Private Providence The Dichotomy of Light and Dark

[Gutsy Ironvolt]

As she walked through a village in the Providence area, Regan spied a piece of paper attached to a billboard. Apparently, there was what amounted to a warrant out on a raiding party of gnolls that had been ransacking the smaller villages in the providence area. From the looks of it, the gnolls had been quite successful thus far with the number of villages hit. Now, several villages had pooled their gold to hire adventurers to end the raiding party for good.

Though not caring so much about the gold, the idea of fighting gnolls, a group Regan had not tested herself against yet, seemed quite interesting to her.

Gnolls huh, what are those? Like advanced goblins? Super goblins? I know they're a different species but in most games they're just better goblins aren't they? Well, whatever. I've never fought one before so this could be interesting.

Looking around town for someone for someone that looked like they were in charge and not seeing anyone in particular, Regan decided to fall back to her typically way of doing things.

"HEY! WHO DO I TALK TO ABOUT THESE GNOLLS?! YOU WANT THEM GONE RIGHT! HAH! WELL YOU'RE IN LUCK, I'M JUST THE WOMAN FOR THE JOB! I'LL TEAR THOSE GNOLLS APART INTO BLOODY CHUNKS SO THEY NEVER BOTHER YOU AGAIN!"

@Aaron Marone

 

[Aaron Marone]

Aaron looked at the billboard with a frown on his face. Gnolls were ransacking the area, hitting where there was little to no formal forms of protection for people, causing the villages to resort to putting out a bounty for adventurers. This is what he joined the Lion Arms to do, wasn't it? To help people who needed help and couldn't get it? Gnolls were those hyena-like creatures, right? At least they were in his dad's old books.

His thoughts were interrupted by a woman shouting, by luck or coincidence, about the very same problem. "Excuse me," he said, approaching the woman. "Mind if I help you look? I'm taking on the request as well. My name's Aaron." He stuck his hand out toward the woman. "I specialize in tanking and support, but I'm no slouch with my blade either. And I don't frankly care about the reward either, so we can split it more in your favor if that's an issue."

 

[Gutsy Ironvolt]

"EH!"

Regan turned around apparently in a soured mood. She looked the armored man up and down before grunting.

"You look like a hero type. Personally, I'm not a fan as the hero types are always the ones that get in my way. Still, not looking for a reward, huh? I guess I can respect that though let me guess you're here to 'save the people right'? Well, just so we're on the same page, I'm not. I'm here to hunt gnolls and if the byproduct of that is that some people feel revenged or whatever the hell, then that just comes with the territory."

Regan sighed.

"To be honest, I don't care what the hell you do as long as you don't get in my way when the hunt commences. I'm not here for money either... actually."

Regan turned away from the man and at a group of villagers.

"YOU HERE THAT! I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOUR GNOLL PROBLEM BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT AND I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ANY REWARDS. KEEP YOUR GOLD, THE ONLY THING I WANT IS BLOOD AND GLORY! HAHAHA!"

Regan turned back to the man.

"Well, now that you know why I'm here, you still want to come along?"

Regan grinned wolfishly.

@Aaron Marone

 

[Aaron Marone]

Aaron was thrown off a bit by the woman's attitude, but quickly recovered. "I'll take that as a compliment. I have no plans on getting in your way, so don't worry there. I don't care why you do what you do, so long as you don't hurt weak people for no reason. Testing your strength against the strong is as good a reason as any to do the right thing."

Then the woman started shouting again, and Aaron couldn't help but laugh slightly. This was going to be a very interesting day. The woman was boisterous, but he was pretty sure they could get along.

"I can get behind blood and glory. Sign me up. Let's go hunt some gnolls." He grinned back at her, not quite matching her level of wolfishness but coming close. "I assume your yelling will draw the... village elder or whoever it is we need to talk to for more info."

 

[Gutsy Ironvolt]

"HAHAHA! YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU'RE ALRIGHT, HERO! YOU GOT GUTS! I LIKE THAT! THE NAME'S REGAN, SOMEDAY I'M GOING TO BE THE VAMPIRE QUEEN OF THE WORLD! HAH!"

Regan liked people that saw things the way she did. This man seemed to understand that battle was a worthy cause unto itself. Of course, their reasons for doing things differed, but either way, the results would be the same. They had both come to fight gnolls because fighting is what they did best.

Suddenly, an older man came out quite perturbed by Regan's shouting.

"Ugh, you lot are quite loud ain't yeah?"

"LOOK OLD-TIMER, WE DIDN'T COME HERE TO TALK WE CAME HERE TO KILL SOME GNOLLS AND SAVE YOUR TOWN'S ASS. SPARE ME THE DETAILS, I DON'T CARE. JUST TELL ME WHERE THE GNOLLS WENT SO WE CAN TAKE CARE OF YOUR PROBLEM. SAVE YOUR GOLD WE'RE JUST HERE FOR A FIGHT!"

Regan grinned ready to get the hunt underway.

@Aaron Marone

 

[Aaron Marone]

Vampire queen of the world, huh? He thought royalty typically had a bit more sophistication to them. He wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud, though.

Aaron smiled apologetically when the old man came out. "Please, forgive my acquaintance. As she said, we're here to deal with your gnoll problem, though neither of us are out for the reward. If you could just point us in the right direction, we'll be out of your hair and eardrums."

The man squinted at Aaron, as if assessing him. Finally, he extended an arm and pointed northwest. "The creatures came and went that way."

Aaron bowed to the man gratefully. "Then you need fear them no more. Between the two of us, we should be able to make short work of those gnolls." He turned toward Regan. "Are you any good at tracking? Or should we just head that direction and hope we see them?"

 

[Gutsy Ironvolt]

"Hmmm... well I can track blood well thanks to my magic. Other than that, not really HAH! I have these wings for a reason though, what I typically do is take the air to see if I can find any of the bastards I'm hunting."

Pointed behind her, Regan made unfurled her wings to show Aaron what she was talking about.

"Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The other thing I do is just wait for them to attack me. That one usually goes over pretty well. HAHAHA! THESE RAIDING PARTIES REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY'RE GETTING INTO WHEN THEY ATTACK ME!"

Regan let out a hardy laugh.

"I guess that's really my tactic though. Either fly and see if you can see something, or wander around until they attack you. It's never let me down before."

After doing a lot of talking, Regan stopped.

"HAHA! OH WAIT! WERE YOU TRYING TO SAY YOU HAD TRACKING?!"

@Aaron Marone

 

[Aaron Marone]

Aaron nodded appreciatingly at the woman's wings. He had been tempted to take a mastery that let him be the winged avenger type of paladin, but in the end had decided on more of a support role. "Oh, gods, no. I have no tracking ability myself. See a leaf, eat a leaf, that's my tracking. And that's... a very dated reference."

He cracked his knuckles. "Right then, so we head that way, me on the ground and you in the air, shout when we see something worth killing?" he asked, pointing the same direction the elder had indicated. He ran over a quick checklist in his head, making sure there was nothing more they needed. He knew what they were fighting, he knew which direction they were. Numbers. He didn't know the gnoll's numbers. Oh well, there probably wouldn't be too many of the creatures. He and Regan would be fine.

(Apologies it took a while for this post, had a depressive slump this week.)

 

[Gutsy Ironvolt]

"HAH! SOUNDS GOOD TO ME! WE'LL JUST DO THIS THE OLD FASHIONED WAY. KILL 'EM WHEN WE SEE 'EM"

With that, Regan took to the air flying above Aaron as she looked for signs of the enemy.

Damn, sure hope this doesn't take too long. It always feels I'm the one chasing after the enemies. Don't get me wrong, I like the hunt but just once it wouldn't be so bad if they just came to me so I could get rid of them quick like. HAHA! STILL GOTTA ENJOY A GOOD HUNT WHEN IT PRESENTS ITSELF!

After a while of walking and flying, Regan noticed smoke from a campfire come up through the trees. She couldn't be sure it was the group they were looking for, but even if it wasn't perhaps whomever was there could help and give some information.

Regan flew down to Aaron.

"I saw something. A ways up there's a campfire. I can't be sure if it's the bastards we're looking for, but it could be."

@Aaron Marone

 

[Aaron Marone]

Aaron didn't exactly have any tracking skills, but he still kept an open eye out as he walked. Not that he was really certain what he should be keeping an open eye out for. He knew that if you were looking for bears you looked for bear droppings, but he both wasn't sure that translated for gnolls, and didn't really want to look for gnoll poop even if it did.

He perked up when Regan flew down toward him with her report of a campfire. "It's as good a lead as any right now. Lead the way," he told the beastperson. He rested a hand on his sheathed sword. He wouldn't draw it yet just in case the campfire belonged to simple travelers, but he'd be ready on the chance that it did belong to their prey. Seconds matter in a combat situation, and he planned to be ready.

What would gnoll poop even look like, anyway?

 

[Gutsy Ironvolt]

Nodding with a grin, Regan pointed in the direction of the campfire and led the way. Walking as quietly as possible. Suddenly as the pair stalked through the forest, Regan felt something on the bottom of her shoe. Picking up her shoe, rage gripped her face.

"Gnoll shit... IT'S GNOLL SHIT!"

Regan's yelling caught the attention of the campfire group which just so happened to be the very group of gnolls they were looking for.

"YOU DIRTY SACKS OF SHIT! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST SHIT ON THE GROUND FOR PEOPLE TO STEP ON AND GET AWAY WITH IT?! I'LL CLEAN MY SHOES ON YOUR DAMN CARCASS!"

Furious yipping and yapping came from the campsite as the gnolls gathered their weapons and rushed to meet Aaron and Regan in battle.

"YES! COME! COME AND DIE! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! EVERY LAST ONE! I'LL EAT YOUR FAMILIES!"

As the oncoming raiding party of gnolls charged, Regan unsheathed her weapons. First a katana with a blade of liquid blood, then a second katana she carried in a sheath. Ready to meet the group, Regan charged.

"HAHAHAHA!"

@Aaron Marone

 

[Aaron Marone]

Well, that answered that question. Gnoll poop looked like shit. Briefly he wondered if, cosmically, his curiosity had somehow butterfly effected Regan into stepping where she had, but that was absurd.

At Regan's yelling, Aaron drew his sword and tightened his grip on his shield. With a whispered prayer to the gods, divine light enshrouded his blade. He spun the sword in his hand, letting its familiar weight carry it in wide swaths.

He began his charge only a second after Regan's, his shield raised to meet his foes. While he didn't quite think eating their families was really a fair response to stepping in their excrement, he pushed the thought away. After all, this raiding party had attacked villages and killed innocent people. For that, they had earned death. Regan's reasons could be whatever. As for Aaron, he was the divine harbinger of their justice. "Come on, you bastards. See how you like it when someone fights back."

 

[Gutsy Ironvolt]

Meeting the enemy head long, Regan blood Katana lopped off the head of the gnolls while her second katana impaled another. The two gnolls hit the ground quickly. Holding her blood blade out towards the still oncoming gnoll party, the blood of the two now deceased enemies began to drain from their bodies and into Regan's living blade.

"YOU SACK OF SHIT MADE A BIG MISTAKE DECIDING TO FIGHT ME! HAHAHA! SHOULD HAVE RUN!"

Regan licked her liquid blade with a smile, then quickly slashed twice forming two waves of blood that flew towards the oncoming gnolls maiming two.

"HAHAHA, YOU TRASH REALLY DID MESS UP BAD THIS TIME!"

Unfurling her wings, Regan shot up to the trees. Bounding from limb to limb she waited and continued on until she could see the end of the pack. Seeing the last straggling member of the gnoll party, Regan swopped down tackling him. Her fangs bit deep into the creature's neck as she drained it dry.

"HEY HERO! I'LL START AT THE BACK YOU WORK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE FRONT AND WE'LL MEET IN THE MIDDLE! HAHAHA, THESE AREN'T EVEN ENEMIES, JUST PIGS TO THE SLAUGHTER!"

Now the gnolls were caught between a rock and a hard place.

@Aaron Marone