Encounter With a Thief (Darik)

[Talbot]

Talbot charged after his horse first, more concerned with the safety of his things than with drawing even with the boy. When he came close, he transformed back into his human self so that it wouldn't be startled. He led the horse behind a thick fern tree where it would be concealed, and hitched the rope to a sturdy-looking branch. Now for the brat. Crouched low in the shrubbery, Talbot took the form of a jaguar again. It wasn't long before he came by a fresh trail of footprints impressed in the dirt. He followed them until the greenery became so dense, he couldn't detect them anymore. His nose upturned, he gave the air a whiff. Yes, that was definitely him, the one sweating like a pig trying to escape from a slaughter house. Talbot started in his direction, moving fluidly through the grass. When he came into his line of vision, Talbot released a loud bellow from behind him, delighted to see Darik jump.

[Darik]

[ooc] Sorry for the late post. :/ I was being lazy.[/ooc]

Darik suffice to say hated walking through grass. First off, he didn’t have pants on. So the miserable weeds lashed out against his unprotected legs. Most were composed of bristles so it felt like his leg was on fire. If only he could have scratched it. But no, Darik had much more self control than to let himself fall for a petty scratch. He also knew he couldn’t stop otherwise he would get eaten. While he didn’t stop, he still wondered were the jaguar came from. For all he knew, he hadn’t pissed off any animal tamers lately. He reached a natural clearing. The grass was much shorter here, showing it had been grazed by a wild animal recently. Or a forest fire had run wreck through it. Whatever the reason, there was a few trees scattered about it providing a bit of natural shade. Darik went up to one of those trees and let out an exhausted sigh. He had finally lost the jaguar! For like…ten seconds. A jaguar burst from the trees and let out a roar. Darik turned around quickly facing the feline foe. He was screwed, he doubted he could outrun a jaguar in its natural territory. “Well hello kitty cat,” He tried to keep his voice soft and calm as if he was talking to a little child. “want to play catch?” Darik bent over slowly and came up with a stick. He threw it in the distance hoping it would distract the ferocious cat. It didn’t, because cats weren’t dogs. Cats didn’t like to play catch but Darik thought maybe they still like being petted. ”Do you like milk?” He tried his hardest to remember what cats liked. But this wasn’t exactly a household cat. “The creamy delicious kind?’ He started to take slow steps towards the jaguar, trying to appear non threatening. ”Good kitty cat, I know you don’t want to attack Darik because he will give lots and lots of milk. I promise, as long as you don’t attack Darik nothing bad will happen. Good kitty, just let your friend Darik come closer.” This was undoubtedly going to end bad.

[Talbot]

Talbot the Jaguar didn't bat a lash as Darik feebly attempted to divert his attention with a stick. As far as he knew, a stick for a cat is about as compelling as a slab of meat for a goat. He would have laughed if he could. Instead, he fixed his soft-hued eyes on the various limbs of Darik's body. Perhaps I should take his arms first; after all, he commits his sins with his hands. Or maybe the legs; then he won't be able to run away. Darik's ineffective coaxing went through one ear and out the other as he thought this. Only when the thief came closer did he become more aware. This time, he had the foresight to keep the thief at an arm's breadth away. He curled his lips to expose a set of pronged teeth and snarled to send Darik sprawling back into his original position. You have chosen the wrong person to steal from, my friend. Suddenly, propelled by the thought of revenge, Talbot sprung forward onto Darik.

[Darik]

TalbotHay Talbot, can you change your description when you say that the attack hit? In this rp we leave that kind of stuff open ended. Otherwise it’s Godmodding. The definition of godmodding is when you assume another players action. I am fine with stuff like “delighted to see Darik jump.” Which assumes my character jumps. But stuff were you assume Darik gets injured kind of irks me. When trying to determine the difference I use this tried and tested rule “I can only assume actions that don’t cause harm to the pc.”

The Jaguar’s snarl caused Darik to recoil in horror. It didn’t seem like a very nice kitty cat. It must not have had enough milk when it was young! Because of its milk deprivation, it leaped at Darik. Luckily, the snarl had thrown Darik off balance. As he tumbled to the ground the jaguar flew over him. As the jaguar flew like a bird, he used his hands trying to push its belly. If it worked it would give it much more momentum that would cause it to hit the tree. Because he did this, he couldn’t roll out of the way. One of the feline’s back claws grazed Darik’s shoulder. It didn’t penetrate the epidermis, but the wound was going to be annoying. Without the jaguar, directly attacking Darik, he had a few seconds to react. He rolled to the left and picked himself up. After taking a few steps, Darik had a revelation. The jaguar and him had switched sides. It had its back to a tree, while Darik’s was to the Wildlands. Meaning he could escape. Hay kitty, want to get stabbed with this?” Darik flashed his dagger in the air while looking at the jaguar’s eyes. “Well, not today.” He then ran away from that monstrosity. To most, turning your back to a jaguar is a stupid thing. But to Darik it’s completely sane. Why? Because he was in his element. He was a runner, and a fast one at that. All the days running from petty crimes would finally be put to use as he ran for his life. I say “ran for his life” because he doubted if he got caught again he would live. So, coupled with adrenaline and muscles toned to running, Darik was just a blip in the forest. As he ran he didn’t pay attention to direction. In fact, he serpentined through the trees. If the jaguar ever caught up with him, it would be surprised by all of his sudden turns. He probably should have thought of running to the horse, but his survival instincts had already kicked in. Anyway, it was much safer running then trusting another man’s horse. By the way, what happened to the man that owned the horse? As he ran, he started to get distracted. How could he not? The plants around him were beautiful. Even though they were trying to eat his ankles, he couldn’t help be immersed by their colorful colors. Because of his distraction, he almost got taken out by a tree. He saw the roots in the ground much too late. It caused him to fall directly forward. Because of his fast momentum, if he hit the ground it probably would have broken his nose. Instead, he leaned down and used his arm’s humerus to propel himself. He did one roll and got himself back on his feet. Suffice to say, his stomach was in turmoil when he kept running. Darik almost heaved all of its contents out, but his strength of will held it in. But the next heave was going to yield results. So Darik lifted his head his head straight up and ran. He focused on the trees, trying to make his stomach acid stay in his stomach. He did this for about two minutes, and when he finally lowered his head he didn’t feel like spilling his guts. Though, a sense of pain was resonating from somewhere. It took Darik two minutes to pinpoint the exact location. His shoulder that had been scratched buy the jaguar was the culprit. It was amazing it was only throbbing, Darik was sure swinging his arms hard. Knowing he would only last for a few more seconds he took a quick look behind. He saw nothing, just the dense forest. He slowed down, no use running when there’s nothing to run for. As his pace slowed considerably, his adrenaline stopped being made. Soon, he felt overwhelmed from the pain. He fell to the ground wishing it would all stop. Till he remembered, the straighter he stood, the faster he would recover. So, he feebly lifted himself trying to get back into a regular breathing pattern. He used the tree next to him as a support, the less energy he had to expend the better. I am personally surprised he wasn’t dead, he looked and felt drained to the core. If the jaguar reappeared I doubt Darik would last for long.

oocI didn’t run away with Darik because I wanted to end the thread, but he’s up against a jaguar! Feel free to follow him.

[Talbot]

OOCI don't think it would be fair to call it godmodding. I didn't necessarily spawn an army of undead soldiers to hack you to pieces, that would be godmodding. I haven't heard of any rules that say you can't claim you hit a player, but for your sake I changed it just in case. If there is such a rule, could you link me to it? And I didn't assume your actions for you. I hit you, that's my action. But whatever...carry on. Talbot lowered his head to shelter it from the collision as he rammed into the tree. His shoulder had gotten the worst of it, and it pulsed as he slipped into a futile heap on the ground. Talbot had tried to push himself back onto his feet when he saw the thief brandish a weapon, and he stopped. He swelled with fear, not having any misgivings that he would be sticked and left to bleed out. Darik's abrupt retreat assuaged his fears. Perhaps the gods were fond of him. But his injury let him pace along at little more than a hobble, and damn, that boy was quick. It felt silly that a crooked pickpocket could outrun a jaguar. Talbot was already up in arms, but the thought built onto his rage. Darik was out of sight by the time the pain in Talbot's shoulder relented. Save for the dull twinge left in the wake of his injury, he could run unhindered again. Part of Talbot wanted to save his energy, collect his horse and be on his way; the other wanted to shake up the ruffian and teach him to keep his hands out of others' personal possessions. The latter conquered and he set about to follow the scent trail that Darik left behind. It wasn't long before Talbot started to hear the vigourous breathing of someone who had just been running, and less so to find Darik hunched against a tree. The jaguar was getting too excited; he'd forgotten to be furtive, when he heard a clump of leaves and twigs crunch under his feet.

[Darik]

Part of the PVP guide”Furthermore, a player should only post his attempted attack. A player can never assume that the attack actually hits, though if they are throwing a fight they can assume that they miss an attack.”
PVP Guide: http://www.mizahar.com/lore/Player_vs._Player

The snap of the twig came much too soon. Darik knew what it meant, the jaguar had followed him. He figured he had lost the cat, but that was his naivety speaking. If it couldn’t follow his deeply ingrained footprints in the grass, it could surely track his sweat infested body. He was much too tired to run away. So he would have to turn around and face the jaguar head on, because there was no escape. Except, you know, by going up. Darik turned around to inspect the tree. The trunk still seemed a healthy shade of brown, and looked sturdy because of its diameter. There were relatively few branches around the base of the tree, meaning that the tree wasn’t in disrepair. Also the tree had enough attached branches to make it seem like it would be climbable for a novice like Darik. On Darik’s first attempt he wrapped both of his hands around a branch and tried to pull himself up. He was doing the pull-up motion, and everyone knows your shoulder shouldn’t be injured when you’re doing pull-ups. When his chin was above the branch, he let go. It was much too foolhardy to lift himself up like that, it put too much stress on his arms. Darik’s time was ticking as he tried to figure another approach to get in the trees. He gripped the trees again, but this time he swung his legs. On about the third swing, they got high enough to clamp around the branch. Now he was hanging like a sloth, causing all the blood to rush to his head. He needed to get up the branch fast, otherwise he would faint from lightheadedness. Using his powerful calf muscles, he twisted his legs so they almost laid against the branch. Now it was just a matter of maneuvering his hands slowly till he lay on the branch. Slowly, he lifted up his legs and marveled at what he had just done. But at this height the jaguar could still reach him. Time to climb higher. He went about three more feet up the tree. It was much easier than the start, all he had to do was lift one of his knees really high and put it on a branch. Then his other would natural try to come up too. Of course Darik kept one of his hands on the trunk to steady himself. It would be foolish to think he wouldn’t fall. Finally Darik rested upon one of the branches. It was a good view, he was higher up than most trees. He didn’t dare look at the ground, it would sicken him. Still, he figured that the jaguar must be pacing the tree, looking for a way to attack Darik. ”Ha, I win!” He shouted loudly causing birds to scatter from the surrounding trees. Life was good, he was now resting in a place that nothing could hurt him. One problem though, he would have to find a way to climb down, but that could wait till he was rested.

Refrence I used for climbing the tree: http://www.wikihow.com/Climb-a-Tree

[Talbot]

OOCOhkay, thanks for clearing that up - and sorry. I'll try to avoid it in the future. Talbot watched in mild amusement as Darik ascended the tree for what he must've assumed to be an easy escape. Didn't he know that jaguars could climb too? Talbot allowed him a head start so that he could gain a false sense of security; once he was too high to leap off the tree without acquiring a painful injury, the kelvic bounded onto the lowest branch and set about pursuing him. It had been some time since Talbot had to climb a tree, but he thought he'd get the gist of it. He used his claws to grip the bark and his legs to launch himself from one branch to the next. Eventually, Talbot caught up to Darik, who was standing on the tallest branch, trying to ignore the distance between himself and the ground. He seemed to be engaged by the view from high up in the tree and happily oblivious to Talbot's presence. He almost slipped when suddenly Darik bellowed with a powerful voice, "Ha, I win!" and caused the birds to flitter about. Talbot grasped the bark with his claws and held himself upright, preventing his decease, but the experience had him a little spooked. Though his original plan was to hurl himself at Darik, bite an arm off, then let him fall to his death, he could see now how easily things could go awry. The branch bobbed and swayed to the pervading wind, making Talbot feel insecure. Maybe he should just climb back down and wait to ambush the thief later. He was about to pounce off his branch when he realised... he's stuck! He couldn't see himself dropping down towards the lower branch without either missing or injuring himself. Oh my, how did it ever come to this? he wondered despondently. Talbot glanced up at Darik and wondered if he should risk his own neck to break his. He argued that he'd gone too far now, and that if he was going to starve on this tree, Darik may as well be his final meal. He'd never be able to climb down without a set of keen human limbs... Talbot put his paw over his face to impersonate the action of smiting his brow. Of course! A bright flash of light emanated from his countenance and briskly he transformed into Talbot the Human. Darik had probably noticed the flash, but Talbot didn't stop to check. He was already grasping the trunk of the tree and making his way back to ground level.

[Darik]

oocNo worries.

A white light appeared in Darik’s peripheral vision. He knew he shouldn’t look down. He knew it with all of his heart. Yet he still did. What he saw was a naked climbing human. This was also the same human who had owned the horse. Darik didn’t have any time to wonder how he had snuck up on Darik without him noticing, there was much more important matters. Like why he felt light headed. He moved his gaze back to the sky as fast as he could, but the dread had already set in. He knew he was much too far up. He needed to get down. Fast. Darik wasn’t usually scared, but being this high up invoked that feeling. He felt that way because being in a tree made him useless. He couldn’t run on the tree, because there was nowhere to run. He could jump tree to tree, but he wasn’t that talented. Well, he was that talented, but the view of the bottom had boggled his mind. He gathered his wits about him. Rather than fretting up in a tree, he wanted to take action. Going down the first branch was the hardest. Not only physically, the two branches were farther apart than most, but also mentally. He wasn’t sure he could do it. Still he succeeded, his feet found the branch. After he crouched down on the next branch, he realized climbing was just like everything else. It was insanely easy. He picked up his pace on climbing the branches, he wasn’t even close to scared anymore. Darik was getting cocky. He was going much too fast with such little caution. He started to step on the branches without first inspecting them. That was his downfall. He stepped on one that was much too fragile and it broke. Darik had already let go of the branch were his hands had been, so he was in freefall. They say that when you are in terror your brain realizes things it usually never would. It’s true. Darik had an eye-opener in those few moments of gravity defying motion. He knew who the jaguar was. It was the man, the flour trader. The lack of clothes, the personality, everything pointed towards that. Now Darik could die happy with that information. Only one small problem, he wasn’t even close to dying. First off, he only fell from ten feet in the air. He didn’t know that because after that first experience he hadn’t looked down. Secondly, he had a cushion to land on. Namely, the naked human. He landed on him pushing the man to the floor. Darik on his back opened his eyes and marveled how his body actually felt great. Though the grass was a bit squishy then normal. He got off the man’s back and looked at the “grass”. It was actually the man. He wouldn’t kill him, he had already wasted enough time. He needed to go thieve his horse before he recovered.

PermissionAllowed to fall on Talbot.
TalbotAlmost the end of the thread dude. Darik isn’t going to be able to find the horse and instead heads towards town.

[Talbot]

It was too late by the time Talbot heard the branch snap from above him. He was crushed to the ground before he could look up, but he didn't have to to know that Darik was the one who was crushing him. For a moment, he thought the thief would surely try to slit his throat and leave him to bleed out where his body wouldn't be recovered for days. He panicked and tried to throw him off or roll out from under him, but Darik had already climbed off his back. Although he was unarmed and unprotected, Talbot reached out to seize his ankle before he could get away. He was probably going to go try and steal his horse again, which he hadn't left too far behind. Unfortunately, Talbot's hand was just short of scraping Darik's leg and the thief was gone before he knew it. Talbot pulled himself up from the the ground. He was going to get a bothersome rash from lying down on the grass later on, but he would suffer for that later. He had to make sure his horse was still safe. He changed back into his jaguar form for the last time that day and went back to the spot where he'd left his horse.

[Darik]

oocI’m not sure if you want the last post or not so here is how I think we should do it. If you don’t want another post, just pm me what skills you thought you worked on in the thread. If you take another post, I will pm you the skills. So basically, whoever has the last post will submit it the thread.

As Darik walked through the woods he couldn’t believe a startling fact. He was lost! It was obvious he was a city boy, all these foreign plants and trees weren’t his forte. He almost fell over in despair. He wasn’t going to live, and even worst, he wasn’t going to find the horse! A sound, or more importantly a flicker of hope, could be faintly heard from the distance. Darik rushed towards the sound hoping it was the sound of a neighing horse. It wasn’t. He realized when he saw the trees to start thin and a noxious gas hit him. He had come in the direction of the Slag Heap. He should have looked up, the blaze was evident above the tree line. He really should stop thinking himself as a supernatural, and as such only using one sense. Even though he was supernatural, using all the measures at his disposal would make him much more effective. With something to guide him, it didn’t take Darik long to get out of the forest. As he dusted all the various twigs off him, he swore he wouldn’t take jobs in the forest. There was too much danger. At least in Sunberth he knew what to expect. But the wilderness on the outskirts of Sunberth contained even new dangers. Like obnoxious kelvics that didn’t understand that owning money is only for people, not animals.