Starring:
Arika, Malik, Yagyu, Jaken
Date: October 29, 2016
Summary:
A small group escorts a merchant to one of the outposts in Suna.
"A Big Sting"
Land of Wind
The Land of Wind isn't exactly known for its safe deserts and good weather. There are tons of hazards when folk travel to and from Sunagakure, or even just traveling around the Land of Wind. That's why a small group has been tasked to help out this one merchant. Said group happens to be made up of Arika, Malik, Jaken, and Yagyu. Their task today is to make sure the merchant gets to Outpost 28 without losing his merchandise. It's now 4am. Far too early for normal folk to be out. However, early was the best time to get moving. Or late at night. Especially during the summer.
The group had to meet at the gates. The merchant, who happens to sell colorful clothing garments, is all prepped and ready for the journey. His beasts of burden are ready, too. The one who doesn't look ready at all is a young girl who looks as though she's about to fall asleep. Judging by her hitai-ate on her arm, she's a Suna-nin.
It was too freaking early for him, but when he got the tap for this mission, he pulled on his gear and got his collapsible bow secured in the small of his back. The amateur inventor/tinkerer shows up on time along with his eye in the sky Sinbad. The falcon lights nearby Arika, giving her his usual greeting by extending a wing and wiggling it slightly to wave at her. Malik himself pulls out a rolled cigar and lights it with a metal cylinder object. He pulls in a lungfull of the stuff and exhales blue tinted smoke through his nose. "Hayato Malik and Sinbad reporting in." He elbows Arika slightly. "Up and at 'em Arika. Let's get this done."
"Being up at this hour is not the business," Yagyu begins. "But, it's money, so I can't complain. Gotta work to put food on the table," she shrugged while standing around at the gate. She walked up to the merchant's cart and looks through the merchandise he's selling. The clothes are pretty colorful. "This is alright," she says of the selection the merchant has. "I mean, some of it is cute," she smiled. "Don't feel bad, though. I'm just saying everything in here ain't for me and that's okay. What you got here will grab other people's attention. You'll sell out of all this with the quickness."
She stepped away from the cart and checked over her belongings to see if she was all set and ready to go. She was, but it helped to be thorough. "Oooh, look who showed up. It's Bird-Guy," she remembered the name from the other day.
"Don't let the merchant get robbed Grim; If you do a good job I might considered paying you more Grim.." Jaken grumbles "Whatever you say Madam Kage.." he snarls. ~It should be hazard pay to have to wake this early~ It seems that everyone had already arrived. "Reporting in." he says to the group and the merchant, before looking between his copatriots "Bird-guy, Mystery Girl, Other Mystery Girl.. hmm.. yep we're gonna die" he says the last part under his breath. "To those who I have not met, You can simply call me Grim." he says with a bow of his straw-capped head.
Arika yawns widely and reaches out to pet Sinbad, if he's within her reach. Otherwise, the girl would just glance at the rest of the group. "Hmm…" she starts off, peering at them all with a bit of a sleepy gaze. "I dunno you… Or you…" she says bluntly, pointing to Grim and Yagyu each. "Yer Grim… And so yer Yagyu?" she asks, glancing at each. The mission did say she had those folk… Well, this would be interesting. Arika holds up a piece of paper and squints at it. "We gotta get him t' outpost 28 all good. So le's hurry 'n get this done before noon so we dun have to be all in the heat 'n stuff."
The merchant seemed to be happy to show some of his goods to Yagyu. Potential customer and all. He's disappointed, though, when she says it's not really her style. "I have a few other things that are less colorful, if you want. Though I suppose we're heading out soon…" He glances at Arika, still a bit mystified at how young she looks and yet she's apparently leading this group? Well, stranger things have happened… "Yes, outpost 28 so I can start traveling northwards towards Iwa," he says with a nod, climbing into his cart and nudging it to be drawn forward so they can travel!
COMBAT: Arika focuses 3797 stamina to turn it into 6000 usable chakra!
COMBAT: Malik focuses 2481 stamina to turn it into 3000 usable chakra!
Sinbad lowers his head and allows Arika to pet him until the order is given to move out. Malik offers Grim and Yagyu an upwards nod. "S'up bros. Glad to have you with us." Then Malik's demeanor chanes a bit. The hood goes up, and he takes one huge drag from his rolled cigar, before exhaling and pinching it out, slipping it into the confines of his vest. He attaches his mask to his lower face and makes a motion to the falcon. Sinbad gives a final soft chirp to Arika before he takes flight. "Arika, Sinbad is in the air and scouting ahead. I'll be watching ahead of us, someone should watch the rear."
RP: Malik transforms into SINBAD.
"I told you my name already, don't even act like you don't know," Yagyu pointed out to Grim upon arrival. "But you have a point, that other Mystery Girl. You have a name or nah?" She turned back towards Arika. "And yes, I am Yagyu. We're gonna get that straight right now so everybody knows up front." She folded her arms. "Mr. Merchant man, I am not exactly looking for less colorful, but because I have just been contracted to escort you, it would not be right for me to sit here and seriously shop away your wares that have to be delivered. But, I'll keep you in mind if I might need anything. We cool?" She smiled.
As they began to move out, she took mental notes to remember for later. Outpost 28, Iwagakure, colorful clothing… "So your name is Arika. Good to know. That being said, Bird-Guy, you can take the rear. I just figured since you mentioned it you would do us a solid," she shrugged.
COMBAT: Yagyu focuses 1284 stamina to turn it into 1500 usable chakra!
Grim stretches with a loud pop as several things settle into their proper places, "Alright so standard point to point escort." he watches as the Bird-guy Shinobi switches gears, he glances over at Yagyu "We've got a real stone cold operator there.. Heavy on the stone" he says hooking a thumb at the apparently now overly serious shinobi operator. "So who is taking point?" before looking up "The talking bird is.. right of course. City living is.. weird" he says rubbing the back of his head as they begin to head off and he takes center column with Yagyu. "Let's get this over with, so we can get payed." he adds for good measure.
Arika hmms a bit as she considers things and then shrugs. "I c'n take the back," she says. "Ma-kun, you keep 'n eye on the front. And Ya-chan and Grin-kun c'n take the sides." Arika waits for everyone to take up their spots, and they would head out with the merchant. For obvious reasons, they wouldn't run into any issue for the first several miles. There were too many eyes for bandits to do a good job and thieving, and there were too many people for animals to disturb them. That was the good thing about Well-traveled roads when they were close to the Village.
The merchant would give Yagyu a small nod and just let the shinobi (and mercs) guide him to the right area. The cart shook around a bit, but it was otherwise traveling just fine along the road.
Malik walked a little bit ahead of the group, his sharp eyes staying towards the horizon. He comments to Arika. "On it." Every once in awhile, he would nod his head faintly after looking skywards. Sinbad stays within sight of the group, though at this point he'd be more of a large dot in the sky. "It's alright Grim. I'm able to see miles ahead of us thanks to Sinbad. That's why I usually take the role of scout when going on these types of missions. It's been pretty quiet so far, but that can change quickly. But this isn't your first sandstorm, so we'll leave the rest to you and Yagyu."
RPCOMBAT: Malik defends against with a HAYATO-SENSES…30
"I know, right? But…how does he smoke with all that?" Yagyu muttered to Grim. As they took center, she looked past Grim momentarily to Arika to nod at the instructions. "Sides, got it," she offered a thumbs up as she took up one of the side positions. "This seems like it'll be simple enough. Just from point A to point B. I'll get a little pocket change and use it to get some dinner. Gotta eat. Especially out here. I think the sun does more than burn the water out of you. Feels like it takes the food too." She grinned to herself.
"I suppose you would be able to see miles ahead with him around. All that hood makes me wonder if you can even see or breathe, for that matter," she snickered.
RPCOMBAT: Yagyu defends against with a PERCEPTION…16
Jaken raises a finger in protest at Arika "It's Grim." of course that was the only thing he protested as he took right echelon. "Not at all; I used to escort merchants quite often, sometimes even where they wanted to go" he says with a clear of his throat at Malik. "You might want to consider it, Hoods and wraps converse water in the desert and help keep the burning sun away. Although some people seem to treat it more like fashion these days" he grumbles responding to Yagyu before adjusting his straw hat so the shade keeps his eyes out of the glare.
RPCOMBAT: Jaken defends against with a PERCEPTION…14
It takes some time for the team to see much of anything, and even then, it would only be the Hayato's sharp eyes that would catch a bit of movement in the sand. Naturally, things can't be peaceful for the whole trip. Something just /has/ to crop up. Go figure. Whatever appeared, though, isn't attacking just yet, which means they have a few moments to figure it out and get ready to fight if need be.
"Hai, Grin-kun!" Arika would say to Grim, beaming a cheerful smile at him. "Hmm… Maybe that's why 'm always hungry," she would say upon hearing Yagyu's comment. "Ne, what d'you think, Ma-kun? Also, d'you see anything?"
RPCOMBAT: Arika defends against with a PERCEPTION…32
Malik explains to Yagyu. "The hood helps keep the sun out of my eyes for when I need to aim. The mask keeps the dust from getting into my mouth from stirring up the sand. I was born and raised out here in the wastelands. Everything I do is from experience." He looks up at Sinbad and then looks out at the horizon again. "Yeah, I agree, Arika. The desert makes me hungry, too." He then holds up a closed fist. "I'm detecting movment about half a mile ahead of us on the trail. Sinbad concurrs with me. Something definitely moved in the sand, but it's not poised to attack just yet. I suggest we go on guard. This could be a possible ambush."
"Hey, I never said I didn't think they were useful. I ain't all about fashions and colors. I make one comment about the clothes on the cart and suddenly I'm a fashionista," Yagyu huffed. "Y'all must have me confused with somebody else. I am not the one. Not today. As if I could not somehow glean what the clothes are actually used for," she grumbled. "Anyway, I'm guessing you don't have an idea of what it is yet, but on the real, y'all should probably consider that this thing might be the Kaijukage."
Grim agrees with Malik about the reason why they do things is for a useful purpose. "The Kaijukage? this close? Nah!" he waves off the suggestion but a pause signifies that he is contemplating "I'm not saying it's the Kaijukage.. and I'm not saying it's possibly not the Kaijukage.." he adds after the pause. "Affirmative, Possible Hostiles." repeating the bird-guys observation for the rest of the column. "Right echelon ready" Jaken's hand are brought up on the ready. Before looking at Yagyu "You ready?" he asks.
As the group continues forward, they happen to step in the 'trap' It can't really be called a trap, though, can it? After all, what they stepped in was actually just a giant scorpion's territory. A huge tail that was barbed in poison would lash out suddenly at the group, specially aiming for the cart because it was making the most racket!
[NPC System]: Giant Scorpion roll(s) Tail Strike vs. Cart from 10 to 25 and get(s) a 19. - Rolled by: Arika
COMBAT: Malik attacks target 1 with INTERRUPT with a roll of: 46
COMBAT: Malik attacks target 1 with TRICKY-ARCHER-SHOT with a roll of: 40
[NPC System]: Giant Scorpion roll(s) Reinforced Armor vs. Malik (40) from 25 to 50 and get(s) a 46. - Rolled by: Arika
RPCOMBAT: Arika defends against with a SHADOW-CLONE…48
Malik notices the scorpion almost right off the bat. He and Sinbad have fought giant scorpions before and as the huge tail goes for the cart and the people on it, he pulls his bow from the small of his back, hitting the button for the spring loaded bow to extend even as his hand dips backwards into his quiver for an arrow. "It's a dire scorpion. Stay away from it's claws and tail. Aim for the eyes and beware the armor." He fires his arrow, it hits the wheel of the cart and then ricochets off the wagon wheel towards the scorpion's tail. He's trying to use the arrow to knock the tail off course. "Merchant, go. Go now. Get the cart out of here!"
"Yeah, I'm ready to go," Yagyu spoke as she prepared herself to engage the hostile. "My side is good to go," she confirmed. Proceeding forward with the mission, the anomaly first spotted by Sinbad has now shown itself to be a giant scorpion. "This isn't what I had in mind when traveling to the outpost, but an angry scorpion fits this area, so I can't even be upset about it. I'd legitimately feel insulted if any didn't exist. At least it's not the Kaijukage," she laughed.
As Malik took action and provided some information on how to deal with the beast, she determined that she'll attempt to lock it in place and hopefully, the others could dish out enough damage to scare it away. "I'll stay out here, see if I can't lock it down. If y'all can kick it around enough, we may be able to get it out of here. Unless Bird-Guy wants to harvest it or something." She calculates the distance she needs and proceeds to send her shadow out to connect with the scorpion.
COMBAT: Yagyu attacks target 1 with SHADOW-IMITATION with a roll of: 21
[NPC System]: Giant Scorpion roll(s) Skitter vs. Yagyu (21) from 5 to 20 and get(s) a 14. - Rolled by: Arika
Jaken rolls out of the way the cart, it's dead to him now.. "wait.. wait.. that's my pay cheque!" he pulls a pair of tonfa's from the swell of his back underneath the cloak. "I thought it was pretty common sense to avoid the stabby poisoned parts.." he chides the Hayato . Before charging in, he didn't have any ranged weaponry prepared.. "I need to ask for a mission allowance.." he growls charging in to try to blunt force trauma it into submission.
COMBAT: Jaken attacks target 1 with PHYSICAL with a roll of: 16
COMBAT: Jaken attacks target 1 with PHYSICAL with a roll of: 10
[NPC System]: Giant Scorpion roll(s) Hard Armor vs. Jaken (16) from 5 to 20 and get(s) a 7. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Giant Scorpion roll(s) Hard Armor vs. Jaken (10) from 5 to 20 and get(s) a 12. - Rolled by: Arika
The merchant hears Malik's orders and Would crack the whip to send the cart forwards to try and avoid the incoming tail. Malik's attempt to stop it bore very little fruit, if only because arrows ended up just pinging off the armor that the scorpion had naturally. Arika ended up getting in the way of the tail, even, getting stabbed through before she disappears in a poof of smoke. The scorpion tries to continue after the cart, which was the biggest annoyance, but it was stopped in place by some mysterious force because of Yagyu, and then it was hit by Jaken. Ow.
Malik ran to the right and then slides, selecting another arrow from his quiver. "Grim Shady, I'm setting you up for the kill shot. Everyone else avert your eyes!" He runs forwards and then slides on his knees, firing what looks like a blunted arrow. Once it impacts, it would release a flash bang combination that is designed to disorient the scorpion.
COMBAT: Malik attacks target 1 with EXPLOSIVE-ARCHER-SHOT with a roll of: 35
Yagyu kept the scorpion from going after the cart once, but she needed to keep it in place if she intended to protect the cart from being attacked. That flashbang was going to interrupt that, though, but it would serve the purpose of blinding the beast. Perhaps she could follow up with an attack of her own. "You're going to make it hard for me to use my abilities with all this light," she joked. She knew it'd only be a temporary flash, seeing as how she was already in the process of obscuring her vision from it.
Once the flash was done, she sent out her shadow once more, this time to attempt to grasp the scorpion and crush it. "We're going to get this money. I ain't gonna allow this punk to take that way from us!"
COMBAT: Yagyu attacks target 1 with SHADOW-NECK-BIND with a roll of: 23
Jaken is in the middle of it, there are claws to the left and right of him, and he is looking it in it's multi-eyed face. "Got it!" he shouts hearing that Bird-guy is going to use some kind of blinding flash. He was looking for somewhere soft to jab the tips of the tonfas which were already starting to crack and splinter under the force of the blows against the armoured shell.
COMBAT: Jaken attacks target 1 with PHYSICAL with a roll of: 17
COMBAT: Jaken attacks target 1 with PHYSICAL with a roll of: 11
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 1 with WIND-SLICE with a roll of: 52
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 1 with WIND-SLICE with a roll of: 39
The scorpion is not happy. Usually they aren't creatures of light, so the explosive tag when it blinded it was even more painful than it would have been. It scrambles back a bit, but not enough to avoid getting smacked and bound by the neck, eventually choking it. Arika would polish the scorpion off with several strong slices of wind that would lead to its destruction! Wheee!!! Now that the scorpion was gone, though… Where was the merchant?!
Arika would glance around a bit to double check on the area to try and make sure everyone was accounted for. "One… Two… Three…" she mumbles, eyes glancing around as she seeks out the merchant. "Ne, did anyone see where the merchant person went?" she calls out.
Malik withdraws another arrow and pulls back on his bow, but he doesn't take the shot. He simply covers the creature until Arika gives the word that it's dead. One that's confirmed, he releases a pent up breath and lowers his bow. "No, but Sinbad can find them. They can't have gotten far." For anyone paying attention, his green eyes take on a yellow hue as they become similar to that of a falcon. He looks off in the direction that they went as his bow collapses in on itself and he returns it to the small of his back. "It's not that far. But since we're going to have to eat soon, I'll stay here and cannibalize this thing. The chitin could come in handy as armor and the meat we could definitely use. Also, I could use the poison in the stinger for an arrow combination I've been working on. You guys go ahead, Sinbad and I will catch up with you momentarily." He says as he withdraws a long knife from his boot and begins to remove some of the parts.
RPCOMBAT: Malik defends against with a HAYATO-SENSES-II…52
"The merchant can be found. I don't think he could have gotten very far. Unless there's another one of these out there, he should have headed up the path to safety," Yagyu indicated. "But, that ain't really my concern right now. Right now, I'm trying to figure out if we were hired or fired? Like…what happened here?" She looked at what remained of the scorpion. "Bird-Guy, I'm sure this will feed you for about a week. Also, I'm going to need some of the poison it has too. Could be useful for defense around here or other needs. I want a trophy too," she paused. "I want a claw," she nodded.
"Grim Jim, how you holding up? The way you beat on the scorpion made me think you had a history with it or something."
Jaken slams the tonfa's hard enough to shatter them into wooden splinters into the armoured carapace, but it was finished off with two blades of wind that cause the giant insect to almost fall on him. he backpeddles as it crumples in front of him. "Bird-guy, if you going to root around in its innards. Save me some armour" he says before looking very sternly at Yagyu "I'm pretty sure it ain't my rice ball." he glares at the Hayatoo "If you find it, dibs.." he says clearing his throat before moving back to begin the hunt. "And I hope it's the paid kind" before adjusting his hat.
Sinbad would be able to locate the merchant, who was thankfully not moving all that much. He figured that he ought to wait for his guards and all. The man only got half a kilometer away, which isn't too far. Arika looks at Malik with a small blink, and she nods slowly. "Just hurry up, Ma-kun," she says. Then she takes off, leading the other two (hopefully). She largely ignores the. anger between the others, if only cuz we was trying to be responsible! … Haha… Ha…
The group would get to catch up to the merchant, and eventually they'd all get to break for lunch before continuing their journey. The rest of their travels went smoothly, so that's good.
Before the rest of the group moves on, Malik makes it a point to cut off the claw for Yagyu and to remove some of the larger chitin pieces for Grim Shady. He ties them to his pack and what he can't carry, he buries in the sand so that the carcass doesn't attract anything that might be more dangerous. It would be close to the lunch hour before he catches up to the group again, and then he hands off the claw and gives Grim the pieces that he wanted for armor. The meat he would keep and he would share some of the poison, but the rest he would keep for himself to experiment with. He's also got some choice pieces that he could use for trade for water out in the wasteland. Waste not, want not. It was his motto.
