All Three

As much as you had hoped to be able to isolate each hero and remove them on their own, that was not to be today. The tracks you follow eventually lead you close enough to your quarry that you begin to pick up some noises. Specifically voices. Great. You hear at least two distinct voices discussing something, you’re not close enough just yet to pick up all the details.

With your prey so close at hand you focus even more on stealth, hoping to get close enough for a full view of the situation before acting further. As you stalk closer you realize they’re not moving for the moment, and the voices you hear seem to be rising in volume. Notes of frustration enter the discussion. An argument maybe? You could only hope.

“The quest just asks us to find him, it’s not like we’re going to steal your kill or something.” The first words that you hear in their entirety are not what you expect. A quest to find someone? Is it an NPC they’re looking for? In this area? That was unlikely. Scout quest. You think on those words again and it begins to make sense. It would seem that after she had respawned that Frey had posted some sort of quest to find you.

“I just wanted to be the first.” Came a reply to the first voice, petulant frustration evident in the words. Both voices so far had been feminine. Not all bad luck then, you grin slightly and think of the fun you’d had with Frey and wonder if other adventurers could provide the same entertainment. No telling until you actually see them though, so you creep close enough to peer through the undergrowth at the two arguing heroes.

From the angle you peer out from you’re greeted by the slender, leather covered legs of the hunter standing just before you. Not one of the ones that had been taking part in the argument, she watches the others with a look of bemusement while waiting for them to resolve the issue. You hold your breath, desperately hoping that your movement hadn’t made enough sound to alert her. When she doesn't look behind her you relax just a bit and take a moment to look at the others around her.

A short distance away stands an amazon of a warrior. She’s significantly taller than you and the smaller form of the mage she’s trying to placate. Her face is blocked by the body of the ranger from where you’re peeking from. The warrior wears leather armor which doesn’t look to be anything fancy: a skirt fashioned from studded lengths of leather; a form fitting breast plate that covers, barely, her sizable assets; as well as some studded bracers. Sturdy boots complete her ensemble. There aren’t any embellishments to it that you’d expect of higher level equipment so it is safe to say she is a lower level hero. The name tag above her head supports this.

Sheila Swiftblade, Level 8 Warrior

Human, Hero, Active, Explicit

Higher level than you but not so much that taking her on would be an immediate **** sentence. The mage in front of her is dressed in simple black robes that don’t show much of her tiny body. You can make out a slight swell in the robes over her chest, but the rest of any curves she might have are lost in the voluminous folds of the rune embroidered robes. Her face is uncovered though and her lips are formed into a pout that does justice to what you’ve heard from her so far.

Ciani, Level 10 Mage

Halfling, Hero, Active, Explicit

She may pose more of a problem, especially if they all decide to group up after all. Still, she seems to be used to playing on her own with how **** she is to let the other two go on ahead with their own scouting quest.

“Non-lethal quest or not, I don’t want you two taking my credit. So get lost and let me do this. I know he’s close.” Ciani didn’t seem to want to budge on the topic and neither did the warrior Sheila. The arguing continues and you decide that you can use the time to your advantage. You designate the ranger as prey, figuring her to be the most careful of the bunch and slowly withdraw, taking one last appreciative look at the leather clad ass of the as of yet nameless ranger. You hadn’t been able to get a good view of her name tag from your position on the ground behind her.

You had an idea of how to handle the three heroes. You went to work setting some traps for them. Live snares mostly that were sturdy enough to hold the weight of even the warrior for a time. Long enough to give you an advantage at least. When the snares were set you considered your bandolier of salves and after thinking on it you pull out one that Chava had told you was a vision serum. You seem to recall her mentioning that it had been made from the red and white spotted mushrooms. If it was potent enough to give visions then maybe it would at least dull the reactions of a hero, if not incapacitate them.

You coat the tips of your javelins with a liberal dose of the stuff. You’d have to be careful not to prick yourself now that they were prepared. Making your way back to where the heroes had been you nearly panic to see them getting ready to leave each other. Forgetting that it would be best if they did split and only thinking of the preparations you’d made so far you hurriedly ready yourself to throw the first javelin. You target the mage as she turned away and throw. Your proficiency with thrown items kicked in and the shaft flew true, streaking mostly silently through the air to hit its target. A few leaves rustled in the weapon’s passing and the heroes turned as one to witness the shaft lodge itself into the shoulder of the diminutive mage. Score! You feel elation for a moment as the weapon strikes home before the feeling turns to dread as the higher level heroes as one rush your location. You aim once more and throw your remaining javelin, nearly striking the warrior only for them to bat the projectile out of the way at the last moment with their sword.

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. SHIT! The warrior and ranger rush you as you begin to turn to run. Time to get out of here. You flee towards the traps you’d had time to set and desperately hope that they don’t have the perception to notice the danger as they rush after you.

The mage follows in pursuit more slowly and you notice as you turn their pupils have gone wide. The dilation, you hope, is a sign of the coating on the javelin taking effect. She stumbles forward and you can no longer watch as you rush to lure on the remaining players. Running full out through the trees now you listen to the crashing sounds of pursuit behind you. The warrior is throwing caution to the wind in their rush to catch you. The way she’s cursing up a storm as she draws closer doesn’t make you think that she’ll let you off the hook for the surprise attack easily.

You leap over one of the triggers of your traps and listen for any sign that Sheila had fallen for the snare. A brief yelp of surprise brings a smile to your face as you begin to circle back around. You’re not out of the woods yet. Literally and figuratively. If the ranger frees her team mate you’ll be right back where you started. Your best bet is to engage the ranger on her own while the warrior struggles in your trap.

As you return to the snare you see the warrior dangling upside down, the straps of her skirt fully inverted to show the tight shorts beneath the armor. You’d happily take several moments to consider that view but for the moment you pry your gaze loose and search for the ranger, of which there is no sign.

“What the fuck?! Let me down!” The cries of the warrior fill your hearing so you can’t pinpoint any noises that may give away the ranger as they approach. You settle for waiting where the ranger couldn’t spring her friend free by surprise. You’ll be able to see her coming, and you can keep an eye on the warrior to make sure she doesn’t get up to anything to free herself. In fact… You wield your spear and whip the tip up to smack Sheila’s hand as she begins to draw a dagger to free herself with.

“Try again that again and I’ll end you now.” You snarl up at her. Your eyes in the perfect place to watch as an arrow streaked in front of you. The bladed edge of the arrow’s head parted the woven strands of your trap easily and was followed by a sharp snap! As the strands broke fully. You reacted quickly, stabbing the spear into the leg of the warrior as she fell, hoping to slow her. She cries out in surprise as she begins to fall and then pain as your spear pierces her thigh. You see her health bar drop a bit and you curse. Not nearly as much damage as you’d hoped. You stab at her once more as she struggles to right herself and score one more hit before you leap away from a wild swing of the sword she’d managed to wield while she scrambles to her feet.

You run towards where the arrow had come from, trusting in your senses and the bonuses you get from tracking your prey to lead you to where the ranger had taken their shot. They’re no longer there but you see their trail as though their footsteps were painted on the ground, and you have no trouble whatsoever following them. You return the spear to a sling on your back and drop to all fours, using your entire body to speed your pursuit. If they’re using a bow you’ll make the fight a melee and ensure they can’t get a shot off.

Running full out it doesn’t take long to catch up to the ranger. You have just long enough to catch their information before you leap towards them; your claws outstretched and ready to tear into your prey.

Shay Tanglewood, Level 8 Ranger

Human, Hero, Active, Explicit

“This is such bullshit! The quest said he was level 5!” You can hear the ranger gasp as she runs from you, but not fast enough. You collide with her and drag her down to the ground with you. You have no time for finesse knowing that the warrior won’t be that far behind. Your teeth and claws rip, tear, and shred with wild abandon. Just as you think you’ve finished off your target a rending pain briefly precedes a boot crashing into your rib cage hard enough to send you tumbling. You howl in surprised pain and anger, a sizable chunk of your health vanishes from the attack. You scramble to your feet and turn to face the aggressor to find that it didn’t take as long for the warrior to catch up as you were hoping. She holds a sword and a shield, and crouches in a defensive stance between you and the ranger.

“You OK, Shay?” Sheila calls to her friend, wary of you, her eyes never stray from where you crouch on the forest floor.

“Yea, bastard almost got me. He’s two levels higher than the quest said, the fuck is up with that? I didn’t know that mobs could level.” Shay gingerly brought herself up from the ground, brushing leaves from her armor and retrieving a healing potion from her inventory. Not good for you.

“You sure he’s the one from the quest?” Shay rolled her eyes at the question.

“Duh, the objective to find him is ticked. What more do we need? Also what the hell is Godtouched. I’ve never seen a mob with that trait before.” Sheila shrugged at the question, as clueless as Shay. “Whatever. Hey, fuckface. Teeth-for-brains over there. Yea. You.” You cock your head in confusion as she begins to address you and scowl realizing the insulting names she’d just called you.

“Show some respect human.” You snarl at her, not showing any satisfaction as they jump in surprise. “You invade my territory and have the nerve to insult me?” Your hackles rise in a threatening manner and the warrior puts their hands up in a placating gesture.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on. We didn’t come here to fight you, and Shay didn’t mean anything by--”

“Yes I did-- Ow! What was that for?” Shay began to interrupt and flinched as Sheila kicked her shin.

“Like I said. Shay didn’t mean anything by her words.” She glared at the ranger. “We’re just supposed to find you. Shay’s sis put out the quest. She said a warg had gotten the best of her and the system gave her the option to issue a quest when she respawned. Something about a unique monster providing unique opportunities or something like that. So, we found you. What’s the quest say next Shay?” She shot over her shoulder to her still fuming friend.

“Um, hang on. So it looks like we can either help him for some XP and a unique item, or ya know. Kill him. I vote for that one.” She glares at you, something in her look and her anger makes you think that she knows just what happened to her sister and she’s not about to forget or forgive.

“Jealous?” You ask her, unable to resist prodding the sleeping dire wolf. Her eyes widen briefly, followed by the scowl she directs your way.

“Excuse me?” She asks through gritted teeth. You can see her body grow tense as she readies to act. You simply sneer in response, your tongue lolls out from the side of your mouth in the most smug, mocking expression you can muster. In the next moment you’re on the run once more and you hear Shay in hot pursuit despite the calls from Sheila for her to wait up. This was turning into one hell of an encounter.