[IC] Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

[changejar]

On the first day Hannah was already becoming pretty skeptical of all this magic training. What was she going to accomplish by sitting alone on a cold floor? Clear her mind. That made no sense. How does one even begin to not think about nothing? She did try her best for the first few hours. Really focused on not focusing. But then she started to get mad. Nothing was happening other than she was now cold and her legs had started to cramp. By the time she was excused she was beginning to wonder if she could leave and sneak into a different guild.

The next two days, though, really turned everything around for her. Who needed to clear their mind when Hannah could see spirits? Clearly everyone else was too busy being empty, Hannah was spotting the spirits. And the next day was a test, which Hannah had no problem with. This she could do. As soon as she saw the first spirit she had dedicated her time to reading and studying everything she could about magic and now she got to prove that she knew it all. She was definitely riding that high all night.

However, the next three days are reminiscent of the first. Everyone else was finally about to see the spirits, but then they started to get them to do things. Hannah, though, was stuck just catching glimpses of them. For two days she tried to stay calm and focused, to clear her mind and work with the spirits. But nothing was happening. The harder she tried, the harder it became to stay clear. The fifth day ended with her storming out of the classroom and punching a wall. That night she nursed her anger and sore hand.

On the sixth day, Hannah’s anger shifted. When it was burning and bubbling over and right on the surface, she could barely even see the spirits. But then something changed, her focus shifted from trying to clear her mind into sharpening her anger. She focused on the one thing she could and turned that anger inside herself. She felt it growing hard and cold inside of her, making her mind sharper and seeing the spirits better. Eventually she let the anger fully engulf her and that was when it happened. Magic Arrow. And many Magic Arrows followed that. She was over the moon excited. Who needed an empty mind when she could just be angry? If her teachers had told her that, maybe she wouldn’t have wasted two days.

The seventh day was graduation and Hannah was quite smug with her new black dress and pointed hat. One of the professors tried to tell her that anger was not a great source of focus; that she would have to let go of that rage. But the little fire spirit flitting around her head was essentially proof that she didn’t need to listen to him. She walked away from the school with the feeling of flames licking at her hands and a smile on her face.

The smile dropped fairly quickly though, when Hannah saw the rest of the group. She wasn’t even looking for them, yet here they were. She sighed and walked up to them, a sour look on her face.

[OwO]

"Hello."

With everyone together again, they exchanged idle greetings. Some put in more effort than others. More specifically, Matteo put in more effort than everyone else. Out of the four of them, he was the only person who said more than one word. Hannah didn't even say anything, she was just sour. Or upset. Or maybe about to puke? Ash couldn't really tell. But with the four of them together once again, they could finally sortie and do what they were assigned to. Get coin, kill monsters, and everything of that sort.

But where would they start?

Ash had some idea of the town outside, but no solid destination. She could probably find a way back if they just aimlessly travelled, but then they might run into bear 2, the sequel to the bear: the one that almost got Ash. Well, not that it mattered as much. Ash was pretty sure she could outrun them all, especially in the thicket of the forest.

"Would anyone know of a destination for newcomers like us?" She asked the rest of the group, "Or should we just go out and see where that takes us?"

She didn't really want to go out and see where that took her. It was really risky. Especially with bears living in the forest. Worst comes to worst, they could peer pressure Matteo into asking someone a good spot for beginners.

[Buzzkill]

Matteo certainly did seem to be the most talkative among the group of new trainees. As a general rule of thumb, he liked to put more effort into talking than anything else because it was under the implicit expectation that when it came to doing actual work, he would have already done his part and wouldn't have to participate. During the awkward silence, he considered commenting on the girls' new outfits-- Muu had gained a long red scarf, Ash had some authentic-looking hunting equipment, and the blonde girl had a pointy hat straight out of Hogwarts.

Altogether, they looked ready for... well, something.

And nobody bothered complimenting his new tight-fitting blue robes. My feelings aren't too hurt by that. With his physique as it was, he was sure the form-flattering casual wear wasn't exactly the most appealing. Matteo sighed. At least they wouldn't hinder his movements if he got into a fight the way his jacket had with Old Bear. As some compensation perhaps for the general torture and exorbitant entrance fee, the Thief's Guild had also given him a leather breastplate, a set of more durable clothing, and some soft, flexible boots. All much less colorful.

"Striking out without any idea where we're going seems dangerous," the wavy-haired youth commented, rubbing his chin. "I suppose I could ask someone. Maybe we should look at the postings on the wall first, though. There might be something promising for beginners listed there." Since most people's attention in the Silver Moon plaza was directed at the wall, Matteo had steered clear of it when he'd first arrived. The fact that it was such a focal point was promising, though. That meant reading through it would at least give them an idea where to begin, right?

Besides, if they could figure it out on their own, he wouldn't have to approach any of the well-armed strangers in the square to ask for their advice. With his vision as poor as it was from a distance, it was hard to tell who looked nonthreatening until he was too close to back down.

[ERode]

After much deliberation, someone from the group was eventually sent out to jostle through the small crowd of monster hunters that crowded around the bounty board. The group had taken long enough however, that most others had already left to whatever hunting grounds they’d planned out, and it was clear that most of those depicted upon the board were threats that were far beyond what people of Matteo, Ash, and Hannah’s level could handle. From decorated orc warriors with 50 gold bounties to half-giants who’s heads came for a platinum coin a piece to even wolf-like creatures that were worth hundreds of silvers, the bounties were enough to make their heads spin, but the death toll, marked with crossed lines on the corner of the paper, was similarly gruesome. A reward equal to the amount of lives already claimed, was it?

However, further inspection did grant the investigator some bounties that weren’t quite as fatal. Directly west of the town, there was a bounty for a spear-wielding goblin, the flesh of his head damaged to the extent that his countenance was absolutely skeletal. Residing within the ruins of Rugome Fort, he had claimed the lives of four others, and was noted to be deceptively tenacious despite his small form. Due southwest, amongst the meadows and plains, a large toad with a black-and-red striped back was quite a terror to grazing livestock as well. Though it had claimed only the lives of two foolhardy adventurers, it certainly did have a higher bounty placed on it than the Skull Faced Goblin, perhaps due to the amount of livestock raisers that wished it dead. Northwest, however, was a familiar face to Ash: a bounty for a Man-Eating Bear, a terror that stalked not only the mountain forests nearby Andeave, but also occasionally encroached upon the sacred territory of Kur-Inuus. This was the highest bounty, but the death count was the highest as well, and Ash’s own body still throbbed with the phantom pain.

Those were the viable options left for the adventurers, but conversely, there was no real need for them to take these bounties on to begin with. After all, meandering through the wilderness while picking off nameless, fameless monsters in their natural habitats were an option as well, and considering how fatal their profession appeared to be…perhaps it was better to play safe instead of play hard?

[OwO]

With information from Hannah and Matteo, Ash learned of the bounties. The spear-wielding goblin was a poor choice, but Ash felt as though it would be too difficult for their group. After all, they had no practical experience. Going against an experienced veteran would be extremely dangerous, especially considering how much he's survived. Not to mention, it resided in the Rugome Fort. If it resided in a fort, there would be no doubt that there would be a large number of goblins. The toad was also dangerous. They didn't know what to expect from it. If it could kill two adventurers, then it would be difficult for a bunch of people who had never fought anything other than deer and straw to beat.

Ash didn't even want to think of the bear. She wouldn't even go to the northwest.

But an idea brewed in her head.

"How about," Ash said with some self-deliberation, "we head west to the ruins. We won't head inside, but we might hit a small group of goblins scouting. If we get in trouble, we can easily run back through the woods, before they can call for any reinforcements."

[Skyswimsky]

So, they were really going to do it, wouldn't they? Fight with their lives on the line while robbing that of another. For their survival? Because they couldn't do anything else? Because they were disposable? Muu's eyes wandered to the blade on her side, her hands shaking. She felt scared, even now, so how was she supposed to face anything? "I..." She stammered.

"Isn't a single goblin.... weaker than a group?" It seemed like goblins were the bottom of the food chain kind of beings to hunt for those new in the business. Although running away sounded like a nice alternative, too. They could run faster than them, right? "A group sounds scary..." She whispered.

[Buzzkill]

“...There is nothing promising for beginners listed here,” Matteo said with great disappointment while reading the Wall of Terrifying Monster Bounties. Looking at the postings, the rookie Thief realized this was the first time he’d ever had a face to give to their enemy. “Monsters” was all very good and vague, but here they had goblins, toads, and bears clearly marked out and slated for the kill. Even the smallest bounties had death tolls clearly listed, and that was alarming all in itself.

Regardless, it all seemed a bit ‘advanced’ to go straight up against right out of training. Perhaps a little more practice would be better.

“That seems logical,” Matteo said out loud once he and Hannah had returned, responding to Ash’s suggestion. “Maybe we can even practice working together on something smaller on the way. Hunt some… small game, I suppose? Rabbits?” He realized he wasn’t sure what kind of animals lived around here, but his stomach growled to remind him of his empty wallet and week of eating nothing but alternately cold and hot porridge. “After we get something to eat, we could continue on to the fort and scout it out. I don’t particularly want to get attacked by a whole group of goblins either.” He nodded to Muu and gave a small, tight smile.

[ERode]

Despite Muu’s worries, the Bladedancer’s concerns were largely ignored in favor of Ash’s direction. Her voice was too soft for anyone else to really pick up, after all, and regardless of her new clothes and weapon, her interior didn’t change enough to go against the flow of the rest of the people. Without much further ado, it was decided that they would head out for the western gate, intending on scouting out the so called fort. Passing through many of the taverns that had once mesmerized them a week ago, some of them may recall still that the crypt they had emerged from was in that same direction. But no matter where they looked, the trainee monster hunters couldn’t spot any building that looked quite like the one they awoken in.

That was a small oddity though, quickly wiped away when the guards at the western gate side-eyed their sorry state of affairs and checked out their necklaces, before the more portly of the two smacked Matteo on the back and wished him good luck. When the two guards thought they were out of earshot, the bets began being made about whether or not these freshies would be coming back that night.

But that wasn’t any concern for the small party.

---

Though the road towards the western forests started off as well paved, dirt packed down tight from years, decades of others marching down the same path, eventually the road turned into a mess of branches, stones, and mud. Flies darted in and out of their ears, while clouds of gnats spun into condensed swarms when the adventurers neared. The foliage thickened up soon enough as well, and with only directions as vague as ‘west’, it wasn’t all too certain if they were actually on the right path to Rugome Fort, if they had overshot it or missed a turn amongst the game trails that they followed. This sudden introduction to the woods and discomfort was especially taxing on Muu, who, despite how harsh her own acrobatics training was, hadn’t acclimated at all to the wild, untamed landscape. More than once had her feet gotten caught on a root, and her scarlet scarf, despite being so dramatic and stylish out in the open, had snagged countless times on the small branches and brambles that they pushed themselves through. With Ash in the lead, however, the going wasn’t nearly as rough as it could have been, the fledgling ranger at ease with the unruly paths of the woods, all as her trained eyes kept an eye out for tracks, either monstrous or animal.

After a two hour jaunt through the woods, the group caught their first lucky break. Passing over a fallen pine, Ash spotted the small, bounding tracks of a rabbit, easy enough to follow through the narrow dirt trail that sliced through verdant grass. Continuing further along, their fortune seemed to only increase at the sight of that same, tracked rabbit now hanging from the noose of someone else’s trap. It was certainly dead, and it also looked fresh enough that maggots had not settled into the corpse yet. Hanging from twined loop over a thick branch that was nailed to a tree, the handiwork, from Ash’s judgment at least, looked to be crude and effective.
Whatever the case of this was, with both Ash and Matteo’s expertise, they could doubtlessly remove the rabbit, reset the trap, and leave with their spoils before the setter noticed it. But…was that right?

No, fuck that. Righteousness may make them feel like saints, but feelings didn’t sate stomachs.

[Buzzkill]

They stood around a dead rabbit, wondering what to do.

It would be different if one of them had killed the rabbit. As it was, they'd just found someone else's. Dangling from the trap it had unwittingly caught itself in, the animal's dull, flat eyes didn't exactly stimulate one's palate. Then again, Matteo hadn't eaten red meat in at least a week. It's hardly enough for all of us, Matteo thought with a pang of hunger, but it might liven up that broth at the Silver Light church if we end up sleeping there again tonight. If it made it that long. It might just be their breakfast snack.

He swallowed, then cleared his throat. "It's, ah, in someone else's trap," he pointed out. "It seems in poor taste to--" He realized that he had reached forward to pry the slipknot loose, the action almost automatic after his training, "--I'm very interested in how this trap works. Maybe we can make one of our own..." Ah, right, and the rabbit was already coming free. How very accidental. And convenient.

...Not that they should steal it, but if they stole it, they should do it fast.
And he was the Thief.

[Skyswimsky]

With the group set on a course, the silent Muu could do nothing but tag along. Past the guards, into the taxing forest. While her stamina was superb, the brunette really hadn't expected this to be so difficult. Trees were supposed to be just small buildings! The uneven ground akin to the rough, dirt littered streets. Yet, ultimately, it was thick. Way too thick. Even her beautiful and comfortable scarf turned out to be more of a problem, although ultimately not enough to give up the comfort it provided around her lower face.

Then, there was the rabbit. "Uh... uhm..." Muu stepped forward as Matteo did what he had to do, oblivious to his real intentions. "I-I don't think we should meddle with this. It's not ours..." Although the fact remained that, even ignoring the rabbit, Matteo mingled with someone else's item without missing a beat. But who the hell cared what Muu was thinking anyway?

[ERode]

No one cared, that was who. Though Matteo's trained movements slowed slightly when Muu spoke up, it was too late by then, the trap much too simple compared to the complex locks that he had to pick back in that dark cavern. With a light tug, the hefty, fluffy rabbit fell down onto his waiting palm, the loosened snare hanging there.

And, just like, that, they had seven pounds of rabbit flesh, just in time for an early lunch. It was simply a matter of whether or not Ash, the resident woodswoman, wanted anything to do with this thievery.
@Burger

[OwO]

In all honesty, Ash didn't want to steal from whoever placed the trap. Not out of a sense of honor, no. She just didn't want that sort of risk. However, an unattended trap was hardly a risk. Unless the trap was some form of bait and they were standing on a net the entire time, it was difficult to imagine any danger they could be in. The snare trap had reset itself by Matteo loosening it, so Ash didn't have to involve herself. Really, Ash saw it as a zero sum game. She wasn't that hungry, but she wouldn't say no to a meal. The only problem was preparing the rabbit.

Matteo and Muu would refuse to eat a raw rabbit, so Ash would probably need to clean and cook the rabbit. She really didn't want to do that so close to the trap. It would be hella awkward to meet the trap's owner while eating rabbit around a fire. She'd need a source of water to make sure she didn't end up looking like that rabbit slayer in the town square. Actually, that scared her. The chances were infinitely low, but what if the trap belonged to him? She did not like him at all and would probably run like hell if she saw him out here. Also a knife, which she didn't currently possess. She could just use Matteo's dagger, so that didn't matter as much. Worst came to worst, she'd just butcher it with a machete.

"Let's find a place to rest a bit farther up," she said, "preferably by a stream."

[ERode]

They were all accomplices now, willing or not. Leaving the snare trap behind, Muu, Matteo, and Ash strode off, following the latter's suggestion to find a stream. It made sense, after all. None of them had waterskins, and two hours of traipsing through the woods had left them dehydrated as well as hungry. And even if they weren't able to make a fire by the end of this, cool water could at least wash off the excess of blood that would come from gutting the rabbit. It was, all in all, a clean course of action, even if none of them had found any monsters to actually slay yet. Rugome Fort and the goblin scouts they could hunt down was far from their mind as Ash lead them through the forest once more.

Being able to locate water sources within a forest was one of the first skills that Ash learned during her training as a Ranger. Part instinct, part knowledge, part luck, it took all five senses and no small amount of concentration before the dull-eyed youth eventually brought her friends to a trickling stream. Hardly more than a handspan in width, the water looked rather murky as it chuckled over a muddy riverbed. On the far side of the stream, the forest continued off pointlessly in a collection of deadfall and thin, coniferous trees, while on their own side, berryless bushes sprouted randomly amidst the red-brown dirt.

It was now three hours into their journey, and though Ash and Muu were still breathing fine, Matteo's own breath had become ragged. He really could use the break, and his stomach was acting up too now, the scrawnier youth having become even scrawnier during his time in the caverns of the Thieves' Guild.
@Burger@Skyswimsky@Buzzkill

[Buzzkill]

Ah, it really was a pity how the snare just fell apart in his hands like that. Matteo sighed. “Hmm. I suppose it’s supposed to be easy to remove,” he said out loud, studying the snare for another moment before dropping it and collecting their prize. “I don’t know how to set the trap back up, so I can’t just put it back.”

And just like that, they had a fluffy snack in hand. Not precisely a snack yet, Matteo reminded himself, but they had all the necessary ingredients (meat) and now they just needed something to cook it with. After they put some distance between themselves and the scene of the crime, of course.

He did feel a little bad. But it was a faceless foe they’d just robbed, and it wasn’t as if they’d taken the snare as well. It could be re-tied and another rabbit would be caught in the trap again. Just to be safe, he’d rather get away first though. Unfortunately, his motivation and his muscle weren’t quite at the same level yet. The boy found himself puffing and panting as they plunged after Ash through the woods, lacking the physical endurance to keep up with the girls' pace. “This might be a good place,” Matteo suggested, doubling over with his hands on his knees as they reached the muddy stream. He straightened up again, reaching up as if adjusting his lack-of-glasses. “We should probably keep our strength up if we’re planning to scout out the fort. Where do you think it is, anyway?”

He pulled out the rabbit and set it gingerly down before kneeling at the stream, cupping some of the brownish water in his hands. It looked like it would taste muddy, but he was thirsty. He had a feeling they would need something to burn if they wanted a fire. "Should we collect some wood?" he asked Muu and Ash mildly, thinking that they probably wouldn't have to go too far. They were in the woods, after all.

[Skyswimsky]

Despite Muu's silents protest having gone unheard, the girl obidiently followed the decisions of the group. Right or not, she was thirsty and hungry, yet, even after getting away without any problems, could not shake off this feeling. This gnawing, terrible, feeling of unease. It wasn't just about Matteo's action being morally wrong, it was....

"I..." Muu whispered as the boy asked about some wood. "I don't know but..." A tad louder. "I have a really, really, REALLY bad feeling about this rabbit!" In fact, Muu could actually speak with a normal volume!

[OwO]

"Don't worry about the snare," Ash assured Matteo, "it resets when you loosen it."

With newly acquired rabbit in tow, the trio went to find a place to camp. Finding a stream, Ash was mildly disappointed in how pathetic the stream was. It wasn't nearly as clean as she would have liked, nor was it as large as she wanted it to be. If only she had a filter, she had thought, whatever that was. It was water, nonetheless. She needed it to prepare the rabbit. Everyone had to do their part in order to have a meal, Matter implied. Ash liked it that way.

"Yes," Ash said to Matteo before recalling the lessons from her mentor, "firewood would be necessary. Dead twigs and dry grass equal-size to your fist, dry sticks as big as your thumb and as long as your forearm, and larger wood as thick as your wrist and as long as your arm. And get some straight, wet sticks. Let me use your dagger, too."

Without much hesitation, Ash found a nice flat rock where she could prepare the rabbit. She washed her machete and Matteo's dagger in the small stream and began to work after washing the dirt-covered rock in muddy water. Brief protests echoed from Muu, to the point where Muu had managed to speak in an ordinary volume. But Ash really didn't care.

"We're alive, this rabbit isn't. Nothing is going to bring it back."

Accentuating her point, she swung the machete down on the rabbit's neck, cleaving the head off. It was considerably easier than a deer. It usually took a half dozen swings to get its head off. Nonetheless, the small size of the rabbit was considerably easier to deal with than a deer. In four or so minutes, she had removed the rabbit's skin. The fur felt pretty nice when it wasn't soaked in blood. The organs took another six. Taking care not to pierce the stomach, the knife cut the rabbit from neck to groin. She took out the intestines, stomach, heart, lungs, any organ that they couldn't eat. She kept the liver, however, and made an effort to cut away the greenish gallbladder. Her cuts were somewhat clean, a few mistakes here and there. The meat, however, was untainted by bile or acid. It was an okay meal if they cooked it, of course.

Now it was just an issue of burying the organs, washing away the blood, and a getting a fire going.

[ERode]

Despite Matteo’s subtle attempts to dump all the manual labor onto Muu and Ash again, Muu’s oddly uncooperative streak and Ash’s own rabbit-dressing duties had led the winded boy to deal with firewood-gathering himself, banished to the woods to search for dead branches. Though it was a warm season, there was still plenty of deadfall from the previous winter, and soon, a reasonably sized bundle of wood and dry grass was collected.

Did it feel good, doing a simple, manual task after all the time spent being tossed in unreasonable situations back at the caverns and tunnels? Naw, work was still work, no matter what the shape.

While Matteo gathered wood, Muu was promptly ignored as Ash went about finishing up her bloodied task. A thick stick was enough to serve as a shovel for burying the entrails and the head, while a thinner stick broken from the bushes was easily sharpened into a skewer for spit-roasting the rabbit. It would have been ‘healthier’ to boil the meat instead of roast it over flame, as the fats and oils would flavor the bubbling water, but taste was king, and once Ash got the fire started, the aroma of hot rabbit flesh was simply divine. The flesh cooked quickly over the fast-burning flame, and even had a crispy char at the end of it. One rabbit wasn’t nearly enough to sate the stomachs of them all, but well…

…it certainly was tasty!
@Burger@Skyswimsky@Buzzkill

[Buzzkill]

Matteo liked to think he was a very level-headed sort of person, but even he had to admit he was feeling a little cranky by the time he’d finished trudging back and forth from the forest with armfuls of twigs and branches. He was honestly just exasperated that even a pilfered meal took so much work to prepare. He supposed it was in a show of good faith that he’d ended up doing most of the wood-gathering, or maybe it seemed comparatively easy next to the acts Seaweed had had him do in the tunnels. Or maybe just that he was too hungry to argue properly. By the time the rabbit was roasting over the open flame, the ex-spectacled youth was salivating like a wolf.

His blistered hands were a little scorched, but he ate without hesitation, chewing over each tiny bite like it might be his last meal. “The Thieves’ Guild only gave us porridge,” he said conversationally between chewy bites, the rabbit-third going all too quickly. Still, Matteo did not complain. Irritation eased, he sat back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Ah. That hit the spot. I have a feeling I never used to eat much, anyway.” Was that his shrunken stomach speaking, or just a hunch? The dark-haired youth glanced at the red blur where he knew Muu was. He wondered what the shy girl who’d turned up at the church had ended up choosing from the Silver Moon directory. “May I have my dagger back, Ash? Muu, I don’t think I ever asked you which guild you ended up joining.”

[OwO]

It was a good meal. The theft of a rabbit had sated Ash's stomach. The flavour, of course, left little to be desired. With earth and hunger as the only seasoning, the meal managed to be surprisingly edible. Ash had left the liver out a short distance away as an offering to the guardian of the forest. She was only meant to leave an offering out at night, but the difficulty she had cooking the liver made it feel as though it would be better to give back to nature. Though, that was only half of the reason. The other half was because she felt unsafe eating the liver and would feel quite bad if she let another human eat a questionably cooked organ.

Without much words exchanged with her compatriots, she gave Matteo back his dagger. Luckily, it hadn't really been used to kill. At least, not to any of their knowledge. The flavour of an nameless monster would probably spoil the meal. Still, Ash chose not to speak. She wanted to relish in the more-or-less quiet of the forest. It gave her time to think.

[Skyswimsky]

Even further protests seemed for nought. Part of her realized that the rabbit had been already taken and by now, it was too late anyway. On top of that, the brunette was hungry, too. So why was it that she barely felt like eating it? A few bites and Muu felt already... no, it wasn't quite sated, but she was certainly not in the mood to eat more. "Thanks for the meal." A dry whisper as she looked down, waiting for the others to finish.

'...which guild you ended up joining.'

Upon hearing her name, however, Muu perked up. "...?" He asked a question, did he not? "I..." Matteo had said something about a thieves guild. Wasn't that bad? Wasn't he a bad person? But the boy seemed so nice, with the exception of taking the rabbit, although! It was just an accident, wasn't it? Yeah, it had to be.

Taking a while to respond, Muu now spoke in her usual quiet voice. "I joined the Blade Dancers."