Log:Defiance Guild: Kothlis Hunt

Anakin turns back from the dark side

OOC Date: March 7, 2019
Location: Kothlis
Participants: Defiance, Hex, Grom, Iggy Odessa, Rheisa Dirleel, Sajin, Tarion Tavers, Jehni'va Cihn, Kasia Ashkuri as GM

Defiance is going hunting! And for once it was Kasia's idea, even though she hates hunting, but hating hunting is probably why she's also not here. She sent everyone happily on their way, and then went to lounge at the beach where creatures won't try to eat her. Probably.

The trip itself is pretty simple, everyone is piled into one vehicle with weapons, and food, drinks, emergency supplies, some sort of tracking beacon that cost extra, but Kasia thought was a great idea, and a trail map. The map itself is both programmed into the vehicle, and is loaded onto a hand held device. This is about as safe a hunting trip that one can sans trail guide, which is how you know Hex didn't plan it. The group has been in the vehicle for a while now, and what was a proper road has turned into a narrow one, down to a road that leads to a lot where *DING* the navigation indicates everyone is to exit the vehicle and proceed on foot.

The air outside of the transport is humid but not hot, the wilderness appearing dense, but the trees are for the most part leafless, though the ground has plenty of foliage to make up for it. There are obvious paths, kept clear for hunters to follow to different hunting grounds, each path marked with a level of difficulty that indicates both distance and difficulty for the walk alone. Easy, medium, or hard, hard appearing to include steep trek up part of a mountain. None of it appears to give any real advantage to the hunt, it just depends on how much punishment the group wants before they get to shoot at things.

Piling out of the vehicle, Tarion immediately opens his mouth to whine. "Why are we doing this, I don't like it, I don't approve of us being tracked, this air is too humid, why do we have to be here when Kasia is at the beach?" He's dressed in not a whole lot, most of the parts made of... evidently kitchen utensils and garbage, and all exposed skin other than his face is shimmering with the sheen of oil sourced from the deep fryers at Meltdown Cafe. "What sort of yuppie hunting ground is this, did they stock the forest for us too? I don't like this, it's not dangerous, what's the point, who's paying me to be here?" Adjusting his grip on his rifle, he immediately wanders toward the path marked 'Hard', announcing "This way looks the easiest, let's go."

Rheisa is SO ready. Ready to prove she's ready. Ready to go home. This hunt is more than a fun outing with friends or shopping trip for tomorrow's dinner. This is like a dry run for a rehabilitated feral's release into the wild. If this wild were Shili. Which it's not. The fact that Rheisa's pigments do NOT aid her in blending in here make that just as obvious as the astrogation chart. The Togruta is dressed for the job in more traditional fashion and likewise equipped. Blowgun, sling, bow and arrow quiver slung 'round her waist, knife...The gift of the obsidian-tipped spear is like a delicious cherry on top, completing the outfit. She'd stared at herself long and hard in front of the mirror before hopping aboard that ship. A mocking voice of elder old chastised her from the depth of her own consciousness. 'Rheisa Dirleel. Leader of the broken people clan.'

This hunt is a test also to see how her companions fare, away from cityscape and slave camps Have they got what it takes to survive, when she brings them home, with her? Driving skills aside. Those won't matter!

A noisy belch errupts from Rheisa's maw once the vehicle comes to a merciful halt and she hops out over the side/crawls out nearest window in bail-out fashion. At least she didn't puke on somebody's shoes. "If you is quiet, we will hear and see what sort of hunting grrround this is, or what yuppies live here." She doesn't know what a yuppy is, guys.

Grom arrived limping, with each if his heavy bootfalls accompanied by the whine of malfunctioning servomotors in his armor. The Houk had deposited himself in the open back of the vehicle, looking oddly comfortable and relaxed. "Do not fear, Trash Knight," the hulking alien rumbles, sounding patient and pleased. "One day you too will find a Worthy Foe."

Having found that his fancy Corellian HuntSuit /mysteriously shrunk/ with no time to visit an armorer and remedy that, Hex is making do with armor that looks like it's made of the unfortunate furry hide of some unknown animal victimized in a previous hunt, and corrugated siding bits. It's loud, and the make-do clasps keep falling off, and in general it's terrible. Almost as terrible as his driving, which caught them stuck in the mud more than once, each time proceeded with "watch this ok ka" and then an assault on a puddle which inevitably followed with, "That was deeper than I thought!" Now everyone is muddy. Hex is in a great mood. He parks the vehicle in a new mudhole and pours out, hefting the A280 he'll have to hip fire (unlike Grom, he can't shoulder-fire that beast). "Heeellll yeah, brother," he confirms Tarion's choice of path, cheerfully ignoring the whining with the ease of several practiced years. "Who's ready to get dinner?!" Broken. People. Clan.

"That says 'Hard'," Iggy points out, kindly and non-judgmentally to Tarion. It takes him a bit of effort to hop out the vehicle. The space spanx shaping his already delicious physique into something more snack-worthy is rather tight and restrictive, and he began sweating and mouth breathing in the packed vehicle long before the arrived. "/This/," he points to the correct sign, cleaning of his muddy muddy glasses, "says 'Easy'. And I think that's what I'd prefer, pretty please."

Sajin was just staring ahead, sitting silently in the back. His helmet was on and his armor sealed up tight. However on the inside the Hapan was slightly worried. He forgot his camo poncho to go over the armor. However, Hex's mistep allows for his newly polished armor to be covered and caked in mud adding a grey and brown sort of camoflage to his apparel. "Huh... suppose this will do."

One path you can almost imagine has melodic birdsong serenading the hunters as they walk along a gentle incline to a nearby meadow dotted with wildflowers, and a burbling stream. The other path -- the one that Tarion wants to walk down -- probably leads to doom and heartache. So of course that's the one he chose. Should the latter be the one taken, it'll become apparent pretty quickly why it's harder, there's a sharp incline that will seriously work the glutes of even the most fit among them.

"Look guys, I don't make the rules, but if we're not getting paid to be here there's no reason not to just coast down the easiest path," Tarion informs the others, setting off down the path marked 'Hard'. "We gotta do the smart thing and just -unf- take it easy out here," the bounty hunter repeats, grunting as he takes a large step up over a rock that's less of a step and more of a high-step. HIGH. STEP. This stance also shows off some rump that peeks out from his skirted armor, which is really just a bath towel wrapped around his naked waist. Don't worry, he taped some salad spoons to the outside for extra protection. Unfortunately, there is no protection from the snow-white cheek that peeked.

"So why are we here again? And who are we? Where are we going?"

"Is better to go up high," Rheisa hangs back a little at first, hovering around Iggy the new human and with no small amount of concern tries to coax him into following along. "Go up high now, more easy to drrrag meats down. Also, see more from trrrees there than down here." A resolute nod sends the array of ornamental teeth and baubles swaying in the humid air around her head. "See? Tarion ca--"

Oh my.

Mmm. Does she want to be behind that behind the entire way up? Nope. Sorry, Iggy. You're on your own. Rather than try to race ahead like she knows she probably can't on her perma-limp leg, Rheisa sort of half disappears into the forest, flanking the path and choosing her steps more carefully away from the mainstream of travel. No doubt her crew's natural tendancy toward noise will keep them within her awareness. Now and again they can catch sight of slips of reddish orange and white, moving among the underbrush.

Grom waddles briskly along the path, for once not agonizing on a choice between his weapons. He still talks to them though, because let's not be ridiculous. "Now Axe.. Grom knows you were promised the next fight, but today we are chasing animals that will run away. So Grom will start with Gun. BUT- and listen closely- if we find an animal that is running TOWARD us, Grom promises, he will use you. Are we in accord? GOOD. IT IS DECIDED."

"Uhhhhh," Hex reviews the input from Iggy. "No," he decides. "You know who's too fat for his armor? Me. I'm too fat for my armor. I got out that huntsuit and have you ever seen like... those instant-baked-goods that come in the tube, ok ka, but then you split the tube, and if you were to try to get it in again, that's not happening? It was exactly like that except... greener and with more tattoos. So basically what I'm saying here is no, not easy, exercise time. You'll be fine and if you're not we'll get Grom to...." Oh, Grom looks a little broken, and Hex backs off volunteering him as a porter. "You'll be fine," he assures Iggy, and then resumes the path toward the hike! It isn't really fair that he is how he is, with the habits he has, and is managing the hike as well as he is, but life isn't fair. Life is very not fair. He boulders up the slopes and pulls up ledges; he's strong and tall, it's working for him. Better than it'll work for Iggy, one fears.

"Is it for food for /us/?" Jehni'va asks again. She wanted to stick by Rheisa, which seemed the safest and sanest route, but she lost the Togruta woman in the brush almost immediately. That's probably best - she hasn't been back to the Compound since her BFF was killed and eaten; she just downloaded a fresh stack of stories to read to Groat off her datapad, and is looking forward to doing so when she returns to Tat. But, for now, since following Rheisa is out of the picture, Jehni'va is left with a choice.... An easy one. She definitely won't be walking behind Tarion That's-No-Moon Tavers, but if that is where the group is going... "Yeah, you guys can go ahead of me." The pilot graciously offers to Iggy and Grom, and she decides to stick near Sajin. He's already rescued her from the jaws of death once, he seems like the safest, sanest bet. "Do we have t'/kill/ this thing?"

Perhaps the most intelligent thing she did decide to do for this trip was bring Crona along. The anooba occasionally, much like Rheisa, disappears into the brush chasing some un-forgotten primal past.

And much like all of Iggy's history, his path is chosen by those around him. Mostly because he willingly accepts the direction of others. "Well ... I mean I'm a little out of shape," he admits timidly to Hex, "But if you think I'll be okay, then I'll be okay right?" After all, why would his boss LIE to him? So along with the plan he goes, following after his companions with boundless enthusiasm. What is that? A tall rock? No problem for Iggy! He's got the power of friendship on his side. Raising, sausagey arms, he tries to pull himself up, loses his grip and falls completely backward, hitting the back of his head in the process. "OW!" he yelps, followed soon by a quiet whimper.

Luckily for Jehni, Sajin makes himself the last person in this peticular line. He doesn't seem bothered by any of the trails chosen. He struggles here and there but doesn't complain along the walk like someone who got outdoors as often as he could or was at least in good shape. He grabbed what packs he could manage and hefted his rifle into his hands and at the ready. He looked more like an imperial shock trooper with camo painted on his armor thanks to the mud than an actual hunter but, the hapan was never that conventional to begin with. "Yeah..." He answers Jehni, "That's the point of hunting. Kill it, eat it, sell the meat and furs or skin. People do this for a living on some worlds." He'll help others along if they need help along the trail. He does not seem in a rush to get to the end of it.

The trail starts out alright, and then steadily becomes steeper, with some turns in the path that only lead to steeper climbs, there's no actual walls to scale, but there are some steep steps and rocks that have to be climbed over, because this is a mountain, and that's just how they work. The path eventually begins to narrow, the underbrush intruding more and more onto the path, but there probably aren't many yuppy hunters up here.

"Leave him there as bait," Tarion calls back to the others when Iggy slips and hits his head, grinning furiously (mostly to himself, out in the lead). "Leave him there to DIE!" he expounds brightly, with a mean laugh of delight, tromping up over roots, rocks, and ordinary dirt, a few bits of debris falling down in his wake to roll towards the rest of the Deflings. "Live bait or rotting, feeter corpse? WHICH WILL IT BE?" His musings are cut off sharply by a sudden twist of his head, eyes narrowing, the rifle in his hands coming up into place against his shoulder with a jangle of his segmented bundt pan pauldron. He doesn't speak but his gaze is fixed intently on the nearby foliage, hands flexing in place against the stock and grip of his weapon, sights held up near his eye.

The voices of her hunting party meld together into background noise while Rheisa loses herself more and more into the symponic hum of nature flitting among the scraggly canopy and buzzing below the rotting detritus of yesteryear's giants. Clawed bits of bark, broken twigs of understory, the occasional scat...it all gets examined as she crawls and pulls her way through the unforgiving pitch.

Suddenly there's a new vibration to be felt, out of sync with the pack. It's big enough to be a decently shared meal, or potential problem. Rheisa goes very still, tracking the movement with her extra sense until her eyes can catch up and mark the shiver of low-lying branches. She ducks lower from crouch to plank and proceeds to creep a liiiiiitle nearer with spear clutched in left hand. There are no words piping up from the trees to alert the others, but she does her best imitation of one of those birds that were tweeting by overhead. Whistley-whoop!

It's not her best mimicry, but close? And while that bit of her game's off, a strand of headdress has gone rogue and hung up on a patch of leaves overhead. When it goes taut, it pops said leaves free. *Snap*

Grom tromps steadily along, though his heavy gait is uneven. He has even coined his own sound effect for the trip! "Gromp, Gromp, Gromp. Gromp Gromp. Gromp, Gromp Grooooomp..." The ridiculously oversized A280 is held in one hand and rested jauntily on his shoulder as he gromps along.

Hex might lack Rheisa's complete connection to nature, but there's something about being out here that seems to appeal to him, something he responds to. He doesn't have a hard time shifting gears back to natural terrain after Nar Shaddaa and neon and space, edges and edifices, and there's something about following game trails through a wilderness that speaks to somebody he was, once. A kid who expected to do this for the rest of his life, before events took everything a very different direction. Events. Events... Disruptive thoughts jolt Hex back to the here and now and he blinks, not far from Grom Gromping along, casting a glance toward Rheisa's whistle before looking back to the others. "Tcha, Iggy, you okay? Try again, you'll get the shape of it. "Jehni'va, of course it is food for us, ai'jou. We wouldn't hunt and not eat it, ka? Sajin, ni muchi, can you help Iggy?"

"I mean, I know /that/." Jehn drawls to Sajin, shifting uncomfortably. "But... I don't get.... If we don't need it?" She blinks her confusion at Hex, but it's easy for the vegetarian to just dismiss it and go along with the group for the sake of being included. And getting paid.

Morals aside, Jehn is doing shockingly well over difficult terrain - likely all that time spent collecting new and terrible animals, or the time spent tromping around strange wildernesses during cargo stints. "Oh that's nice." She chirps, staring up at the tricky, complicated rock features. "Imagine how much time it took t'make these, though. Thousands and thousands of years -" She continues to marvel and contemplate the majesty of nature as most of the group hones in on the dangers of it.

As usual, Jehni'va is absolutely oblivious, both to Iggy's plight and their own possible danger.

"Think I could fit through that little gap there? I wonder what's on the other side. You think it could be a cave? What're small caves called? Cavelets?" She pauses to peer further skyward as Rheisa mimics bird-calls. "I wonder what kind of bird that was. Rheisa! Rheisa what kind of bird was that? Did you see it?" The latter is called conspicuously into the brush.

Iggy Odessa is not the type to immediately rise after taking a spill. No, for a good minute he lies there in the dirty, gathering himself together. "I'm alright ... right? You said I'll be fine, right?" That's right Hex, he's asking for reassurance because he assumed you were a Twi'lek of your word and right now doubt is starting to fill his mind.

"Hey Sajin ... what does that look like to you?" he asks the Hapan, pointing upward to the canopy of trees above. "It kinda looks like a snake?" He pales at that thought and immediately rises to his feet, clinging to the rest of the group as they move along the trail. "Can snakes live in trees?" he asks the beautiful janitor as if he were the perfect person to bring this up to.

Sajin stops as Iggy has fallen. Nodding to Hex, the large man move to help up the more timid of the Odessa brothers. "Huh?" He asks, not looking up, instead off in the other direction and in the brush he can see something moving. "Yeah, snakes live in trees man. You didn't know that?" Something the dumb man knew, for once, he had an edge. How long that would last, who knew? Probably not much longer. He helps Iggy up, "We should keep moving and get to higher ground..." He keeps scanning the tree line and canopy.

There are things in the trees, snake looking things, but they're not easy to see, the coloring helping to hide them, and the fact that most of them are at least twenty feet high hidden among the branches.

Rheisa, however, has come across something different in the underbrush. A something that she can detect with those special tingly Togruta senses, which is a good thing, because in a flash a large-ish something rustles through the brush and snaps a long snout full of sharp teeth just to the left of Rheisa's thigh. CHOMP, but an inaccurate chomp at least. There's a long gurgly hissssssss sound as the reptilian creature ducks beneath the leafy green sea of underbrush again, rustling along the edge of the path so only glimpses of it can be seen now and again.

"Hole-ee-krif," Tarion breathes, eyes huge and googly as they finally pierce the undergrowth to spot the reptile accosting Rheisa, a phrase which here is figurative and not literal, as the piercing is done not by his eyes but his entire body, because he's walking that direction. A long moment is spent in quiet contemplation as the bounty hunter watches the thing attempt to take a chomp out of the Togruta's thigh, mumbling to himself. "Do I let it eat her, or... will I get a bonus if no one dies...." Finally, his jaw sets slightly and the rifle rises with more purposeful intent, and with a pull of his finger, a quick accurate burst of blaster-fire pap-pap-paps out towards the aggressive lizard.

'Am shame' chastises Rheisa's inner huntress and she reaches up her free hand to still the wounded twig rustling against that offending montral, but it's too late. Now food knows it's on the menu. RHEISA'S FAULT! Nevermind the other chatterboxes over yonder. There will be time for self-flagellation later, when she's not in danger of being eaten by lunch.

Rheisa practically levitates out of the way, both legs kicking off the ground to vault/pivot aside on her hands when that big chompy mouth erupts. The moment those toes dig back into the forest floor, she's launching a counter attack at its level with spear thrust at the retreating beastie, but the tip deflects harmlessly off the armored plating. Fortunately, somebody's blaster bolt has much better success! She gives chase after the wounded thing.

"STOP RUNNING AWAY," Grom bellows upon spotting the subject of Rheisa's distress scurrying back into the underbrush. Bringing his A280 onto target, he fires a bolt into the underbrush that sends ripples through the air and sears a big hole through the foliage. "Do not be afraid of the blaster, little lizard beast!! That was only a shot to stop you from leaving, so you can do battle with Grom! IT WAS A FRIENDLY SHOT."

"So'cha ka, there it is," Hex spots the reptilian beast with a pleased tone, hefting the A280, twin to Grom's, and bracing to fire. "Rheisa, get clear!" He hip-fires the enormous weapon with a satisfying sound off, bracing against the recoil as a massive plasma burst sears through the forest -- but all it hits is a Gankto tree this time; the beast has a tricky quickness to it and the underbrush provides good cover. "You will be okay, Iggy!" the big Twi'lek calls over the sound of the fire, reassurance. He didn't lie, he means it! Hex just... has been through some things, and he may have an aberrant idea of what constitutes okay. "You'll be okay in the end, and if you're not okay, it's not the end, ka? ....Grom, I don't think it takes you for friendly, ni muchi."

Jehni'va Cihn is solidly attempting to cram her long body into a crack in the rock face when blaster fire erupts behind her. Crona is quicker on it than she is - especially since, with a surprised jerk of motion, Jehn has become firmly wedged in the crack - and the anooba goes racing past her inexplicably beloved Tarion to make a whole lot of 'BOOF BOOF BOOF' sounds at the accosting reptile. As it begins its retreat, the canine follows - which may prove useful in keeping track of it.

Jehni'va Cihn remains stuck in a rock.

Sajin barely catches the razor snooted reptile as it lashes out at Rheisa. Instead he can just make out the brush it moves during its evasive maneuvers from the ongoing firestorm from the rest of the deflings. He uses that to more or less 'pinpoint' it's position. He lets a bolt fly, adding to the chaos but it smashes into a bolder blasting that apart instead.

The myntor isn't terrifyingly fast, but it moves quickly enough beneath the brush to be impressive for something with stumpy legs. Mind you, those stumpy legs end with some impressive claws that -- if anyone read the helpful pamphlet about the game in this area -- they would know are both defensive, and also used for burrowing. Rheisa's spear swishes past the myntor, thud, the tip sinking into the ground instead of into the creature that scuttles onward. Pew-pew-pew, the barrage of bolts sent from Tarion's rifle hit the creature right in the back, but that degree of fire power is evidently not enough to stop this beast, it keeps moving. Grom's rifle also lands true, the bolt of blaster fire sizzling through leaves that might hide the beast, but offer no cover. Again, though, the beast keeps on moving, apparently able to take quite the beating, at least where the formidable plates along the back protect it.

Both Hex and Sajin's shots miss, slamming into two different, nearby gantko trees.

It's the impact in the trees that brings about a new surprise in the sudden appearence of falling snakes-things. Sort of snakes. It's like snakes and centipedes mixed together, so you've got snake body with hundreds of little scrabbly legs that carry it along. Apparently parts of this are a delicacy to the locals. Somehow everyone manages to not have a snake-like thing land on them, but several of them are skittering around nearby, and one lands on and dangles over the end of Tarion's rifle.

And Jehn... Jehn, do you feel that tickling sensation on your leg?

When the serpentine creatures fall from the trees and one lands on the end of his rifle, Tarion just looks at the thing, blinking a few times before shaking his head and carrying on, with its little legs and the sucker-mouth clinging to the side of the gun. This is Not A Problem. "This isn't a problem," the bounty hunter says aloud, taking aim and shooting at the larger reptile, but it's no good, his aim is off, it's upsetting, he curses and kicks at a rock which appears small but isn't, it's just mostly in the dirt. As such, it doesn't give at all. "Ow!"

Shadow hunting with a four-legged friend? Not something Rheisa's done before, but she marks it to be a worthwhile experience and belts an enthusiastic WHOOOP into the air after snatching up the spear mid-stride. Crona's faster than she'll ever be in this underbrush and makes a good partner in keeping the lizard on the move! Rather than halt completely, she veers off course a bit in obedience to Hex's shout and arcs back with aim to intersect its path that Crona's effectively herding it in. Arrows aren't going to be useful here, nor blowdarts or slung stone. She's sticking with the spear option.

The millitile shower, while very much an interesting phenomenon of 'nature', doesn't give her pause. All the twisting and leaping while giving chase apparently dances her right between the falling snacks! "Tohg'na ghut!" The gruta vaults off a stump and drives the spear downward at an angle, into the scaly flank.

"OUT OF THE WAY, TINY WRIGGLING SNAKE FRUITS," Grom shouts as the falling dozens of creepy crawlies foul his aim ever so slightly, growling at Hex's opinion. "Grom is friendly, little lizard beast! GROM IS SO FRIENDLY. Grom will KILL beast with friendliness!"

There is food falling from the sky. Literally food falling from the sky! "Oh, Ryma'at, look, MILLITILES," Hex enthuses, "These are a delicacy here on Kothlis! You can get them cooked up in restaurants, ok ka!" None land on him in particular, but he's spotted the one stuck to Tarion's rifle. Hex lets his rifle dangle from its strap and reaches over to deftly grab it, the thing stretching and pulling absurdly as it clings from its sucker mouth. "This is not a problem, this is an /opportunity/," he says, like somebody's dad that's been forced to watch too much kiddy holo programming with pithy morals. Which is exactly what he is. Hex has neglected shooting the Razorsnoot for now as he finally yanks the Millitile off Tarion's rifle with a distressing 'squelp' sound, immediately bringing it up to put his sharpened teeth to not cosmetic purposes and bite the head off. It looks like it is not even the first time he's done something like this, and he is ALL about eating this exciting forest sushi he just found.

BOOF BOOF BOOF! Goes the anooba; Crona is having the time of her life. BOOF BOOF. Millitile rain from the heavens, and it's like a gift of tasty, murder-able hail to the doofy, tusked canine - she prances amongst them, snapping and slurping at whatever happens to be close by. But she is still set on her main quarry; she twists, she turns, she trips over a log, she rams through something spiky, but she doggedly pursues that reptile with all the thrill and efficiency of a millennia of biological, predatory evolution.

On the opposite end of the scale of evolutionary wonder, Jehni'va Cihn is stuck, alone, inside the niche that she willingly and knowingly crawled into. "...Hello?" She calls, her cheeks squashed between the rocks, muffling her voice. It also immobilizes her head, so she can't /see/ what's crawling up her leg but she can sure /feel/ it. "...Hello??" She calls again, this time with more fervor.

Sajin does his best to push aside the thought of creepy crawling mili-whatevers... he can't pronounce the name even in his thick brain. It's a difficult task as they rain down atop of him and he has to dodge around then, all while keeping track of the Myntor. He thinks he has a shot and pulls the trigger on his bowcaster. However, out of the corner of his eye he can see the long black slithering many legged delicasy. With a girly yelp, which sounds slightly more silly comming from him with his helmets vocord, he dashes away causing his rifle to move slightly and miss its mark.

Somewhere Kasia is horrified and buying Hex floss and extra strong mouth wash (or possibly bleach) and she has no idea why.

The myntor is a wiley beast, especially under the brush, but Rheisa's spear manages to scrape along the hard protective shell until it slips to a weak spot, and stab. There's an angry hissssss from the myntor who thrashes and throws itself out of the brush and onto the path proper, googly eyestalk eyes turning and bending to take in the myriad of enemies. There's an unpleasant and slightly gurgly huuurrrrkhiissssss sound from it's side open mouth before the beast throws itself first at Tarion, the claws raking along a greasy bare spot on his leg that the kitchen supplies don't protect. The myntor then whips around to charge at Sajin, not managing to bite, but almost straight tackling the man with enough force that it doesn't feel good. From there the beast thrashes and tries to bite Grom, but misses and catches the leg of the poor borking Crona. The leg isn't removed, but it IS injured, and will need tending to. Fressshhhh blooood though, the wiggly eyes now focus squarely on the Anooba, because this is clearly a good meal.

More legged sneks rain down, and somewhere in the distance some sort of bird like creature shrieks.

Jehn is wedged in her little cave spot, unable to get out, but pushing further in seems to start getting easier the more she goes, the cavelet opening up into... ok it's still a cavelet, but it's easier to move, and leads to a tunnel. Which could be good, or could lead to certain doom. Only one way to find out.

"KRIFFING HELL," Tarion's shout rings through the trees not as the bounty hunter is wounded, but when CRONA is attacked! The bleeding bounty hunter tumbles forward, crawling on his hands and knees before stumbling back upright, consistently headed in a straight line towards the injured Anooba. "AHHHH!" he yells in his mad dash, coming in close again despite having just been attacked by the monster. "AHHHH!" he yells, stooping low and grabbing up the 'nooba. "AHHHH!" he yells, running back the way he came with the animal held in his arms. "AHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..h...h..hhh........" he yells as he fades into the sounds of the forest.

Grom gets his wish? Rheisa bounds off and away from the angry Myntor when it rears back and the spear is left like a toothpick in this murdersome hors d'oeuvre. The time it pauses to snack on Anooba is enough for her to dance in and yank the spear back. While Tarion runs to Crona's rescue, she has a go at poking more holes in its weak places. There's good intentions behind her thrusts, really there is, hoping to bring its life to as quick an end as possible, but...this is a very thrashy target. "Mi dahk," a word of apology to the outnumbered Myntor, in spite of the hungry rumble in her belly that might speak to the contrary!

So focused is Rhe that she'd not noticed TWO of their pack failing to reappear in the heat of this chase. "Where is Jehni'va?! And the other one!?" she calls out between hop-hop-thrusts.

Grom roars happily as the jungle beast charges the cluster of Deflings, "GROM REMEMBERS, STOP SHOUTING." Dropping his ridonkulous rifle to one side and hauling out his faithful axe. Unfortunately for Grom, the unusually stiff nature of his injured and splinted legs rather severely limits his usual mobility. Not only does the Houk fail to cleave the lizard foe in twain, he throws himself entirely off balance, falling like into a GromTree, bellowing is desperation and reaching for non existant handholds in the air to hold himself up. "No- NO- NOOOO: GRAVITY, GROM'S ANCIENT FOE HAS RETURNED."

Hex is literally picking his pointy teeth with a leg from a Millitile, contentedly watching Tarion run off with Crona like that's totally normal, when eventually the attack on Sajin seems to prompt him to wake up and fight the main prize again. Close range like this, the A280 is cumbersome, and he switches out to a pistol, firing two shots, aiming to sink them into the snappy, gaping maw of the Razorsnoot where it doesn't have protective scales. One hits pretty well, and the other looks like it hurts a lot. "WHAT?" he yells back at Rheisa when she remembers people are missing. What people?

There is a pained yelp from the anooba as the beast latches onto her leg. Reeling back, lips pulled back in a feral snarl, Crona goes into a growling, wounded-animal rage; she squares against the weird reptile, one paw held away from the ground, hugged close to her stocky torso. Her long, whip-like tail sways side to side like an enraged lion as she steels herself for another attack, too thick and hyper-focused to rationalize that this creature is too big and quick for her to take on in such a way. The anooba crouches, she leaps - she is snatched away by a lunatic! Wait, it's the lunatic she likes! This is fine. Borking and snarling at the reptile over Tarion's shoulder, Crona is whisked away like the damsel in distress she's always been.

Meanwhile, between a literal rock and hard place, Jehni'va Cihn wiggles and squeezes onward, crawling forward through the crack and, hopefully, freedom.

Sajin has lost sight of the Myntor except for some rustling in the bush. That happens all around him though. He crouches, his rifle at the ready, and the girlish scraming ocntinues as the razor-snooted monster lizard thing comes charging at him. It manages to knock him down, head cracking against a tree trunk. He lays there motionless for a moment, only moaning in pain as the others try their hand at trying to take down the beast. He rises slowly, wobbling to his feet. Unsteadily he takes aim. Only though a single moment of clarity is he able to take a shot before falling onto his ass once more.

With it's dinner snatched away by a madman, the myntor has to find a new snack, snarling and showing off it's dozens of sharp teeth designed to bite into meat. Which also exposes the tender flesh that isn't protected by the thick plating on its body, allowing Hex to land one frenzy inducing hit inside of it's mouth. Snarling and literally wild-eyed, the thing lunges first at Hex, chomping down on his leg to leave behind some horrible gashes that are definitely going to need cleaning, who knows where that mouth has been. Rheisa's stab with her spear is again successful, sliding past that blaster-resistant protecting to stab into the more delicate flesh below, which sends the reptile into a rage, rearing back so that it can slash down at the Togruta, managing to rake a bloody trail right across her backside. The thing is wild, in pain, nearing death, but that's when creatures like this become the most dangerous, and are harder to hit, meaning that Grom's ax sails right by, as does the shot from Sajin. It hits another tree. A Millitile falls on Sajin as a result.

Jehn, on the other hand, is doing a bit better than the other deflings, her new snek-legged friend crawling up her side as she squeezes her way to... freedom? More freedom. And then more. It's a low tunnel, but it's definitely a tunnel that's leading somewhere, which is better than where she was, which was literally wedged in a rock. The tunnel is almost to a height where she can stand up straight, but not quite, a few spots just low enough for her head to collide with it. FUN. The tunnel opens up into a wider cavern, and that's where Jehn will stumble across something. Literally stumble, because it's dark. She's found a... box? A crate? She's found something. There's also some faint light further down the tunnel, not enough to light up where she is, but enough that it might be an exit?

The game trail is becoming increasingly stained and increasingly slippery from all the blood. Tarion's blood, Myntor's blood, Crona's blood...and now there's a little bit of Rheisa and Hex to add to the exotic blend. Everybody's had their shots, right?

"I sai--" No, she did not say actually, because that's when the Myntor's real excitement phase hits and she can't quite get out of the way fast enough. The force of the slash knocks her sideways towards the ground, but as she falls, the Togruta just lobs the spear at its face/neck with a spiteful hiss and spit of "BAKA!". The headtails are cranky and mouth snarly to show razorsnoot her own pointy bits. It's all she's got, though, scrambling back all lame in the ooky bloodmud with a literal butthurt feeling to grapple for rocks, bark, footing.

Hex makes a growl just slightly left of human -- he is a weird alien too, after all! -- when the furious, panicked Myntor chomps on his left leg, but doing so leaves him a perfect, clear line of sight to get that nasty pistol up close where it'd be impossible to miss and ---!

Click Clickclick

"Ryma'at," Hex takes a goddess's name in vain as he finds himself out of power pack. "Akei ka schutta!" Son of a bitch! He wrenches free, reaches to his belt for more ammo, which.... is not there, so he has to give up, holster the pistol, and bring the A280 up to bear again instead. This time the big gun brings the pain, and blows a satisfying wound into the beast they're trying to kill and eat. But it's not anywhere near as cool as it would have been if he had the pistol loaded. Belatedly in all this, he thinks to yell, "Hey, anybody seen Jehni'va?"

"I know you're still there." Jehn croons to the itch on her leg... Then it's not on her leg and she doesn't know where it is, but that's okay - she tells herself. That's fine, it's fine - the pilot is that soft, sensitive soul that traps insects found inside the house and releases them later. Still, losing track of the Thing on Her Leg is disconcerting, and it makes her a little jumpy as she wriggles, and then crawls, and then finally hunches over in the stone formation.

She's able to look down, then, and see the millitile on her side, to which she gives a small nod. She's just going to leave that there, she doesn't want to know what that bite feels like. Plus it's... Cute? These are the dim thoughts that leave Jehn too distracted to notice the crate over which she promptly trips, and she straightens from the ground in a panic, checking the creature on her side for fear that she squished it. "Sorry. You good? I'm good. We're good... So goo- ah, rippin' rancors, little demon! Loot!" And, she squints: a way out? Jehni'va is going to check that box before she drags her dusty, scraped self out of that little cave.

Eventually, box or prize in tow, Jehn and her horrifying tag-along will exit the tunnel from beneath a bush. "Why does it smell like Hex's shoes?" She mutters to herself, wrinkling her nose as the she finally tastes freedom.

The Militile crawling across his helmet wakes Sajin up from his stupor. "Woah! AHHHHH!" A slightly less girlish scream as he bushes the thing away. He searches and searches, seeing Hex and Rheisa enganging the large beast. He takes a deep breath and from his sitting position take more of a steady aim then he had before. He squeezes the trigger sending a caster bolt flying towards the preditory beast. "I lost track of her helping Iggy." Comments the Hapan.

Rheisa's spear strikes home a third time, managing to get beneath the protective plating in ways that blaster fire just can't, the softer flesh beneath giving way so that the thing opens its maw and lets out a shrieky growl of pain. This presents Hex with the perfect chance to fire with his rifle, once again hitting inside the mouth to deal a savage blow. The thing is so near dead that the thrashing has slowed, and it's finally put out of it's misery when a bowcaster bolt squishes right through the slightly more vulnerable flesh beneath an eye-stalk, one last rattling breath exhaled until the myntor collapses on the ground, finally dead.

Injectables in the tush were unpleasent enough, but this makes those weird and humiliating times seem less like a big deal. The back of Rheisa's wooly, hand-woven skirt is in tatters but some parts of it feel weirdly heavier than others when she tries to finger them back into position and come with a side of intense ouch. Why does the fabric hurt? Poor fabric. (It's not all fabric) Even contorted to the side with neck craned far as it can go, Rheisa can only catch a 'shred' of a glimpse at damage done around the curves of lek and gutkurr collar. The thigh guard on that right side flaps loose at the top, its strap knicked by those same razors.

A low whine forms in her throat and for the moment, her spear's forgotten about where it's stuck in the dead reptile's clavicle. "That...that's what *I* say!" She yells back to Hex, even though it's suddenly more quiet with the thrashing beast gone still. A tentative step forward ends in buckling and bitching when the muscles don't cooperate and she drops to her good knee. Scooting it is. *Scoot*scoot*Wreeeench*YANK*

The spear works free with a gross sound. Making up for that though is the scent of lightly seared supper. "Yeh sva dau yau, ge eh det leh d' sa meht meh'ta," are the words of thanks murmured to this animal for FINALLY giving up its ghost so they can have a nonessential but totally worthwhile bbq. Then? An experimental lick to flat of spearhead experimentally for a taste of what's to come.

The box that Jehn found is locked, but in the darkness it's hard to tell just how locked, just that it's not easily opening. It's also not super lightweight, but not so heavy that she can't drag it the short distance up the tunnel, until her head pokes through the low level foliage and above the cloud of moldy-cheese-fungus fragrance.

It's going to take some time and effort to get everyone, and everything back to the transport, but it's still there waiting for everyone. Probably because Hex has the keys, so Tarion couldn't take off with it.

Closer inspection of the box shows that it's some sort of tough lock-box style thing so it's not easy to open, and whatever treasure is inside will have to be uncovered once everyone back in the city.