Private Eastern Brisshal Training some newbies

[Rakka Deltorra]

Rakka stares at Aaron, utterly bewildered.

"An - an app? Is there like a third party software that lets you track respawns for Terrasphere, or something like that? Wait, you just there wasn't, huh. Why would a bear -"

She shakes her head with a frustrated sigh.

"Nevermind. What should we actually be looking for with the awareness expertise? And how do I activate that? Hey Yaxhin, do you think your racial trait would help us locate a bear?"

She snorts softly and mutters under her breath

"Pretty sure that's a dated joke too."

Out loud she directs a question at the complete weirdo paladin she managed to get stuck with for combat training.

"Is your Taunt skill any good as a lure? Or would that just backfire and bring any creature within a set radius charging at us - er well, guess it'd be charging at you specifically, we just happen to be nearby."

 

[Yaxhin]

Yaxhin stares at Aaron, until they get the joke, and dissolve into chuckles under their breath.

"Yeah- no I don't think that'd be too helpful here!"

They glance to Aaron, listening closely. Awareness expertise... right, that was in Nature Magic, wasn't it? It was a buff to looking for things, and survival type skills, so... maybe they just start looking?

"Let's find a bear, boy."

They and the wolf both start off ahead, Yaxhin looking around for anything that might be a sign. It's easy to tell, from the outside, when they catch a trail, though it does take a good couple minutes.

First, Yaxhin makes an interested noise, heading off in a specific direction, and seconds later, the wolf joins the hunt in the same direction.

"This way!"

Yaxhin pulls out their staff once more, now following the wolf into the woods. The wolf's hackles are up now, clearly ready to get a bite to eat.

 

[Aaron Marone]

The taunt skill targets a specific creature or group of creatures, so it wouldn't do us any good until we actually find something. So no using me as bait, unfortunately. Once we do find a bear, though, I probably will taunt it.

At the wolf and beastperson's piqued interest, Aaron drew his sword instinctively. He followed deeper into the wolves until they did indeed come across a bear, casually basking in a spot of sunlight peaking through the treetops.

Right. So the secret to fighting bears is to not piss them off. You only wanna kill them, not their cubs. If you can communicate that to them, they're usually much more reasonable.

He would wait for the two beastfolk to signal that they were ready to begin the attack, then he slammed his sword against his shield and activated his taunt skill.

25 M4M, single twink, hmu, call me maybe.

 

[Rakka Deltorra]

Rakka frowns lightly, ears flicking backwards as Yaxhin dissolves into laughter. Clearly that was a joke that went right over her head, and she hates when that happens.

"Right, that makes sense for taunt to work like that. Figured it was worth asking."

Her ears swivel back forward, honing in on the wolf's excited barks and finding herself racing after Yaxhin and the rest.

"W-wait! Hold up!"

She sighs in relief that the group halts to assess their quarry instead of rushing in pell-mell. She quickly gets her warhammer out and holds it with a firm grip and posture. If the dumb wolf rushes ahead she'd better be ready for the rest of the group to follow!

She snorts at Aaron's advice on not pissing off the bears.

"Pretty sure they'll still end up pissed once you stab or I hit them with a hammer."

She nods at Yaxhin

"I've got right if you've got left!"

When the signal is given, she dashes off in that direction, juicing up her hammer with flames.

 

[Yaxhin]

Yaxhin stops, eyes wide with awe at the sight of the bear. They and the wolf look to each other, than back ahead.

"It looks so real..."

The wolf darts ahead as the taunt goes off, running through underbrush to get behind the bear as it lumbers closer.

Yaxhin runs off to the left, just as Rakka said, and raises their staff. Now that there's a beast to be in front and deal proper damage, they can stay out of the way and support their current team.
Vines raise from the ground, wrapping around the bear viciously, but it doesn't fully hinder the bear. Even the woody stalks Yaxhin knows they can produce can't hold a creature of that size.

They do, however, catch at the bear's feet and distract it at least some, giving the other three- Rakka, Aaron, and the wolf- a perfect opening to Buff their attacks.

 

[Aaron Marone]

Aaron stopped himself from charging forward. The point of this was to give the two newbies more combat experience, not to handle things himself. Between Yaxhin's wolf and Rakka's hammer, the two of them should be able to handle the bear if they worked together, and so far it seemed they were. They made a plan before springing forward, they were following that plan, and Yaxhin was even using their magic to buff the party. With Rakka buffed from Yaxhin, the support left for Aaron to do now was debuffing the bear.

Harbinger of justice, grant them your sight!

Aaron's shield flashed with a directed light aimed right into the bear's face, disorienting and hindering it.

Hit it with all you've got, Rakka! Smash that motherfucker!

With the other two being so new, Aaron doubted that the fight would be decided in a single blow, and the bear had more senses than just its sight to rely on.

 

[Rakka Deltorra]

Rakka grits her teeth, not daring to shift her focus from the task in front of her.

"Shut up and let me do it then!"

With a shout she swings back her hammer and slams it into the side of the bear with a Burst Attack. The extra oomph from Yaxhin's Buff causes the flames to swirl white-hot instead of red. They rupture out from the hammer's strike, crackling and burning as they ripple in several streams to hungrily eat away at the bear's fur and skin underneath. Her body twists with the momentum, using it to flip out of the way as the Auto Assist executes a retreat and she finds herself standing holding the axe in front of her, now a couple feet back from the bear.

The bear struggles to rear up onto its hind legs with an angry and hurt roar, snapping the vines trying to hold its feet and thudding down to face Rakka.

The whites of her eyes widen, and she clutches the hammer tight.

 

[Yaxhin]

The wolf snarls from where it's hidden in the underbrush, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Yaxhin grins at the the burst of flames, watching the striking image of a rabbit-folk staring down a huge bear, and doing significant damage! This really is so cool, being right in the thick of things, hunting for real!

The wolf darts out as the bear rears up, claws and teeth almost gleaming from the Buff. It's quite the sight, watching this wolf rushing down the fight. The snarling wolf snaps his jaws once as he approaches, eyes fixed on his huge prey.
His timing is perfect, down to the second. As the bear sets down, the wolf darts around for a Steady Attack, jaws opening wide and closing on the bear's huge throat as best he can, as his claws come up to swipe three lines of red into the bear's face.

 

[Aaron Marone]

Rrrrggggrrrrrrr

The bear roared in pain as first a hammer then a wolf struck it. Viscous blood ran down its face, clogging its nose even as the wolf's jaws closed in on its throat. It lashed out blindly, throwing the wolf off of itself with its mighty arm. It opened its mouth to taste the air, before turning its blind eyes toward Rakka. That was the one that burnt it. The wolf was a pest, but the bunny was the danger. The bear dropped to all fours and charged at Rakka.

Aaron hesitated. His first instinct would be to taunt again, to intercept the bear's charge. But these newbies wouldn't always have a tank with them. It would be important for them to know how to take a hit too, at least one of them. The bear was injured, it wouldn't be able to hurt Rakka too badly. And if for some reason it did, he could easily step in.

 

[Rakka Deltorra]

Rakka panics, the blind enraged bear charging right at her. The Auto Assist pulls her leg back, and with a boost from Haste she springs forward with a burst of energy, eyes widening as it hits home she's rushing toward the frightening creature instead of away, defying all logic, all common sense.

With a scared shout she swings the hammer in an upper-cut, hitting the bear squarely in the jaw. She tries to leverage the hammer to keep it pushed back from reaching her, but with an answering roar it swings its front paws to swipe down at her.

"Unghhh!"

She grunts as she gets pushed back and hits the ground with a bone-shaking thud, her heavy armor absorbing the blow but contributing to her hard fall and popping her warhammer from her grasp. She breathes hard, trying to recover enough energy to roll over and get back up before she's bear chow.

 

[Yaxhin]

Yaxhin gasps as the wolf is brushed off so easily, the wolf letting out an angry snarl as it flies, and hits the ground. If it's so easy to brush the wolf off- well, of course it's so easy. It's a bear. Thankfully, the wolf seems only somewhat hurt and manages to get up.

Rakka doesn't get much respite from her terror, as the wolf rolls up to its feet with effort, and runs to stand over her, Protecting her, growling and snarling at the bear, getting in front of its face anytime it tries to go for the bunny again.

Maybe Yaxhin can try another ability... They raise the staff again, hands focused toward Rakka, and green light shines over the rabbit folk's form. The shock from the blow remains, but some of the pain quickly fades and the Healing sets in.

The wolf finally rears up, swiping at the bear again and leaving matching bloody stripes on the other side of its face.

 

[Aaron Marone]

The agender beastperson beat Aaron to healing Rakka. That was fine. It wasn't like Aaron had one job or anything. Well, if he couldn't be a support role in mechanics, he could be a support role in words.

You two are doing great, keep it up! Let me know if you want me to step in, but you're doing great. I'm not trying to reverse psychology you or anything, or imply that I need to step in. I'm just offering, for if you want me to. But you don't need me. Unless you think you need me. Which is okay if so.

The bear was looking pretty fucked up by this point. I mean, it's just a bear. Sure, it's tough, but it's been hit with a flaming hammer twice now and clawed and bitten by a wolf on top of that. It gave a weak growl of defiance. Once the beastwoman recovered her hammer, this fight was as good as over.

 

[Rakka Deltorra]

Unfortunately for their mentor's calculation, Rakka is pinned under a terrifying wolf. She'd shout for it to move or push it aside if she wasn't certain it'd snarl and bite her hand clean off. She needed that! And there wasn't time to get Yaxhin to get it to move away (if they even could...).

She quickly fumbles to cobble together the most function-over-form fire bomb, thankful the Auto Assist is able to provide some of the expertise she lacks. She still dislikes the sensation of her body moving on its own, but not dying to a bear was infinitely more important right now.

It takes a couple more agonizing moments for the magitech bomb to be ready, but when it is she takes a quick calculation and hurls it toward the bear, arching it over the wolf. Or at least, she hopes it's at the bear.

"Hah!!"

With no time to rest, she works on wiggling herself out from underneath the wolf so she can get back in the fight.

 

[Yaxhin]

Hopefully that healing worked! Yaxhin makes a note to apologize to Rakka for the fright of a wolf over her, once this is all over.

The wolf is, thankfully, smart enough to dart back, away from the strange object arcing over his head.

The bomb makes its target easily. Or rather, it knocks the target in the face, and the target snaps its jaws over the bomb, glad to finally get a bite on *something*.
Unfortunately for the bear, it's definitely the wrong something.

Yaxhin watches, awed, as fire erupts from the mouth of the bear. And the nose, and the throat!
Fire and blood rain from the now destroyed head of the bear, and the great beast doesn't even have time to react to its own death. Its corpse thuds to the ground, bleeding into the forest floor.

The wolf barks enthusiastically at the corpse, having shifted to be between Yaxhin and the bear at the end. Yaxhin runs forward, eyes wide at the carnage, the shattered skull almost lost in the mess of meat and blood where the head was.

 

[Aaron Marone]

Well, I guess we blew his mind.

Aaron eyed the carnage of a bear whose head fucking exploded. Not what he was expecting to happen today, but hey, that was Terrasphere. He sheathed his sword, then he approached Rakka and offered her a hand getting up. Once she was up, whether she took his help or not, he turned toward the wolf.

On today's menu for the pupper, we have a bearly toasted meat, cooked to a nice burn at the top, but still rare toward the feet, allowing for the wolf to choose the exact degree of cooked he prefers his entrée.

Becoming serious for a moment, he nodded to both the beastfolk.

You two both did really well. I think that's all the more you're gonna need me for. If you're still injured, I can heal you up though, Rakka. And if you somehow got hurt anywhere, I can heal you as well, Yaxhin. I know you have your own healing, but mine's a bit higher level, so it'll do the job quicker.

 

[Rakka Deltorra]

Rakka lets out a startled squeak as the wolf runs off, and she reflexively stops trying to wiggle away and curls up on the ground, bracers protecting and covering her face as she pulls her ears down close.

There's another squeak as she curls up tighter as the bomb goes off too close for comfort, closing her eyes tight as something splatters onto her armor. She really doesn't want to look!

A hard thud is muffled nearby, and the wolf barks excitedly, but it's Aaron's lame joke that prompts her to shakily uncurl. She laughs nervously - a little delirious, a little scared, and very much elated.

"Ha... haha! I guess... it w-worked then?"

She swallows hard and wipes at her mouth, unsteadily getting back up on her feet and stumbling over to pick up her warhammer.

"I - I think I'm fine? I do have Pain Limiter on though... so maybe, so maybe not. Wh-where are you off to next?"

 

[Yaxhin]

The wolf doesn't hesitate to grab a large chunk of meat and trot off to eat, still watching the three of them.

"That was... Wow, that was something..."

Yaxhin moves closer, staff going back in its sling as they do. Now, how to harvest...
They find themself just staring at the corpse again, overwhelmed by the sheer size coupled with the total lack of head.

"I don't think I got hit any... The good boy did, though."

They crouch next to the bear, and aren't too startled to find themself with a knife in hand, collecting supplies from the dead bear, including a ridiculous amount of meat, a pelt, and a decent amount of claws.

"Where would I find someplace to do things with these?"

They turn to Aaron as they ask, currently dividing the loot into piles in case the others want any of the spoils of this battle.

 

[Aaron Marone]

Aaron held his arm out horizontally, then began to move it up and down in waves.

Next I go wherever the waves of fate take me. Those waves heavily influenced by my superior officers in the Lion Arms, or wherever I can find people who need help. Which means I'll probably be hanging around here for a while longer. So long new people are still joining, there'll still be people who need some assistance on their first hunt. As for where to do something with those materials, I can't help you there. I don't really mess with the crafting system, sorry. I buy my weapons and armors from the natives.

He gave a sheepish smile in apology, then snapped his fingers.

Oh, right. If either of you two are interested in being selfless heroes who fight not for gold nor glory but the good of the common man, the Lion Arms are always looking for new recruits. Uh, I'm a new recruit myself, so someone else can probably give a better sales pitch."

 

[Rakka Deltorra]

Rakka nods agreement with Yaxhin.

"Y-yeah... that really was..."

Her lips quirk into a smile at Aaron's speech.

"The Lion Arms huh... I'm afraid I can't afford to be a selfless hero, I've gotta get better at handling wolves and bears first."

She looks over at the fallen bear, eyes widening at the sheer damage its body has suffered. She jumps back a step as her ears flap in distress.

"Oh m-my! That... that worked. Yup, that worked. Oh no, I - I blew the head off a bear..."

She stares off into the distance, ear giving a spastic twitch before snapping back to the present. Rakka straps the warhammer back onto her back and turns to face Aaron and gives him a bow.

"Um, thanks for all your assistance and guidance, it was really valuable! I certainly appreciate you taking your time to help us out. May the waves you travel upon be... smooth? I'd say your sales pitch is fine, just be more confident about it. You're doing good, right? The rest'll take care of itself."

She offers him one last kind smile before moving away and approaching Yaxhin, warily keeping an eye on the wolf.

"U-ummm... if you'd like help carrying all that, we could... maybe find a town and maybe figure out how crafting works together? I've got nothing better to do... it seems like a - a reasonable next step to me. I totally get if you have other plans though."

 

[Yaxhin]

Yaxhin looks up at the mention of Lion Arms, a grin on their face.

"Lion Arms, huh? I've got my own Lion Arms to deal with."

They laugh, pausing in their work to flex their own arms, grinning to show off their teeth- what large canines they have!- and their tail swishing behind them.

"That bomb was something else- very effective."

They turn to Rakka, as they finish up harvesting all they can from the bear.

The wolf is busy devouring the chunk of meat, and only gets up to run over to Yaxhin, begging another piece, which they immediately give him.

At Rakka comment about heading back to town together, they look up and nod.

"I'd love the help, honestly. There's a lot here..."

They're surrounded by a couple piles: a large one of chunks of meat, one of a couple sections of pelts, the claws all in a pile, and of course the skull.

"Do you want any of this, Aaron?"