Buzzkill

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

Broken twigs jabbed at right-angles into Matteo’s skin, uncomfortable echoes of the bleeding arrow still lodged inside his arm. The frenzied motion it had taken him to throw the goblin off hadn’t exactly been the most soothing treatment for an open wound. Blood oozed from the protruding arrow and from the small cuts left from the creature’s club.

He still had to bite back a startled exclamation when Muu’s blade buried itself in the earth right next to him. The youth sat up, feeling his bruises. “There it goes! Hurry!” he panted, cradling his bloody arm and pointing after the goblin. He staggered to his feet, pushing through the shrubbery. Where’s my dagger? If he wanted to have a chance at close-quarters, he needed something a little sharper than just his wit…

The shrill goblin howl from the other side of the fire spurred on the boy’s urgency. “Come on, where is it…” He’d been standing a little farther away when he’d been creeping up on the creature, but everything was a blur without his glasses. I’ll never find it unless I’m standing right on top of it, he realized and abandoned the search. Both goblins were attacking Ash now, he didn’t have time.

As he stumbled through the brush, forcing himself through the pain semi-automatically, the youth wondered why the goblins had attacked them in the first place. He’d have to think more about it later-- bursting out of the bushes, Matteo’s hand flashed out desperately, trying to catch the second goblin’s shoulder to drag him backwards away from Ash. Finding no purchase, his thieving fingers slipped down off smooth skin and Matteo found himself actually yanking on the back of the goblin’s loincloth. “Ugh.” He seized at its ankles instead and sat back hard, trying to pull the creature away with all of his weight at least long enough for Ash to get away or Muu to… well, do whatever she’d done to send that first one flying.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

Unlike the first time, Matteo didn’t know what hit him. Well, it was a goblin, but he didn’t know why. One could draw a logical conclusion from seeing an arrow in one’s arm and an enemy standing nearby holding a bow. The same didn’t necessarily hold true for getting hit with a flying goblin when the only smoking gun was a prone girl who didn’t even speak at an audible volume half the time.

Regardless of how, by this point the nearsighted Thief was still working through his indecisiveness when the creature’s body hit him. And it was hard. He felt like he’d just been hit with a sack of potatoes. He wasn’t sure what hit him harder, the goblin or the shock. Or the club that the goblin proceeded to hit him with. By the time he got his bearings again, he was laying on his back in the leaf litter with the “local denizen” (as Mathers had called the creatures native to this area) about to choke the life out of him.

It was sure a good thing Matteo had learned to dislocate his bones in a tight spot, or the goblin’s hand around his neck would have—right, can’t exactly dislocate my way out of this one. He had a feeling his adversary was already working on separating his neck bones.

Dagger… Had he dropped it? Was it too much to hope it was still stuck in the goblin’s back from when he’d accidentally impaled a vital organ and that any second before Matteo passed out from lack of oxygen, the goblin would conveniently drop dead?

A little too late—as usual, when the necessity was literally crushing him—Matteo realized he should have been taking this seriously. Stay calm. There has to be something I can do— The river was too far, he’d never be able to roll himself and the goblin over there before he lost the battle for oxygen.

Gagging, head throbbing, arm bleeding, Matteo contorted his body wildly like a dying boa constrictor, scrabbling for traction with his boots to pry himself away. He just had to think of it like getting out of being tied up or one of the other insane exercises Seaweed had him do. Right? In sheer desperation, the youth hurled his weight to one side as quickly as he could, trying to catch the creature off balance and gain the upper hand.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

Happy to finish off the not-so-hungry Muu’s leftovers (like it or not) Matteo’s mood could only continue to improve. The conversation was all right too, even if it was mostly a cover. Speaking of which, what kind of guild was the “Blade Dancers?” Since he’d been prioritizing efficiency at the time, Matteo had only read about the basic guilds in the guidebook and lazily foregone anything else. It sounds quite illustrious. The young man frowned a little. Ignoring her stammering, he pressed her for a little more information. “If I may ask, how did you…”

There was a whistling sound and a thud. Matteo felt the shock of impact run through him and he looked down at his arm, where the shaft of an arrow was protruding.

Ah.

He crumpled. The pain hit in a wave that made him clench his teeth as Matteo hit the ground, curling up to make himself as small of a target as possible. “Shit.” Shock still reverberated from the impact, a dribble of blood leaking from the arrow in his arm. Without thinking about it, knowing implicitly not to remove the arrowhead, he snapped the shaft with his other hand, still greasy with rabbit juices.

The newbie Thief was almost numb as he watched the two goblins (exactly how he’d imagined them, strangely) emerge from the woods and splinter off, leaping at the two girls on either side of the fire. Because he was injured, a loser, or otherwise unremarkable, Matteo was ignored.

I wasn’t expecting this. Not an ambush—he hadn’t thought the goblins would come to them. Fumbling for the dagger Ash had given back to him, Matteo rose shakily to a crouch. His arm throbbed, but he forced his muscles into a smooth, painful sidestep, still low to the ground. There were no snapping twigs or loud footfalls—he approached as quietly as he could, praying for his training to work the way he expected.

When it came down to it, though, Matteo hesitated. Right behind the goblin attacking Muu, the boy suddenly felt unsure. Am I just supposed to stab it in the back? Jump on top of it, try to wrestle it down? Slash at its ankles? It was moving, so it wasn’t exactly easy to go for its critical points. I’ll just get as close as I can, then wait for an opening to get him off balance. Right. Yes… He crept closer, catstep by catstep, half-cradling his injury.

His left arm throbbed. His right hand was sweating as he gripped the dagger. Can I really do this?

Ultralight

Oh man I'm so sorry guys, I had a busy couple of weeks and didn't realize there'd been replies! Posted IC

Ultralight

"WEAUUGH.” It was something like a scream and something like the noise your rubber boot made when stepping on a cockroach. Short. Shrill. To the point. “There’s so much blood!” The light from his bungled flare hadn’t had the calming effect of revealing the entirety of the factory like he’d hoped in some twisted misunderstanding of reality. Instead, dark puddles of body fluids (from the monsters?! From Smoker? Who?!) gleamed like black ice from the cement floor.

Dempsey scuttled sideways like a beach crab, rifle still cocked over his shoulder. To his relief, Smoker’s voice crackled in over the speakers. Not only was he alive, he had instructions. The redhead nearly fainted from relief even as he was barking back “Joints! Soft! Gotit!” Armored bones?! He’d gotten a glimse of the tiny hole he’d shot in the last monster before it had gone down the stairs-- with enough precision, maybe even armored bones could be fractured at their weak points. Loosen the glue! Loosen the bolts! Loosen the shells!

The wild-eyed sniper peeked in through the door and caught a glimpse of Smoker, who’d evidently made his way back towards them. “Yes! Yesyes! I like the moltenmetalidea!” he fired off, jiggling his arm like he’d like to elbow the medic but was too nervous to accidentally set off the defibrillator or break the syringes strapped under her vest or something. “Howdowe break the…” He made a complicated, blurry gesture with his hands and waving fingers to indicate the vats and the chains. “Mechanism. Must be, somewhere. Raise, lower. Function, panel… lever...” Dempsey was muttering now, eyes flickering around the warehouse. Shooting bullets at the chain wouldn’t be enough. They needed to scout more, to press in, to put themselves in a position to move quickly.

A shrill whine building from behind his clamped teeth, Dempsey pressed inside, backing up against the conveyor belt for a little bit of cover as his eyes frantically roved around in search of some kind of mechanism. Like he was while he worked, he was consumed by the job. And with terror, of course, but that made him think clearer. Sometimes. Rifle still in hand, the sniper crept forward, hoping Smoker would alert him if the second monstrosity came too near or the first attacked again after its little tumble. If they were smart, they would stay away! But it was never that easy, was it?! The redhead’s teeth fought to chatter against his clenched jaw, kinetic energy building one more step as he slunk through the darkness.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

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.”

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

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.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

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.

Ultralight

@Burger I'm still here too! Ready when you are!

@Phantomlink959 Lmao! Asche didn't come off as an edgelord to me, it just seemed like you were really invested in the setting! Which is great, I'm just not as experienced in it so I tend to take a backseat til I get a feel for stuff.

@Fallenreaper Oh man, faves! I joined a D&D game where I rped a young swordsman-in-training who borrowed his teacher's swords without asking, then was kidnapped and sold into slavery. He lived at sea for three years then finally got free. When I started rp, he was looking for his teacher's lost swords. His worst flaw was that he totally lived in the moment, just couldn't understand that there were consequences for his actions (good or bad.) He actually was a legitimately good/selfless person, but he used that fact to justify bad things that happened to him as just being random. Like, he'd spontaneously just give his whole wallet to an orphan and later he'd fortuitously find some rare treasure, so it'd never came back around to haunt him. He was like a living incarnation of good karma. Super good/lucky dude, but he just couldn't get past his big mistake in the beginning. Totally in denial that being a slave had screwed him up.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

“...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.