The Hounds of Sacae (Vincent/pm for entry)

[Mila]

The young mage's eyes widened as she heard Yorick's scream pierce the air.

"YORICK!" She screamed.

Her eyes scanned through the grasses to find her. Instead all she found was the grizzled mane of the Gwyllgi pouncing on something. No not something, someone. Out of instinct she started running. Running out through the grass towards the thing. The creature that was hurting her friend. She completely forgot her own orders or her own safety. She focused her gaze out towards the blue tuft of fur that just barely poked out in between the blades of grass. Soon she found herself standing over her friend.

"Yorick!" She shouted. Out of breath from the running but at least she was here. She wasn't going to let her friend and guild mate get chewed up by this over sized monster wolf. She threw a ball of fire into the air as a flare to the others. The creature then pounced. The mage didn't have enough time to react with her magic. She threw her arms up out infront of her prepared to take the blow. When suddenly she noticed that her hand which held her book was inside the creature's mouth. But she wasn't bitten. The book which was upright, was inside the monster's single maw. And it was unable to close it's mouth all the way to cause any damage.

The creature in a panicked frenzy started to thrash wildly. Unable to comprehend what was happening, the mage tried to duck and roll out the way. But was unable to do so, the back claws of the Gwyllgi managed to nick her shoulder. It clawed right through the leather guard strap rendering the guard loose and useless. It was only a matter of time before the book pages would become too soggy and snap under the Gwyllgi mouth. She could only hope the others could get to it before it came back around to finish off the job with Yorick.

Mila immediately went to work on Yorick's leg. She pulled from her pocket some bandages. She grabbed one of Yorick's Javelins and snapped it in half with her leg. The mage quickly applied salve, used the peices of wood as a splint, then tightly wrapped it all up with the bandage. She then worked to help pull Yorick up off the ground.

"Use the good leg to pull yourself up. Here lean on my shoulder. Up.. That's it."

There was a snap, then a howl. Which signaled that the beast had use of it's mouth again.

"Alright.. we have to move now. I just lost my only weapon."

[Donovan]

The green clad mercenary was running as fast as he could toward the others, when he heard a howl of pain coming from Yorrick. Glancing at Jule, he saw that she was holding her own against the small doog. You’ve got this, kid. “When you’re finished here come help us out with the big guy, alright?!” He called back to Jule, hoping that she would be able to handle the small beast. He changed course and made his way over to Yorrick as fast as he could. By the time he got in sight of his comrade, he saw Mila running at a breakneck speed toward her friend. Yorrick’s shield and lance were lying on the floor, so the mercenary grabbed the big, pointy stick without breaking pace.

“Mila!” He screamed as the beast’s mouth clamped down on her arm, or rather the mage’s tome. The book had lodged itself in the creature’s mouth. Now's my chance. Fueled by adrenaline from seeing Mila’s arm nearly torn asunder and the knowledge that he’d only have so long to kill the beast with it being unable to bite, Donovan charged straight toward it. “Yorrick! Catch!” He tossed the lance back to its wielder, hoping that she would be in decent enough condition to use it if he couldn’t kill the hellhound.

Sword raised above his head in a white knuckle grip, he jumped and cut down, hard and heavy on the beast’s back. Or at least he tried to. It moved out of the way at the last second, and the mercenary’s blade swung cleanly through the beast’s tail. Lobbing it off at the base of it’s spine.

“Damn!” Swing wildly to his left with both hand’s on the grip, he found that he got incredibly lucky and the blade cut straight into the monster’s neck. Then he found he got incredibly unluckily, as his father’s sword got stuck in the beast. While the blow might be lethal in a short while, the Gwyllgi was not dead yet.

He moved to jump out of the way, and he managed to avoid getting his neck torn out, but the beast’s claw tore through the armor on the shoulder of Donovan’s shield arm. “ARRRRAAGH!” Donovan rolled away, and gave himself as much distance as he could, switching his shield to his now empty sword arm.

Blood was dripping down his terribly wounded left arm and he couldn't move it without feeling like he was going to pass out. Despite all this, he’d distract the beast as long as he could, it was so close to dying. Donovan heard the tome snap and the beast’s howl. Hopefully Jule or Yorrick would end the Gwyllgi before it ended him.

[Jule]

A few patches of grass over, something snapped in half and the beast gave a mighty roar.

The lone blue figure wiped the fluid from her mouth. She did say she had to get to Yorick, right? In light of an entire party wipe being a definite possibility, she needed to get up now. And so, the little thief spat the remainder of breakfast up, and drew her sword from the earth. It wasn't hard to see where she needed to go - with the Gwyllgi making a mess of itself not far away - the only problem was getting there in time. Jule steeled herself; she'd give it her all or die trying.

The girl tore a path through the grass, carving a path dead ahead. No more than a few meters away she could here Donovan cry in agony. Jule sped up. Hopefully the citizens of Ashe weren't too keen on taking care of this one particular swathe of plains, or at the end of the day the Verdant Cross and its hired hands could end up in the back of a cell. ...Or dead. There was no telling which, honestly. Presently her lungs were erring on the latter.

Jule could see the blue, leathery skin less than a stone's throw away. And even farther, the heaving bodies of her companions. This was it; her big moment to shine. From an outside viewpoint it looked as though a tiny whale had breached the sea of grass. But from the inside looking out, Jule's limping foot snagged a stone as she lept. "Damn it all!" a shrill voice cried, half-leaping, half-tripping into the clearing. No, no. She could still make this work. While the girl hadn't gained as much height as she needed to look cool as hell, it didn't take much more than a slight maneuver to get the "jump", so to speak, on the Gwyllgi. A kid like her might not weigh much, but the momentum behind Jule soaring through the air with a sword above her head was more than a match for the wounded beast. "Hey, you!!" she screamed as far as her lungs would go. The monster growled, turning its remaining head to see just what nuisance was here to distract it from its prey. What it wasn't expecting was a young pup, barely taller than a mauthe doog, hurtling towards it at break-neck speed. "Die for me!"

Without the added momentum, Jule's sword arm likely wouldn't have broken through the monster's thick tufts of fur. But sailing as she was, Jule brought her sword down like a guillotine and did exactly that: sliced clean through its last head.

Jule tumbled, sword and all, to a halt next to the surely dying beast. "Heah, haha! Yes!! I've done it!" the girl wheezed, covered in a mixture of the Gwyllgi's blood and her own and flat on her back.

That was it for her. No more fighting today. Her arms, legs, torso - everywhere was sore, except for Jule's massive ego. "N-Nailed it..." She pumped her sword in the air.

[Yorick]

"Aaargh. Damn it, aah, it hurts!"

Before she could react, so many things began happening at once. Mila appeared, quickly holding her leg straight and wrapping it in bandages. Wait, why was she holding it with - her leg wasn't broken - oh NO not her javelin...

The rational part of her mind, which would have told her that she had more and that they were cheap, was too busy cowering in a corner as she felt the pain keep pulsing and pulsing, even worse now due to the burning, blinding pain of the healing ointment on her leg. But it would prevent the gangrene, which was the most important factor.

Then a lance smacked into her head, the wood shaft slamming into her forehead and sending her back down to the ground, dazed and defenseless. Thankfully, she wasn't in danger - and what she saw next, from the ground, seemed completely unreal. As if she were hallucinating.

Jule, the runt of the group, came flying out of the grass, sailing through the air just as the martial artist Ajari had after the fight with the Baels. But Jule was not escaping anything - instead, she was soaring to the rescue, coming down with her blade and completely severing the final head from the beast.

"What... the... unholy..."

Yorick's eyes struggled to stay open. She needed a rest, and she was safe now... But she was cold. She needed a blanket or something to keep her warm so she could sleep.

"Mila... I need a blanket... I'm tired and cold... And I need a nap."

Well, they had won the battle, hadn't they? It was over. A drink and a nap... That sounded perfect right now. And maybe a healer, too.

[Mila]

Mila struggled to keep Yorick standing. Slowly she managed to help pull the woman out of the grasses and into the clearing. Jule came out of nowhere at least to Mila and cut the last head off the creature.

“Wow. Wow. WAY TO GO JULE!” She could help but yell that out in celebration. Slowly but surely everyone started to come together and make their way back into town. Mila had given out all of her salve to the wounded so as to stave off infection. But once in town the gang was seen by a proper healer. By night fall the villagers had gathered the bodies of the monsters divided out the spoils and burnt the rest of the carcasses. Some of the skins would be made into rugs and clothes.

Mila was just happy the damned creatures were dead. Her mind wasn’t fully focused on getting any spoils yet she was focused on getting things she could use for her research. Part of her home guild took the wagon down up to see the group and dive out the pay. For now the group of monster slayers could take comfort in knowing that they did a good thing here in the town of Ashe. There were plenty of rooms available in the inn and they were all free to the heroes of Ashe. The mage enjoyed that title.

“True hero was Jule for cutting off the last of its heads.” She commented and accidentally shifting a lot of the attention off of her and towards the young thief. The town had gone a bit crazy in celebration; soon there was food and drink piling in from all corners of the town to the inn. By morning the hype had died down somewhat and the people returned to their lives.

{Exit thread}

OOC- Going to do what buto did. Everyone can write up their own conclusion and the last person can end the thread.

[Donovan]

Donovan stood, ready to become doogfood, when a little sprite of blue burst forth from the bushes. Jule had not only survived that one on one fight, but she had made it in time to help finish the job! The spirited young thief sprinted at the monster, preparing to jump, when Don saw her trip over her feet, and she fell straight into the nearly dead monster. Sword first, at least. Her blade swung cleanly through the creatures neck, apparently meeting the hole Don’s sword had made, and the beast’s head toppled to the ground.

The bloodstained mercenary smiled, then laughed, then let himself fall to the ground. “Jule, you are an absolute killer!” He had no idea how this small group had managed to take down such a large pack, but they’d all come out with their lives and a few injuries - though nothing a good staff wouldn’t be able to take care of.

Standing up, he approached the thief that’d save their skins and clapped her on the back. “N-Nailed it…” she muttered. Her breath smelled… well, like bile. But he wouldn’t mention it. The girl deserved her moment. He took his cloak out of his satchel and passed it to Yorrick when she asked for a blanket. “I think we are gonna need a drink when we get back in town, Slayer. First rounds on me.”

As everyone gathered up their equipment and took what they wanted from the Doogs, Donovan made one final sweep around the site. The tall green grass swayed pleasantly, despite the splashes of red blood all around them. A barely audible yip caught his attention. Sword in hand, the mercenary approached the source of the noise and saw, to his surprise, a baby fox, no more than 2 months old. It was shyly poking its head out of its den, where the body of the creature’s mother lay. It appeared that the Doogs had gotten to her. The baby fox was sitting by her, yipping softly and occasionally chewing on a branch. “So you’re who stepped on that twig, huh, Little Guy?” Scooping up the kit, he held him up and looked him in the eyes. “Let’s keep that between you and me, alright?” He quickly and quietly slipped the pup into his satchel and joined the rest of his companions.

The group headed back to Ashe, knowing that they’d have a good healer and a hot bath when they got there. Donovan hung in the back, avoiding getting too close to anyone, in case they noticed the fox kit - just in case. He’d made a sling out of his back up shirt, the wound on his shoulder making it difficult to lift his shield arm more than a couple inches. It had been a good day, and the silver tongued mercenary felt like he’d spend the next couple of days in Ashe as he waited for the Giant to join him. It had been a good day.

[Exit Thread]

[Jule]

With that final flourish the teen let herself buckle to the ground, her chest heaving. She didn't need to open her eyes to know she'd gotten off lucky among her comrades- Jule's clothes were irreparably torn in a dozen places, and underneath she felt hot, searing pain leaking out of her skin. Her breath smelled awful too. And her hand the devil wolf bit was starting to go numb. But most importantly, her stomach was growling something awful. Regardless, Jule would be able to walk(limp?) back on her own two feet with her own load of spoils. In her own mind she'd carried the day, but more importantly the Verdant Cross was impressed with her. Jule allowed herself a few moments of rest, but pretty soon the thief needed to scrape herself up off the ground. Slowly she rose up to meet the cheers of her new friends, and a clap on the back that made her wince.

"Jule, you are an absolute killer!" "Wow. Wow. WAY TO GO JULE!"

The rest of the day, Jule's cheeks never dropped a shade below rosy pink.

The Verdant Cross returned to Ashe not as jobbers, but as heroes. In their honor, the tiny village threw a celebration - just for them! The guild managed to salvage what they could of the mauthe doogs, and once they arrived in Ashe they split the spoils of battle fairly. And as the girl lugged her hunk of pelt throughout town looking for a tanner, Mila's report quickly blew into a rumor way out of proportion. Was it really true that Jule grew wings and soared through the sky, to sever all three Gwyllgi heads with one blow? Or that she drove her sword straight through the belly of the beast like a skewer? Or that the monster hunter balled the thief up and pitched her like a dart? The little variations on the mage's story started to pile up, and soon Ashe was ablaze with rumors more wilder than the last. Pretty soon, even Jule couldn't separate the truth from fiction. Not that she minded too particularly much.

--

"Eh? You want me to make coat linin' outta this stuff?" remarked the old tanner, rotating the skins this way and that. "These doog pelts are a little bit shabby, but I'll see what I can make. It's the least I can do for you, Miss Slayer. Come back the day after t'morrow; let's talk pay then."

--

With nothing to do but to relax, Jule finally dove headfirst into the festivities. A warm meal, a warm bath, a warm coat, and a warm bar to tell stories in... Now this was the life of a warrior . If this was how mercenaries lived it up after every mission, maybe life as a transient wouldn't be so bad after all.


[Exit Thread]