[Open] Week --: Gavelock's Hunt: Cragstone Mines

[K3]

GAVELOCK'S HUNT

Cragstone Mines​

The soft pitter-patter of groundwater echoed far in the now-silent caverns of Cragstone Mine. Smooth stone crawled up and overhead in the open cavern of the staging area. Simple tape had been put up on certain tunnels, where beasts were being barred by Impraevitas guards. The soft rays of daylight had faded from sight, leaving only an otherworldly blue glow to surround the cave. So much magic, so much material had been moved through it... one could only imagine the residue that had been left to sit.

Contestants milled about at the ready, awaiting the signal to begin. In the depths, a rumble could be gleaned to reverberate against walls. The hunt was nearing, and the quarry was growing impatient.

Straight ahead, the large mouth of the mine's main tunnel led towards the central station of the entire cave system. Glittering crystals leered in bronze and silver hues, the occasional glint of gold amidst them. A shell of terra regia lateris, protecting the liquid mineral within. Light spilled lazily through them from thin rays that led to the surface, a small comfort.

With a shrill whine, the public announcement system came alive. A synthetic voice droned steadily, "Attention hunters. The mines are now considered an active area. Good hunting, and remember: 'he whosoever slays the beast, shall take care not to see himself one'."

A pair of guards nodded to each other at the far end of the cavern, and stepped aside from where they were, and Gavelock's Hunt began..!

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[Regulus]

Having been waiting for several hours the wiry combatant rushed his way frantically inside of the mouth of the cave eagerly anticipating that he would come across a beast to do battle with. Almost in an excited frenzy he ran his fist into cave walls while he made his way deeper in with little regard about the dangers that lied in wait. His urge to fight grew with each passing second as Sethos Mortis began to grow impatient even though the hunt had only started seconds prior. He could care less about the rewards for right now. All he really wanted was to test his strength against strong opponents and this seemed like the best way to do so.

"Come out come out wherever you are, I'll mow you down whatever you are, and whether if you be near or afar, I'll bleed you dry and add battle scars!" he sung out loud for entertainments sake as he found another pathway off to his right. "And where might this lead I wonder?" the mixed breed inquired rhetorically before running straight into it hoping to engage something soon.

[187/187]

 

[Dysney]

A low, gravelly growl drew Sethos' attention to a pair of eerie, glowing, pale pink eyes. The bright light shone from empty sockets in a skull not unlike that of a laicar's except more box-ish and squat in nature. The skull's teeth were bared in a constant, grim snarl, having no lips or maw to cover them.

The cave spirit was unusually aggressive. Having been dragged from her home, unable to bring her young with her, she was very angry. The presence of so many other beasts, sprites, and spirits of other species as well as people added to the cave spirit's uneasiness. The stalactite eater had no patience for the spurii; she only wanted to escape the mines and return home.

The stalactite-eater growled again, its bony tail raising behind it threateningly. She was low to the ground, on all fours, and had a back covered in a rocky shell with a visible spine down the center. She began to drag herself towards Sethos with two, clammy, grey arms with laicar-esque hands, her equally gruesome legs dragging behind her.

A garbled hiss escaped the creature's mouth. "Leave...."

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What up. Playing the thing that attacks Resh's character. Made it up.

 

[Regulus]

"Leave you say?" Sethos asked the spirit as if confused by its request. His view was slightly obstructed by the shadows that half hid the cave spirit but from what he could tell it seemed rather fearsome. "Sounds like a fair request. However I'm afraid that I can't simply leave without doing what I came here to do so if you want me to leave you're just gonna have to make me leave," he challenged the monstrosity. Immediately the hybrid took an open stance with a leg slightly off the ground and hands raised high with open hands as his claws were reared.

And without further exchange of words the battle began with the battle starved brawler dashing forward towards the beast low to the ground as he shifted from left to right without any form of specific rhythm. Then planting his foot he pivoted and leaped sideways kicking his foot off of the cave wall using it for leverage to gain more momentum as he used that same foot to attempt to break the skull of that creature in one swift motion. If the beast was as ferocious a fighter as it was a looker then this would promise to be a great life and death struggle.

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[Dysney]

The pink lights flashed back and forth in time with Sethos' movements and when his foot struck out, it hit the creature's hard, rocky back. With a grunt, the stalactite-eater lunged forward under the spurii's leg and twisted its skull to bite his thigh.

Somewhat sharp albeit flat teeth gripped Sethos' leg and the eager fighter could feel the cave spirit's hot breath and slightly acidic saliva through the fabric of his pants.

"Go..." the spirit hissed in muffled tones around the flesh in her mouth.

She shook her head sharply, yanking Sethos off balance and slamming him onto the ground. Another threatening growl escaped the creature's throat and she tensed, ready to respond to another advance.

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[Regulus]

Sethos came down to the ground hard, however this was not his first go around with fearsome adversaries. The monster had bitten into his leg pretty good and it showed when a stream of blood came from the bite mark leftover from the beast's counter attack. On top of that he may have sprained the top of his foot from slamming so hard into the creature's shield like back. He shook his head clear and spun up to his feet leaping on one leg until he was a good five meters back. He was already enjoying this....

"Well what do you know," he said spitting out some blood from his mouth with a form of glee. "It looks like you're pretty determined to see me out. Unfortunately its gonna take more than just a busted up leg to stop me," he spoke almost joyously changing the direction of his stance which would place his injured leg raised up front in his previous stance. Perhaps he was a bit careless with his initial strike but he would make sure to be more wary the next time. He raised his hand and gestured for the beast to come forward and continue the brawl.

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[Dysney]

The stalactite-eater stalked toward Sethos warily, or rather she dragged herself forth, her tail waving behind her. Quietly, except for the soft scrape of her legs dragging against the ground, she advanced. The eerie pink orbs in her skull observed Sethos' stance, vaguely registering possible angles of attack.

The way the cave spirit moved was uneven and lurching as she reached one gray, clammy hand in front of the other to drag her body toward Sethos. The stalactite-eater tensed, coiled, and waited for an eternity within a millisecond before launching herself at the spurii's legs with her powerful arms, feet dragging behind her.

In the dim light of the mines, it appeared to Sethos as if a pale skull with gleaming eyes was swiftly approaching his shins. The grim skull's jaw opened to reveal equally eerie teeth. They were in rows of flat, serrated molars interrupted by a pair of wicked looking incisors.

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[Regulus]

The creature lunged forward to initiate its own attack, methodical in its nature, and as vicious as could be. This was the perfect moment to catch it off guard. Sethos' muscles tensed fiercely before he jumped straight up with his good leg, timing the beast's charge, and causing it to fall face first into the ground before bringing his heel up to deliver a powerful stomp to the back of the cave spirit's grounded skull. Immediately afterward he propelled his body forward into a roll to put some distance between himself and his opponent before turning to face it again.

With the change in position the stalactite-eater was now in better light with Sethos himself shrouded in the previous darkness of the deeper end of the lesser cave mouth. While it wouldn't make much difference if the beast could see him in the dark - since it was of course a spirit who lived here after all - at the very least Sethos could now see it in the light. Gazing upon it he didn't really know what to make of it other then the fact that it had something of an exoskeleton similar to a suit armor.

"Well what do we have here?" he asked himself. "Come on spirit is that the best you can do?" he taunted the semi-primal being.

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[Dysney]

She grunted under the force of Sethos' foot on her head. Growling, the cave spirit turned quickly to face her opponent and tensed again. Her bright pink eyes sought out the halfbreed with ease; the darkness was of little consequence to the stalactite-eater. She lived, fought, and bled in the shadows.

Still, her most prominent features were her white, skinless, lip-less face and bared teeth. And her eyes, the gleaming orbs seeming to pulse menacingly in the low lighting.

"Halfbreed... you... die... today..." the cave spirit swore angrily.

Slowly, the grotesque spirit dragged herself forth. Thin threads of light from above highlighted parts of her rocky back and bony, uncovered spine. They subtly revealed the equally bony tail that curved back and forth in the air behind her. A low, gravelly hiss emanated from the cave spirit, signaling her ill intent.

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[Regulus]

His taunting had managed to coax the unnerved being into an offensive position which benefited Sethos greatly since the heavily armored beast would leave itself unable to hide behind its tough exoskeleton. Even more so their last clash had left a multitude of fractured sharp fragments lying around under the monstrosity that was the stalactite-eater in front of him. All he needed to do was to manage to move the beast from it so he could grasp one of those shards and use it as a weapon. Only issue with that was that he could no longer feel his left leg and that hurt his mobility.

The hybrid placed himself into a three point stance with his numb leg over his back in a position similar to an angered scorpion. It wasn't his favorite position but so long as he remained this way he would have a way to remain able to move. Considering the speed difference even when he was injured it didn't seem that big of a deal to him but he needed to remain vigil because if he made one mistake it could result in him getting killed.

"We'll see about that," Sethos spouted back while his eyes followed the movements of the stalactite-eater's tail.

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[Dysney]

Once the cave-spirit neared Sethos, she coiled and launched herself at his waist. Her mouth was open, making it clear that her teeth were intentionally bared rather than only appearing so due to her lack of lips. Her clammy grey arms reached for him and her tail whipped itself back and forth behind her.

At the last moment, she twisted midair somewhat awkwardly and planted her hands on the ground and turned. She aimed two kicks at Sethos, one at his ankle and another at his knee, while her bony tail lashed out at the halfbreed's face.

The spirit hissed, her head turned so her eerie pink orbs could glare up at Sethos.

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