[<u>Glacial Caverns - Kaze</u>]<br/><br/>See<a class="link link--internal" href="http://bluemoonroleplaying.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=72460&amp;pid=1847369#pid1847369"> Solai's Post</a><br/><br/><br/>[<u>En Route to the Frozen Seaway - Genji and Kyra</u>]<br/><br/>See Each Other's Posts for Now.<br/><br/><br/>[<u>The Ancestral Steppes - Sonya</u>]<br/><br/>Unfortunately Sonya wasn't getting much help from Nat since while they'd learn to be wary of the bowgun raining death upon them, one or two brave members of the pack would make another attempt at getting away to warn their Alpha every time she stopped shooting in the vicinity of the other entrance to the broad canyon, forcing her to readjust before she could get off more than a handful of shots.  While the blademaster huntress did have a ledge behind her, her aggressive style took her away from that safety again and again, and the Jaggi were wearing her down slowly but surely.<br/><br/>They were not intelligent like some monsters, but neither were they stupid and as Sonya fought she noticed them beginning to adjust to her speed with many of the quicker males feinting and dodging, trying to bait her into attacks that would carry her away from the cliff and let the pack surround her completely.  The females weren't as quick, and so they were easier to pressure, but they were learning too, coordinating with their packmates to attack from many angles at once.<br/><br/>Sonya's armor had dozens of claw marks by now and the barrage of attacks was starting to wear away at the straps and buckles.  There couldn't be more than two dozen of the pack left in the canyon now but the time she'd spent fighting them likely had her tired by now, and the remaining pack had learned from their fallen.  The only reason these Jaggi and Jaggia had survived so long against the huntress to begin with was because they were older and stronger than their kin, and they knew how to fight together.<br/><br/>They were bigger than their kin, and as Sonya tired, they began to attack with more force, hurling themselves into bodyslams and tackles, trying to knock the Huntress down rather than claw at her as they'd been attempting before, ostensibly hoping to knock her prone so they could finish her off.<br/><br/>Which was about when Sonya heard Nat cry out in alarm from her vantage point.  "They're coming!  The rest of the pack must have heard the fighting!  Sonya!"  The last shriek was of exclamation as she turned and saw the situation her partner was in.  "We need to go!"<br/><br/><br/>[<u>The Port City of Val Habar - Alistair</u>]<br/><br/>Before the gaze Helena had swept over him had been idly contemplative, now it was intense, almost studying, though that feeling of being examined faded as she sat back and looked away with a sigh.  "Really?"  She seemed almost...  Disappointed, or perhaps confused.  "Kinda surprising really, most hunters would take a chance like that in a heartbeat...  You did say you'd captured her after all."<br/><br/>An uncomfortable silence filled the space after those words.  "I'm just...  Confused y'know?  I mean, I believe you, mostly because it doesn't make sense...  Most hunters would brag they had even if they hadn't, the only ones who don't are the stodgy older ones who don't care about that any more and..."<br/><br/>"I mean...  Ugh..."  She put one hand over her face and Alistair caught no small flush of what was likely embarrassment on her cheeks.  "You say you didn't d-<i>do</i>anything with the Kut-Ku girl, why not?"<br/><br/>Definitely embarrassment, given she flushed even brighter as soon as she'd said it...<br/><br/><br/>[<u>The Port City of Val Habar - Kojirou</u>]<br/><br/>The Guildsman Kojirou first approached gave him an odd look.  "A Newcomer?  You'd be better off outside, where the bounty board is.  There's all sorts of quests you can find out there.  Mosta the low rank guild stuff is gathering and clearing with a few smaller monsters like Great Jaggi or Seltas on occasion.  Bounties can be a good deal more diverse."  The man shrugged, but carried on after a moment's pause.  "Still, gathering and clearing ain't a bad place to start."<br/><br/>He pointed off towards the left side of the hall where several busy workers -mostly women oddly enough- in guild uniforms sat behind a long desk, alternating between scratching at parchment with their pens and staring idly off into space.  "Talk to the gal in yellow, Irina,"  Kojirou can spot her easily enough, on the far left side, and easily the most busy of the group it seems.  "She can tell ya what the Guild needs found, killed, or found and killed at your rank."<br/><br/><br/>[<u>The Everwood Hunting Ground - Dust</u>]<br/><br/>The blow was strong enough to make the monster girl waver and stumble as she passed Dust, whirling with an angry growl before stumbling again as Vianna opened fire once more, sharper-tipped bullets striking her in the back, one of them bouncing off while she tears the other one out of where it had -in a stroke of luck really- managed to wedge itself into a chink between her scales, a thin line of dark blood trickling from the wound as she shakes her head as though to clear it and lunges at Dust again.<br/><br/>She is moving slightly more slowly this time -leaving herself more room to react, Dust would realize- though she is still coming straight at him for now.<br/><br/>Peripherally, Dust would also be able to see a curious side effect of where the monster girl had spewed her blast of darkness at Vianna.  Where the blast struck, an eerie miasma of darkness tinged with purple light swirls in the air.  He'll probably want to watch out for those if the monster girl starts trying ranged attacks on him...