Maiden Snatcher (Triatath and Haretsa)

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Haretsa was barely even paying any attention to half of what her guildmate had said after he mentioned spiders. She had a severe case of arachnophobia, so every one of her senses after he mentioned that revolting word was currently devoted to watching out for the little bastards. The girl was so focused on this task that she didn’t even notice her guildmate soar into the sky above to scout the area around them. “There's none around here… everything’s just fine… Just keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep walking.” Haretsa mumbled to herself, bumping into Triatath as he was kneeling down to inspect some tracks.


Shaking her head and remembering why they were even in these woods in the first place, Haretsa knelt down herself and began to sniff around the footprint. With her advanced sense of smell, it was rather easy to pick up a scent from the track. "This sure as hell wasn’t left by a vulcan…unless they started wearing shoes and got smaller feet...That’d actually be hilarious to see! Anyway, seeing as how the tracks only begin here, the girl must have gotten away from the vulcan somehow and ran off straight down this path. Though… I’m not exactly sure why she chose to just run deeper into the forest instead of back to civilization.” Haretsa explained, scratching her head as she looked straight ahead further down the path. “What was that innkeeper blathering on about over and over? His sister smelt like elderberries or somethin’? What the hell even is a elderberry?!?” ”...That’s a legitimately good question, Blamo...since when do you ask good questions!? she exclaimed, seeming surprised at her weapon showing intellect for once. She pushed herself back up to her feet before turning towards Triatath. " I don’t know about you Tree, but I have no idea what the crap an elderberry is. The scent from this footprint is weird though, so for now I’m gonna assume that its elderberries. It kinda smells like butts and dead people… Ugh, oh well. It’s all we have to go on encase the tracks end, so lets keep moving.” Haretsa said, pushing forward down the forest trail.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Haretsa was immediately forced to cover her nose upon Triatath’s opening of a strange little vial that he had on him. The terrible smell that was being emitted from that vial was for more potent than the scent she had picked up on from the footprint. Haretsa would have responded to Triatah’s question if it wasn’t for her enhanced sense of smell going into overload from catching a whiff of what he said was the smell of rotting elderberries. Due to this, the young slayer was quite occupied with coughing and trying to breathe strictly through her mouth to prevent her nose from being assaulted by that atrocious smell; and it was about to get far worse.


   As thick storm clouds rolled overhead and began to release rain, Triatath somehow managed to cause the vial to explode, covering himself in a disgusting ooze of rotting elderberries. Haretsa couldn’t help but laugh as the rain came down on her head. She knew that it was bad that he now smelled like butts and dead people, but she couldn’t help laughing at the fact that he in fact now smelled like butts and dead people. It would be a lot funnier if she didn’t have to put up with the smell. However, unbeknownst to Haretsa, this would result in a problem far worse than just Triatath having a new, unpleasant odor. Her ears perked up as a she picked up on snapping twigs not too far from the two mages current location. This also came with a strange sort of tribal chanting in a rather strange type of accent which confused Haretsa to no end. It was only until 10 small, devilish looking creatures carrying an array of swords, spears, axes and bow and arrows burst from out of the wood. "ELDERBERRY! ELDERBERRY! ELDERBERRY!!" they chanted, seeming to ignore Haretsa completely and rushing towards Triatath in attempt to carry him off with them. Haretsa simply stood there completely dumbfounded at what she was now witnessing. "...I...just.... HOW THE HELL CAN THEY LIKE THE SMELL OF THAT SHIT?!?!?!"

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

The situation currently unfolding before the young slayer’s eyes was exactly one that could be described as favorable. Tree was in a panic mode and wasn’t focusing at all, managing to send a shard of the glass from that broken elderberry vial through one of the little bastard’s eye and straight through into another's foot. However, Haretsa thought that this was actually a part of Tree’s plan until she saw him fall down to the ground with his head between his legs. Now she could clearly see that he was panicking and he just pissed off all ten of the demons before them.

”Shit… she cussed quietly, rushing forward towards the demons as they were focused on Tree with their weapons drawn. Knowing that what happened whenever she activated her magic in the past would probably scare her partner even worse right now, Haretsa decided that it would be best to settle this the old fashioned way; Punch first, ask questions WHILE PUNCHING! The demon that had its eye shot out raised its blade to strike Tree until it was sent flying by a solid punch to the back of the head from Haretsa. Now the demons were focused on the white haired girl as she stood among them; a somewhat odd grin painted upon her face. ”Ya know, I would say your guys’ life is like a sandwich… she said, drawing Blamo from her holster and aiming it at the demon she had punched earlier. If Tree was any kind of smart, he’d know to cover his ears. ”AND I AM THE MUSTARD OF YOUR DOOM THAT SHALL BE PLASTERED ON THAT SANDWICH!!” she exclaimed, squeezing down on Blamo’s trigger. The bullet rocketed towards the half blind demon, driving itself right through its head and rendering the being motionless.


The nearest demon to Haretsa lunged forward with its spear, to which Haretsa simply side stepped; grabbing the spear’s shaft and throwing it, along with the demon, into another one of its buddies. While its spear was currently impaling one of its companions hearts, Haretsa quickly took aim with Blamo and fired once more; the bullet ripping through the demon’s chest and lungs. She brought Blamo up to her face quickly, using the gun to parry a sword before bringing her left leg around to deliver a swift kick to the demon’s head. Two of the demons jumped back and drew their bow’s while the rest charged in to surround the young Slayer. Haretsa bent her knee’s down low before jumping up into the air, avoiding the arrows and watching them go into two of the demon’s arms that were charging her. Landing on a rather sizable tree branch, Haretsa simply knelt there; analyzing the situation from her somewhat birds-eye-view.

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Blamo ammo count: 8/10 bullets remaining.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Haretsa watched on from her perch as Tree finally managed to snap out of his panicked condition. As he took out another demon by smashing it into the tree with his legs, Haretsa found it quite amusing that the demons then began to run around in a frenzied panic. They clearly knew that they were outclassed by the two mages. After hearing Tree ask whether or not the two should go after them, the demon’s dispersed into the woods; carrying the first one Haretsa had killed back with them.

   Jumping down from her perch, Haretsa returned Blamo to her holster before walking in front of her guildmate. “Let ‘em go. We’ve got more important things to worry about than a bunch of loonies that wanted to kidnap you for smelling like butt.” she giggled, proceeding to lead the way down the forest path. The scent from the footprint was rather faint, but it was still easily traceable for a Slayer’s nose. By following this scent, the two mages wound up in the rather large clearing that Tree had mentioned spotting earlier. Haretsa stopped in the center of the clearing with her nose held up in the air. It was here that the scent seemed to turn towards the North while the path they had been following continued Eastward. The particular part of the forest that the scent lead off to was much thicker than the rest of the wood that the two mages had seen so far. “That’s quite a good hiding spot… and annoying for a magic like mine… ‘Only you can prevent forest fires!’ Stupid guy in a bear outfit back in Magnolia rubbing it in my face… What does he care, he wasn't even a real bear!" Haretsa grumbled, motioning with her hand for Tree to follow her as she lead him into the thick brush.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

The two mages barely even made it three minutes into the thicker part of the forest before they had to stop dead in their tracks. Standing in front of and behind them were two large, brown ape like creatures known as Vulcans. Haretsa stood with her hand firmly around Blamo’s grip; ready to draw her the moment she saw the Vulcan make a move as Tree stood at Haretsa’s back. He mentioned something about trying not to kill the girl, but Haretsa didn’t see anyone else except them and the two Vulcans around them.

  Haretsa was about to say something before the Vulcan in front of her attacked. It lunged forward with a punch straight to the ground, to which Haretsa responded to with a quick short hop into the air. The girl landed on the beast’s large fist before running up its arm, drawing Blamo and delivering a swift kick with her left leg to the side of the Vulcan’s head. Despite Haretsa’s advanced strength, the Vulcan only seemed to stutter a foot or two before retaliating with a surprisingly fast backhand. This caught Haretsa off guard a bit, impacting her and sending her straight into a nearby tree. While Haretsa was durable, said punch and impact still hurt quite a lot. ”I’M FINE…. I’VE DEALT WITH WORSE!! …….owwwwwwwwwwwww….” she whined when Tree called out and asked how she was faring against the Vulcan.

  Realizing that it would be more advantageous, Haretsa quickly pulled her right hand over to the gold bracelet that adorned her left, pressing the fiery orange and red jewel in the center of it. ”Alright Flect, Henshin a go-..ow…” she muttered, still in a slight bit of pain as her armor activated. A small orange aura flowed over Haretsa’s skin meaning that she would be protected much better from the Vulcan’s attacks. As it approached, Haretsa quickly took aim with Blamo and fired at the beast; one bullet hitting it in its pectoral muscle and the other ripping into one of its eyes. The Vulcan let out an enraged wail of pain before it shook its head violently before throwing its fist at Haretsa again. The punch drove her into the tree again quite hard, causing the girl to drop her pistol and collapse to the ground. The Vulcan then scooped Haretsa up and threw her over its shoulders, grunting loudly at the other Vulcan before dashing off deeper into the wood with the seemingly unconscious Slayer.

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Blamo's Ammo: 8/12 cuz I dun goofed earlier thinking it was only 10 shots

Hits on this Vulcan: 3/10 required to take it down

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Haretsa cautiously creeped her eyes open as another flash of lightning struck a nearby tree. As far as she could tell, the green Vulcan was apparently unaware that Haretsa was still conscious; and that is exactly what she wanted it to think. She realized during the brief encounter that these Vulcan’s moved quite quickly despite their size. Combining this with the information from the job poster about how most of these creatures in this area enjoyed scooping up women, Haretsa quickly devised that getting “kidnapped” by one of them was the fastest way to finding where the Vulcan’s were keeping the innkeeper's sister. This was quite a risky plan due to the fact that Haretsa was betting everything that this Vulcan was one of the creatures that had taken their clients sister. She just hoped that Tree wasn’t freaking out as much as she was imagining he probably was.


   A good ten minutes or so had passed before the Vulcan made its way inside an incredibly large, hollowed out tree hidden relatively well by the rest of the forest. Haretsa continued her unconscious ploy as she was thrown into a makeshift sort of prison. It was more a cage made out of some pretty solid wood placed in a corner than a prison, but it served the same function. Once the Vulcan had walked away, Haretsa quickly sat up and cracked her neck before meeting the ocean blue eyes of a brunette girl that had an all too familiar smell. ”So, they managed to capture you too, huh? My name is Clarissa… I guess I won’t be stuck here alone then.” the young girl sighed, as Haretsa felt rather relieved that the girl smelt no where near as bad as that concoction Tree had ended up spilling on himself. ”Not to worry, this is all part of the plan I just made up like ten minutes ago! My name is Haretsa and I’m here to get you out, but first, I’m gonna need as much information as you can tell me about this place…”

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Clarissa explained everything to Haretsa as quickly and knowledgeably as she could. ”All I really know is that all these green Vulcans seem to work for a slightly taller Vulcan with brown fur. He seems to be the intelligent one out of all of them, as the others tend to just argue over nothing and beat the everloving crap out of one another. The brown one also apparently has a thing for human women…” Clarissa paused awkwardly, causing Haretsa to tilt her head. ”A thing? You mean like he eats people?” she asked extremely confused. ”N-no, no! I mean he li- ya know what, forget it it's not important. All I know is he’s bigger and stronger than the rest of them and that is how he got the others to work for him in kidnapping girls like us. I gotta say, for being my rescuer, you sure messed up by getting kidnapped...Also, why are you glowing orange?” she sighed as the thunder boomed outside the tree.

Haretsa’s ears perked as she heard a bit of squabbling going on outside the tree with her enhanced hearing. ”Remind me to explain that part later. Anyway, like I said, this was all part of the plan!” Haretsa exclaimed, leaping to her feet and giving the cage doors a few swift punches and kicks in order to break the wood. ”C’mon!” Haretsa explained, motioning for Clarissa to follow her as she heard the familiar sound of Blamo firing come from the exit. The two girls made a beeline for the exit, the Vulcan that had carried Haretsa into this place no where to be seen. Without a moment's hesitation, Haretsa jumped forward, performing a sort of quick cartwheel out of the exit; jumping forward once more to grab Blamo from her team mates hand before doing a frontward roll, throwing her arm back at the remaining green Vulcan and pulling down on the trigger of the pistol four times rapidly. She was a bit confused as to why only a single bullet came out and hit the vulcan in the knee cap, rendering it unable to move. ”What the hell, Tree!? You emptied her already!?!” Haretsa exclaimed in shock, pulling Blamo’s mag out to reload it. This process was however stopped by the enormous thumping sound of the brown Vulcan that Clarissa had mentioned earlier running up the way Tree had just came from. ”Well he’s pissed! GET BACK IN THE TREE ITS ROOMIER AND DRYER!!! she yelled, grabbing both Clarissa and Tree’s arms before running back into the giant hollowed out tree to try and form a plan of attack.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Haretsa looked on in confusion as she continued to run around the tree’s insides as she now was carrying Clarissa in her arms. She quickly swapped out Blamo’s mag for a fresh one as Tree was practically riding the Forest Vulcan that was chasing the two young girls. This just went to show how little interest in males this Vulcan had, as it was completely ignoring Tree despite his best efforts to attack it. Haretsa couldn’t exactly help fight back with Clarissa in her arms, so the two needed a plan and quickly.

   Seemingly out of no where, Haretsa’s head began to hurt like hell as she continued to outrun the enraged Forest Vulcan. ”Why do you not heed my words, child?” the voice asked, as Haretsa looked around confused. She had never heard this strange voice before and it certainly didn’t come from Clarissa or Tree; so who was it? As the hulking ape like creature leaped forward, Haretsa just barely jumped out of the way as it slammed its fists down; knocking Haretsa away just as it did earlier. Using the momentum, Haretsa threw herself into a body roll, Flect’s protective aura preventing her from receiving any splinters. As they resumed the chase, the voice continued to speak to her. ”You cannot simply fight creatures such as this with your tools alone…””No… all that damn magic does is hurt people no matter what I do… I don’t want to hurt people…” she said in a low voice as she ran, Clarissa looking at her strangely; confused as to who Haretsa was talking to. ”You’ll never master it if you don’t use it.. get your friend to take the girl and get out of this tree so that you can fight this beast without a problem and strike it down… I’m not a voice that they put in your head, I am here to help you.” the voice reassured her, causing Haretsa to have even more doubts than she did before.

   Haretsa knew that the voice was right. If Tree took Clarissa and headed back to Magnolia, then no one would be around to get hurt. Quickly turning on the balls of her feet, Haretsa lept forward, kneeing the Forest Vulcan in the face to stun it temporarily and grabbing Tree of of its head at the sametime before making a beeline for the exit. ”Tree, I need you to take Clarissa out of here and back to Magnolia. Take Blamo too, just in case you run into any more Vulcan’s.” ”OH GOD PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME WITH HIM!!! NOT AGAIN!!” Blamo pleaded as Haretsa handed the gun and the girl over to her partner. ”Just trust me, I’ll be able to take care of this thing and meet you back there in no time, just go!” she shouted, her eyes turning from their usual hazel to a firey red as Haretsa essentially shoved him out of the tree.

   Turning her attention back to the Forest Vulcan, who was now back to charging at her, Haretsa tugged on the small ring of the contraption that was holstered behind her around her waist, the rectangular contraption unfolding rapidly into its scythe mode. With the flick of a switch, the scythe came to life with a hum as the plasma that formed its blades ignited. Haretsa then dug the scythe behind her and quickly ripped it through the ground, the plasma igniting the wood of the tree and causing a massive fire to form and spread. The Forest Vulcan stopped dead in its tracks, angrily looking at Haretsa as a smile grew on the young Slayer’s face. ”Been a while, huh Scisara? Think you’re not too rusty to help me out here?” ”My blade never rusts, dear. I’m at your service.”

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

The girl and the beast simply remained in a standoff; each of them waiting for the other to make a move as the fire behind Haretsa began to spread throughout the tree. Due to her resistance to fire and ability to walk through and manipulate it, Haretsa knew that slowly but surely the Vulcan was losing any ground to move. However, since she never really explored her magic all that much over the years, Haretsa didn’t know the limits of her abilities at all, so she wasn’t sure just how much room she was going to have either.

   As she took the initiative and approached the Forest Vulcan, the voice plaguing her mind chimed in once more to offer its advice. ”Keep on using your scythe to attack for now. The goal is simply to spread the fire, so it won’t matter if the beast does end up dodging.” the voice instructed her as Haretsa rolled out of the way of an incoming punch. ”I thought you said I should be relying on my magic? Why do you suddenly want me to only use Scisara?! Make up your damn mind!” Haretsa shouted confused, quickly bringing her scythe down in an overhead swinging, managing to chop off the Vulcan’s arm as well as cut into the wooden floor and spread more flames throughout the tree. ”You will, simply trust me. I can’t speak to you for very long, so just do as I say!” the voice yelled back as the Vulcan cried out in agony.

  While the beast was bleeding and in term becoming blinded into a rage, Haretsa decided to put her trust in the voice even if it was suspicious. She continued to essentially dance around the tree, using Scisara to rip through the wood and eventually spread all of the flames the entire way up the inside of the tree. Now she and the Vulcan were completely surrounded by fire. Haretsa was a bit worried about all the flames until the voice continued with its instructions. ”You need not be afraid of fire, child. Fire is your power. You control it and the dragon within, not the other way around. Quickly now, consume the fire around you. Take it in as if it was the very air you breathe.” it ordered, Haretsa taking a deep breath as she and the Forest Vulcan locked eyes.

  Haretsa inhaled as deep as she possibly could, the flames burning the tree being magically sucked into her mouth. As she consumed the flames, Haretsa could feel her magic power building and building as the Vulcan looked around in confusion as to what was going on. When all the flames had been eaten, Haretsa felt an explosion of power surround her body. She looked down to notice a strange, scale like pattern running all the way down along her arms as well as a raging aura of flame surrounding her entire body. She felt… powerful, to say the least. This is when the voice chimed in once again, sounding rather exhausted this time. ”This is what has been called by you Slayer’s as Dragon Force. With this, you gain a temporary surge of magical power that enhances your entire body and it is the result of consuming enough of your element… I had you spread the flames with your scythe because… you cannot eat your own flames. Now go, test the limits of your magic. I can no longer speak to you.. for you do not feed me…” the voice said fading, as the expression on the Vulcan’s face became one of terror. ”Alright… not so much of a tough guy now, are ya? I bet you wish you had a bucket to hide under huh? WELL TOO BAD! CUZ EVEN IF YA DID I’D MELT THAT SHIT IN A HEART BEAT! NOW LET’S DANCE!!”

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Haretsa stood there cracking her knuckles, a bit of a twisted smile on her face as she looked at the Forest Vulcan. The once angry and rampaging beast was now cowering in fear at the very site of the awakened power of the Slayer; and Haretsa was loving every minute of it. Mr. Vulcan simply stood there with his entire body shaking as Haretsa deactivated Scisara; returning the scythe to its original compressed form and back in its holster as the Slayer walked slowly forward towards her fear stricken prey.

  Out of fear, the Forest Vulcan threw a punch with its remaining arm straight at Haretsa. She responded by throwing both her arms out to catch the beast’s fist, her boots digging down into the wood below from the impact as the flames from her aura set the Vulcan’s arm ablaze. ”Well, Mr. Weirdo Voice sure wasn’t kiddin’ about the strength increase. Let’s see just how much!!” she exclaimed, gripping the beast's arm as tight as she could before swinging him above herself and slamming him down to the floor hard. Haretsa let go of the Vulcan’s arm and jumped back a bit, watching the beast burn as it rolled around in agony.

  ”Let’s see if I remember how to do this…” Haretsa thought aloud, extending her right arm out fully with her palm facing the burning Vulcan. A flaming sphere of violent flames formed at her palm as she focused on the beast who continued to wail in pain. ”FIRE DRAGON’S STALKING METEOR!” she called out, the sphere breaking out into four separate columns of flame that spread out two to each side. The pillars then converged on the Vulcan, exploding violently and intensifying the flames that were already burning the creature. As the beast rose to its feet and began running around in an agonizing panic, Haretsa dashed forward after it. She lead her final assault on the beast with a quick left jab straight to the vulcan’s gut, pulling her left arm back and throwing another jab followed up by a quick cross from her right. After the cross, Haretsa slammed a left hook straight into the Vulcan’s kidneys before kneeling down a bit, loading her right hand before jumping upward and delivering an uppercut straight to the Vulcan’s jaw to send it skyward. The very moment Haretsa landed, she bent down once more before jumping into the air after the beast. Using her momentum, she grabbed the Vulcan by its neck before slamming it into the side of the tree; dragging the creature down the side of the wall as she came back down to the ground. Giving the neck a final squeeze to crush the Vulcan’s bones and esophagus, Haretsa tossed the helpless creature to the side before making her way towards the exist; not so much as glancing back at the dying Vulcan.

   ”Well Weirdo Voice, that sure was fun!! Maybe a bit overkill… but still, good to know I can do something like this. I’ll have to remember it for the future! ….Now how the hell do I go back to normal?” she asked aloud, walking out into the rain past the Vulcan with the shot out kneecap. The only sounds she could now here was the downpour of the rain clashing with the flames of her aura, causing a steam like mist to form around the young girl as she made her way back towards the inn. ”Huh… guess you weren’t kidding about the whole inability to talk to me for long thing… HOW THE HELL DO I TURN THESE FLAMES OFF THOUGH!?!?!” she shouted up at the clouds as she pressed onward.

   After a bit of a hike back towards civilization, Haretsa caught site of the inn where the Sabertooth mages had taken the job. The flames continued to rage about her as the rain continued to pound against it. She was a bit nervous as she approached, not wishing to end up burning the inn down simply by touching it. Then again, the rain was coming down quite hard along with the winds blowing it about wildly and that had put out the fire that was burning the Forest Vulcan she left for dead back in the tree, so maybe everything would be fine. The moment she reached for the door, the flaming aura of hers finally decided to fade away with the scales on her skin. When the inn door opened, Haretsa collapsed face first to the floor in exhaustion. She was completely unconscious, drained of her magic due to the power of her new Dragon Force ability. It took the combined strength Tree, Clarissa, and the innkeeper to drag Haretsa up into a room so she could rest for a few hours; her and Triatath’s job complete without a scratch on Clarissa’s head.