The Monster Hunter Guild -- Goblin Invaders from Araguay

[st4rw4k3r]

        Such a funny name I thought, Mr. Cedarfalls. I couldn't help but imagine a water fall made of cedar trees. A little giggle slipped from me as I decided to walk close to Nicholas to inquire about a question.

        "Will we be seeing Falling Tree Man again?"

[Durbs]

Noremu frowned as the man asked about the bolt. This was a far more dangerous and important matter than the extraction team seemed to be taking it. It didn't help that this 'Cedarfalls' looked like he had never seen a battle in his life.

[Ryqoshay]

   "What do you think you are doing!?" Clesenine cried as Halcyon raised a hand to the air.

   In a moment, cool white aether began to coalesce and create a glowing aura around the mage's forearm.

   "Stop that immediately!" the older woman demanded. Despite her authoritative air, she began to back away slowly, searching for a possible means of escape.

   The goblins saw through her ploy and surrounded her, boxing her in with their weapons. They were careful, of course, not to get too close, so as to avoid being caught in the spell.

   "Shiver, shiver, fear the wizard." Halcyon intoned, quoting one of the passages she had read. "Lest he catch you in his Blizzard."

   The results of the spell resembled hail more than snow, and with no wind, it was certainly not an actual blizzard. Nonetheless, the conjured, localized precipitation showed no mercy to its intended target. Razor sharp shards of ice bit deep into Clesenine's body and chilled her to the bone. The woman screamed in agony and collapsed to her knees, hugging herself tightly.

   "Please, no more." She sobbed plaintively.

   "Kill her." The goblin leader sneered.

   "..." Halcyon silently raised her arm again. In seconds, it began to glow again.

   "I'll make your weapons..."  Clesenine's voice was barely audible.

   "Wait!" the beastman shoved a hand against the mage's thigh as though holding her back.

   Immediately, the gathered mana dissipated and Halcyon lowered her arm. "..."

   "What you say?!" the goblin demanded, stomping forward to grab the noble woman by the chin and yank her face up to his. "You make weapon?"

   "I..." she started. "My father was a smith. Though I have no formal training, I should be able to remember enough to make you something."

   "Yes." He said, releasing her. "You make weapon. Now." He pointed to the supplies.

   "Alright." Clesenine's shoulders slumped as she sighed, resigning herself to her fate. Slowly, painfully, she stood and walked, unsteadily, toward the waiting anvil. "I will need fire."

   "You know fire?" the leader looked over at his wizard.

   "Yes, master." Halcyon replied flatly.

   "You make fire. She make weapon."

   "Yes, master."

[Dokurider]

"What an asshole." Decried Keith. "'Maybe we could have saved them if we deployed earlier.' Well maybe we could have been out here already if those bureaucratic fucks weren't dragging their heels. Please tell me we aren't going to be seeing that douchebag every time we rescue a hostage? Yeah, what Evaline said."

"We don't have to worry much about seeing Mr. Cedarfalls much." Nicholas replied. "He usually only goes as far as the transport does and that can't go into the forest. It's not his job to put his life on the line, so he'll just have the rest of extraction do it for him."

Some time later down the main path, they finally found the worn footpath to the World Oak cutting into the forest growth itself. "Ladies and gentlemen, when we enter into that path, we'll have officially entered the woods themselves." Nicholas announced. "From here on out, we are on our guard and not just from goblins. Spooks, living trees and all sorts of monsters occupy these woods. We should be okay for today, but as we go deeper into this woods, the presence of monsters will make themselves obvious. Make yourselves ready, because we are going in. Keith, front and center and start sweeping for traps."

"Yes sir." Keith complied, stepping on the trail and into the forest.

Contrasting the commander's warnings, Araguay itself seems so opening and welcoming. The sunshine streaming through the canopy danced on the heavy moss and root covered floor below, intermingling with the smell of fresh wood. The trail itself was rising up a gentle hill, defined by being the only part of the forest floor not carpeted by moss, instead being overturned rich black earth, slightly packed. The sounds of singing and chattering birds fill the air around them. Yes, as far as the eye can see, the woods seemed almost scenic and peaceful.

[Durbs]

This place did seem peaceful. Very... safe. But Noremu knew better. The collective voice of the woods whispered to his attuned ear dark words and curses that would make any grown man shutter. He already felt an itch to call across the void for one of his summons, but he knew the folly in that decision. Noremu drew his staff and took reassurance in the glowing, clear jewel that adorned it. At its bottom was a pointed metal edge, just in case anything got too close. Noremu looked at it and chuckled, vowing to get himself a true sword for the next mission... perhaps with the same, clear crystal composing the blade so that he might use it to channel magic.

[st4rw4k3r]

       Spooks, living trees and all sorts of monsters occupy these woods? Oh dear I thought. I remember tales that Grandmama told me once, about creatures made of tentacles! Tentacles that can reach you from any angle and strike you down with extreme force! Oh dear, this will be quite the trek. I glanced over at Nicholas. He seems to be able to keep his cool in any situation, and he looks to be quite strong... I wonder if he would mind if I stayed close to him? Sure hope not! I clutched my staff with both my hands and kept close to Sir Nicholas.

[skiploom188]

"All right this is it. Keep your cool, be alert and don't stray from the group." Jim said to himself. As a form of preparation, he began to check his inventory. "Hmmm, shurikens, right here." he was somewhat disappointed because of the fact that shurikens were the only ones he could throw. Not having a variety of throwing weapons bothered him a bit. But still, at least he got the best shurikens in the markets. These Yagyus will pack a punch against those monsters. I hope they won't be undeads though.

[Dokurider]

Despite the commander's warnings, the initial trek was uneventful. Perhaps they heard a unfamiliar cry once or twice, but no danger presented themselves to the group. As they approached the World Oak, dusk was upon them. It was time to set up camp for the night. The World Oak, as its name suggests, was a towering majesty. Roots and vines and bark intermingling and lacing elegantly around the ancient oak's base, all coated with a mossy finish. As the team approached, it easily filled one's vision and mind.

Keith broke from the group briefly to sweep the area for traps, and to find a suitable spot to set up camp among the exposed roots and slithering vines. Still no traps, but a root free spot was found. It was still uneven, and was slightly tilted, but as a camping spot, it'll work. He waved the party over.

The wood was gathered, the tents were set up, and a fire was roaring. The moss had to be dug away to expose dirt for the fire. The rations were cooked and distributed. It wasn't very good, but if one wanted better food, one would have to hunt it themselves.

"Keith, as far as rations go, these aren't the worst you've ever had." Nicholas retorted between bites. The sun had set quickly and left the group in chilly spring night. "Why, back in my day in the war, we were lucky they weren't covered in mold, or even got them at all."

"Well, yeah, same here, but that was wartime. This is peacetime." said Keith. "The name of the game now is more that just get it out as quickly as possible and try not to get plague in it. There's no raids or blockades to worry about. They're just cutting corners and expecting us to eat shit because we did at one point. You let people get away with way too much, boss."

As Nicholas prepared to counter, flapping broke over the chatter. Resmu had come back.

[Ryqoshay]

   "How much longer are you going to make me work?" Clesenine complained, despite knowing that most of her captors had no idea what she was saying. "I've already made a ton of weapons today, you know." She waved a lazy hand in the direction of said pile. "I'm liable to start making mistakes if I don't get some sleep." She finished with a yawn.

   The craftsmanship was nowhere near as good as her fathers had been back when he was still alive, but for someone as inexperienced as she was, the weapons were not half bad. Certainly, they were good enough for these lowly, disgusting goblins.

   At least the horrid little creatures had been kind enough, if such a term were appropriate, to provide a filling meal. It wasn't the cuisine to which she was accustomed in the civilized, noble life, but the hungrier one is, the lower one's standards become.

   Halcyon had eaten the provided food with no complaints, though still in her doll mode, this was to be expected. Her emotionless, vacant stare was becoming quite disquieting as Clesenine had never seen her maintain it for such a long period of time. She was like the mindless machines of Goug, and solemnly obeyed every command of their captors' leader.

   Presently, the younger mage was returning from yet another patrol around the camp with a group of goblins. The vermin had protested loudly in their indecipherable language when their leader had ordered them to accompany Halcyon, presumably due to her ability to cast ice magic. Even a noble, such as Clesenine, who was not in the habit of learning about the lesser creatures of Ivalice, knew of the goblins' innate fear of cold. The leader had apparently calmed their fears by assuring them the girl was under his full control, and as far as Clesenine could see, she actually was.

   "Stop staring at me." The older woman grumbled.

   "..."

   "It's annoying. Go away." She made a dismissive motion with her hand.

   "..."

   Clesenine sighed. "I won't be able to complete this next spear if you keep staring at me like that."

   "I was ordered to keep an eye on you."

   "What, I'm not doing a good enough job or something?"

   "..."

   "Look, just turn away or something. I can't concentrate."

   "..." Though no verbal response was issued, Halcyon nonetheless turned her gaze away.

   Silence prevailed between the two human woman for a while, broken finally by the rhythmic striking of hammer against spearhead as the apprentice-level smith returned to work.

   "We have to think of a way out of here." Clesenine finally spoke after finishing the spear, setting it on the pile, and gathering new materials for the next weapon she was to forge.

   "..."

   "You can't seriously be considering staying with these... things, can you?"

   "..."

   "You are, aren't you?"

   "..."

   "Fine then." Clesenine's eyes turned hard. "When I think of something, I'll just do it on my own. "You can stay here forever for all I care."

   "Hey." The goblin leader approached angrily. "What you talking?"

   "She wishes to escape." Halcyon responded simply.

   "What?" he growled. "You no escape!" He shouted, slapping the older woman hard enough to knock her off her crude stool and onto the ground. "You make weapon!"

   If looks could kill, Halcyon would have died a thousand times over from the daggers of pure hatred Clesenine's eys threw at her.

   "You watch." The leader turned to the mage. "She try escape. You kill."

   "Yes, master."

[Durbs]

Resmu lands on Noremu's shoulder. "Oh? What did you find, my friend?"

While no one saw any form of perceptible communication from the two, Noremu understood everything quite clearly. It helped that they were able to communicate with a sort of picture-language through the void and back.

"Hmm. So here's what he found... to the north/northeast, about... hmm... perhaps a four hour's walk away, there's a goblin camp. Looks like he saw two captives there, but nothing else aside from a horde of goblins. Unfortunately, he tells me that he couldn't find any traps. Seems like he was too high up."

"There's one thing else, though. Something about the captives seems... off. Resmu doesn't quite understand it and frankly neither do I, but there's something fishy about one of them. I can't place it, but best be on our guard."

Noremu looks back up to Resmu and asks him to elaborate more. Resmu sends him what he's seen; Noremu sees a picture of a mildly attractive young woman and an older lady, but something seems wrong with the younger one. She and the older woman are clearly not getting along, but it looks to run deeper than that. She looks almost to be assisting the goblins in more ways than a hostage would.

Noremu's neutral expression drops to a frown, but he says nothing to the rest of the group.

[Dokurider]

"Well, this is excellent news." surmised Nicholas. "We now know we are not wasting a trip going into an empty campsite, and that we are most likely rescuing just two people this time. Very good news. We'll be able to take a better look when we get closer tomorrow. Let's finish up our meals and decide on tonight's watch duties. I will take the middle shift, since it's the hardest shift to wake up and go back to sleep on. The rest of the shifts I'll let you divide amongst yourselves."

[Durbs]

Noremu groans. "Well, since we have to, I'll take the latest shift. I won't need to get ready in the morning then."

[Ryqoshay]

   "Ow!" Clesenine exclaimed before letting a string of curses escape her throat as she yanked her hand away from the scalding metal she had just accidently used for support. Dousing the burn in the bucket of cool water did little to alleviate the pain and she could already see angry blisters forming on her palm.

   "What happen?" the goblin leader asked, striding up.

   "This is what happened!" The noblewoman growled, holding her injury up to his face; perhaps a little too close. "I can't make your stupid weapons like this!"

   "That all?"

   "Wh-what do you mean, is that all?" Clesenine sputtered. "I can't use..." The white light of a healing spell made her trail off.

   "Better. Now you make more weapon."

   The older woman stared at her hand for a moment and wiggled her fingers before sighing. "That still doesn't change much." She explained quietly. "I can't keep up this pace forever, you know. Eventually, I need to sleep."

   The goblin looked at the pile of finished pieces for a moment. Even an apprentice appraiser would easily realize that the quality was slowly dropping as the smith's energy and concentration depleted. After a moment of silence, he turned back to her. "You sleep now."

   "Thank you." The prisoner said with honest relief. Immediately, she began to seek a viable place to settle down for the night. She doubted proper bedding would be provided, so she chose a spot that was relatively flat and free of detritus.

   No longer caring for her appearance, she ripped a loose section off her dress and folded it up to use as a pillow. After a day of working the forge, the garment was beyond ruined, and a little padding under her head was better than nothing. The last thing she wanted was to get a crick in her neck and further hinder her weapon making abilities tomorrow.

   "You sleep too now." The beastman ordered Halcyon.

   "Yes, master." The girl responded.

   For her part, the younger woman simply sat at the base a tree, leaned against it and closed her eyes. Within moments, her breathing had slowed and steadied, indicating she was likely already asleep. While she did not look completely serene and comfortable, she certainly did not look uncomfortable.

   Clesenine grumbled another curse as she stared at her ex-daughter-in-law before closing her eyes.

[st4rw4k3r]

       "I'll take the one before you Nicholas." I replied to him. "Although I sleep hard, so the one before me will have fun waking me up."

[skiploom188]

Jim, now confused of the order of the shifts, puts things into perspective.

Nicholas: Middle shift. Can be 3rd or 4th.
Noremu: Latest shift.  late  - is he referring to the 7th one?
Evaline: The one before Nicholas. So 2nd or 3rd?
Quint: ?
Keith: ?
Earl: ?

Okay, then I'll take the shift before Miss Evaline.

"Although I sleep hard, so the one before me will have fun waking me up."

This'll be fun.

[Dokurider]

"If you chaps don't mind, I'll would like take the first shift. I must stay up anyhow to write my reports." Earl asked.

"I'll take the 2nd shift." Keith casually announced.

"Then that leaves Quint with the 6th shift. If that's all settled, then the rest of us should be heading to bed." Nicholas continued to instruct the group. "You will determine the length of your shift by the position of the moon." He quickly drew an arc into the dirt and roughly divided it into 7 parts. "This should help in case you have difficulty determining the moon position. Under no circumstances are you to leave our camp unwatched for any length of time. If you are going to fall asleep, be responsible and wake up the next man in line. I personally guarantee the consequences for falling asleep on watch will be much harsher than ending your shift early. Keep the fire fed so you can see. If something is attacking, give a shout. If you think something is out there, wake me up and Keith and I shall investigate it for you. Oh, and pay attention to Antigone. He may be able to sense danger before you can see it or be able to confirm it. Any questions? If not, then we are headed to bed. We have a long day tomorrow, so rest up. Good night, Earl."

With Nicholas ending his lecture, everyone besides Earl headed inside the two tents set up to get a good night's rest for tomorrow's expedition.

[st4rw4k3r]

        Upon entering the tent, I placed my satchel down on the ground and rested my body on a bedroll. As quickly as I entered the tent, I was dead asleep.

[Durbs]

Noremu, too, falls quickly asleep and waits to be woken.

[Dokurider]

Despite the long deliberation over night watch, nothing of consequence happens that night. With a peaceful breeze gently massaging the skin and leading the leaves and trees on a slow and gentle dance to the tune of cricket chirps, the night proves to be just as scenic and relaxing as it was in the daytime. From were they're camped, it seems that all in the world is right, if only for one night.

As the sun began to rise in the morning, the problems of the world would raise it's ugly head. Noremu after a long and uneventful shift was greeted in the warming sunshine by a stern looking man and his two compatriots. "HEY! HEY YOU GUYS! YOU CAN'T CAMP HERE!" he shouted in anger, waving wildly to get everyone's attention. He marched right up to the only man standing, Noremu with little disregard for his personal space. "What the hell do you people think you're doing? You can't camp here. This is protected property, set aside by the Atkascha family themselves. You people need to clear out this area right now or we're hauling you in for trespassing."

[Ryqoshay]

   A gentle breeze rustled the leaves around the clearing allowing shifting shafts of sunlight to filter through. One beam glanced across Clesenine's face, causing her to stir from her slumber.

   "Mmmff..." she murmured, opening her eyes. What a beautiful day! She smiled and sat up to stretch.  The pleasant aroma of food reached her nose and she inhaled deeply. Someone near was cooking up something delicious, so she looked around for the source. Wait...

   "Good, you wake." A larger than average goblin approached her.

   Cold and cruel reality crashed down upon her consciousness as she recalled her dire circumstances. Suddenly, the food no longer smelled as good as she noticed what the goblin leader was carrying.

   "You eat now." He said, setting a bowl of slop before the noblewoman. "Then you make more weapon."

   "Right..." Clesenine replied with a sigh before reluctantly picking up the bowl.

   "Mage!" the beastman called, walking over to Halcyon. "You eat now!"

   The girl's eyes opened slowly and her head lolled a bit as though she may fall back asleep at any moment. She gasped and jumped a little when the goblin set her bowl beside her and she started to raise her hands as though to ward off an attack. But then, she froze in mid motion. The life drained from her eyes and after a moment, she reached silently for her food. "Thank you, master." She intoned.

   "You eat quick, then you make patrol."

   "Yes, master."