"Hours too late." A tall man in a black jacket spoke to the sun, meeting its midday rays as he approached a circular opening surrounded by forest. Once at an upbeat pace, his feet came to an abrupt stop, and reddish-brown eyes calmly lowered upon the the anomaly he had been searching for.

He stood before what appeared as a gigantic crater in the ground, cutting thirty yards deep as a perfect hemisphere. Its base and walls were inconceivably smooth, transitioning from dirt to sediment without flaw. It was as if the land ahead of him had been cut and erased from existence, leaving no mark but a singed rim of foliage. This image had become all too much of a common sight for Chester; and yet, something about this particular site kept him at unease. Not just that it was the largest of his target's escapades yet, but not everything about his surroundings added up.

Thick vegetation reached for a quarter mile in every direction Chester could look. The trees were scarce, but their shadows plentiful, and the abundance of vines, shrubs and tall grass made for somewhat strenuous navigation above or below ground. The clearest source of light was the midday rays entering above the crater; the leafy ceiling was no exception to the empty anomaly
His blade was dulling after the path he had cut through to get here, not having expected to be passing through any greenery at all.
Grasslands had become a rare sight in modern times, and even rarer could one manage to step foot onto it; if no fence nor faction was safeguarding it, there was sure to be a slew of mutant organisms contained instead. Yet, Chester had gotten to here while encountering neither ward, his brother's handiwork was scored at the centre, and to top it all, he surely did not remember such a forest existing within just twenty miles of the city border.

He retreated back into the shelter, ushered by both senses of priority and unease. There was no use staying around if there was no longer a target to wait for; but all the same, this was a new environment for himself, and moderate curiosity had never proved harmful so far...

Green haze and nervous flittering of birds, sensations of moist bark beneath bare feet, all there was to be felt in the forest flowed over the patient hunter. Not his preferred stalking grounds, but some forest was far greater than none at all, the jungle a distant memory despite this. He slowly exhaled, breathing in the marginally thinner air high above in the branches of a tall oak. Down below, a lone figure in human armour, the Loa spoke of him softly and the troll fell enthralled to its dreadful embrace.

Gangly, but hunched over in his scant tribal attire, the powerfully built dark-green skinned troll peered down with all-seeing eyes through the leaves. He clutched the trunk in his left hand as he crouched, his right holding a voodoo staff. For now his bag of wards remained unused on his back, and a sharp sacrificial knife waited hungrily at his hip. The human looked alert, it was safe to say, but vulnerable in the forest. Still, it did not stop it from retreating to leafy cover after examining the crater.

Quick, nimble steps, his experience in bush craft carried Jaldoa the troll hexmaster across the canopy and only fifteen feet horizontally from his prey. He tilted his head as he considered his options for striking down his foe. Without knowing the creatures capabilities he assumed caution would be of use, and so dropped his Ward of Warning on the side of the tree he now lurked atop on the opposite side of his opponent. It fell quietly, crushing through leaves and standing tall but obscured, though some noise was inevitable.

Jaldoa moved quickly, as soon as the Ward left his hand he slid half-way down the tree and bounced backwards, turning in mid-air to drop towards his foe quiet and lethally. His staff clutched in both hands mid-movement and driven downwards with immense force, so as to catch his armour-clad foe on the neck or head with a classical vertical strike.

The air livened ever slightly, but with no winds to accompany its sound. Though unaware of the one who watched him, Chester had not forgotten his predicament. As lucky a man as he considered himself, escaping a forest without an encounter was a tale told by none, and he did not particularly care to push his chances further.
He continued forwards, perpendicular from where his hidden hunter watched. It was just as how he had entered. The trees were bunched a margin closer here, and keeping close to one meant that he could keep his back covered as he travelled. During his strides, his left hand reached within his inner coat pocket, searching for his primary means of defence. Four reflective tokens from a recently-passed age were drawn; three of which were swapped into his right, and both sets clenched within loose fists.

The shuffling of trees sounded to Chester's right, signalling a sudden movement. Ironically soon, if he had to judge. Eyes swiftly followed to a base of a trunk, sighting nothing of immediate note. It was logical to assume the perpetrator in fact hung from above, but he had no time to identify what would assail him, if anything at all.
Trained instincts acted for him, sending his body in a twisting rightward roll -- just moments before the shaft of a wooden staff was driven before him, with weight sufficient to threaten his life. Despite the hasted action, his recovery was almost instant, and his balance perfected upon rising half-way from a crouch.
"I take it you forest folk aren't very neighbourly." Chester glared up with a rather silly grin, far from matching his military-esque accent. Jaldoa's appearance was more alien than the human defects he was familiar with, but this raised no immediate concerns; at this point in time, he was merely relieved to have just a single foe.

His left arm felt behind and outward, identifying a third tree which he had rolled towards. Had a projectile flown towards him rather than a Troll, it would have been the basis of his cover; as things stood, he simply needed a clear perception, unable to afford glancing away from the hostile.
At the same time, his right hand released two of his coins in a practised gesture, the first shimmering high above him, and the second barely leaving his grasp. Unless it proved an ample distraction to the hunched creature, he would bravely await its following actions.

Jaldoa was about as used to his foes rolling deftly away from his attacks as the human was at avoiding flying Trolls. His attack hit nothing but ground but he remained unperturbed as his legs naturally bent and he rolled diagonally to both escape view and avoid injury from his fall. The reason for his angled evasion was obvious as his shoulder took the brunt of the acrobatic move rather than the fragile looking wards on his back. He came up running and disappeared behind three trees, his skin naturally hiding him from view. The coins made no particular impact on him as he fought like his people always did, hit-and-run, they presumably bounced into a thick pile of leaves long after he had already made good his escape.

He continued to run quickly, near tirelessly, in a wide circle which kept his foe barely in view. This was his home, his battleground, and soon he was nearing the tree he had jumped off once again. He awaited his opponents own movements, and settled into a hunched stance beside his tree, deciding on his next move with regards to if the human even knew where he was. His pause was momentary, and he was prepared to attack once again if the human seemed lost or unbalanced.

His gesture gone unnoticed by the fleeting opponent, Chester's hand raised loosely between the two coins he had tossed. As both hovered at their peak, A ray of violet light materialised between, connecting the pair. The 4-foot beam thickened and solidified, retaining its glow yet otherwise appearing like glass.
Chester caught the beam at its centre, taking but a moment to observe his handiwork. His administrator had dubbed this phenomenon a 'Vertex', a name befitting of his ability to make similar beams between any two objects he can see. Naturally, his connecting each end to a lightweight coin had provided him a weildable defence, with sturdiness almost on par with its sheer convenience.

As the Vertex required his focus, Chester only caught a glimpse of the Troll as he disappeared behind the woodlands' veil. His weapon was a staff, and his attire rather lacking, although both were a margin more sophisticated than the forest-mutants he was told of. More unusually, he was noted to be carrying a bundle of sticks upon his back; a quiver was Chester's initial guess, but the absence of a bow left him without clue.

In any case, letting the foe escape had put Chester in a predicament. Following straight after would not help now that he was out of sight, and even if not, Chester could not match his agility even on flat ground. Moreover, his powers were hardly discrete, so playing him at his own game was out of the question. Thankfully, chasing down people was something he held experience in, and was particularly well-equipped for.
A second item, a gadget of sorts, was swiped out from his jacket's front pocket, as he neared ever closer to the safety of his oak tree. Amongst the gadget's minimal features was a compact telescope; one of few products born from his post-modern age, and his greatest assistant by far.The metallic device was rested over his left eye like a visor, and a slider along its left rim adjusted the zoom of his glass-tinted view.

Keen sights followed along his distant surroundings, scanning in both directions along the forest floor. His assaulter had stayed close enough to be seen, no doubt in order to keep Chester in his own view. Even still, the Human could make out little more than a blur on the right side of himself, compared to a motionless left. This vague judgement would not be enough to pinpoint the foe, but gauging his direction was all that mattered.

Jaldoa’s nimble escape was only momentarily interrupted by a bright unnatural light which he first assumed was magic. Intelligent in his own right, the jungle Troll wisely slid underneath the waist-high light clearling it by a significant margin as his flexible body contorted. He bounced up from the ground again, scattering leaves and undergrowth as he continued his run around to his tree.

After reaching it he found himself with only a short distance separating him and his opponent, blocked partially by a few trees sporadically placed across their battlefield. He ran behind the Oak and clutched it with one strong hand, pulling himself high up into the branches in a matter of seconds as he disappeared in the leafy expanse. Jaldoa took only a moment to consider the light from earlier, apparently his foe could spot him in a way no normal creature could. The human was not the only one who could see, he thought smugly.

His practiced hands found his seeing ward, and he threw it to the ground off to the right of the battlefield. It didn’t really matter if his foe spotted it, but if he made a move to attack it he would leave himself open to the Troll who was now perched in the tree and ready for even the smallest move his foe could make.

Thankfully the green one had not veered far, at least not yet. Chester followed Jaldoa's motions up to sighting him reach the trunk of a particular tree, before watching him swiftly disappear into its branches.
"You can't run, fellow vermin." Chester snickered under his breath, hardly phased by the opponent's cowardice. His location appeared to be the same direction as where he had been attacked from earlier. If it was aiming to lure him, it was certainly a roundabout way to go about it, but Chester could not be sure for as long as nothing else could be heard or seen.

He took two bold paces forward, but dared not take another until he had assessed his options. His right blind side was covered by his own favoured tree for as long as he stepped no further, meaning he only needed to watch his left and above. His Vertex remained held with one hand in front; meanwhile, his free hand flexed and clenched, veins pulsing a magenta hue as he readied his power.

This one would be easy, the Trollish warrior thought to himself. He obviously had little knowledge of how to pursue a guerrilla fighter, his ranged weapons clumsy and easily avoided by the nimble warrior priest. However, Jaldoa was not one for overconfidence either, so he jumped from his tree somewhat further right, using his ward to see as he quickly found the cover of another tree in mid-air before dropping to the ground about fifteen feet to his foe’s left.

He crouched low to absorb the momentum and sped around the tree from his left side, likely confusing his foe when coming out from the side he was falling towards would have made more sense considering the momentum he had. Holding his staff low and to the left of his body he lumbered towards his enemy with quick long strides. He zigzagged with each step, to better avoid projectiles, and reached four feet from Chester in no more than two seconds as he swung the staff outwards from his body low to strike at his foe’s stomach. His quick assault would carry him forward and past the human’s right side, where Jaldoa would slow and turn, ready to deliver more attacks.

Thankfully Chester was not made to wait for long. The trees shuffled just as gently as before, but never faded, prompting Chester to hold his position rather than follow. The opponent had traced back on himself before starting an approach; an unorthodox strategy, but not one which went unnoticed.

Chester waited until the very last moment, alert and focused as Jaldoa closed the last of the distance. His dash was fast, yet erratic, enough to sway him from sniping him at that distance. Instead, Chester noted the position of his staff, cueing him into taking a defensive role. He stepped in with a firm, broad stance, positioning his Vertex diagonally before himself in both hands.
The blunt staff clashed against his defence at an angle, resounding and crackling like crushed plastic. Though sliding back a step from the impact, he aptly kept his footing and balance. This foe had a surprising level of strength and weight behind his swift movements, and he did not need a glance to imagine the array of cracks adorning his Vertex post-collision. Jaldoa continued past his right, unaffected by the trade, while Chester's sights merely followed his path. His left hand detached from his weapon, then reached to his left, its glowing hue dissipating into a familiar violet anomaly.

Just as Jaldoa twisted in turn, Chester had summoned a second Vertex; this time of a brighter shade, and over twice as wide as the one he carried. Its length spanned from a number of yards behind Chester on the forest's floor, stretched close beside Chester's left and Jaldoa's right, and finally terminated upon a distant branch close to the crater.
While not offensive in its own right, Chester's obstruction would serve to impede Jaldoa's options. A rightward retreat could not be made as freely while he lacked momentum, and any follow-up attack would be bottlenecked between the Vertex and Chester's tree. Already beaming with naive overconfidence, the Human held ready to act upon his foe's next motions.

His staff bounced off the strange magical wall with a resounding crunch, and he was carried past by the movement. He had not expected it to be easy, but this was unexpected to say the least and he was a little off-balance in his turn. Unsurprising, really, that the human had time to erect another defence before his staff could whirl back around with his turn, crunching again into the invisible field rather than his comparably fragile foe. The Troll snarled, only a few feet from his foe his visage was for the first time revealed, and it was a terrible one.

Realising the shield was at an angle, Jaldoa stepped nimbly to the left and swept his staff across with him, unleashing a barrage of quick spinning and jabbing blows towards his foe’s body, moving quickly to probe for weak points and to potentially overwhelm his defences, whatever they should be.

"Now there's a face only a mother could love." Finally catching clear sight of his foe, Chester reeled back ever slightly, more concerned than shocked by Jaldoa's apparent deformities. "...if she even survived birthing it. Seems no soul gets fortunate outside the city either." It was rare to see a mutant this drastic pass their first birthday, let alone survive through to maturity -- but despite its gangly looks, it moved and acted without difficulty, perhaps even surpassing that of Human ability. Maybe it was sheer luck, but it almost gave Chester the feeling Jaldoa was more than a mere victim of radiation...

His foe wasted no time continuing his assault, swiftly turning back with its club raised. However, with his catalyst in place, no longer did Chester hold the disadvantage.
His hand had not left his giant Vertex from the moment he summoned it -- and intentionally so, as a pulsing glow flickered from where he made contact. Suddenly, a spray of cyan sparks accented a speeding dash, accelerating Chester beyond natural limits as he travelled along his Vertex's path. In no time at all had he flashed long past Jaldoa's right, cleanly evading past his first rightward swing, and escaping any successive attack which followed.

His feet touched upon the Troll's previous position, bringing him to a faultless halt. The glowing rail he held to decelerated him just as quickly -- only to launch himself just as quickly in the opposite direction, mimicking Jaldoa's earlier actions.
If the Troll failed to react, Chester would approach rapidly from his blind side, finally parting from his charged Vertex as he took to the offensive. The cracked, more portable Vertex was held high and across himself in his right hand, intending to strike down upon Jaldoa's collar or neck.

When his opponent seemingly disappeared the troll only took a moment to take stock. The advantages of his weapon were clear, then, for he spun full-body in the direction he though his foe had sped off in, while spinning his staff around in a vicious circle, maintaining a quick defensive revolution around his body with the movement.

It was this that allowed him to club back the Vertex launched towards his unprotected back, though at some cost, as the force of the blow launched him sideward and almost wrenched his staff from his hands. He bounced with the attack, turning on one foot as he hit the ground and spinning his staff into a defensive posture, to immediately charge at his foe provided he had not fled after landing his attack.

However, this was a feint, and the troll instead ducked right and sped off towards his first tree, and his protective ward, disappearing quickly behind branches and bush. He used his keen ears to tell if the human followed, and should he not the Troll would have no choice but to return and attack.

The Troll had acutely deflected the strike, but he had not gone completely unstirred. Chester himself touched down with the deftness of a cat, once again enacting perfect control of his footing. His weapon was drawn back into a two-handed stance, and a stray glance told him of the Vertex's dwindling condition; it could take maybe one more attack at best, but Chester had plenty other ways to make use of it before then.

Perhaps contrary to Jaldoa's intent, Chester interpreted his charging notion as a challenge more than a threat - and thus did not hesitate to dash at him, the Vertex brandished recklessly at his left side. However, in doing so he failed to make action for Jaldoa's second retreat, and could only watch him escape to the left long before he had him in range.

"I'm not losing you this time." Chester announced boldly, knowing full well what needed to be done. He actually had a trail this time, and would not let this chance fly. The cracked purple staff was raised up high, then lodged deep into the ground at an angle. The other end pointed at Jaldoa's tree, as was Chester's destination.
Indeed, it proved that Chester could accelerate himself from any Vertex he made, not only the ones he had affixed. Holding tightly to its shaft then releasing it, a similar blue flash accented another superhuman leap, albeit not as fast nor impressive as his earlier performance. The momentum carried flawlessly into a second step, and a third landed him directly beside the coveted tree's trunk.

The Human had fallen into his trap, it seemed. Perhaps unforgotten at the side of the battlefield lay the seeing ward, for Jaldoa had resisted using its abilities to avoid the earlier attack and therefore his foe had no knowledge of his other-worldly perception.

When Chester attempted to speed over to Jaldoa’s tree, he would be shocked powerfully with Loa magic at the cost of the use of his limbs for a short period of time, complete paralysis, and a dangerous attack it was indeed. Meanwhile, Jaldoa was aware that Chester had moved to cut him off, and sped directly towards his foe who he knew would soon be paralysed and incapacitated.

Hoping to reach him in mere seconds after the ward of warning hit him, the troll would actually swipe downwards with his staff at his foe’s head, especially if he had fallen and was attempting to rise. However, he would expect the obvious roll to the side, which because of the obstruction of his tree could only be to the one direction. Therefore, if Jaldoa saw any indication that Chester knew he was about to be struck, he would immediately alter the trajectory of his swipe to deal an angled strike from left to right, less likely to kill but almost certain to actually hit.

And so Chester's eyes rested to the construct he had landed beside, hidden within the grass behind the trees; A device of some sort, Chester thought, until realising it was constructed wood, and notably similar to the branches his opponent kept tied to his back. But of course, his proximity to it gave him no luxury to ponder its method of levitation, nor time for anything else.
A blinding light and shrill sound flooded the vicinity, and Chester was caught within the strange energy's grasp long before he could react. The Loa magic fluxed and circled around his body, as if trying to enter into him -- but perhaps to Jaldoa's surprise, it found no way of doing so. Rather, it began to react violently against his surface, and soon dispersed into nothingness -- all but an instant before a wave of blue sparks coated Chester's entirety.

"Gyrgh-!" As if caught by an explosion, the Human was hurled back from the ward, and sent tumbling uncontrollably upon even ground. Though not aware of the ward's true effects, his contact with its magic held the same effect as his Vertexes, creating an unprecedented amount of kinetic energy. Chester's altered genetics were a double-edged sword, and while it may have let him escape Jaldoa's following plans, it had not left him in a favourable state either.

His sprawled body came to a stop against a felled stump, a couple yards from the crater's rim. He laid uncomfortably on his back, almost motionless from disorientation and numb pain. His jacket had done well to keep intact, and although his forearms and thighs were bruised, it was nothing he could not pull through.
Breathing hastened and shoulders flexed, as he slowly raised himself upon his elbows. Given the foe's speed, he really could not afford to stay grounded for long, but nor was he yet in a condition to amend his vulnerability.

Jaldoa was not entirely certain how his foe had escaped the deathly embrace of the Loa. What was certain is that he had not done so without cost, and so the Troll was satisfied. He bounded after the human, though only arrived within fifteen feet or so when he had remarkably managed to push himself up onto his elbows. The human was still alive and kicking, apparently, though definitely more injured than the troll now, who sported only the aching pain of some minor bruising.

His hand dipped quickly to his waist, and with one movement he sent his sacrificial knife flying forward, but arcing down, towards his foe. By his reckoning the throw was true, though nor perfect, it was likely to pierce his foe’s lower abdomen at best if it hit, or plunk into the ground where he lay if somehow he drew up the strength to move.

Regardless of the outcome, Jaldoa readied his next ward, the Ward of Healing, dropping it to the ground as he closed the distance between his opponent and himself. His staff was held horizontally across his body in his right hand, ready to swing like some cliché samurai in a film, perhaps? Regardless, he would reach his foe in a mere second or so, and deal with him should he survive the knife throw.

The forest's choruses signalled that Jaldoa had once again taken to the trees, and was moving far more hastily than before. Chester could have risked a few more seconds' rest if he was somewhere visible, but the opponent had been smart enough not to give him that relief. Strained as he was, he would have to use his failsafe far sooner than he would have liked.
With a sudden heave his right arm reached out, tossing the third coin he had held onto for such an emergency. Both hands clung to the 5-foot neon beam which followed, appearing at a perfect reach above where he lay.
The other end was attached to the last of his coins on-hand, and was angled to stick into the floor. With the Vertex's force and a stifled grunt, Chester was able to propel himself aside -- just barely before the blade of a throwing knife swept beneath his shoulder, and cut shallowly into the tree stump behind. It had nicked the material of his sleeve without sound, but no blood was apparent, at least to Chester's hopes.

He was upright, now, albeit poorly balanced as he relied on his new staff for support. He stood at an angle, his arms held high upon the Vertex which crossed diagonally before him. His legs ached a little under his weight, and his opponent was almost directly ahead - but despite Chester's unfavourable situation, he was not yet out of stratagems...

Another of his shields, damn this human is resilient. Jaldoa dropped to the ground without a sound, skirting around a tree and keeping his healing ward close as he sped towards his foe. He darted in and out of bushes and behind trees, taking a little longer for it, but making it more difficult to strike him from afar. When the distance was closed, the point of his staff’s position revealed itself, he aimed to slide low past Chester’s left side, on his knee, as his foe used his shield as a weapon in the way Jaldoa was used to. He had no idea if his foe would use it like a sword, swinging it horizontally at the point hardest for him to avoid it. If he did however, his slide on one knee and his flexibility would allow him to surprisingly avoid the attack, and sweep the human’s legs out from under him with a powerful strike from his staff. This would result in the troll bouncing off the tree, and possibly putting him into position to seize his knife for a killing blow.

If the Vertex was simply used as a shield, Jaldoa’s reflexes were such that he wouldn’t just slide into it, but would rather aim his swiping attack at the Vertex itself, and bounce away to deliver more strikes against it until it failed or his opponent left himself open to a decisive attack.

Chester readjusted his stance a little, slowly shifting weight back to his legs as the disorientation began to wear off. His opponent had finally taken to the ground, but had not veered from his methodical style of approach, concealing his angle amidst the branches and foliage. With the small amount of time the Human had, he drew another set of four coins from his jacket, a sure necessity if he planned on turning the tides.
Jaldoa's outline flashed sporadically between vines and branches, gradually but surely nearing to where Chester stood. Glancing past the creature's motions, his eyes noticed a second levitating anomaly a few steps beyond; while different to the one that ruined his day earlier, it at least left no doubt that his enemy was the one planting them. Would this device also shock him were he to near closer? If so, did his foe have a way not to trigger it himself? These questions and more were things Chester would have to question later, whenever Jaldoa was kind enough to give the chance.

Surely enough the gangly figure sprung for assault, closing in from Chester's right. Though quick enough to sight the approach, Chester barely got himself to turn towards the attack, pressing readily against the weight of Jaldoa's club slamming against his Vertex. In hindsight, making the Vertex longer than usual had turned against his favour - for Jaldoa had actively targeted the beam's centre, taking full advantage of its meagre durability. The enemy bounced back just as quickly after the strike, leaving him with a fractured mess of a staff which surely could not endure another of that calibre.

Chester lowered and tensed once more, and his Vertex was lifted back and beside his left; even if it was no good for cover, it could be useful so long as it was kept in one piece. Out of means for a suitable offence, he merely stood alert with his right hand drawn back, focused to react to Jaldoa's very next step.

“Rah, dere be otha time fo’ this” Jaldoa spat at the human in Trollish, after finding his weapons insufficient, it became clear that the human was able to defend against everything in his arsenal in a fair fight. With the element of surprise lost for this occasion, he backed up quickly keeping his eyes on Chester, and then broke away in a quick erratic sprint, grabbing his healing ward as he sped away into the forests.

Once in the safety of trees and bushes, Jaldoa was a ghost, Chester had his work cut out for him pursuing his illusive foe, and like Jaldoa said, there would be other times. For now however, this fight was done.