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bounty hunting

(( You can RP any way you want, I wanted clarification because it was rather sudden. ))

(as i recall there are (1) jackals left (3) lions (3) tigers and the liger.) (oh and for clarifactation, the spear Jack has is just like the one i made in the weapon shop.)

Jack brought one of the side-blades of his spear around on a jackals neck and kicked him away. A tiger came up behind him and Jack turned almost fast enough to grab the sword arm before it cut him, but he did manage to disrupt the attack and the blade only hit him with the flat. Jack pulled his tanto across the tigers throat, and pulled his sword away, throwing it at a lion. Jack then pole vaulted with his spear high into the air and came down on the lion with the point of the spear. jack then felt the bruise on his shoulder from the tigers sword burst as another lion attempted to stab him. Jack let himself fall forward with the force of the knife, and it did little damage. Jack spun his spear around his back and whacked the lion with the shaft. Celias then decapitated him, and they both began to charge at the last lion.

The last lion gave a roar and jumped back into the darks of the forest. He came running back out seconds later, armed with a large shuriken he had picked up and a lengthy sword. He leaped into the air and hurled the shuriken at Celias, who had sheathed his sword thinking the lion had fled. His left arm flicked up and metal claws deflected the lethal projectile as Celias ran forward, making as if to punch the lion, who was more concerned with the flanking Xei. As he attempted to block the spear, Celias got a lethal grab with his claws and then brought his right hand around to the back of the large cat's neck, releasing the hidden blade there. It went straight through and he held the almost-lifeless cat in a deathly stranglehold as Xei rammed the spear deep through the lion's heart. "Nice job... see you haven't lost any of your old spunk, Xei." Celias panted. He retracted the blade and threw the lion off his claw. A very loud roar came from the forests as trees shook. Out stepped a giant of a cat. Towering at 5 meters tall, weighing half a ton, his claws and teeth a third of a foot long. On his back there was a battle-ax almost as big as he was; on his waist, a custom claymore so big the blade was half as big as Celias; and in his hand, he was holding a long bow 10 feet high. No, at the large size it was at, bows being proportionally powerful, it was more of a cannon then a bow. "Ahh... crap." Shardik looked up. "They never mentioned anything like this!" he said in awe. "What the hell are you?" Celias asked as he drew his sword. The big cat gave a malicious grin. "Since you're going to die, you might as well know- a Liger. A mix of two species of cats that you actually killed a few minutes ago. But could you handle it?" Nomanium asked as he loaded an arrow into his bow. Celias took a sharp look at the arrow. "Watch it... at the size of that bow, a regular arrow would rip through you. He's using sharpened penetration arrows, the type made to punch through heavy elite armors." Nomanium aimed at a tree a few meters behind the group. He pulled the arrow back at half-strength and let it go. It ripped through the tree, and another tree, and a third tree, before it got stuck in fourth tree. Xei's eyes went wide. "Son of a f**k, did you see how fast that thing went?!? It would probably break our weapons if we tried to parry an arrow!"

(I guess my character is back to Xei... I'll just go with it.) (Character name change. Jack T. Ripper is now Xei Draghostia.)

Xei Rushed forward with Celias in toe. they both slid out of the way as arrows flew towards them. Celias tried to parry an arrow, and half succeeded, but lost a little balance as his sword arm cought a great jolt. Xei did the same with only his tanto and almost lost his arm, he shoved it back into place still running. They reached the towering liger, but he sent them both halfway back to where they had started with a mighty kick. Xei rolled out of it and sent his spear whizzing through the air. It struck the giant cat hard in the chest, but had no apparent affect. The monstrous cat pulled it out and tossed it back to Xei. "Have to do better than---" The ligers words fell off as celias fired an arrow into his neck. "Missed." the giant said. he snapped off the arrow and pulled out the head, then drew the claymore. "Shit..." Xei said. "Avoid that."

Celias started to get frustrated and grew into a combat frenzy. He shot off like a bolt in feral form towards the liger as the latter swung the huge claymore. He jumped up and bounced off the claymore with his feet and then started to slash at the head of the beast with his left metal claws, but the whole liger had ismply crouched and then sprang up, hitting Celias with the brunt of his body and hurling him back even farther then the kick had. Celias hit the ground hard and got up with a bone sticking out his right leg. "Crap..." He grabbed the leg with both hands and shoved the bone back in. The pain multiplied, but he know it would reduce any internal damage, which would be extensive anyways.

The huge liger dropped the claymore, and pulled the battle ax off his back, Xei saw the open sot on its back where the fur was thin and the flesh looked pinky with a large scar. "Celias, can you still fight?" Xei asked. "I think so, damn leg's painful though." "Right, the open spot on his back, if you can distract him i might be able to hit him there, spear's longer than your sword, get more penetration. Celias and Xei broke into the tree's and Celias began firing arrows like mad. Xei crept around silently, and when he was behind the cat, he lounged high into the air. He threw the spear down, and it hit dead on. then Xei landed on the shaft with his feet, and the spearhead shot out the other side of the liger and snapped as it fell forward. "Shit..." said Xei. "How's your leg? Think you can get back to the town?" Xei felt the bones in Celias leg. "Two dislocated, one badly, none broken, just needs a wrap for a few days, then light work with it." Said Celias. There was a rumbling noise... The liger was getting back up, and Xei's spear had been broken...

shardik unsheeted he's daito and went forward right up the the huge liger.He could smell its breath then he said "hey pall theres no reason too fight"as he smiled stupid again the liger threw a punch at shardik that looked like it would have sendt him flying.The ligers fist had stopped right in front of shardik head then the liger said "What ?" shardik explained "you see the reason i drew my blade were too judge from its shadows leangth how far your reach were and since a daito katana's leanght standard is about the same as my arm maybe 4-6 Cm longer i figured if i doubled the shadows size it would be just about as long as your arm whit a few inches more leaving me out of your reach"he said and began too laught."SILENCE YOU WORTHLESS SCUM BAG"he shouted and leaped in too the sky ready too land on top of shardik and crush every single bone in he's body.but he were just fast enough too get out of the way.He then ran back at the big liger and slashed at he's hand whit the daito cutting he's pinky and ring finger off.The liger yelled and used foul language becouse of the pain.shardik"im not gonna kill you"he said looking serious now "run off whit you scum your kind aint worth killing" the liger looked mad ready too explode "HOW DARE YOU TALK DOWN TOO ME I AM A LIGER THE BREED OF TRUE WARRIORS!!!" he got up grabbed the huge battle ax,dashed at shardik whit the AX."you had a choice shardik said" as he dealt a fatal kick in too the ligers stomach and made the huge cat fall too the ground.something pointed had jabbed through its stomach a pointy stick that might be a piece from a broken spear.

Xei knelt next to the liger. "Filthy Scum, Your kind aint worth killing...? YOU LOUSY HALF BREED! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK LIKE THAT!" Xei yelled this into the ligers face, and then wrenched its head backwards and to the side. Xei got up, and retrieved the broken pieces of his spear. "Maybe i can find something in town... For now this will have to do." Xei dropped everything but thespearhead, which actually looked like a worthy knife. "Should we hunt down the rest, or let them flee?"

blood-shard: Please don't make another post like that again, please. Not only did it make very little sense it just seemed god-mod. A KICK, that was fatal because it shoved nothing more then the spear shaft in? This guy was fully penetrated by a spear and he barely flinched!

The liger was still breathing on the ground, his neck dislocated. It had been way too large and muscled to completely snap with Xei's power, and Celias limped over there. He flipped the liger over. "I'll give you what you deserve, and make some money while I'm at it." WARNING! THE FOLLOWING IS VERY EXPLICIT AND MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME READERS!


The liger was too weak to reply. Celias unsheathed a small but very sharp knife. He stabbed it in the liger's upper chest and then slashed down, opening up the beast. A putrid blast of hot air hit Celias' face as he reached in and used a serrated knife to began the ugly process the liger was going to suffer through. The beast's internal organs gave off a reddish glow. Celias took the serrated knife and put it up against the revealed collar bone. He began to cut and cut and cut until it finally fell off. The liger gave a gasp as his breathing was cut off. "Oh no, I'll make you suffer before you can taste the bliss of death." With that, Celias reached in and grasped the beating heart. He watched it squirm in his hands, a good few pounds of cardiac muscle. He squeezed, and the liger groaned, and he squeezed more and more and more until he finally jerked it up and around, twisting it out of the liger, who finally died. The heart beat once more in a vain effort to sustain itself before it stopped. Celias dropped it on the ground next to him. He reached in and used the knife to cut the spinal cord where it met the pelvic joint. He pulled out the skeletal torso of the liger, dozens of pounds heavy. He set it down next to the heart. "I have to work quickly before scavengers show." he said. He started to take out the organs until they all lay next to him. Then he cut open the head, revealing the skull. He picked up a rock and struck the skull with half-force on the side. It made a spider web crack, and Celias put in the tip of his blade and then started to shovel out the pieces, before finally splitting the skull neatly in two (with a small area missing) He took it and the brain and put it on the grass. "One last thing..." He reached in and cut down the side of each leg, taking out the femur, the largest bone in the body. It was about a meter long for the huge liger. "This is the bone most often used as raw bone material for poorer tribes. It'll come in handy on the black market." He finally cut until he had cut off the skin of the liger, which he pulled off and spread out on the ground, cutting off the smaller jagged pieces until there remained a rough circle filled with blood and fur. "Needs cleaning of course, but ah well. Liger fur is rare." He put the smaller pieces inside the larger circle of skin, and put the organs in too, carefully arranging them so they wouldn't be extensively damage. The whole sack of organs and skin weighed well over a hundred pounds. The bones Celias had removed (The femur, spine, skull, and ribs) were probably 30 pounds or so. He got up slowly, and the three started to clean up and make a campsite. "There's a dozen bodies here. This is just one I've been able to harvest... It'll take about a day to do the others, and then we need to get all the spoils and weapons together." After cutting down a tree with the huge battle axe (Which took both Celias and Xei to swing), they were able to make a shelter and a large fire. The bodies were in a large stack, and the weapons and spoils were in a separate one. "Alright... we need as many people as possible to carry these things back into a village. There's one maybe two miles North of here where I have a secret stronghold. It'll be a good place. For now, we need to prepare, and leave at midnight, when the moon is shining the brightest." Celias said. "And the bodies? You gonna harvest them now?" Xei asked. "No. The liger has extremely tough organs and I put them in another bag- it would be a bit brutal to haul around a liger minus the skeleton. Other organs are way too delicate to harvest and then move. Once we get to my place, we can just kind of split up some of the money, heal any injuries, and wait to see what our next move is." he replied. "You talk like we're already some kind of group," Shardik said. "Even though I just met you two tonight. I don't know if I can just go off and make plans with people I barely know." "Well, the pub is a mile or so back. There's a lot of people there like us you can band up with separately, maybe someone you already know, or you can just go back for the warmth and then go home later."

(Shardik now has the choice of going back and teaming up with Ogier and Odin or sticking with Celias and Xei. It would probably be more realistic for the first to happen- you don't just go teaming up with strangers you saw killing wild cats, now! It would also let us split the storyline for a while until the two parties eventually meet up later.)

(Well written! I thoroughly enjoyed that.)

Xei picked through the pile of weapons and gear, looking for a suitable replacement weapon for his broken spear. He found a sturdy sword, and a heavy bo stick. He used his tanto to dig out a bit of the top, and used some torn cloth from the dead's clothing to secure it. He then picked a stone out of his pouch and took some of the dead tigers and lions claws. the stone had a small hollow where it would be used to melt things over a fire. Xei melted the ivories and pured them around the area where the swords handle had been inserted into the hole in the top of the bo stick. The result was a crude glave of sorts. "Nice." Said Celias. "Good skill to have, weapon practicality..." Xei said. He had become accustomed to using spears after Celias and his last ordeal. and since then his katana had been destroyed in a fight when his energy could no longer sustian the hungry spirit that inhabited the sword. but that was past, and he had no more desire of demon weapons... "How much do you think we could get for all these?" Xei asked Celias, Celias knew he meant on the black market. "Maybe a thousand, thousand five hundred with some smooth talk." Celias replied. "I have some goods left from my journeys without you around to sell them for me." Xei reached into his pouch and brought out a jeweled dagger, more of a decoration than weapon, a vile of pulsing green liquid, and a small round opal. Celias whistled. "Goods they be." He said. Xei raised one corner of his mouth and handed them to Celias. "Not worth as much as the loot we have here, but pretty valuable. about seven hundred i wager." Xei said. The moon was reaching its peak above them...

"We better get moving, Xei." Celias said. He had bandaged his leg and was preparing all the goods. "An easy 2,000 through the underground. This dagger is most likely sacrificial, maybe some sucker will take a liking to it and give us 2,500." He turned to Shardik. "It was nice fighting with you. The hills are deserted this time of night, and going to the pub is an easy journey, but if you're going to stay at camp until morning, I'd recommend you leave right before sunrise. Many wolf tribes awaken at first light and roam the area for any camps like these." He had built a small structure that held all the goods. "Ahh... all these damn bodies add up to an easy ton by themselves. That liger is probably half a ton on top of that. I sent a messenger hawk out to the city- some friends of mine will come out and help us drag the bodies. We'll take the liger and meet them halfway there. Then, we can go into the city, get some rest, some food, and then I'll be able to start harvesting again. With the extra organs we might easily get 3,000 gold pieces." Xei whistled. That was enough to employ hundreds of soldiers, a small fortune. "Splitting it 50/50?" "45/45," Celias said. "Nothing is free, friend!10% of 3,000 is a small slice of the pie, 300 GP, but it's enough for 6 people to split up for pocket change. Xei grinned. "I forgot- your friends are merchants!" They laughed. "Well, good meeting you Shardik. Safe trip back. I've got a feeling we'll meet again later." They started through the woods until they saw a few figures waiting. They all nodded at Celias, and one of them nodded at Xei- Trevor. "Trevor? You live here?" Xei asked. Trevor grinned. "'Course. How else would I have gotten to known a bastard like Celias? Alright boys, we've got some bodies to haul!" He turned to Celias. "So 50 gold pieces each?" "Yeah. We've got a small fortune here, 3,000 easy on the black market." Trevor's eyebrows went up. "Yeah? 2,700 taking off the fee? Nice job!"

Xei and Celias carried the liger, and the other six carried the rest. Xei tried to lift a little more than his share of the load, on account of Celias' leg. They walked for about 3 hours when they had to rest for about 30 min. "What have you been up to Trevor?" said Xei. "Nothing much, been helping Celias with his "business"..." They all laughed. They moved on, and just before dawn, the outer walls of a fortress city came into view.

Ogier shambles south towards the swamplands.

~Time Passage: Into The City, Celias' Hideout~

The 8 had arrived at Celias hideout a little after sunrise. It appeared to be a small stone house, but the actual entrance was hidden in the ground, and Celias led them all to a larger space underground. There were weapons hanging on the walls, stores of food and water, 4 beds, and everything needed for a 'merchant' like Celias to stay alive. 5 of the helpers went, but Trevor stayed behind. "I've asked Jaheem (the local 'buyer') to come about midday. We've got 6 hours to harvest the rest of these bodies. Xei, do you have any idea on how to harvest?" Xei shook his head. "The only spoils I was ever interested in were the ones outside the corpses. I can clean and cut the furs, though. I'll start on the liger's."

~Time Passage: Midday~

"...about 3,000, eh, Jaheem?" Trevor was saying. Celias got up from his bed, where he'd taken a short nap, and walked over to the door as Trevor and Jaheem came in. "Ah, Celias, my good friend! It is nice to see you, and the goods you have amassed! Trevor said they were 3,000, but I figured he was exaggerating." Celias shook his head. "First up; 12 harvested bodies. One of them is worth two in itself- it's a liger." Jaheem whistled. "I see, I see. That's an easy 700 for me, 500 for you." (GP Gain-500) "Next, we've got..." They moved through all the weapons and scavenges they found. Jaheem took out a large bag and started setting down gold pieces in packs of 100. "Alright," Jaheem said. "I believe that is all the business I have here." He whistled and three servants came in, dragging off all the things to the ground level, where a convoy was waiting. "What'd I tell you? Easy 3,000. Here's your 1500," Celias said throwing a large pouch at Xei. "I'm gonna get some rest. Feel free to explore Lazual (La-Zoo-Al) if you can avoid starting any trouble. Oh, and try to stay away from the hawkers. They say that they 'actively sell', but in reality, they're just muggers with an clean slate- attack them and city guard might get on your tail."