The Rarest Flower (Solo)

Aaron stood on the packed earth of the road leading into the forest and contemplated the aptly named Spooky Forest. Even today, with nothing but a light breeze stirring the air, the trees seemed to moan and howl as if trapped in a windstorm. The trees themselves radiated a feeling of foreboding, silent guardians who would hold to their secrets no matter what, and woe betide the unwary soul who attempted to face the dangers within unprepared. All of this however, had no visible effect on Aaron, and after a few minutes, he walked into the woods.

As he traveled down the path Aaron was struck by the silence of the environment, a forest such as this should be filled with the sounds birds and small animals going about their daily struggle for survival, but instead there was a silence so oppressive as to be nearly physical. Aaron reached behind his back and pulled Bane of Reality out of it's holder and wrappings. Something was wrong here, and he didn't want to be caught off guard.

Eilidh O'Maoilriain carried out 1 launched of one Monster Dice :

Aaron had been walking for nearly thirty minutes when the silence was broken by the sound of padded feet to his right. Aaron stopped and dropped into a defensive stance. He knew he had been lucky to hear the sound he did, and doubted that he would get another warning, and he was right. The silence seemed to stretch out for an eternity while he waited, tensed for an attack that could come from anywhere, at anytime.

Suddenly a wolf sprang out from behind him, claws reaching out, teeth bared in a snarl. Aaron leaped to the left and brought the blade of his weapon up in an attempt to catch the wolf in midair. The blade caught the wolf under it's front left leg, causing it to tumble out of the air. The animal landed with a yelp, but quickly got up. Unfortunately for it, the moment between it's landing and getting back up was all the time Aaron needed to let off a void bullet spell. As the wolf turned it's head to face Aaron the magic circle flashed, and before the beast could react the resulting vacuum ball hit it between the eyes with a sickening crunch, and it fell. Aaron turned quickly to see three more wolves creeping out of the woods to attack him. They were more careful than the other wolf after seeing what had happened. Aaron grunted in annoyance, this wasn't going to be easy.

Aaron faced down the three remaining wolves, and though he was careful to avoid showing any fear to these creatures, he was apprehensive. He knew very well that he was outnumbered, and that his reserves were limited. If he wasn't careful with his magic the backlash could very well result in him becoming just another part of the food chain, so he decided to try and take care of this physically, but that posed problems as well. These were wild animals, they had lived their entire lives relying on their ferocity and their physical prowess, and while Aaron was by no means unfamiliar to fighting to survive, he was still at a disadvantage.

Any other thoughts were cut short when all three of the wolves charged him together, the one in the middle leaping for his head and the two at the sides rushing his legs. Aaron attempted to jump out of the way, but the wolves were to fast, and while he did dodge the two wolves on the ground, the wolf that had jumped at him manage to get it's claws into Aaron's left shoulder. Aaron's movement kept the wolf from keeping its claws in Aaron's flesh, and while the wound wasn't deep or debilitating, it bled badly and hurt like hell.
Great. I could use the wrappings of Bane to wrap my wound and move on, but these wolves aren't likely to give me the chance, and since I'm loosing blood I'll...wait, blood. Wolves use their sense of smell to hunt...
Aaron grinned without mirth. If his plan worked, he might be able to turn the odds in his favor before the blood loss got him.

The two wolves that had charged him turned quickly, but the third one had been thrown off balance by Aaron's movement, and stumbled as it landed, falling to it's side. As it struggled to get up Aaron tackled it, wounded shoulder first, back to the ground. Aaron bit his lip against the urge to cry out from the pain, but it was either take the pain or die, so he continued on. He pulled himself up just a fraction of a second before the wolf, and clapped. The resulting thunderclap was loud enough to make the other two wolves wince and back away, but for the closer wolf, Aaron's void clap had been devastatingly loud, and it fell back to the ground, attempting to cover it's ears with it's paws. This was the opening Aaron needed, and after making sure that he had in fact gotten quite a bit of his blood into the wolf's fur, he quickly slid back and struck the beast in the head with the butt of his weapon. He was being careful not to draw blood, for his plan to work he needed his blood and his blood alone to be on these wolves coats.

Aaron turned quickly away from the temporarily dazed wolf and dropped to the ground as the other two wolves leaped simultaneously towards him.

Aaron had dropped on his back, and when one of the wolves was right above him he lifted his foot and kicked it in the stomach, knocking it to the ground to Aaron's right. The second beast finished it's leap, and landed safely and swiftly turned, but by that point Aaron had accomplished his goal, and had managed to smear his blood on the fur of the fallen wolf. By the time it was able to get up, Aaron had moved far enough away from it to be safe from immediate attack. Aaron heard a snarl behind him and ducked, just quickly enough to avoid the third wolf, now recovered from it's daze, as it attempted to bite his head off from behind. The wolf landed and turned to face Aaron with it's three companions. None of the wolves made any move towards Aaron, two of them had been injured by him, and the last was smart enough to be as wary as the others even if it hadn't actually been hit. Aaron couldn't have hoped for a better situation as they all began to circle each other, looking for an opening to attack.

In just a few seconds Aaron was back by the wolf he had killed. This was the most dangerous part of his plan, the one moment when he had to drop his guard. One instant Aaron was staring down the wolves, the next he had bent over and grabbed the leg of the dead wolf with his good arm, bringing it up in a wide overhead arc, covering himself with falling wolf blood. The wolves took this opportunity to strike, as he had known they would, but he had timed his throw well, and the wolves had to break off their charge to avoid the dead body that came their way. By the time they turned back towards Aaron he was grinning with his right index finger in the air, the light of a magic circle fading away as darkness spilled from his finger.
Welcome beasts to the void arena. You won't be leaving alive.

The wolves had paused, unfamiliar with what was happening, and that pause was the final nail in their coffins. Before the wolves could react, the void arena spell was complete, and all within range except Aaron were completely blind and deaf. The fight had never actually left the path in the woods, and all three wolves were no more than ten meters away from Aaron, easily within his range. Aaron grinned as the wolves stopped moving suddenly, then began to sniff the air. He had known that the wolves would do that, after all, they were canines, they hunted by smell more than anything else, and while normally that guarantee they never got confused, it now ensured the opposite. With Aaron covered in wolf's blood, even if it was mixed with his own, he would appear to their sense of smell as another wolf, and the two who had his blood on them and no blood of their own drawn...

It took only a few seconds for the two that Aaron had already hit to turn on each other, and even if they had realized that they had attacked the wrong scent source, it was to late as a fight had begun. In seconds they both lay on the ground dead, neither having been willing to release it's mouth from the other, even in their death throes. Aaron grinned again, and then turned to the third wolf. This one was smarter, and hadn't been wounded in any way, so it had taken the time to sort out all of the scents, and instead of attacking the nearest source of human scent, it turned to the strongest source. Aaron.

Aaron braced himself. He had expected this, though he had hoped one of the others would have been the one to survive. Either way though, he had the advantage. Smell, while it was able to pinpoint a location, lacked the sensory speed and accuracy of sight and hearing that would allow one to react swiftly in combat. Senses Aaron retained, and that the last wolf would be deprived of for at least another minute. More than enough time to take it out. Aaron didn't bother with any tactics or plans now. The wolf was dead, it just didn't know it yet. Aaron charged the beast at the same time that it charged him. Aaron lowered the blade of his weapon to the ground, and when the wolf was close enough he jerked it up into the belly of the beast, the force of impact ripped Bane of reality from Aaron's hands, but at this point that didn't matter.

The wolf was on the ground, bleeding profusely. Aaron picked Bane of Reality back up and walked over to where the wolf was trying weakly to stand. Instead of killing it outright Aaron waited for his spell to dissipate. While there was no doubt he was going to kill it, there was no reason that this wolf at least had to die in fear without it's senses. As soon as the spell was lifted however, he swung his blade down, and sliced the beast's chest open, cutting it's heart and killing it instantly.

After dispatching the wolf Aaron wasted no time in bandaging his shoulder. He found the wrapping for his weapon, and after halfheartedly trying to clean some of the dirt from his wound he wrapped it up tightly. He then put his back up against a tree and sat down, suddenly exhausted from loss of blood and sheer physical exertion. He had been extremely lucky. The first wolf had been younger than the others, and had attacked alone instead of with the group, which allowed him to take it out quickly, and the others, well, they were much more experienced and fought together. Aaron had been extremely lucky to avoid any truly serious injuries.

Aaron leaned his head against the tree while he panted. With the smell of this much wolf blood mixed with human, no predator will be coming near this place. I think I can rest. I wonder if that doctor will treat me for free when I get his flower...
Aaron closed his eyes to rest, not falling asleep, but still recuperating.

It was about an hour later when Aaron felt that he was ready to move again. At least he'd been correct about any more beasts showing up, he had been left alone by the denizens of the forest, which he was pleased to find out, had returned to their daily lives. He could hear birds and squirrels arguing in the trees, and he could hear rabbits as they ran through the foliage. The feeling of foreboding was gone. Aaron stood with a groan and retrieved Bane of Reality from where he had dropped it after the fight, and he started back down the trail, using the weapon as a walking staff. He traveled for nearly half an hour, scanning the surrounding woodland for the landmark the doctor had told him about.

He said it was a statue of a woman, with moss that seemed like a cloak. Finally Aaron found the statue, and in a clearing just a little ways into the woods to the right of the statue Aaron found the flowers. Normally, he would have stopped to appreciate the sight, or to at least try and find out what he could about the properties of the plant, but he already knew all he needed to about it, and he was to tired to care anyway, so with a sigh he brought out the carrying case he had been given to bring back the flowers and bent to the work of harvesting.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking Aaron finally left the forest. Bruised, cut, and in a bad mood, but thankfully whole. The flowers themselves had been very thorny, and had secreted a very sticky substance when picked, facts that the doctor in charge of the medicine shop had neglected to mention. Even worse than that though was the smell. I know medicine is supposed to be foul, but this is beyond ridiculous. Aaron doubted that an entire army of skunks who had eaten nothing but garlic and onions for a year could match the stench of that grove. It was no wonder the plant was rare, if something that smelled like that got anywhere near humans they would burn it away, convinced that it was some form of rot on the world.

All this aside though, Aaron felt good, or at least felt as good as was possible given the circumstances. The medicine these flowers would help produce was very powerful, and it would help a great many people. The feeling of having done something good was a pleasant one, though even more pleasant was the thought of getting paid. So with that in mind Aaron set off, leaving the forest behind him...at least for now.