Scarlet hacked away at a particularly thick patch of greenery hanging low over the worn down dirt path. She wiped off and sheathed her long, curved blade, flicking the wet plant juices off of her hands and into the lush ambiance. She glanced around, continuing to follow NIcholas and hoping desperately he knew where he was going.
A branch snapped somewhere off to the left.
Scarlet stopped in her tracks, staring accusingly into the bushes.
A low growl met her ears.
And a pair of white eyes flashed in and out of view. She shouted a warning, holding her arms out and pushing everyone away from the bushes, then whipping her weapon out of it's sheath and holding it out in front of her defensively.
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"Sticks and Stones will Break my Bones, but Even Through Death I will Withstand the Pain."
Chris *Changed to a cheetah (Her main fighting form) and hissed, she stared at the white eyes and her strong muscles tensed she spread her paws apart and bared her long fangs*
-- Edited by Josh on Tuesday 18th of October 2011 08:05:10 PM
Nicholas stared at (whatever Caleb's name is, you're 'posed to talk in third person), wondering why the small boy following them was now preparing to fight a stray dog. He shrugged and ran over. "Hey, uh... Lay off, okay? We're supposed to be looking for the path right now. And if that dog wants to follow, that's all right." He smiled and, trying to annoy (whatever Caleb's name is), patted him on the head. He still didn't know why (whatever Caleb's name is) was following them, as he had already started walking and hadn't noticed Merry until later (there! Remembered it).
Scarlet stared at Nicholas accusingly, taking a few steps forward toward the greenery. She thrust her arm into the bush, striking with her scimitar and trying to hit whatever creature was in there.
She felt the scimitar plunge into something furry, sinking through the skin and going in deep. That was followed by a unnatural shriek, and white hot pain exploding through her arm.
The creature either had razor-sharp fangs, or barbs like a porcupine. And from what she knew, there weren't any porcupines in this forest.
She let out a shout of pain and yanked her arm - and blade - out of the bush. She stared at her arm, where a long spine was potruding out of the skin, at least two inches of the thing was embedded into her skin. The skin around the spine was beginning to redden and puff up.
She kicked the bush - and it's inhabitant - sending whatever the thing was tumbling out of the bush.
"Screw you--!" She muttered, staring at her arm which was still burning with white hot pain.
__________________
"Sticks and Stones will Break my Bones, but Even Through Death I will Withstand the Pain."
Again, getting a little bit tired of no plot going on. So that's why I put this in.
Nicholas sighed. "Guys, come on. Let's just hurry up and go. We won't even have much time anymore if we do go. In fact-" Nicholas glanced around at the setting sun. "We don't have any time left at all. If we don't get back into the walls soon we'll be just as dead as the gatekeeper might be." Nicholas sloggeed back out of the path they had been making, then peered towards the direction he thought the city was in. The city was almost out of sight, even for him. Or was that something else? It was hard to tell; whatever it was was so far away it didn't really have definition before. He had lost his sense of direction while going through the jungle/forest (he didn't really know which it was), and it looked like their group might be in a little bit of trouble. "Um... Guys?" He looked around one more time. Nothing recognizable in sight except that blur way in the distance. "We may be in a little bit of a situation here. I'm not sure where the city is, and it's getting dark." He started hacking through the bushes with renewed energy, hoping the long, narrow path behind him was thin enough to fight off horrors at least one on one. He'd be lucky to survive the night. Another problem, he soon realized, was that the trees themselves were sparse enough that a horror could slip through without much trouble. The only thing he could think of was to climb one of the taller trees and hope no shadows found them. Or they could just keep on wandering blindly through the forest, hoping to find a more defendable area. Unfortunately, to stop would be to choose the tree. So he just kept on cutting while he turned the thoughts over in his head. He cut through a particularly thick wreath of vines, and then suddenly stopped when he saw the thing on the other side. Adrenaline shot through him and he turned around, instantly making a break for it. They couldn't fight the thing. It was much better at close quarters. Faster, stronger, (built to last longer, heh) unbeatable 'till the morning. He pushed past everyone, yelling, "Run! Runrunrunrunrungetaway!"
Xeno was running to the aid of Scarlet when he heared Nick's voice ring out. "Runrunrunrunrun!" Why is it he's always the one to run yelling things? he wondered. Grabbing Scarlet by the arm, he runs into the forest.
"What was that about?" he asks Nick, who, (Unless Kyle objects,) just burst through the bushes of the clearing they are in. Suddenly, he hears something right outside the claring. He prepares to throw his hat at it, but before he did, someone burst through the ivy. "The Gatekeeper?" he gasps. The Gatekeepers face is scratched, his face dirty, his eyes bloodshot and wide with madness.
__________________
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
"Life is a game, Order. And I'm winning." --Discord, "Order and Chaos".
Scarlet tripped over her own feet as she was dragged over to the others, watching with curiosity, and a hint of dark fury as the gatekeeper stumbled through the trees and out into the clearing.
She watched with narrowed eyes as he made his way slowly over to them, his bloodshot eyes fixed on them all. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. He reached with an outstretched arm towards Scarlet, and a small stream of white dribble trailed from his mouth. His eyes were cloudy and unfocused. His fingers were twitching madly.
Scarlet immediately leapt back, shouting a warning to the others. "Everyone get back! No one touch him! He's been taken by shadows!"
As soon as she mentioned the shadows, the gatekeeper's mouth twitched upwards in a devious grin, and he took another staggering step towards the group.
Scarlet again shouted a command to the group. "Don't touch him, and do not let him touch you!"
__________________
"Sticks and Stones will Break my Bones, but Even Through Death I will Withstand the Pain."
"The Shadows?" said Xeno in disbelif. "What should be do, oh all-mighty Scarlet? Attack him?" as he said this, he whipped his fedora off his head. The Gatekeeper lurched forward some more, and the group (Unless anyone objects,) stepped back even more.
"If we kill him, it might drive the shadows out." said Xeno, as the Gatekeeper started laughing maniacally. "Anyone here know how to kill someone without making them die?" he said to the group at large.
__________________
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
"Life is a game, Order. And I'm winning." --Discord, "Order and Chaos".
"All I can think of is stopping his heart..." Nicholas mumbled, not really listening to himself. "Or we could just... You know... get away and struggle impossibly to survive the night..."
He looked around at the scenario. The mad gatekeeper was tripping and stumbling over roots and things, slowly trudging towards them. The sky was slowly getting darker, and the city was no where in sight. Yup, it was a pretty normal evening.
He slowly backed away from the gatekeeper, who had suddenly cut off with the laughing and was now mumbling through his thick beard and spraying flecks of foam at them.
A cool breeze blew through the quickly darkening area, throwing an array of leaves and dirt up in a swirling torrent. Scarlet - feeling very much in charge of the situation - turned towards Nicholas, her left hand playing idly with her scimitar handle.
"Stop his heart. Exactly.." She murmured breathily. She closed her fingers around the blades' handle and slowly pulled it from it's sheath, where the seemingly pet-like blade usually rested.
"May I do the honors?" She couldn't help but grin darkly, holding her arms out in a loose shrug as she turned to face the rest of the group.
__________________
"Sticks and Stones will Break my Bones, but Even Through Death I will Withstand the Pain."
Xeno looked at Scarlet with alarm. "I don't think stabbing it will do much good." he said. "But stopping it would be good... With enough electricity.."
As the wind swirled around him, he looked around for anything electric. "If anyone can shoot lightning from their fingers or something, speak now," he said to the group.
The Gatekeeper's mumblings increased in volume. He had almost reached them, his hands, outstretched, were feet from them.
-- Edited by Josh on Thursday 27th of October 2011 02:22:12 PM
__________________
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
"Life is a game, Order. And I'm winning." --Discord, "Order and Chaos".
Nicholas sighed, relieved, then jumped away as the gatekeeper madly stumbled towards him. He wiggled his fingers. "Does it LOOK like I'm electric? The only other thing I can think of to stop this guy would be to either kill him, or get him bit by a werewolf so that he won't completely DIE, just be a werewolf during the night. Anyone here a werewolf? No? I didn't think so."
He jumped away from the gatekeeper again and started scaling a tree. "There are other horrors out right now too. If we just leave him here he might get bitten without us doing anything."
Too short, but there's really not much going on right now. Oh well.
Scarlet stared around at them all in slight disappointment and disbelief.
"Well we obviously need to think of SOMETHING, unless we all want to go insane and end up killing ourselves! Does anyone else have any suggestions?!"
Scarlet leapt up the trunk of the nearest tree, gaining altitude quickly and expertly until she was happily perched forty or so feet up in the thick branches of the tree.
__________________
"Sticks and Stones will Break my Bones, but Even Through Death I will Withstand the Pain."
Nicholas had finally reached the top of the wet pine tree, which was slippery and brittle. Looking down, he saw the gatekeeper stumble on. "We could knock him out." He suggested. Before anyone could react he had dropped one of the larger branches. "There. That seemed to work." The gatekeeper seemed to be face-down in the thick mud. "HEY! We could suffocate him, which would stop his heart and then we get him out of the mud!"
Chris *Ran easily ahead of everybody else. Being in her cheetah she could easily outrun everybody here. She ran ahead and then ran back, enjoying herself immensely.*
Scarlet snorted to herself, leaping down from the tree and landing lightly on her feet. "Come on guys, it's this way." She directed the group towards the thin path they had taken before, leading the way with a faux sense of authority.
She definitely didn't feel very protective of the group. She blinked, gripping her blade tightly at her side as she pushed through the shadowed shrubbery. She flinched every time she heard a branch snap, or when she stepped on something that made a loud noise. She was normally fine while traveling in the dark, but the fact that there was a half-crazed, delirious gatekeeper on the loose had made her more on edge then normal.
(Sorry, it's kind of short... But I'm in a hurry.)
__________________
"Sticks and Stones will Break my Bones, but Even Through Death I will Withstand the Pain."
Nicholas dropped down from the tree and followed. The eerie silence around the forest definitely wasn't normal. Every little sound the group made seemed deafeningly loud. Something was definitely wrong. Yet he continued on, and didn't say a word. Off in the distance he could hear the gatekeeper muttering and shouting. The constant sound, although normally just the normal insane rant, was now comforting. It showed something was still in the forest. And then suddenly the noise cut off. Instantly Nicholas was even more on edge. He started shivering, then gestured and broke into a run, hoping everyone else understood as he was afraid of making any more sound.
Complete silance ensured. Soon, ruslting was heard 50 feet to the right, and than 25 feet to the left, Merry changes into dragon from, and than flies up to see what is following them
