Ghost of a Chance [Q]

Just a bit more… one or two more trees and he’d be in coyote territory, but he needed to get a bit higher. Just a bit, there was a thicket of redwoods up ahead. It wasn’t exactly hard to distinguish them due to their height and they were you know red… even though the bark was darkened by the falling snow and likely half frozen from below. That and well they were freaking huge all around with a crown of branches near the top. They were one of the few that coyotes couldn’t climb… actually he couldn’t climb one normally himself and that was saying something due to the fact that heavy branches were at the very top of the tree. You’d need like foot spike and heavy duty roped to climb one effectively… really hard foot spikes and it wasn’t like he could get his hands on them because well, he was still considered to be a kid. One would logically think since he was allowed to use a scythe and a pitchfork that adults would realize that he was perfectly capable of handling sharp objects without hurting himself. That apparently wasn’t the case, and he was pretty sure his age wasn’t the issue either…. Not like he had tried to get them or anything, because that would look really odd and there weren’t too many forests around. A few trees yes, but it wasn’t old like this forest. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that adults wouldn’t put two and two together… if they already hadn’t… which they might have. Now, he usually had to take a less direct path to get to the grove of redwoods, but, he didn’t want to risk getting caught. Pine tree limbs at this height were a bit iffy, too much weight and the branch would most certainly snap with since they were covered by icicle needles that kept getting longer as the forest remained mostly undisturbed. It was almost a dilemma.

Almost.
There were advantages to being only… what seventy pounds at the most?
Guess he should be happy for once about his petite form… yeah no.

Simply put, he took the straight path, making sure that his legs were spread far apart as well as his arms as he pulled himself up a rung on an old pine. Maybe not the best idea, he could feel the branch tremble under his weight…. For a moment he almost was afraid that he would fall. For a single second, nothing more. Even if he did fall, he’d be able to catch himself. Probably. He’d didn’t like to think about the other possibility, but he was now on an adrenaline high, he never had pushed himself like this. Not that he really had to more like he had made a reason to and it was enjoyable. He didn’t even bother to look back, not now, it would break his concentration. Yeah, this route well it slowed him down greatly as he had to test each branch before placing the whole of his weight on it, but, it was preferable than smashing his face onto the ground. Just take a deep breath… a deep breath, nothing any different than he had done before, he was just too excited. Except, it was like the cold winter wind was taking away his breath. The clouds of breath diminished, until he couldn’t see them and for a second he felt like he couldn’t breathe at all. Now, was no time to panic… he had already won, even if those butts behind him didn’t realize it, just had to breathe and swing himself onto the next pine. It would help if he could breathe though. A chill ran down his spine as seemingly nothing touched his shoulder. Considering he was in the middle of balancing and testing the second tree, he dropped. His legs instinctively wrapping around the middle of the branch as he felt it bend and creak under the full distribution of his weight.

It was bent too far and the frozen branch broke shortly after he had managed to scramble to the next tree. No problem. He made it. That was all that mattered. Mean he could have been on that branch, but that wasn’t the case… now he just had to make his way around this pine and he’d be at the lower rungs of the redwood. No problem. He was shaking just because it was cold. Unbeknownst to the youth, this crash startled the wildlife, not that they weren’t already startled by the sheer amount of noise coming from the crew of folks yelling near the edge of their territory. Now once upon a time the coyotes in these woods didn’t know what humans were, once upon a time they weren’t aggressive, more so curious things. Except now they know what humans are and are more than willing to defend their home and they were rarely alone. They weren’t the largest predators, but the still have fangs and teeth. From the branch of the relatively young redwood tree he finally had managed to reach, Vertti could see one lone coyote rushing out to meet… one spot. Wait… a second where was the other spot? From his vantage point, and now that he could adequately breathe he thought he saw some movement in the trees. Except there was something that Vertti despite his position could not see, that there were two other coyotes that had auto canceled their attempts to attack him and were slinking off through the myriad of trees towards the part of player characters…. He winced, knowing that likely that sole coyote was going to die, blissfully unaware that there were others looking for a fight, saddened by the knowledge that it might be in part his fault.

Not that he wasn’t a hundred percent sure that they were there for him anyway!

But still, he did led these people here, and he gripped the branch tightly without even realizing it as he took deep breaths to still his adrenaline crazed heart.

Coyote 1 (25 HP/25 HP) -> Approaching King
Coyote 2 (25 HP/25 HP) ->Target undecided
Coyote 3 (25 HP/25 HP) -> Target undecided

KING CROCTUS PENDULUM
★ WRRRRRRRRY, ANYWAY LET ME KNOW IF THIS IS TOO MUCH

God damn kids ruining every god damn thing and getting themselves in god damn trouble. They had to wait until she was far enough off the ground for her to be unsafe just jumping down to the floor to tell her to get out of the tree. Who in the hell let the kid lead this expedition anyways? God, if she was in charge, everything would probably go ten times smoother than anything else. She was a better gamer, even if based simply on years playing. She bet that if she added these two's gaming experience together, she'd have been playing longer. Oh well, it was too late now to complain. She should have done it earlier if she wanted something to change.

Croctus began descending the tree only now to look over at King and see why he was making all these annoying shouting noises while they were stalking their prey: he himself was being stalked, or rather chased blatantly. He shouted something about getting the legs and immobilizing this coyote that was targeting him specifically. "Won't work, Kingsly," Croctus shouted across the way as she descended. "This is an MMO, and despite it being virtual reality, I don't believe we have the ability to create crippling wounds without a special ability. If you've looked into any amount of MMORPG's, you'd know that only certain special characteristics can make you have an alternate effect. You could poke the damn things in the eyes with a stick or a sword, and it's not any more likely to go blind." Her foot hit the snowy ground and she bolted to get to King's side.

She stumbled in the snow. Of course, they did have to program some sort of environmental based friction alterations. That was going to slow her down though. She wasn't going to make it there in time to save King from the beast, or at least before he'd get a nice bite on his arm. "Punch in the legs, punch in the face, same difference in these games. I haven't figured out crits yet, but likely it'd be a reservation for a boss weak point type thing." The kid probably didn't care, but she thought she might as well chip in her two cents. Finally arriving next to the coyote and King, she bulldozed in with a hefty shoulder bash, hopefully to get the attention away from King and onto her.

Unfortunately, she didn't know how many other coyotes could be out there. What she did know is that coyotes were cowardly bastards, so they don't attack often. It was unlikely that the devs missed that when going through everything to make it like reality. That meant that there were more here to make them worth fighting. She'd have to be on her toes.

---

Coyote 1 (25 HP/25 HP) -> King Attacks, 5 damage
| Croctus Attacks, 5 damage
Coyote 2 (25 HP/25 HP) ->Target undecided

Coyote 3 (25 HP/25 HP) -> Target undecided

PENDULUM SISUHAASTAJA.OBJ KING
★ FAILBOATS ASSEMBLE

The first coyote pulled back its lips and leaped at the albino youth all while baring its fangs, snarling. While the blow by the albino did land,it was not sufficient to prevent the attack. Yet, before it could land a blow, it was knocked to the ground with a hefty shoulder bash. An interrupt action so to speak. It let out a yelp and shook itself out of its temporary stupor snarling more as it began to circle around the pair… almost as if it was reevaluating its plan of attack. The coyote’s ear twitch as the other two arrived. It feinted to the right towards the albino male, only to back away and break away entirely from the albino male and rushed at the female that had should bashed the animal. Since the male had done no damage to it, the first coyote’s targeting priority changed to the female user. However, the coded animal was not alone in its endeavor as the two other slinking coyotes that had followed it, broke into a sprint dashing behind the both of them. All of their fangs were bared as the one of them attempt to hamstring her while the first coyote snarled at them both, pacing feinting left and right as if taunting the two players. The second arrival, had not been close enough to become aggressive towards the female player character and instead targeted the greatest source of the noise. The albino. A trickle of blood dotted the snow as a tooth or two had been dislodged by the previous blow as the coyote opened and closed its jaw. The next command was already queried up in the first coyote’s protocol. Go for the throat once target is sufficiently hindered. The brownish eyes lingered almost exclusively on its current target, and almost as if in sync it rushed forward at the female player character leaping at her as the other coyote rushed for her leg.

The third went for the albino, similarly, its eyes focused solely on him. Without much warning it opened its jaw to grapple the youth’s leg.

Coyote 1 (15/25 HP) -> Attacks Croctus 15 Damage (4!)
Coyote 2 (25/25 HP) -> Attacks Croctus 15 Damage (4!)
Coyote 3 (25/25 HP) -> Attacks KING! 15 Damage (4!)

---

… He watched as the coyote was tossed onto the ground, his face twitching in sympathy as the intruders seemingly were going to pummel it to death with their bare hands. Ugh, he wanted to do something… that was wrong and sick on so many levels, to beat a living animal to death. At the very least put it out of its misery. Though, well things changed, by quite a bit. He pulled his gloves back on and shoved them close to their body to get a bit of warmth back into them… mean he lost feeling in them quite a while ago, but it was to the point now that he could barely clench his fingers and his nails had gone beyond purple, but had turned a translucent blue. While he felt bad for the coyote, his sympathy had been… lessened, when he noticed that part of a pack had been slinking through the snow towards the intruders. The point was… yeah he had led them to this point, but that didn’t mean he wanted… well he didn’t want anyone or really anything dying on his account. The point was that they should have never come this close to begin with and they knew the dangers when they entered this forest, so why didn’t they heed them? He knew how aggressive the coyotes had become and watched mutely both physically so and mentally so as the two figures he saw before had become surrounded. As much as he wanted to say that it was these strangers or intruders or whatever’s fault for finding themselves in a now dire situation, he also had a part in it. To a degree, possibly, mean they could have still been hunting for coyotes, but, it just seemed unlikely now. The problem was that there really wasn’t much he could do.

Directly that is. His mind began working, because while yes, it was their own fault, their own responsibility for entering such a dangerous place, he just wanted to be left alone.

Unknowingly, he bit the inside of his cheek rather painfully so. From this height he could do nothing, but if he was lower then…. That would mean they would find him though, but could the two of them take on three coyotes and more? Three was a small number, he’d seen as many as six roaming around at once and they were still so close to the border. It only barely register to him that there were branches snapping around him, that there might be something other at work. He wanted nothing to do with this mess, but also deep down he knew that there was a seed of guilt that had been planted and that it would grow if he just watched. Even if he tried though, he wasn’t sure if what he had thought up would go as planned. The thrill of this almost childish game died in him and, and… for what? Vertti pulled himself up and balanced on the sturdy branch, but he blinked, realizing something. Why there was a third person… and he was nearly at his height! What the? Hadn’t everything been made clear that he wanted to be left alone, that clearly he could take care of himself? That meant… that meant, that this was his fault! Deos, what morons! Save them from their stupidity. He gritted his teeth as he spread his weight out evenly, glaring at the new person. This stranger that he didn’t recognize from the village. Why? Why were you here? This might be his fault, but, why? There were words, but he was too far away to read the other’s lips and almost immediately he narrowed his eyes.

No, he was not responsible for this!
But even he was going to try to help correct this mistake. Moronic, simplistic, foolish idiots!

He held the side of his head as he stooped a bit lower gritting his teeth at the newcomer. Wasn’t much else he could do, since he didn’t bring his book with him to a forest that never ceased to snow. Yes, trashing his only method of acceptable communication was really a smart idea… not! That and it wasn’t like he was expecting people. Turn around and help the other morons… help me, help them. All these things he itched to write, but could not and the frustration and anger at himself built. He could see what was happening, but the older boy was ignoring them. He wasn’t sure what was worse, that he had led them here or that the other was bent on getting to safety while the rest of the morons were besieged by coyotes and possibly more were on their way. There was only one way to express his displeasure, his frustration and the innate command to stop. Between his fingertips, he compacted snow off the top of the leaves and pack a few frozen leaves in for good measure and threw it at the older boy, his breath visible. With that he pointed below all while glaring at the other, frustrated at both himself and this intruder into his sanctuary. The other could speak, he couldn’t. And for that which he had thought up to work, he needed someone with a voice. Then maybe they would smarten up and leave him well enough alone! Back off! But first, he needed to get down a level and he wasn’t about to fight for a branch at this height. Hopefully the face ful of snow and ice would make the other reconsider, even if he missed his mark. It was a very well written message all things considering.

SISUHAASTAJA.OBJ -> Attacks Pendulum (Snow/iceball)

KING CROCTUS PENDULUM
★ FAILBOATS ASSEMBLE