The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone & Drako)
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		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Human Solos =&gt; Topic started by: TheGlyphstone on 11-04-2010, 01:55:06</h2>
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				Title: <strong>The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>TheGlyphstone</strong> on <strong>11-04-2010, 01:55:06</strong>
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				The sun was bright and high in the sky, but there was no birdsong, utterly silent in the forest. There would be no birds, not this close to where the beast had made its lair. Adrian lay on his belly in the bushes, utterly motionless as he watched the gaping black cave mouth in the side of the hill. He had tracked the troll here from its last raid on the local town’s flocks, but even if he had stumbled on the site from sheer accident, he would have instantly known it was a troll cave. The area practically reeked of troll, and a number of half-eaten sheep carcasses littered the entryway. There was no sign of the monster itself, but the freshest set of tracks led in and not out.<br><br>Trolls were nasty customers, but he had come prepared – the lord of the nearby castle had already lost a dozen men-at-arms trying to kill it already, and would rather spend money than men, even if it meant hiring a self-admitted mercenary. Adrian had a full quiver of pitch-soaked arrows and a belt lined with bottles of fire gel, flasks of oil, and a large pile of fallen branches. Trolls hated smoke as much as they did fire – he’d smoke the thing out, then pump it full of flaming arrows while it was disoriented. That alone wouldn’t kill a troll, but it would be weakened, mad as hell, and its natural healing abilities would be overwhelmed trying to keep the burn wounds in check, giving him the opening he would need to gut it. If the troll had been carrying a snack for later when it left…well, it was probably just a sheep after all, identical to the one he had tethered a few yards behind him for his backup plan. No big loss compared to what it had already taken…<br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Drako</strong> on <strong>11-04-2010, 03:12:51</strong>
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				Andalin sighed as she looked out of the troll's cave. She could hear her nurse's admonishing voice telling her it served her right for wandering in woods where a troll was known to live. The only thing she didn't like about her current place was the smell. Trolls obviously didn't bathe, or clean their caves, if this cave littered with half-eaten, rotting sheep carcasses were anything to go by. If only she could recall what killed trolls because she seemed to recall that normal things couldn't kill trolls.<br><br>She jumped a little at the rumbling snore of the troll who was sleeping between her and the cave entrance more from not expecting the noise than being afraid of the troll. She wondered if her father had noticed that she was gone and if he'd even send someone to try rescue her. She doubted at the success of anyone rescuing her considering how many men the troll had killed already, if her father even sent anyone.<br><br>Then again, she though as she glanced at her pack sitting next to her, he'd probably have men looking for her from the keep to every town in a days walk. She kicked a dry bone near her foot. Her life was so good.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>TheGlyphstone</strong> on <strong>12-04-2010, 02:28:05</strong>
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				Moving closer to the cave, Adrian pressed up against the side of the cave entrance and listened. The faint sound of snoring came from the back of the cave, and he smiled. If it was asleep, he wouldn't even need to use his arrows - trolls healed body wounds near-instantly, but you could suffocate them as easily as any other creature that needed air to breathe.<br><br>Returning to his supply pile at the edge of the clearing, he hauled the tinder and branches to make a large heap in the dirt, then doused it with a flask of oil. After double-checking his arrows hadn't lost their pitch tips, he struck his flint and set the pile of wood alight, which immediately burst into flame and thick, black smoke. Taking off his cloak, he waved it back and forth to blow the smoke forward, which began to flow inward and fill the cave.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Drako</strong> on <strong>12-04-2010, 02:59:55</strong>
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				It took the troll snarling awake for Andi to realize that there was smoke rolling into the cave. Because it was at that moment that she remembered that trolls didn't like fire and smoke meant fire. The troll roared and headed for the entrance, intent of escaping the smoke. Andi started coughing and wondering what idiot tried smoking a troll out of its cave without knowing if there might be say a human hostage in the cave. <br><br>She started for the cave entrance as the troll disappeared into the smoke. She only made it half way across the cave before the smoke became too much for her, forcing her into a rather violent coughing fit.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>TheGlyphstone</strong> on <strong>12-04-2010, 16:30:41</strong>
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				The coughing, snarling roar told Adrian that he hadn't gotten as lucky as he hoped - the beast was awake, and angry. it would be disoriented, though, and he could use that. Taking an oil flask in each hand, he waited off to one side, watching as the troll barged out of the cave entrance and scattered his impromptu bonfire everywhere. Springing from out of its field of vision, he hurled his flasks, drenching the beast in sticky oil that immediately caught alight from one of the embers on its body. As predicted, this enraged the creature, and it spun to find the source of the attack - but Adrian had already moved, and the maddened creature's smoke-bleary eyes couldn't pinpoint him.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Drako</strong> on <strong>12-04-2010, 20:42:23</strong>
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				The roar of pain and terror from the troll caught Andi's attention and told her that whoever the idiot that had smoked the troll out had probably lit the beast on fire and also gave her rough direction to aim for as she made another attempt to get out of the choking smoke. The smokes source had to right in the mouth of the cave so she made a diving roll when she thought she was close to the entrance, rolling right into something, whether troll or smoker she didn't know, with smoke curling off her shirt, pants and short cut brown hair. 
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>TheGlyphstone</strong> on <strong>14-04-2010, 04:23:51</strong>
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				Just as Adrian was drawing back his bow to strike the troll with another pitch-dipped arrow, something large and heavy cannonballed into the side of his legs, sending him sprawling to the ground. It was a girl, and a young one at that. Possibly a snack the troll had been saving for later, though it was odd no one in the village had been reported missing, only the lord's dead and accounted for men-at-arms.<br><br>Whoever she was, though, hopefully she had the good sense to stay out of the way, because the troll had finally figured out where he was, and it was pissed. He scrambled to his feet, away from the unknown girl, and yelled at the beast as it howled. "Over here, you great brute! Come get me over here!"<br><br>He had lost his bow in the fumble, but still had two flasks of oil, one of which he tossed into the troll's face as it charged him before ducking under its sweeping claws and dodging past.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Drako</strong> on <strong>14-04-2010, 23:11:51</strong>
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				Andi looked up when she heard the troll's angry roar and felt no pain. She saw the man who was obviously taunting the troll, probably knowing exactly how to kill the beast, throw a flask of something at the beast covering it in what looked like cooking oil. She would have worried for the man's safety but he seemed to have a firm grasp of what he was doing.<br><br>She started to get up when her hand found a bow next to some pitch-tipped arrows. The man must have meant to light the troll on fire to finish it. She glanced to the cave mouth where bits of flame ate at some smoking twigs, the cause of the smoke in the cave she was sure. With practiced ease, she took up the bow, lit the arrow and fired the flaming projectile at the troll. She eeped in surprise as the beast caught on fire as quick as a bale of hay. She hadn't expected that.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>TheGlyphstone</strong> on <strong>20-04-2010, 05:53:20</strong>
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				Adrian was set to dodge another rush from the oil-spitting, furious troll when it erupted into a bellowing fireball, much to the surprise of both hunter and beast. Clearly in agony, it thrashed around blindly, blundering directly into the middle of the bonfire and sending flaming branches everywhere. He hissed in pain as one clipped his arm, sprinting sideways towards the girl holding his bow, and likely the source of the flaming arrow that was still protruding from the blazing troll. Seizing her by the arm, he dragged her bodily towards the edge of the clearing, giving her a light shove to land in the moss and dirt. "Get away from it, girl, it's at its most dangerous now. If it smells you, it can still tear you to shreds."<br><br>From the nearest tree, he retrieved his final weapon where it leaned - a massive boar spear, the metal point slathered in more flammable oil. Advancing back to where the creature continued to thrash, he set his back against the wall of the cave, then gave a sharp whistle. Sure enough, the blinded and near-insane troll heard it and spun to face the noise. With a ear-piercing roar, it charged him...only to impale itself on the spear, which caught fire itself even as it plunged deep into the creature's guts. The heat of the walking inferno was singing his hair and clothes, but he held on and braced the polearm with the dirt and stone at his back until the frenzied claw swipes weakened and faded, the troll slowly slumping and crumbling into the dirt to smolder and burn motionless.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Drako</strong> on <strong>20-04-2010, 22:05:55</strong>
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				"Girl?" she muttered indignantly as she shook debris from her hair. "He calls me a girl after I shoot it." She glanced into the clearing as she heard a sharp whistle. She was almost afraid the guy was going to let the troll him after she lit the beast on fire when she noticed the rather large boar spear braced against the rocks at the cave entrance. She was rather impressed with the man's cleverness in killing the troll.<br><br>She stepped back into the clearing brushing bits of forest debris from her clothes. "Nice trick with the boar spear" she said glancing at the&nbsp; smoldering remains. "Can't say anyone's thought to use something like that on the beast, at least not before lighting it on fire, which might have solved everything to begin with. Name's Andi, by the way. Andalin to those that are mad at me for one reason or another." She glanced at the singed man as an idea began to form in her head.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>TheGlyphstone</strong> on <strong>01-05-2010, 04:50:21</strong>
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				"Andalin then. I don't know who you are or what you thought you were doing, wandering around in the forest here with a troll loose. The townsfolk didn't mention a shepherd getting taken as well, so unless you're so unlikable that they don't even notice you're missing, then you're not from there.<br><br>Now, if you want to be useful, go grab some more branches and make a pile around the troll. It's got to be thoroughly cooked through, or you'll have a healed and very pissed off troll rampaging around in a month's time."<br><br>Turning away from her again, he pulled out a knife from his backpack...more like a cleaver actually, almost as big as the backpack itself somehow, and set about hacking off the troll's head messily.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Drako</strong> on <strong>01-05-2010, 22:10:35</strong>
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				"My father probably hasn't noticed me missing if you weren't told" Andi said as she set about collecting the branches. She wasn't sure why he was mad at her as all in all, she hadn't done anything wrong, and had actually hit the troll with the flaming arrow. <br><br>"How long have you been killing monsters? You must be pretty good to be hired to kill the troll." She dropped another load of wood near the burning troll. "Were you trained by someone else or just learn as you went? How many monsters have you killed? And you didn't tell me your name either."
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>TheGlyphstone</strong> on <strong>05-05-2010, 00:00:11</strong>
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				"You ask a lot of questions for a village girl, I'm surprised no one noticed you're missing, unless you're from another town over. <br><br>"I'm Adrian. The local lord hired me to kill this troll, it's been preying on the village sheep flock. Fifteen years of practice gets you a bit of a reputation in the business, though I've never stopped to count how many beasts I've butchered in the meantime."<br><br>Finished with the head, he shoved it into a heavy leather sack before stuffing a double handful of soaked sticks down the severed neck and setting them alight as well, causing a horrible stink.<br><br>"I'll take you back to town, and you can probably find someone going in the right direction from there."
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Drako</strong> on <strong>05-05-2010, 00:21:08</strong>
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				"Nice to meet you Adrian. And most people tell me to shut up when I ask questions about anything I find interesting because 'It's not a woman's place to know how such things work'." (The last said as if she'd been told as much many times.) "And you forgot to mention the men-at-arms the troll killed too. That would make even the most confident of nobles look to a monster hunter. If you've been killing as long as you say, you must be around a score and ten right? What made you start hunting monsters?" <br><br>She watched him deal with the troll's head a moment before continuing. "If you're headed to the Lord's keep, I'll just go with you. My father will most likely notice that I've gone missing by the time we get back."
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>TheGlyphstone</strong> on <strong>20-05-2010, 07:22:12</strong>
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				"I felt like it."<br><br>He was silent until she spoke up again, which earned her a momentary questioning look even as he started walking off back into the forest towards town. "Your father works at the keep? A guard or steward no doubt, though that must mean you're local. It'd explain why no one warned me about you, if your family lives there."
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Monster Hunter's Apprentice (The_Glyphstone &amp; Drako)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Drako</strong> on <strong>20-05-2010, 17:02:04</strong>
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				Again Andi was reminded of the fact that she looked more like her mother than her father. She only had her father's eyes, an odd blueish-gray that most people didn't realize was unique to her father's family. In every other way she looked like her mother to the point that only her father's people knew she was his daughter. She wouldn't apologize for being the way she was though. In a way, she had more freedom than her younger sisters, as they had to act like proper ladies so they could catch the eyes of men looking for a wife.<br><br>"I was born and raised on these lands, of course I'm local. I've never been anywhere else because 'It's too dangerous for a lady to travel with monsters about and none can be spared to guard you on the road'. I didn't think the troll was in this part of the forest, otherwise I'd have been to the next village before my father realized I was gone. He'll probably set guards on me again to make sure I don't run off again." <br><br>Even as she followed Adrian back to her father's keep, she made plans to leave the keep again, intending to have some freedom whether her father wanted her to or not. Perhaps Adrian would teach her how to slay monsters. It seemed like a good way to make a living and he'd probably only have to teach her the ways of killing the monsters as she already knew how to wield most weapons.
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