RP:Roytoc hunts a Snow Lion
Background
Satoshi Azakhaer, Lady Frostmaw, had directed Roytoc to hunt down and bring back the body of a large Snow Lion which had recently been preying on trappers and remote homesteads.
After a lengthy period of tracking, Roytoc finally caught up with the beast.
(OOC Note: Lion NPC'd by Cornelius)
Hunter meets Hunter in Frostmaw
Roytoc moved swiftly across the snow, his footfalls made not even a whisper, by the markings and indentations of the tracks he could feel that he was gaining ground on the beast. Every now and then Roy would chance a glance behind him, just in case the lion maybe circled around to chase its pursuer, or maybe it didn't even know it was being pursued; Roy had no idea how intelligent this lion could be. With his wolf-pelt clothing he was camouflaged well, mixing in with the snow perfectly, though if the lion caught his scent he wouldn't be able to hide; he just hoped the wind stayed calm and didn't pick up. Roy would sometimes switch to the heat spectrum, though the low temperatures almost always blinded him, if the lion was about it would be like a crimson spotlight. With his bow strung and ready, Roy continued his trek, hoping to find some signs of the lion other than its prints.
Frostmaw was never a place of kind or temperate conditions. With a precociousness familiar to locals, a change in air pressure from the mountain ranges brings chaos to the air. Winds whip up snow and ice, cold enough to burn a human's flesh if left exposed long enough. For the large lion, though, its thick shaggy white pelt encrusted in snow, such concerns were fleeting. It was not hungry, having surprised a trio of trappers out in search of snow ermine pelts but two days prior. It had been a similar attack the week before which brought upon its trail one of Frostmaw's rangers. Unknowing of this, the lion now roamed territorially, marking its scent on trees, and seeking out its next meal. While the snow on its coat does not make the lion as easily visible to the eyes of a drow in the storm of snow and ice, the exhalation of its breath is an occasional beacon, giving a brief time-stamp of where the lion had been moments prior before the wind steals the breath's warmth. When the drow finally catches sight of a slight haze of red in the air from the lion's passage, the lion too has scented a mixture of wolf and something resembling the trappers. Cautiously, the lion crouches and extends its claws from their velvet sheathes, and begins a low-stretched prowl along the drifts of snow, seeking out the scent of its new prey.
Roytoc was beginning to rapidly notice the chill surrounding him, although the wolf pelts did numbers with keeping his warmth stable, they couldn't stay like that forever. Roytoc was made of tougher stuff though, so the cold was not a major problem with this Drow, though with the winds picking up the snow flew crazily here and about, making his vision worse off than it already was. Soon enough during a moment when the heat spectrum was being used, Roy sighted a crimson puff a good distance off, though it rapidly disappeared altogether. Roy surmised it was the beast's exhalation of breath, his heart began racing as the moment was finally arriving, he began to get out a bottle of deer's blood from his cloak; relatively warm due to the magical properties of his cloak. Roy uncorked it and began pouring out its contents, making sure to stretch it across a good few foot, he was hoping the lion would be attracted to the scent, making it easier to trap. Roy then called forth his shadow, though as it came it was hardly discernable, though wasn't enough sunlight to make a proper shadow, though he would still be useful. Roy explained to his other half to lie in wait for the lion, then when the beast was close enough engage it, though only to distract it for Roy's arrows. The shadow Roy submerged itself within the snow, clutching its dagger tightly, Roy was sure shadow's didn't have scents so the beast would perhaps be surprised. Roy himself went a good few yards away, so not to be sighted or smelled, he nocked an arrow and let out a shrill whistle, hoping the beast would become more interested in this direction. The battle was soon to begin, Roy only hoped it would end swiftly.
The shrill whistle indeed caught the lion's attention, but the lion was not unawares of the tricks of hunters. Steaks left out to poison, noises created to confuse. Scent was trustworthy, and it is the scent of man-tainted wolf which the lion as marked as the danger. Slowly, carefully, the lion makes its way among ramparts of snow heaped up over logs. The deer's blood, a hunters trap others of its kind had fallen to, was not enough to divert the lion from its game. Unaware of the shadow-double, the lion catches a whiff of wolf. It continues stalking, an exhalation of breath would rise in misty red above a snowdrift to Roytoc's left. However, the lion's approach comes from another location, unheralded by any breath. Indeed, the first warning of the lion's approach would be a sudden crunch as the lion bounded over a nearby ice-choked patch of shrubs to Roytoc's right, the horse-sized beast intending to simply leap forward and crush its meal underneath the weight of its momentum and great muscled bulk.
Roytoc couldn't get the feeling of unease out of his system, somehow he knew the beast wouldn't fall to his ploy, though he couldn't be too sure, and he needed to remain vigilant to prevent from any sort of surprise. Roy became alerted as soon as he viewed a crimson puff to his left, though he didn't fire immediately, he quickly gathered his bearings and examined the area of origin. Roytoc's keen hearing caught something else though, a slight shuffle then crunch to his right, Roy spun in that direction and finally viewed the huge beast, although it was shrouded with snow, Roy could determine it was somewhat warmer than its surroundings at this distance. He rolled to the side rapidly as the lion crashed down upon the area prior to where Roy was standing, Roy let fly two arrows in rapid succession, one heading for the Beast's face and one towards the forelegs. Roy's shadow quickly burst from his snowy hide-out, "L'xsa fuer'yon zhaunau," He exclaimed as he went to join with Roy who was trying to distance himself from the great beast. The snow was no hindrance to Roy, so he quickly retreated from the lion, hoping to gain a new strategy, for his first one, of surprise, had failed.
Pain, and an indignant roar. A sharp sensation where the drow's arrow had passed through the flesh of the lion's cheek, knocking out a pair of its sharp teeth on the other side of the beast's jaw. Compared to this, the cut opened along the shank of the beast's left foreleg is barely noticeable. Enraged, the beast bites down, and the arrow splinters even as the lion turns to face the one who had caused it such agony. The blood leaking from its face and leg give the backpedaling Roytoc warning of its location, as the lion once again approaches. This time, however, the beast is more cunning in its approach. Ignoring the scentless shadow, the lion bounds towards Roytoc, making a skidding landing to the drow's side, expecting another evasion. No matter the drow's next movement, whether the ranger remains stationary or moves, the Lion's next pounce shall be a body-blow to the one smelling of wolves, designed to knock its prey to the ground with the lion's great mass and thereby stun it. Normally, this tactic would result in, say, a frostmare becoming a quick and easy meal for the lion.
Roytoc could feel his adrenaline pumping and the pressure beginning, the beast was fast, and as fast as Roy was he wouldn't outrun or outmanoeuvre the giant feline. Snow was kicked into his face by the lion's skidding, Roy had to think fast or he would be knocked down and that was a position he might not escape so easily, if only he had some of his ceramic balls that expelled extremely blinding light, but he hadn't thought he would have needed them. Roy caught sight of his shadow though, literally just a shadow passing through the snowscape rapidly gaining on Roy's position, the shadow would jump and try to run across the beast's back, he would then strike the lion on the skull with the pommel of his dirk, for they were trying to keep as much intact as possible, that distraction would help Roy out tenfold and maybe disorient the beast. Roy was willing to take his chances diving forward at the beast, he just hoped his shadow would arrive in time, he shouldered his bow and drew his dirk in a flash; diving towards the beast's underside, he hoped to slip under and out, maybe even slicing a few tendons in one of the lion's forelegs in the process. Though it all relied on Roy's shadow at the moment.
The sensation of feet along its back further enrages the lion, as does the painful sensation from the dirk pummelling its skull. However, for a beast of this size, it would take an over-handed mace-blow to elicit the kind of response the shadow-form might have hoped for - the dirk pommel is barely a distraction as it dents the thick bone of the lion's skull. The lion takes its frustration out on the wolf-scented Roytoc. Claws the size of curved daggers rake across Roytoc's path with startling speed - to reach the vulnerable underside of the lion and take advantage of such a position, Roytoc would find it impossible to avoid those natural implements of flesh-rending destruction.
Roytoc is taken aback by the lack of attention the lion found in his shadow, in fact he was surprised the lion could still focus perfectly on him, then the dagger-sized claws came at him. Even with the reflexes of a Drow, and the years spent honing them, Roy couldn't possibly avoid these claws completely. The Ranger dropped to his knees and curved his body to the left, and then he felt the molten hot sting of his flesh being sliced apart. At least three of the claws slashed across Roy's chest, severing the wolf skins like paper and carving his flesh like butter, Roy felt two or more of his ribs implode under the strike, and who knew how deep the claws had went. The air was blasted from Roy's lungs but he still kept his balance enough to hop into a standing position, he struck upwards, hoping to imbed his dagger just below the beast's ribcage, so as not to pierce the heart. Whether his dagger hit or missed Roy knew he would fall and skid to the snow due to lack of balance and momentum from the lion's strike, he just hoped it was a good distance away from the beast. Meanwhile Roy's shadow had fallen off the beast, due to it's lunge at Roy, and was finally regaining his balance, with a growl he threw his dagger towards the beast's throat, hoping to sever one of its jugulars and gain the upper-hand once again.
There was a primal satisfaction for the lion in the sensation of its claws tearing into the hunter which had harmed it. The satisfaction lasted only a moment, however, as more agony spiked through its chest where a dagger punctured through flesh and into organs. Agony and rage and the scent of its own blood threw off the lion's senses. As it tries to find the one assaulting it, all it can see is the outline of Roytoc's shadow double, and it pounces directly along the line of the thrown dagger's path. That dagger will strike true, but the shadow-form will find the full force of the lion's last few moments of living fury raining down upon it as claws swipe furiously at it, blood spraying from the lion's throat and stomach, until the attacks eventually weaken and take on a frantic edge. It will take a minute or more for the beast to realise it is dead, but when it does eventually fall, it moves no more.
Roytoc didn't register most of those last few seconds the lion lived, everything was too frantic and chaotic for his wounded mind to understand, though he did understand the lion was near at it's end. Roytoc's shadow on the other hand felt every single assault the dying lion threw at him, his dark wispy blood spewed forth and slowly settled to the ground to liquefy into dark goop. After a few minutes Roy's shadow finally stood up, it's wounds healed, except for the shadowed injuries of Roy's ribs and chest to which he cradled softly, "Lu'l'seke Ilythiiri zotrethe harl l'fuer'yon," he gloated as he slowly made his way towards Roytoc. Roy glowered and spit to the ground, his saliva was mixed with blood, he slowly stood up and retrieved his dagger from the lion's underbelly. "Just drink your potion," Roy said with a groan as he pulled out a strength elixir, Roy's shadow retrieved his dagger from the beast's throat and produced his shadow equivalent of the potion. They both uncorked the vials and downed the contents, Roytoc spluttered a bit at the horrid taste and threw the vial, he lifted one side of the lion up with relative ease and his shadow mimicked the actions, "Come, it is a long way to Frostmaw and I doubt if either of us will make it," Roytoc whispered, and to accentuate the point he once again hacked up some blood. They both began making their way east, back towards the kingdom to which Roy would become First Ranger, if he could make it back in one piece.