Starring:
Date: November 18, 2015
Summary:
Arika takes a small team to collect samples from the strange scorpion she and Hiroto encountered.
"The House of Scorpions"
Open Desert - Northern Desert [Land of Wind]
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During the day, the sun reflects off the golden sands of the open desert. The desert stretches from horizon to horizon, seemingly endless near-identical sand dunes composing much of the terrain. Between the dunes, the sand appears rippled from the lighter winds that have groomed the grains with millennia of errosion. Occasionally, standing tall or broken and fallen, pillars of marble that have been worn smooth by the desert winds, except in those spaces not exposed to such, can be spotted amongst the sands. Their age indicates a long lost civilization once existed in this harsh region. However, most of their history has been buried beneath the sands. The desert acts as both keeper of secrets and keeper of the dead, as the ancient ones most likely also lay hidden in sandy graves.
To the north, the Desert of Knives lies in wait, but there are travel routes that avoid the dangerous domain of desert bandits to the west. The west is also the direction in which the Land of Wind's capital city lies — the home of the Wind Daimyou. South leads towards a ring of towering sandstone buttes that are the only visual indicator from such a distance of where the Hidden Sand Village is located. East lies an oasis that has endured throughout the ages — sometimes going dry, other times bubbling back to life.
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The other day, Arika and Hiroto had gone on a simple patrol that turned out to be 'not-as-simple-as-they-thought'. Figures… To recap a bit: while on patrol, the pair encountered a number of civilians that were being attacked by a giant scorpion. Its armor was extremely tough. Not so much at the tail, but the pincers/claws were extremely dense, even able to withstand Arika's slicing wind. Naturally, the scientists of the Hidden Sand were curious and wanted some samples, so the duo were sent out once again. This time, they had Malik with them as well. 'So you can carry more samples!' they had explained.
Oddly enough, the youngest of the trio was in charge! She had everyone meet up at the gates of Sunagakure to make sure they were all debrief. She also wanted to make sure they all had the special glass vials that the DNA would be stored in! And so, Arika is waiting at the gate for her teammates. It was nearing noon, the hottest point of the day.
Malik was relaxing in his apartment when he got a summons to meet Arika at the gate for an assignment. He had been spending his free time training with his new sensei, though he was happy that he got picked for another mission. The more of those he's assigned, the more experience he gets. So, clad in his usual attire, and carrying the special glass vial that was given to him, he appears at the gate along with Sinbad. The falcon circles above their heads for a moment before floating down to land on Malik's shoulder. He stares at Arika before lifting a wing slowly and wiggling it at her. His standard greeting for her. He then stares at Malik before chirping a few times and hopping from one foot to the other. Malik shrugs lightly at him. "I'm not sure if he's coming. I guess we'll find out soon enough."
Hiroto quickly moved towards the gate to meet up there. Upon arriving he waves to Arika. "Hey… I didn't expect this to happen. More scorpion buisness." He sits nearby, and then he noticed Malik being here as well. "Oh hey. You hear about what me and Arika had to deal with. It was a crazy scorpion. I mean its pincers were so armored. Must have been some kind of special breed or something. I suppose that is why we're going back out." Tenshi was sitting on his head, but upon seeing Sinbad he flies up to join him.
Arika grins widely when Sinbad appears. The girl waves eagerly to the falcon and offers him a tiny treat of cooked lizard meat before she peeks at Malik. "Who?" she wonders. Was he thinking of the other one on this mission? Most likely Jiro… Considering the two ankle-biters are usually not far from one-another. Of course, today it was simply not to be!
When Hiro comes over, Arika would wave wildly again before glancing to the pair of falconers. "I think this's all of us.. So we c'n head out now. We just gotta get some samples, so it should be easy~" The girl would nod a bit, then say, "Hiro-kun, you take the front and keep an eye there. Ma-kun, you watch our backs. And Ten-kun and Sinbad-kun c'n look out from the skies." She nods a few times then says, "Ready?" Once everyone agrees, she would move out at a swift pace.
Malik grins at Arika as he hooks a thumb towards the falcon. "Oh, Sinbad is asking if Tenshi and Hiroto was coming along on this mission." Sinbad gently takes the offered treat from Arika and then chirps again, most likely agreeing with Malik. When Hiroto and the other falcon in question show up, Sinbad wastes no time flying up with Tenshi, their bird chatter being heard by the humans below as they greet each other. Malik turns to Hiroto and offers a grin. "Hey, bro. Yeah, I was briefed before I got here, but they didn't give me all the details. I figured you guys could fill me in as we traveled." He looks back at Arika. "Speaking of which, where's your partner in crime? I haven't seen little bro in awhile. He doing alright?" If anyone would know, it'd be Arika. They were pretty much joined at the hip. When Arika informs him that she wants him to keep an eye on their six, he inclines his head. "Understood." As they got ready to head out, he raises the hood up to cover his face, it keeps the sun out of his eyes, and then raise the mask to cover his lower face. It keeps the sand out.
Hiroto listens and nods to Malik before waiting for them to head out. Unlike Malik Hiroto didn't have a hood, but he did have a mask for his lower face. Either way upon hearing the instructions from Arika, Hiroto would make sure Tenshi knew what to do. Hiroto himself kept began walking up ahead to make sure that he could keep and eye out, and he had nothing to add to the conversation between the others yet. Tenshi with a little bit of a delay flew on ahead to keep an eye out further then most others could.
RP: Hiroto transforms into TENSHI.
COMBAT: Hiroto focuses 2345 stamina to turn it into 2000 usable chakra!
RPCOMBAT: Hiroto defends against with a HAYATO-SENSES…47
Really, nothing happens on the way there. A few people would be passed by when they went along the roads, and maybe an occasional bit of wildlife, but nothing terribly exciting. As the group gets closer and closer to the site with the dead scorpion, they might notice far less movement in the wildlife. And since they were in a bit of a valley, they couldn't really see much around them.
"Jiro-kun's been busy with trying to make sure all the people that came t' the wedding are doing okay and counting presents and stuff," Arika tells Malik as they go along. She would chat with the older Hayato for a bit before they got to their destination. Of course, this being the Land of Wind, the carcass of the scorpion was already partly visible… Its tail, no longer armored was exposed, as well as a part of its claw.
COMBAT: Malik focuses 2557 stamina to turn it into 3000 usable chakra!
RP: Malik transforms into SINBAD-II.
RPCOMBAT: Malik defends against with a HAYATO-SENSES…30
Malik nods at Arika. "Sounds like something he'd be doing. I'm sure his fingers are being just a little sticky while he's counting those presents." He laughs a little as he would keep watch on the way that they came from. Sinbad hangs back too, letting Tenshi take the front like Arika wanted them to. Malik's eyes take on the properties of that of a falcon as he continues to keep tabs on things as they walk. When the carcass comes into view he whistles a little behind the mask. "Looks like something's been eating on it a little. Not surprising. Nothing is wasted in the desert."
Hiroto listened to their conversation while he walked, and once the scorpion came into view he moved over towards it. "Well… At least we know we killed it. Now I just hope there aren't anymore." With that said Tenshi begins circling the area to look out for just that kind of thing. They don't need any surprises right now. "Want to just get right to the collecting, or do you want to make sure this area is clear first?"
RPCOMBAT: Hiroto defends against with a HAYATO-SENSES…32
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Hiroto from 15 to 35 and get(s) a 20. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Hiroto from 15 to 35 and get(s) a 30. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Hiroto from 15 to 35 and get(s) a 17. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Malik from 15 to 35 and get(s) a 35. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Malik from 15 to 35 and get(s) a 20. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Malik from 15 to 35 and get(s) a 24. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Arika from 25 to 50 and get(s) a 43. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Arika from 25 to 50 and get(s) a 40. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Pinching Claws vs. Arika from 25 to 50 and get(s) a 49. - Rolled by: Arika
RPCOMBAT: Arika defends against with a WIND-STEP…60
RPCOMBAT: Arika defends against with a WIND-STEP…48
RPCOMBAT: Arika defends against with a WIND-STEP…65
COMBAT: Arika focuses 5802 stamina to turn it into 9000 usable chakra!
Well, of course, as soon as Hiro says /that/, a bunch of little scorpions swarm out of the carcass D: Everything was perfectly fine up until he said 'hope there isn't any more!' Sigh! The swarm of tiny scorpions seem to come in waves at the three shinobi, though there seem to be a lot trying to get to Arika… It's almost as if they know she killed the original!
Arika squeaks as there seems to be a parade of scorpions all going for her. Why does this gotta happen to her D:? The girl runs this way and that, fleeing from the scary … arachnids? Pretty sure they're related to spiders, what with how creepy they are… Regardless, the girl is just forced to run around because she didn't focus any chakra earlier -.- "Try t' trap a few of 'em!" Arika calls as she passes the boys, still trying to keep the mission in mind.
RPCOMBAT: Malik defends against with a ACROBATIC-DODGE-II…56
RPCOMBAT: Malik defends against with a DODGE…38
RPCOMBAT: Malik defends against with a DODGE…21
RPCOMBAT: Malik took 200 damage.
Malik leaps when the small scorpions come out of the larger one. "Yep. You just /had/ to say it, Hiroto." He backflips as he tries to get out of the way. Once his feet hit the ground, he spins around, but one of the buggers manage to get the end of his boot, pinching the toes on the inside. "Ow..ow.." He exclaims before his arm blurs as he rapid fires arrows towards them. He didn't have a 'trap' arrow on him, so he'd work on not becoming their next meal instead.
COMBAT: Malik attacks target 1 with ARCHER-SHOT with a roll of: 31
COMBAT: Malik attacks target 1 with ARCHER-SHOT with a roll of: 35
COMBAT: Malik attacks target 1 with ARCHER-SHOT with a roll of: 32
RPCOMBAT: Hiroto defends against with a INTUITIVE-DODGE…23
RPCOMBAT: Hiroto defends against with a INTUITIVE-ACTION…41
RPCOMBAT: Hiroto defends against with a INTUITIVE-DODGE…24
"Well if I didn't say it then we might have been caught off guard. Who knows. I may have just saved your life." Then the scorpions attacked, and he moved away from them. He planned to just get them to follow him, so he could take them out one at a time. Of course when Arika spoke of taking some alive he decided to pull out his forked arrows. "Alright Arika." Then he fired three forked arrows hopefully holding them in place in the sand. Unlikely, but worth a shot.
COMBAT: Hiroto attacks target 1 with DISRUPTIVE-ARCHER-SHOT with a roll of: 33
COMBAT: Hiroto attacks target 1 with DISRUPTIVE-ARCHER-SHOT with a roll of: 33
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Tiny Bodies vs. Malik from 20 to 40 and get(s) a 28. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Tiny Bodies vs. Malik from 20 to 40 and get(s) a 28. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Tiny Bodies vs. Malik from 20 to 40 and get(s) a 26. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Tiny Bodies vs. Hiroto from 25 to 45 and get(s) a 37. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Tiny Bodies vs. Hiroto from 25 to 45 and get(s) a 35. - Rolled by: Arika
The tiny scorpions don't really think about being able to escape arrows. I mean… the ones that Malik hits are all a fair distance from him! So a few die off, but there are a lot more where that came from, sadly… Of course, they were tiny, so the forked arrows did nothing to trap them to the ground. Oh well… Try again later, Hiroto?
Arika now has her chakra focused, and she would flash through a few handseals. "Watch out!" she warns the Hayato, both falcon and human. She didn't want to accidentally crush them… With a downwards kick, the girl would bring a wave of air-pressure upon the smaller scorpions.
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 1 with MACROBURST with a roll of: 48
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 2 with MACROBURST with a roll of: 47
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 3 with MACROBURST with a roll of: 38
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 4 with MACROBURST with a roll of: 35
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 5 with MACROBURST with a roll of: 46
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 6 with MACROBURST with a roll of: 38
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Burrowing Power vs. Arika from 30 to 50 and get(s) a 38. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Burrowing Power vs. Arika from 30 to 50 and get(s) a 42. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Burrowing Power vs. Arika from 30 to 50 and get(s) a 36. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Burrowing Power vs. Arika from 30 to 50 and get(s) a 34. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Burrowing Power vs. Arika from 30 to 50 and get(s) a 34. - Rolled by: Arika
[NPC System]: Mini Scorpions roll(s) Burrowing Power vs. Arika from 30 to 50 and get(s) a 36. - Rolled by: Arika
Malik slides to a stop once he sees that all of the scorpions were being held by wind. "Impressive, Arika. But unless you can hold them there indefinitely, I don't think we need all these to take back." He's got an arrow nocked. "So..what do we do now?"
Hiroto gets out of the way as well, so the wind doesn't hit him. He pulls out an arrow and charges it with chakra in case any get loose. "We could just kill most of them, and then stick the others down or something. As long as it doesn't kill them, so we can keep a few live ones."
Arika ponders for a bit. "Hiro-kun, Ma-kun. Grab like three of them. And then get out so I can get rid of them. Then we can grab some samples from the main body and I think we'll be good," Arika tells them. She keeps the windy pressure on the group of scorpions for the time being, but otherwise just ways for her team to get the samples.
Malik spears a couple scorpions on the end of an arrow and puts them in a sack. The ones they're not going to take with them, he simply puts arrows into, making sure they're dead. After that, he goes to put samples of the big scorpion into the vial he was provided, then after tucking everything away, he nods towards Arika. "Done. We should probably head back before something bigger comes to snack on this thing. We definitely don't want to be out here after dark."
Hiroto does the same as Malik. He gets a few with arrows making sure not to kill them before putting them away safely. He then goes right to the next part of getting stuff from the big scorpion. "How much we need? Whole vial?" He waits for an answer and does that. "Alright I guess we can head back now." He chuckles some.
"Much as possible!" Arika tells Hiroto. The girl waits a bit so they can finish, and then she makes a few different handseals. The trapped scorpions would suddenly turn to dust as millions of little wind blades cut through their body armor. Scorpion guts everywhere! Arika would grin a bit. "Le's get back to the village!" she says cheerfully. This time she has Malik lead and Hiroto keep an eye on the back.
