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#Post#: 211--------------------------------------------------
Out for a Thief's Stroll
By: Scrant Date: October 24, 2019, 4:50 pm
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Scrant heads off for the Land of Earth after receiving intel
about increased merchant activity in the area. According to her
informant, sales of ore was up and many potential entrepreneurs
were attempting to cash in. Scrant knew that with every sudden
boom came a number of inexperienced travelers. It'd make the
perfect score. She twirls her knife around in her hand,
whistling as she walks. She spots a sign warning of wolves in
the forest, but that gives her an idea. She could save time
pretty easily by cutting through the forest, rather than taking
the main road. It would save her from any wandering shinobi
patrols, as well. With her scarred up appearance, lack of a
headband, and missing arm, she figured she had the appearance of
a suspicious character. Not to mention that the rumors of the
'Bandit Prince Scrant' existed. They weren't the most talked
about, but certain merchant groups would have her name and
description. Regardless of the underlying reason, she felt that
taking the forest route would be the most efficient.
Her forest detour continues uninhibited for a while. She lived
in the forests of the Land of Fire her entire life, so
navigating the thick shrubbery was second nature to her. She
wasn't in a considerable rush, so she jogs leisurely through the
sea of green, careful where she landed her feet. Her best
attempt at being vigilant does her little good, however, as she
steps upon a rather conspicuous pile of fallen leaves. Regret
strikes her immediately as she starts to sink into the ground.
"Damn oldest trick in the book... Ain't even time for the leaves
to drop yet!"
Cursing her lack of awareness, loudly and crudely, she's quick
to react. The trap she had stepped on was a simple pitfall, with
a net draped over a deep hole, lined with wooden spikes and
covered in leaves. Her first clue, that she had already noticed,
was that so many leaves shouldn't be collected together on the
ground yet. They were put there intentionally. Luckily, she had
experience. She had been caught in enough of Sinna's traps to
know how to escape something as basic as this. Jumping would
only seal her fate, which would be the logical first instinct.
Instead, she draws her knife, leaning forward and letting
gravity drop her towards the edge of the hole. Reaching over it,
she jabs her weapon into the solid ground, then, using her
forearm to steady herself, she curls the rest of her body into a
ball, lifting herself out of the rapidly closing net. As it
drops harmlessly to the spike-filled ground, she uncurls
herself, jamming her legs into the wall of the hole and quickly
scrambling out before her knife loses its hold. Panting quietly,
she reseathes her knife, getting slowly to her feet.
"Beaks oughta know it'll take more than that to take me out."
She spits in the hole, her act of defiance towards the nameless
one who set the trap. Proud of her victory, she continues on her
way, only to feel her foot sinking yet again.
"You gotta be tossin' me."
Even more prepared this time than the previous, she's careful
not to step out into the center of the new trap. It wouldn't
actually activate until she hit the spot that wouuld cause the
net to drop. She steps back onto solid ground, finding that she
had a rather small amount of space to move, with the other trap
behind her.
"Can only assume the sides 'ave the same whatsits on 'em."
As her first order of business, she crouches down, using her
knife to cut the net on the new trap. With a few of the strands
holding it to the sides of the hole gone, it drops into the
hole, taking the leaf cover with it. It was a pretty big jump to
get over it. She figured she'd be able to if she had a running
start, but with the other hole just behind her and the
assumption that there were more traps on either side, she looks
around for another option. Luckily, her salvation came by the
way of a tree with braches hanging over head. One of those
braches happened to be extended directly over top of the new
hole she was face with.
"Bah, this'll take a gentle touch, it will. Not a problem,
right? You can do this with your eyes closed, Scrant."
She gives herself a quick pep talk, bending her knees up and
down in preparation for the dangerous jump she'd have to make.
Taking half a step forward and allowing the tip of her toe to go
over the edge of the pit, she kicking off the edge, reaching out
her arm to grip onto the branch. She manages to latch onto it.
She swings forwward with a loose grip, letting go and launching
herself over to the other side in a manner akin to a trapeze
artist. She lands neatly on the other end, sticking it
initially, but stumbling a moment after due to the momentum she
had built up. As she comees to a full stop, she thanks her lucky
stars that there hadn't been a third trap. She sighs in relief,
figuring that the rest of her journey would be a walk in the
park. That is, until she heard rustling come from the nearby
bushes.
"What'd that sign say again...?"
She recalls the sign warning of wolves, suddenly realizing what
the traps were probably for. She once again curses her
misfortune.
#Post#: 217--------------------------------------------------
Re: Out for a Thief's Stroll
By: Scrant Date: October 25, 2019, 11:35 am
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Scrant redraws her knife, holding it in a backfisted grip in
front of her. She catches sight of the approaching wolf. It's
dingy, though beautiful grey coat comes into view slowly,
creeping out from the surrounding trees.
Wolf stats
HP: 11
STR: 12 (+1)
DEX: 15 (+2)
CON: 12 (+1)
INT: 3 (-4)
WIS: 12 (+1)
CHA: 6 (-2)
Scrant is initially surprised by the sheer size of it, but holds
her ground. She bares her teeth in an attempt at intimidation.
{Intimidation 9 v 21}
"Come on, then! Come at me!"
She shouts loudly, expecting it to grow cautious or at the
least, stop and assess the situation. Unfortunately for her, her
yelling just makes it angrier. It starts to charge at her.
Scrant doesn't move from her spot. She figures that she could
fool it into running into the hole if she could manage to dodge
its opening attack.
{1}
The wolf lunges for her, blind with fury. Scrant easily
sidesteps the telegraphed attack, swiveling around to face it.
The beast lands on the ground and slides to at stop just on the
edge of the pitfall Scrant had previously avoided. It had
noticed the pitfall and didn't fall straight in, but it was
close.
{6 v 4; Wolf HP: 6/11}
Scrant quickly slams her shoulder forward in a firm tackle,
shoving the wolf into the pitfall trap. It was a weak tackle,
due to Scrant's average musculature, but the wolf, being on
unsteady ground, is unable to resist. The unfortunate creature
drops into the hole barely managing to avoid getting skewered by
the wooden stakes below.
Scrant wipes her brow with the back of her hand.
"Guess even I can get a lucky break sometimes."
{Acrobatics 14}
She glances down into the hole at the struggling wolf. It leaps
free of the hole with surprisingly little difficulty, glaring at
Scrant with an even angrier look in its eyes.
"Or not..."
Scrant prepares to continue the fight.
#Post#: 218--------------------------------------------------
Re: Out for a Thief's Stroll
By: Scrant Date: October 25, 2019, 12:17 pm
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{10}
The wolf lunges at Scrant as it jumps out of the hole. Scrant
sidesteps out of the way. The wolf, having been fooled once
already, doesn't keep its back to the hole, strafing around
Scrant to prevent her from pushing it in again.
{7}
Scrant attempts a counterattack by kicking wildly at the wolf,
hopping back after her attack misses.
{13v19}
The wolf lunges forward, not giving Scrant a moment to recover.
It snaps his jaws at her, but Scrant narrowly manages to dodge
the attack, but she's thrown off balance by the ferocity of its
advance. She stumbles back, crashing into the ground in a
sitting position.
{18v13; Wolf HP: 0/11}
Scrant makes a desperate horizontal slash with her knife as the
Wolf charges over her. The wolf's body collapses on top of her.
She lets out a shout, shoving at it with her forearm and
struggling beneath it, until she realized that there weren't any
teeth biting into her throat. Her last ditch attack had cut
directly across the creature's throat, leaving it bloodied and
very much dead. Groaning, Scrant turns herself over, pushing the
fallen wolf off of her. She gets up to her feet, dusting herelf
off and attempting to get off some of the blood before it
stained her clothing.
#Post#: 220--------------------------------------------------
Re: Out for a Thief's Stroll
By: Scrant Date: October 25, 2019, 2:43 pm
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Scrant continues on her way for a few hours without getting into
any further trouble. She makes it a decent distance, but the sun
eventually falls and she decides that she should set up camp.
She finds a nice sturdy tree with thick, hanging branches and
decides to make it her nest for the night. She leaps as high as
she can manage, placing her foot against the tree. Kicking off
of it, she reaches up and locks her grip around the lowest
branch. Walking up the tree while maintaining her grip, she
pulls herself up onto the branch. She climbs up from there in a
similar fashion, making her way up into the canopy. Using the
leaves as cover, she settles down on a sturdy branch, resting
her back against the trunk. She wouldn't need sleep, but it'd be
nice to take a break, she thought.
"Night, Scrant."
#Post#: 221--------------------------------------------------
Re: Out for a Thief's Stroll
By: Maiku Date: October 25, 2019, 2:45 pm
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Camping: While sleeping, the traveller can hear the crackle of a
fire and the looming smell of pork in the air. The scent is
thick with seasoning and no further than 40 yards. It’s a camp
of bandits kicking back after a long day. 4 of them. They seem
to not have noticed your camp at all.
Travel: You encounter a Pony
Ac: 10, 2d8+2 hp, 40 speed
15 str, 10 dex, 13 con, 2 int, 11 wis, 7 cha
Hooves: +4 to attack, 2d4+2 damage
25 exp
Travel: The wind in the area is taken to the ground, pushing all
in the area with its weight. The trees part with the gust
swinging through the forest. From the sky, the suns light starts
to dim until an eclipse is overhead.
Large, black, webbed wings, a beak sharp enough to carve an
essay in to a mountainside. Eyes with a stinging red that
pierced the souls of the forest critters so much that they flee
to whatever hole they can find.
It speaks, or rather, it kaws like a crow, though it’s whole
body could claim a mountaintop to make it its nest.
Magnificent and large, the black crow, vulture, undead seeming
creature flew overhead towards the land of wind.
#Post#: 222--------------------------------------------------
Re: Out for a Thief's Stroll
By: Scrant Date: October 25, 2019, 4:30 pm
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Scrant hears the sounds from the other bandits' campsite, but
ultimately decides not to bother with them, finishing up her
resting before moving on with her trip. As day breaks, she drops
back down from her tree in the same manner in which she climbed
up, a branch at a time until she reaches the bottom. She
continues on her way, finally reaching the first signs of the
Land of Earth. As she travels across the rocky plain, dotted by
trees and craggy peaks, she begins to hear a clattering noise in
the distance. It draws closer and closer with every passing
second until she finally sees what was the source of all the
noise. A horse was charging full speed towards her. It didn't
seem to have a rider, but it was certainly heading right for
her. She figured it would break off and head in a different
direction, but it just kept coming towards her. Realizing that
she was most certainly its target, she breaks into a run. The
beast gives chase, thundering hooves slamming into the ground as
it chases her down.
"Butter rum... If it ain't one thing, it's another. Back off,
damn horse!"
Her yelling does nothing to deter the determined equine. It
gains on her more and more by the second. Just as it starts to
get really close, Scrant slides to a stop, turning to face it
down.
Pony Stats
HP: 12
Str: 15
Dex: 10
Con: 13
Int: 2
Wis: 11
Cha: 7
{6}
Scrant ducks low to the ground, then springs off of it,
extending her knife and slicing at the bottom of the horse's
legs. The creature easily jumps over her. Scrant somersaults to
a stop, landing in a crouched position.
{22v17; Scrant HP: 1/10}
Scrant finds herself seeing stars as the horse kicks back at her
with both hooves, clobbering her in the back of her head and
leaving her dazed. She struggles to hang on to her
consciousness, rolling forward a few feet, before jumping to her
feet. Her head was sinning, but she couldn't rest, due to the
horse turning to attack her again.
{4}
She runs full speed away from it, clear up the trunk of a tree.
Leaping off of the trunk, she latches onto a branch and pulls
herself up. Perched on top of the tree, she readies her knife
and tosses it at the approaching horse. It flies wide, missing
the horse by a large margin. The enraged horse stops underneath
the tree. Unable to climb and unable to reach Scrant, it turns
around and starts to pound on the tree wiith its rear hooves.
Each strike causes the tree to shake wildly, threatening to
shake Scrant loose.
"Calm down! Calm down! Ain't planned on dying here to no damn
horse."
Steadying herself against he trunk of the shaking tree, Scrant
places a hand on the back of her head. She was bleeding quite a
bit from where the horse kicked her. She was convinced that she
had brain damage. Her vision still hadn't cleared up. Holding
onto the tree was taking all of her willpower.
{Acrobatics 12 vs 10DC; Charisma 9 vs 20DC}
The horse continues beating against the tree as Scrant does her
best to hang on. Her attempts to calm the horse fall on deaf
ears. The vicious thing continues to screech, kicking the tree
to make Scrant fall.
{Acrobatics 23 vs 15DC}
Scrant, realizing that she wouldn't win in a battle of
attrition, lines herself up with the horse, leaping down to land
gracefully on its back. Caught in an untoward postition, the
pony panics, starting to run straight ahead.
{18; Pony HP: 10/11}
Scrant begins punching the horse in the side of its head as it
runs, gripping onto its sides with her legs. She wasn't very
strong without her weapon, so the damage was minimal.
{Acrobatics 19 vs DC12; Charisma 6 vs DC18}
The horse starts to tire as Scrant maintains her position on its
back. Scrant continues trying to calm the creature down,
whispering at it as she pounds it in the side of the head. It's
ineffectual.
{14; Horse HP: 9/11}
Scrant continues hitting the horse, slowly whittling its stamina
down with the constant hits while she rides it.
{Acrobatics 13 vs DC10; Charisma 15 vs DC16}
The pony continues running as fast as it can manage to throw
Scrant off, but she manages to hold fast. Her continued attempt
to calm the horse start to wear it down, but it wasn't stopping.
It grows more tired, however.
{10}
Scrant slams her elbow down on the tp of the horse's head. She
manages to hit an especially hard part of its skull, doing no
harm to it at all.
{Acrobatics 17 vs DC8; Charisma 13 vs DC14}
The horse starts to slow, it was getting exceptionally tired
from running with Scrant on its back. It wouldn't last much
longer at this rate. It was still too angry to stop, however.
{7}
Scrant waas starting to get tired as well. Her punch bouces
right off of the horse's hide.
{Acrobatics 11 vs DC6; Charisma 17 vs DC12}
Scrant stops beating the horse as it slows further, stroking its
head instead. It gradually comes to a stop. Scrant continues
petting it.
"That's right. Calm down. It's alright. I ain't mad. Just relax.
Relax."
She speaks in as soothing of a tone as she could manage. The
horse snorts, shaking its head around, then settles down. Scrant
swings her legs over onto one side. Bracing herself by placing
her hand on the horse's back, she drops off of it. Walking
around to its face, she rubs it some more. Figuring that it had
fully calmed down, she pats it on the neck, then lets it go off
on its own. Injured, annoyed, and missing her knife, Scrant
decides to camp in another tree for a while.
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