Dedication (Nina / BlueSlime)

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

10 vs 12 | 16 vs 18 | 2 vs 21 countah
8 vs 5 | 14 vs 22 | 19 vs 23
23 vs 17

Nina's words were not enough to dissuade the attackers, and the death of the big man seemed to drive the dagger wielder into a rage. With a furious howl, he leapt towards the girl in an attempt to sink his blade into her. Nina and the man exchange blows, neither managing to score a hit on the other. The woman also attempted to bring her whip to the play, but Nina's shield is already there to ward it away. Getting an opening, the lost maid grabs onto the whip and pulls the woman down to the ground with a mighty jerk on the leather lash.

The daggerman was still onto Nina, looking to shank her cruelly as the now-dead man was likely a relative or otherwise important to him. But he's really not up to the task as the green-haired girl deflects his reckless poke and cuts into his shoulder, wounding the man for the third time. The woman, having now recovered, tries to weight in but is nonchalantly kept away by a raise of the shield.

Before the man could attack further, Nina pressed forward and cleaved a hideous gash diagonally across his chest, dropping the second man dead. Once she realized the situation, the woman dropped her whip and surrendered, not considering her chances too high against the odd girl in a maid uniform. This woman was an average Jane, black-haired with a skinny figure. She was dressed in a brown leather tunic and boots.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina held her bloody sword to the average jane's neck, doing her best to mask her heavy breathing. "You're really pushing your luck... I told you when you were getting your last chance, you stupid ox... now you're trying to make me go back on my word?"

She clenched her teeth.

"Get on your stomach, face to the ground, hands behind your back. You give me the slightest reason - and I will end you. You and your comrades picked the wrong day to get on my bad side."

When the woman was on her stomach and face down, Nina collected the whip and put her weight onto the girl, binding her wrists and elbows together with it.

When she was satisfied with the knot, she pulled the girl roughly to her knees.

"Okay, now I want to know exactly where I am. I then want to know where the closest town or city is. Then you're going to take me there. And if you lead me to any sort of ambush or some more friends of yours, I swear I'll gut you like a fish before anyone comes to your rescue. If you want to live, you'll help me get back to where I want to go. Understand?"

Nina cleaned her blade on the tunic of one of the dead men and then sheathed it.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

The woman obeyed Nina without any resistance or backtalk, letting herself get restrained by her own whip, clearly quite scared of this suddenly-appeared uniformed terror. Once she was dragged to her feet, the poacher listened to her captor with a mixture of hatred and fear. "This is the great Tamdur Forest. It'll take a while to reach the little town back there at the edges of this forest. A day or two... I can't guarantee any safety from attacks, we are a loosely-organized group. If they see some reason to attack, they'll do it with or without me.." the woman replied.

When Nina was getting pointed to the right direction, the dog from earlier appeared from behind a tree. It kept a distance between her and itself, as if measuring Nina for trustworthiness.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Then we'd better get moving. And you'd better do your best to help avoid a fight."

Nina was about to haul the woman to her feet when she noticed the dog from before sticking its head out from behind a tree, watching her.

Nina kept the captive still then, and turned to the dog.

"Hi doggie... hi there cutie..." she said in a high pitched voice. Nina's eyes brightened, her foul mood somewhat abated by knowing that this cute animal wasn't hurt or completely lost by itself. She hunched down and beckoned the dog over. "Come. Come over here. C'mon guy."

Nina wanted to pet the dog and possibly cuddle it. Cuddling something warm and friendly would put her in a better mood, which would make her feel better and perhaps let her momentarily forget that she was now a world away from where she wanted to be. It certainly would be better for her captive if she was put back into her normal cheerful mode.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

The dog took a little more time to think about Nina's intentions, gauging her a small moment further. But it eventually moved closer, sitting down a few feet away and giving the girl a bark while wagging it's tail around. With it's thick fur, tiger-like patterns and large frame, the dog had a look about it that was both adorable and fierce at the same time.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina put her hand out, palm up for the dog to sniff at. She'd found that letting the dog slowly get accustomed to your scent was the best way to make a new friend. Once she'd let it sniff her she then moved slowly and scratched its chest, giving it a good rub, and then finally she would move closer and scratch behind its ears and rub its neck and back.

"There you are... cutie. You're a big tough guy too, but you're also a cutie." She nuzzled the dog and made silly sounds, then looked back at the woman to make sure she wasn't doing anything stupid before going back to petting the dog.

"Wanna come with me? I could do with having a friendly face around. What do you say, huh? Wanna come?" Nina grinned.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

The doggie approached Nina in the way she had expected, cautiously taking in her smell. Once it had sniffed at her palm for a while, the curious canine let the girl pet it to her heart's content.

A quick glance at the woman showed Nina that she wasn't attempting anything, staying firmly in the same spot as the aspiring maid made friends with the dog. Amidst the pettings and questions, the tiger-striped hound gave Nina another bark. Looked like it accepted the girl's offer of companionship.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Well, then, it's settled. You'll come with me. I suppose I ought to give you a name then." Nina glanced over the dog's back and observed the recognizable pattern. "Okay then, I'll call you Tiger."

She repeated the name several times, each time petting the dog. Then having named it and started to repeat the sound which hopefully the dog would soon become familiar with, she made little sounds with her tongue and small inhales out the side of her mouth to make "come here" noises.

Finally getting the dog to pad along beside her, she pulled the woman up. "Okay," she said, "You'll be starting us toward that safe town now. You'll want to be very alert and warn me about any trouble ahead of time. If I'm surprised, I'll start the bloodletting with you and find my own way out of the forest."

Nina had recovered from her very angry mood, and was no longer full of the adrenaline that had made her sound so threatening before, but she couldn't let this woman think that she wasn't still capable of cutting her down in cold blood.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Tiger is a quick learner, taking in the name quite quickly. Eventually, the doggie was sticking around next to Nina as she picked up the restrained woman and made her guide them towards the town that was supposed to be there some distance away.

Some hours of constant hiking later, Tiger begins to growl. After a brief look around, Nina catches a glimpse of the reason. Looking between two closely-growing trees, she can see a red-furred bear padding about some distance away from them. It seemed to be heading in the same direction as them. Larger than average and missing it's left eye, the animal looked quite threatening.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Dangit... mister bear doesn't seem too happy. Let's stop and see if he'll pass us by. We can't outrun him."

Nina waited for the growling bear to bypass them, holding her blade at the ready. "Hush Tiger, just don't challenge him."

If the bear charged at them, she'd have to fight it. She didn't trust the woman not to turn on her during the fight or leave her out to dry and run. So she kept her bound.

If it ignored them, she'd have the woman pick a roundabout course that would take them away from the bear's path and still head towards the town.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Tiger quieted down as Nina instructed it, just opting to sit down near her and look at the bear with her from behind the tree. The bear too stopped, starting to eat berries from the bushes as there was a lot of them around where it was. But somewhat disturbingly, the large ursine kept turning it's head in the direction of the group from time to time. Did it know they were there looking at it? That Nina was not sure about as she looked on while the bear ate up the berries

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina dared to breath a bit easier. The bear was eating berries. Which meant it wasn't desperate to eat meat. She hoped there were enough berries there to fill the big fella up.

"If he's eating the berries, he isn't eating us," Nina calmly intoned to the poacher woman. Let's walk around him slowly. Make sure to give a wide berth. "Come on Tiger, keep away from the nice bear and let him eat his berries. We'll stay out of his hair if he stays out of ours."

Nina prodded the poacher to lead on as instructed, she continued to do everything in her power to keep herself calm and not act like a frightened prey, but rather just another living thing in the forest, going about its daily business. She gripped her sword, reminding herself that she had a very large "claw" that made her just as much a predator as the bear.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"A-alright..." the woman said quietly, starting to lead Nina and Tiger away from the bear. They circled aroud it from nearly 100 feet away, just to safe. The snacking bear did look into their direction a few times as they went, but ultimately kept to itself and the berry bushes, most likely content with this outcome. Tiger kept looking back at the bear just in case, but it wasn't necessary to alert the humans.

Only a few minutes later, sounds start to reach their ears again. The three of them witness a scene from farther away as they inch closer. A group of ten people with a variety of costumes partially surround a uniformed pair, who are yelling at them. Considering their earthen uniforms and wide-brimmed hats, the pair are likely authorities, possibly rangers of some stripe. One is a middle-aged man with a graying beard, the other a younger woman. The surrounding people are wielding a variety of weapons as broad as their dress code, but three of them have crossbows pointed at the pair as well.

"I'm telling you NOW! Give up and this will be resolved with a minimum of hassle, your sentences will be shortened as well if you come quietly." the man tries to tell the group in front of him, getting only a few sneers in reply. "Better not try that game, old man. Give up the woman and we'll think about letting you live." one of the people replies, wielding a vicious, machete-like blade.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Hmph. Friends of yours?" Nina inquired softly. "Ah well. Sit tight, I'm going to go and play angel of death again. Anyone in that crowd of brigands you particularly care for? You tell me now and I'll see if I can spare their lives."

If the woman actually picked out one or two individuals she wanted spared, Nina would remember to knock them out in the coming fight, but if the woman was ignorant of this crowd or did not give any indication, then all bets were off.

Drawing her blade, Nina approached the crowd softly, attempting to be quiet and avoid notice until she was close enough to the crowd to run up and put her blade to the throats of one of the crossbowmen.

If she made it that far, she'd make her presence known with that advantageous leverage, if she was spotted she'd make her way towards partial cover and call out in a similar manner:

"Ten on two hardly seems fair. You lot seem to be causing trouble. Let them go peacefully, or you'll regret it."

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

The woman only shook her her head at the question, leaning down against a tree trunk to stay away from any stray bolts that might fly in her direction. With that out of the way, Nina crept towards the crossbowman in the middle, blade held at ready as Tiger followed close behind. It seemed to be moving along with the girl to join the fight.

Easily making it to her victim undetected, Nina shanked the woman brutally, running her through with the sword she wielded. The impaled woman tried to stay up after the killing strike, but fell to the ground despite her best efforts, firing her crossbow up to the air with her last strenght. As the woman fell, her companion turned quickly to face the new threat. Before the man could bring his axe to bear upon the maid-dressed girl, Tiger ran up from behind Nina and leapt at the man. The large dog pushed the man down, tearing his throat open with one surgically accurate tear of it's fangs before leaping off the man's chest as he had barely hit the ground. With the attack done, Tiger started to run among the poachers to avoid getting shot.

With the sudden appearance of another combatant, the poachers are thrown into a brief dissarray, which the uniformed pair capitalizes on, drawing their blades to enter the melee.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

That's one smart and terribly efficient dog, Nina thought briefly before yelling a battle cry and whirling into the fray of battle like a dervish, her sword cleaving at the nearest foe or foes. Whoever came within range, unless they were the old uniformed man or the girl, would taste her steel.

(Attack, focusing down enemies as quickly as possible.)

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Pushing her attack forward, Nina clashed blades with the man who just threatened the pair of rangers, the man pushing against Nina's blade with his machete. The two remain locked in a stalemate as Tiger kept up his rushing tactics, managing to take another opponent down by pulling his legs out from under him as the unfortunate soul lands on his own weapon. After a few vain struggles to dislodge the short sword from his heart, the man crumples into an unmoving heap.

One crossbowman fires at the rangers, the other at Nina, both failing to hit at close range. While the bolt aimed at the rangers flies into a nearby tree trunk, the one that flew towards Nina creates a much more heart-stopping result. A brief moment after the bolt has vanished into the forest, a blood-curdling roar can be heard from it's direction.

The rangers manage to down one man using practised, co-operative methods, though the man suffers a shallow cut from an axe of yet another poacher.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina realizes that the crossbow bolt could only have struck - and consequentially enraged one thing - a certain large and menacing looking bear. No doubt there would be a wild card showing up into this fight.

No time to depend on the intervention of the bear however. Nina had to keep up her attack. There were seven of the poachers left, some were busy reloading crossbows while others were still trying to get their footing and find a way to enter the fight. Nina had to keep moving to keep them all off balance. If one foe was being too defensive, she'd hurl herself off of him and use her momentum to fight one of the lesser fighters - hacking into the ones that looked weakest so as to even the odds even further.

(Attack the weakest looking enemies first, keep on attacking until the situation changes. Feel free to run a bunch of rounds together like last time)

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

Nina pushes against the man with the machete, the two still locking in a meeting of blades. After some jostling against the man's weapon, the aspiring maid finally manages to beat him back and quickly run him through. The brief pushing competition had given the others time to get properly organized, and now Nina was facing three poachers, one wielding a loaded crossbow. The other four moved to take on the uniformed pair, but not after losing one of their numbers to Tiger's precision strike.

The four poachers and he rangers battle to a stalemate, neither side really managing to harm the other. But things might get hairy for all involved as the bear from before charged into the middle of the combat, rearing up on it's hind legs and looking around for something to claw. Nina could see a shaft sticking out from it's side, bleeding somewhat.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Nina (BlueSlime)

"Ah hah! A bear!" Nina shouted, sounding happy, for when you're outnumbered, a third party is always welcome. She maneuvered to try and put the remaining poachers in between herself and the rampaging, angry bear. Moving and ducking fast so as to not be an easy target for the poachers and their remaining crossbowman, who if he was smart would probably be trying to either down the bear with another shot or flinging the weapon away and running for the hills.

Nina would take a swipe at the nearest poacher while she was maneuvering, not wanting to go on the defense. Let the poachers stay reactive and nervous as their numbers continued to dwindle. Their morale must be hanging hanging on by a thread, Nina thought.