Holgarde - Day One: Cleansing

ooc: The plan was to jump on the 'Los, not really sure why but it seems like a semi-decent idea that will probably get me killed.
Also Blaster, the whole point of being the mod is that you get to decide what happens, especially in free-form. And like he explained earlier, he wasn't targeting her specifically, she had just placed herself in a situation where she was likely to receive those injuries

Totoro dashed around towards the back of the 'Los and ran in towards the legs again and would stab straight into the back of it's legs, provided the 'Los wasn't targeting him.

Three Wells raged at the sight of a wounded comrade and raised his lance and shield and charged at the rathalos.

"For Wyndham!"

He did not roar it out as he did not want to attract the wyvern's attention too soon.

ooc:
@Glyph: I'll make up a random position for you to be at, so you can go from there;
You'd be somewhere north of the Azure Rathalos. I presume you're at least a comfortable distance away (few meters, out of tail range, enough to have time to react to anything coming).

@Sunfish: As a Felyne, your plan is alright. Like everything else, there's some inherent risks.
One thing to think about is how you'll stay on top. I can tell you right away that you won't be using your swords as climbing picks in his shell, because his shell is far too hard (and many other reasons).

@Rekee: I'm not sure precisely what you mean when you just say charge, as in if you're just running in close or if you're running and attacking.
I'll be cautious and presume the former.

@Blaster: Take into account that the Azure Rathalos shell will be tough to breech, especially as a Felyne (as Felyne simply are not power oriented fighters, particularly with light bowguns).
It's possible to breech it, and pierce rounds are the way to go, but consider what else you could be shooting at (more than just the wings).

Just for the record, I probably wouldn't give anyone the power to just hit the Rathalos in the head, pierce its shell and skull and kill it. It would be over powered and rob the fun.

-

After dodging the caravan stampede and covering the distance, Wells was nearby the Azure Rathalos, off to its left side (south of it).

Edo went about making his modified bowgun round.

When Totoro circled around the Rathalos clockwise (to the south), he brought the wyvern's attention with him.
This brought the monster's attention onto Wells, as the Rathalos turned to face him.

This gave David his opportunity to attack from the rear, which he promptly took despite the looming threat of the tail and its proven efficiency.
As he ran in from behind the wyvern, he veered off to the side to distance himself from the tail as much as possible.
Having wound his sword back, once he was in attacking range, he pivoted his whole body across and brought his heavy blade around into the Azure Rathalos' tree like left leg.
As to be expected, the powerful weapon cut through the monster's tough hide and into the flesh beneath, making a wide and rather deep hack.
Because of the thickness of the Rathalos' leg, though, and his inherent resilience, worse would need to be done to significantly hinder the leg.

David jerked his blade out as fast as he put it in, and quickly ran off to the side of the monster to avoid either its tail or its head.
The monster leered at him out of its peripheral, and swung its tail at him without turning its body, but David escaped for the time being.

Edo was lucky that the Rathalos' head was relatively still when he started aiming his custom pierce round, seeing as the Rathalos was focused on Wells and Totoro.
The round flew true, and struck the Rathalos on the topside of his head. It must have dug into the shell, because it stuck in there. How deep it went, and how much damage was done, wasn't able to be determined.

Groaning because of either David, Edo or both, the Rathalos turned its head some to the west (towards the hunter's lodging/watch tower), probably wondering where the bolt lodged in its head came from. Flames were crawling from its maw.

-
ooc:
The Rathalos is facing south (though looking a bit to the west).
Wells and Totoro are somewhere almost directly in front of the Rathalos (south of).
David is off to the Rathalos' left side (east of).
Chizoray is behind the Rathalos (north of).
Edo is still up in the watch tower (west of).
Cyra is to the Rathalos' right (west of).

ooc: I meant running and attacking.

~~~

Three Wells picked up speed and closed the distance between him and the rathalos. He tucked in his left arm, holding the lance close to his body so that the momentum of the charge could be efficiently transferred into the piercing power of the lance. He tilted the lance slightly upwards, hoping to run into the wyvern's head or neck.

With his right hand, Three Wells held up his large shield and tucked in his head as much as possible. This protected his head, but also blocked vision from the right. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that with the remaining left-side vision, he could see the rathalos's head, aligned with the tip of his lance.

That is, if the rathalos didn't move by the time his attack connected.

Should the rathalos suddenly turn, Three Wells would instinctively anticipate the swinging tail.
If the head turns towards the (Three Wells's) left, he would continue charging into the rathalos and hope that the shield protects him from the tail, if it hits him first.
If the head turns towards the (Three Wells's) right, out of view, he would duck towards his right and thrust the lance in the general direction of the tail base, hoping to strike the tail.

Should the rathalos rear its head to shoot a fireball, Three Wells would divert his charge to his left towards the rathalos's right wing.

"Nya-!" (the - would be various swear words) Edo quickly threw his gun, ammo pouch, bow and quiver down the ladder, then quickly jumped down the ladder himself, hopefully evading the fireball.

The Azure Rathalos reared back and puffed his chest as he inhaled, letting more flames pour out of his mouth. He looked directly at the hunter's lodging building, and with a jerk of his neck and a roar, unleashed a fireball from his mouth that shot out like a cannon.

Unexpectedly, he wasn't aiming at Edo or the watchtower. Rather, he was aiming at a window that was just opened by a monster hunter gunner, who he blamed for the bolt in his head.
The fireball flew straight through the window and exploded inside, fortunately not hitting the hunter who dove away in advance.

Edo's evasive efforts were wasted, but it was better safe than sorry. Some of his arrows had bounced, fell or slid out of his quiver during the fall and impact.

Because the Rathalos' whole main body raised up, Wells had to reach further up to hit any part of his wing, which was the backside of his webbing.
Not wanting to reach too high, hit at a weird angle and and get caught up, Wells only aimed so high up the monster's webbing.
He pierced where he intended, and with his momentum tore along down to the end of the webbing, overall making about a foot long tear in the back of the Rathalos' webbing.

The Rathalos countered with a powerful tail spin, putting its whole body into the whipping motion.
He stepped forward with his right leg, and made a complete one hundred eighty degree clockwise spin, lashing his tail around with him.
The end of the tail was headed directly for Wells, bearing its sharp spikes on its sides. Without even needing to think, the hunter guarded.

The tail smashed into Well's shield like a massive mace, hitting with one of its spikes.
The spike that struck directly went half foot through the Hermitaur shell that made up Well's heavy shield, sending several cracks out from the hole. He was fortunate it struck low and didn't hit any part of him behind the shield, because it probably would have gone through his armor too.
As the tail continued to whip past, it pulled the shield along with it like a hook, which in turn yanked Wells along by his arm.

The tail dislodged, but Wells had been forced to spin around by a limb and could feel that something had been pulled.

Totoro had retreated backwards when the Rathalos stepped towards him and swung its tail around.

After his half spin, the Rathalos faced north and leered at almost the entire monster hunter group, flames still crawling from his mouth.

-
ooc:
@Rekee: To elaborate on your shield arm; it's still usable, just in significant pain. A little performance hindrance may occur.

What I meant with the webbing and reaching too high; I figure as you reach higher and higher, the lance becomes more and more vertical.
I figure after a certain point of being almost vertical, there'd be less power (and more leverage against you) and you might not tear all the way through the webbing (different from piercing the webbing), which would lead to other bad stuff.


The Rathalos is facing north.
Totoro is behind (south) of the Rathalos.

Everyone else is basically in front (north) of the Rathalos, but at different angles.
Edo is more west atop the hunter's lodging.
Cyra is also more west, by the central buildings.
David and Wells are more east.
Chizoray would be basically directly north.
The wagon with the dead and alive Aptonoths would also be basically north.

ooc: Would it be feasible to just climb the 'Los if I were to put my swords away?

Totoro sheathed his swords and made his way over to the nearby wagon and jumped on top of it. He then started hitting anything and everything to try and make as much noise as possible and perhaps lure the 'Los over that way. If the 'Los responded with a charge, Totoro would leap onto it's back and use his claws and the scales to stay on top and try and move his way towards the neck. If the 'Los responded with a fireball, Totoro would jump out of the way and hopefully to safety.

ooc:
@Sunfish: Putting your swords away would help a lot, yeah.
As you seem to be doing, jumping on top of him is probably the best way to get on top of him.
Where you are on his body will also come into play, and/or what material of him your clinging too (shell, webbing). What he's doing will also be a big factor.

I'm waiting on others to post before progressing.

OOC: I'm sort of retarded, so could you put that map that you had up again? Maybe show where the Rathalos and everyone is? It would help a lot if you could show the orientation of it's body too, from head to tail, sort of like it shows up on the mini-map in the games? Maybe I'm being too needy, but I'm a little confused where everyone is to be honest. Oh, and a scale might help! Fuck it, while you're at it, just make it a moving hologram. : P

More swear words flew from Edo's mouth, but he calmed down. (I know my little kitty cat would be dead if I didn't jump) He put on his armor, grabbed his bow and quiver, went to the edge of the building, facing the los, set them aside, then grabbed his gun and ammo pouch, then set them behind him. He strapped his quiver on his back, grabbed his bow, knocked an arrow, and aimed at the left wing. He then fired the arrow, prepared to dive back if need be.

ooc: Um, actually, when I said 'the rathalos would rear its head for a fireball', what I had in mind was if the fireball was aimed at Three Wells. With the scenario just now, with the rathalos's attention completely focused elsewhere, he would have just charged straight into the rathalos.

Nevermind though. My fault for being too specific. LOLs.

~~~


"Keep to the plan, guys."

Tucking in his arms and head just as before, Three Wells pointed his lance, raised his shield, and charged at the rathalos head on.

However, before coming within tail-whipping distance, the hermitaur-clad hunter veered away towards the left. He hoped to draw the wyvern's attention away from his comrades. However, should the wyvern not pay attention to him, he would immediately turn and charge into the rathalos, aiming at its thigh.

ooc:
@Rekee: Sorry about that.
Generally, I will take the safer route of action if I'm unsure.

@Everyone/Glyph:

Spoiler:

-

When Wells advanced towards the Rathalos, the Rathalos, likewise, advanced on Wells.
Taking one big step, the Rathalos quickly closed the distance between him and Wells, not giving Wells time to change his direction of travel.

Wells slammed to a halt in order to keep his shield between him and the Rathalos, rather than let the Rathalos reach over and pick him up.
The Rathalos went to grab Wells with his large jaw, but was prevented from doing so by Well's shield. The Rathalos easily pushed Wells back though, taking another step forward and moving Wells back an equal distance.

David was suddenly right next to Wells, and as he appeared he swung his heavy sword into the Rathalos' snout. A crack was heard, and the blade wedged into the shell azure shell, most likely cutting flesh beneath.
David quickly twisted and pulled his sword to dislodge it, and retreated behind Wells as the Rathalos backed off momentarily, groaning lowly.

Once he was done collecting and repositioning his equipment and himself, Edo aimed for the left wing with his bow. He had a much easier time aiming now, seeing as he was so much closer in vertical and horizontal distance.
After a brief amount of aiming, he let loose the arrow, and watched as it pierced the wvyern's webbing. It flew halfway through, and remained hanging there out the other end.

-
ooc:
@Blaster: I'd say more than one shot per post would be okay now.

@Everyone: There is now a couple of differences from the original second map (with everyone's positions).
Wells/Rekee is basically right in front of the Rathalos, and David is right behind Wells.

ooc: Well, hermitaurs are pink...

@DB: If it helps, I think powerpoint might be a better aid for showing those positions. You can make nice regular shapes and move them around freely for every position update.


~~~

Blocking the rathalos's bite made Three Wells's already sore arm even more sore. Seeing David land a successful hit provided some consolation.

Immediately following David's attack, without allowing the rathalos to step back too far, Three Wells burst into a charge. He would not stop until his lance breaches the rathalos's shell. His primary target would be the head, but if the rathalos turned, the belly would do as well.

ooc:
Everything's been cleared up, and Star's gonna be picking up where she left off (just has some catching up to do). :-)

@Rekee: I'll look into that. The primary issue though is, I'd rather not do turn by turn maps. :-P
Now you've got me thinking though... I'll look into it, see what happens.

Waiting for some others to post before progressing.

ooc: @Everyone: I apologize for any drama I caused, it was not my intention.

@Glyph: Thank you for your post and I think you have good people skills, and it is nice to meet you.

I will study what has happened and get back into the thick of things very soon.

Crya looks down and moves her arm and sees her torn armor and the blood now staining it, she is not happy, that Rathalos ruined her armor.

She looks around at the situation and spots her lance laying a bit away from her.

Before darting off after it, she checks out where the Rathalos is and sees the two hunters in front of it. She decides to take advantage of this hoping the creatures attention is on them and using the speed she has takes off going up and across.

As she is moving, she leans down and snags up her spear with hardly a break in stride and continues across until she ends up behind and beside Chizoray by the remaining wagon.

Catching her breath she says, "Hey there."

Having his weapons sheathed, Totoro attempted to sneak up close to the legs of the 'Los where he would then draw one of his swords and drive it into the semi-opened wound already there.

OOC: That map has made what was once obscure lucid, thank you.

Chirozay's skulking had yet to pay off, but he was confident that a windfall of blood would befall him soon. He nodded in response to Cyra's greeting, clapped twice, and took off running. He ran along the side of the building and his eyes never leaving the Rathalos, should it notice him and move to attack. He hoped to end up behind and to the left of the immense beast without being noticed, but would stay out of range of it's deadly tail all the same.

ooc:
@Sunfish: Just so you know, there's two wounds already in the Rathalos left leg (I almost forgot myself).
One is from Cyra, the other is from David. (Your slashs at the leg really didn't do anything.)

-

After Chizoray took off, Cyra was left with the wagon and the still alive Aptonoth attached to it. Each time it threw its body weight to get away, the wagon jerked a little, but not nearly enough to even remotely get away.

Like before, Wells and the Rathalos moved in on each other, which gave Wells very little momentum to strike with.
The tip of his lance dug into the Rathalos' shell slightly, but didn't breech.
For the better, it didn't get stuck, as when the Rathalos shifted his head away the lance slipped out.
Again like before, the Rathalos tried to grab Wells with his mouth by was held back by the thick shield.

Going through the whole motion again, David came in with another downward swing at the Rathalos' face.
Aware of the damage capapility of the sword, and the fact that it was coming, the Rathalos quickly drew its head back. David's sword fell to the ground with a large metallic ping.

Quickly countering, the Rathalos launched a fireball at the two hunters at point blank.
Instinctively, David got behind Wells and Wells got in front of David, shield raised to defend.
The mass of flaming and explosive substance hit hard, knocking Wells back a step and worsening the pain in his arm. Remainders of the substance clung to the nearby ground and the shield, still burning.

Totoro then jammed one of his swords into the large hack wound on the back of the Rathalos' left leg. In combination with what was already cut (namely the hide), plus its own concentrated power, the blade dug very deep.
By reflex, the left leg shifted backwards and nearly pushed over or crushed Totoro, who slipped away to the side just as he saw it coming.
The Felyne hunter hadn't the opportunity to remove his lodged sword when he dodged, and was now directly underfoot, at high risk of being stepped on and certain death.

Because of David and Wells' thorough job of keeping the Rathalos' attention, Chizoray slipped by completely unattended to, ending up where he desired.

-
ooc:
@Star: If you would have followed Chizoray, please say so and just go from there.

Rathalos is facing north.
Totoro is right underfoot.
Wells and David are right in front (Wells closest).
Chizoray is at the back left.
(Cyra is by the wagon, further ahead.)
Edo is to the left (on the hunter's lodging).

ooc:@DB: I would have followed Chizoray


Crya ,seeing the situation that Totoro was in, didn't think twice, she dropped her spear and took off at a full tilt run towards Totoro. Once she reaches him she grabs him and keeps running straight across and out the other side of the Rathalos, rolling if needed to evade any action from the tail.


ooc:@Sunfish: Sorry for any man handling.

"Nya!!!" Edo shouted quickly upon seeing Totoro at high risk of being squashed. He quickly set his bow aside, grabbed his gun, loading a crag, and will fire the crag next to Totoro ONLY IF Cyra doesn't make it.

ooc: Woah there Blaster. You trying to kill me? And as for DB, am I standing or what exactly is my condition.

Not willing to leave his sword behind, Totoro rolled around the leg to the best of his ability and grabbed onto the sword with the aim to pull it out.

ooc: I'm not trying to kill you! I'm trying to save you! The force from the blast should be enough to knock you out of the way.

OOC: Hopefully nothing goes wrong and sends the shot into Totoro or Cyra. Boom. Splat. Meat fountain.

Chirozay drew his weapon and went charging in, prepared to throw himself out of the way in case the monster's tail was swung in his direction. He planned on making a series of gashes along the left wing, still moving forward, and ending his running assault somewhere to the forward left of the creature.

ooc:
@Everyone: Just so you know, crag shots wouldn't be massively powerful. I'd say normal ones could probably blow off a human arm if used right, give or take, but not blow the person to smithereens.
I'd say with a Felyne crag, the human arm would still be attached, though still in horrendously bad condition.

@Blaster: Despite Totoro's smaller size, I wouldn't say the crag would toss him very far. As in, within a few feet.
However, it could injure him very easily, and badly.

@Sunfish: See the end of the post.

-

The tail randomly swatted the ground, though striking nowhere near Cyra or Chizoray. Regardless, it made the two flinch.

Totoro yanked his sword out of the leg, and right after was picked up by Cyra like a child.
Cyra continued ahead right between the Rathalos' legs, ducking to avoid being clothes-lined.

At the same time, Chizoray went about swinging at the Rathalos' (left) wing. Because the wing was so high, he had to reach and it was an awkward strike.
He only had enough running room for one swing, which tore a penetrating slit some several inches long.
After being wounded again, the wing raised out of reach.

When Chizoray and Cyra came running out from behind the Rathalos at different sides, the Rathalos essentially ignored each of them, possibly because it was occupied with David and Wells. He certainly noticed each of them though.

After they were a comfortable distance away, Cyra released Totoro.

-
ooc:
Rathalos is facing north.
Wells and David are directly in front.
Chizoray is front left, some distance away.
Cyra and Totoro are front right, some distance away.
Edo is off to the left, on the roof.

While blocking and being knocked back by the fireball, Three Wells pulled back his lance until it was horizontally beside his waist, and bent his legs at an angle, ready to spring into another charge.

As soon as the worst of the impact was over, which was about the time Cyra and Chirozay were running past the rathalos, he immediately charged forward, shield flaming, trampling the embers on the ground. With all his might, he spun his body clockwise and thrust the lance out and upwards at 45 degrees towards the rathalos's neck, like an uppercut.

He aimed for the base of the neck so that he would not be easily disappointed should the rathalos move its head.


~~~

ooc: Is Three Wells close enough to the rathalos to not be hit by the tail spike should the rathalos turn?

"Thanks, nya." Totoro said while sheathing his sword again, "I owe you one." He then took off back towards the 'Los, and leaped into the air as best as he could and grabbed onto the scales and attempted to pull himself up.

"No problem," Cyra calls to Totoro as he runs off.

"Time for a little payback," Cyra says to herself as she draws her dual swords.

Taking off at a full tilt run once again, hoping that the Rathalos' attention was still on the hunters in front of him, Cyra runs underneath him the same way she came out,(right to left at an angle) with both her dual swords upraised to slice into the soft underbelly.

She keeps running with the duals up and exits behind the left leg, diving and rolling if needed to avoid the tail. She will keep moving until she is clear.

Edo went back to his bow, and was satisfied that the Rathalos shouldn't be able to fly anymore. He noticed Cyra being crazy, and running under it, and thought 'And I knew I was crazy! Wow! I oughta learn how to be crazy from her!'.
He aimed at the Rathalos' head, knocked an arrow, then fired, quickly knocking another arrow, firing at the lower neck area, quickly knocking a third arrow, fired at the left leg once Cyra was out from underneath the Rathalos.

ooc:
@Everyone/Blaster: Currently there's only a few tears in the Rathalos' left wing. One from Edo's crag, one from Rekee's lance, and another from Chizoray. They're all, give or take, about a foot in length.
There's also the arrow sticking through, which is basically just a hole, give or take an inch.
Chances are, the Rathalos can still fly pretty well.
I would say, as you guys have been doing (intentionally or not), you just need to cripple one wing to prevent him from flying.

On a different note, I'm having another "college work is piling up" moment. If I don't post for a couple of days, that's why.
It shouldn't be as bad as last time.

@Rekee: Well, the thing is the Rathalos will probably aim his swing, as in adjust his distance accordingly so that you're hit by the end of the tail.
You'd have to be a significant distance away (not right in his face) to be out of his tail and stepping range.
I hope that's enough of an answer.
I recognize that in-game block and counter move.

-

As the Rathalos lowered his head, Well's lance accurately struck the underside of his neck, where only the monster's tough hide protected.
Like any creature would, the Rathalos recoiled backwards to protect its vitals, saving itself from much worse damage. Wells felt and saw at least a few inches of penetration, and blood was already coming out at a considerable rate.

Edo had to follow the head as it moved around, and once he felt he could successful hit it, he released his arrow.
The arrow stuck into the shell on the side of the Rathalos' head, showing some promise for penetration.

After his running jump, Totoro clung onto the upper right leg of the Rathalos. He wasn't able to use his claws to grip into the hard shell, and his chances of scaling the monster were not looking good.

With her running double slash attack, Cyra put two humble cuts in the Rathalos' underside. They got through his hide, but didn't feel like they got a whole lot deeper.

Thoroughly enraged at this point, the Rathalos whipped its tail across at where it predicted Cyra to be.
Having foreseen this, Cyra slammed to a halt and ducked when the tail swung above, nearly taking the shaft to her head.
The tail swung back the other way, which Cyra avoided by simply staying where she was; almost directly underneath the Rathalos.

When the Rathalos raised its foot to stomp on Cyra, she burst out and away. The tail swung once more, but by jumping into a dive, it passed underneath her.
The only pain endured was that from her stomach wound, which was aggravated by her landing.

The underside of the neck was a tight shot for Edo, but regardless he took it once he was as comfortable as possible.
Unfortunately, the arrow ended up going too low, flying past and pegging itself into a building.

Carrying on, he fired his next arrow at the left leg of the large wyvern, which was a more stationary and easy target.
This arrow connected, and went in deeper than it did the shell.

After stomping on the ground in an attempt to crush Cyra, the Rathalos showed some weakness in his left leg.

-
ooc:
Rathalos is facing north, just a little back from where he was before.
Wells and David are basically right in front.
Cyra is to the back left.
Chizoray is to the front left.
Totoro is on the upper right leg.
Edo is to the left, on the building.