Scouting Trouble [Solo]

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Common sense would have dictated her to stay within the city walls in the dead of the night. It would have told her to stay put, to stay safe, and to stay alive. But while Caerbannog was not stupid, she was still curious. And so with a goal in mind, the samurai left Londenium while the sun was below the horizon. She ventured into the Greatwood against her better judgement. What was she looking for? Trouble, of course.

With a nodachi that she could barely use properly and beginner armor that can scarce protect against beasts of the wild, Caerbannog walked into the trees, away from the main road. Truth be told, she had meant to go scouting. While frenmic rabbits were useful partners in the field, she wanted to know what else was out there aside from boars and bunnies. And just when she thought that she’d seen enough boars for the week, the girl almost ran into a group of them. Luckily, there were busily scavenging through the bushes, thus they did not notice the adventurer who left naught but footprints in her wake.

Further into the woods, Caerbannog had hoped to find something else but so far, there was nothing but boars and bunnies in sight. That was until she came close to Windsor Castle; the ancient structure was within view, and nearby, she spotted a dull green... thing. Yeah, it was a ‘thing’. The thing reminded her of pudding. No, not delicious, edible pudding- it looked like Final Fantasy pudding. Or something of that sort. A green version of the pokemon Grimer, perhaps; not as sludge-like, but close enough. If it had not moved when she first saw it, the samurai would have thought it to be a pile of bird crap.

OOC Notes: Animal Trainer post
Words: 296
Tags: @dindeen

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Was it aggressive? Beginner mobs were usually non-aggressive, and the creature’s name was in white, much like the numerous rabbits and boars. But Caerbannog would not take any chances, so she approached the slime carefully. To make sure that the creature noticed her, the samurai walked over to its side and steadily slid to its view. No reaction; it was non-aggressive. She then wondered if the thing could be ‘scouted’.

Caerbannog thought back to an incident with a frenmic rabbit. That creature had followed her around because she gave it carrots, so maybe if she gave the slime some food... wait, what did slimes ever eat? Do they even eat? Puzzled, the samurai merely waved at the dull green slime. It waved back. WHOA. That surprised her a bit. The slime just waved- no, wait. It wasn’t waving at her, it was reacting to something behind her!

A scene from one of the many horror movies which she watched back in the real world flashed through the samurai’s mind. She then slowly looked behind her to find... more dull green slimes. It was not the least bit terrifying, but it still took her by surprise. Three, four, five; add that to the one slime that she waved to, and there was a total of six dull green slimes around her. Obviously, scouting slimes failed, so the girl slowly stepped out of their way.

Whether by sheer bad luck or fate, she’d never know, but somehow Caerbannog had managed to step on one of the slimes’ foot. Did it even have one? No matter, now was not the moment to think that over. Now was the moment for running away! Since she aggro’d that one slime, its friends turned to the girl as well. In the world of anime, slime + girl never had a good ending, so instead of fighting them, Caerbannog turned tail and ran. Literally too, since her wolf tail and ears had appeared.

OOC Notes: Animal Trainer post
Words: 326
Tags: @dindeen

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Slimes sure were fast runners even without visible legs. The samurai went back into the forest to try and lose them, but they were more persistent than she thought. By the time that the chase ended, the sun was almost above the horizon. Caerbannog caught a glimpse of some sunlight as it broke through the Greatwood’s canopy. She was tired, cold and alone in a big forest with many dangerous creatures. Just the way that she liked it! – if it was still a game. But since it was her reality at that moment, it was not as awesome as it usually was.

Nudge. Nudge. Another nudge.

Then something wet pressed against the girl’s forehead, and that woke her up with a start. She looked around her for any aggressors, her hand ready upon her nodachi though she was still dazed. The girl had fallen asleep at the foot of an old tree, and soon she realized that she was surrounded by a few small rabbits. Most of them dashed away when the samurai woke up, but one familiar creature stayed behind.

“ You! “ she exclaimed.

It was the rabbit which she scouted before. The creature twitched its nose at her, and then it looked at her hand which was still grasping her weapon.

“ Oh, sorry, “ the girl realized her mistake, so she shifted her saya a bit lower and put her hands up over her head, “ I won’t attack. “

The small frenmic rabbit cautiously approached her and sniffed at her feet. It circled her a few times, as if looking for something.

“ I don’t have food, “ Kyuu said, “ But we can look for some, together! “

Those were a lot of words out of the samurai already; who would have thought that a little rabbit could make her say so much? Well, the creature did not care for words that it did not understand. It was the girl’s actions that spoke to the rabbit. So when Kyuu put her hand down towards the creature, much like she’d done when she helped it get away from an attacking boar, the rabbit hopped up her arm and perched itself upon the samurai’s head.

“ Okay, let’s go! “ Caerbannog gleefully said as she marched towards the direction where she last saw some wild carrots.

OOC Notes: Animal Trainer post. Rabbit GET!
Words: 390
Tags: @dindeen

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With the small frenmic rabbit on her head, the samurai made her way towards a carrot patch. It was the same one from which she got her chef ingredients. Far from the main road but not too deep in pittered boar territory, it was a relatively safe area. As she walked on, soon the canopy grew less dense and a very small clearing came into view. There was just enough sunlight that got through, and it shone upon the carrot patch.

The girl looked around first to make sure that there were no uninvited guests. Once she was sure that the area was relatively safe, she bent down to unearth some carrots. Curiously, Elder Tale’s wild carrots looked less like real wild carrots, and more like the orange ones. Perhaps it was for the sake of simplicity and easy identification. But the frenmic rabbit could not care any less about the color or shape of the carrot. It was food that was different from the usual offering of grass, so the creature excitedly tapped Caerbannog’s forehead.

“ Not yet, “ the girl replied, “ Let’s go somewhere safe. “

A fairly large wild carrot in hand, the samurai walked towards the main road which boars avoided. Her furry companion did not understand a thing, so it kept tapping the girl’s forehead and also nibbled on her hair. Caerbannog did not lose her composure or patience; she expected such behavior from a wild creature. Once they emerged from the forest, the rabbit froze in place, clearly unnerved by that place.

“ You will be alright if you stay with me, “ Caerbannog spoke in as soothing a voice as possible.

The girl then sat down on the bare ground beside the road and put the carrot beside her. Though still afraid, its greediness won over the rabbit’s fear. It scurried down the samurai’s arm and munched on the carrot without delay. Satisfied with her scouting, Caerbannog rested for a while as she waited for the rabbit to finish its meal. Afterwards, she ushered it towards the forest, let it rejoin its rabbit friends, then she herself headed back to Londenium.

OOC Notes: Animal Trainer post. Rabbit scouted then set free again.
Words: 359
Tags: @dindeen

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Food and shelter. Those were the basic necessities of any living creature. Despite originally being just a game, Londenium and its inhabitants seemed to be becoming more life-like every day. The creatures in its forest were not exempted from the change. In her first few days ‘playing’ that new reality, Caerbannog figured out that what works in the real world in terms of taming an animal would also work in Elder Tale. With that knowledge in hand, the girl decided to try the unthinkable: taming boars.

The world of Elder Tale was far and wide, and surely there would be more menacing creatures out there. But at her level, Caerbannog knew that boars would be quite a handful. Not only were they aggressive, much like real wild boars, but they also traveled in groups. Taming a full-grown boar was out of the question, so the samurai would have to look for a young boar that was all by itself. That would be a challenge already, she thought. With some oats in hand, to be used for enticing the aggressive creatures, she headed into the forest.

Lady Luck did not smile upon the girl that day, for she was chased away by many an angry momma boar. Sometimes she’d espy a lone young pittered boar, but it would soon be joined by a friend or two. Engaging those targets would defeat the purpose, for if she slew the boar’s friends, her original target would become aggressive towards her as well. And so the girl continued farther into the forest, oats still in hand, continuously attempting to scout young pittered boars- to no avail.

OOC Notes: Animal Trainer post. Boar scouting failed.
Words: 272
Tags: @dindeen

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Mentally exhausted, Caerbannog headed towards the nearest water source. She was thirsty, perhaps due to all that running away from packs of boars. The girl was so relieved to find cool, clean water that only after she drank a few mouthfuls did she notice a lone young pittered boar in front of her. It stood across the flowing stream, face still completely dry thus it might have just arrived to drink some water. The boar’s eyes were fixated on the adventurer, and she stared back at the creature.

- Scout it! – screamed her mind.

At that, the samurai prepared to stand up but even at her slightest movement, the boar reacted badly. It seemed to be very frightened. Was she that ugly? Perhaps. Or, perhaps it was because she looked like one of those bipeds which mercilessly killed boars everywhere. Regardless, the girl stayed in that position, bent close to the water’s surface. It was a difficult position to maintain, but she knew that she had to scout the boar cautiously.

Caerbannog looked at the stream and noticed that she was on a shallow, stony area. The boar could easily cross that place, and so could she. Finding a stone within her reach, the samurai put some oats on it and motioned for the boar to look at it. Whether due to curiosity or sheer stupidity, the young pittered boar did follow the girl’s gesture and upon noticing that free food, the boar walked over to it without a care in the world. Danger? Who cares! It’s free food!

OOC Notes: Animal Trainer post. Boar scouting attempt ongoing.
Words: 259
Tags: @dindeen

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Subclass: Animal Trainer | Skill: Scout (Ongoing) with [ Oats ] | Scouting: Young Pittered Boar

The young pittered boar greedily ate the oats which sat upon the stone. Beneath the creature’s legs, water rushed quickly but it was too shallow around that area, the current was not enough to carry away anything aside from leaves and twigs. While the boar was eating, Caerbannog managed to sit up straight. She then put some oats on a stone which was closer to the waterside, and finally, she put some oats on the ground right in front of her.

Seemingly having forgotten about the dangerous black-haired biped which sported a long, pointy weapon at her side, the boar quickly ate up the next pile of oats. Once that was done, the creature sniffed at the air and followed the scent of more oats. Caerbannog remained completely still though one hand was on her weapon’s saya. If the boar suddenly attacked, she could at least raise her sheathed nodachi and let it absorb some of the damage. But looking at the creature’s mannerisms, it was no longer so fearful, much less angry.

Past experiences with a pet cat taught the girl that animals are never aggressive without reason, no matter how petty a reason may be. If much of the game mimicked real life, then the same logic should apply to the boar. That area did not seem to be its territory for the creature showed no immediate urge to defend it. So far, the samurai had not done anything aggravating nor even vaguely aggressive, thus the boar should have no reason to attack. Kyuu had these thoughts in mind but still she was aware of the present state of events, and that anything could go wrong at any moment. As the boar approached the last pile of oats, she waited patiently and sat as still as she could.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 300	Tags: @dindeen

[Deleted]

Subclass: Animal Trainer | Skill: Scout (End) with [ Oats ] | Scouting: Young Pittered Boar

Much to the samurai’s relief, the boar approached and ate the last pile of oats without incident. Every now and then, the creature still looked up at the girl, but that was that. It did not frantically move away either when she reached out to poke its head. But while the boar did not run nor attack her, it did look up and gave her a warning grunt. Caerbannog understood what the grunt meant: “ Back off!”, and she did just that. Kyuu had to give the creature some space, otherwise it might get aggravated. And taking a hit from a boar right on her face was not in the girl’s to-do list for that day.



The young pittered boar took its time to devour that last pile of oats, and when it was done, it turned its back to Kyuu. The samurai thought that it would run away already, but instead, the creature stayed to do what it was supposed to have been doing in the first place: drink water. Perhaps it was too thirsty, especially after having eaten some oats; anyway, the creature’s guard was down. Animals were most vulnerable when they were drinking, because they had to stoop low to get some water. If the girl opted to kill the boar, she could. But that was not her goal at the moment. Her objective was to learn how to scout young pittered boars- or, really, anything aside from frenmic rabbits.



Once the boar was done drinking, Kyuu waited for its next move. The pittered creature turned around to face her with a discerning look upon its face. She thought that she could approach the boar already but when she moved, it backed away slowly. Pushing her luck, the samurai stood up and at that, the images of aggressive bipeds flashed through the boar’s mind and awakened its survival instinct again. So, without delay, the young pittered boar turned tail, hopped across the shallow body of water, and ran out of sight.



The samurai was a bit annoyed, but she did not let it show. Kyuu was not one to scream out in fits of anger. Instead, she just stood up straight, sighed and headed back to the main road. Another day of scouting was over and although she was unable to scout that one young pittered boar, she learned much about the creature system of Elder Tale. It was similar to the rules of nature in real life, but the Animal Trainer skill [Scouting] probably accounted for some of the creature’s friendlier actions. The line between system-generated and player-directed content was blurry, but Caerbannog knew that she would have to deal with it; better sooner than later if she wanted to survive.

OOC Notes: Solo thread end.
Word Count: 455	Tags: @dindeen