Lobster Hunt: Myrn & Baulder
Sneezing at the ocean's cool breeze Myrn look around at the coast line. Nothing but rocks and water as far as the eye could see, but she was certain that once the sun came up there'll be more visibility. Myrn scratched the false mustache underneath her nose, surprised at how warm it is. Myrn shaped her own hat into having horns, feeling quite silly for wearing it, but during the boredom of waiting she figured she might as well enjoy it.
Baulder was half way through devouring one of the wheels of cheese that had been put in their wagon as provisions by the demon. It took him more than one bite to realize that the wax was not edible, the village people didn't have much cheese for some reason. If he could eat cheese indefinitely Baulder would most certainly not be dissatisfied. When he came around the wagon Baulder was met with a rush of salty and cool air that instantly dried his lips. The breeze almost knocked his pyramid shaped hat from his head. At first Baulder was entirely confused by the thin metal but he had enjoyed folding it over and over on the way here. Something about having it on his head made him feel safe. The "mustache" that had also been given them was much more confusing and Baulder ended up tying it to his wrist.
Licking his now dry lips Baulder with his mouth still half full of cheese walked over to the edge of the worn path and looked off the edge of the grassy area that dropped off into a short beach with white sand on it. The waves seemed to be particularly fierce at the moment even though there seemed to be no reason for it on this sunny day. He got a sudden craving for imp again, those tasty buggers were so close yet out of his reach. Licking his lips once again at the thought of imp he turned to the elf he had been paired with. "Ever had imp? Good flavor just a little tough.......I'm sure they aren't all like that maybe.You see any of those "lobsters" yet? They look like big tasty red things......if the demon wasn't lying to me anyways..."
"Never had an imp before. I did fight one however, and got a bit of blood in my mouth. It was bitter before it started to burn. I haven't seen any lobsters yet. I think we need to wait until the sun comes up, or maybe go diving for them." Myrn took out her sword and poked the water's edge. She watched the ripples form from her blade before getting swallowed by the ocean's gentle waves. Myrn was no stranger to swimming or underwater diving, but she couldn't say the same for Baulder. And she'd rather not go at it alone even if Baulder seemed a bit crazy.
"Are you any good at swimming?"Coming to the last few bites of his cheese wheel Baulder with his mouth still half full of delicious milk product, which we had only just before he left the village learned where milk came from turned to the pointy eared girl."What's swimming?" Baulder said with confusion. It was a word he had yet to hear or learn of. Maybe it involved climbing trees he though, he was good at that. The word took a moment to click after that. He couldn't remember if he could.....but the word what was it? He knew what it meant but he couldn't piece it together. "I can swim I think......I...I maybe? Lobsters on shore....yes we should just go forward. I think their are......maybe.." Baulder couldn't think and it gave him a headache for a moment. "Yes swimming is something....can do." Baulder brought his clawed hands to his eyes and rubbed them.
Nodding her head Myrn began to strip down to her undergarments. She didn't want to get her entire outfit wet after all. Folding it neatly into a pile away from the water Myrn unsheathed her sword and began to walk into the water. It was cold and made her shiver, but after standing in it for a few minutes her body was starting to get used to the temperature.
"C-c-cmon, lets hurry. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get back to the college. We only need to b-b-b-bring back one, but let's, find them first!" Sneezing at the chill, Myrn turned towards the ocean and walked onwards until the water was deep enough that she could start swimming. She had no problem swimming with her sword in her hand, and soon she was diving underwater to see if she could find any of these lobsters. She lost her hat and mustaches as she dived in, the only indicator that she was ever there.
Baulder watched as the elf stripped down which gave him a moments chuckle. He walked over to the wagon and took off everything save for his pants. He hoped up into the wagon at that point and looked for the weapon the demon had given him. He was having trouble finding the beck whatever thing as he began displacing crates of food and barrels in his search. When he picked up the empty barrel they were supposed to put the lobsters in he finally found his corbin thing or whatever the demon had called it. He threw one of the barrels on the ground beside the wagon and then the large pick. He then hoped out of the wagon then putting the barrel under one arm and the hammer in the other. Walking down to the shore He set the barrel down at the waters edge and grabbed the hammer and started swimming.
Quickly Baulder realized that swimming with a giant hammer was not a good idea as he began sinking into the cold salty water whilst awkwardly flailing his right hand which had the hammer. He then swam back to the shore and shoved the pointy end into the shore and used it to climb out of the water. Not wanting to leave his corbin he looked up and down the shore to see if there was anything else. Off to his right was several large rounded dark rocks which were breaking the waves. Looking back out at the hat and mustache bobbing up and down on the waves Baulder decided to go check out the rocks. As he got closer he began to hear snapping. Red deliciousness? He thought as he put the pick into both hands and began running on the sand towards the rocks. When he came near he spotted a small red blip on top of one of the closest rocks to him. He strained his voice to yell "Lobster!"
Myrn couldn't hear anything underwater. It was so cold she was considering going back to shore and starting a fire, but then she saw something scuttling on the bottom of the ocean floor. It was too dark to see from where she was at, but she guessed she could swing down and see it for herself. What she found wasn't a lobster but a dirty, brown colored crab. She knew it wasn't the thing Tyrael was looking for, but perhaps if this hunt didn't pan out she could at least bring back something. So she swam down and plucked the grab from the murky depths. Near somewhat solid ground she pushed herself towards the surface before she ran out of air. When she broke through the top she took a deep breath and raised the crab above her head.
"I f-f-f-found a crab!"Seeing Baulder standing over some rocks Myrn guessed that he found something. So she returned to shore still shivering from the cold water, gently putting the crab into the barrel. She ran towards Baulder with her sword in hand, wondering what he was doing.
"Did you find any lobsters?"Dropping the hammer in the sand Baulder lunged at the lobster on the rock. Before he could get it though a wave brushed up onto the rocks and carried it back into the water. This resulted in Baulder slamming his open hands into the rock and banging his knee on the large round rock. He grunted as he pushed himself off the rock and grabbed his first knee for a second and grimaced. He looked back at the rocks again for another red delicious. His eyes darting back and forth spotted a red mound among the gray slimy rocks. When he heard the elf in her undergarments ask if he found any he stuck his tongue out and nodded vigorously. He went back over to his pic in the sand and while grabbing it he pointed to where he saw the red curve that looked like a rock almost in itself.
Running with the long weapon in one hand he again dropped it but this time jumped on the red mound. He stretched his arms out wide as it seemed exactly that big and jumped on the lobster. Too his joy he actually "caught" this one. But something odd happened. His arms didn't go all the way around the lobster. His large arm span only covered about half the bulge. Confused Baulder looked at where the tail of the lobster should be. But it was really... really big. As Baulder began to scramble off the lobster he felt it begin to shift under him. he barely managed to dig is foot into the shell enough to kick himself off the lobster and onto the rocks. After landing on his back on the rocks and wincing he rolled himself off into the sandy shoreline. From that point he began scrambling for the pic whatever in the sand. He also began yelling out in an excited voice "Lobster!"
"That... I..." Myrn could only watch in shocked awe when Baulder somehow discovered a giant lobster. And not giant in relative to the size of lobsters; this thing was big enough to pull the wagon. Running up to Baulder Myrn held her sword in her combat stance. The lobster seemed angry as it turned towards her and Baulder. She felt excited, if also a bit nervous.
"Get ready! It's coming after us!"The lobster moved forward with startling speed and tried to grab Myrn and Baulder in each of it's massive pincers. Myrn stepped back and tried to stab it between the chinks in it's shell, but it moved quickly and her blade bounced off it's armored carapace.
Baulder stuck out his tongue as he began to swing his hammer down at the charging lobster. Though he was not quite expecting the speed at which the claws came at him. Lucky for him though the hammer landed on the pivot point of the lobsters hand claw. While being grabbed would have certainly killed him the beast instead reared back with its claw almost as fast as it had advanced. The crunching sound as the hammer made impact was quite satisfying to Baulder.
Hitting the lobster dead on wasn't going to work. Like many armored opponents, Myrn would have to have precise aim with her Dar'Misaan. Stabs at the fold, cutting through the fleshy bits, or hitting it in it's eye. Easier said than done. Her best bet if she wanted to get a good hit on the crab was to flank it; either she or Baulder would be able to attack it's weak point for massive damage. Myrn said as much.
"Baulder! One of us has to distract it so we can attack it's weak point for massive damage!" Giving some experimental jabs at different parts of the lobster Myrn was doing what she could to get the lobster to divide it's attention. While Baulder had a superior weapon when it comes to fighting armored enemies, Myrn was certain that if she could find it's weak point she could kill it in one blow.
Snarling and grinning devilishly ear to ear Baulder then flipped his hammer over to the spike side. He swung it as hard as he could from the left as the lobster swung its claw left. Baulders bec found it's mark in the side of the lobster and cracked into the broadside of the lobster. For a moment the lobster let out a sort of wet growl before it's claw knocked him to the side. This sent Baulder flying but luckily he gripped his weapon so tightly it forced it to twist the spike into the lobsters fleshy interior before Baulder finally came at the right angle that the weapon ripped itself out of the beast doing yet more damage.
Baulder landed in the sand on his side with his arms outstretched and his hands hurting from holding the weapon so tightly. He began getting up as he felt a searing pain in his side maybe because he broke something. this just served to make Baulders face hurt from how hard he was grinning. This was fun. He pulled the weapon out of the sand and managed to throw himself into another left sided swing with the hammer side. This again garnered the lobsters attention unto himself.
Baulder managed to land a critical blow against the lobster, distracting it from Myrn. Though she had to dodge it's tail swipe, Myrn danced around the lobster's attack and moved in closer. She had no idea how lobster anatomy worked, but she was certain if she could pierce the heart or brain, it would kill the beast. Now she just needed to figure out where it was. All she could tell from her position underneath the lobster was a lot of limbs and legs. Nothing at all that indicated a chest or a neck. Best she could guess was to find a fold or chink she could stab, and when she did she jumped off a rock to get to it. She aimed at what she guessed was it's chin or it's equivalent. With it fighting Baulder it would have never seen her coming, impaling her sword through it. But it didn't kill it immediately. It gurgled in pain and started shaking Myrn. She had to lodge her sword into it' further so she doesn't get thrown off into the sand or worse, dashed against the rocks not too far away.
"Kill it before it goes underwater!""Your meat is mine!" Baulder grunted out as he swung his hammer from the right side into it's many legs. He heard a satisfying crunch as two of the lobsters legs cracked in half and began dangling from it's side. The beast let out another disgusting gurgling sound as it shifted it's weight to it's right legs and stopped being able to shake Myrn. He brought his hammer back again with a wild look in his eyes and swung again just as hard at the remaining two legs. He took the front legs complexly off which then spitted some of it's blue blood on Baulder. The lobster attempted to pivot off it's remaining leg and bring it's left claw around to hit him. But once again Baulder flipped the hammer to the spiked end and brought it down where the lobster's claw connected to it's body. The blow pierced deep into the lobsters arm causing only what Baulder could imagine was incredible pain. Grinning ear to ear he raised the spike again but only half as high and hit the joint. He did this again and again and again until the limb came off with one more swing. The claw collapsed sloppily to the ground still hanging on to the body of the lobster by some thing he could only guess was a tendon.
The animal let out another gurgle but this one was much more depressed than the earlier ones. Panting Baulder flipped back over to the hammer and grabbed the weapon by the bottom allowing for maximum leverage. He cracked the final leg off in another swoop and then shifted his attack to the top of the now falling over lobster. He began swinging wildly at the side of the creature as Myrn fell off of it. He kept hitting the beast in the top of it's shell over and over, covering his face and body is blue spray as the lobster made various dying noises. Even when the creature stopped making noises Baulder kept swinging at the side of the beast, causing it's once hard shell to splinter and turn into shrapnel that he kept pushing deeper and deeper into the dead beast. With one final blow he sent more blood splattering all over himself and the area around him before he fell over with the hammer still lodged into the beast. Baulder had become extremely light headed and was on the verge of blacking out when his vision began to darken to a narrow tunnel. He fell face first into the sand teeth clenched hard and growling against the darkness. He could feel the sharp pain in his chest and guessed something was broken. He couldn't say or do anything about it thought as he laid on the ground fighting the urge to go to sleep. He just grunted in an attempt to say anything and looked out at the rolling waves of the ocean.
He was tired... so very tired.
It seemed like Baulder was having the time of his life killing the giant lobster. While she managed to get a few stabs in before falling, she left the act of killing to Baulder. However he used up a lot of energy beating the dead thing and soon collapsed.
"Baulder?" Myrn moved closer, noting a bruise on his chest. The lobster must have broken a rib of something. Sighing Myrn dragged Baulder back to the wagon and did her best to administer a bit of first aid. But the best she could really do with their limited supply was apply some bandages on his body.
After patching up Baulder Myrn went back to where they found the lobster and noticed quite a bit of smaller, less deadly variations. Taking advantage of the find Myrn went down and scooped some up before they all fled, taking a total of five. She returned to the wagon and loaded the lobsters into the salt-water barrel, then looked back at Baulder.
"You think you can make it back to the college?""Better question...will the lobsters make it?" Baulder said as he climbed up into the drivers seat. While he was sitting down he started laughing again but was swiftly met with stabbing pain in his chest. He quickly doubled over and gritted his teeth. Though his laugh became limited to an almost yelping noise he managed to keep his smile up. Then he started coughing up blood and quickly moved his hand to his mouth to keep the blood off his already lobster blood soaked clothes. When the coughing subsided he smiled with blood on his teeth and looked back over to the elf. In a strained voice he managed to string out a sentence. "What...should I tell the demon? I feel like he might eat me." Baulder coughed out a stifled laugh.
"Um... I'm not sure... Well, how about I talk to him then? As soon as we get to the college we need to take you to the infirmary first. I'll deal with the demon." Demons didn't scare Myrn. At first they were quite frightening, and the idea of fighting an opponent who can never really die seemed horrifying. But they also proved to be very easy to kill, and soon enough she just treated them like any other opponent. And while the demon teacher might be a tougher one then the usual pest Myrn fights she was certain that he wasn't soon foolish to attack Myrn without provocation.
"Besides, I'm sure you're quite a treat." With a gravely laugh Baulder looked at the strange lady. He gave out another smile and said "Well, his demons taste good." He started laughing again but quickly blacked out slumping back into the wagon. Myrn tried to awaken him but to no avail. She decided it was probably best to get back to the college quickly. There was a storm brewing, and she didn't want to get caught in it before they arrived at the college.
