Black and Blue (Closed - Hunt)

Cayn had to wonder why he never grew tired of the blue tinge of the forest. Certainly it was not the fact that he was out here miles away from the nearest settlement. That actually made him more nervous than he would likely ever would be, no nearby workshop that he could commandeer if anything broke. No comfort of the crowd if anything went awry. However his job was that of a Huntsman. If he could not swallow these feelings down and take care of what he was tasked with doing, then why was he out here in the first place with his sword at his side.

There was not really any hurry to this mission, no Grimm had actually been seen attacking anyone and escaping. Nor was there a large gathering of them on the records in this area now. It was just a simple culling mission, kill anything that they came across as a preventative measure. Cayn started to feel lethargic as he walked alone in the forest. Roaming in a small area until the rest of the group that had been tasked to help arrived. His eyes and tail hung low as the monotonous movements took their toll.

Step after step he moved in rhythm, at least until the Faunus's toe caught hold of a branch that he could have sworn was not there before. Blue tinged leaves broke his fall better than his arms did, and Cayn merely laid there on the ground with his face in the dirt. There was a worry that the silver- blue tinge of his hair and ears would prevent him from being signaled to when the rest of the group gathered. But that only lasted a fraction. Still, laying here with his ankle twisted in an odd way was uncomfortable, so reluctantly he up-righted himself. If only to take a seat at the based of the culprit who had dared to grow its root in his path. Hopefully nobody took too long, otherwise he may just fall asleep.

Gallahad walked long strides as he made his way to the rendezvous point. According to the message and the quick briefing over the scroll, it was a simple cull. that made him feel better about the risk to the others. He mentally recapped as best he could want Mr. Griffin had told him while gearing up, 

" Mr. Cayn Fortuna, a mechanic and decent fighter from what I'm told. Miss Amarante Sakura, a shrine maiden for all purposes even though she jaunt had any religious study that I all aware of."
"And the third person?"
"Apologies milord,  I'm afraid I don't remember."

He looked at the girl sitting on his shoulder, "we have almost arrived Miss Sakura. Keep an eye out for the others." He looked around and failed to see the faunus man sitting by the tree.

Amarante sat on the giant lizard's shoulder, "how bad have the grimm gotten here? it cant be serious if they sent us this far from civilization." She hoped it wouldn't be too bad, her fighting skills were basically nonexistent and the fact that she was using someone as a transport only made her feel worse, "did we pack everything?  dust,  weapons, armor, food and drink for three days...why do I feel like I forgot something?" She opened her scroll and reread everything, "basic culling....class C grimm....no nearby villages. She looked about again as she put her scroll away, "I think I see Cayn. Hello!" She climbed down and walked to the man sitting against a tree. for once, she was wearing practical clothes instead of her typical kimono, "it's nice to finally meet you in person Cayn."

Three Creeps were slowly stalking their way through Finnek, heads dwaying like pendulums in rhythem with one another. The lead beast had heard a loud thud as well as the sounds of hunters. There was a disturbance within their teritory disturbances had to be dealt with swiftly. As such, they decided to split up. That way they would cover the most ground and hopefully dicover and dispatch the targets quickly.

The center beast fell back, the one on the left delved deeper west into the forrst. The third continued forward, head swaying like a pendulum axe blade. It wasn't long before it discovered the targets, three fleshy humans. Ripe for the picking.

Without hesitation the beast let out a powerful raw, almost instantly it's brothers came rushing in behind it. They formed into a V type formation, all three hunters in their sight.

For Creeps these three were quite large, around a meter and three quarters tall. Lizard like heads oozed saliva. They watched the intruders, if they were smart the hunters would run away neve returning to the creeps teritory for fearr of death.

Cayn braced a hand on the tree trunk as he lifted himself up from where he was seated. So these were the two who had shown up. The other two Faunus were a sight to behold upon arrival, one sitting upon the shoulder of another much more massive. To the girl who spoke to him, Cayn nodded lightly. "Likewise." He answered solely, not wanting to speak more than he had to. But a thought occurred that needed to be voiced. "Wasn't there another comin'?" The tinkerer posed, having thought he remembered the notices right. Still, the dog tailed Faunus was a sliver happier with that realization. One less person he had to deal with on this hunt.

Whatever answer he had wanted to receive from one of the two there, it would amount to not if their fourth member did not arrive in great haste. Cayn's hand flew to his hip, undoing the latch and drawing his sword at the sound of the roar. In his pacing he had lost sense of what they were about to do do, the creature's bellowing had brought that reality back to the forefront of his mind. At the very sight of the three Grimm, the weapon smith skirted backwards a couple steps, sliding to keep his dominant arm forward and the steel of his sword in between his flesh and the saliva dripping teeth of the Creeps. "I-i, ain't sure this was the best way to spend my day." Cayn stuttered, trying to throw in a joking laugh. But that laugh never left his throat as the airway constricted itself and forced him to swallow in fear.

It was at times like these that Cayn wished he had learned how to use a gun over his sword. To keep to the back lines and avoid most of the fighting would have been decent. His mind fluttered around different ideas, but in a moment most of it went blank. He was left with two choices, the most basic of them all. Fight. Or Flight. If this was the same Cayn that had lived before he joined Syne, then fleeing would have been his primary reaction. But over the year and so of training and conditioning, the fight reaction won out. Muscles filled with adrenaline, the tinkerer steeled his nerves and charged the foremost Grimm. He made not a shout nor scream nor battle cry as he sprinted towards the opponent, his single edged sword tucked into his side.

Cayn's first attempt to strike the front Creep was aimed at the it's neck, the motion of his arm going from left to right in a backhand swipe. Another followed as he pivoted in place, spinning to try and land another strike in the same spot. Maybe his mind was not right, fueled as it was by his fear, which had now started to turn into anger. Rather than backpedal or put up a barrier between him in and the creatures, Cayn slashed upwards heavily with a loud exhaling of breath at the Creep's jaw. Not once in the seconds that spanned this attack did he think of the other two who were there, locked in his single desire to remove the threat.

Gallahad was about to greet Cayn when he heard the roar. Drawing Divine Wrath, he spun and planted himself between Ms. Sakura and the Grimm. He extende the haft to full length and shifted his stance to a defensive style. He kept his eye on the rear creeps as Cayn struck at the leader. Gallahad stepped carefully, "keep behind me Ms. Sakura." working his way towards Cayn, he hoped to get them in a formation that would allow him to stagger the grimm and allow Cayn to strike finishing blows without leaving the girl vulnerable. When he got close enough, he jumped forward, leading with his targe and then stepped back and swung with all his might at the lead creeper.

Shield bash-25
Regular attack-35

Amarante tripped over herself when the lead creeper roared. She was grateful that Gallahad was there in front of her keeping the monster at bay. First things first, not sit there exposed like a fool. She got up and stayed behind the massive faunus as he moved next to Cayn. Once she was behind both of them, she cast a shielding glyph over both of them. Their auras glowed with the increased defensive power imbued into them, "Creepers, bipedal, fast, unstable. If you can keep them off balance this should be a short fight." at least in theory, the thought crossed her mind but not out of her mouth.

Shielding glyph: +2 def for all -30 ap

The flinch and stutter in the fluffy boy's eyes drew grave attention from the beasts. For, as creatures of grimm, they were attracted to the negative emotions in people's hearts and even the slightest disturbance in one's mental state. While they would once have simply intimidated they now planned to kill. Now fixated on the group, under the impression that they were on the ropes, the beasts were fully aware of the scaled one approaching them.

The lead Creep leapt backward as Paragon leapt forward, inverting their V shape formantion. As he did the two on either side rushed the man; the left with a powerful headbut to his side while the right lurched forward with it's jaws wide to bite his left arm.

These beasts were bipedal, and armless at that. All of their movement was done through their legs, and so they were extremely spry on them. It would take planning or countering, not blindly rushing forward to defeat them!

The final grimm rushed passed the man, heading straight for the heart of fear in the group. The furry faunus male who had shown the fear. With little hesitation the beast jumped, aimed to kick off his chest with it's powerful legs and pin him.

Cayn staggered as his three strikes cut through nothing but air. He quickly came to a stop after the last spin of his assault, certain that he would have dealt a fierce blow to the Creep. He had to scramble back as two of the Grimm attacked, but it was not until he had already back peddled that he saw that he was not their target. At least not the aim of those two anyways.

The blue haired dog Faunus nearly cursed in surprise as the third of the Creeps leaped in an attempt to attack him. Still he clenched his teeth, not willing to give the loathsome creature the pleasure of his words. With a quick wave, Cayn's blue aura surged forth, creating a large bowl shaped barrier between him and his attacker. With any hope the creature would be offset by the abnormal shape of the shield, throwing it off balance.

Testing this by instinct, the weapon smith let the wall vanish after impact. He would follow with two quick strikes of from his Falchion on the nearest fleshy portion of the lead Creep that he could reach as it fell.

Aura :115/130
Two attacks attempted, 35 damage each

By the grace of whatever gods there were. Gallahad just so happened to step back as the creeps tried to attack him. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Cayn managed to deflect damage from himself by the leaping grimm. At least the knight wouldn't need to worry too much about his allies. He swiftly took advantage of the move by creep number three and stabbed hard at it from the side. This was followed by a wide slash that would either force the grimm to back off a moment or slice any and all of them. After the slash, Gallahad reset to a defensive stance, making sure the girl was well protected.

Stabby stab stab- 35
Slice and dice- 35

Amarante stifled a gasp when Cayn was attacked. As much as she hated to admit it, coming along may have put the whole hunt in danger. She debated a moment whether to heal him. The wound didn't seem that bad, so she simply waited. The grimm were much smarter than she had expected, but there had to be a weakness to them. Amarante mentally reviewed what she knew: Gallahad was a tank and had the reach to keep the creepers at bay. Cayn was the fastest of the three. "Cayn, come over here with me. When they attack Gallahad move to counter. Unbalance or immobilize them with your semblance if you have to. Gallahad, if they all come at once you need to torch them." She wanted to make her aura last and if she didn't have to shield all three of them it would help her last much longer. She dropped the shield on herself and waited

aura recovery: +5

shield glyph: +2 def on Cayn and Gallahad -20 ap

210 ap

Feet smashing hard against the boy's projected shield, the beast was uncertain as to what had happened but with the might of it's great legs is successfully bounced off the bizarre phenomena. As a result, the beast flying through the air at a decent speed, only the first of the boy's slashes would collide; almost removing the end segment of the beast's tail. With a high pitched squeal the beast landed, just in time for the faunus girl to start talking to her companions.

Noticing how she'd kept to the back, the beast paused for a second, eyeing the two before rushing forward. Targeting a weak link, the beast took a few further steps backward. Making it's way not toward the hunters, but an alternate method of attack. Feeling the very item it desired meet the edge of it's cut tail prompted a squeak, despite the pain the beast knew it had to be quick. For you see, the beast knew it's territory well; and behind it sat a rock of a reasonable size. In terms understandable to the huntsmen it would be around the size of a typical microwave oven. Digging it's tail in deep beneath it, the beast launched the rock over it's head before leaping into the air; applying a heavy headbutt the the boulder. It rocketed toward the girl's position with intent to crush her, or whoever defended her.

The other two beasts were in quite a pickle. The boy; having stepped back to avoid their two pronged attack. You see, the man's anticipated movements had not accounted for the creeps continuing to work in tandem. As the sword pierced one beast's black flesh the second lunged forward before he could pull the sword free. The Creep reared it's white domed head, leaping upward to provide a head based uppercut to the faunus' chin.

Paragon:

Cayn's arm shook slightly as his falchion cut through the black flesh of the Grimm's tail. With a sense of satisfaction he kept his eyes trained on the bipedial creature as it landed. So intense was his focus upon that singular target that he did not see the situation that the lizard Faunus seemed to be in. Yet even in his focus he heard the commands of Amarante. There seemed to be nothing wrong with what she was saying, not that he would be able to stop and analyze everything in the midst of the battle fever that he fell in.

The blue haired Faunus turned to dart back towards the lass in preparation to counter as she insisted, but instead the maneuver turned more into one to cover from the Creep that had her in its focus. Cayn dashed and leaped to intercept, another wave of his hand put up a momentary barricade of blue tinted glass directly in the face of the Grimm he cut up before. His lunge was chaotic, but rather than trying to tackle, he instead aimed to leap over the mark, spinning to cut once upon its back.

Rather than attack again when Cayn landed, he twisted and ran as quick as he could to place himself directly in between Amarante and any attackers, unsure if he could make it before the Grimm.

Amarante panicked a moment before stepping further into the protection of the two men. She saw the creep leaping at her and waved her fans outward, flames launching from them. She took a shaky breath as she found Cayn between her and the grimm, when did...? she shook her head, no time for that. Gallahad seemed to be having difficulty but she couldn't turn as long as they had the creature at their back. The creepers were working as a unit. The idea had surprised her but it made sense all of a sudden. With two of them keeping their tank busy, the third could wear down the weak ones and finish them off before the lizard knight could help them. That would ordinarily work if we didn't have the team we do. She had no illusions about her fighting skill, and her medical knowledge was primarily theoretical, but her healing glyph more than compensated for her lack of skill. She and Cayn could wear down the lone grimm and then use their own tactics against them. She held her fans defensively and focused on the task at hand, "Cayn, let's take this one down fast and help Gallahad." The plan was forming in her mind and all she needed was another minute or so to be certain.

All three Grimm realized it simultaneously, the pair that were combating the lizard faunus first. As the headbutt landed the second Creep managed to wriggle free of his sword; a wide gash in it's side it hobbled as far backward as it could. The second soon followed, chirping loudly to the third.

That third Creep, who had been functioning alone, chirped back; having noticed. It's attack blocked before it a slash met it's back, but before it could turn back to fight the man the girl launched a wave of strange flames. Providing cover fire for the boy to run and get between it and the girl. Easily avoiding the girl's telegraphed flames, leading to the left, it regrouped with it's allies. The strange aura which had encompassed the group was not currently. The girl at the back, perhaps due to the surprise, had failed to cast her semblance on the party.

With no time for hesitation the three split up, the beast which had been initially attacking the pair headed straight for the boy; rushing along the ground with it's head lowered. A powerful headbutt was primed for his chest, not that it particularly expected to land it. Even if the boy put up his barrier, it would continue to charge on him. Keeping the pressure up.

It's allies ran in a curved formation, like pincers primed to grip the girl. They would cross over as they met her, one's bite aimed for her leg; coming from her right. The other came from her left, slightly later to account for the girl's movements relating to the first's attack. It would leap to bite at her shoulder.

Note:

Gallahad roared in pain as the creeps bit into him. He stepped back and reset his stance as the creeps moved. They were clearly coordinating their attacks. He watched them move about and try to get behind them. Gallahad planted himself between Amarante and the grimm on the left while hoping that the others would be able to stop at least one other creeper. He timed his blow and right after he swung he released a breath of flame. If the creature was fool enough to try to jump through a steel slice followed by fire, it deserved to die. As he rolled his shoulders, Gallahad felt a slight tearing pain, Most likely caused from putting so much strength into my blow right after getting injured. He ignored it and focused on keeping the girl safe from harm. If she went down, the two men would get taken out in short order.

hp: 180

hp recover: +5

ap: 60 with chance to burn

Amarante didn't realize she had become the main target. When looking back, she would say it was obvious for the weakest member to be targeted in battle. She created a shield glyph and set it on the ground around them. The aura created a massive sphere around the group, at best it would weaken one attack, but Amarante feared putting too much into the defense that would most likely collapse under concentrated attack. She wobbled a bit and put her hand to her head as the beginnings of a headache formed. "We need to reduce their mobility." She tried piecing together a plan but she wasn't getting time she needed.

Cayn was pleasantly surprised that he felt his sword land home, and now that he was positioned to be the forward guard of Amarante his mind fell numb. He no longer was in as much of a panic as he was when the entire thing started. There was some confidence to him now, that even though this was slow going that they would make it through the ordeal okay. Yet the Grimm changed tactics, again.

"Damn beasts, go back to being stupid!" The Faunus barked as he could spy the multiple Creeps make their way towards their less protected team mate. As much as Cayn wanted to turn and cast up a barrier to protect the girl, he had problems of his own coming strait towards him. As the Grimm attempted to headbutt the weapon smith, Cayn took the full brunt of the attack rather than let it travel on past him unhindered. Yet just before impact the dog tailed person threw his arms open wide.

As he took the blow with the wind being knocked well out of his chest, Cayn wrapped his arms around the creatures head, leaping with his feat towards it and attempting to twist around it's shape. His goal had been to land on the Grimm's back, and proceed to attack it without answer, but he had misjudged the force he had taken. Now instead of sitting on it, he hung loosely from it's neck, one leg grappled onto some of the bone covered spots somewhere along it's back. Still this was at least some sort of vantage, and with a quick flip of the blade to hold it downwards. Cayn tried to plunged his falchion into the breast of the creature.

HP 155/170
Aura 110/130
One attack attempted.

The initial blow to the grimm coming from the left had more of an effect than the lizard faunus was perhaps expecting, for you see this had been the one that leaped through the air in order to bite the girl's shoulder rather than slide beneath her in order to take out her legs. As such when the man's sword came down the Grimm was already beginning to get airborne; the resulting force altering it's trajectory and sending it spiraling toward the bushes. While this was happening the Creep on the right did indeed land it's sliding kick on the girl; knocking her from her feet, however seeing it's ally wounded it rose from it's sliding position and jumped to bite at the male faunus neck with it's jagged teeth.

The beast that had attacked the dog boy however had dealt much more damage than it had expected, rather than raising his sheild the man had opted to take the damage... even if it was in order to get upon his back. It hissed wildly as the man stuck his sword into it's chest, however it knew exactly what to do in this situation. Rushing forward it leaped, flipped mid-air and attempted to drive it's back onto the girl; thus crushing both her and the boy atop the grimm.

Note:

Cayn was not one to enjoy fighting. He was not good at it, and the effort he had to give because of it always made him groan in discomfort after it was all said and done. Despite this, the faunus felt a shot of victory as the creep hissed against his blade. Small victories, though despite that he felt they still had a long way to go. If only they could finish off one of the Grimm, then press forward with the advantage of numbers. With this in mind, Cayn swung his falchion again at the creatures chest from where he hung, but as it was unsteady, he was not certain the strike would land well.

That reasoning, was that Cayn was suddenly being flipped through the air. On an upside-down Grimm hurtling towards the ground and the small fox that was their support, he reacted as quickly as he could. The glass mechanic pushed off against the side of the enemy. With his limited in his time to react, so he created a pointed pyramid around Amarante, another one of his glass barriers. Though if it worked he could maybe hurt the creature as well.

Cayn crashed and rolled, losing sight of his simple creation, but the residual effect should last long enough to function as planned. With a cough he rose to all fours, scrambling to sprint and tackle the jumping Grimm with his blade tucked in near his side to absorb the impact. The dog faunus doubted he was fast enough to interrupt the attack, but he would make it pay.

Attacks made
35 damage attempt to the Grimm he was riding.
A mixture of 10 damage from semblance and a 10 damage barrier around Amarante (if this is not allowed all points to the barrier)
35 damage attempt to Grimm attempting to bite Paragon.

HP: 155/170
Aura: 95/130

Amarante squealed as she was knocked over and bit her. the pain flashed from her shoulder like fire and she tried to roll with the attack in order to bring her fans into play and stab the creeper. She staggered back to her feet and found herself separated from Gallahad and Cayn. She created a shield glyph around herself and then used the healing glyph to remove the worst of her wound. The tiny faunus might not be able to use her arm at the moment, but at least she'd be able to keep the creepers at bay long enough for the men to help. Maybe........Hopefully. She created a series of dust glyphs infused with fire dust, enough to create a zone around her of floating fire mines that should give the creatures of grimm second thoughts.

shield glyph: 20/20 ap/durability
heals: 20/20 ap/hp
dust glyphs: 20/20 damage and chance to burn

hp: 40
ap: 150
fire dust vial 1: 3/5

Galahad spun about and realized too late that Amarante had been displaced. He looked about and saw her surrounded by her and Cayn's protective abilities and then saw Cayn flying off a creep. The knight tracked the creeper leaping for his neck and backhanded it with his shield before going to help the the larger of his companions seeing as how the tiny fox was basically bunkered under shields.

He went to body check the creeper and then extend the haft of his weapon taking up a defensive stance where he could see both Cayn and Amarante. These bastards just didn't know when to quit did they?

backhand: 25 damage

body check: 25 damage

Feeling another strike to it's chest before it landed, it's impact was slowed by some form of construct, but regardless it did strike into the barrier; dealing damage to the poor girl who was housed within. The best was surprised by the rapid construction of the house, had rather lost it's footing and become stunned. As such when the boy jumped and pierced the grimm's side once more, in a state of shock, it was knocked to the ground beneath the boy. Letting out a chirp in surprise.

It's brother, who had been knocked into the bushes by the lizard man, heard the yelp... however stood between it and it's companion was indeed this great hulking lizard man. Unsure as to whether or not it could get passed it attempted a charge directly through him, intent on ramming his side with it's powerful head, and toward the dog faunus. If it could make it in time and draw his fire, they could keep their advantage in numbers! Especially with it's ally having just taken a chunk out of the reptile man's neck, this shouldn't have been too difficult. Aid ally doubled down on attacking the man, dropping from it's back and now opting to bite at his shin.

Word count:

"Oi come on you two! Get it together." Cayn shouts after he climbs off of the grimm, stand on top of it even if it was not the smartest choice of action. Sensing the weakness from the chirping Grimm, Cayn falls and crashes into it again with the blade aiming for its neck. Just die please. He thinks as he rolls to push himself off the ground. The want to be blacksmith groaned as he did so, looking at the ground and coughing a little from all the effort that he had to put forth. The blue haired faunus could laugh if he felt like it, he had applied to Syne to help hunt grimm, but not as a front line soldier. If only he had not needed the money then he could be sitting in his room working on some project or another.

With his mind momentarily elsewhere Cayn did not see the other creep barreling towards him. As such the technical classed hunter took the full amount of the creep's blow to his side, being tossed like a rag doll and rolling into the forest. He looked up, trying to gain a sense of distance before standing up on both legs with a quiet curse. "Come on then! Come and get me!" Cayn shouted at the grimm, his aura already forming a small trap in the trees. The blue of the glass had been altered slightly to match the color of the leaves. What was up there was a swinging trap a pair of thick glass pipes suspended in the glass and a pointed cone at the top weighted to increase the speed of the trap. It would fall and slam into and hopefully crush the creep against a tree as it charged again.

"I said I'm right here!" Cayn shouted again, bending to pick up a branch and throw it like a javelin at the creep. The weight was off and it was not sharp so he doubted it would do any damage but he tried it anyways.

HP 120/170
Aura 80/130

Spoiler:

Gallahad roared in fury as he struck at the creeper on his neck, like two buzzsaws grinding angrily at each other. The knight jumped forward, hoping to use his weight to crush the grimm as he attempted to kidney punch it at the same time. The battle had gone to hell in seconds. At least He would give out as good as he took.

Rolling away from the creature, the knight saw he had dropped his weapon and raced towards it, keeping his hand over his throat until it had sufficiently healed for him to fight properly. He scooped up the blade and held it vertically in a defensive stance as he scanned his surroundings. Amarante was lost to his sight and Cayn seemed to be alright for now. The knight roared in challenge to the grimm as he removed his hand and took his sword in two hands. Bahamut damn these little pests to the abyss.

body slam: 25
punch: 25

autoheal +5

hp: 170
ap: 80