Starring:
Kefka (emitter), Kurome, Tatsuo, Zori, Tsuchiri
Date: August 12, 2015
Summary:
A team has been sent out to try and get some supplies, but they end up running into more trouble than they could have wished for
"The Mysterious Beast - Don't Trust A Simple-Sounding Mission"
Land of Fire
A merchant recently approached Konohagakure with a mission proposal. It's been a few days since he heard from a caravan team that was bringing a large-sized shipment around between the Land of Birds and Land of Fire. While he did get a message that they'd be a day late due to losing a wheel to an unseen pothole that dislodged it, they're a few days late from that. So! A team has been selected, and none other than the Uchiha Clan Head Kurome will be leading a few Genin to the area where the latest message said they were broken down. A manifest containing the goods that are contained on the wagon as well as names of the driver and workers and pictures of them was given to the team leader so he could identify them to be sure they've not been replaced by bandits or other unsavory folks.
By the time the crew gets near the area of the crash, night will have fallen, and there's a rather eerie feeling about this wilderness and a rather odd smell about some of the local wildlife that one with enhanced senses might detect.
Kurome looks around the area as she leads the team to the designated area. The woman isn't really familiar with working with these genin, but they were all that Konoha gave to her. And she was at least mildly familiar with them. "This is near the crash site," she tells them as she slows down. "We should be more careful from now on. If we run into trouble, here is the place they're likely to attack. Be on your guard, and tell me if you sense anything amiss." She looks around at the genin, eyes black. "If you spot something wrong, say so immediately. I don't need anyone badly injured." Then she waves a hand, saying, "Split up. Come back to report in four minutes."
Tatsuo had been a little absent as of late and had been a little surprised, and wary, to get the note for this mission. He wasn't sure wanted to go but…orders are orders. Luckily the trip wasn't too bad, but he felt uneasy being in this area. Something was just a little off. When Kurome gives her orders he nods before turning to start wandering around, keeping his eyes open, wary as he looks for clues as to what happened.
Zori had just woke up, thats when he heard a knock on his door. He jumped up walking up to the door. Upon opening the door, it was his Probation Guard. Zori had been recently released from jail but under probation. The guard would be there to keep an eye on Zori to make sure he doesnt go crazy. The guard stares at Zori before saying "Quickly grab your stuff, theres a dangerous mission you need to help with." Zori hurrys up and puts on his purple hoodie along with his blank pants and his shoes. He then grabs his pill pouch and throws it in his backpack. Slinging the backpack on his back he rushes out the door. He runs alongside his probation guard to the mission meet up point. The probation guard walks up to Kurome and gives her a nod "Here he is just like you asked." The guard bows to Kurome and walks off leaving Zori in the hands of Kurome- a leader. Surely..Kurome could handle Zori.. right? Zori hasnt taken his medicine yet, so he takes off his backpack and grabs his medicine pouch and a bottle of water. Grabbing a pill from the pouch, he put the pill in his mouth. He then drinks from the water bottle, swallowing the pill. He watches as Kurome starts to walk off with the others and give out instruction. Zori then quickly puts all his stuff back in his backpack, slinging it on his back. He walks foward and catches up with the rest of the team, following behind them, quiet like a mouse.
Tsuchiri's team leader is Kurome.. so when wind of a genin being needed for a mission cropped up, she filled in. She whips on with the pace, catching up and on the whole trek to the caravan! Instruction is given to split up and the hoshi-nin makes her way off in a random direction from the others. She isn't too familiar with this area outside Konoha, being totally foreign to her, but she does take mental notes of every detail she comes across. Things seem to be unsettled, uneasy. So she's on alert and hoping not to run into anything while she's out alone… four seconds to explore and gather intel, then return. She makes sure the caravan site is in sight so she doesn't end up lost.
Upon approaching the crash site, the team would see the wagon still leaned over with an axle angled toward the hole where the wheel was dislodged. The wheel is leaned up against a nearby boulder with tools around it as if someone was preparing to fix it, yet there is only one figure there… one still figure sitting at the helm of the craft. By the picture in the file, he seems to be the driver, an older man, or at least he was. The blood and vicious-looking wounds covering his form suggest he's definitely dead. Upon closer inspection, one would find that is quite true, and his body is rather broken, a few places along his torso looking similar to hoof-prints that would be left behind by being kicked by a horse over and over, though the sheer force that it would take to make the kind of wounds he has is well beyond any normal horse. This, of course, leaves the question of where the horses actually are as well as where the other three members of the crew have gone.
So apparently the team doesn't find much in their scattered ways /except/ for the cart's remains. And the body. Kurome calls the team back after four minutes and they would go look at the body together. "Hmm… I may not be a medic, but it's easy to tell this man was beaten to death. Tatsuo-kun, do you know enough medical jutsu to be able to tell exactly how he died? Chiri-chan, I want you to keep exploring the area. Zori, go with Chiri-chan and act as her guard." Yes, she was sending Zori out alone… The woman's eyes turn red, now, three black tomoe swirling into existence so she can see with greater clarity. "How long has he been dead for, do you think, Tatsuo-kun?"
Tatsuo hadn't really dealt with dead people before, though he's had a lot of training recently with the diagnostic jutsu. Hopefully it would be enough! When he's told to examine the boy he climbs up carefully onto the wagon and sits facing the driver. "Gomen," he says softly to the body before reaching a hand out to touch the corpse's hand. Cold. As his chakra flows through it takes him a good few seconds to sort it all out. "Um, it's been at least a day, maybe longer. It seems like he died from these wounds and he's lost a lot of blood, so that would have been another cause."
Zori grins wildly when Kurome said for him to go with Chiri to act as her ..guard. With the medicine not kicking in yet, Zori snickers and says "Alright.. then Tsuchiri..lead the way. Hehe" His wide grin doesnt move as he glares at Tsuchiri. Zori follows behind Chiri.
Chiri gives a nod to Kurome. "Ryokai, sensei." she chimes, heading back off into the surrounding brush to see what she can examine nearby while Kurome and Tatsuo examine the site itself. She's weaving around the foliage to find anything that might be stashed.. but she doesn't go too far in on this side, heading west of the road.
COMBAT: Shifty focuses 8787 stamina to turn it into 10000 usable chakra!
RP: Kurome transforms into SHARINGAN-III.
COMBAT: Kurome focuses 7509 stamina to turn it into 10000 usable chakra!
COMBAT: Tatsuo focuses 2007 stamina to turn it into 2500 usable chakra!
COMBAT: Tatsuo focuses 811 stamina to turn it into 1000 usable chakra!
RP: Zori transforms into FRENZY.
COMBAT: Zori focuses 5942 stamina to turn it into 7500 usable chakra!
COMBAT: Tsuchiri focuses 2257 stamina to turn it into 2600 usable chakra!
Sending Genin out to explore on their own may just prove to be a rather bad idea. While the other two are checking out the body, there is a sound of rustling and suddenly the clopping of extreme heavy hooves as a rather deranged and muscular horse charges body Zori and Tsuchiri with intent to ram Tsuchiri while another flanks and aims a powerful back-kick directly at the side of Zori's head.
Kurome frowns at the information. "A day, hmm? I should have brought a tracker with us…" she murmurs, mostly to herself. Her red eyes flicker up and look around as she awaits for Tsuchiri and Zori to report on their findings. "I wonder why these men were targeted…" She then says aloud. "They were just merchants. Unless they were hosting some information, this new enemy seems like they just wanted to torture some unsuspecting soul. And there's only one body here, so where would the others have gone? Did they turn traitor?" So many unanswered questions…
COMBAT: Your chakra changes by -300 due to your transformation.
COMBAT: Zori failed to interrupt attack number 2: PHYSICAL-II from Shifty against Tsuchiri with a roll of 37 vs 38.
Tatsuo shakes his head as he climbs down from the wagon, then goes around to check what's in the back of it, hoping to find at least some of the supplies that were supposed to be there. Even if the people themselves didn't survive there's a chance that some of the supplies did and, by extension, that might be food or something to help someone else survive. Or there could just be more bodies. But regardless it's worth checking out in the off chance it's really something useful…
COMBAT: Zori defends against PHYSICAL-II(28) attack from Shifty with a CLONE-TECHNIQUE…39
Zori grins evily as he walks behind Tsuchiri. "You know..seeing that bloody dead body back there..felt so..good" Zori glares at Chiri. Walking up closer to her, snickering. But just as Zori gets almost directly behind her. A muscular horse appears out of nowhere aiming a kick at Zori, he performs a handsign jumping back as a clone appears in front of him taking the hit. Zori slides back and glares at the horse. "Hehehe. Attack me? DIE!" Zori's wires unravel and lash out from up under neath the sleeves of his hoodie at the horse slicing and slashing at it. Apparantly the pill has not taken effect yet.. or has it.
COMBAT: Tsuchiri defends against PHYSICAL-II(38) attack from Shifty with a FEATHER-BARRIER…24
COMBAT: Tsuchiri loses the roll and sustains 434 damage.
Tsuchiri perks her ears up. "You too, huh?" she murmurs back towards the wire-user. Before the sounds of rapid approach are on the wind. Zori mentions being attacked, which prompts Chiri's star feathers to manifest themselves and solidify. The spread curls around Tsuchiri protectively, but not with enough mass to deflect a charging horse from ramming her and sending her airborne and tumbling into brush. She's gonna feel that in the morning, for sure. Her feathers shift position and face themselves in the direction said animal was in before a one of them shatter its tip and send the shards thwipping off in that area. While that's happening, Chiri's lips and left palm glitter with chakra beads. Her palm is brought up underneath her lips and she exhales in a controlled and forceful whistle to send the tiny beads racing off as glimmers in the air.. it's not a quiet whistle either.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against RAZOR-WIRE(39) attack from Zori with a ENDURE…60
COMBAT: Shifty defends against RAZOR-WIRE(46) attack from Zori with a ENDURE…45
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 280 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against RAZOR-WIRE(35) attack from Zori with a ENDURE…43
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STAR-BULLET(23) attack from Tsuchiri with a DODGE…43
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STARDUST-SPRAY(27) attack from Tsuchiri with a DODGE…36
Talking to, not just a horse, but a deranged horse? That's a definite sign of mental health. Good job letting THAT guy out of the cage, Konoha. It doesn't try to dodge, rather enduring most of the hits without seeming to actually take any damage. There's something definitely off about these things. They're of a basically gentle breed of animal, yet they're attacking like rabid predators. Another hard kick comes to each of the Genin that are out from the caravan, intending to drop them where they stand. Meanwhile…
Back at the caravan, a fierce howl is heard ringing out before three men matching the pictures of the other workers dive into view and start to charge Kurome and Tatsuo.. at least they mostly match the pictures. Their bodies are bulked up far beyond normal, their eyes blood red, and they look to basically be foaming at the mouth. Holding makeshift blades that seem to be made from tools they broke when whatever happened to them took over, they stab at both the Clan Head and the Genin with killing intent, yet there's something more… Deep within their rage-filled, deranged eyes, there's a pain that might suggest they are not in control of themselves at this point somehow.
COMBAT: Kurome defends against NPC-B-TAI-ATTACK(64) attack from Shifty with a FIRE-DODGE…44
COMBAT: Kurome loses the roll and sustains 976 damage.
Kurome jumps back, a burst of flames escaping her mouth. While she avoids one of the attackers, she had somehow jumped into the path of another, and her world spins just slightly as she's struck over the head hard enough to draw blood. She winces at the pain, and the tomoe within her eyes begin to swirl as she attempts to cast a genjutsu on one of these attackers. "Tatsuo-kun, are you okay?" she calls out, not even sure where the boy is. Her focus is entirely on the enemy in front of her.
COMBAT: Tatsuo defends against NPC-C-TAI-ATTACK(43) attack from Shifty with a WATER-CLONE…27
COMBAT: Tatsuo loses the roll and sustains 770 damage.
Tatsuo is in a horrible position to suddenly be charged by feral…humans? Hm, that's not good. He tries to climb down off of the wagon and only succeeds in putting himself right in between the wagon and a sword, causing him to gasp in surprise and pain as it bites through his shoulder to the wood behind. That definitely hurt some. He manages to bring his hands together enough to call out a lance of water, pulling it from the air and forming it in front of the boy before he shoots it at the thing in front of him.
COMBAT: Zori defends against NPC-B-TAI-ATTACK(58) attack from Shifty with a STRING-STEERING-TECHNIQUE-III…53
COMBAT: Zori loses the roll and sustains 1071 damage.
COMBAT: Zori successfully interrupts attack number 1: PHYSICAL-II from Shifty against Tsuchiri with a roll of 42 vs 33.
COMBAT: Zori defends against PHYSICAL-II(33) attack from Shifty with a STRING-STEERING-TECHNIQUE…27
COMBAT: Zori loses the roll and sustains 487 damage.
It was then within moments, the medicine he had taken earlier had finally kicked in. His heart beat slowed, his grin fades giving his facial expression a blank look. Zori blinks confusingly as he looks over at Tsuchiri. "Whats going on?" is said. But then Zori noticed the horse charging at her. He rushes at the danger area and jumps in the way of the horses assault. Taking all the hits between him and Chiri. The impact sent Zori flying into a tree, smashing into one tree before slamming into another one after that stopping him from going back anymore. Zori looks up at the horse. Great…drugged and injured. Zori looks down at his body, covered in cuts and abrasions. Using his instincts Zori lifts up his bloody arm close to his mouth. "Now.." With one motion Zori slides his tongue all across his arm collecting as much blood as he could. Within seconds Zori lifts his head up gazing at the horse with bloodshot eyes. His facial expression serious. Zori doesnt say anything else as he goes on the attack. The wires lash out at the horse, with a slight gesture of his fingers the main wires branches out into a multitude of wires in pursuit of wrapping the horse up to the huge rock thats behind it.
RP: Zori transforms into FRENZIED-THOUGHTS.
Tsuchiri is about to get her day seriously messed up again, but instead, there's a Zori taking the hit! Tsuchiri only has a moment of confusion before her feathers decide to take aim at the crazy horse and let loose another volley of star-chakra shards, and chiri herself ducks off to take cover… and hopefully not get murdalized, hopefully.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against SHARINGAN-HYPNOSIS(52) attack from Kurome with a SELF-INFLICT-II…44
COMBAT: Shifty defends against WATER-LANCE(30) attack from Tatsuo with a DODGE-II…41
COMBAT: Shifty defends against WIRE-CAPTURING-TECHNIQUE(53) attack from Zori with a DODGE-II…39
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STAR-BULLET(19) attack from Tsuchiri with a TENSE…13
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 379 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STEALTH(17) attack from Tsuchiri with a TENSE…8
While the man attacking Kurome is froze stiff by her Genjutsu, Tatsuo has no such luck, as the man coming his way ducks under the lance and dives at him again with a powerful front U-Punch meant to rattle the poor boy's brain even more. Meanwhile, after being a bit ravaged, Zori manages to tie up the horses long enough to let Tsuchiri get a hit in and take to hiding, though there's another ominous signal… another ear-ringing howl, a bit closer this time, that signifies that these things are not the only trouble headed their way. Whatever's affecting the men and the horses, what ELSE could it have affected?
COMBAT: Kurome successfully interrupts attack number 1: PHYSICAL-II from Shifty against Tatsuo with a roll of 59 vs 41.
COMBAT: Kurome defends against PHYSICAL-II(41) attack from Shifty with a PREDICTIVE-DODGE…65
Kurome sees out of the corner of her eye, now that she's not about to be killed by some weirdo, that someone is attacking Tatsuo! She can only assume that Zori and Chiri are either taking care of things or perfectly fine… And she disappears to help Tatsuo, moving him out of the way while avoiding the attacker. With a few handseals, Kurome releases two huge fireballs, the flaming orbs big enough to hopefully hit both the one that she trapped in genjutsu /and/ the one that just attacked Tatsuo.
Tatsuo luckily manages to pull the blade free of his shoulder in time before Kurome comes to move him. The young Nara grits his teeth as he looks around the try and get a gauge on what exactly was going on. "If there's more of these things Kurome-sama we're going to need backup," he says after a moment, his hand that had moved up to put pressure on the wound starting to glow with green chakra.
COMBAT: Tatsuo heals Tatsuo for 427 with LIGHT HEALING JUTSU.
Zori continues to stare down the horse as it gets wrapped up to a large rock. When Tsuchiri attacked it then hid. Zori 'hmm's to himself. Good..Tsuchiri is hidden now and she even got a hit in on it. Good job. Zori's wires lash up into the air a few feet away from the horse. The wires have shurikens attached to each of them. The shuriken are then tossed using the wires at the horse, spinning aiming at its body.
Tsuchiri is hidden for the moment and not entirely a threat. From her cover she prepares her stardust again, palm up to her mouth and another glittering spray of chakra rushes towards the horse Zori is after. She jumps up out of place for another shot, hopefully at a better angle, before she ducks back into the brush again, hoping not to be seen.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against GREAT-FIREBALL-TECHNIQUE(58) attack from Kurome with a TENSE…9
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 960 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against GREAT-FIREBALL-TECHNIQUE(58) attack from Kurome with a ENDURE…50
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 512 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against GREAT-FIREBALL-TECHNIQUE(60) attack from Kurome with a TENSE…7
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 948 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against GREAT-FIREBALL-TECHNIQUE(53) attack from Kurome with a ENDURE…74
COMBAT: Shifty defends against WIRED-SHURIKEN-TOSS(44) attack from Zori with a TENSE…10
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 644 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against WIRED-SHURIKEN-TOSS(59) attack from Zori with a ENDURE…63
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STARDUST-SPRAY(21) attack from Tsuchiri with a DODGE…30
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STARDUST-SPRAY(22) attack from Tsuchiri with a DODGE…41
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STEALTH(20) attack from Tsuchiri with a PERCEPTION…24
WOOSH! BOOM! Anyone for fried workers? One man finally falls over, though it's hard to tell if he's actually dead. The other takes a hard hit and then does something a bit unexpected… He goes straight THROUGH the second fireball and goes to literally grab Kurome by the throat, collar, whatever he can grab, and slam her into and maybe through the caravan. Meanwhile the third worker that seems to have been forgotten about would dive in to try and stab Tatsuo.
Back with Zori and Tsuchiri, one of the horses takes a rather savage stabbing from the wired weapons before they both finally managed to break free. Sparing no time, they immediately charge the Genin again, intending to ram and decimate them.
COMBAT: Kurome defends against NPC-B-TAI-ATTACK(62) attack from Shifty with a BLAST-OFF…97
COMBAT: Kurome successfully interrupts attack number 1: CHAKRA-SHARP from Shifty against Tatsuo with a roll of 61 vs 42.
COMBAT: Kurome defends against CHAKRA-SHARP(42) attack from Shifty with a PREDICTIVE-DODGE…44
Kurome narrows her eyes a bit. "We have to report this to the Hokage. Tatsuo-kun, start retreating. I'll fetch Zori and Chiri-chan, you just start making your way back to Konoha," she orders. "Tell the Hokage everything if I don't make it back." Then suddenly she's being charged at! ACK! The woman takes a breath and exhales, sending her up into the air. The wagon catches fire, and then is promptly destroyed by the beastie-man. Well… There's a mission fail -_- But Kurome would rather be alive and report this than be dead with a cartful of items that would have been destroyed regardless.
With the Sharingan, everything seems to be moving in slo-mo, so she's able to move quickly and grab Tatsuo out of the way of this third attacker. "GO!" she tells the Nara, Sharingan whirling as she attempts to hypnotize these enemies again.
Tatsuo blinks as Kurome spits fire all over the place, watching in amanzement for a few seconds before she grabs him away from an attacker and sends him off. He…he can't leave. Not if it means Kurome will be in danger. Even if it was an order! The boy is hesitant but in the end decides that at least Kurome can take care of herself. He runs in the direction of Zori and Tsuchiri, calling their names at first until he sees the destruction. Without even thinking he brings his hands together in a seal as his eyes turn red. Water shoots towards the horses, attempting to bind them in small yet powerful chains of constantly flowing water. "We have to run!"
RP: Tatsuo transforms into SANBI-PARTIAL-RELEASE.
COMBAT: Zori defends against NPC-B-TAI-ATTACK(46) attack from Shifty with a STRING-STEERING-TECHNIQUE-III…49
COMBAT: Zori successfully interrupts attack number 1: PHYSICAL-II from Shifty against Tsuchiri with a roll of 53 vs 39.
COMBAT: Zori defends against PHYSICAL-II(39) attack from Shifty with a STRING-STEERING-TECHNIQUE-II…38
COMBAT: Zori loses the roll and sustains 464 damage.
Zori could see one of the horses coming at him. His wires lash over towards him and deflect the horses attacks. Zori then uses the wire that was near his horse to try to wrap around it. It would then twist and squeeze the horse if successful. Meanwhile this buys Zori enough time to see Chiri being attacked as well. Zori jumps in the way of the attack getting smacked acrossed his face as his body hits the ground with a loud thud, the ground cracks a bit from the impact. While laying on the ground Zori hears Tatsuo call out his name and Tsuchiri's name. "Im..not done..yet" Zori's free wire lashes out at the horse that attacked Tsuchiri in pursuit of wrapping around it. It would then twist and squeeze the horse as well. Zori is losing alot of blood, his ribs are most definately broken from all the impacts hes been enduring. His face is swollen from all the horses justice kicks. All Zori can do is lie there, hopefully someone comes to help him.
Tsuchiri, at this point, is fully expecting to take another hit… but Zori leaps into the fray.. again.. and takes another justice smack. She decides to have a clone of hers run into the area to distract the horses while she herself rushes out to get a hold of Zori by his shoulders, and drag him back towards cover heading towards the road. Busy as she is in the brush, the's unsure of the situation elsewhere and is just trying to buy the pair some cover from being attacked again.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against SHARINGAN-HYPNOSIS(73) attack from Kurome with a GENJUTSU-KAI…52
COMBAT: Shifty defends against WATER-CHAINS(41) attack from Tatsuo with a TENSE…18
COMBAT: Shifty defends against WATER-CHAINS(44) attack from Tatsuo with a TENSE…13
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STRING-STEERING-TECHNIQUE-II(58) attack from Zori with a TENSE…15
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 586 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against WIRE-FUNERAL(41) attack from Zori with a TENSE…16
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 1008 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STRING-STEERING-TECHNIQUE-II(62) attack from Zori with a TENSE…8
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 659 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against WIRE-FUNERAL(41) attack from Zori with a TENSE…12
COMBAT: Shifty loses the roll and sustains 1033 damage.
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STEALTH(12) attack from Tsuchiri with a TENSE…12
COMBAT: Shifty defends against STEALTH(16) attack from Tsuchiri with a TENSE…14
While the remaining deranged workers are captured by the Genjutsu, the Genin's efforts manage to rather nicely skewer the horses and leave them nothing to pursue. This also afford Kurome what time she needs to get away, though the goods they were supposed to be rescuing are left blazing in the trail behind. Still, there's a much bigger threat lying here than goods being stolen, and now they have an arena to send backup to that can try to study and find out what's going on and maybe figure out a way to stop it before it spreads and becomes a real problem. As a plus, this team stood toe to toe with what would have been rated a MUCH higher mission than it originally was had the administration known what the real case was and survived, so there's a huge victory in and of itself.
