Open Chronicles Monster on the Loose!

[Calvin Kane]

"Cal... Calvin Kane, it was nothing, you needed help, and I just so happened to be nearby to do so-" Cal suddenly saw something in the dirt. he grabbed his dagger and was about to throw it into the ground when a Juvenile Basilisk lunged out from the ground, gazing into the guards' eyes, turning them to stone. Cal threw his dagger into one of its eyes. "Don't Look at it! Use a reflective surface!" Cal's orders made him sound like a general of an army, clearly, he had experience with this kind of stuff.

Zulryn Oknu Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Don't look at it!

Came the cry from behind Garrod, his hand still wrapped around the Leshy's heart. Its golden sap tripped across the white claws that were the tips of his bone-white gauntlet's fingers.

Give me this heart, oh bearer mine. Belephus whispered from within his mind. Give me this heart, and I will protect you against the creature the young man yells about now.

Use a reflective surface!

Garrod crushed the leshy's heart in the palm of his white gauntlet. The ichor sprayed and seeped and soaked into the chitonous armor. The relic, that always looked so alive, drank in the viscus viscera, and the jeweled eye of Belephus did shine. Garrod drew in a deep breath as he heard the pained hiss of the serpent. Felt the surge of storm arc through him once more, as all his hairs stood on end.

With a twist of the hip he turned toward the sound he had last heard. The thunk of knife, the pain of beast. He saw it, recoiling in agony as it was. Its eye, not quite on him yet. His relic clad hand, clear of any of the Leshy's nectar, sizzled with webs of lightning.

Garrod snapped his bone-white fingers.

A bolt of lighting flashed forward. White hot and blinding. It struck through the Basilisk and scorched the trunk of a tree far beyond it. The basilisk steamed. Its once good eye boiled in its socket, popped in an instant flash of heat, and the creature fell dead to the ground.

Belephus laughed, raucous and gleeful inside Garrod's head.

The monster hunter let out a long breath, and sheathed his carving knife a he moved to pick up the Greatsword he'd planted in the ground earlier. He strode without hesitation, and cleaved the basilisk's head clean off of its charred corpse.

"Zulryn," he said as he stabbed his sword down into the ground once more before he bent low and opened the dead and cooked thing's maw. "The fangs of a Basilisk, can be used to make a poltice that heals," he nodded to the petrified guards. "Calvin, why don't you cut open the serpent's body, see if the bladder is still in tact." Garrod wiggled free a long curved fang. Careful not to let its end stab him. "Could also help in making a resistance potion, case there is a nest of these around that needs exterminating," another tooth pulled free, and he set it down neatly on the floor beside him.

"You lot hungry?" he asked. "Basilisk meat's mighty tasty when cooked right," he nodded to the still steaming creature, "Tear yourselves a piece and head off, get help from an apothecary if you can, or a healer," he pulled his knife out once more and started skinning the head. "I'll harvest what I can in the meantime."

How strange... that two apex creatures, naturally at odds with one another, were so close to each other, and so soon.

Bone crunched, and skin popped as Garrod went about his work.

Zulryn Oknu Calvin Kane

 

[Zulryn Oknu]

"Don't Look at it! Use a reflective surface!" Cal's orders made him sound like a general of an army, clearly, he had experience with this kind of stuff.

She ducked her head at the warning, only moving when Sir Garrod called for her. She really appreciated his presence with them. Sending a sympathetic look to the guards, she ran up to the group.

"Zulryn," he said as he stabbed his sword down into the ground once more before he bent low and opened the dead and cooked thing's maw. "The fangs of a Basilisk, can be used to make a poltice that heals," he nodded to the petrified guards.

She nodded and gathered up the fangs, planning to run to the city. She had some basic knowledge in herbs and the like—her element was earth, after all—but she didn’t want to ruin the medicine accidentally.

"You lot hungry?" he asked. "Basilisk meat's mighty tasty when cooked right," he nodded to the still steaming creature, "Tear yourselves a piece and head off, get help from an apothecary if you can, or a healer," he pulled his knife out once more and started skinning the head. "I'll harvest what I can in the meantime."

"You lot hungry?" he asked. "Basilisk meat's mighty tasty when cooked right," he nodded to the still steaming creature, "Tear yourselves a piece and head off, get help from an apothecary if you can, or a healer," he pulled his knife out once more and started skinning the head.

“I don’t eat meat, but thank you. Will you be okay by yourself?” Two monsters appearing, one after another, was unusual as far as she knew, and she worried about what would happen next. Sir Garrod was more than capable of taking care of himself, of course, but these were not normal creatures.

Garrod Arlette Calvin Kane Magus Debekatuta

 

[Calvin Kane]

Cal Stood in shock at what just happened. "Wha-" was all he could get out as the Basilisk laid itself down permanently. "Bloody hell..." He went to work and harvested everything he could from the Basilisk. "How close are we to ruins? the leshy's roar might have startled this thing. Which means if this is just a juvenile, the mother is near..." He added with slight irritation: "Also, I prefer Cal... if you don't mind..." Griffith screeched angrily at Garrod, seemingly adding something to Cal's sentence.
Garrod Arlette
Zulryn Oknu

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Garrod kept to his work as the younger man spoke. Tall and strong and confident.

Everything you are not, Belephus laughed, the sound full of cruelty as it echoed in the monster hunter's mind.

He grumbled, and carried on cutting bits of flesh and parting out organs. "The ruins," Garrod let out as his knife pulled through tough sinew and bone with a tear and a pop. "Is not part of our contract," another plunge of the knife, another segment removed. "Nor is a mother basilisk," the words came as advice. "And," he looked to Zulryn. "I believe we will be fine, hurry now, the sooner we can apply softing agents, the better chance these guards come free of their petrification without complication,"

He took a hunk of meat in hand, and stood when the work was done. His knife clicked into its sheath, and he tore into the wet piece of flesh with his teeth as the gryphon screeched.

"What, you want some?" he asked through mouthful of raw basilisk, and shook the hunk of jiggly flesh in his hand at the gryph.

Zulryn Oknu Calvin Kane

 

[Calvin Kane]

Griffith Craned his head and trotted back to Cal, who handed the Gryph a fattier piece of meat, which Griffith gulped down. "he likes the fat, also you should worry about it, the Mother could be close by, and if it sees what we are doing to its young..."

Zulryn Oknu Garrod Arlette

 

[Zulryn Oknu]

As Zulryn lightly jogged back to the city, she caught the tail end of Garrod’s and Calvin’s conversation. The baby was already so scary, a mother basilisk would be terrifying, but she willed herself to focus on getting to a healer for now. They can handle themselves.

Asking around yielded directions to a bustling apothecary, where she had to wait in a line for her turn. The head healer raised both eyebrows at the sharp fangs on her table, but she was probably used to weird requests by now, as she made the poltice without much questions.

Zulryn rushed back to where the guards were and barely greeted Garrod and Calvin before getting to work, applying them on the petrified men.

Garrod Arlette Magus Debekatuta Calvin Kane

 

[Calvin Kane]

Cal scouted the surrounding area, but nothing yet... he knew the mother basilisk would be here soon, and he preferred to be prepared. "the mother will come, and I intend to fight it, its fang would be a perfect trophy..."
Griffith nodded happily in agreement.
Zulryn oknu garrod arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Garrod glanced at the eager young adventurer. "Basilisks are known to cannibalize their young, Cal," he took another bight out of his hunk of basilisk flesh, and looked over at the city guard. "But you are free to go trophy hunting," he finished the last bight of meat, and wiped off what blood and juice might have dribbled on his chin.

When Zulryn returned he helped her administer the softing agent, starting to spread the poultice across the guards. First he would smear the mess across their forehead, then their chest, and finally a quick line across each of their limbs.

"Well done, Zulryn," the older monster hunter said as he worked. "They shouldn't have too many complications from this, but," some of the stone skin effect was starting to wear off. Layers of petrified matter slowly regaining its supple nature as moisture seeped in through porous stone. "Only one way to find out, I suppose," he looked over his shoulder and to the woods, where Cal had ventured off.

Some part of him worried that that boy would get himself killed.

Wouldn't be the first you've seen die, oh bearer mine, Belephus teased, green fire eyes squinted with a happy smile inside the darkness of his mind.

The monster hunter clicked his teeth, and kept on with applying the poultice.

Zulryn Oknu Calvin Kane

 

[Zulryn Oknu]

She stared worriedly at the melting stone, hands clasped. Soon, the rock dripped into nothing and the guards turned to skin and blood again. They collapsed on the ground, breathing wildly. Zulryn awkwardly patted them on the back in sympathy, before looking at where Calvin went off to.

“...Should we go after him?” They barely evaded danger, but life-saving favors should definitely be paid back. At least in her opinion.

Calvin Kane Garrod Arlette Magus Debekatuta

 

[Calvin Kane]

Cal walked out of the woods, Griffith tailing him. "Nothing... no ruins, no basilisk... where did that one come from?"

Garrod Arlette Zulryn Oknu

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Garrod narrowed his eye, sight line trailing where he had seen the fresh-faced adventurer get off to. "I suppose we should," he grumbled. The guards looked well enough. Breathing, moving. Wide eyed with the horror that lingered after one turned to stone,

"What... what happened?!" one man managed through chattering teeth. His eyes never stopped darting back and forth between Garrod and Zulryn.

"You got unlucky," Garrod grumbled. "Then I guess fate decided to even your odds a bit," Garrod jabbed a gauntleted thum toward the smaller adventurer as he smirked.

The guard looked to Zulryn. "You, you saved us?" then he looked back to Garrod who was already walking away and toward the woods. His right hand put what was left of the poultice jar away in his satchel, and his fingers came free with another small glass vial, round and full of a silvery blue liquid. He gave it a little shake, and called back to Zulryn. "Strix essence," he said it with hate rumbling his chords.

"Tastes awful, and you don't want to know what it is made out of," he tossed her the little vial. "If we find this... basilisk nest, then make sure you drink it before the fighting gets going in earnest," he clicked his teeth and set his gaze upon the horizon. "Will help you resist the basilik's leer,"

Zulryn Oknu Calvin Kane

 

[Zulryn Oknu]

The guard looked to Zulryn. "You, you saved us?"

Zulryn shrugged. “We just applied the poultice on you. Thank the lady at the apothecary, she was really quick.”

The guards looked at each other, then nodded. The older one said, voice slowly becoming calmer, “Still, you helped too. We owe our lives to you both.” He pushed at the younger one and they both bowed. Zulryn shook her hands but reluctantly accepted it.

"Strix essence," he said it with hate rumbling his chords.

"Tastes awful, and you don't want to know what it is made out of," he tossed her the little vial. "If we find this... basilisk nest, then make sure you drink it before the fighting gets going in earnest," he clicked his teeth and set his gaze upon the horizon. "Will help you resist the basilik's leer,"

She swirled the vial around. It looked pretty, but Sir Garrod’s words made her realise this beauty was only surface-deep.

Zulryn said to the guards, “We need to go for a bit, can we come for the gold later?”

“Uh, sure. Please be careful.”

Nodding, they set out for the basilisk nest and Sir Calvin.

Garrod Arlette Calvin Kane Magus Debekatuta

 

[Calvin Kane]

Cal continued walking, the clearing was different than before... Griffith trotted next to him, warily glancing at every little thing. "Griffith, this isn't the right clearing..." Cal saw no guards, no adventurers, and certainly no ruins or basilisk. "Maybe we should-" Cal heard a loud, rhythmic series of clicks, it sounded not like Griffith nor Basilisk, definitely not a Leshy. He ducked behind a tree and Griffith behind a large boulder. he peeked out from behind his cover and noticed a Kitsune. We must be in the eastern woods... Cal suddenly ducked behind the tree once more as the Kitsune glanced in his direction.

He heard an Elf talking to him, saying "Why are you here? you can come out." then he heard what sounded like, or rather, what could be described as, a foxlike grunt. he poked out once more and saw a medium-sized gash in the Kitsune's left hind leg. did it just transform back to itself? Cal slowly walked up to it, the creature snapped at him when he got too close. "Hey, easy. I want to help. I can't do that if you kill me." the kitsune exhaled as if it was sighing, and relaxed, there was still some tension, but it went away as soon as Cal applied a healing liquid.

Cal finished bandaging the wound and helped the kitsune to its feet. "There, fixed. Now just try not to let it happen again." Cal started walking off, he turned around to find the Kitsune debating with itself whether to follow him or to go to its den. Cal understood, "do what you feel is best for you." The creature nodded and Cal and Griffith walked back into the woods, the Kitsune following several feet behind him.

Zulryn Oknu, Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

It wasn't too hard to track the trail of Cal. He was a big man, and had a big beast tailing him. But the sounds that came from ahead were new to the hunter's ear. The smells, different too. Something new. Something different. "A leshy, a basilisk, what else could it be now," he muttered beneath his breath.

A hand motion behind the back, a sign that motioned down, and he soon bent low to the earth, careful not to break twig or branch. "There is something new in the woods," he warned Zulryn, one hand raised up to grab the hilt of his heavy blade. "Can you scout ahead?" he asked with a smirk, and motioned at his missing eye. "Ranging isn't exactly my strong suit."

Zulryn Oknu Garrod Arlette

 

[Calvin Kane]

Cal turned around, pretending not to notice the Kitsune, trying its hardest to hide behind a small shrub. "Well, I guess the Kitsune decided not to follow us..." he took a step and turned around quickly, the Kitsune surprised and embarrassed. (well, at least that's what it looked like) Cal couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The poor beast, startled by Cal's sudden outburst, growled softly. "whoa, okay... you don't like it when I laugh then-" Griffith's head raised in alarm, Cal suddenly heard voices, female and male. "Guys?" Cal's Shout followed with him breaking into a run, his Quadrupedal accomplices following him into the forest, till he saw Garrod and Zulryn.

"Can you scout ahead?"

"You guys Looking for me?" Griffith and the Kitsune popped up next to him.