Monster Hunter - Presented by S:ARG (low/mid fantasy, medieval, fantasy)

[Zhaliora]

She was dreaming. It was a happy dream. It was a dream about her family, her own family. Not her parents and two brothers, but her own family. It was Emma, her two kids, a boy and a girl and her loving husband. All in a small house in the countryside, they had settled down there after all the monsters were gone and there were no trace of any new monsters coming. It was a nice, peaceful life, it was hard work, but it was a life without the constant fear of death by monster. Emma was cooking her husband’s favourite food, it was almost done and the kids were sitting at the table waiting. Her husband walked up behind her, gave her a kiss on the cheek and then started groping her. "You can't touch me there *snore* the kids are watching, *giggle* you can have me when the kids have gone to bed. *snore*"

Judas kept on, lost in his own thoughts when he realized Emma was talking. He'd only caught the last part of what she had said and he almost dropped her and blushed heavily. He didn't say anything, unsure if she was asleep, or joking or delirious. He cleared his throat and as he came up over a small hill, the village came into view in front of him. "Gunna sleep good tonight," he muttered to himself.

"*snore* Yes, we'll have a nice time tonight. *snore* The usual play? The big bad hunter and the helpless prey? *snore*" Emma's subconscious had picked up on what Judas had said and translated it into her dream, making what he had said into a fantasy. She turned around in her sleep and hugged Judas arm, pressing her face into it. "*snore* So warm, and nice, there is no way that I would not love you. *snore*" She gave Judas arm a strong hug, still sound asleep.

While Judas wasn't an idiot, he was dense in terms of women. Dense and inexperienced, so when she mentioned hunter, he just assumed she was referring to the job. He debated giving her a shake to try to wake her but he decided against it. From off to his right, he saw a group of people making their way towards him. He could tell they weren't Royal Army, they were too ragtag, but they did have some weaponry. As they got closer, he saw they were villagers and "armed" wasn't probably the correct term to use. There were 5 men who were wielding farm equipment, and one actual sword.

They stopped not too far off and regarded Judas curiously. "Yer the hunters right?"

"Yes we are."

"Did you kill the monster?"

"I don't think that we did."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I was unconscious." he looked down at the sleeping Emma "She is the only one who knows."

"Then wake her up and ask her," they said somewhat angry and irritated.

"Shut up Judas, I want to sleep, I am so tired" Emma said half-asleep, not having noticed the other men.

"That wench of a woman!" the man with the sword started approaching Judas and Emma.

"Huh, there are others here?" Emma was finally awake and saw the six men. "Judas, where are we? Who are they?"

"They are villagers here to check on us Emma." He moved to set her down, gently, and making sure to support her until she got her legs under her. "Put down your weapons. If you want to go poke something, go chase the beast in the forest."

"YOU are supposed to kill it," one said, rather harshly.

"And we will. We were taken unaware, but you can see we're fine. Just need to rest a bit. And you are not paying us for services, the Capital is. So by all means, go have at it if you want, but stop waving your sticks at me. Now."

With that, he turned his back to them and started to lead Emma towards the town. There was some grumbling behind them, but Judas didn't pay it any mind. He understood the fear and anxiety the men conveyed. While it wasn't really about Emma and Judas, they were just easy targets as the men had no real direction to vent at. When all is said and done, both parties wanted the same thing: a dead monster.

"Feeling any better?"

When Emma tried to walk, her leg kept hurting, forcing her to half-drag it behind her. "My leg hurts, I am fine otherwise. But what about you? Are your wounds all right?" she put her hand on his chest "I tried my best to heal you, but your wounds were very severe, I don't know well how I did" small tears started streaking down her face "I really thought that you were going to die, but I guess you are alive after all" she smiled a little. "How long was I asleep?" she asked just as the entered the village.

[Herion]

Valen smiled as the woman said the name of his homeland. She seemed to understand at least something from his little speech, even if it was just the name of his home land. She began to spout off more and more of her cryptic language as she backed away from him. When he offered his hand, Valen noted that she was examining with extreme detail, and couldn't react fast enough to pull his hand away. With a yelp, Valen pulled his hand back and shook it to get rid of the pain. With a confused look, La' Verne watched as she started down the road and spoke to him once more. "Zwazo, vini, vini...... curious." Valen repeated as he made his way towards her, securing the lute on his side.

"So where are we headed,"he paused as he thought of the words she said, "Illia? Have you heard of any roaming creatures of the night from your neck of the woods?" The bard said with a chuckle.

Valen continued down the road, adjusting his belt as he turned his head back to the woman crouching on the ground. He had so many questions about Trayv but they all seemed irrelevant when he met the wolf. She was an interesting character, far more interesting than the threat of monsters. He wondered if she trusted him, saw him as an enemy or just didn't care about him whatsoever. Valen shrugged off the thought and continued on down the road, certain that the woman would follow, as she seemed to have taken somewhat of an interest in him. The wilderness that he had come across in this foreign land was one of beauty, something that couldn't be plagued by wild beasts. He hoped that this image would not be tainted, but the stories of Trayv made it seem impossible.

Valen looked back at the creature and gave her a wave. "Hurry up! I'll sing you a tune if you'd like!"He cleared his throat, continued down the road, and began to sing The Fiddler's Green

"As I roved by the dockside one evening so fair

To view the salt waters and take in the salt air

I heard an old fisherman singing a song

Oh, take me away boys me time is not long

Wrap me up in me oilskin and blankets
No more on the docks I'll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I'm taking a trip mates
And I'll see you someday on Fiddlers Green

Now Fiddler's Green is a place I've heard tell

Where the fishermen go if they don't go to hell

Where the weather is fair and the dolphins do play

And the cold coast of Lixnesus is far, far away"

Valen paused as he waited for a response from Illia, waiting to see if she enjoyed his words or if she would try and bite him. The young bard was panicking at the thought of her dirt-riddled hands grabbing him, and her blood stained teeth ripping at his throat like a wild beast. Hopefully, his skills in the art of song would be accepted by wild-ling, and not seen as an atrocious act against whatever her god may be.

[Hymusia]

Blinked slowly as he spoke again, he made a lot of noise from his mouth...a lot. She couldn't keep up and recognised only the words she had spoken at him, butchered and mangled by his own mouth. She of course followed when he moved off in front of her, half feral, half human. Switching between two legs, three limbs and then all four depending on the speed she travelled. Illia attempted to keep slightly in front of him at all times, though sometimes fell back to loop behind and come up the other side of him as he began making more noise. Trying to concentrate on it all and decipher it was giving her a headache, so she stopped trying and appreciated it for simple noise. At which point the melody seemed to quell her a little, music after all was the best way to tame a beast.

Something moved behind the treeline, a shadow that seemed pretty large but just as fast. Illia didn't think twice, she slapped the bird man with the back of her hand and nodded towards where the disturbance was. Then like a bolt from a crossbow she was amongst the trees. The wolf pelt flapping and her spear in hand. She hurdled with ease some of the greater roots of the trees and howled her enjoyment like a true animal. The shadow was still in her sights, though only just and if the bard wanted to catch it he'd have to catch up with her, Illia didn't slow for a moment in her pursuit of the shadow's owner and it seemed unlikely she would.

[Herion]

Valen shifted away from the feline slap and looked in the direction she motioned to. Staring a little bewildered, the foreigner ran off after the wildling, lute clankimg loudly against his side. He had his eyes locked on the shadow, failing to notice some underbrush below him which became tamgled around his feet. Struggling to keep up with the shadow and his new companion, Valen removed a boot. The squish of moist earth below his foot bothered Valen to no end but he needed to continue. His blood rising, his adrenaline pumping, he longed to discover if the shadow belonged to a beast or other creature of the forest. Valen drew his dagger, held it at his side as he motioned for the woman to overtake her prey.

Shifting his course to the right of the shadow, the bard had a vision of clarity. What the hell was he doing? Chading after an ynknown thing with a wildling he had just met was hardly normal behavior. Valen scoffed at the thought as all great ballads consisted of unusual behavior. Rarely did one begin praising the heroics of a local bar patron finishing a whole barrel of mead. This is why Valen had come to Trayv, not to be safe but to take the dangerous path. Flashing a smile at the she~wolf , La'verne picked up his chase and started to close in on the shadow

[Azseth]

He didn't look at Emma, knowing there were some tears being shed and that made Judas slightly awkward. "You were asleep, I dunno, a few hours? Lucky for you I don't feed you much, or I'd have been dragging you back."

Judas continued to support her as they walked and thought about what she said abouth is wounds, smirking while saying somewhat out of the blue, "yeah, healing spells and other magic kind of takes a liking to me. People have always said that. I dunno." They made it to the village and then to the small shack they were given as quarters. The town wasn't large, but it was well kept and there were several areas that were designated for visitors. It was a local thing to not have any visitor sleeping outside of the village, they were always given shelter and offered food.

Neither of those accomidations were luxurious by any means.

The people they passed greeted them differently. Some avoided them all together, some nodded indifferently while others smiled or waved. None asked how it went. A swordsman in dirty armor half carrying a female caster told a story in and of itself, but there was also no body or PART of a body. Some hunters were able to get by on their word on occasion, but Judas and Emma never wanted that, they COULD lie and get bye, but it would catch up. Many a hunter off to make some quick gold were tracked down and either killed or jailed for such crimes. A head or body part or story was generally required.

In silence the two made their way to the small domicile and threw everything down unceremoniously and sat down just as heavily. "We have to go back out. And soon. We saw how dangerous this thing is, we can't have it attack the village again."

[Hymusia]

Watched the gawky man lean after the monster, it wasn't a great one, not by a long shot but it was a plague none the less. It looked similar to a large black cat, however it's features were distorted and it's back legs bent the wrong way. It's long tail was split half way down into two segments and it had almost sabre tooth sized fangs and sharp, shark like teeth lining its mouth. When it roared upon seeing the human it sounded somewhere between the hiss of a dragon and the snarl of a dog, rather than the usual lion like sound one would expect.

It reared up and wheeled around, forgetting whatever target it had had before and swiping a large meaty paw at the human. The she-wolf though simply sat in the shadows, her eyes and those of her fur staring at the beast and at the human. For now she chose not to interfere, this is what he had come for right? To hunt and be praised, perhaps once he had taken a pounding the silly bird would go back home.

Despite this way of thinking the she wolf had unloaded her bow and drawn tight the strong with one of the hand made arrows. If it looked, even for a moment, like the bird would have it's head bitten off she was ready to intervene, further than that she was ready to kill the beast herself.