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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 11, 2022 20:44:12 GMT -5
All the other jobs of guard duty and escort work were fine, but this was the kind of job Gerhart had been dying for. Something where he could make an impact on the world, make a difference for Moonglade. It was no secret the hold The Clasp had on this place. Gerhart had probably considered working for them at some point, there was a time he was desperate enough where any coin was good enough when you're starving and cold. Thankfully, he never got that desperate. Thankfully, he stumbled into Zarius who somehow decided not to kill him and actually helped him. Thankfully, a lot of things happened differently.
Gerhart had spent the past week or so doing a bit of scouting work for this mission. His knowledge of the area, tracking abilities, and minor knowledge of hiding made him perfect for this. He had heard The Clasp was getting more bold, so he was thankful to again have a the backup that he did......Well with it being Shaa it was more like Gerhart was the backup.
The young adventurer dropped from the trees and made a light jog out of the tree line to meet back up with the minotaur. "Definitely found a stronghold of theirs up ahead. Looks pretty well defended, but nothing we can't handle! They took over an old mining tunnel, typical two guards posted out front, but there's a one or two hidden up in the trees as well to be wary of. What do you think boss?"
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 11, 2022 22:36:18 GMT -5
Shaa couldn’t believe it. After searching for so long, this was the first real lead they had found to find his beloved mentor Athena after she had disappeared without a word. Shaa turned over a small trinket in his hand that he had obtained not too long ago. The trinket, belonging to Athena herself, was the only piece of her that he had left in the world. Well that, and a generations worth of battle knowledge and tactics that she had forcefully shoved into his horned head. He had almost begun to lose any hope of finding her…almost.
When the pieces of the puzzle started coming together, a shadow began to emerge. A shadow that coalesced itself into the shape of The Clasp. Shaa had a very….complicated relationship with the Clasp. He was actually quite infamous among their numbers for several recent indents with them that left several of their members limbless at best and lifeless at worst. Not to long ago, he and a friend had even ransacked one of their hideouts helping to expose the name of their dark leader. Needless to say, these guys had been nothing but a giant pain in Shaa’s bum. With the chance to find Athena so close, giving these jerks a black eye in the process was like a holiday miracle.
Shaa watched as Gerhart dropped down and gave him the run down. Good work. Mining tunnels are basically underground mazes, it’s like my playground. Shaa thinks about the situation a bit. We don’t want them to know we are coming, not yet. How would you feel about playing a little dress up?
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 12, 2022 14:49:07 GMT -5
“If we wanted to I’m sure we could find a old vent shaft and squeeze in the quiet way, but that doesn’t sound like the fun way.” He gave a small laugh and grin up to the Minotaur. “You thinking of knocking a few guards out and taking their clothes? I can probably take out the sniper in the tree if you think you can handle the two guys in the front.”
Gerhart showed off some of the wire he had, a nice makeshift garrote if need be. If Shaa was good with that plan, Gerhart was more than ready to go. It was hard to contain his excitement at being able to do a job like this. Seeing how serious Shaa looked did a lot to help him keep those nerves surpressed. He took in a slow breath, holding it a moment, before exhaling. Whatever Shaa decided as the next steps would be the move.
”Ready whenever you are boss.” He gave the Minotaur a firm nod, putting on a resolute face as they start to make their way through the woods. This was going to be a long night most likely but Gerhart was thankful to have the benefit of youth on his side.
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 12, 2022 15:40:06 GMT -5
Shaa gave a big grin. That’s right. I don’t want their leader taking off on us so, once we are in, no one is getting out unless we say so. The only tricky part is making sure we give them little to no notice. So here’s the plan. You go take out tree guy and steal his clothes. I will take out the two guards by the entrance. It’s not normally my style but I can be surprising when I need to be. Just meet me by the entrance when you have the uniform.
They had their jobs. Moving into position, Shaa saw the two guards, and a large alarm bell next to one of them. Running up to them would be too risky. He would have to take a different approach. Pulling some earth energy, Shaa disappears beneath the ground. Digging a tunnel like a giant gofer, he digs himself behind the guard with the alarm bell. As quietly as he can, he emerges from the ground. The guard doesn’t notice right away but his buddy does. The far guards eyes go wide as he points at Shaa and starts to stammer.
Ala..rm..Aa A ….. The bell guard turns, his brain not quite processing what is happening. Shaa snatches the guard by head and smacks him into the rock wall. The guards body goes limp in Shaa’s hand. The second guard wheels around a spear but not quite fast enough as Shaa throws his friend into his face. Shaa rushes over and solidly punches the second guard to make sure he’s out.
To finish off the job, he walks over to the alarm bell and yanks it brusquely from the post. Placing it between his muscled hands, he squeezes tight as the bell deforms flat in his hand. Well well, no more alarms for you guys. He tosses the broken bell to the ground with a flat and muffled “clunk” noise. Now it was up to Gerhart to take out tree guy.
Soil Surfing Bulls Strength
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 12, 2022 15:49:29 GMT -5
He waited until Shaa was underground before moving to climb up the trees. Gerhart moved a fair bit slower, not wanting his movements to rustle so many branches. One of these days he was going to have to swallow his pride and ask Zarius to teach him a few things. Best Friend/Arch Rival or not he knew a few things about being quiet that Gerhart didn’t.
Finally Gerhart found himself just behind the sniper, but how to take him out? There wasn’t exactly enough room to just jump over and strangle him. This was going to take a bit of maneuvering and thought. Maybe wire wasn’t the right answer, but rope could be. With a flash in inspiration, he ties a quick lasso and gets ready to toss it.
Gerhart throws the rope over the bandit. Just before he can get a read on what happened, Gerhart jumps down pulling the bandit off the branch with him. The force of knocking his face into the branch was enough to knock him out thankfully. The rest of the rope was used to tie him up, bandana stuffed into his mouth as a make shift gag in case he wakes up before they leave.
once more, Gerhart jogs out to meet Shaa after stealing the uniform and getting changed to go incognito. “Always amazed when a plan of mine works!”
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 13, 2022 10:51:38 GMT -5
Shaa gives Gerhart a high five. Nice work. Ok this is where it’s going to get tricky. I can see in the dark so caves and mines don’t bother me at all. Once we go in, I’m going to seal the entrance of the mine, just in case someone sneaks past us. You take this ( Shaa hands Gerhart a torch) and you go down and look for the big boss. I will be right behind you in the dark. Once we find him we… (Shaa does air quotes with his fingers) extract some information from him about Athena.
Shaa couldn’t believe that they were so close to getting some answers. He didn’t want to say anything to Gerhart but he had a very personal stake in this. If, for some reason this didn’t work out, he didn’t want Gerhart blaming himself for the failure. Shaa’s first priority was keeping him safe. Athena would pull his horns off and shove them up his nose if she found out he had risked a guild members safety for her. She was good like that. But Shaa wasn’t worried. Picking an underground maze for a hideout would be their undoing.
As the two entered the mine, Shaa cast a spell to create a wall over the entrance. It would be easy enough to remove when they were done. Now it was time for some answers. As a bit of last minute prep, Shaa pulled from his magic bag. uD2W54Re
Stone Wall Bag of Gifts- 7 - 8: Four-Sided Top This top, oddly enough, may be spun on any surface. Just throw it, and it will right itself regardless of the terrain. Each of the four sides will begin to fire out small, silver coins rapidly, creating a spinning trap which affects everyone in a radius around it.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 13, 2022 14:52:26 GMT -5
“So, we just keeping the boss man alive? All of them? Or is that too much thinking and we just gotta do what we can?” Gerhart took the torch and lit it then pulled a bandana up over his face. He wasn’t that notorious among bandits, but three scars on your face was a pretty definitive mark and he wasn’t going to take any chance of being recognized.
While a mine like this could be a maze for others, Gerharts tracking skills kept them from getting totally lost. There was enough movement in the tunnels that he could keep track of where people were usually walking and avoid dead ends. He kept quiet during the walk through the tunnels. He did have a few questions about why Shaa was keen on this job, he didn’t know anything about Athena. Though he’d never turn down the kind of back up a Minotaur provides.
Interrupting his train of thought is another guard on patrol. There’s a brief moment of surprise between them both.
“Shouldn’t you be out front?” The guard first asked.
”Change of guards, shifts done.” He responded.
”Not for another 15 minutes.”
”Oh come on, my wine skin is empty and nothings happening. No one is gonna come out here.”
The guard didn’t seem totally convinced, but walked past Gerhart after shoulder checking him. Gerhart let the man pass, Shaa could quietly end him in the shadows.
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 13, 2022 15:25:37 GMT -5
What the… THUMP . Shaa drug the unconscious body of the man off into a side tunnel. Serves him right for bad employee management hehehe. Shaa snuck a bit closer to Gerhart so he could whisper. Yeah we don’t know where this guy is or what he looks like so we don’t need these guys on guard until we can figure it out. Once we find him, all bets are off. But, let’s try to keep the body count to a minimum if we can. They are just idiots after all.
It felt as if they had been walking around for awhile. As far as they could see, no alarms or alerted troops so that was a good sign. The most concerning thing that they had come upon were some sort of animal noises coming from the corridor. It was too echoy to tell what kind of animal or animals it was. Whatever it was, it sounded big and angry. Best to avoid any big fights just now.
Going down one of the better lit passages, they came upon a large door with guards on the outside of it. I bet this is the place. You don’t put guards out like that to guard piles of dirt. Hmmmm. Shaa looked at the guards and thought about the best way to get rid of them. Then he smiled. Shaa handed to top to Gerhart. Why don’t you walk over there and give our buddies a present?
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 13, 2022 22:39:26 GMT -5
"But what if it's an especially nice pile of dirt? Maybe the boss is some kind of wereboar who likes fancy dirt?" He gives a little smile, holding the laugh to not draw attention. An eyebrow was raised as he was handed a top, rolling it over in his hands. A top? Odd choice he thought, but so far in the [insert amount of time here] he's known Shaa he's never been steered wrong.
He takes the top and rounds the corner giving a brief nod to the guards at the door. Gerhart gets a few steps around the corner before taking the top in hand and letting it rip. He dived back around the corner only able to enjoy the sounds of chaos.
The silver coins started ricocheting off walls and the ceiling, the odd and craggy nature of mining walls made it impossible to predict where the coins were coming from. There were a few sparse sounds of pain and annoyance in the chaos of what was happening. One guard reached down to try and grab the top before taking a spinning coin to the temple. Seeing one down, Gerhart rushed in behind the other guard to get him in a chokehold.
Gerhart made sure to keep the bandit in front of him to take any coin hits before he eventually passed out, body tossed over the top to stop the coins. He let out a sigh of relief before waving for Shaa.
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 14, 2022 12:50:37 GMT -5
Shaa walks over laughing. Before you get any ideas of getting rich… Shaa picks up one of the silver coins on the floor. On the face of the coin is a Minotaur with his tounge sticking out. Soon, the top and the coins vanish into thin air. Man I love this bag so much. Ok, let’s take a look and see who behind the door. Hopefully this will be the end of all the sneaking around. Can’t let you have all of the fun.
Shaa walks over and pushes the latch on the door. It opens with a sharp CLICK as they enter the room. The room is a very large cavern. To the side their are a desk and some chairs. The desk has some scattered papers and a burning candle. Looks like someone was here recently. He said while shifting through the piles of paper.
He’s actually still here. A voice comes from the back of the cavern. Out steps a man in leather armor, holding what appears to be a vine whip in his hands. You two don’t look like you belong here. I don’t recall ordering a Minotaur for the games. Ahh well, happens. Shaa looks at the man confused. You, bring that beast over here and secure him for me would ya? Shaa walks over trying to act as casual as possible. The man snaps the vine whip at him. Back off beast, I’ll get to you in a minute. Shaa looks over at Gerhart shakes his head. Shaa takes a vine whip snap to the face. Hey! Mind me beast! I am your new master.
Shaa bows low to the beast tamer. That’s better. You must learn your place… Errrrk! As the beast master gets close enough, Shaa snags him by the throat and hauls him off his feet. He is so angry he can’t even think of anything snarky to say. The man’s face starts to turn purple. He manages to get a hand in his pocket. Producing a small bell, he rings it as fast as he can. Shaa snags the bell and force feeds it to the beast master.
From a cavern in the back, two large Girallon emerge. Fffwwfkkk ne. Mmmb!
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 14, 2022 23:04:14 GMT -5
A small disappointment is felt as Shaa takes care of the beast tamer. He had this whole quick plan where he was gonna make up some cool lie, look smooth, and then take the guy out. This was admittedly much faster....and much cleaner than he expected for someone whipping Shaa in the face. He sort of expected the guy to turn into a fine red mist.
"Uh....those look bad." Great work Gerhart, thanks Gerhart. He draws his swords to face the two large Girallon. Those are way past his size, come on Gerhart, think. Not every problem can be taken over with brute force, he isn't the size of Shaa. Just charging in will shatter a shoulder.
Time to try the new tricks he figured. "SHAA CLOSE YOUR EYES A SECOND." Gerhart holds out Double Strike a moment, the tip of the sword crackling before exploding in a bright light of energy.[1] With the Girallons blinded he would now rush in[2] and deliver two horizontal strikes against the beast's midsection. His blades hummed with the sounds of crackling lightning, little arcs spreading out from the wounds. It seemed his secret magic training was starting to pay off, let's hope it keeps doing just that.
1. Blinding Clasp 2. Rushing Charge
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 15, 2022 2:10:00 GMT -5
Shaa closes his eyes for a moment and hear the crackle of lightning behind him. Hmmm seems like Gerhart picked up something new. Good for him. Shaa still had the beast tamer by the throat and hadn’t quite gotten over the whip slap to the face. The tamers eyes were now starting to bug out. Ergghh bggherf! Shaa looked at him quizzically. I’m sorry, did you say something? I had a hard time hearing you over the sound of the veins popping in your head. Ffrbbhh nbghj! No no, I forgive you. You were just talking out of frustration for being such an absolute butt hole. It can be very frustrating. The beast masters limbs begin to spasm. I suppose we need to do something about your trained monkeys. Shaa grabs the beast masters head and forces him to nod in agreement like a giant meat puppet.
Shaa watches as Gerhart keeps the two beasts at bay. Shaa tosses the beast master off to the side like a rag doll. He picks up a rock and beans the closer one in the head with it. The giant beast turns to face Shaa. There we go. Come on, come on. Run at me dummy. Sure enough, with a giant roar, the Girallion rushes after him. The beast rushes at Shaa with its four arms flailing. Shaa crosses his arms to block as the Girallion starts to pound on him.
As it came in with a overhead strike, Shaa grabbed his arm and flipped him over his head, onto his back. This left the monster wide open for Shaa’s counter attack. Still holding the arm, Shaa rips it clean off its body. Shaa then proceeds to beat the creature into the ground with its own severed limb. Hitting is not nice. Bad Gorilla Man, bad! While it’s still moving a bit, it’s only random twitches now. Shaa takes the severed arm and chucks it at the beast tamer whom he was apparently still upset with.
Reverse of momentum Momentous Cleve
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 16, 2022 9:16:02 GMT -5
Thank Ginma the other one chased after Shaa, that was a real fear for a moment. For the moment, he's focused on parrying the girallon's flailing arms. Gerhart knows he can't block them like his mentor, but thankfully his much smaller size makes them easier to dodge. With both swords he can easily counter and return with a slash, but this thing has thick fur and massive arms so each cut looks like more of paper cut.
He knew he would have to bide his time a bit, this thing may look like a dumb beast but he probably couldn't pull of the blinding trick again. As the girallon looks to come down with an overhead strike, Gerhart slashes upwards the meet the hands and toss them backwards, splitting open its guard.[1] When it stumbles off foot for just that moment, he will jump up to match its height and bring his swords down onto its shoulders.[2]
Gerhart lands just down in front of it as it lays face down on the ground, Double Strike humming with energy before he slashes downward. A gust of wind from his sword would blow outward leaving the Girallon covered in more and more large cuts and slashes.[3] It grumbled and groaned as it tried to bring itself up again, but collapsed back down.
"You good Shaa? Need help?" Gerhart spoke through small pants, that fight was a bit of a workout.
1. Guard Break 2. Grounding Strike 3. Wind Cutter
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 16, 2022 22:16:03 GMT -5
Shaa waved over to Gerhart’. Nah man, I’m good. Shaa kicks the Girallion in the side just to be safe. It didn’t move. Walking over to the wheezing beast tamer, Shaa grabs him by the front of the shirt and hauls him over to the desk. Ok, we have been running all around all through this cave and you clowns are the lest interesting yet somehow most annoying things here. Where the heck is your boss?
The beast master rubs his neck and spits at Shaa’s hooves. Like I would tell you monster. I would rather die than be a traitor. Shaa points at the bloody mess of monkeys. That can be arranged ya know. He grabs some papers from the desk and shoves them up in the beast masters face. Look at these invoices. His name is all over them. And why are you collecting so many beasts anyway? There is something happening and this joker is at the center of it. Now I’m done being all nice. Where is he?! The defiant claspman folded his arms and stared grimly. Shaa put his hand to his face and thought if several horrible things he could do to this guy but torture didn’t seem to be getting them anywhere. This guy had to have a button to press. He walks over to Gerhart. Tough nut, what do you think?
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 16, 2022 23:08:07 GMT -5
Gerhart similarly double checks his opponent before heading over to Shaa. He puts his hands on his hips, making a face as he thinks. “Well short of um…well short of torture I’m not sure…..What if we tried good guard, bad guard? Let me step in a second.”
He grins and swaps spots, looking down to the beast master. “Hey buddy, sorry about the big guy, got a personal stake in it and all, Girallons killed his family, so he’s a little worked up. Just talk to me, what’s this all about?” He picks up some of the papers to wave again, but stays out of the bandits face. Maybe he’d learned a bit of smooth talking from Zarius, but it was a hell of shot to take.
”I ain’t know nothing.”
”that’s not helpful, come on, you gotta know something. If you don’t tell me I don’t know how long my friend back here can hold before he just looses it. I’m trying to help you to help me.”
The bandit clams up his mouth, not willing to talk yet it seemed. Such a shame Gerhart thought, well maybe Shaa could scare to death or at the very least answering their questions.
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