Unexpected Arrival ( OPEN )

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The Forever Forest was a welcoming sight to behold to the caravan that had approached the forest's thickening tree line from the mountains. The Heaven's Pass proved to be a worthy challenge along the journey over Palico's borders and the beasts and un-expected ambush of Helena's 'brainwashed' assassins that patrolled the border to Nova's Kingdom. So now the Forever Forest would be their next challenge towards the city, a challenge the caravan's leader did not seem to hesitate to continue forth into the lush, dark forest. The entire the group of ten visible soldiers walked along two large supply carts with a small carriage in-between-it's passengers being sheltered from view by thick heavy purple curtains, while the supply carts were tasseled down with heavy hemp ropes and leather tarps to keep the content of what was inside hidden from view.

The solders were dressed in dark iron armor and carried spears on saddled horses garbed in maroon and orange sashes clearly displaying the TerraFell colors, while offering protection to the horses from the undergrowth of the forest along the road. A nuisance which slowed the caravan's travel time by half until finally reaching a more maintained section of the forest. By then, it was beginning to become night fall, the light of the afternoon sun turning the sky a beautiful watercolor of reds, purples, oranges, yellows and blues-all hard to see through leafy branches or from the carriage's interior.

"Your Grace, we are setting camp here for the night. Do you wish to stretch your legs?" A solder asked, approaching the carriage and dismounting. He reached for the handle and opened the door, stepping aside to allow the passenger within to exit the carriage. Slowly emerging from within the dark interior of the carriage, a fully armored humanoid stepped out into the dusk light. The armor, a dark steel gray and vibrant red trim-designs embroidered within the chest, legs, helm and gloves. A beautifully crafted piece that sported a feminine, yet demanding feel to it. With a deep maroon cloak to match, held up by clasps attached to the armor, dragged along behind her heels as she stepped further from the carriage and into the camp site by the road and steadily moving stream.

One month and two days it had been since this Journey had begun; exactly One month of traveling just to get this far into Nova's territory. The fully armored figure watched as the rest of the caravan began to dismount and set up for the night to come. The figure watched in silence as three female servants dressed in gray robes exited out of the carriage and began prepping the area around the supply carts. One servant built a large cooking fire while the second servant brought out fresh produce to begin preparing for supper. The third and final servant took out some large pillows and rugs from the first supply cart. The third servant laying out the rugs next to the fire and stream. A perfect shaded area for relaxation while food was being prepared on and next to the fire. The armor figure moved to the resting location provided by the servants and settled down onto the rugs and pillows.

" Well this is boring…" were words mumbled and audibly drowned out from under the decorative helm.

[Deleted]

Séanait wasn't sure exactly what her feelings for Claire were, nor if they were a good thing. Since Gallows Bane seemed safe enough and there weren't any big plans in the works just yet, so she'd used the time to come out into the Forever Forest to hunt. It might seem foolish to some people and, in truth, it probably was, but Séanait had every faith in her skill with a bow to keep herself safe.

So far, Séanait had been several days in the forest, catching the odd rabbit or doing a bit of fishing and trying to live off the land as much as possible. So far she hadn't gone hungry, although she'd had to dip into the supplies she had brought with her once or twice. Today, though, she intended to have deer for dinner.

She'd first spotted the pack of wild deer just after noon and had stalked them for a while, before setting herself up in a hide to wait until dusk, when the deer would be most active. She'd sat there for the rest of the afternoon, letting her thoughts drift and feeling more at peace with the world than she had in a long time. The forest was just so peaceful.

As dusk approached, Séanait slowly and carefully strung her bow and notched an arrow to the string, holding a spare arrow along with the bow in her left hand. She was just deciding which member of the herd to choose when the forest went silent. The deer all sat up, tails raised and ears swiveling and began to run. Séanait, not being an idiot, prepared to leave as well when a large creature leaped out form the undergrowth and took down a deer.

Séanait's breath caught in her throat as she recognised the creature; it was a manticore, a very, very dangerous enemy. She began to slowly move away, careful not to let her bow or arrow bag catch on the undergrowth, but something about her must have alerted the beast, because it suddenly looked up at her and roared.

What happened next was purely instinctual. Séanait drew back her bow and loosed her first arrow straight at the manticore's eye. As the first arrow impacted, she was already fitting the second arrow to her string and drawing. The manticore raised up its head and roared, just as Séanait tried to put an arrow into its heart. The creature moved at just the wrong instant and the arrow missed the heart by a hair's breadth. As the manticore's tail came up, Séanait realised that she was screwed if she stayed, so she turned tail and ran, just as a few spikes thudded into the tree where she had been seconds before.

Running, Séanait fumbled with her arrow bag for another arrow and tried to find the densest undergrowth she could, in the hope that it would slow the manticore down more than it would her. Behind her, she could hear the manticore give another pained roar and then come tearing through the underbrush towards her.

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" Your grace, dinner is almost ready. Would you like to eat your meal in the carriage or out here under lantern light? " A female servant informed the armored master, Her head titling with a smile at the slow response from the sluggish child she served. " I will take my meal here. Fetch the fine gossamer nets so that the insects do not ruin your hard work." A delicate female tone commanded the servant to perform; each word carrying a sharp bite to it like a seasoned warrior.

The servant woman smiled in delight as she bowed and left to attend to the orders. Meanwhile, the guards that were on watch were beginning to get bored and anxious. However, they dared not leave their post slouching at attention instead. The power of boredom can play tricks on ones eyes, Or at least that is what the TerraFell natives believe. While taking a break from duty to take a leak, one of the guards had caught sight of someone running off in the distance through the woods. The poor lad blinked for a moment, not sure if he was delirious from their day of travel was conflicted by the sight of the person running as though the Zeapon himself was chasing him.

The man blinked once more, his stream coming to an abrupt stop as the sight of the manticore following shortly behind that poor, poor sod. The horror clear as day on the soldiers face as the color of his flesh left him. No longer did he need to continue to relieve himself. With a quick clean up, he hastily alerts the servant girls and the caravan leader of the sighting of the manticore. The tension at the camp quickly becoming more tense. The guards becoming more alert and pulling back and dismounting off their steeds.

The armored warrior in black and red listening in on any information that was given by those who had approached the Caravan Leader sitting near the first supply cart wheel. So the noise that was heard was a manticore? The thought of one so close to camp was disturbing enough, but even more so that no one was offering assistance to help save the person that was being 'hunted' by the beast.

Another roar was heard this time closer to the camp and this time the armored figure could see something moving off in the dim silhouette of the forest's undergrowth. " Well?! Don't just stand there and watch." The Armored humanoid commanded while jumping up to its feet. The guards standing close shocked at the command obeyed and quickly prepared for combat. Four guards armed with bows watched the tree trunk line for movement in the dim light. The manticore still in view as they traveled behind it quietly in order to make a clean shot from behind. All four steel tipped arrows shot out from the bows if full force from behind in a fan direction inwards. Even if the arrows didn't make direct contact, at least now who ever the beast was chasing would have a chance at running to safety.

[Sakai Nagamasa]

Nagamasa sighed as he sat against the trunk of a tree to relax, his sword leaning against his shoulder. His legs were killing him from all the walking he had to do today. His coin purse was feeling a little light, with no bandits for him to kill as of late...or the bandits he DID kill on his own had no money. He had tried his luck at hunting, but he was having very ill luck in that regard as well. It was very unusual to him, to. He had not been in Nova long, and was not fully acquainted with the landscape, but he did know this particular part of the forest, and there was normally game here for him to kill. Yet today, there wasn't even a rabbit. His solitary eye scanned the trees and landscape with concern. In his experience, no wildlife meant one of two things; the first was that there was a large convoy nearby, possibly even an army on the warpath. The second as that there was an alpha predator in the area, and they wanted the HELL out of it's way. Nagamasa grinned a little. He HOPED it was the second one. He could only imagine the thrill he would get from the kill, and back home, the glory he'd get from bringing back some kind of trophy as proof of the deed. His thought was interrupted by a roar, not far from where he was resting. His smile got much wider, and he spoke to himself in his native language.



"<About time something interesting happened today.">



Getting up quickly, he made sure his daikyu longbow was properly slung across his shoulder before he break out running toward the source of the noise, his sword firmly grasped by the handle. He was a blur of red motion as he moved, fairly quick despite his armor, and he pushed aside branches with his arms, hacking away at those that did not seem like they would budge. His blood rushed as he felt adrenaline pump through his veins at the eager thought of the kill. It did not take him long to come to the scene; a manticore was poised to strike a hunter, who was fervently yet skillfully dodging. He could not help but feel impressed as he plunged his sword in the ground point first and unslung the bow from his shoulder. Any hunter with just a blow holding their own deserved his respect. He also noticed the other archers, presumably soldiers in a convoy, rushing up to take him. He almost laughed as he started drawing his arrow, already gauging the target with his eye. He spoke in his language again as he brought his bow asymmetrical to his body.



"<You retards take too long to aim. The arrow knows the way!">



Having gauged his target already, he notched the bow with the arrow, drawing breath as he pulled back on the bowstring. Once it reached full taught, he released the arrow with an exhale of breath, and the arrow whistled through the air, aimed straight for the manticore's remaining eye. He didn't wait to see if his arrow hit, or if the other archers had loosed their volley. He dropped the bow and reached for his sword, pulling it out and charging straight at the creature with a yell, his steel flashing ominously as he got between the hunter and the beast. His knees were bent as he prepared to circle the beast, the large blade gripped in both hands in a side stance, it's six feet of menacing length poised to strike. Without turning to the hunter, he spoke, this time in Novian.



"Either flank it, or get out of my way!"

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Séanait ran left and right, through brambles, up hill and down gullies, but she just couldn't shake the damn creature, nor put enough distance between it and her for her bow to be useful. Her trousers were all ripped and bloody from where brambles had torn at them, and it was only the leather facing on her aketon that prevented the same from happening to Séanait's upper half.

Just as the manitcore was catching up with an exhausted Séanait, she spotted what appeared to be a group of people through the trees. She angled towards them, figuring that anyone this deep in the Forever Forest would be armed and capable of using their weapons. As she came closer, Séanait saw a soldier staring at her open mouthed and pissing. Séanait headed right towards him, yelling "Manticore! Manticore!".

Something hit Séanait fair in the back and she stumbled, exhaustion and a root causing her to completely lose her balance and fall flat on her face. Knowing that the manticore would be right on her, she fumbled with her langseax, drawing the long dagger and turning to face the monster.

One arrow sped out of nowhere and took the creature in its remaining eye and it roared in pain, spraying spikes randomly at the slightest sound. Four more arrows came from over where Séanait had expected the other people to be and took the manticore between the ribs and along its flank. The wounds were lethal ones, but adrenaline kept the beast from passing out even as its heart was cut open by the cruel steel head of the arrows. It made one final charge, rushing at the man in the strange armour who had appeared from out of nowhere yelling at everyone to get out of his way.

Thoroughly winded, Séanait tried to keep from vomiting as she staggered on weak legs towards where the other set of arrows had come from. She didn't have the right equipment for fighting a monster like this and she wasn't in any fit state to do so anyway right now, so seeking shelter with other people seemed like a safe bet.

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The Archers watched in silence as the Manticore closed the gap between itself and the hunter; When the guards saw that their arrows had made their mark. The archers quickly reached over their shoulders to draw another arrow from their back holsters. Each guard halted in surprise at the sudden appearance of another person yelling towards them. The man’s ethics and skills were obvious but his tactics were very barbaric by recklessly charging head on. Eight pairs of eyes locked on the direction of where the other man had entered and began assisting the hunter by doing some heavy damage with a sword on the Manticore. Damage that the armored figure took notice. Meanwhile during the commotion the three female servants frantically rushed to retrieve something from their master’s carriage. When they returned they handed the armored warrior a rather large object wrapped in dragon hide leather.

The guards were standing ready, bows drawn and their sights focused past the hunter who was approaching them to possibly seek shelter from the beast. Their stance suggesting that they were ignoring what the man had shouted out to them; whatever he had said was clearly not recognizable enough for them to understand what he was saying in the first place. Instead they stood there, like stone statues waiting on a command. A command that would not come from their Red Armored leader that in the same moment had un-wrapped the leather material around the object to reveal a rather large, bastard sword of black and red metal to match the armor set.
The figure slung the sword over its shoulder, metal clanked against metal. The guards moved aside to let the armored warrior walk through, once the warrior had passed them they drew their bows and arrows to a full taught string.

“ Are you alright? “ The warrior asked the hunter, the gender of the voice muffled by the helm, but as the figure approached Seanait It didn’t stop. Instead the figure kept walking its pace quickening with each step. The manticore was in sight now and just a few feet ahead. The man that had done the majority of the damage to the beast suddenly decided to speak up in a language the armored warrior could understand. ‘ Flank it or get out of the way.’ As if running away was a choice for a Terrafell solider. So while the beast was distracted, the warrior circled around to where she was to the left of the beast, staring right at its back hind. A tsk came under the helm; possibly a laugh of amusement that had escape as the warrior took quick assessments of the creature’s current injuries. The pace now a sprint, a blur of red and black as the large sword was lifted off the shoulders and kept at sternum level. The sword held with both hands as the distance became closed between the warrior and the beast. “ NOW!”

Another set of arrows flew, zipping past Seanait and tree’s striking the paws and tail of the beast. The Manticore’s body now pinned to the forest floor and tail pinned up against a tree. No way of making its own strikes without causing more injury to itself. However, after the arrows had hit their target, so did the warrior. From behind the beasts shoulders, the warriors sword came down in full swing. The blade making contact and blood splattered out like a fan; The head and neck of the beast rolled off hitting the ground with a splat.
“ You are skilled with the blade and arrow, sorry if I took the fun of killing your beast. “ The warrior spoke, lowering its sword to show that itself and the convoy was no threat to them.

(( ha! Finally posted… Sorry for the long wait! Also let me know if I need to change anything! ))