Madam Trixie visibly relaxed once the Kouen man who identified himself as Lu Feng dropped from his battle stance. Diego listened to the man's reason for fighting the Black Crows, relating to the feeling of revenge. After the man finished, Diego beamed at Lu Feng and extended his hand to offer the man a chance for the time-honored clasping of hands. "Nice to meet you, Lu Feng! Let's do this together!" Diego shouted and leaped into the air, punching the sky with an abundance of youthful energy.
Diego hummed a tune and skipped alongside Lu Feng as they headed east, Trixie following at his heel. While they walked, Zanzibar peered over at the Kouen man, blinking up with four bright eyes.
"Squee~" The spider wriggled his furry, white mandibles as he warbled cheerfully. Leaping off Trixie's back, Zanzibar attempted to land on the man's back to give a friendly arachnid hug.
Garret paused, shuddering slightly at the feeling of the over-sized spirder crawling on his back. Stopping in his tracks, he looked over to Diego.
"Have the beast removed from my back." It wasn't simply the strange feeling of the beast that suddenly jumped upon him that caused Garret to say this, but a need for caution; should this young child give a command, the beast could attack immediately. Garret's hand gravitated to where he had hid his wand on him earlier; the boy did not yet know he was a magician, and Garret wanted to keep it that way, but he would do what he had to do in the event that he was suddenly attacked.
Diego noticed Zanzibar leap and judged Lu Feng's reaction before telling the spider to get down with a whistle. He held up his hands with a bashful look on his face, "I apologize, he is a cuddler. I think it's because Zanzibar likes to be carried."
With a sad,
"Swiggity~", Zanzibar let go of Garret and skittered back up Trixie's leg to rest on her back. The fuzzball turned his head away from the Kouen man and pouted. Diego ran his hand down the spider's back as silence passed between the group.
Growing uncomfortable with the quiet, Diego looked over at Garret. Diego wasn't sure what to make of the man's reserved nature. It reminded him of the way Liber had acted when they first met, though the Fanalis had warmed up. Still, there was something dangerous about Lu Feng when he grew serious. He couldn't blame the man for being cautious and had no reason not to trust him, so Diego overlooked it.
"Do you like stories?" Diego asked eagerly, before he took a deep breath and told one anyway. With an oral skill that reflected much practice, he assumed a storyteller tone as he told one of Trixie's favorite tales. It was a story of Madam Trixie, the Pirate Queen, who sailed the seven seas fighting wicked men and chasing treasure. This particular tale was one where her and her fleet of a thousand ships fought against a corrupt leader of a small country to the south of the Western Continent. He spoke using his arms to bring the story to life while Trixie purred at his side, pleased to hear the story.
"Anyway, if you can tell, Trixie loves stories about the Pirate Queen. That's how she got her name." He smiled brightly at Garret before looking back to the road. The smile left his face as he bent down, looking at the tracks left in the dirt. The lessons that his father had taught him kicked in as he studied each marking. He noticed that there was a great deal of horse traffic along this stretch and stood up. "We should get off the road now."
Pointing to the woods along the side of the path, Diego took the lead and stepped through the treeline. Taking care of where he stepped on the leaf-covered floor, he traversed quietly, Trixie as well. The pair of hunters stalked through the woods until they could see the fort through the trees. The fort was located at the foot of the mountain, blocking the path further up the pass.
With a couple clicks of his tongue, Diego told Trixie to scout out the perimeter. With a quiet grunt, the tiger melted into the woods, following them around the camp to sniff out and spot the guards. While they waited Diego whispered, "We'll see how many there are before we go in." Staring past the trees, Diego thought he made out two archers along the walls.
When Trixie came back, Diego fed a stream of magoi into his
Beast Tamer's Bracelet and asked her how many there were. A few green Rukh fluttered by, unseen by the Fanalis, as her grunts were translated into a form Diego could understand. He got a picture of two men atop the wall and four others that patrolled around the fort. "I'm going to make a distraction so you can get around and slip inside."
With that Diego motioned for Trixie and Zanzibar to wait behind as he sprinted out of the woods. When he was within thirty meters, Diego loudly shouted, "HEY! GIVE ME MY PURPLE RUKKIES BACK!"
Getting the attention of the camp, the Black Crow Archers brought an arrow to their bows and aimed it at the boy. Two of the Black Crow Swordsman approached, unsheathing their swords as they got closer. They stood ten meters away and leered at the boy, "Your what? Are you lost boy?"
Diego shook his head with a pouty lip, "My purple Rukkies!" He stamped his foot, cracking the ground. "Give them back!" With that he burst forward and aimed a
punch at the Swordsman on the right. His fist met the man's face and sent him back, but not before he
stabbed Diego in the side. The Fanalis ignored the metal biting through his side and spun to face the other Swordsman.
Unlike his friend, the second swordsman was ready and directed a
horizontal slash towards Diego's head. Diego stepped back and way from the slash a little too slowly, receiving a scratch to his cheek. He hissed from the sting and jumped in the air to perform a
spinning kick. His leg crashed against the man's skull and knocked him to the ground, his sword sent spinning away. With a piercing whistle, he signaled for Trixie to come to him.
By this time the archers had alerted the camp of his presence and loosed their
arrows. Diego landed from his kick and heard one of them whiz by his head as the other struck him in his shoulder. Realizing he was a sitting target, Diego began to run in a zig-zag motion to avoid any oncoming arrows. He winced as he unlodged the arrow from his shoulder and scolded himself for getting sloppy. Slipping Determination off his shoulder, Diego nocked five arrows and launched a
Multi-hit at the Archers. Each arrow fanned out and with the distance between Diego and the the archers, only one struck home.
Meanwhile, Trixie ran out of the woods and stumbled upon an unsuspecting Swordsman trying to creep around Diego. With a pounce, Trixie tackled the man to the ground and
slashed his chest with her claws before continuing on towards her master. Seeing the archers send two
Aimed Shots at Diego, Trixie snarled and leaped over the wall to land on the ramp nearby. The man cried out as she charged forward and
slashed the man's belly open, spilling his guts to the ground.
The man collapsed opening up a shot for the final Archer to launch a
Flying Net at the tiger. Trixie got tangled in the net, lost her footing and fell onto the wooden floor. With a hiss, the white tiger used her fangs to tear through the net. The archer shot her with an
arrow as she got out of the trap, hitting her in the back, inches from Zanzibar. The spider warbled as Trixie pounced onto the Archer, her fangs
snatching his throat violently.
Diego was able to dodge one of the Aimed Shots sent at him, but the other hit him in the uninjured shoulder. He dropped his bow from the pain and dropped to a knee, but thankfully Trixie had taken over. After removing the arrow, Diego made sure it hadn't hurt anything vital and looked around, wondering how Lu Feng was faring.
[1500+/1500]
Diego: D+D+D+C
Trixie: D
Sky: B-Tier Damage
3 Swordsman + 2 Archers Fallen[145/160 stam]
- Spoiler:
Name: Multi-Hit
Tier: D-Tier
Cost: 10 Stam
Class Offensive
Range: 30 meters
Duration:1 post
Cool-Down: 2 post
Description: Diego fires five arrows at 15 meters per second, and can hit up to 5 different targets. The arrows cause minor bruises or cuts. This deals a maximum of D-Tier damage.
Name: Determination
Tier: C-Tier
Type: Bow
Appearance: A 1.2 meter tall wooden bow. It is a lightweight, durable bow designed by his trainer, Gallus.
Ammo Appearance: 18 centimeter long arrows with a narrow head. The edges are sharp with jagged edges, designed for hunting and tearing muscle. [10 FREE AMMO]
Name: Beast Tamer's Bracelet
Tier: C
Type: Communication Item
Magic Type: Sound
Appearance: A silver bracelet engraved with various animals around the outside and a small magical circle inscribed on the inside.
Function:
- The user can register 1 Sound Ability to use by wearing the bracelet which must be trained. The ability can be C-tier or below.
- By paying 5 magoi once per post, a Dominance beast's vocalizations are translated so the wearer can understand them. Communication is the key to a strong relationship.
*This does not take up any of your item/weapon slots