Scene #2483: Ferocious Predator's Will

Owner	Pose
Ysabel Thibault	The Jungle region is dense and humid even on the best of days, but tonight, this tropical region is the sight of a powerful thunderstorm. Sheets of rain fall through the dense foliage, the leaves providing the only slight protection from the downpour. Rivers passing through the area have already started flooding, expanding a good distance beyond their normal banks. Flashes of lightning occasionally brighten the sky, but for the most part it's shielded by a blanket of black clouds. At least the winds aren't very strong here; there's enough noise with the rain and the thunder and the crashing of trees that snap and fall beneath the distant rampage of a massive brute wyvern. The base camp where Auron begins is perched on a cliffside overlooking a cascading series of waterfalls, where a few surrounding ruins covered in moss provide a barrier from random monsters wandering into the camp. It's equipped with the usual: a hide-canopy tent to shield from the rain, a red chest, a blue chest, and a fire pit that's currently soaked by said rain. The blue chest, at least, has some helpful items for this quest: some healing potions, green liquid like a health drink in glass vials; rations for energy throughout the journey; paintballs to mark targets for identification and tracking; simple ammunition for bowguns, as well as some power and poison coatings for bows. A path under some stone arches leads toward the deeper forest, where the Abrugol can still be heard bellowing and crashing.
Auron	It'll take more than a few raindrops to dampen Auron's psirit. Particularly in this situation. This isn't just a random monster hunt, there are people in danger. Even if the one who originally set up the job did seem a bit selfish. But then a young girl would probably be. Still, at least she had the decency to set it up and save her village instead of just fleeing and leaving everyone in the way. Auron plans to keep his visit to the base camp brief, only because time is rather slightly of the essence here, so he gathered. This thing is closing in on a village in this rampage. And anyway, a rampaging monster is almost always bad. In fact, he can't think of any time it's been a GOOD thing! But he does intend to take some of the assistance in that chest. Coatings for bows? Very useful, considering he's brought his Wyverian bow. That poison coating should be useful; the power coating might make his shots stronger, but Poison will continue to hurt. this he knows from experience, ouch! He's not going to refuse a few health potions either, even if he's got that armored coat from the first SBurb session, the SENTIMENT'S SLICKER. It should keep him from getting too slowed down by whatever injuries he gets. Hence why the health potions. He'll need those. Once he's got what he's going to get from the chest, he looks in the direction of the crashing and roaring. A mental command to the coat and the emblem on his back begins to glow. And then he heads into the jungle where the monster is being altogether too loud. But that's good for him. If it's being loud it will cover up his own movement. His training with Altair will probably come in handy here, too. Betweeen those two, he should be able to sneak up on the beast and get a couple shots off before it catches sight of him.
Ysabel Thibault	Auron's path through the jungle is mostly uneventful as he passes by ancient ruins and moves through dense foliage. It would seem that most creatures are staying well away from the rampaging Abrugol, and so that may mean that his battle will be one-on-one for the most part. That should make things simpler. As he enters a larger clearing, the ground beneath him begins to quake. Louder and louder, harder and harder, the earth-shaking rumble grows...not just from one creature, but several. It's not long before a herd of sauropod-like creatures stampedes through the dense trees, crashing through the clearing in a clear panic, but fortunately not close enough to threaten Auron if he doesn't move forward. He may not want to, besides; judging by the deep roars over the frightened stampede's bellows, his quarry is just behind them. Then, just as the last beast of the stampede passes, a powerful mass of green plates and orange spikes bursts from the trees, lumpering on two clawed legs with two arms curled under its torso. A plated frill lined with orange spikes flares back over its small blue eyes, just above a gaping, roaring maw lined with sharp teeth and with two longer fangs protruding from the lower jaw. All seventy feet of the Abrugol's long, strong form bursts through the forest, a back lined with diamond-shaped ridges terminating in a long, powerful tail mounted with an orange blade. (http://goo.gl/MdfvO0) A strong lurch forward slams the Abrugol's fangs into the flank of the last sauropod, and as its claws dig into the wet soil to provide footing, it /yanks/ to herbivore down to the ground. Its prey flails and howls to find its footing, but the brute wyvern is quick to swing its tail around. The blade at the end buries itself in the herbivore's neck, the wound searing and steaming with incredible heat under the rain. The herbivore doesn't flail much longer. A peal of thunder and a flash of lightning illuminate the clearing. Rather than eat, however, the Abrugol yanks its tail free and stomps on the herbivore's side, creating a footing for it to bellow to the skies in furious triumph. It seems as though it still hasn't seen Auron; that may be the opening he's looking for.
Auron	Good, most of the normal creatures nearby seem to have taken cover from the Abrugol. All the better, means he won't have to deal with minor annoyances to damage him for the major one. Because who doesn't hate getting ganged up on by Jaggi while looking for a bigger monster? The rumbling of the ground as he enters the clearing actually draws him to step back into cover to find out exactly what's causing it. And to make sure he can keep his footing! He's willing to let the Abrugol expend some energy on the sauropod. And on roaring in triumph. That's right big guy, waste your energy roaring and puffing like... well, it IS a giant monster, so... yeah. Just gives Auron time to prepare the bow with the poison coating. Anyway yes. The thing hasn't seen him yet, which he's about to remedy. But in the meantime he plans to do some damage. Bow prepped, he loads it and fires a few shots up into the air, aiming them so they arc up and then back down. Hopefully to hit the thing's head from above. That should get it's attention, considering the upward arc may have the arrows landing in its open mouth...
Ysabel Thibault	The frigid arrows fly, and within a few moments, they come falling again right onto the Abrugol's head. With those hard plates along the wide frill, its head is actually very well armored, but that doesn't mean the arrows are ineffective. Icy blasts burst up along the Abrugol's head, and while the arrows may not drive deep, they penetrate enough along its skull and the interior of its lower jaw to start applying lethal poison. The Abrugol suddenly howls and stumbles back, shaking its head in surprise and to dislodge the remainder of the lance-like arrows. Its first instinct is to look around for its attacker, and before long, its eyes fixate on Auron. BATTLE MUSIC: http://goo.gl/WJAvt5 The brute wyvern leers at him for only a few moments, then suddenly roars its fury loud and clear. Leaving the carcass of its prey behind, it lurches toward Auron, but doesn't strike him head-on. Instead, after a few steps it swirls around 360 degrees, bringing that tail swinging into a horizontal arc that slices through several thinner trees on its path to Auron! Those severed trunks still smolder with the blade's heat in the rain; Auron had better make sure he doesn't suffer a similar fate.
Auron	Auron was prepared for the Abrugol to see him after that initial strike. Before the arrows even finished applying their poison, Auron had already put the bow back on his back and switched to a melee weapon. It soon becomes clear that the biggest threat this creature poses is that burning tail blade! That would make a wonderful sword-edge, wouldn't it? Then again, auron has to first kill the thing without dying himself! He's been dead once, it's not fun. Seeing the thing is being aggressive, Auron opts to play a defensive game until he can try to neutralize that tail. He waits for the monster to charge, and rolls to one side. He gets a very important reminder of why he shouldn't let that tail strike him, too; he manages to avoid the brunt of the strike, but the tip of the heated tail slices into his back, barely missing the emblem on his coat. Reflexively he winces, though the coat keeps him from feeling the pain; he knows that's going to hurt later. But that also means he's close enough to make a return strike. Hence why he switched to his Katana -- the Abrugol's hard scales may qualify for 'armored' status, and his Katana's Piercing abilities are made especially for armored foes. So as he rolls to his feet again -- though he does stumble slightly as he does -- he takes a swing at that tail, aiming for the place just below where the tail becomes blade.
Ysabel Thibault	When the Abrugol finishes its swing, it finds itself facing...nothing. Auron has already evaded, and the guardian has quickly placed himself close enough to where the brute wyvern's tail has ended up for his armor-piercing Katana to come swinging in. The blade cleaves, blood gushing from between green scales as the tail is pierced deeply; not deep enough to sever, but quite a bit more than the arrows earlier. The Abrugol howls and lashes its tail away, but in the same gesture, the front of the creature's body comes around. More agile than most of its brute wyvern kin, the Abrugol is capable of turning on a dime from where it stands, and its gaping maw is already opened as it lunges toward Auron. This time, however, flames have started roiling up from its throat and licking around its fangs. It seems about ready to either deliver a burning bite or breathe fire right at him. However, it doesn't quite do either. As it swings its lower body out of the way, those flames are suddenly expelled from its mouth in a large, localized explosion of fire directly in front of its face. While the Abrugol may not be capable of maintaining a stream of fire or a long-range fireball like some other monsters, the short-range blast is nonetheless devastating in its own right, enough for the force to send the brute wyvern reeling back a bit itself.
Auron	Auron wasn't quite expecting the Abrugol to be quite that quick! Either that or he was expecting the wounded tail to affect it more. Either way he takes this fireball right to the chest, the impact knocking the wind out of him with a grunt and sending him tumbling head over heels into the thicket around the clearing. Ow! Well, not really. But again, gonna feel that later. He's quicker on his feet than he looks, too, and gets back to his feet, hopefully before the monster can track him into the underbrush. Using that underbrush to hide his passage, he slinks through the growth and gets the bow out again. He's trying to get a bit of distance on the monster so he can fire a few more arrows into the thing's rear flank.
Ysabel Thibault	With Auron sent flying, the Abrugol has an opportunity to briefly check the damage done to its tail. Its tail swings forward so that it can get a look at the deep gash carved near the base of the blade. Problematic, definitely, and relying on that too much would cause greater risk to itself; fortunately, it has other options. Soon enough, however, it realizes that Auron hasn't yet emerged from the underbrush. With a snarl, the Abrugol looks from side to side, then lumbers ahead toward where he last vanished...fortunately, exactly where he isn't now. As the brute wyvern peers into the underbrush, he's given just the opening he needs. Arrows fly again and bury into the Abrugol's right flank, digging in deep with bursts of frigid ice. The Abrugol snarls and flinches in pain, but almost immediately returns fire. Almost literally. Auron may not be in direct range of the tail, but the Abrugol still lifts it up and to the side, only a second before delivering another strong horizontal swing. However, it's not to hit him with the blade: three of the spikes lining its tail dislodge, flying at Auron like his own arrows did before! They may not be heated, but those are certainly going to hurt if they hit.
Auron	Something else Auron wasn't expecting! He really should research the dangers of these monsters before he decides to go hunting them. the only thing that saves him this time is that, like the last time he'd fired an arrow at the beast, he'd immediately switched back to melee weapons. The spikes come flying at him, and Auron has about enough time to get his sword in front of him to deflect the worst of it. The third spike, however, pierces into his thigh. He has to hide in the underbrush again, long enough to work the spike out of his leg. That's probably going to take him a bit, so his only option at the moment is to stay hidden as best as he can while he does that.
Ysabel Thibault	This seems to be the Abrugol's main method of fighting. Disable its targets, then finish them off. That would explain why it immediately turns around to move toward Auron after it attacks, prowling forward with a snarl, each footstep shaking the trees around it. It moves with intent to kill, lumbering with claws and fangs at the ready as it approaches Auron's hiding spot. Within moments, the brute wyvern is looming above the space where Auron has hidden, sniffing and searching for where he might be. The rain, however, makes such a thing difficult, so the Abrugol soon decides to simply go for collateral damage. Auron should have time to work the spike free before then, and hopefully he gets out of the way, as the Abrugol's open maw once again alights to deliver another flaming explosion in front of it and consume a large chunk of foliage in a flash of superheated fire, this one slightly larger than the last.
Auron	Auron does indeed manage to get out of the way of the brunt of the explosion. Mind, he's actually 'helped' along by the momentum of the explosion behind him, though. In fact, he's 'helped' right into a forward roll that he twists in the middle of, purposely changing the direction he's facing. Unfortunately for the Abrugol, he's not disabled. Though admittedly, it's largely thanks to the coat that he isn't. That wound in his thigh is bleeding pretty bad, and his own stubbornness only goes so far. In fact, it's because of that bleeding wound that Auron knows he can't rely on stealth anymore. The beast will be able to sniff him out thanks to that blood. So Auron raises his sword, briefly running his hand down the back of the blade. A yellow gleam slides down the edge. And then he darts forward, hopefully surprising the beast, and tries for a slash to the thing's underbelly. Hopefully the scales there are thinner. But even if they're not, it's all right. Because should that yellow gleam of light make contact with the creature, a small, but still very painful, explosion of ki will occur. The aim is to weaken the scales in that general area.
Ysabel Thibault	The flame and burned foliage clear, and...Auron is nowhere to be seen! The Abrugol doesn't seem too happy about this. The brute wyvern hisses, its tail lashing, the tips of its dorsal plates glowing an angry red while lightning bolt cracks along its spine between those plates open up with a similar color. Fire and smoke huff from its maw as it looks this way and that- Just in time to see the flash of light as Auron's sword slashes into its belly, exploding with ki and spurting up quite a lot of blood. The Abrugol bellows, rearing back in pain and bleeding onto the ground. Its underbelly now even weaker, the creature can feel that it's developed a significant danger to its continued survival. However, it has an opening it can capitalize on. It rears back, but so too does it lift one leg into the air. A moment later, that same leg drives down with the force of the Abrugol's whole body behind it, and with fury empowering its strong muscles even further, it strikes at Auron with a stomp powerful enough to break the ground beneath him - assuming it doesn't hit him first.
Auron	Not being the fastest fighter tends to be a pain sometimes, but if Auron's aware of the attack patterns and can see the enemy's movements he's usually all right. Now he's starting to get a handle on this thing's patterns, to figure out how it thinks, so he can avoid the greatest danger. So he expected a retaliatory strike from the thing after his Armor Break. With that in mind, after he'd struck, he'd started to move back, out of the way. And the extra few moments puts him within a range that he can fall into a backwards roll and avoid being smushed into the ground! But it also puts him out of melee range. That's fine though. He's nothing if not good at switching his tactics. retrieving the bow again, he tries to fire an arrow directly into the weakened area on the thing's underbelly.
Ysabel Thibault	The strike misses completely, that powerful leg smashing into the earth and driving up wet dirt and debris as the Abrugol suffers the recovery of such an overcommitment. It's enough of an opening for Auron to open fire again, ice and blood bursting forth from the wound as the arrow digs in deep. The Abrugol staggers; the poison from before, while perhaps not lethal on its own, is definitely wearing it down along with all these other assaults. A dazed look comes over the creature's blue eyes for a moment, but it's quick to shake its head clear and whirl around again. ...and again, and again. The Abrugol becomes a whirlwind of stomping, cutting, roaring power as it lumbers toward Auron in a desperate, raging assault. Crushing feet, cutting and burning blades, a hard head, all spinning around to drive at Auron again and again. Until, at last, the creature stops its own momentum: tail raised high, one leg lifted, it seems to hang in the air for a moment with is back to Auron. Then it slams its tail down hard enough to split the earth and send up a burning column on either side, a devastating blow to end its assault and hopefully send its opponent flying. Yes, its tail bleeds even further, but the creatures of Wyveria seem driven to fight by whatever means are necessary. ...though, as it takes a few sharp tugs, it seems the brute wyvern is temporarily stuck in the earth. That might take a moment.
Auron	Auron was expecting something kind of like that; he's fought enough creatures here to known when something bad is coming. So when the monster spins, he dives clear of the spinning, whirling, sharp and pointy death spin. The fire heats the plated armor at the end of his coat, and he feels the air thickening around him just before he dives clear. That's going to tear the hell out the underbrush, and it's not going to give him any protection and he knows it. Even if the monster doesn't see him, it's just going to tear into the underbrush and destroy it anyway, with all that carrying on. And him too, if he doesn't move! The sideways leap will take him out of the way of that whirling, spinning tornado of death for the most part. But the tail catches his arm a few times and slices into it. Could have been worse, but it still hurts! Once the beast gets its tail stuck, Auron gets an idea. He's probably going to regret this, but he makes for the creature's back, looking to climb it like a tree while the creature is distracted with getting itself unstuck from the ground. He'd seen the back spikes lighting up the same color as the tail, and surmised that they were also heated, so he tries to minimize the contact between the spikes and his body as he attempts to climb the creature.
Ysabel Thibault	Fortunately for Auron, the plates aren't actually heated; warmer than the rest, definitely, but not to the searing level of the tail blade. That ensures that his path up the Abrugol's back is much safer than it could be, though the creature certainly notices and begins to flail with greater desperation. Soon it yanks itself free, but not before Auron has had a chance to clamber up to its spine. At this point, the Abrugol's options are limited. It's bad enough that it's weakened already, but neither its arms, tail, nor head are able to reach that far; what, then, can it do to get him off? Flail wildly, mostly. The Abrugol begins doing just that, shaking and stomping and snapping at its back in desperation to dislodge Auron from his place. It howls and roars, stumbling now and then as weakness starts to overcome it for a brief moment before reigniting its fury. It only reaches far enough that its fangs snap just shy of him, however, if he doesn't move; this could be just the opening he needs!
Auron	Auron braces his feet between the spikes going up its back and grabs onto one of the back-spikes with his left hand when the monster starts to flail and snap at him. With his right hand he hangs onto his sword, and just tries to weather the flailing as much as possible. It'll take him a moment to secure his footing. See, while he's a strong attacker, he needs a relatively stable base from which to attack from, otherwise his attacks suffer. Now on the other hand, Auron has a lot of endurance, and can probably hang on long enough for the Abrugol to start to tire. Even if hanging onto that backspike cuts his left hand all to hell! That hand he doesn't wear a glove on. he has a bracer, yes, but forearm protection isn't going to help his hand when hanging into a sharp backspike! But still, as soon as he can steady himself enough, he'll release the backspike, pass a hand along the back edge of his sword, golden energy surrounding him. And then he'll jump up, off the monster's back and into the air, just long enough to get enough height to use his weight to stab at the back of the monster's skull. Not only that, but if he should make contact, an explosion of ki billows from the blade with great force. Which, when aimed at the back of the monster's head, should hurt if he happens to make contact.
Ysabel Thibault	Soon enough the Abrugol starts slowing down, the perfect opportunity for Auron to find his footing. When he suddenly leaps up into the air, that seems to be something of a relief to the brute wyvern...until he lands. The blade driving into the back of the Abrugol's skull would presumably be enough on its own. The brute wyvern freezes abruptly, as if its entire body has been stunned; then that explosion of ki strikes like a thunderbolt from the heavens, and the Abrugol crumples, crashing to the muddy ground at last. Finally, it lies still. Quest Complete! https://goo.gl/jJGKYb
Auron	Auron rather rides the monster's fall until it hits the ground. Then he sort of falls off himself, stumbling a little in the mud and catching himself on a knee. He breathes heavilty from the exertion. Before he starts to examine the kill, however, he takes the opportunity to down a health potion or two. Wouldn't do to bleed to death after having taken care of the beast, would it? Hopefully that'll head off enough damage to keep him from passing out until he at least gets back to base camp. Though first, before he heads back to the camp, there's the Abrugol to take care of. The monster's corpse will yield resources that the nearby town can probably use. And he's eyeing that tail-blade too. What sort of mechanism makes that tail heat up like that? It's got to be heat resistant. Combine that with some Spiran customization and that could make a hell of a Firestrike weapon...