Crouching berserker, hidden piglet [Invite only]

[Sergej]

Sergej had become addicted to combat, after Saskia and the others had shown him what it was. It didn't seem even remotely strange to him how he lost himself whenever combat had started, but oh well. He was who he was. Checking to make sure his armor was all equipped, and that his weapon was in his hand he marched off into the wilderness. As the man walked he made quite the racket, some monsters in the lower leveled areas seemed to avoid his presence, but there was a couple that refused to. The light above him broke out through the thin line of leaves that the nearby trees gave off, and revealed a small clearing where a single young pittered boar was grazing. Yes! This was my kill! The thought ran through Sergej's head as he grabbed his axe, growling deeply as he worked himself up into what seemed like a blood frenzy. Just before he charged the boar, he yelled an absurdly loud battlecry at it as his Taunting Shout activated, forcing him to pause for two seconds before rushing at the boar.

One could imagine what that poor boar saw, a huge man standing six feet four inches; much taller than the tiny boar, was now rushing at the tiny thing yelling at the top of his lungs while his skin was tinted red with rage and flailing an Axe around. Instinctively the boar panicked, and began running away from the psychopathic berserker, and during the running was struck only a couple times in the rear by the guardian's axe. The sudden pain caused the boar to squeal in pain as it turned around and slammed directly into the berserker, sending him reeling backwards before running once more. Lucky for it, it ran through a series of bushes, managing to break from the berserkers line of sight.

The boar slammed into Sergej, surprising him and sending him a tiny bit out of his blood rage, and forcing him to reel backwards. The strike managed to shove off a little bit of his health, and Sergej shook his head in response. "Hitting Sergej only makes madder!" He roared once more and charged after the small boar.

Words: 368
Notes: Isolde's up.
Tags: Isolde, @dumah

[Isolde]

Unfortunately, continued living in this world, much like the real world, required money. Even if the food was horrible, you couldn't just let yourself go hungry. Going from the remarks of others, the Windsor Greatwood was a good place for starting adventurers to go 'questing', which Michiko believed was the correct term. Still, she didn't know how things would actually go, and her class wasn't as strong physically as a lot of the others, so she thought it would be appropriate to go with the man who had offered to help her at the start of the game. If they fought together, chances were that they'd have much better luck at surviving. 

They hadn't been roaming the forest for long when they heard a fearsome bellow just ahead of them. To her credit, Michiko's first instinct was not fear for herself, but concern for the other person. "Dumah, someone's in trouble!" She said as she ran forward with her staff in a combat ready pose. She'd made sure to practice with it a bit beforehand, both with using it as a physical weapon and using it like the game intended as a magical focus. It wasn't as hard as she'd thought, and her naginatajutsu helped with her control. Whatever was happening just ahead, she'd be ready.

She was about to burst through the bushes into the fray when suddenly, a pig of some sort came barrelling out of them, running scared of something. A split second later, she heard a roar from its origin which could only have come from a giant of a man, if they were even a man at all. The Unfounded Kingdom was that kind of place, after all. She only hesitated for an instant before she darted out of the way, and a huge man in metal armour swinging an axe to match crashed through in a berserk frenzy. He's... he's another player... right? Michiko brought up her interface tools and brought up the menu like she'd practised. I think so... Sergej? Either way, there was no way the pig was a person, so she selected her skill Damage Interception and immediately assumed the pose. It was a little odd to suddenly have her body moved for her, but little over a second later, control was restored and the man had a shield of energy on him. With any luck that would protect him from harm if that pig tried to fight back. "We're... um... we're here to help!" Michiko called out to him to make sure that there was no way for him to mistake their intentions. She didn't exactly want to get a closer look at that axe.

_____________________

Word Count: 444

[Deleted]

The small party of two found themselves looking at a hulking beast of a man. This was the kind of day that would lead to a folk tale being written. Isolde began to speak, but Dumah used his right hand to signal her to stop. Dumah then turned to the mysterious man before him, walking up to him with his sword sheathed. "Hey there, big fella! It is quite odd to find someone in such a perplexing situation. Were I to judge by your equipment, I would presume you are a Guardian? Hmm... No, perhaps not... After all, Guardians oft sport a shield, is that not right?" Dumah smiled as be bowed, his left leg moved slightly back, his ankles crossing; his right arm extended out to his side; his left arm brought in across his torso, all coming together for a somewhat formal pose. "Dumah Exilium Iino, at your service! Now, please tell..." Dumah's smile faded into a curious grin as he looked at the man. "Who are you? And a better question yet: Are you friend, or are you foe?"

[Sergej]

As Sergej bolted through the bush after the pig, he was greeted by a flash of orange as an object swiftly got out of his way. Surprised by the sudden color change, Sergej began to slow down before finally coming to a halt as a black blur stood in his path. A bright light struck his eyes, causing him to squint when trying to watch the pig. The young pig paused and turned to look at why the sounds had stopped, and with a quick growl from Sergej, caused it to immediately leave the clearing. "Damn food!" Sergej yelled, it didn't look like the man in front of him would let him pass. This man seemed to spout some fancy words, perhaps a name? Dumah was it? He seemed to have more questions as Sergej listened intently; after all he had a pig to tear apart. "Friend? Foe? Friend now."

The huge Guardian slammed his axe into the ground, embedding it and leaving it there next to his side. "Name Sergej." A loud booming voice emanated from the man's lips as he turned towards the flash of orange. It was a woman, with ears and what looks like a tail. Hey I know what that tail is! That's a fox tail! Sergej remembers them from the picture books father always showed me. When the man remembered his father he growled, and his eyes were still on the red haired woman. "And who foxy lady? Friend?" Sergej averted his gaze from the fox and turned to look at the man who stopped him from slaughtering his prey. From his appearance, Sergej could see that he was human, with pitch black hair, donning leather armor and wielding two blades. Interesting choice, Sergej often finds tiny blade is not worth giant axe though!

Words: 300
Notes: He speaks broken English, obviously.
Tags:
@dumah
Isolde

[Isolde]

Michiko saw Dumah hold up his hand to silence her and stopped talking as he stood in front of Sergej. What's he thinking, just standing in front of him and talking while this is going on? That definitely wasn't the right move in her mind, but she waited to see how things would go, ready to spring into action. Did he always have a middle name? He really put a lot of effort into that.... It was amazing how calm and formal he was being in front of the man, and it looked like it caught him off guard as well as he slowed and stopped his charge. She was sure he'd get bowled over. He didn't seem happy as he slammed his axe into the ground after losing his quarry, even if he said he was a friend. Of course, any large man like him was kind of scary. They'd also deprived him of his food, tasteless though it may be. Would he hold Dumah responsible and make him hunt something else down?

He had a very loud voice, and was difficult to understand - perhaps his English wasn't as good as her own. Michiko thought that that could be really rough for him. However, just as she was starting to empathise with him, he laid eyes on her and gave off a threatening growl, almost like an animal. Her ears flattened at his display of hostility. He addressed Dumah about her, but she thought it'd probably be best if she answered. "Ah, ye... yes! I'm a friend." It took her a moment to get things right. Michiko held her staff close to her in a defensive stance, as if it were a shield between her and Sergej. "My name is Isolde." She bowed to him a little more deeply than was necessary. "Um... I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I thought a shield would be helpful, but I haven't really done anything like this before..." For all she knew the man didn't want any help with his fights, and she'd disrespected him in some way. If she'd done something wrong, she wanted to fix things so it didn't happen again.

__________________

Word Count: 362
Total: 806

[Deleted]

Sergej yelled out to his quarry that had managed to escape his pursuit. "Damn food!" He was upset, but he soon calmed down a bit and listened to Dumah's long introduction, and then answered the question he had asked at its conclusion. "Friend? Foe? Friend now."

Dumah smiled joyfully at the large man, standing straight again and extending his left hand, signalling for a hand shake to be exchanged. The stranger introduced himself rather blatantly, far shorter than that long introduction Dumah had given. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sergej!" Dumah gave a cordial smile to his new friend before he and Isolde acquainted each other as well. Isolde apologized to Sergej, as if she had wronged him in some way by casting a defensive buff on him. Dumah chuckled at this and looked back to Sergej. "Tell me, Sergej, what are you doing out here? Hunting for game? If that is to be the case, perhaps we could join you? After all, everything is better with friends about, would you not agree?" Dumah waved and tapped the air numerous times, sending a Party invitation to Sergej, in hopes he would accept. As he awaited his new friend to join Dumah's small party, he spoke in a calm, soothing voice. "I just realized, should you join, we would have a fully optimized party! One Tank, one DPS, and one Support! We would surely be much more likely to survive and accomplish any goals, be them hunting or what have you, should we work together!"

- 257 Words -
- Total: 439 -

[Sergej]

Sergej took notice of the way the women reacted to his growl, which caused him to respond to her words. "Good. Sergej doesn't hurt pretty." The man in front of him spouted some more words, followed by long words that confused the berserker, but they didn't sound like any insults he could have fathomed so he smiled in return then answered Dumah's question as to why he was outside. "Da. Killing pigs. Meat tastes good." His smile grew bigger when he spoke about the pig, and he looked around once more, gaze pausing when Isolde entered the center of his view before continuing. "Da. Perhaps you join, we succeed." Turning back towards Dumah, he bent slightly over putting his face into Dumah's face. "We join together. But do not get in way." Sergej stood up straight for one final time, and yanked his axe out of the ground, then with one arm rested it on his shoulder then motioned with his left hand to where the the accept button for an invite would be. "Invite."

Once Sergej obtained his invite, he clicked accept and made a mental note of his party member's names. Isolde and Dumah; Guess he was telling the truth about such a long name. The berserker would then turn back into the clearing as he walked away from the two. "Follow." As the huge guardian walked, he crushed through bushes and easily made a clear path for the two behind him. It would take around a good ten minutes before they broke into another small clearing with what looked like one, no two, wait no several boars. "Hahahah yeah! This is more like!" Laughing as he entered the scene, not a single bit of him was scared.

Words:290
Thread Total: 958
Notes: 6 young pittered boars. They aren't aggressive unless attacked, so only one or two might jump into the fight if someone starts it early.
Tags: Isolde, @dumah