Wanderer of the mountains (Solo Quest)

[Wulfgang]

{(OOC): solo for character building.

Wulfgang walked down from the desimated camp he had called home, finding himself homeless and friendless except for Peregrinus his Canine ally he stalked down the mountain quietly recalling past events and eventually podering into thoughts of future goals, the most prominent, revenge.

"how exactly can I avenge the deaths of my tribe, what must i do, where do I begin?"Wulfgang muttered, looking to Peregrinus almost hoping for advice that he knew would not come. With Wulfgangs thoughts came a new one, he knew where some caves of verbeeg, small giants, located around the mountain ranges; and though Wulfgang himself could not conquer any of these caves if he could come about some assistance it would be very possible.

Wulfgang smiled to himself, thinking of the possiblities, for some Verbeeg dens housed gold and valuables which could send him on his way to rallying enough power and other adventurers to overtake Gebaren-Grot, the damned clan who killed his people.

With half-developed thoughts whirling through his head Wulfgang picked up his pace toward the nearest outpost in Salvar, one that maybe held an adventurer or two willing to make the journey back up these moutains to slay a few Verbeeg and perhaps more.

Wulfgang traveled at a blistering pace up and down the steep landscape of the region, only slowing for short meals and sleep. After a fortnight of travel,within whcih he had been fortunate in escaping encounters with the numerous dangers of the unforgiving landscape, however he had seen their signs and taken care in avoiding them. Wulfgang now looked upon a rickety town with a beaten wood wall around the circumference, he sighed resignedly and made his way down into the valley that harbored it. Wulfgang made it to the gates at nightfall only minutes before the gates began to close. Upon his arrival a guard yelled "Who be ye, and what be yer business in comin' here scum".

Quick to reply Wulfgang stated "Wulfgang is me name and I seek rest and shelter from the cold night".

With a scowl the guard snarled "Fine".

Wulfgang walked into the town and found a local inn/tavern to stay in and was pleasantly surprised to find the place rather packed, Perhaps I can find a adventurer here who will dare to travel into the wilds with me he thought to himself. He sat down and scanned the place for possible recipients.

[Wulfgang]

At the end of the night Wulfgang, though he had found many who wanted a share of the loot, none wanted to journey that far into the wilderness. Wulfgang found himself disheartened that no one had accepted his offer this first night and went to bed. He found himself lying down thinking of the future again and came to the conclusion that he should attempt recruiting assistance for a few more days before going off on some other attempt. Wulfgang had had to send Peregrinus back to his own plane to gain acceptance into the inn but he now recalled his companion for comfort and for counseling. Wulfgang sent his canine companion images that described his thoughts and feelings and the ever insightful wolf answered with almost human advice, explaining that sometimes things would take time and would not come to him at his heed. Wulfgang took this advice and went to sleep, dreaming of killing verbeeg and winning massive amounts of loot. He awoke early the next morning to wonder around the outpost, finding that as of later there have not been many adventurers at all, only residents to the community who would not dare go out to risk their own lives for such a gamble.

One such resident named Duldin, a leader of the militia and a rather old man with stark white hair and heavy wrinkles upon his face, looked at the barbarian curiously and said “Now I don’t know anyone around here crazy enough to go into them wilds and hunt verbeeg, not lately, But I’ll tell ya what, I do have for ya, We been havin’ lots of trouble with the gnolls around here, they’re as ample as leaves on a tree, you bring me back the tails of them half dog half man bastards and I’ll give you a little somthin’, what do you say to that?”.

Wulfgang smiled “Of course I’ll kill some gnolls for you and your town!”.

Duldin smirked and said "And if ya do go off killin verbeeg bring back the thumbs and im sure they'll be a bounty upon them as well, good luck" then he turned and strode down the road.

Wulfgang decided to wait a few days before departing the town and attempting the journey himself, for to him there were no other options open. The barbarian had no luck at all in finding any other adventurers and thus made his departed on the seventh morning and began his long journey back up the mountain slopes, a journey that would be considered almost suicidal to most, even Wulfgang.

The large barbarian found himself hiking the mountainous region, admiring the natural beauty of his surroundings, noticing the ancient trees standing strong around him, and the small animals which around them, clinging to them like a baby clinging to its mother. Wulfgang saw larger beasts of prey stalking through the forest, ever alert and wary of the traveler but none the less walking in plain view. The sky held a grey hew as it almost always did blocking out the sun and keeping a dull essence to the forest but even the clouds could not stop the barbarian from seeing the astounding abundance of life around him. yet while it was not overly apparent to him at the time, it became more apparent through the day that the more abundant fauna were, the more abundant other less natural creature was.

[Wulfgang]

Wulfgang had been admiring a small rather brightly colored bird with a red top, brownish belly, and orange stripes upon its eyes, it was a small bird and Wulfgang pondered the thought of being so small and of having the ability to fly, he smirked at his odd thoughts. All of the sudden, a sharp, unnatural crack was heard send the bird fleeing for a safe perch, Wulfgang instantly picked up on the sound and fell into a defensive crouch, peering all around, searching for the culprit who made the disturbance. He found himself looking directly into the eyes of a couple of gnolls who seemed just as surprised to have found him, but they already had spears in their grasps and the grotesque dog faced creatures seemed intent on using them. One gnoll launched his crude spear into the air. Wulfgang dove headlong to his right, dodging the projectile and rolling back to his feet to find the other gnoll charging his way. Wulfgang barely had time to pull Canis Zhan forth from its sheath, but managed to parry a heavy stab put forth by his combatant.

Peregrinus was nowhere to be found and so Wulfgang called out to his companion with his mind sending mental images of the threats, and the return image splayed a smile across his face, the image was of the back of the gnoll who had thrown his spear. Wulfgang was now secure in the knowledge that he would not be double teamed, however he still had one gnoll to fight, and that was enough.

The gnoll extended his right leg into a powerful kicking motion, hitting Wulfgang square in the chest and sending him flying sidelong to the ground. He hit the ground trying to keep his sword in front of him, for he knew the tip of a spear would pierce his breast if he did not. The spear came down hard at the ground and Wulfgang, who had been expecting the attack, and who was also not able to keep his sword in any form of defensive position laying on the ground, had only one option. He rolled to the right, barely managing to clear his shoulder from the powerful thrust in time, and receiving a nick upon his back, but at least he had not been impaled. The Barbarian had but one hand on his Zweihander but that was enough, he swung if around and cut deep into his opponents kneecap. The beast grabbed its leg in pain, but its movements were perceptively more sluggish than they had been, and Wulfgang knew the reason. Canis Zhan had been enchanted with the winter’s cold of the highest mountain peak, chilling its opponents when hit. Wulfgang quickly got to his feet and regained a defensive stance which came into instant use as his opponent’s spear came in short jabs toward him. Wulfgang moved backwards, batting away the flurry of attacks and then returning with a swift and powerful downward chop. The gnoll’s spear came up defensively but the wooden shaft of the weapon was no match for the steel of Canis Zhan, which abruptly cut through the spear and implanted into the gnoll’s thick skull. The creature’s corpse fell limp to the ground pulling Canis Zhan and almost Wulfgang as well. He quickly regained his composure and pulled the sword free from the creature’s head with a massive jerk then leaned over and wiped his blade upon the gnoll’s fur. The Barbarian looked up to see Peregrinus laying over a gnoll corpse who was missing a throat and smirked, then went back about his own business. He sheathed his mighty claymore and pulled forth Krieklo , his hunting dagger, which he used to cut the two tails of the gnolls they had slain and then placed them in an extra pouch upon his belt.

Though Wulfgang would have been content to rest there he knew that where there were a couple gnolls, no doubt more were nearby.

[Wulfgang]

Wulfgang began hiking again, following the gnoll tracks up the mountain, and he found that he had been correct in his earlier assumption while inspecting an area in which several pairs of tracks had split into all directions which was only a fifteen minute from his earlier position. Wulfgang counted ten sets of tracks, meaning eight were still out there and turned to easterly path and began to follow in, moving as quickly as he could for staying somewhat quiet. Peregrinus moved with ease, already knowing where his master was going he sped off into the forest to find a beneficial position. Wulfgang thought to himself “Bounty hunting is not so bad, I could get used to this.”.

After a few minutes Wulfgang felt his connection with his canine companion intensify and a mental image of a pair of gnolls crouching over a snow hare came into his thoughts. His pace slowed, for he knew he was close and since the two enemies were still they had the advantage in hearing approaching movement. He chose his path carefully, staying almost completely silent and then finally after another few minutes of slow approach he came into sight of the gnolls. They were still unaware of his presence and he crept forward tense and slow like a cat stalking its prey.

Wulfgang was now only sixteen feet away and could was not sure if he could go any further without alerting the unsuspecting pair. Peregrinus sensing his master’s unease ran out into the open making ample noise to attract the attention of the two unintelligent gnolls, who stood up quickly pointing and chattering excitedly in their own broken tongue. Wulfgang seeing his chance charged forth pulling Canis Zhan from his back and smashing into the two, quickly slashing one across the throat and in the same movement bull rushing the other, knocking him to the ground. The thought of his earlier meeting with gnolls came into his mind, but one thing was different from then and now, he did not miss his downward thrust. The attack had only lasted seconds and was already over, it had been an easy kill, but only because he had surprised the two creatures. Wulfgang repeated the same action as before, cleaning off his blade and then proceeding to cut the tails off and put them into his bag and then sitting and resting for a short time.

An hour later Wulfgang was back on his way to the area where the gnolls tracks converged, but stopped abruptly as he heard loud chattering and barking, no doubt the conversation of gnolls. Wulfgang figured that the gnolls had found their dead companion, this somewhat alarmed Wulfgang for he had not covered his tracks and if the gnolls possessed and sense at all they were probably arguing about who would follow the trail first and who would follow.

[Wulfgang]

.
.
.










































Wulfgang quickly shimmied up a tree and tried to get a look while staying at least somewhat concealed behind the leaves. What he saw was not very comforting, for he viewed all of the six remaining gnolls following his path. He grimaced at his own stupidity, for he had not covered up any of his most recent movements making it utterly apparent where he had gone. Wulfgang sent a mental image to his companion which depicted combat with the gnolls. Luckily Wulfgang had chosen a tree close enough to the trail to jump down into the gnolls path, and so he slowly drew forth Canis Zhan again and readied his nerves, working the combat out in his mind redundantly. He found himself sure that he could take a few of the foes out but six was a stretch of his abilities, not to mention the fact that at present all of them were alert. Wulfgang knew instinctively that his companion was in position and awaiting orders.

The gnolls walked unsuspectingly under the tree, scanning the ground but certainly not looking to the air for the creator of the boot prints. They heard a howl to the right and all moved closer together and immediately began chattering amongst each other about the noise, and then all of the sudden a large form landed among their tight rank.

Wulfgang leapt out of the tree landing knee first atop one gnoll and cleaving another nearly in half from the momentum of a twenty foot fall. Wulfgang, even with the cushioning of a gnoll hit the ground hard and his breathe was pushed from his lungs, dazing him. He had caused ample havoc and killed one, possibly two but he could not see straight and his legs were numb from the impact of the fall. Peregrinus however had already burst into motion tackling a gnoll and clamping its powerful jaws around its face and crushing it. Wulfgang worked hard to recover some semblance of posture, forcing his legs under him he attempted to stand but only kicked himself backward, which he was, at least for the moment content with that movement, moving him further away from the dangerous weapons of the fast recovering gnoll party. Wulfgang kicked himself father back and eventually found a little bit of leverage in the form of a tree, managing to lift himself from the ground and lift his blade into a defensive posture, this however brought waves of dizziness almost sending him sprawling back to the ground but he held strong knowing if he fell there would be no getting back up. Two of the gnolls now had taken notice and were stalking cautiously toward the barbarian, occasionally glancing up at the trees for assurance that another man would not leap out. This would be it for Wulfgang if he did not do something quickly, and so he closed his eyes and summoned forth all the hatred, all his failures, and all his losses summing them up into a ball of rage and unleashing it. Wulfgangs veins were suddenly filled with adrenaline and he felt a surge of strength, his breath came easier and his legs felt strong, no pain was felt at this point, only raw, unforgiving rage. Wulfgang opened his eyes, it had only been a couple of second but the gnolls were closing quickly, his face contorted into a primal growl sending the gnolls back a step. Wulfgang charged the pair without the slightest hesitation, moving deceptively fast. The barbarian faked a downward slash, and at the very last second altering Canis Zhan’s path into a horizontally sweeping strike catching the gnoll on the right side under the arm and slicing into the creature, slipping between its rib cage and into the left lung. The gnoll on the left began to make a short thrust with its spear but missed due to its dying comrade being thrown into him by the sheer force of the blow it had take. Wulfgang didn’t even try to pull his blade free from the body, instead kicking the already off balance gnoll to the ground and falling onto him, pulling forth Krieklo and stabbing down hard into the creatures throat. Wulfgang looked up, his blue eyes shining with an inner fire, to see a cloud of smoke dissipate into the air as the remaining gnoll sent Peregrinus back to its own plane. Wulfgang was so enraged he could not contain himself, releasing a blood curdling howl and charging forth, not even thinking to grab Krieklo or Canis Zhan. Wulfgang hit the creature with a round house blow directly in the jaw sending it sprawling to the ground. He ran up, grabbing the vile beast by the head with both hands and twisting, snapping the creature’s neck.

[Wulfgang]

Wulfgang alone now felt his body begin to calm, his dizziness returned tenfold and his fatigue overtook him. Wulfgang felt his knees give out and felt as though he was falling forever down.

He awoke the next morning at sunrise, surrounded by now stinking gnoll corpses. Wulfgang sat up and examined his surroundings. The birds sang all around him, wolves not far away examining the corpses and hoping Wulfgang would leave the premises so they could begin their feast. He smiled at them and retrieved his weapons, wiping them clean and cutting off the tails of the surrounding gnoll corpses. Wulfgang’s stomach growled eagerly and he realized he had not eaten since lunch yesterday so he searched the corpses until he located a couple of rabbits that the gnolls had killed and took it no to far from the corpses to allow the hungry wolves access to the smorgasbord. Wulfgang eventually managed to start a fire and cook up the hares, enjoying the meal thoroughly but missing the company of Peregrinus badly. He looked down at the tooth which appeared to have many small cracks and abrasions over it and knew that Peregrinus was not yet fit to be summoned back to this plane and would not be for a few more days.

Wulfgang grimaced that his comrade had been injured so badly and mumbled to the artifact “you fought well my friend”.

Wulfgang finished his meal quickly then extinguished the fire and then began to climb the mountain once more. Wulfgang traveled at a slower pace this day from fatigue and from insecurity in not having his ally. He looked around him for any signs of danger and kept himself very alert throughout the entire day. The day was long and harbored no dangers however and by the time dusk fell upon him Wulfgang was eager for rest and found a hollow to curl up in and sleep.

He awoke the next morning and took out the wolf fang necklace once again, hoping in vain that it had mended but he knew it was not. Wulfgang sighed resignedly and crawled out of his hole but quickly backed himself back inside due to a large bellowing voice heard off in the distance. Wulfgang almost feared he had been spotted but soon realized that this was not so. Wulfgang sat quietly in his den and waited until the bellows could no longer be heard.

Wulfgang could hardly contain his curiosity, guessing it to be a verbeeg or perhaps a bigger giant but he could not be sure of anything. He stood up and stretched quickly and then began to hike over in the general direction he had heard the cries. Wulfgang soon found what he was looking for, huge footprints, twice the size of his own, this was a verbeeg and like the gnolls, where the was one there were sure to be more. Wulfgang smirked and followed the tracks, knowing that the creatures were extremely heavy thus very easy to follow. He followed the tracks up the mountain for hours and hours for giants had longer strides than humans and even barbarians and could travel much faster in the steep terrain. Eventually though the tracks led to a large cave covered by animal hide, this was a giants den, though it seemed to be small. Wulfgang was almost overjoyed, for a small den may be possible for him to overtake if he had Peregrinus by his side. Wulfgang stalked off to find some game for food because his stomach had gone to rumbling again and he knew he would need all the strength he could get if he was to kill giants.

[Wulfgang]

Wulfgang cut down a sapling and whittled one end into a spear tip and began his hunt, a few hours later he had manage managed to find a small area covered with undergrowth and grass. Wulfgang then shimmied up a tree and sat patiently waiting for any passing animals. Finally a large deer walked tentatively into the grove and began to graze.

Wulfgangs body tensed, every muscle taught, raising his spear smoothly into a throwing position, all at once his body jerked violently forward, sending the spear flying through the air, with the momentum granted to it from every muscle in Wulfgang's upper body, and hitting its mark perfectly. The deer tried to leap away but was dead before its body finished the motion, for the spear had stuck firmly into the deer's head, killing it on impact. Wulfgang climbed down the tree and collected his prize. Wulfgang looked around tentatively himself, but feeling secure in the fact that he was miles away from the Verbeeg den built a small fire and cleaned his meal on the spot.

Wulfgang ate very well that day and night but moved away from the area where he had cooked. Wulfgang,forever forward thinking, had taken with him a large amount of meat that he had cooked down to crispness to last longer and left the rest for the animals to feast upon.

The hardy barbarian slept late into the next day and awoke only to eat more. He rested that entire day and waited patiently for the evening. At dusk Wulfgang drew forth his wolf tooth pendant again and this time, to his enjoyment, found it unscathed.

Wulfgang put it close to his lips and whispered “come forth to me my companion, Peregrinus, you are needed on this plane”. In front of him a grey mist seeped forth from the ground and eventually took the shape of a canine, the shape then solidified into a large grey wolf with majestic yellow eyes and amazingly without any sign of injury. Wulfgang smiled and embraced Peregrinus in a hug and sent it a telepathic image of the entrance to the den.

The pair set out almost immediately toward the den, traveling for nearly two hours to reach the cave. Wulfgang found a good tree to hide in and climbed it, Peregrinus however could take care of himself. They watched the cave for an entire day, waiting, watching, and counting and eventually felt secure that there were only three, good luck had been on his side in finding this small group.

Wulfgang decided that he had better wait until he could fight one giant at a time. He waited for what seemed to be hours, until finally at dusk two of the creatures wandered out of the den, leaving the third inside. Wulfgang stalled until he was sure the pair had left and climbed down his tree and carefully began to approach the large cave. He tensed as his large hand, though it was not nearly as large as a giant's, ran across the thick fur mat used as a door. He took a step back and drew Canis Zhan from its sheath and took a readying breath. Peregrinus stood by his side as eager yet tentative as his master.

[Wulfgang]

Wulfgang cut down a sapling and whittled one end into a spear tip and began his hunt, a few hours later he had manage managed to find a small area covered with undergrowth and grass. Wulfgang then shimmied up a tree and sat patiently waiting for any passing animals. Finally a large deer walked tentatively into the grove and began to graze.

Wulfgangs body tensed, every muscle taught, raising his spear smoothly into a throwing position, all at once his body jerked violently forward, sending the spear flying through the air, with the momentum granted to it from every muscle in Wulfgang's upper body, and hitting its mark perfectly. The deer tried to leap away but was dead before its body finished the motion, for the spear had stuck firmly into the deer's head, killing it on impact. Wulfgang climbed down the tree and collected his prize. Wulfgang looked around tentatively himself, but feeling secure in the fact that he was miles away from the Verbeeg den built a small fire and cleaned his meal on the spot.

Wulfgang ate very well that day and night but moved away from the area where he had cooked. The Barbarian, forever forward thinking, had taken with him a large amount of meat that he had cooked down to crispness to last longer and left the rest for the animals to feast upon.

The hardy barbarian slept late into the next day and awoke only to eat more. He rested that entire day and waited patiently for the evening. At dusk Wulfgang drew forth his wolf tooth pendant again and this time, to his enjoyment, found it unscathed.

Wulfgang put it close to his lips and whispered “come forth to me my companion, Peregrinus, you are needed on this plane”. In front of him a grey mist seeped forth from the ground and eventually took the shape of a canine, the shape then solidified into a large grey wolf with blue eyes and amazingly without any sign of injury. Wulfgang smiled and embraced Peregrinus in a hug and sent it a telepathic image of the entrance to the den.

The pair set out almost immediately toward the den, traveling for nearly two hours to reach the cave. Wulfgang found a good tree to hide in and climbed it, Peregrinus however could take care of himself. They watched the cave for an entire day, waiting, watching, and counting and eventually felt secure that there were only three, good luck had been on his side in finding this small group.

Wulfgang decided that he had better wait until he could fight one giant at a time. He waited for what seemed to be hours, until finally at dusk two of the creatures wandered out of the den, leaving the third inside. Wulfgang stalled until he was sure the pair had left and climbed down his tree and carefully began to approach the large cave. He tensed as his large hand, though it was not nearly as large as a giant's, ran across the thick fur mat used as a door. He took a step back and drew Canis Zhan from its sheath and took a readying breath. Peregrinus stood by his side as eager yet tentative as his master.

[Wulfgang]

Wulfgang finally pushed the makeshift door aside and entered slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the cave, for although there was a fire around a turn ahead it was still much darker than the outside. He stalked forward focusing in on the slightest sound, then startled he took a step backwards as he heard the giant state to himself “ Me be always havun’ ta cook, I wanna go smash sum stuff sum too, stupid brudders”.

Wulfgang now resumed his forward movement, confident that the giant had no clue to his entrance. He then came to the corner in which the light flood from, and no doubt where the fire was, and so he slowly moved his head forward, peering around the stone and right at the back of the head of a Verbeeg; The beast was twelve feet tall with grey skin, it wore crudely tanned hides about its body and had a large pot belly visible through even his garments.

Wulfgang crept closer and closer until he was merely ten feet away, but then he made a crucial mistake. He had been to intent upon making sure the giant did not peer over his shoulder and had failed to see the bones on the ground, kicking one , turning it over on the hard floor which echoed throughout the entire chamber.

Wulfgang was spurred into action, getting within range just as the giant began to turn its head stupidly and say “what?”.

The barbarian stabbed into the creatures left back, piercing its heart, The beast released a scream of pure agony, plenty loud enough for all creatures miles around to hear. The Verbeeg rolled over dead on the stone floor. Wulfgang scolded himself for not hitting the throat to stop the screaming, for now the other giants would no doubt come back hurriedly to find a dead brother and be very angry and very alert. Wulfgang then heard something that put dread into his heart, he heard a loud bellow that seemed to be right outside the den. Wulfgang quickly looked for a place to conceal himself, but then stopped. He would die with honor if he were to die at all, and he refused to die hiding. Wulfgang scowled and waited, choosing to stand right at the corner and surprise the approaching creatures as much as possible. Wulfgang heard the hide mat be pushed aside and heavy footsteps .

“What yew screamin’ bout brudder?!”

No answer.

“Hey brudder? Ya in-“

The giant turned the corner and Wulfgangs blade was already swinging, hitting the beast in the chest hard with a horizontal slash and by the sound of it cracking a rib or two. The giant however was un-phased, looking down and saying “Whats this?”. Then the beast glance up and saw its dead brother on the floor and instantly loosed a roar of fury, beginning to raise its club. Wulfgang sword had already been in motion though and cut deep into the beasts arm, however this too seem no to bother it in the least.

Peregrinus sent a mental image to Wulfgang who quickly complied by kneeling down. Peregrinus was already sprinting forward and using Wulfgang as a springboard reached the giants face. The wolf latched onto the giants face with its lethal jaws and began squeeze, as well as raking the Verbeegs chest with its powerful hind paws.

The Verbeeg swatted at the creature with its free hand but at first to no avail. Wulfgang all the sudden saw another large form into the cave behind the first and he knew what it was.

“whats all this?” the second Verbeeg asked, but he quickly deciphered the situation and raised his club.

Wulfgang had no choice, he ignored the approaching Verbeeg, who seemed much bigger than the other two, and focused on finishing the second. Wulfgang sent an image to his companion, who then abruptly let go of its death grip on the beasts face. Then Canis Zhan came thrusting forward, right into the creatures jugular. The dying monster stumbled backwards, trying to pull in precious air, ripping at his throat to make it work.

[Wulfgang]

The other Verbeeg had moved into the range of his club, swinging downward with all his might. Wulfgang barely had time to dive out of the way of the astoundingly powerful blow. Wulfgang hit the ground rolling, quickly regaining his footing and turning to face his very dangerous foe. He was then taken aback by the size of this Verbeeg, nearly fifteen feet tall and unlike his two brothers, he seemed solid as the very stone around him.

Wulfgang smiled “big brother huh?”.

“YEAH!” it replied with a huge roundhouse swing.

Wulfgang had to fall belly down onto the floor to evade the powerful attack but quickly scampered to his feet. Peregrinus bit into the giants achillies heel but was simply kicked hard into the wall. Wulfgang made a quick horizontal slash, scoring a minor hit on the creatures thigh, which didn’t even make it flinch. The giant came down with another downward swing, and again Wulfgang had to dive out of the way, but this time he jumped to his feet quickly and stabbed deep into the giants right leg, only bringing a chuckle from the beast. The giant kicked its right leg forward sending Wulfgang flying backward, barely keeping Canis Zhan in his hands.

Peregrinus attacked again, but received the same treatment and no attention. The giant was intent upon the slayer of his brothers, Wulfgang. The barbarian smiled and charged forward with all the speed he could muster.

The giant with its crude tree trunk club already raised waited until just the right moment to smash his opponent, but when he swung the barbarian simply disappeared from sight.

Wulfgang ran and dove through the giants legs, barely escaping the massive club, but coming behind the monster. Wulfgang stabbed hard into the creatures lower backbone, hitting between the third and forth lumbar the giants legs suddenly buckled.

The giant howled in pain but even with it's legs paralyzed its upper body didn’t slow in the least, quickly turning around with a backswing of it club, it caught Wulfgang directly in the ribs, sending him flying into the wall. The giant smiled and began to drag himself toward the stunned barbarian. The giant happened to glance to his side see Peregrinus charging toward him, and slapped the wolf away with its free hand, sending it flying hard into the opposite wall. Wulfgang was barely conscious after the heavy blow, and knew he had a few broken ribs. He felt his blade slipping free from his grasp and his eyes began to close, but something kept him up, a fire within him that would not let him fall, not yet. Wulfgang felt the small fire within him and went to it, warming himself back up and building it into a blaze, he looked up to the giant closing in on him. His left side was completely numb and his arm would not work properly, but his right arm felt stronger than ever, strong enough to wield Canis Zhan alone. Wulfgang growled and decided he had only one choice, and so he charged.

The giant looked up, rather surprised the barbarian still was able to move but only smiled and began to swing its club in a low sweeping motion, in line to hit Wulfgang in the waist. The giant knew that the barbarian could not escape the blow by stopping for he had too much momentum, and could not fall to the ground because the club was too low. Wulfgang saw this too and knew there was one more option open to him. He dove sidelong over the club landing on his right shoulder and going into a roll. The impact with the ground still made him gasp and his left side pulsate with pain. He howled, as much with pain as with rage and stood up, readying his sword with only his right arm for a thrust into the last Verbeeg’s head.

The giant was amazed that the barbarian jumped over his club, he had not even considered the notion, but now he was completely open to Wulfgang’s blows. It tried to turn its head and found that it did so just in time to receive Canis Zhan in its right eye. It felts its brain numb with the cold of the winter and then it felt nothing at all.

[Wulfgang]

Wulfgang looked around the den and saw his companion sitting injured by the corner of the den, but none the less still on this plane. Wulfgang then sat down, overtaken by pain and fatigue, then proceeded to lay down and sleep.

The barbarian awoke a couple days later to find Peregrinus sitting beside him with a rabbit in its mouth and two more beside him. He struggled up to lean upon his elbows, waves of pain circulating throughout his body. Wulfgang grunted and ignoring the pain as best he could followed the orders commanded by his stomach and climbed to his feet, looking around for timber to start a fire. Luckily the Verbeeg had a nice stock of wood from the previous night. Wulf fumbled with his bags and found his tinder box and before long had a small fire, he then cooked his coney and ate ravenously. He curled up next to his fire and dozed off again, waking the next morning to find a couple more hares bought by his loyal companion. After eating one he sat petting Peregrinus and talking to him aloud, though he could only truly communicate with his companion through the telepathic communication of images that was possible because of their bond, they both found that the sound of Wulfgang’s voice created a more soothing environment than the soundless cave could offer.

“We did it my friend, you and me, though I’m not sure it truly brought us any closer to getting help in attacking Grebaren-grot, but what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, and the closer to killing us the stronger it makes us” Wulfgang said gaily. Hey, ya know, I think Verbeeg backswings are dangerous, my ribs are a little sore, perhaps I shoulda ducked that one. Ugh, well at least I didn’t catch a forward swing.”

Wulfgang talked for hours to his noble companion, who laid down comfortably with it’s head resting against Wulf’s thigh. Eventually though the barbarian found himself able to go to sleep again, and not being able to truly move around as he would like to he obeyed and took a nap. He awoke later on that evening and cooked the other coney and talked to Peregrinus. Finally he concluded if he did not move he would drive himself to psychosis, so he went about the medial task of cutting off the thumbs of the giants and depositing them into his pouch which also accommodated the gnoll tails. He found that his ribs did not ache as severely and moving no longer made him overwhelmingly lightheaded, hence he decided that he would be capable of traveling within the following few days.

He now opted to search around the cavern. The floor was smooth from being tread upon by heavy feet but the sides were much rougher, the ceiling had a few small ventilation holes and the cave ended only 150 feet behind the cooking fire. There was copious timber, most likely stashed away for the hard winter, which was quickly approaching. Also were many animal pelts, some lashed and stacked to make beds and others simply laying around for future use; but none were of any quality, being poorly skinned and tanned making an inferior leather to the clothing Wulfgang currently wore. He also found many skeletons of past meals as well as unfortunate travelers. The barbarian found numerous massive clay pots, and looking within them found seven filled water, seven containing liquor, six packed with dried meat, two full of roots, and one crammed with thick rope made of strips of leather interweaved together. He drank his fill of water, and then filled his water sack up with liquor for the later. A pile of throwing stones was found, and sitting beside it were giant size clubs and spears. Finally Wulfgang came to what he was looking for, a large pile of loot. Mostly however the pile was old, rusty, and dented armor and weapons however within the pile was also a bag of gold and baubles though it was not overly large, it was something and it was easily moveable. Wulfgang smiled and grabbed the bag and took it back to the fire with him, he was content.

The barbarian rested for a couple more days and finally readied to leave, going back and filling a small sack with dried meat and refilling his water sack he took a last look around the cave and left. He and Peregrinus traveled for days and day being extra cautious and avoiding any possible danger. Finally they made it back to the city but were forced to camp outside as a result of it becoming dark before they could reach the gate. Wulfgang was eager to collect his bounty but was patient and kept a level head about having to sleep right outside the gate, understanding the important of safety.

The next day Wulf proudly strode into the city and found Duldin, presenting him with a bag of ten gnoll tails and six Verbeeg thumbs. The old man’s face had lit up with surprise in even seeing the barbarian return, but now his face depicted pure and utter amazement.

Duldin finally uttered “well well so ye got ten gnolls and three Verbeeg! And ALONE?! Yer a warrior, that’s fer sure. Well follow me and ill take ya back to the armory, that be where me money be.”

“alrighty, sounds good to me!” Wulfgang said with a large grin splayed across his face.

He followed Duldin to the armory were he received a small bag of coinage which was dubbed sufficient for Wulfgang had already found a small bag in the cave so he was very content. He said his farewell to the old man and left the city, back into the wilderness of Salvar…

[Wulfgang]

Wulfgang looked around the den and saw his companion sitting injured by the corner of the den, but none the less still on this plane. Wulfgang then sat down, overtaken by pain and fatigue, then proceeded to lay down and sleep.

The barbarian awoke a couple days later to find Peregrinus sitting beside him with a rabbit in its mouth and two more beside him. He struggled up to lean upon his elbows, waves of pain circulating throughout his body. Wulfgang grunted and ignoring the pain as best he could followed the orders commanded by his stomach and climbed to his feet, looking around for timber to start a fire. Luckily the Verbeeg had a nice stock of wood from the previous night. Wulf fumbled with his bags and found his tinder box and before long had a small fire, he then cooked his coney and ate ravenously. He curled up next to his fire and dozed off again, waking the next morning to find a couple more hares bought by his loyal companion. After eating one he sat petting Peregrinus and talking to him aloud, though he could only truly communicate with his companion through the telepathic communication of images that was possible because of their bond, they both found that the sound of Wulfgang’s voice created a more soothing environment than the soundless cave could offer.

“We did it my friend, you and me, though I’m not sure it truly brought us any closer to getting help in attacking Grebaren-grot, but what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, and the closer to killing us the stronger it makes us” Wulfgang said gaily. Hey, ya know, I think Verbeeg backswings are dangerous, my ribs are a little sore, perhaps I shoulda ducked that one. Ugh, well at least I didn’t catch a forward swing.”

Wulfgang talked for hours to his noble companion, who laid down comfortably with it’s head resting against Wulf’s thigh. Eventually though the barbarian found himself able to go to sleep again, and not being able to truly move around as he would like to he obeyed and took a nap. He awoke later on that evening and cooked the other coney and talked to Peregrinus. Finally he concluded if he did not move he would drive himself to psychosis, so he went about the medial task of cutting off the thumbs of the giants and depositing them into his pouch which also accommodated the gnoll tails. He found that his ribs did not ache as severely and moving no longer made him overwhelmingly lightheaded, hence he decided that he would be capable of traveling within the following few days.

He now opted to search around the cavern. The floor was smooth from being tread upon by heavy feet but the sides were much rougher, the ceiling had a few small ventilation holes and the cave ended only 150 feet behind the cooking fire. There was copious timber, most likely stashed away for the hard winter, which was quickly approaching. Also were many animal pelts, some lashed and stacked to make beds and others simply laying around for future use; but none were of any quality, being poorly skinned and tanned making an inferior leather to the clothing Wulfgang currently wore. He also found many skeletons of past meals as well as unfortunate travelers. The barbarian found numerous massive clay pots, and looking within them found seven filled water, seven containing liquor, six packed with dried meat, two full of roots, and one crammed with thick rope made of strips of leather interweaved together. He drank his fill of water, and then filled his water sack up with liquor for the later. A pile of throwing stones was found, and sitting beside it were giant size clubs and spears. Finally Wulfgang came to what he was looking for, a large pile of loot. Mostly however the pile was old, rusty, and dented armor and weapons however within the pile was also a bag of gold and baubles though it was not overly large, it was something and it was easily moveable. Wulfgang smiled and grabbed the bag and took it back to the fire with him, he was content.

The barbarian rested for a couple more days and finally readied to leave, going back and filling a small sack with dried meat and refilling his water sack he took a last look around the cave and left. He and Peregrinus traveled for days and day being extra cautious and avoiding any possible danger. Finally they made it back to the city but were forced to camp outside as a result of it becoming dark before they could reach the gate. Wulfgang was eager to collect his bounty but was patient and kept a level head about having to sleep right outside the gate, understanding the important of safety.

The next day Wulf proudly strode into the city and found Duldin, presenting him with a bag of ten gnoll tails and six Verbeeg thumbs. The old man’s face had lit up with surprise in even seeing the barbarian return, but now his face depicted pure and utter amazement.

Duldin finally uttered “well well so ye got ten gnolls and three Verbeeg! And ALONE?! Yer a warrior, that’s fer sure. Well follow me and ill take ya back to the armory, that be where me money be.”

“alrighty, sounds good to me!” Wulfgang said with a large grin splayed across his face.

He followed Duldin to the armory were he received a small bag of coinage which was dubbed sufficient for Wulfgang had already found a small bag in the cave so he was very content. He said his farewell to the old man and left the city, back into the wilderness of Salvar…


OOC: Quest completed. I ask for spoils of some gold. I know not how much is an appropriate amount to ask, thus I leave that up to the person viewing this, please give as much as you see fit

[Karuka]

Okay, you asked for some moderate detail in judgment, so I'm going to give that to you, and since it seems to be your very first thread here on Althanas, I'm going to explain the categories as I go along.

Continuity: This defines where your character has been and is doing, as well as what he's going to do next. How well the reader can understand that without having to know your backstory influences how high the score is here.

Save for repeating the last post twice, there was nothing that really felt out of place in the grand scheme of things, though your score would have been helped greatly by tying some of the things from the introduction into the thread a bit more. You brought up revenge, and then ignored it for the rest of the thread in favor of going on an expedition for killing monsters and bad guys, without so much as explaining what happened before. The conclusion was also a little weak, the thread ended without any closure, or any real sense of what this adventure meant to Wulfgang. It's important that you incorporate the reality and of the quest upon the character's psyche, otherwise it doesn't quite feel real to the reader.

3

Pacing: This is how well the story flowed from start to finish, whether or not it dragged, whether or not it went too slowly, whether or not it spent too much or too little time on any one part.

Your introduction went too fast, and then you spent the rest of the thread pretty much in combat, taking out monsters and stuff. This creates a sort of imbalance in the flow that makes the thread a little clunky. Next time, you might want to try introducing a few more story elements into the thread. That would add more flavor and variety to the thread and force you to balance it out more.

2

Setting: This is how well you interact with your environment and the objects therein, whether the reader sees a void or a beautifully filled diorama that's almost realistic enough to experience...or anything in between.

I noticed that you didn't really use much in the way of physical details, and what you did use was very vague. You used a tree once by climbing it, which showed some consciousness of the fact that your character could interact with his surroundings, but what about everything else? What did the town smell like compared to the open outdoors? What did it sound like? Little details really bring a thread to life.

2

Persona: This is how much the character stayed in character within the context of the thread, as well as a sense that the character is an individual, rather than some video game character. Since it's your first thread, I'm not really looking at how well he stays in character according to your profile, since he's still in the growing phase, I'm looking at consistency in your posts, and I'm also looking for anything that makes him distinctly him.

Right now, Wulfgang seems very two dimensional; he's violent and desires revenge. It's hard to get to know someone better along the course of the thread when the personality is flat, so you might want to consider playing with other characters that can foil off of you, so that you get to know your character better, and so that everyone else does, too.
2

Action: Action judges how logical it is that something happens in a specific way and is reacted to in a specific way. For example, it would not be logical for a powerful mage with weak arms to react to a threat by smashing it in, nor would it be logical for a melee character to try using a high-powered spell that he...doesn't have.

You are a melee character that went to kill things, but please keep in mind, at this level it's not going to be that easy to go through so many foes. You did make it harder for him at the end, but even then, Wulfgang didn't really struggle. We make our characters struggle to force them to grow and change, instead of making everything easy. If everything was easy, we'd never get better. Challenge Wulfgang so that he improves.

One good thing, you did consider that your character is still human and does still have needs. That's a good touch, keep that up.

3

Dialogue: Basically, this judges if what's said fits the character(s), etc.

I liked the fact that you used the native accent, or what you perceived that the native accent would be, but you have your guy classified as a barbarian. He seems to speak fairly lucidly for a guy that hasn't had too much formal education. Other than that, the dialogue fit all right, but it didn't really ever shine for me.

3

Mechanics: This judges how well your grasp of the basic properties of English grammar is (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, etc).

You have several punctuation errors and a few in capitalization that I think were probably honest typos. As far as punctuation goes, there's a basic guide: A pause to breathe or separate parts of a thought is a comma, a complete thought is a sentence and needs a period at the end. A string of thoughts go together to form an idea, and an idea is a paragraph. Once you've finished one idea, it's time to move on to the next paragraph. Choppy punctuation really detracts from the flow of a story. You might want to ask someone to proof read, or even run a grammar check on your posts, and that will catch quite a few of the errors.

3

Clarity: This is how easy the thread is to understand, whether or not it's entirely clear what's happening or if there's no reasoning for anything at all.

Your tale was straightforward enough that it was easy to follow...but it was pretty much the same thing, which gets repetitive. Again, try adding in different story elements and make sure that we still know what's going on. It'll bring your score way up.

4

Technique: This is here to reward the use of literary devices (similes, metaphors, that sort of stuff), not reward the lack of them, and not reward the incorrect use of them.

You didn't really use any of this, and trying to use them would spice up your writing a little bit, make it more interesting to read and provide information to readers in ways that they could understand. Good use of technique can bring a reader into the thread instead of just presenting them a story, and that is ultimately the goal: making the tale come to life.

2

Wild Card: This is basically judge discretion, whether or not the judge feels like the rubric has been hard on you or easy on you, or they feel like there's something about it that deserves rewarded or not.

It's obvious that you were really trying to make something that everyone could enjoy, and I think with some conscientious work and attention to detail, you could really show off your potential. Keep trying, I know this judgment seemed a little harsh, but if you work hard, the scores will get better, I promise.

5.


Total: 29! Congratulations.

Wulfgang receives 265 EXP and 70 GP, + another 50 GP as requested for spoils (120 total)

[Sighter Tnailog]

EXP Added!
Gold Added!