A glorious return

John’s eyes followed the chain attached to the axe that had struck the spot he had just been standing at. As his eyes wandered, he spotted who it was that had attacked without a moment’s notice. It was a creature, the shadows of the cave prevented him from getting a good look just yet. He did, however, get a good look at whatever his assailant had been riding on. It was a giant, hungry looking guinea pig. As John’s mouth dropped open underneath his mask, he cried out: “Bob! What the fuck are you doing here?” Only to have to activate his newest skills a second time to flee another lash of the chain headed for his head.

“You know this being, John!?” Ilis called out to him as she ran her hands through her pockets, trying to find something of use against their new foe.

John, trying to catch his breath as Jack and Toph took positions around him, shook his head. “Not the creature on top of him, no. I… just know the mount. I killed its rider in a barrier a few days ago.” John explained as he fired an arrow at the rider, only to see it spin a blunt looking object in its off hand and split the arrow in two.

“Fuck me,” John cursed under his breath. Keeping his weight on the front of his feet, he tried to keep out of reach of the lashing chains flying at his head. While Ilis grabbed a new piece of gear from her apron, Bob decided he’d had enough of standing around and charged down his little slope, straight at John.

With a mighty peep, the hulking furball opened its maw wide, carrying its sandy brown rider down upon John. Before he could make a move, though, Jack and Toph rushed at their foes, an icy road forming underneath Jack’s paws as he dashed straight at Bob, Toph meanwhile balling herself up and jumping straight into the path of the hammer that was making a new round, aimed at John’s body.

It happened within seconds; the newly formed crystals on Toph’s body grew in luster; a sound like vibrating glass rang out, but instead of getting knocked away, Toph’s newly enhanced scales actually managed to pierce the weapon, dragging it down with her as Toph finished her jump and reached the ground again. Starting to burrow away, locking at least one of their assailants' weapons underground. At the same time, Jack ducked directly underneath the gaping, toothy maw of the guinea pig. The ice spread out, a loud, feline snarl echoing through the cave before Jack actively dismissed himself back to John’s tattoo, exhausted by the day’s events.

Bob’s hindlegs started to slip, the grip on his front legs offset by the ice covering the ground behind him. An arrow then hit the ground right between his front legs. Just a moment later, a giant hole opened up, sending the mount tumbling into a pitfall as its rider jumped off, staring daggers at John who had seemingly effortlessly taken care of its mount.

Still light on his feet, John decided to keep his distance, calling out to the creature, “So, are we going to talk now, or do you want to keep fighting?”
A surprisingly feminine voice answered him, “You denied me EVERYTHING! You want to talk? YOU WANT TO TALK? How dare you!” as a new chain found itself into the creature’s hand, flying out towards John. Seeing another blunt object flying straight at his eyes. John, more in instinct than anything else, dropped his body backwards, thanking Gaia for his Limber perk as he fell into a full on reverse bridge position. The chain was soon slammed down by its wielder though, forcing John to roll out of the way, however not before the learning hunter cast one of his spells where his hand had just been touching.

Panting for breath, John rolled across the rocky dungeon floor. His energy emptied out by casting his skills in rapid succession, but the vines firmly locking the second chain to the ground seemed to hold, for now at least.

John looked at the creature attacking them just as he heard a loud ‘TWANG’ from Ilis’ direction. A crossbow bolt flew at their assailant’s back, a perfect shot from her blind spot, or so it seemed before an appendage, not seen so far, struck at the bolt, smashing it as the creature tried to, futilely, pull their weapons free.

Pure rage could be felt from the creature, her arms bulging as she tried to get her weapons back. “COWARD!” she screamed. “I demand justice! I demand my vengeance!” The creature fumbled with the chains as John got to his feet.

“For fuck’s sake! I have no clue what you’re talking about!” he yelled back, aiming his bow at the creature while Bob desperately tried, and failed, to get out of his hole.

“LIAR!” it shrieked. “You killed them! They were mine by right! You denied me my vengeance!” she spat at him, throwing what looked to be a stone hammer his way, and just like that, it clicked for John.

“Wait, time out,” John spoke as he once more lept to the side. “I know those hammers.” slowly lowering his bow. “You’re from Meltarian Castle, aren't you?” he asked as he took in the creature, fuming and cursing at him, locked in place by her own weapons.

Standing in front of John, hands still tugging on the chains, was a person from a race he had never seen before. Having heard the voice, he knew she was a woman. But John was so overwhelmed by what she looked like, he was just processing what he saw more than anything. She stood at 2 meters 10/6ft8 ish. Her shoulders were broad, her body muscular but not anywhere near a roidrat. Her muscles flowed, tightly knit together, but were not bulging out. Strong but not bulky. What stood out more, though, was the fact that she was clearly reptilian in origin. Clusters of sandy brown, hexagonal scales covered the top of her shoulders, lower arms, her forehead down into her hairline, cheeks and midriff. John assumed there would be more of these clusters in the places currently covered by her gear. Where her skin wasn’t made up of scales, a slightly lighter, soft, almost human-like skin could be seen. Another indicator of her reptilian origin was the flatness of her chest; as far as John could see, she had no breasts to speak of, if any. Dulled, rounded spikes were packed around her wrists, interceded with thicker, scarred scales. At her hands, there were a total of four fingers and a thumb. The thing that surprised John the most was the complete lack of nails. Instead, the back of her fingers too were covered in slender bone growths. Her facial features in and of itself were feminine by human standards, the same sandy brown colored eyebrows as her scales were, a small nose, slender lips and distinct lack of visible ears. Her hair was decently short, pulled back into a braid, it hung just shy of her shoulder blades, feathers woven into it. Her legs, as far as John could see, were standard humanoid fare, the only distinction being the fact that her bare feet too lacked nails. This led John to the final and most distinct feature he could make out. A tail. It sprouted just north of her ass, growing more slender until it reached the end, where it morphed into a distinct hammer like shape, though John could swear he had seen her morph it into this though, thinking that it had been just a slender tip when she had destroyed the bolt. John was half sure she had omnivorous teeth, but at the moment, he had no desire to ask her to open her mouth so he could inspect. Her eyes were sharp, emerald green with a small, black pin of a pupil, watching his every move as he tried to make sense of who she was, and why she had attacked him.

“So you admit it!” she hissed at him, nostrils flaring as she glared at him. “You took my **** from me, then disappeared. In the name of Clan Thundersmile, I challenge you to a duel, honorless cur.”