Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » The odd hunter (open)

The well-populated town was frequented by hunters. Most hunters would assume that they were all human.

Yet one day some hunters began to notice that flocks of sheep were starting to go missing. Dragons rarely existed in this town so who was eating the sheep? The answer would come one day when a trap for dragons was tripped.

''Hey, you, go check that trap and see what we got!'' Yelled one hunter to whoever entered the town next. ''And if it's not a were or vampire, kill it anyway!''

Sterling muttered under his breath about overzealous hunters while another of the party went to check it out. There was a yell and a curse and then the young Hunter came running back, looking like he'd just seen a ghost, and blubbering something unintelligibly.

Sterling sighed. "Fine, I'll go see what it is." He kept a loose grip on his crossbow, knowing immediately it wasn't a vampire or a werewolf. The young hunter wouldn't have turned blubbering idiot if it had been either. "This is the last time I agree to help out a youngling," he muttered sourly.

He approached the trap warily, but his boots continued to crunch the grass and his crossbow never wavered from the trap. "What have we caught today?"

''CHIRRRPP!'' Hissed the flailing...Thing in the trap. This thing was human-sized yet it's feet were stuck and ended in..Talons. A tail was whipping about hazardly, ending in fur though ridged in bone. Those hands it had were wing-like. One was torn a bit, an arrow through it.

''Chirrp!'' Hissed it again once it heard Sterling. It's head faced him, and for a split second a forked tounge flicked out from a humanoid face. Yet it's eyes didn't look normal. This thing was defiantly not a human! Though it's mouth was covered in sheep fluff.

''Grr Chirrp Chirrp!'' It snapped, glaring at Sterling. Wearing loose fitting hunter outfit, though it's skirt was tied on.

For a long minute or two, Sterling just stared at the creature. He had no idea what it was. He pulled out the silver pendant around his neck and rubbed it for a moment, thinking about his next move, when one of the other Hunters yelled at him.

"Are you going to get rid of it or what?"

Sterling growled, but not at the hissing creature in the trap. "I'm taking care of it. Why don't you guys head out? There're plenty of weres in this area."

He heard a grunt and then the tromping of feet as his fellow Hunters left him behind. Sterling lowered the crossbow and knelt in the grass to extract a dagger from his boot. "Well, I guess I can see why Janus ran. You're not anything close to human. And you're definitely not like any demon I've come across. Well, just to be on the safe side..." He pulled his canteen forward. With a quick twist, he had opened the lid and he dipped his hand inside to flick drops of holy water at the strange creature on the ground, waiting for its reaction.

It looked at him like he was an idiot, flicking it's tounge out. The pink eyes narrowed and it spat at Sterling failingly. The wings started to flap furiously again, getting it more tangled up than before. A quick silver object glinted from it's right leg. An odd object bearing the mark that most hunters carried. Yet this creature seemed too odd to be one.

''Chirrp.'' It snorted, looking at his pendant curiously. It's orage hair looked more like overgrown bangs. This thing couldn't be a hunter, could it?

"Okay, now that that's done." He capped the holy water again and applied the knife to the rope that had caught the creature so helplessly within. "Try not to get caught again, or else I'll have to explain to my fellow Hunters why a creature such as you..." He trailed off when he caught the bling of silver around its right leg.

"What's this?" He paused halfway through sawing through the rope to look at the silver pendant. His eyes narrowed. "You didn't take this from someone, did you?" He picked up the knife again, but not necessarily to keep cutting away the rope.

It shook it's head, and pointed to the pendant Stirling had. ''Chirrrop?'' It asked, then pointed to it's pendant. ''Chir...unterrs.'' It strained, nodding. It then pointed to itself. Poor thing couldn't talk human, yet it looked like one. It looked young, even with it's size. Why was this thing out here? It had the wings of a wyvern,the tail of one,and the feet of one yet the rest of it's body was human aside from pink slitted eyes.

Sterling narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I'm a hunter." He had obviously misunderstood the small wyvern-human crossbreed. "What are you? You look half wyvern and half..." He twitched. "Human." He couldn't imagine such a pairing. Surely this was why; the offspring would have been killed simply for their unnatural looks.

But he resumed cutting away the rope. At least it hadn't tried to attack him yet. That gave it pointers over, well, just about everything.

It growled, flinching, then spat on him sucessfully. Though it's spit still contained the embers from it's heritage as it burned like hell. ''Cgiirree! Chirrrp Grrnuer.'' It snapped, trying it's hardest to tell him it was a hunter, even if it did hurt him with a swift kick to the chest with its free foot afterwards. Such a feisty little crossbreed!

''Chirrp!''

Sterling hissed in pain as the spit burned. He doused his hand in holy water and finally felt the sizzle stop. "I can't tell what you're trying to say." And then the next thing he knew, he was being kicked! He stood up quickly, grabbing his crossbow and knife.

"Look, I've done my good deed for the day. If you wish to keep your life, you should avoid us in the future." He harrumphed and stalked away.

The crossbreed chirped and stalked Sterling as he left, before it tripped and tumbled into him with a loud 'Chirrrp!' and landed on his back. Thats when he heard it's pendant rattle again, and some bullets rattling from the skirt with pockets it had.

It huffed and stood up. It pointed to him, then itself. ''Chiri Chiam Grrutner.'' It strained again, trying to deperatly tell him it was a hunter as he was. But it's forked tounge wasn't helping any. It seemed panic, but trying to talk.

He stumbled forward with an oath and just barely saved himself from a faceplant. "Watch it!" But when it chittered at him again, he frowned. Was it actually trying to talk?

"You're a Hunter?" he asked after a moment of blinking unbelievably at the creature. And then he looked at the pendant again. "Let me see your silver pendant again." He wanted to see what was on it, if perhaps it was from another guild if at all. Depending on the guild, there would be a mark on the back, etched into it. "Where are you from and what are you exactly?"

It held its right foot up hesitanty, the talons pointing down. ''Chirrrp.'' It replied, catching the sliding pendnt with it talons then holding it up for Sterling, hands at side. The symbol was eerly similiar to a common group. The name of the critter was carved into it awell. 'Korilana Larvonte ; Human.' Whoever had done it was't payig attention to it's feet ad wings, obviously. It's tail kept it balanced. ''Chiu cirr chirrling?''

"Korilana Larvonte, huh?" Sterling eyed the creature before him. "I've heard the name, can't say I've ever had the pleasure of meeting him or her." Obviously he still wasn't putting together the thought that this creature in front of him was a Hunter.

He nodded though at what he assumed was the creature's attempt at his own name, slightly surprised. "I am Sterling. A Hunter from a different group." He flashed his own pendant at the crossbreed to show it off.

''Chii'm Kirrria.'' It hissed, pointing to it's pendant. How many times was it going to have to tell him that it was the hunter?

For a moment Sterling only looked at it, and then his eyes widened. "No. No way. There's no way you'd be able to... Really?"

He crossed his arms. "Hunter or not, I really can't see you taking down a vampire or a werewolf."

Pretty soon Sterling found himself dangling several feet above the hunters town, held upside down by the talons. Along with his legs wrapped in vines. ''Chirrrp chirrrrrrp.'' Kori said them tossed him into the air. It swooped up, them caught him by his back harshly, enough for it's toes to snag on his skin loosely. It spun him around several times, then tossed him down after it was just a few inches off the ground.

It landed in front of him, snirking mockingly. It was holding his pendant on the tip of it's hand. ''Chirrrliiing cchundermestate chhilia.'' It giggled, laughing loudly now.

"Ahhh! Set me down! Set me down!" His hands clamped tightly to anything he could get a purchase on as he was tossed and flown about. It wasn't until he was back on solid ground that he collapsed and rolled onto his back with a relieved sigh.

"Alright, so you made your point." That Korilana was strong too had also been proven. "Forget about my earlier slight, I apologize for judging you."

They hand him his pendant back. ''Chirrrling chirr che chhow chho chirrreak chuman?'' They asked, still struggling, tail moving a bit. If they had someoe to teach them how to speak right, maybe..Just maybe..They wouldn't need to be chirping and growling to communicate. There was a small crowd watching from a merchant stall, whispering about how strange Korilana seemed and how ugly they looked.

There was a significant pause as Sterling tried to sort out what the creature was saying. And then his face cleared a little. "You want to learn how to speak human?" He asked, slowly, enunciating carefully.