[IC] Night of the Hunt - Paleblood

[Dark Jack]

Hidden alcove, outside the walls south of Yahar'gul, northwest of Yharnam

Farren unleashed his series of brutal attacks on the darkbeast's exposed and defenseless face, spraying viscous, foul-smelling blood as he buried his blades into its undead flesh, though even now it appeared that its immense vitality allowed it to keep regenerating. An attempt was made to perhaps halt its flesh from mending itself by leaving one half of each of his Blades of Mercy in its empty eye-sockets. As he did so, however, Farren would find that the half of the Effigal Blade of Mercy he had abandoned suddenly gave off a soft bluish light and vanished without a trace.

Torquil took a second to shake off the effects of the lightning blast he had just weathered, only for his gaze to wander to Gerlinde right next to him, who kept laughing and attacking frenziedly. He blinked his eyes behind the visor of his helmet, his brain struggling to fully comprehend what he was looking at. To recognize that the figure before him covered in burns, with blood flowing from her eyes, ears and various rupturing blisters, who was giving off smoke that filled the air with the stench of burnt flesh. To understand that this was really Gerlinde, the beautiful woman from the Dream. The harlot. Attacking with no heed for her own safety, grievously wounded in her effort to slaughter their prey, while he cowered behind his shield.
A hissing breath escaped through Torquil's teeth as he felt that familiar sense of rage fill him, that horrible desire to dominate, hurt and kill. That feeling that had filled him with disgust and self-hatred before... but now he had something to receive his fury.
He threw aside the Loch Shield – it only engendered passivity, anyway – and grabbed the bottom of the handle of his Hunter's axe with his left hand to extend it, turning it into a giant Dane axe. And while Farren was carving away at the darkbeast's face, Torquil took two steps forward while shifting the grip of his right hand lower on the handle, feeling his fatigue building as he summoned all the strength of the Old Blood into his muscles once again, and delivered an enormous horizontal chop from right to left, slamming the axe-head into the base of the darkbeast's skull with enough force to make the creature lean into Farren's assault further.

But the darkbeast did not remain dazed for long, and as Farren went in to deliver his second round of attacks, it opened its jaws and abruptly exhaled what was effectively a cloud of electricity that filled the area around its head. It would force Farren to back away or be subject to another electrocution.

Simultaneously to using this bizarre lightning-breath, the darkbeast also reached its right foreleg out toward the chain hanging off it, planted its claw on top of it and – just as Ophelia was about to reach it and deliver another explosion to the weakened link – sent an especially intense surge of voltaic energy pulsing through it.
At the other end of the chain the lightbeast let out what could only be described as a scream, trashing in pain as fingers of lightning crawled all over its body, scorching its flesh and singing its white fur black. But as it screamed, the docile creature was also surrounded by a strange, soft light... like the gentle glow of a comforting fireplace, only without the flames. The light enveloped the lightbeast, and as it did its burns regenerated rapidly, even for a beast. And as the light pulsed around it, it also flowed back along the chain and into the darkbeast, washing across its body as well.

[yoshua171]

_Farren

had been about to step in for another strike when he saw movement in his periphery. Azure eyes turned and bore witness to the opening of the Darkbeast’s jaw. His eyes narrowed and a flush of warning surged in his blood as something like a haze of electrical energy gathered, and then began to be expelled from the creature’s maw. Farren pushed back, not making the same mistake he had before, and instead backpedaled a few steps even as he noticed it move its massive skeletal claws onto the chain. Recalling why it had collapsed to begin with, Farren shifted focus, running towards its right back leg. At the same time he sheathed the remaining Effigial Blade at his hip and promptly unhooked the blunderbuss, gripping it in his left hand as he kept his head turned towards the beast, noticing the interaction between the strange light of the withered beast and the Darkbeast’s sudden revitalization.

If nothing interrupted him, Farren would reach the Darkbeast’s nearest rear leg, at which point he’d have wound up a heavy slash with the True Blade of Mercy—the strike aimed to take it straight through the joint that attached its leg to its hip.

Further, if he was able to sever the leg, or even open up a blunderbuss barrel-sized wound, Farren would shove the firearm into the wounded area and unload the quicksilver round directly into its undead flesh—the barrel pressed into whichever wound was present.

Otherwise, Farren would likely take defensive actions if he threatened by the rotten beast.

[Dark Jack]

Hidden alcove, outside the walls south of Yahar'gul, northwest of Yharnam

While Farren moved to join Torquil and Gerlinde on the darkbeast's left flank, adding his Blade of Mercy to the onslaught of he transformed Hunter's axe and the flaming threaded cane, Ophelia finally had her chance to execute her plan. The soft glow from the lightbeast, both the part enveloping itself and extending to the darkbeast, lasted only a couple of seconds before it faded, after which the chain connecting the two seemed to become void of either beast's energies.
Seizing the opportunity she fed the Holy Moonlight Sword another quicksilver bullet and thrust it into the sturdy steel link once more, unleashing another arcane explosion. As the blinding light faded and the dust settled, she would find the chain even more bent and warped than before, with the link partially twisted open on one side – clearly on the verge of breaking apart entirely – but still just barely holding itself together.

The darkbeast's head veered momentarily to follow Farren, its empty eye-sockets glancing at him, Torquil and Gerlinde making a united front as they carved into its left side with wild abandon, yet despite their efforts best efforts could not seem to inflict lasting damage; if anything, it seemed to regenerate even faster after the pulse of light that had just washed over it, as if its vitality had been restored and reinforced. Then its head veered to the right, to where Ophelia stood over its chain all alone, and had just caused a rather loud and flashy explosion to attract its attention.
With an abruptness that nearly knocked Torquil off his feet, as he only barely managed to dislodge is axe in time, the darkbeast leaped into the air. It moved with a speed, agility and precision one would not expect from such a massive creature, sending rotation in mid-air while soaring as much as ten meters over everyone's heads; a movement that, predictably, jostled the chain connecting to it significantly and jerked the weak link Ophelia had been targeting away from her some eight meters or so.
And then it plummeted back to the ground right on top of Ophelia, bringing down both of its front leg claws on top of her, both of them burning with bluish energy and erupting into a powerful electric explosion on impact.

[Tuujaimaa]

Ophelia

Ophelia felt the familiar singing of her blade's power ripping apart steel, saw the momentary glimpse of the cosmos' inexhaustible light, and still could not get through the chain cleanly. "Just break!" she screamed out, frustrated with its futile resistance, before the sudden flurry of motion from the others and the Darkbeast demanded her focus once more. She caught the Darkbeast rearing up to jump in the air, its limbs twisting in ways that its eerie form and propensity for regeneration alone must've allowed, and quickstepped instinctively as far as she could back towards the entrance, though at a 45 degree angle to her right to avoid the Lightbeast and give her sufficient time to quickstep again--this time directly towards the other end of the room, albeit adjusting for anything that might get in the way. Quickstepping twice in succession was not good for Ophelia's limited stamina, however, and as much as she wanted to press the attack and finally break the chain so the damage they dealt to the Darkbeast would stick... she would need to catch her breath.

She began a light jog over to where the almost-broken link of chain was, keeping an eye out for the Darkbeast's movements, and keeping tabs on everyone else too: she hoped that it'd just go for one of the others, that the redirection of its ire to her was momentary, but she knew that it most definitely might not be--and if the Darkbeast came for her immediately again, she'd begin her evasive manoeuvres once more and shout out to one of the others to break the chain at its weakest link--Farren or Torquil, at least, whomever was closer.

[yoshua171]

_Farren

withdrew his blunderbuss as he detected something shift in the creature’s body. He backstepped—not using his hunter ability—and just in time too as the Darkbeast leapt high into the air with an athleticism and speed that briefly frightened even him. The feeling didn’t last long though, not before transitioning into a different sort of fear as it hurtled down through the air towards Ophelia.

However, she’d noticed in time and surged from its path just in time. Knowing there was no way he could have done anything about her predicament either way, Farren did his best to immediately take advantage of the beast’s distraction, bending down to one knee with his eyes still locked on the Darkbeast as it hurtled rapidly down to where Ophelia had been a moment ago. He murmured to the Messengers, hoping they’d respond here, even as he offered them Fulmen. He’d retrieve it once things calmed down again and he had a chance to look it over thoroughly.

From the little helpers, he requested Bulwark and the Beasflayer even as he sheathed the True Blade of Mercy as well.

“Torquil, Gerlinde, keep it distracted. I’ll help Ophelia with the chain,” Farren offered the others in the way of direction. Partway through the sentence, the Messengers received his call, took Fulmen, and gave him the two armaments he’d requested. While he’d waited the brief time he’d used one hand to deftly rearrange the harness on his back. Thus, when the weapons shifted up through the ground—maneuvered carefully by the withered little hands of the helpful creatures—Farren nodded to them thankfully and accepted each. Bulwark he slotted into its own loop of thick leather at his right hip, whereas the Beastflayer he took into both hands, pushing back to both feet as he did so. Perhaps the intense levering force of Bulwark in that Chain link could wrench it the rest of the way open and break the Darkbeast’s connection.

[Dark Jack]

Hidden alcove, outside the walls south of Yahar'gul, northwest of Yharnam

Neither Torquil nor Gerlinde replied to Farren's orders, though Torquil did nod once in recognition of having received it. He glanced back over toward the Loch Shield on the ground for a second, contemplating going to retrieve it before facing the darkbeast head-on, but before he could reach a decision on that Gerlinde was already moving, letting out a mad cackle that would have made even the wickedest witch bow her head in reverence. Thus Torquil followed, though whereas Gerlinde set off in a mad sprint, he stuck to a jog; repeatedly hitting the beast with all of his strength was already pushing his stamina to its limit, and getting there faster would be worthless if he was defenseless once he got there.

The darkbeast, meanwhile, did not immediately seem to reengage the Hunters. Instead it turned to the lightbeast and quite simply climbed on and perched atop of its fellow undead. Only once it had gotten up there did it turn back to the Hunters, just in time to catch Gerlinde's burning whip across its face... to which it responded by raising both of its front legs before it, spread wide to the sides and claws turned inward, and channeled lightning into both.
A second later it swiped both claws inward and past each other in front of it, and each claw projected its own huge wave of blue lightning crawling across the arena and toward where all of its enemies had decided to bunch up.
Gerlinde, once again, took the wave point-blank and without so much as attempting to evade it. Torquil panicked, tried to quickstep to his right to get out of the way, but got hit anyway. And past them, the destructive energies continued toward Ophelia and Farren.

[Tuujaimaa]

Ophelia

Ophelia seemed to see everything almost... slow down, as though she was experiencing ripples across a pond gently washing over her rather than experiencing linear time. She hadn't the time for another attack on the chain, and if the slight sting in her lungs was anything to go by she hadn't the stamina either. She gulped in what little air she could, let the machinery of her body have a single revolution without exertion, and prepared herself to move again. As the Darkbeast clambered on top of the Lightbeast and began to summon forth its intense energies once more--perhaps the brightest they'd seen yet--Ophelia realised nearly immediately what was coming and urged herself to move. By her estimation the safest direction was simply north-west from her current one, and so she drew upon the waning fire of the Old Blood (or perhaps merely her body's inability to harness it) and quickstepped again, as quickly and as far as she could.

When she arrived at her destination the first sensation she felt was a deep burning in her lungs and a sudden ache in her muscles that was as familiar as it was uncomfortable, and the second was a furious and crackling surge of energy missing her by a hair's breadth--the clothes on her back felt suddenly hot and though needles were pricking at her from within them. She could feel a faint throb resonate throughout her body as she remembered the agony of being thoroughly shocked before. She simply stood for a number of seconds gulping in greedy breaths of air to restore the limits she'd pushed herself to--turning around to survey the battlefield first--and simply remained there until her stamina was recovered. If the Darkbeast came for her again she could perhaps turn it to her advantage, though Gerlinde's mad assault having resumed gave Ophelia hope that it wouldn't be her the beast went for, but Gerlinde.

[yoshua171]

_Farren

managed to fully equip himself with his choice of weapons, but his relative inaction had its consequences it seemed. As he looked up, Farren witnessed the Darkbeast clamber atop its victim and then begin to prepare another volley of voltaic violence to mete upon them. “Fuck,” he muttered, as his eyes and memory alike informed him that unlike Ophelia–who he heard immediately dash–he didn’t have time to cross the necessary distance to escape.

So he didn’t try to, instead, about a quarter of a second after he’d heard Ophelia’s feet push against the silt-covered earth–making a distinct sound that paired with seeing her in his periphery told him she’d dashed–Farren did the same. However, rather than retreat, the azure-eyed hunter advanced. As the current danced rapidly towards him through the air, Farren approached it as well, but unlike before he embraced the anger still half-furled in the furnace of his chest.

Two-thirds of the way through, his body met with the unnatural lightning of the Darkbeast’s attack, surging through his body, igniting his flesh, boiling his eyes, rupturing his eardrums, and drawing coruscating rootwork burns through his entire body, his veins and nerves appearing as faintly glowing viridian patterns through his almost-blackened flesh. His hair, similarly, ignited, standing on end, but pushed back by the speed of his movement and the direction of the current as it passed over and through him.

His eye sockets leaked an almost cream-like goo, forming tears that trailed sideways along his cheekbones, mixing with streaming tears from the pain. Farren howled, not like a wolf, but like an enraged, pained animal–the sound equal parts savagery and agony.

Not even waiting for the Old Blood to surge through his body and begin the process of healing, Farren swung, twisting his wrist on the Beastflayer as he did so. Each of its segments ‘clicked’ open in a distinct noise as the mechanisms that held them together unlocked. He finished his quickstep, but kept running towards the Bastard, teeth gritted against the agony searing through his mind, letting it center him in the moment.

His eyes and internals healed first, then his ears, the world snapping into sudden and sharp relief as the Beastflayer ratcheted out, extending almost in slow motion as he moved like a frenzied wraith in a beeline straight for the undead monstrosity.

The moment extended, then time seemed to snap back into its proper flow and the Beastflayer spooled out en full and cleaved in a left-to-right horizontal arc through the air, crossing the 2 additional meters before the weapon would begin to flay through the Darkbeast, aimed center of mass. Only as the arc was halfway through its motion did Farren’s flesh finish knitting together, putting on display a horrid rictus of a grin, his mind utterly devoid of true thought as he matched the Hunter impulse in his blood.

Certainly, the beast could heal, but how would it fair if the weapon cleaved horizontally through the center of its body one side to the other, skull included?

[Dark Jack]

Hidden alcove, outside the walls south of Yahar'gul, northwest of Yharnam

Torquil immediately fell to his hands and knees as soon as electric currents were no longer forcing his muscles to spasm, with white smoke pouring from every joint in his armor. He could feel his skin sizzling and his internals failing, thoroughly cooked as they were, and felt panic grip him at the familiar sensation of his regeneration slowing down, bringing back memories of when he died... only this time would not be as merciful as then. The first time the Mad One had smashed his head into the ground until he passed, beating him swiftly into unconsciousness in such a way that the pain only lasted for a few seconds. This, though? He could tell that he would not die from this immediately. He was stuck here with the pain.
He fumbled with the pouch on his right hip, struggling to find anything with his muscles and nerves still buzzing from being electrocuted, but eventually managed to retrieve one of the blood vials Ophelia had given him. He took it, popped off the outer cap and prepared to inject himself... and realized that he had no idea where to do so. He was covered in metal armor; there were no obvious gaps to jab the syringe through, and the needle obviously was not tough enough to punch through a plate of silver. Where could he...
There was a pause as he froze. He swallowed. And then he turned the blood vial so that the needle faced his thumb, and slammed the vial into the visor of his helmet, stabbing the needle – and injecting the blood – into his forehead.

Over by the two beasts, a new horror emerged as soon as the curtain of blue lightning passed: once more billowing a column of white smoke, her hair in flames and holes burnt through her clothes, Gerlinde continued to run at her prey. Her body was covered in horrible burns, including open, bleeding wounds and downright charred flesh, and her lips had curled back – mostly burned away – to reveal a demonic grin with about a third of her teeth missing and blood pouring from it. Even her eyes were wide and especially insane-looking, the eyelids gone and the eyeballs partially shriveled and blind. She was no longer laughing.
Rather than continue to lash toward the darkbeast, Gerlinde instead dashed rapidly toward the lightbeast's head, ultimately crashing straight into it and clutching it with her arms and legs. Then she leaned away and drew back her left arm, its fingers visibly elongating and sharpening into claws, before she plunged her left arm up to the elbow into the lightbeast's right eye-socket.
The lightbeast let out a piercing shriek, only for it to wail even louder as Gerlinde violently withdrew her hand, taking a large handful of the creature's brain and a whole torrent of blood with it. The soft glow began to surround the lightbeast anew.

Farren's attack, predictably, was nowhere near capable of cleaving through the darkbeast. Due to the lack of rigidity in the Beastflayer's whip-shape, it instead ended up mostly just slapping against the monster's side, only to drag across its surface over the side and across its face, sawing through it with each passing blade-segment.
It kept regenerating relentlessly, but did not seem to immediately counterattack this time. Instead it seemed to just sit there for a few seconds, glaring in Farren's direction, while the blue lightning crawling all over its body – which had somewhat diminished in the wake of the wave-attack – seemed grow in intensity, recovering to its past prominence. It hissed loudly and menacingly.

[Tuujaimaa]

Ophelia

Ophelia's sharpness of focus returned after she'd spent three or four seconds just breathing, and she whipped around immediately to begin the hunt for the weakened link of chain once again. They'd never get through this thing while the chain lasted, and they had limited vitality and resources--and limited tolerance to such horrendously painful and traumatic experiences, too, lest they end up like Gerlinde. She began a light jog, eager to more fully recover her stamina and have the manoeuvrability needed to actually dodge whatever the beast would get up to next. This was her first experience in combat as a true Hunter, one armed with the right tools and companions, and in her mind's eye it was very much like a rhythm, or a dance, or a game--there was a flow, and there was strategy. There was a back and forth to it that could be observed and learned and performed, an art that fused the best parts of insight and beasthood--two things that Ophelia understood as being at the opposite ends of a spectrum.

She sometimes wondered why the sheer terror of it didn't grip her, like it had Torquil. She realised in hindsight that she was the one who was aberrant in that instance, that his fear was truly very much justified--for results required experience. There was always a price to pay in doing the act. Then she saw the little motes of moonlight, and she knew she was bathed in a sheath of Mother Moon's light: enough to reveal that which she sought, but not so bright as to be obvious. Obfuscating in all of the most beneficial ways, and revealing too--like the flow of power through the chain. She began moving towards it immediately and with extreme focus, keeping herself at the fastest pace she could while still recovering her energy, which resulted in her circling clockwise around the twin beasts.

"The Chain!" She called out again, wanting to impress upon them the urgency of the task but without the breath to spare them more than those two words.