The Beast With A Thousand Backs

[Duffy]

The Beast With A Thousand Backs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgS0fSFGqmI&feature=related)



Closed To The Monster Hunters Of The Ixian Knights

Set After Maudlin' For Memories


1975

Scara Brae had many enemies, but some simply fell upon the walls and streets by chance. There was nothing more to their malice than chaos, chance, and the wanton need to destroy.

The 'Beast With A Thousand Backs', as the people had mysteriously named it rampaged through the city for days before Duffy Bracken sent a messenger to the catacombs of Sei's Tomb in Radasanth, a clarion call for aid from his new found acumen and ally, the Ixian Knights.

The great claws of the beast had destroyed much of the streets surrounding the docks, leaving rubble, wrath and ruin in their wake. The creature's roar had resounded across the city long into the night, a cat call to other creatures to steer clear or face the rage it held in it's heart. It's thick fur and rippling muscles had proven too much of a natural armour for the city guard, and it still displayed a trophy rack of broken swords, shattered lances and mysterious glowing trinkets thrown, jousted and stabbed into it's hide in an attempt to bring it to it's knees.

The sun shone over the city and High Noon swift approached. The Tantalum, or rather, those members who still had a fighting chance peered around the corner of an upturned cart and felt the trembling in the earth as the beast rampaged through the abandoned stalls of Market Square. It squashed opulent fruit and tore through silk parasol without a thought or care for the livelihoods of the city folk.

Duffy frowned, hands twitching by his daggers despite an inkling any attempt to fight the creature with conventional methods would end in disaster. Blank, Lillith and Ruby huddled behind him, their heads in ascending order peeking out comically at their target. The letter sent to the Knights had asked for the aid of the Monster Hunters, and it had asked for them to attend the frontage of Madame Sigrid's Lobotomy's (Free And Easy!) on this very day.

As the beast roared once more and threw a stall several hundred feet through the market in a rolling cavalcade of destruction, Duffy hoped that the arrival of one of the infamous bounty-men would give the city a Hunter's Chance at bringing the monster down, before it took the island with it.

[Revenant]

The world resolved around William with a snap, the bright lights and vile smells of Scara Brae coalescing out of the grey nothingness to greet his arrival.

“Thaynes damn all magic and its applications,” he snarled, shrugging as if to reacquaint himself with his skin after being cast through the void.

“You’d rather have taken the ferry from Corone and leave Captain Bracken to fend for himself?” William glanced at Lorelai and she offered him a smile. Of all the members of William’s squad, the Ixian Knights’ monster hunters, Lorelai was the only female, and the only one who treated him as anything close to a normal person. “Aren’t you supposed to be Captain of the Scara Brae Guard or something?”

“Bah,” William waved her off, as if her words conjured memories that were best left undisturbed. The title of Captain of the Guard had been awarded to him by the Queen of Scara Brae herself, as had the title of Provost Marshall, but the titles and their respective positions had come with a heavy price. An ancient magic curse had been tied to Scara Brae, brining devastation and ruin to the city. William had accepted that curse as his own, binding its power directly to his soul to ensure that Scara Brae survived and flourished.

“That’s enough Lorelai,” said Jerrick, William’s second in command, stepping forward to take charge. “I want you and Heigei to check over the equipment and make sure nothing got jostled too badly in the transition. Lorelai frowned but nodded dutifully, hours of drilling and command influence kicking in.

“And us, Sergeant Jerrick?” Kyron, another of the Ixian Knights’ monster hunting squad, pointed inquisitively to the remaining two members, Rawls and Sergei. Jerrick looked to William, who merely waved them away without looking, indicating that Jerrick should just handle the matter himself. Jerrick turned and sprang to action, bark orders for the squad to begin their preparations, leaving William alone to ruminate.

Sei had received Duffy’s notice and had assigned William’s squad to immediately prepare. One of the Ixian Knights’ magicians had spelled the entire monster hunting squad, all seven members and their equipment, to Scara Brae at the assigned time. The sky hung heavy with smoke and screams, and there was a roaring in the distance. It was so similar to the last time he was here, when he had offered himself up as the sacrificial victim to save Scara Brae. And now that he was here to do it again, only one thing came to mind.

“Where in the Pyre is Duffy?”

[Duffy]

Ruby tapped Duffy on the shoulder, oblivious to the arcing bench that crossed the horizon behind them. The thief turned his head at the exact, over dramatic moment the monster's projectile crashed into the front of their wagon screen. He gave her a look that said many things, none of which he had the patience or nerve to actually say. This was a woman in very pointy shoes, and he was a man without a codpiece presently.

"What is it Ruby?" He replied, with a slight hint of frustration and nerves. He looked back around the corner of the wagon at the distant hulking beast and shivered. "We ain't got time for small talk!"

"Look behind you, then," she said dryly, the sound of her foot tapping on the cobblestones breaking the momentary respite in the beast's rampage. He did so, and smiled wildly, suddenly thankful and resplendent in the red head's power of observation.

"Hail!" He shouted, scurrying from the wagon to the newly arrived Ixian task force, who had seemingly appeared in the street behind them from the ether and tendrils of other worldy power and Orwellian mystery. It had not taken long for the Tantalum's doubts regarding the Ixian Knights and their ability to function to fade into nothing, to cease to exist on the merit of their experience.

"I am eternally greatful, I was," he began to speak to no-one in particular, before catching eyes with the one he knew very well, although perhaps not in person, so to speak. "William!" He inflected fondness in his sharp twang, as if to suggest he was surprised but thankful all the same. The primary thief of Scara Brae was not usually pleased to see a Captain of the City Guard, but this was an acception.

"I suppose I should have known Sei would send ya, it's your turf after 'all!" He cocksuridly pointed to the small group of the troupe behind him, "This is us, that is you," he pointed," and the thing in the square, twice as big and many more times as strong as any of us is it...I guess, yeah, It is the right word."

Ruby approached with a sultry swagger and a dry indifference. She stopped just to Duffy's right, and rested her hand on her hip in her usual dispondant manner. "They, by which I mean the people of this fair city, are calling it The Beast With The Thousand Backs," she pulled a book from her satchel and flopped it open so that the pages could be seen by the Monster Hunters. "It is, in less ludicrous terms, a creature called a wendigo, although one many times bigger than has been seen before."

Duffy waited for the dramatic introduction to fade, before addressing his new found allies and friends.

"We have a plan, sort of, but it looks like you came better prepared," he prodded a finger at all the equipment. "Where do you want us?"

[Revenant]

“Shit,” William muttered, watching the monstrously sized Wendigo tossing horse sized chunks of street debris with impunity. When all of the improvised missiles were out of their direction he turned his attention to Duffy. “Bracken,” he nodded respectfully. He had no previous dealings with the Ixian Knights’ entertainment captain, but though the title was less impressive than his, the man’s alleged skills meant that he was not to be taken lightly. Plus, as much as this was ‘his’ jurisdiction, it was Duffy’s ten times over.

“First order of business should be to get everyone we have together. From the looks of it that thing’s going to be a tough nut to crack and Jerrick will need to know the full extent of your capabilities.” William waved a hand to re-summon the squad’s sergeant. “Jerrick is my second in command. I prefer to just kill things so he pretty much runs the military side of our operation.”

A roar from the Beast shattered the air around their assembly point, the raw force of it actually rippling the curtain of smoke that hung in the sky. So far it seemed that the thing was just mindlessly raging, crushing everything that it came upon in its random wandering. William was relatively sure that it hadn’t set its sight upon them, and wasn’t sure if it would even consider them a threat at this point. Soon though …

“You said you’ve got a plan, Captain,” Jerrick said to Duffy, taking over for William while he watched what could be seen of the great beast’s sluggish movement over the skyline. “I’d like to hear it if you would, sir.” Always the consummate soldier, Jerrick deferred to Duffy’s higher rank within the Knights.

“What we brought might be showy, but it’s just the standard equipment we bring to any of these showdowns.” Jerrick inclined his head towards the Wendigo, “I’m not sure if even our heavy stuff will be enough to pierce that thing.”

Another roar sounded and another wave of fresh panic rippled through the streets of Scara Brae. Jerrick looked from Duffy to William with mounting excitement. From the sound of the beast’s movements, the creature’s random wanderings were brining it closer to their little party. Even if it didn’t view them as a threat, it would be on them in no time should they remain where they were. William, however, remained still, watching the beast’s approach with a studious intensity.

“Should I suggest, sir, that we break from here and regroup at Captain Bracken’s command post?” Jerrick asked, breaking William from his reverie. “Either that or we should take the lead now and try to get the things attention to lure it away from the most heavily populated areas. What do you think?”

William mused for a second and then looked to Duffy, shrugging his shoulders as if to ask his fellow Captain which he preferred.

[Duffy]

"Hey," Duffy shrugged, "don't look at me, you're the boss!" His vain protesting at innocence drew Ruby's attention, and he tried to smile meekly at her. She tapped her foot, closed the book with a snap of her fingers and turned to William.

"This gentlemen," she pointed at William's officer, "is on the money, we should lure the Wendigo away from the Market District, ideally to the docklands where there is little activity due to the tsunami storms brewing up trouble for the maritime flotillas."

The Wendigo in question roared in the distance, and the remnants of the Tantalum came a scurrying across the cobbles to Duffy's side, nervous, twitchy and looking sheepish. This was all Scara Brae had to offer the Ixian Knights in the way of aid to defeat the beast, and already, Duffy felt somewhat guilty in the sight of all those weapons, crates and military trained individuals with more experience than he could ever muster.

"Maybe we can be lurin' it in the ocean, drown what can't be skewered, smother what can't be caught?" Another cart came rolling down the street, and crashed into the wagon that moments before had been their screen. It offered no protection from the missile, and they all looked into the distant square in a daze, "but whatever we decide, let's do it fast, 'ere 'e comes!" Duffy crossed his daggers, quickly unsheathed before him, and the Tantalum snapped to attention with weapon or stoic stance brandished with firm determination.

"Fight it here to test it's mettle for yourselves, or take our word for it, your call!" Ruby sung melodically, warming up her vocal chords to sing a sullen song of siren strikes or call the heavens down on the city with her wit and chords. A gust of wind whipped up over the Monster Hunters, an omen of greater things, and a delicate accent to bellow hair and dress in a moment of dramatic flair.

[Revenant]

William’s eyes lit at Ruby’s slight magical overtones. “Alright Duffy,” William said, the resolution in his voice making it apparent that he had come to a decision, “My men and I will lure it to the harbor, I want your people waiting there to do what they can to prepare for its arrival.”

Down the street, the Windigo paused its lumbering advance long enough to scratch its back on the side of one of the thoroughfare’s antique buildings, alternately dislodging several weapons from their perches in the creature’s back and reducing the merchant’s storefront to rubble in the process. William turned to watch it for just a second before continuing.

“When its gets there we’ll both hit it and try to drive it into the bay. I don’t know if the harbor will be deep enough to drown the thing, but it’ll at least slow it down and will minimize casualties.” William turned back to Duffy and gave the thief a vicious, savage grin. “As much as I’d like to just gut the thing right here, ‘Lord’ Orlouge would probably be happier if we kept casualties to a minimum.”

William then turned to Jerrick while pulling his heavy travelling cloak off. “Cat-and-Mouse to the harbor. Space out every other block or so and follow close once I’m past.”

“Roger sir,” Jerrick nodded. He took the travelling cloak from William and handed the Revenant one of the boar spears in return. William’s grin faded when he took the spear and he looked from it, to the Wendigo, and back.

“Better make it two,” he snorted as if finding the situation somewhat humerous. Jerrick only nodded and retrieved a second spear for his Captain.

“Be quick about it,” William ordered as he took the second spear. “I have a feeling that this one’s going to be coming hard and fast.”

“Roger sir,” Jerrick replied again. William’s grin returned and he nodded once to Ruby and Duffy before turning and trotting off down the street. Jerrick barked the orders to the rest of the squad who instantly sprang into action and then turned to Ruby and Duffy to explain.

“Cat-and-mouse means that the Captain is going to lure the creature using himself as bait. We’re going to set up every couple of blocks and use our ranged fire to channel the creature towards the harbor. Like he said, its going to come fast, so you might want to get moving sir.”

[Duffy]

Duffy didn't need asking twice. He burst into a childish run injected with sporadic skips and happy go lucky taps, and he waved the Tantalum into action, into a rag tag performance that surged along the street amidst the more stoic and professional movements of the Ixian Knight's Monster Hunters. Ruby and Lillith, naturally, took a more tactful approach to advancing and briskly walked side by side with wide strides, their arms interlocked like sisters escorting one another to the Ball.

As they approached the widening Market Square, Duffy gestured for Blank to take to the rooftops, and he skidded to a halt to check his gear. "Come down on 'im Blank, take 'is blood - keep tags on 'im so if he goes a ramblin' we know where 'e is." Without further instruction, the swordsmen clambered like a monkey up a drainpipe and padded out onto the hot clay tiles to approach the Wendigo from above.

"Take the lead, William, I might be the bard but this show is all yours!" He beamed a smile at his fellow captain and clapped his hands together with a firm determination. Little sparks flickered briefly into view, before fading into nothingness, their heat expended and wasted.

Ruby and Lillith stepped up to Duffy's side, and brazenly glared at their target. Lillith began to remove the heavier layers of her clothing and left them draped casually over the first stall, which appeared to have been selling Rodden Pies before the Beast With A Thousand Backs brought a thousand woes to a thousand lives. She rolled her neck to ease away the lethargy of inactivity and withdrew her tanto.

"Ready?" She said with a plucky dare to her sister.

"Oh, you bet," the red headed Ruby cast her arms wide and they advanced with the rest of the party, steel and song and femininity brandished like the sharpest blade and the keenest wit.

[Revenant]

The twin boar spears weighed heavily upon William. They were of sturdy stock, solid and hard forged, but against the massive creature that the Revenant approached they felt like they would be little more than splinters.

“At least they should get its attention,” William muttered as he jogged down the street. He approached the beast confidently, knowing that Jerrick and Duffy had set their groups into motion behind him. There was little he himself had to fear, even from a creature this size, but he had Scara Brae to worry about at this point, not just him own skin and bones.

“Alright asshole,” William roared as he approached, drawing the Wendigo’s massive head towards him. The beast gazed at him stupidly, curiously seeing little threat in the solitary figure. Let’s rectify that, William thought and let his demonic power ripple out to transform him. Holding one of the spears braced behind him, William hauled back and let the first one fly. Straight as an arrow shot, the heavy spear hurtled into the Wendigo, propelled into the beast’s tough hide with a strength greater than any normal human could hope to muster. But even though the spear was guided by William’s supernaturally enhanced strength, the heavy blade only sunk halfway into the Wendigo’s thick, resilient hide. William frowned at the wound, knowing that it was likely little more than a pinprick to the giant creature, and hoped that it would be enough.

The hideous blast of roaring air that slammed into him told him that it was.

Ahead of him, the Wendigo bellowed in rage, angry that something so pun y would dare to hurt it. It stomped and shivered, causing the ground beneath William to buckle and heave hard enough that the Revenant had to fight to retain his balance. The beast threw his head back and screamed loud enough to ripple the smoke clouds again and then lowered its head back at William and did it again. It was at that moment that William brought the second spear forward and, faster than the eye could follow, hurled it into the creature’s maw.

A spurt of hot blood squirted from the Wendigo’s jawline as the second spear stuck into the much more tender flesh just under the beast’s horse-sized teeth. The creature’s eyes flared wide at the sudden wave of pain that washed over it, far worse than anything it had previously experienced. It reflexively swiped one of its massive paws through a nearby building as it brought its claws up to scratch at the offending spot in its mouth, doing far more damage to itself in the process.

William grinned at the thing’s pain, but his grin faltered as the Wendigo’s gaze locked back on him. The roar that the creature had issued before had been powerful enough to ripple the clouds over the city and that had only been a roar of annoyance. A new roar slammed into William, one of pain and anger, lifting the Revenant bodily and throwing him half a block down the street. The force of the Wendigo’s rage was such that even the flagstones beneath him were torn up and scattered to the winds.

“Yeah, definitely got its attention,” William muttered as he shot back to his feet and started his sprint towards the harbor, trailed by a rage-filled beast the size of a city block.

[Duffy]

Duffy blinked. He was sure he missed something, but all the same, William flew back through the air and landed as if he had not just been clubbed by a behemoth. He watched the drama unfold with glee, and silently pledged to enquire as to William's fortitude in a future discussion, and more importantly, how he too could be stronger.

As the Wendigo began to pursue it's attacker, Duffy clapped and the Tantalum troupe burst into action. He trailed the beast's heavy, destructive footprints himself, almost floating over the road and leaping like a harlequin across the rubble left in it's wake. On the rooftops above, Blank trailed the beast's surprisingly nimble advance from on high, his breathing immaculate and his pace swift to time his jump across to the beast's multitude of metaphorical backs just right.

"Ruby!" Duffy roared over his shoulder, knowing the two sisters would be following, but out of harms and voice fall's way. "Whenever you think it right!"

He pushed himself harder and ran quicker, pushing even his own simian dexterity to it's maximum limit. His limbs burnt and ached already, pulling and contorting his fatigue over his skin like an awkwardly fitting suit. The bustle of activity and the combined effort almost felt like union, like success, and Duffy thrived on the momentary connection he felt between the two groups.

Even as the Wendigo broke through shop front after shop front and cleaved great swathes of rock, rubble and tile from the adjacent buildings, Duffy couldn't help but feel a little bit excited. Sure, certain death awaited anything that got in the way of those claws, and somehow William had volunteered to bait the beast out of the way of the populos, but what was life without a few risks?

With one last burst of speed, Duffy caught up with the heels of his adversary and whistled.

Blank moved to his right, and leapt from the rooftops.

Ruby pursed her lips and Lillith plucked a ghostly Shamisen from the air.

Duffy reached out for the beast's heel, and grabbed the manacle about it's hulking muscle.

All the little pieces came together, and then the beast rolled out into the open square of the docklands.

Duffy scrabbled up it's leg, Blank landed on his back, and through the air like wildfire rain, a phantasmal energy gather at the behest of Ruby's song.

Blank landed with a pwop on it's vast back, and stalked the forest of broken pole-arms and swords precariously, waiting for Duffy to rise to the occlusion and join him.

"So far," he hand appeared over the edge and pulled the rest of his body up, "so good..." he winked at Blank, confident right up until the Wendigo craned it's neck back to roar. The heavens split, and blood trickled from their ears.

"William!"

[Revenant]

William ran as fast as his demonically enhanced speed could carry him, stumbling slightly every now and then as the Wendigo’s loping paws crashed into the tiled streets and sent rippling waves through the ground before it like a herald’s trumpeting. Side streets and storefronts passed William’s vision in a blur as the Revenant sped towards Scara Brae’s docks like a champion sprinted at full gait. He was unaware of the actions that both his squad or Duffy’s were taking and with such a massive creature bearing down on him in a slavering, bloody rage, he didn’t care.

On either side of William’s run, staged every couple of blocks as their training demanded, the members of the monster hunting squad waited with their loaded crossbows. Each, in turn, waited for William to blur past before taking aim and firing at the rampaging beast that followed. It was hard to miss such a massive target, but with the beast wild thrashing it did demand some amount of effort to strike the creature’s face with their heavy bolts. None of the projectiles did very much damage to the Wndigo’s ridiculously tough hide, but the slight stinging that they caused was more than enough to keep the stupid beast’s attention focused on its pain and the charred demon-man who had initially caused it. Finally, each squad member fled backward to a safe distance once they had loosed their bolt and circled back around to follow the Wendigo’s destructive wake.

A surge of relief welled in William’s breast as he broke out into the open dock plaza for as fast as he was, the Wendigo had picked up speed during their reckless flight through Scara Brae and was nearly upon him. Though William knew that the beast could do no permanent harm to him, the creature’s massive paws were getting dangerously close and he had no wish to spend the next several weeks recomposing himself from the spattered smear that he would become if the thing were to stomp on him.

Acting in self interest, William threw himself to one side as he entered the open space, dropping prone to dig the claws on both his hands and feet into the solid plaza pier for a better purchase. Seeing his prey dart out of his line of vision the Wendigo threw its head back and bellowed again, not thinking to stop its advance in its stupid, mindless rage. Another shockwave, similar to the one that had knocked William off his feet the first time, caught the Revenant and threw him in across the plaza in a roll. He was no longer in the direct path of the beast who has even now plunging for the waterline, but he couldn’t stop himself from following the creature over the edge.

The last thing William saw before plunging into Scara Brae harbor beneath the Wendigo was the sight of Duffy and Blank bracing themselves against the myriad weapons lining the creature’s back.

“And they say I’m foolish,” he thought as the churning waters closed over his charred form.

[Duffy]

Duffy gulped. The motion of the Wendigo's heavy footfalls and sudden gallop took both members of the Tantalum by surprise and they felt the wind snapped from them as they clung on for dear life. Their plan until now had been to distract the beast, to stir him out of harm's way using the ordainment of war embedded in it's hide as oars. Blank darted his compatriot a stern look of fear as he was rocked back and forth, and the Wendigo burst out into the plaza with a roar.

"One!" Duffy shouted, taking a hold of one of the spears and making to climb it with nimber actions.

"Two!" He reached it's tip and looked over the edge of the beast like a cabin boy in the crow's next, the whole world as he knew it suddenly his to survey.

Crossbow bolts whipped back and forth through the air and the sea breeze that was a familiar part of the backdrop of the city filled his nostrils, and Blank joined him in the ascent on a long partisan of steel and mahogany a few feet away. At the entry point, the weapons eased open tired and aching scabs and thin trickles of bright ochre blood ran away from the calloused wound. Whilst it was true that the hide of the beast was virtually impenetrable, once pierced, it was a chink in it's armour.

In a little brainwave, Ruby and Lillith, who kept up with the action and stralthily followed the beast and the monster hunting team through the city ran out from the sanctuary of the tall rickety buildings as the monster neared the harbour and screamed in unison.

"Like a gnat on the brain Duffy! LIKE A GNAT ON THE BRAIN!"

The archaic colloquialism echoed across the cobbles, perhaps seeming a little mad and loopy to the onlookers. Duffy and Blank gave one another an all knowing look and gave up their attempts to pull the spears free, instead they rocked them back and forth, like a flag pole in a strong wind. When a fly or bug landed on your head, in comic form, the man pestered would often find himself slapping thin air and hurting his own haste.

The Wendigo reached the end of the cobbles and teetered on the edge, it's steps suddenly uncertain, it's eyes peppered with crossbows and it's head and shoulders aching with an old war wound. It did the instinctual thing, and as it's great hulking hands rose up, it fell forwards into the cold spray.

Duffy and Blank leapt from the Beast with the Thousand Backs towards the cobbles, and as it slammed the multitude of weapons deeped into it's own body, it fell in a chaotic melee into the ocean.

The two plucky thieves rolled in tandem, naked torso and heavily armed bard in a well timed roly-poly. They stood up together, and turned to watch the creature in it's death throes and smiled...only then, certain they had all worked together to defeat it, did they flop to their knees exhausted.

"That's...team....work," Blank mustered through painful gasps for air.

"That's stupidity!" Ruby interjected, hands on her hips but smiling that they were safe.

[Revenant]

William tumbled down, ever down, through a churning maelstrom and into the heart of a swirling universe of chaos. There was no light, no air in all existence, only the stinging embrace of darkness and debris that floated around him. Every square inch of William’s flesh burned with the surging sting of much-filled harbor water mixing into his cracked, scarred flesh. But the worst part was the knowledge that his situation would only get worse as the towering Wendigo was mere moments from plunging into the swirling abyss above him.

The sound of the giant beast crashing into the churning waters boomed under the harbor’s dark waters like a volley of fire from Alerian cannons. The pressure of the beast’s descent slammed William’s demonic form back and forth between the wooden pilings. The rough edges bit savagely into the revenant’s flesh as he flailed wildly, determined to survive the clinging, inky blackness that clutched at him and drew him to the lowest depths of the Abyss.

William’s lungs burned like the fire that flowed through his veins but he refused to give in, grabbing and clawing his way up through the darkness. His claws cut and gripped, tearing into the wooden pilings and the flesh of the plummeting Wendigo alike in his fight for life. Each moment seemed like an eternity, and he couldn’t be sure if the warmth surging around him was the heat of his own rage in the water or if it was the blood of the beast pouring from its death wounds.

Finally, as if he had been fighting against his fate for an eternity, William’s head broke the surface, offering the revenant sweet refreshing life. A chorus of voices greeted him from above, his squad rushing to William’s aide.

“Shit, I thought we lost you when you went over the edge,” Jerrick yelled down, a grin of relief plaster across his face.

William sputtered his arms and legs as heavy with fatigue as they were with his bone carapace. “You’re the one who’s going to be lost if you don’t get me out of here.”

“Right,” Jerrick nodded, and waved Sergei and Rawls off to grab some rope. Then, as if just remembering, he turned to Duffy’s congratulatory party and shouted, “it’s ok, we’ve got him over here.”

William spun around in the water, letting the waves from the Wendigo’s dying thrashes wash the red tide over him. It wasn’t the prettiest kill, he knew, but at least the beast with a thousand backs was dead.


Spoils:

Skin of the Beast - William has recovered enough of the Beast's tough skin to make a new full-body cloak. The beast skin cloak serves the Revenant much as it did the Wendigo, shrugging off most light to moderate piercing and slashing attacks. Heavy or concentrated attacks will still penetrate the skin, and it does nothing to deter blunt force attacks.

[Silence Sei]

• STORY ~ 15/30



CHARACTER ~ 20/30

WRITING STYLE ~ 15/30

Wild Card (7/10)

Total: 57

I enjoyed this thread, it showed off the power of the Ixian Knights pretty darn well, if I do say so myself. Duffy, a couple of times you accidentally used words for other words, if that makes any sense. Post 11 for example, you used the term ‘Crow’d next’, when it’s the ‘Crown’s Nest’. I’m pretty sure that’s not a silly English term. The ending was a bit lackluster, but I don’t see the Monster Hunting crew as the type to say ‘well, seeya next time’. I was also expecting more of a conclusion from Duffy, as his ending made it seem like he intended to post more. Anyways, it was a good thread, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rev gets 1700 Exp, 100 GP, and his spoils approved.

Duffy gets 1700 exp, 100 GP, and some of that Beast hide as well, though he can sell it at the bazaar (price -200 GP) or find someone who can do something with it.

[Silence Sei]

EXP-GP added.