Krull Part 3 Final

Part 1 http://rwmuck.limitless.org/rwmuck/content/krull

Part 2 http://rwmuck.limitless.org/rwmuck/content/krull-part-2

The fox knocks loud enough on the door to wake the dead. Perhaps it's a tad rude to do so to the town seer but Bandit is in a hurry. Dressed in his uniform and (admitedly tight) chainmail tunic under his blue tabard the fox stands in patinetly at the seer's home, knocking on his door once again with a gloved fist. "Nightbreath! Wake up out of what ever trance you are in and open up! It's cold out here!"

There's no reply, and just when it seems that Nightbreath isn't home, the door bursts open inward, the ermine standing there quite calmly as if Bandit had scheduled this meeting for tea or somesuch. "Ah, Bandit, come in." Without waiting to see if the fox follows, he heads inside, where a fire is roaring.

The fox twitches an ear, leaning back and reaching for his sword on pure reflex. Truth be told, Bandit HATED seers and on a day like today he was fairly sure that even a non seer could see it. "Oh, glad to see I'm not interupting anything important." He says, trying to relax. The fox steps inside where it is warm.

"Nightbreath is it? We havn't had much time to...heh, meet." The fox is about to introduce himself but then remembers that by now ermine should surely know who the head guard is. That and he's a seer, the fox will let him put it together.

No! Bad! Bad fox! Focus! Bandit chastises himself as he enters, trying to put on his best smile. "Look, I don't have a lot of time and I need your help. Help that I would prefure stay between us...

Nightbreath nods. "Mine lips are sealed, as thine will be forevermore should I not intervene, I presume." He takes a poker and prods at the fire, squattting on his haunches in front of it, gazing into the flames. He deftly slips a bit of powder into the fireplace and suddenly the flames turn green. Not true Seer's work, just idle play to keep his paws busy, as it were. "You need my help," he says plainly.

And totaly unerve the fox of course. Mysterious and sagely indeed. Exactly the reason why the fox hated seers. Which was ironic he knew, being an ex pirate. No, perhaps it was the piracy that gave him a general distrust of the field, seeing too many beasts stumble blindly about from advice 'devined' by beasts just after their pocket books.

Again the fox forces himself to smile, even with his tail slowly curling about his legs. "Y-yes. I need help killing a badger. An evil badger." He adds for clarity sake. "A badger is camped out on the river and plans to steal the hide of the town's champion...or it's head guard. I'm looking for a poison strong enough to kill a badger or slow it down."

Nightbreath snorts. "Of course I can help thee. I am somewhat knowledgable in that field. Although if you wish I can fight in your place instead...I have experience killing badgers...I did so in this very village, in fact. But enough of the past." He stands and walks to the mantle, retrieving a small potted plant, being careful not to touch it. "This is Wyrmsbane. An incapacitating plant--it is only lethal in large quantities, only then within the bloodstream. Coat your blade in it--but do not touch it, else you may get it into your eyes or mouth through carelessness! If you must handle it, use gloves." The Seer pauses. "I assume you're brave enough to slay the badger yourself once he is stunned."

"Beast threatened to peel my hide off mate. Bravery has nothing to do with it." The fox reaches out a paw hesitantly towards the plant, as if merely looking at it would kill him. "Wyrmsbane eh? How much do you think it would it take to be...lethal."

The fox considers the ermine for a moment, "I'm puting a party together to ambush the badger, if you want to be appart of it, I will hold no objections."

"You would have to ingest the entire plant. Several plants, in fact." Nightbreath sighs, quickly adding, "Do not touch it!" before continuing with: "An ambush? I was thinking more of engaging him directly in a duel, but as you will." He returns to the topic of the plant. "It is impractical to use the Wyrmsbane as a killing method--restraining a badger is quite difficult, let alone force-feeding him a poisonous plant--but it should give you the edge you need to win this fight."

The fox's shoulders seem to slump, "Oh. So I dip a blade in this and he just sort of...slows down?" At the ermines outburst he folds his paws behind his back, "Thank you for the offer to duel the beast but I'm afraid I'm not the type to indulge the desires of a pyscotic. Nor am I coward enough to let someone fight my battles for me." He says with a smile. "Are you sure you don't have something a bit more...deadly? It was a pretty large badger."

"Believe me, it won't just slow him down, it may very well send him into a deep slumber. The only reason it isn't lethal is because it's a _badger_. It would take a ridiculous amount of poison to kill such a beast. Poison that you don't have time to apply unless you feed it to him by mouth." Nightbreath shrugs. "So that's the best I have on such short notice."

Rubbing his chin Bandit replies, "What if you had three days?" Then shaking his head Bandit says again, "I'm sorry. You've helped out a great deal. This poison will save lives..." There is a pause, "Save for the one it's being used on and, well, you get the idea." Another pause as he peers at the ermine, "How much does it cost?"

The Seer laughs softly, warmly despite the subject matter. "I am a Seer--but not a merchant. I do what mine heart and soul tell me is right, and 'tis reward enough." He goes into his room and comes back with a pair of gloves and a batwing-leather pouch. He dons the gloves and slips several sprigs of the plant into the pouch. He then washes the gloves in a bucket of water, which he disposes of afterward. "Rub your blade in the leaves so the oils of it will coat the cutting edge. The leaves themselves will be unusable afterward. There will be a slight smell--almost savory--but do not be lulled into false safety by it. This is dangerous to beasts as small as you and I--more so than to badgers due to the size difference."

This must be the first time Bandit has been called 'small'. He chuckles at that. "Duely noted." The fox hesitates before taking the pouch. "Thank you. I appreciate it. Now I just need to figure out how to hit the badger with this." The fox's tail wags. It need not be his sword he applies it too... He begins to move towards the door.

Nightbreath smiles slightly. "Farewell. Use it well, and remember to burn the leaves after they're used up." He waves a goodbye and begins to meditate on the irony of sending Bandit away with a pouch full of oregano leaves--er, "poison."

And thus on the third day...

The fox did tremble as he walked through the forrest in the early morning light. A procession of beasts, guards dressed in leather armors, move through the forrest around him. They are armed with rapiers and bows and arrows. Bandit wasn't taking any chances on this mission. He hoped that it wouldn't come to violence but he was prepaired for when things go horribly, horribly wrong.

The fox himself is dressed in chainmail with his long sword at his side as he moves swiftly to the spot they met the badger at before.

Unbeknownest to the badger, and possibly to Bandit, Nightbreath drifts through the woods, in a mottled grey-and-white cloak that lets him blend in. He pauses in cover, crouching. He is armed with his sword and his blade-rope.

It's hard to say exactly what Krull knows or does not know. The fox finds the badger in a meditative stance infront of a small camp fire, his great and powerfull club laying off to the side.

The fox hesitates before drawing any closer. To the left and to the right beasts fan out across the woods, looking for good vantage points.

"Don't keep me waiting fox," The badger says with out looking, "I could smell the ale on your breath even before you left the road. Seems to be a lot of it to."

Gritting his teeth Bandit steps forward, as the badger continues. "And no champion? Did he go running off in the night? I suspected as much from vermin."

Nightbreath ascends into a tree slowly, climbing silently and deftly from branch to branch. Meanwhile, Chud is among the escort cadre and he hunkers down behind a boulder a few dozen feet from the fire.

The fox continues to grind his teeth, "We have no village champion, and if we did I'm sure we wouldn't waste his time with pond scum like yerself." The fox says boldly as he can muster, stepping into the clearing. "I'm Bandit the head guard of Ferrivale. And you, you are disrupting the peace."

The fox holds up a paw and several of the archers reveal themselves. At least two of the five hidden in the woods.

"Some how I'm not surprised." The badger says flatly. "Too afraid to fight me with honor fox, or too out of-"

"Oh do put a sock in it you over grown thug." It seems having a poisoned blade really does bolster one's confidence, at least for Bandit, "Honor is just a fancy word to make people fight to your rules. Well, I ain't here for honor, I ain't here for glory. I'm here cause I'm the head guard and the village needs protecting." He draws his blade, "This is your last chance to leave, peacefully. I suggest you take it..."

Krull raises an eyebrow to the fox and his archers and tilts his head to one side, "Fair enough. I guess it would be rather...silly to fight honorless beasts with honor." he shrugs, "If that's the way you want it, I'm happy to oblige."

And with out wasting any more words the badger grabs his club, smacking it down into the fire. Oil dabbed about the edges of the spiked metal club ignite, setting the club on fire as the beast weilding it rises and roars defiently across the woods. "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Krull beats his chest with his fist then lunges across the fire on a mad charge towards bandit, flaming weapon dragging behind him.

Bandit goes Private.

Nightbreath goes Private.

Both Chud and Nightbreath, having no ranged weapons on their persons, decide not to reveal themselves yet, the former ducking and weaving into another position to work his way closer to the combat, shaking his head in wonder at the badger's beserkness, while Nightbreath's eyes reveal nothing, the glitter of the reflected fire flashing flatly across his features.

Bandit has the chance to let out a yelp of terror and that is promptly it. He side steps out of the way of the badger as it decends upon him, raising his sword to deflect the flaming club of DEATH as it crashes downward with teh velocity of a miniture frieght train.

His sword snaps in half as the club continues on its way to pummeling the earth where Bandit was. Krull's back hand with his free paw comes just as swifty, sending Bandit sliding on his rump through the snow.

The other guards let out their own war cries before launching arrows and charging into the fray with their swords. A pair of stoats move in with rapiers to duel the beast. Krull shouts another garbled war cry before decending upon them like a vicious wild animal, never seeming to notice the arrow shaft digging into his shoulder.

Cursing in a forgotten tongue, Nightbreath leaps to another branch, knowing the guards don't have long unless aided. Chud darts around to the side, his dirk drawn, waiting for a good opening. The badger is bigger and surprisingly fast for his size, and has the reach advantage..."Could be tough," the otter mutters to himself.

The stoats lean backward as the club comes close to taking their heads off, possibly literaly. The club swings back from the other direction, taking out the leg of a guard and striking the other in the chest. Both are sent flying into the snow, crawing away from Krull until he grabs one by the tail and sends him flying at an archer.

"GAAAAAAAAH!" The stoat cries before colliding head on with the rat archer.

Slowly the badger turns his attention to Chud, giving him a smug arrogant smile. "Hello Riverdog." He raises his club to strike!

And that is when Bandit stabs him, right in the back with his broken blade. It goes in deep enough to be painfull but stops short on the beasts thick hide.

"Hello Krull, say hello to DEADLY POISON! You twisted woodlander maniac!" The fox pauses for a short moment as he waits for something to happen. The badger, slowly turns his fearfull gaze to the fox and glares at him with murderous intent. "Uh..." Says the fox as his ears flatten and his tail curles between his legs.

In the next moment Krull grabs Bandit by the neck, tossing him at Chud!

The otter ducks and rolls under the thrown fox, staying low to the ground to try to slip under Krull's defenses. He whips his dirk out at Krull, spinning it quickly into a reverse grip on the follow-through to stab down at Krull's leg.

The badger let's out a mighty roar of pain. He steps back, spinning on his heel with his club behind him. At the last moment he reverses the direction of the club, swinging it downward towards the otters neck.

In a flash, Chud is moving again, thinking rapid-fire thoughts along the lines of /Oh, crap it's gonna hit me and maybe break my neck,/ followed swiftly by /Gotta get behind him,/ and /Can't hit me!/. This is the first time he's ever fought somebeast this powerful and yet he's exhilirated rather than afraid. A wild joy runs through him--a mixture of terror and excitement. How long can he go? How long can he continue this deadly dance before either he or Krull slip up and leave a fatal opening? /Let's find out,/ he thinks, targetting the badger's club-wielding paw, slipping his dirk along the haft of the club to try to bite into flesh.  Feb 10, 2016 at 2:01 p.m.

(One could only imagine how the otter would feel to find out that simular thoughts ran through Krull's mind. The club dances around the otter like a deadly serpent, much more fluid and manuverable than one would assume from something so heavy. When it touches the ground it kicks up snow, when it strikes a near by tree it causes the timber to shudder.)

When the dagger slashes the badgers paw it goes flying from his grasp, nearly striking Bandit as it lands not too far away. "Insolent CUR!" Krull then pounces at Chud like a bear does to a poor unsuspecting deer, trying to simply maul him like a wild animal.

Easier to catch the smoke in one's paws. Easier to catch a cloud in a bottle. Easier to pin down a shadow beneath one's footpaws and stop it from moving away. "Too slow, mate," Chud says, mock-affably as he steps lightly backwards out of the path of Krull's tackle, his dagger flashing with a life of its own, turning in his dextrous paws back to a normal hold and slicing down at the top of Krull's head. His eyes are wide with shock and tension, and yes, a bit of fear, but not paralyzing fear...just fear of death, a fear that makes him even quicker on his feet. Nightbreath watches approvingly, sliding down the trunk of the tree and walking wraithlike through fog that now gathers among the trees.

The badger however only grows more and more impatient and furocious as his claws swipe at nothing. Finally tired of the otters dagger slicing across his hide he moves a paw to catch it, letting it slide into his paw so that he might grab the otter's hand. "Little woodlander..." he says through a wicked grin, "I want you to know that for the first part of this assault...you will saddly still be alive..." And then moves to slash the otter to peices with his free paw!

The otter's paw is trapped, and he yells out in adrenalin-fueled indignation. He ducks as best he can but catches a nasty clip across the shoulder regardless, gashing the skin and possibly doing internal damage. Before the pain hits him--and he know he only has a few seconds before it does--he gives a hate-filled cry and maneuvers even closer to the badger, crouching as best he can and hurling himself skyward in one fluid motion, hopefully smashing the top of his head into his would-be killer's jaw. Nightbreath breaks into a run, and charges into the scene, unable to use his blade-rope due to the chance of hitting Chud by accident.

Unfortunetly the head butting does little to Krull's least vulnerable spot. His head. It does little more than crack the badgers lip and delay the inevitable otter shredding that is boudn to occure! That is until the badger catches sight of the ermine at last. "Is there no end to you infernal vermin!"

"Is there no end to your infernal yammering?" Comes the swift reply of Bandit, swinging the badger's still flaming club with both paws.

Now that, at the very least, shuts up the badger as it connects with the side of his head. He releases the otters grip and staggers through the snow, yet still miracuously manages to keep standing.

"Chud, Nightbreath, take him down!"

The pain hits Chud and he struggles to stay conscious.  "Move," Nightbreath orders in clipped tones, and Chud shuffles back as best he can, crabwalking on his paws and feet even as blood mats his arm's fur.  Now with a clear opening, the Seer unfurls his blade-rope fluidly, snapping it with lethal precision towards Krull.

Flesh and fur fly as the bladed whip slashes the badger across the torso of the badger. Injured, bleeding, and horribly angry the badger falls into full beserker mode. A hail of garbled warcries erupt from his muzzle and he charges.

"You said that poison would slow him down! Does he looked slowed down to you?" The fox shouts, trying to lift the heavy club to swing at the badger again. Lifting it over his head the fox stumbles backwards under it's weight before bringing it down again on the badgers shoulder.

At least, until the badger bats it out of the way and grabs Bandit by his chain mail tunic. He yipes once before the badger socks him in the face with his injured fist and tosses him like a rag doll.

Then the badger comes for Nightbreath, on all fours, mouth foam in pure anger and agression, as he leaps to tackle the ermine.

"Talk to you later," Nightbreath says curtly, before dropping into a defensive stance. He retracts the blade-rope and whirls it in a figure-eight ahead of him on a short hold. The badger will be butchered if he attempts to cross through.

And yet the badger keeps going. Barging into the frey despite the many cuts and gashes that open up on his torso and belly as the bladed whip get's stuck in his thick hide. He dashes past the ermine, in pain, in rage, in even more pain, landing in the snow face first.

"YooOouUu ...VERMIN." The badger gets to his feet, blade's still wrapped around his torso, a horrible gash has opened along his muzzle and between his eyes. "YouUUu thiiInk you can beAat ME? I. am. KRULL!" He roars once more then lumbers forward with a crazed, wide eyed expression etched on his wounded face.

"Wrong," Nightbreath says calmly as he drops the blade-rope and draws his curved, jagged blade two-handed. "You are scum. You are a coward who prays on those weaker than himself." He turns to keep his sword between himself and Krull, even as he continues to speak. "Honor is not the same thing as martial prowess. Senseless violence does not make a beast a warrior." He unleashes a rapid flurry of strikes from his blade.

The badger bat's at the beast with his claws, roaring in anger as he misses and takes a strike to the arm, then the chest, the belly, the legs. The muzzle.

Krull finally falls to his knees with a loud THUD. He sits there for a moment, a look of shock mixed with anger as the Bloodwrath seeps out of every wound imaginable about his body. "Yo-you can't ...beat me...you are...you are weak...and I am...am..."

"Remember this, when you have died. Remember that you chose the wrong path. And may it guide you in the next life. Those who are weak, are like you. They choose the easy path of senseless violence, granted to them by their circumstances. Strength is restraining yourself from using such power against those who lack it. You think you have accomplished anything by slaying 'champions' of those weaker than yourself physically?" Nightbreath steps closer cautiously. "I think not."

The badger reguards the beast before him with shock and hurt as he runs this through his mind. Then murderous anger fills his eyes. "NO! Strength is having the power to crush you like a bug you little weasel!" His paws lash out to grab the ermine by the shoulders and moves in to bite his throat with his teeth.

When all else fails, maul the blazes out of them like the wild animal you are.

"So blind," Nightbreath murmurs, shaking his head sadly as he steps back again, keeping his sword up. "What do you know of strength? What have you done that has made your life worth living? You have simply taken advantage of your size and battle skills, and used them lightly, irreverently. Everything has a purpose. It is ordained so by those that created us. So tell me..." Nightbreath's eyes gleam. "Why do you fight?"

The badger falls to all fours. The beast coughs up blood, "It's the only way to claim...my throne...the only way to wrestle it back from my..." He coughs again. "You know nothing about strength." He smiles faintly, "But you will...once they get...here. Once they come to aveng-" His voice trails off and he slumps onto one side. His breathing comes to a slow grasping end.

Sitting up on his haunches and nursing the black eye growing on his face Bandit says, "He's dead. Right? Someone tell me he's dead."

The Seer is smarter than to lean down close to check. "That would appear to be the case." Carefully, he removes his blade-rope from the badger's body with a sigh of regret. He cleans the blade on the grass, does the same with his sword, then goes to attend to Chud, who is essentially semiconscious. Nightbreath calls for a healer, and the young otter gazes up at him dully.

"That's good to know, my next question is, why in the blazes is he not filled with arrows?" The fox get's up onto his feet. He see's a trio of his guards, two of which being tended too by one archer. That just leaves two un accounted for.

"Night, make sure Chud doesn't die on us please, I have guards to throttle." The fox moves into the bushes for a moment, dissapearing from view. The remaining rat Archer calls out to the seer, "I've got a broken leg here annnnnd a concussion...possibly. The stoats I mean. Hows the otter?"

"Possible shock from blood loss. Deep wound, seems to have clotted, should be treated to prevent infection though. Nearly dislocated his arm, but not quite," Nightbreath reports.

"Add too more concussions to that list," Bandit declairs as he walks back into the clearing. "Both the other archers are out cold. Someone clobbered them over the back of the head and took off into the woods."

"I didn't see the badger take them out."

"Krull didn't, but doesn't mean he was always alone either." The fox rubs his swellig eye. This was a night mare unfolding before him. "Well don't just stand there, go get help. It's going to take more than the three of use to haul our wounded back to the village." The rat nods, then takes off like a bullet for the village, leaving Bandit and Nightbreath alone, at least alone enough for what he had to say.

"Slow him down." The fox says after a pause, "You told me that would slow him down. Of course I neglected to ask how much but..." His tail twitches in agitation.

"I lied," Nightbreath says simply, holding up a paw to forestall any protest. "We needed information, and if his mind was affected or slowed down with his body, we wouldn't get that information. Which we did. He was not alone, and there may be retribution."

Chud room-pages, "AKA: It's Seer stuff, I don't gotta explain crap.".

You room-page, "lol!"

"Well golly gee, don't I look foolish. It's not like you could have told me that BEFORE we went off to fight the big warlord badger!" The fox is practically fuming, one paw still clutching his eye, "Blast it Nightbreath! I could have gotten killed, we all could have gotten killed! This, this right here is why I don't like Seers. 'Oh woe is you, I have fore seen your demise but isntead of just telling you what happens I'll wrap it up in a riddle that will only send you faster to your death if you try to figure it out.' Bullocks! You nearly got us all killed!"

"You had to believe it was poison. Otherwise you may not have had the courage to step up to the fight," Nightbreath says coolly. "And if I thought the outcome would be undesirable, I would've thought of a different plan."

"Spare me /ermine/." The fox growls, "I havn't the stomach to take a santimonious speach right now." The rat returns with several beasts in tow to help carry back to the village. "But don't think this conversation is over..."

"Very well. I will await its continuation with great interest," Nightbreath says sincerely, drifting off into the woods. Chud is now in the care of the village's healers, and is mostly limp.

The fox watches the ermine walk away. Despite the false poison Bandit is gratefull that he isn't dead...or that the badger didn't kill any of his guards. Speaking of which, "Chud, hey, speak to me buddy. How are you doing? Are you ok?" He snaps his fingers infront of the otter as healers and beasts work to put the wounded on cots.

Chud looks up hazily at the fox. "I'm okay...I think...Just...try'na stay awake." His voice is a whisper, and pain is coursing through the youth like fire. "Surprised I lasted as long as I did."

"You did good. You saw the dragon and charged it head on." The fox pats the otter on the shoulder, "But the next time you vollenteer for something like this, bring some armor, eh?" the fox pats his chain mail tunic before leaving Chud to the care of healers.

"Thanks," Chud says distantly. "But armor...slows me down, gotta be...stealthy." He snorts. "I'll remember that next time tho'." He hangs an arm over either one of the healers' shoulders so he can be hauled off.