Bloodlust And Powerfists (Nov. Event thread, closed to Leoric)

Nevin stood in the middle of the ruined village, and his hands were curled into tight fists and he trembled with barely suppressed rage. Around him, he could see massive tracks where some enormous beast had charged through the streets. But this was no straight charge from one end to another, as a normal animal charge would be - no, the tracks went back and forth, and from where he stood the blood mage could see where the monstrosity had crashed into different buildings, breaking down walls. But that was not the worst part of what he was seeing - in fact, the damage to the structures would be missed by almost everyone who saw the true devastation.

Lying scattered everywhere about the empty village were bodies. A sight that, sadly, would be seen often by those who traveled, as they came across a village that had been raided by bandits, or monsters, or what have you. But no, the thing that stood out here, that made this terrifying, was the fact that all of the bodies were dry, withered husks that had been completely drained of all their blood and vital fluids. It was easy to see even from here that everyone had suffered the same fate - corpses lay hanging from the ruined walls, some had been partially trampled after they were drained, others were just sitting, empty, in chairs. Another person might have thought that this village had been brought to complete and utter ruin by a horde of vampires, feeding wildly from everyone in sight. But - but Nevin was not another person.

Nevin saw what others might overlook. There were no fang marks on the necks, biceps, or thighs - the places where vampires would normally feed from to drain a victim dry. Instead there were strange abrasions upon the bodies, in random places, where it looks like a rope had been drawn far too tight. If there was any blood left in the bodies, it would have been leaking from these unnatural wounds. The problem for Nevin, was that he recognized the wounds. He had seen them before, but just once, on a terrible, terrible night he would rather never remember. That these same marks were here.... was not possible. It shouldn't, couldn't be possible - but the evidence lay scattered around him. And worse. This was the third village that he had come across while following these tracks, the third site of utter ruin.

Somewhere, something, had somehow become infected by the accursed Scarlet threads. And whatever they had infested this time did not have the strength of will to throw off their control - that, or this infestation was somehow working differently from what his own had done. He swallowed, and gripped his whip tightly as he resumed his hunt. The bleeding weapon would be terribly effective against the blood gorged beast he was pursuing. Out of the devastated he went, heading into the woods to follow its gruesome trail. Even as he left, he was finding bodies that had been discarded - presumably the beast had taken victims that hadn't yet been fully bled dry, and had scattered them as it finished its meals. Nevin just hoped he could find this abomination before it found another village.

It had been a rather long night in the forest, forest animals running from something unseen,the nature energy in the air feeling uneasy and full of malice. He had left Rebby back at home as he went hunting for this creature or group of creatures that had been devastating a lot of the nearby villages. He was afraid that the creature would target their village next. And he didn’t want Rebby anywhere near a monstrosity, so he set out to find this creature before it found his home. One of the members of the village was known for dabbling in small charms and had sewn one onto his belt that would glow and hum if their village was in danger.

Based on reports of the villages getting attacked Leoric couldn’t think of any straight path that would take the beast to these towns and so it must be based on proximity around a nest. If Leoric was correct he would find a nest or bump into the creature sometime within the next few days. For now though, Leoric needed to rest and get his stamina back. He wasn’t going to wander into some unknown creatures nest without stamina on his side.

The Brawler quickly set up a small fire as darkness encroached around him and once he had cooked up some dinner he stood up and began to swell his magic up within himself. Pulling in wind from all directions around him, it pooled around his feet before launching upwards in a double helix pattern sending leaves and small branches up into the air. Once the leaves and branches stopped falling he began to train. Swinging his punches and jabs as quick as he could forward. It wasn’t long before he felt the disturbance within the Nature energy he was absorbing and stopped and turned in it’s direction.

Nevin didn't know how long he had been moving. He had lost the beast's tracks shortly after he had entered the woods - but at this point he was close enough that he no longer needed visible marks to pursue it. Now that he was wrestling of it he could feel the sour note, the angry voice shouting in defiance that marred the normal chorus of voices that sang within his magic. The blood mage was pursuing that feeling, perpetually narrowing it down whenever the monstrosity head changed direction.

It was a tricky bastard, and if he didn't know better Nevin might have thought it knew it was being hunted. Which, now that he thought about it, ws possible - maybe it could sense him like he could sense it? That was a worrying thought, but thankfully unlikely. The full fledged Scarlet Servant hadn't noticed him until Nevin was literally in its face, so this infested beast most likely couldn't either. But it had moved again, shifting in direction, and Nevin once again adjusted his course to narrow the distance as quickly as possible.

So he was rather surprised to see a man training in the woods. Normally he would have avoided this stranger - there were people in danger after all - but it seemed the man had some kind of magical ability. Wind had rushed forward as Nevin approached, circling around the stranger, then forest detritus had shot upwards into the sky. The man's 'training' was punching the leaves and branches to pieces as they fell downwards.

That kind of physical and magical ability would be useful. If for no other reason, than to help rescue people while the blood mage held the beast off. He cleared his throat as he saw the man whirling around. "My apologies for the intrusion. I'm hunting a beast that has destroyed several villages, and I think it is approaching another. Ah - sorry. The name is Nevin. Now, I'd appreciate it if a fighter like you came to help, but this thing is quite dangerous so I understand if you don't want to." When he had said it was heading for another village Nevin had lifted one arm to point in the direction the feel of the tainted blood magic was moving in.

The detriduce of the forest floor, now obliterated, created an obscuring mist as the beefy brawler took a deep breath. He was still molding his nature energy when he felt someone approach him. “Who..?” Leoric started as the man started rambling rather abruptly.

The Sudden information from a complete stranger was a little perplexing but when he pointed in the direction of the cross roads, Leoric’s charm on his belt started to glow and pulse, increasing in frequency of pulsing. Leoric took off running, He wasn’t going to let ANYONE harm or damage his home or his friends.

“Don’t just stand there we have to get moving.” Leoric grabbed his enchanted vest and took off at a full sprint towards home. It wasn’t long before the screams could be heard and several towns people could be seen fleeing the town. Leoric reached out an arm and stopped Rebby, the scarlet haired vixen that had come to be the closest thing to a best friend and playmate that he had. “What’s going on? Details. Anything?”

Rebby looked up at Leoric petrified but the more she looked at him the softer her expression got. “It is some kind of Giant boar that has gone mad. It has some kind of red Tendril like things wiping out from it, when any of the towns people got close to try and scare it off, the tendrils would lash out at them and it seemed to rip off their skin.”

Leo scowled as he looked away from Rebby and back towards the town as the man who identified himself as Nevin took off running towards the town. “Rebby, we will handle this, you make sure you get everyone to safety. Hell use our house if you need to. Me and nevvy-boy will try to lure it away from the town and then deal with it.”

Rebby stood up with Leo’s help and began to voice her concern when Leo kissed her to distract her from her concerns. “We got this, you know i can handle a simple boar. Especially when this boar can’t dodge what it can’t see” Leo gave her a quick smack on her ass as he took off running towards the town, spotting a log that was in the progress of being trimmed down to be used as a support for a house.

Leoric smirked as he quickly jumped the fence and put on his vest. He rolled his shoulders and had his magic start molding around him, with a grunt he lifted the colossal log from the ground and threw it as hard as he could at the monstrous boar. Which now that he had a closer look at it, had blood dripping from every orifice, arrows and spears sticking out of him in random directions and thin red tendrils undulating around him. If what Rebby said was true, he wanted to stay the fuck away from those.

The blood mage was both concerned, and relieved. The muscle bound warrior he had come across in the woods had joined rather willingly - had in fact, taken off rubbing almost before Nevin finished speaking. A moment had passed before the alchemist shook himself and took off after the other man. Don't just stand there indeed. The alchemist snorted and shook his head before he took off after the other man.

Pulled from beneath his skin by his need, Nevin’s threads emerged from beneath his skin and wrapped around his legs, coiling along his calves and thighs as he followed the pull of the tainted magic he was pursuing. He soon caught up with the other man, and slowed down to keep pace - the warrior seemed to know the place, he moved with purpose and familiarity. When they reached the town Nevin kept moving on, leaving the man behind as he stopped to talk to someone in the small village.

The call, the pull, the taint - it was strong here, the blood in the air thick, singing with dark whispers of pain and misery. Nevin reached the edge of the village and saw the beast he was tracking. It was massive, easily as tall at the shoulders as a full grown man, and drool and a pink frothy foam flecked its mouth and tusks. Nevin was focused though, on the sores, the gaping lesions along its form.

From beneath its skin, in the open wounds caused by arrows and broken spears, dark red - scarlet - threads emerged. They coiled together, wrapping and weaving about in the air, squirming and worming. They were thick, ropy coils that lashed about in the empty air. Nevin was intimately familiar with those, something extremely similar dwelled beneath his skin.

He staggered, gripping at his chest for a moment, as the crimson threads inside of him roiled in response, twisting and lashing beneath his skin. There it was again, that instinctive rage, anger, and desire to eliminate the abomination before him - the last time he had felt this, it had been when he was in the chapel with that Scarlet beast. The blood mage drew himself upright, controlling himself - and then a log shot past him, hurled by a set of strong arms, and it smashed into the boar.

The monster let out a bellow as it was thrown to the ground, the wood crushing its side in. Flesh and bone snapped and tore under the weight of the blow - a moment of respite, and a sense of false victory as the thing didn't move for a moment. Nevin though - he was not buying it. He knew exactly what the thing in front of him was capable of. And sure enough, after seconds ticked by, the ‘corpse’ gave a shudder.

Dark red swept across it, further darkening the brown-black hide of the boar. The red squirmed and wriggled, undulating before their very eyes hand then with another shudder, the broken flesh filled back out, and the boar rose again. Nevin’s lips tightened into a grim line.

“The beast won't be slain by conventional means. If you can keep it pinned down, I should be able to finish it.” The boar took this moment to charge at them, making the alchemist leap to the side, propelled by the unnatural strength his threads gave him. The boar thundered by, narrowly missing Leoric, lashing at him with twisting scarlet lines as it ran by. Nevin hit the ground and rolled to his feet as the tainted abomination slowed down, turning slowly to face him. It was - largely ignoring the warrior. The tainted power within it was probably calling for Nevin’s death, just as his own nature called for him to slay it.