Doru's back and he takes brief flight; a boosted jump to the building from which Synyster had just jumped down. The moon is not quite full; almost a waxing gibbous, partially obscured by clouds. As he looks, he notices two men standing in the hole in the bar.

Shinpi strains at the rubble and fails. She lets go and looks back at the two men who just appeared, cocking her head slightly. She also withdraws her bow, notching an arrow but not drawing it back.

The two men look surprised and shocked. "What, what is this? Did you all do this?" the smaller, stout one says, directed to Synyster, Illia, and Shinpi (Doru is currently out of sight, and he knows it). His partner, taller and lankier, answers: "No, these were our best men, it couldn't have been..."

Updated map:

Illia now tosses the map of the fort before putting the map of the surrounding area in her bag before looking at the two men, "Easy there, we're trying to find out the same thing. If you doubt our word, you could just ask the survivor stuck under the rubble over there." Illia finishes before nudging her head in the direction of Shinpi, Synyster, and the survivor. Illia then decides to leave the rest of the talking to the previously mentioned three, and walks past the two men at the entrance of the bar, and walks over to the captain's quarters. Maybe I'll find something else in here. Then again, maybe I won't. Oh well, only one way to find out. She thinks before opening the door and taking a look around.

>The shorter man eyes Illia cautiously as she walks by. When Illia arrives at the captain's quarters and tries the door, she realizes it's locked. It doesn't look particularly sturdy though.

Marth, suddenly alarmed, calls to his bats to investigate the nearby noise. He then heads back to the others, using sonar to identify everything before walking into view.

After observing the interaction between Illia and the men, Doru sits down atop the roof of the building and attempts to use his telekinesis to crush the shorter man's heart.

Synyster turns and looks at the two men, then says, "Help get this guy out of here. He could tell us what happened."

As Illia passes by, the short man eyes her cautiously. She approaches the captain's quarters and finds the doors to be locked. It looks worn down and slightly damaged, so she could probably bust in if she so desired. She identifies the footsteps of the men who just arrived.

The short man, all of a sudden, clutches at his chest and kneels down onto the ground, grunting slightly in pain. The tall man looks surprised and reaches down to him. "Hey, what's wrong man? Hey!" He looks with pleading eyes towards Shinpi and Synyster. "Hey, my friend needs help too!"

Doru realizes that his telekinesis, though executed well, failed to cause serious damage. Definitively, he must be either a werebeast or a vampire, the only creatures he knows able to resist that power directly.

Marth attempts to call back his bats but most have already scattered; the remaining few can only identify a body in motion. He is now aware of the current situation up front, including Illia's absence and Doru's current location.

Synyster's pleas are received by the other party, and the short man gets up after a few moments hesitation. "No worries mate, I'm fine. Here, let me help you guys out." He stumbles towards the man in the rubble, about halfway there, and the taller man follows slowly, looking around nervously. Shinpi takes a few steps back but takes no action; neither she nor Synyster have noticed Marth's arrival, but Doru and the two new men have. The two men merely gave him a glance, simply acknowledging the presence of another.

Illia attempts to kick the door in before walking inside.

"Were you just mocking me...? I hope you weren't. I don't need a murder on my head." Synyster glares coldly at the men.

Marth walks forward and speaks aloud to Doru. "Something new coming from the northwest. The bodies in this area all have claw marks on them, indicating that this wasn't a human attack. Those two over there need to start talking, and fast."

Doru remains silent as Marth speaks to him, though he does eye the stone for a moment. Two werebeasts... Perhaps I will get to test the full measure of this stone's power.. Doru then lowers his blindfold and tosses his [Orb of Sight] into the air, levitating it to a position behind the men.

Illia successfully bashes down the door and manages to take one step before a wooden board smashes her face from her blind spot, shattering on impact and knocking her down to the ground (4 damage: now 23/31). As Illia quickly recovers from the daze, she hears a sword being drawn as a man in the doorway looks at her in fear and says "Don't come any closer, fiend!"

Synyster's harsh, acrid comment, though not unfounded from his perspective, is received coldly yet civilly by the men. The short one replies, "Watch your tongue, we're only trying to help." Synyster realizes that he's telling the truth. Doru thinks he may be lying, Marth isn't sure but it sounds true.

Marth's indirect statement calms both of the men down and draws their attention. The tall one answers Marth: "Yes, I understand. This must be strange, seeing a stranger after such a slaughter. We're with the Templar, and we're looking for whoever did this."

Doru positions the sphere without any problems, but the first man sees it as it floats by. He pays it no mind, thinking it is a bat. The second doesn't notice at all. The orb now floats behind the two men; Doru doesn't notice anything interesting through it except the fact that the men are armed with swords.

Shinpi relaxes her grip on the bow and steps back closer to Marth, away from the men. She doesn't look afraid.

Doru continues to monitor the men, attempting to keep the orb out of sight but still able to keep watch of the men. He sits down and hardens most of his body into stone in order to appear as if he were a gargoyle.

"Gah! Son of a bitch that hurt!" Illia says as she holds her head before glaring up at the one who just hit her, "I'm going to give you one warning and one warning only: put that sword away before you really piss me off. I can see now in hindsight that I probably should've knocked to see if anyone else was alive in here. Just relax, okay? You're not the only survivor of whatever happened here. Me and my group just arrived, so we couldn't have done whatever happened here."

"Then help me get this guy free before he dies. That'll be on your head.. not mine."

"The Templar... interesting. I'm passing through with a few others. Are there more of you coming from the north, or do we have a third party here tonight?"

Doru expends some energy to harden his body into the appearance of a gargoyle. He is nearly invisible against the night sky, and he can still see what is going on.

The man in the doorway considers Illia's words; he backs up and the signs of blind fear in his face begin to disappear, starting to look more like shock. His sword falters, and he asks, "There's... a survivor? Take me to him..." He takes a step forward, then jumps back, with some resolve returning to his face. "Wait, I don't know if I can trust you...." He leans against the wall in pain, though there's no apparent wounds on him.

The short man nods to Synyster and approaches the rubble where lies the now unconscious man. With his strength and some help from Synyster, they lift up the beams that had pinned him underneath and carefully pull him back a few feet to safety. Shinpi steps forward as the wounded man emerges, and once he's free, he glares at the short man, who backs up and allows her to approach. She looks over his wounds.

Marth's words seem to catch the short man slightly off guard--"Uh...." He turns to his partner, who walks out a few feet from the bar and answers. "No, there's no third party. Our... patrol route runs through this outpost from the north. It's just us two... Anyone else, and we were followed." Synyster sees the short man tug at his collar uncomfortably, sweating slightly. Marth can tell the man's voice may be shaky. The tall man scratches his own nose.

I can't really blame the guy for being scared. Alright, I'll let what just happened slide. He looks hurt, too. "He's fine. My companions are helping him as we speak. I'm more worried about you, honestly. You look like you're in pain, so I don't think it's wise to move around. Maybe I can help, if you tell me what's wrong." Illia says. "Never turn away from the suffering." Illia's father's words played themselves in her head. Although she didn't entirely agree with them, as she stood for more herself than others, she found it difficult to just ignore a suffering person right in front of her.

Marth gives a wry smile and walks slowly to wall on his right, then leans on it. "Quite frankly, this scene is suspicious as all hell. The claw marks mean something more than just a raid, and you don't look happy about what is coming up north. So if there's anything you want to let us know, it'd be best if you filled us in..."

"Whatcha hiding shorty? You gonna tell us or should we make you?"

Doru's stone form is unchanging and unnoticed.

Illia's interlocutor realizes it would be dumb to fight back, and nods in agreement. "Yeah, one of 'em hit me so hard it knocked me unconscious. Probably broke a rib or two... I'll make it, but I'm useless anyway against those things.... I've heard about them, even seen one, but never actually fought..." He moves forward and walks through the door. "Names Talmek. You?"

'Shorty' glares at Synyster. "What, kid, you think I'm scared of you?" The tall one crosses his arms and leans against the ruined building. "Simmer down, jackass." He turns his head to Marth. "Alright, I'll tell you. There's a small clan of werebeasts up north, rumor has it they possess one of them special 'stones.' We Templar were sent to capture it, but we came here when we saw this place was ambushed. We probably got here round the same time you all did, and there's a chance we were followed." The short guy adds on: "Yeah, if you know anything about them stones, a little help would be appreciated."

The party realizes: Why would the Templar, presumably humans, attempt to strike a werebeast outpost at night? And why are they so interested in the stone? Marth can easily tell they're lying, and in their speech he notes tones of greed.

Shinpi pulls the wounded man away from the party, gently tugging him around the corner behind Marth.

Illia gets up to follow Talmek outside, "Illia. So, Talmek, why would this place be a target for werebeasts? Surely it was caused by something other than simple blood lust." I should also probably avoid mentioning the fact that I'm a werebeast to him. At least for now, anyway.

"Hmm... Can't say I remember anything about stones, but maybe my memory is not the best. Tell me, why exactly are you trying to check a werebeast camp during night time, how could you be so awful at your job as to be followed, and why do you seem so unconcerned about it? Because I can't for the life of me come up with an answer." Marth uses echolocation to do a quick scout in a large area, to see if anything unknown is near. He hopes that Doru and Synyster catch on that he's caught them in some sort of a lie and that they might be in danger, although he assumes the latter is obvious.