The Anarchists Cookbook | Training |

[Promeleon]

SPOILER: Click to show

Demolitions
Rank: "E"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Demolitions can be used to create, set and disarm explosives, and covers all the various types of explosives.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: For characters that like to blow things up, and create their own explosives there is nothing better than this skill.
Critical Success: If setting or building an explosive device, the device is set or built in half the normal time (rounded up). If disarming a device, the device is disarming in half the time (rounded up), or 1 second before it detonates— whichever comes first. Critical Success is 1/10 or less of what their percentage is (10 or less with 100).

Each Skill level allows the user to create an item of a certain Rank. (Example: Novice can create "D" Rank items, Master can create "S" Rank items). Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Alchemy user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Alchemical Components. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Technician user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Mechanical Components. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: Must know Alchemy.

SPOILER: Click to show

Tracking
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Characters use this skill to follow the trail of animals and other persons.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Can be learned by an Animal. Tracking means the user found a trail if they gain the check, while failure means they did not. If user fails this initial skill check, they simply cannot find that particular trail. After finding a trail, further checks may be necessary depending on the situation. Darkness, falling rain/snow, a dust storm, moving from one terrain to another (such as from sand to rock), one trail splitting into 2 or crossing water are examples why a user might need another Tracking check. Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---

[Caspien is learning Demolitions | Barghest [Canine] is learning Tracking]

[-/5]
[--/10]

[Demolitions | 7 Dice | Able Learner]
[Tracking | 5 Dice]

Barghest sniffed at the grass around the small dilapidated shack, his small black nose eking out any scent of food, or even anything that his demonic maw could make food.  He had no interest in what the blonde had decided to get himself up to, as it was not remotely close to feeding him.  The tools with which the human worked with were not edible.  Well.  They were, but they were not meat, which was his favourite flavour.  His short, wiry red fur was moist thanks to the seemingly endless fog that covered the forest they had found themselves in, and small rivulets of water ran down his back, making him think someone was touching him, distracting him periodically.  Each time he would growl fiercely and snap, his eyes black with anger.  It was hard to get a scent of anything with the constant layer of dew that coated anything, and his sense of smell was not the best way for him to track a meal down at all while he was here.  His small paws padded dully upon the moist earth, leaving slight tracks, which managed to drill an idea even through his thick skull.  Soft ground meant he could follow food.  Maybe if he followed the food, it would lead him to more food?  It seemed like a pretty brilliant idea, now all he had to do was find tracks.  His lengthy tongue slapped against his nose happily as he imagined the taste, a long strand of saliva dripped down onto a trodden flower.  

Caspien ignored the mutt, having grown weary of it's annoying bullshit.  Every five minutes it was snapping at thin air, angry at nothing and just generally being a pain in his ass.  The dog was impossible to keep hungry, and he was pretty sure it had eaten a kid on the way over here.  He was not exactly sure, but a T-shirt had been caught in his collar and there had been a lot of screams prior to the dog appearing minutes later.  There was no blood, which he suspected meant the dog had been too stupid to even catch a twerp, but he was not overly concerned either way.  His slender fingers were working on a new idea.  Normally he was quite happy to use one of his many, many daggers, but he was finding that threats and knives were only so effective.  What really seemed to get to people, was the fear of being blown up.  He liked fired and explosions, and he had thought to himself, 'Gee, why can't I make bombs?', and then he decided he was going to learn how to make bombs.  His life was relatively simple, and it was going to get even more simple when any problems he would run into could simply vanish.  Well.  Maybe not vanish.  But it would be fun to try anyway.  He cackled to himself, his tall blonde hair shaking slightly thanks to his moving.  

Inside the shack was more spacious that one would guess from viewing it from outside, as it was empty aside from a filthy, wet mattress, a table, and an upturned garbage can that the blonde thief was currently using as a stool.  On the shoddy table there were so many scars and stains from whomever had lived here before he had kicked the door down and liberated it in the name of terrorism.  He had emptied a bag of stolen supplies on the table and had looked at them, not really knowing what he was doing, but excited to learn.  Even with his minimal skills, he knew that lighting gunpowder on fire was technically a bomb, which he had done earlier, and had blown up a tree with it, and then gotten into a fight with the stupid dog who had been frightened by the bomb, and instinctually attacked the closest living thing to him.  Caspiens arm was bloodied but mostly fine.  The wood that the small shack was built from was laden with water, and it was warped in all sorts of directions, enabling whoever was inside to have a decent view of the outside world, but that was where the benefits of this shitty cabin ended.  It was cold in here, and the first night that he had been in here, he had set fire to a chair that had been inside when he had entered.  

The dog snapped again and he twitched in surprise, dropping the wired piece of machine that he was currently tinkering with, and he swore.  The mutt was going to be the death of him while he was working with such sensitive material.  The only good news was that the damned dog would probably blow up with him.  Looking out of a hole created by the warped wood --one so large he could actually consider it a window-- he watched as the dog followed something, it's beady nose and eyes likely in overdrive trying to find more food.  Barghest was actually on track for something.  There was small indentations in the earth that he had discovered and he was now following the trail eagerly, hoping for it to be big, and for it to have lots of kids that he could also eat.  The dogs pants were loud, as it was unable to contain the excitement that made its hair stand on end.  Whatever it was searching for was definitely going to hear him coming well before it saw him, so he would tracking whatever he was searching for, for a while.  The dog was dumb, but it had limitless energy and was not going to stop until it managed to devour every single living thing in the area except Caspien.  Maybe even Caspien.  Yes.  If it could not find anything else to eat, then he would definitely try and take a bite out of the skinny blonde, if anything he would make for a filling meal.  

In the shack, the blonde paid no more mind to the dog and looked back down at his work.  The long black sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, and his forearms were surprisingly bare, as his knife holsters were lying on the table, along with his chest holster and his utility belt.  All... What was it?  Forty four knives?  Forty Three?  No it was definitely forty four were sitting on the shitty table, their steel glinting even now in the low light.  The belt with all of his grenades and thievery tools was not something he would let sit too far away from him ever, and even now he had been a bit hesitant to take it off, but it had been digging into his abdomen while he was hunched over doing work on this shitty bomb which he was fairly certain was not even going to be that exciting to watch explode.  The world map was pinned to the table with one of his usually hidden blades, and occasionally his eyes would drift to it quickly, as though it was going to reveal any special locations for him to rob, but each time he only saw the familiar locations he had scrawled upon the paper.  There would be some special places on there soon enough, but only once he could stroll into a place with a bunch of bombs attached to his person and threaten to blow things up.  Good times.   

SPOILER: Click to show

Active Junk
Iron Will
Mind's Eye
Confirmed Cynic
Free Spirit
Icy Calm
Able Learner
Dealer
Criminal
Latent Psionic
Ever Home

[Promeleon]

SPOILER: Click to show

Demolitions
Rank: "E"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Demolitions can be used to create, set and disarm explosives, and covers all the various types of explosives.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: For characters that like to blow things up, and create their own explosives there is nothing better than this skill.
Critical Success: If setting or building an explosive device, the device is set or built in half the normal time (rounded up). If disarming a device, the device is disarming in half the time (rounded up), or 1 second before it detonates— whichever comes first. Critical Success is 1/10 or less of what their percentage is (10 or less with 100).

Each Skill level allows the user to create an item of a certain Rank. (Example: Novice can create "D" Rank items, Master can create "S" Rank items). Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Alchemy user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Alchemical Components. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Technician user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Mechanical Components. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: Must know Alchemy.

SPOILER: Click to show

Tracking
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Characters use this skill to follow the trail of animals and other persons.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Can be learned by an Animal. Tracking means the user found a trail if they gain the check, while failure means they did not. If user fails this initial skill check, they simply cannot find that particular trail. After finding a trail, further checks may be necessary depending on the situation. Darkness, falling rain/snow, a dust storm, moving from one terrain to another (such as from sand to rock), one trail splitting into 2 or crossing water are examples why a user might need another Tracking check. Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---

[Caspien is learning Demolitions | Barghest [Canine] is learning Tracking]

[-/5]
[--/10]

[Demolitions | 7 Dice | Able Learner]
[Tracking | 5 Dice]

The grass was lengthy here, and it was well above his short body, but his eyes were focused and his nose was sniffing every single inch of the earth for a trace of something he could discover.  It was not working to well, as he was still very hungry and he had not yet found anything to eat, but he was too consumed by his hunt to really worry about actually catching anything.  The grass he was moving towards seemed like something had already been moving through it though, so that was a start, and there were tracks similar to the ones he had noticed in the earth earlier, so that probably meant something too.  What it meant though, he did not know, but if it lead to food he did not care what that meant.  The grass that gave way to his hefty body dripped dew on him, and he had grown confident enough in the knowledge that his was not someone touching him, that he only snapped at nothing about one fifth of the time that it happened, so at least he was learning.  That was two things.  Pretty heavy work day for his poor old brain, which was normally only ever forced to focus on one thing at once, and that was food.  Add more things like not trying to eat rain and to track something?  Well, no wonder he was so angry.  When he finally got around to eating, he was going to need a snack afterwards to make himself feel better too.  

Caspien glanced up at the hole in the shack wall in interest, to see why he could no longer hear the dipshit eyebrow of a dog barking at nothing anymore.  The blonde was not overly surprised.  The mutt wandered off a lot and he always seemed to find his way back unfortunately.  He shrugged his shoulders and went back to looking at... Well... A bomb?  Maybe?  He was not completely certain.  He knew he was a capable technician, the basics of wiring and how to make a trigger were simple, activating a bomb was well within his capabilities too.  But the tube looking pipe bomb thing was not exactly well built.  In fact he was pretty certain that he was not going to be able to blow anything up with it because the gunpowder that he had put in there was probably not going to be able to explode out of the metal pipe, and would likely only pop the ends off.  It was an interesting theory for sure, and he was obviously going to test it out to check if he was right, since he was not going to learn anything otherwise, but he was pretty sure it was about as useful as his now missing pet pooch.  The thief had come all the way out to this shack with the express interest of blowing it the hell up.  Unfortunately with such a shitty piece of work, it was not going to be blowing the hell up at all, it was probably just going to fall apart before he even managed to blow it up.  

At least he could not accidentally set it on fire.  The wood was far too permeated with moisture to be able to be ignited at all, so it was an explosion or nothing.  Where was the dog anyway.  The thing was stupid, but he did not need to almost blow it up again and get attacked.  Caspien looked around for all of about three seconds before his lack of care took over and he shrugged his slender shoulders again.  Affixing the cap of the bomb, he twisted it on, then clicked the makeshift button on the side, before making a face and throwing it away and sprinting around behind the cabin, only the top of his head and one eye showing.  The bomb did nothing.  Even after the five second timer was up.  Still, it was a pretty volatile item, so he was going to give it a little more time before he did anything.  Ten seconds.  Twenty more passed.  Then a full minute.  The only thing he had succeeded in doing here was proving that he was pretty shitty at making bombs.  Bringing a hand to his forehead and stepping from behind the shack, he froze as a chemical hiss sounded, and smoke poured from the area the bomb had landed, at the base of a skinny tree.  A small flash of light and a popping sound later, and he was gone from sight, hidden completely behind the shed again.

---

Barghest looked left and right.  Did he recognize the tree that he was looking at?  Not really.  It definitely did smell like his pee though.  There were footprints leading towards him, and even fur that looked and smelled like his own, glistening in the mud. Was there another dog like him wandering around marking over his territory?  He growled in anger.  His want to track food was overtaken by his want to track this other dog,  Measuring his paw against that of the one on the ground, he came to the conclusion that this dog must be his size too.  How dare another dog come into his place to steal his food.  The growl turned into a snarl and he turned back around, sprinting into the grass once more, following the trodden grass and the footprints in the dirt, aiming to discover this creature and to eat it to teach it a lesson.  Once he had eaten it, it would definitely think twice about trying to steal his food again, that was for sure.  The foot prints kept turning slightly to the left, over and over, and he kept following it, his run turning into a full tilt sprint.  The dog must have realized he was coming too, as its footprints turned into the kind of footprints only something that was being chased would have.  With each powerful step, dirt was kicked up onto the grass, weighing down even more and marking where he had been.  Feeling as though he was closing in, his beady eyes caught site of the dirt on the grass and he realized something really bad. 

The dog was proving to be very quick, but it was going only in the one direction, if Barghest cut left now and went through the grass that separated them, then he could probably catch it.  Quickly darting to the left, he tore through the undergrowth and entered the path the other dog must have just left, so he turned and cut again, essentially making two sides of a triangle in the center of the circle he had not realized he was creating.  The dumb mutt was running in circles after his own footprints.  Once all the grass was flattened and the circle had been made visible to him, he glared around the area, wondering where this other dog could have escaped to.  It was clever, the rust coloured canine would give the beast that, and it may have escaped him today, but if it had the gall to stay around here, he was going to eat it eventually.  There was a grumble from his pudgy belly and he realized how much energy he had wasted trying to get revenge instead of eating.  There had to be food here somewhere.  Looking up to the trees, he stared at some of the birds perched high up on the branches.  He probably could not get those, and following them would be impossible.  Luckily.  Idiots don't know the meaning of impossible, and he attacked the tree, biting into the bark and scratching at it, trying to chop it down, unknowing that he had already scared the birds from the branches.  

[Dr. Neuro, RN]

Congrats, skills learned.

Demolitions:
+68 SP



Tracking:
+49 SP

[Promeleon]

SPOILER: Click to show

Demolitions
Rank: "E"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Demolitions can be used to create, set and disarm explosives, and covers all the various types of explosives.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: For characters that like to blow things up, and create their own explosives there is nothing better than this skill.
Critical Success: If setting or building an explosive device, the device is set or built in half the normal time (rounded up). If disarming a device, the device is disarming in half the time (rounded up), or 1 second before it detonates— whichever comes first. Critical Success is 1/10 or less of what their percentage is (10 or less with 100).

Each Skill level allows the user to create an item of a certain Rank. (Example: Novice can create "D" Rank items, Master can create "S" Rank items). Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Alchemy user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Alchemical Components. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Technician user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Mechanical Components. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: Must know Alchemy.

SPOILER: Click to show

Tracking
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Characters use this skill to follow the trail of animals and other persons.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Can be learned by an Animal. Tracking means the user found a trail if they gain the check, while failure means they did not. If user fails this initial skill check, they simply cannot find that particular trail. After finding a trail, further checks may be necessary depending on the situation. Darkness, falling rain/snow, a dust storm, moving from one terrain to another (such as from sand to rock), one trail splitting into 2 or crossing water are examples why a user might need another Tracking check. Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---

[Caspien is learning Demolitions | Barghest [Canine] is learning Tracking]

[-/5]
[--/10]

[Demolitions | 7 Dice | Able Learner | 68SP]
[Tracking | 5 Dice | 49SP]

Caspien looked around the corner again, then stalked out, hands buried deep into his pockets and a scowl plastered upon his already resting bitch face. His sharp eyes could see from here that the bomb had been less of a bomb, and more of a roman candle, as the top had been fired off and had gone, well, somewhere. Not even his hawk like eyes were able to discern where it had been fired off to, so he was just going to forget about it. Having those caps on the end had been a bad idea anyway. The pipe had been so hot from the burning gunpowder that the earth around it was steaming, and the metal was no longer gunmetal grey, having been burned by the high temperature, but obviously not high enough to do what he wanted to do. Worst of all, what he had managed to rig together to form a switch was completely destroyed. That looked like the only piece that had actually been destroyed. He dug the heels of his palms into his eyes and sighed in annoyance. It was back to the drawing board on this one, he would have to take the bomb back to the shed and see if there were any salvageable parts that he could use to make another trigger. Maybe this time instead of just hitting a switch, a trigger or a time would make things work a little better.  That was even if he had enough material for one actually.  He looked back at the shack.

The toolbox he had stolen, and the other parts that he had liberated were not exactly resourceful, as there were not too many places around here that provided excellent sources of technology, so he had been forced to break things and steal their components.  Most of the wiring had been stolen from a hotel that would now not have an 'Open' sign.  He twirled the now empty pipe in his right hand as he sauntered back to the shitty shack he was inhabiting, wondering how he was going to rig together a timer with all the garbage that he had in his possession.  Caspien even thought about sending that stupid mutt of his, but there were two problems with that.  The first was that he had no idea where the damned dog had gotten to, and secondly, it was so stupid that it was probably going to eat whatever supplies he gave it to hold on to.  Actually that might come in handy one day, especially with a bunch of bombs, though could he really trust the mutt to not explode himself?  Well.  It would be hilarious to find out.  The shack door hung loosely on its hinges and he walked in, dropping the pipe on the table and digging through the pile of electronic refuse, wondering what he had in here that could be turned into a timer, or at least a fuse for a bomb.  He really needed to brush up on his technical knowledge too.

---

Barghest was not confused.  He knew what he wanted, he just did not know how he had ended up in this position.  It had taken him a long time to figure out that all the paw prints on the ground were his, and that was annoying.  The tree he had decided to take his anger out on was now lying on its side, and all the birds that had been hiding up in the branches had vacated.  Raising one powerful leg he began to take a piss on it, the incredible salinity of the urine peeled the bark from its branches.  He really was a hell hound.  So far he had discovered his own foot prints, and that was a step in the right direction, but he had thought of something even smarter, and that was an accidental discovery thanks to destroying the tree.  The birds had fled, and from what he had understood about eating the flying morsels, he knew they usually flew in big groups, and that smaller groups would go find bigger groups to go do whatever birds did together.  He had seen the direction he had flown, and could even still slightly hear the sounds of their wings if he listened hard enough, but he was going to have to move swiftly if he was going to catch up to them and eat them all.  One bird was not much of a meal, but like ten?  A bigger number than ten?  He was not even sure if ten was a big number, but he knew it was an amount, and that was good enough.  

Moving through the grass, feeling the dew drip down onto his fur, he chased the creatures down, following in their footsteps.  Flight steps.  The dog was not entirely certain how birds got up there, but he knew it made them hard to eat.  They weren't usually worth eating either.  Much too gristly for the effort, though there were some birds that he really enjoyed eating.  Chickens.  They were good.  Loud though.  While he was still listening for the birds, he noticed some tracks in the earth that weren't even his.  They were smaller but deeper, probably meaning it was a heavier animal than he was, but with smaller feet.  Hooves.  He had encountered steps like these before, and they often lead to one of his favorite meals, but at the same time they were really hard to eat sometimes.  Especially the ones with horns.  He had a rough scar on his nose from a stupid deer that had gored his face, but that scar had been worth the meal, as he had eaten for two days with its carcass.  He fondly remembered the hours of eating and then sleeping, and then more eating.  It had been a while since he had been treated so well.  The human he wandered around with barely provided such satisfying meals any longer, they were usually too busy being cold and getting chased by angry humans, which for some reason, he was not allowed to eat.  

He eased off of the trail of the birds and looked for more of these deer prints, wondering if he was going to have to deal with one of those bullshit horny assholes.  It was definitely worth the risk though, they made way better meals than a stupid group of birds.  Another print showed up, and then a few more, all of which lead towards a patch of grass that he buried himself in.  There was no scent yet, but if he followed the prints far enough he was sure to get close enough to smell something, even with everything being covered in a thin layer of water.  The sounds of the forest were distracting too, the sounds of frogs croaking and birds overhead, but nothing large enough to be what he wanted to eat.  His rotund belly rumbled as he thought back to the buck that he had eaten.  Hopefully he could get it by surprise and eat it up before it had a chance to get him with those dumb horns.  Caspien would have been useful for him to have around right now, at least he could be killed and give the dog time to attack properly, and then it was two birds with one stone, and an extra meal for now work.  Too bad that was impractical, if he let the human die, it would be way harder for him to get around cities without an escort.  One day the dream would come true.  Today was not that today,  

[Promeleon]

SPOILER: Click to show

Demolitions
Rank: "E"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Demolitions can be used to create, set and disarm explosives, and covers all the various types of explosives.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: For characters that like to blow things up, and create their own explosives there is nothing better than this skill.
Critical Success: If setting or building an explosive device, the device is set or built in half the normal time (rounded up). If disarming a device, the device is disarming in half the time (rounded up), or 1 second before it detonates— whichever comes first. Critical Success is 1/10 or less of what their percentage is (10 or less with 100).

Each Skill level allows the user to create an item of a certain Rank. (Example: Novice can create "D" Rank items, Master can create "S" Rank items). Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Alchemy user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Alchemical Components. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Technician user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Mechanical Components. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: Must know Alchemy.

SPOILER: Click to show

Tracking
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Characters use this skill to follow the trail of animals and other persons.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Can be learned by an Animal. Tracking means the user found a trail if they gain the check, while failure means they did not. If user fails this initial skill check, they simply cannot find that particular trail. After finding a trail, further checks may be necessary depending on the situation. Darkness, falling rain/snow, a dust storm, moving from one terrain to another (such as from sand to rock), one trail splitting into 2 or crossing water are examples why a user might need another Tracking check. Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---

[Caspien is learning Demolitions | Barghest [Canine] is learning Tracking]

[-/5]
[--/10]

[Demolitions | 7 Dice | Able Learner | 68SP]
[Tracking | 5 Dice | 49SP]

Wires and small bits of things he was not quite sure what to call were strewn about the table. Caspien rested his elbows on the table, his fingers interlocked and his chin supported by his hands. It was not a comfortable position, but he was trying to think, and if he was comfortable, he would be easily distracted. The damned bomb was a lot more difficult to make when he had nothing but garbage to build it out of. So far he had managed to make a makeshift timer with what he assumed used to be an egg timer, which was incredibly lucky that he had even had one actually. The rest of the components would be usable too, which was lucky. Tinkering and swearing at the lack of good materials, he slowly pieced together something that was not quite as sturdy as the last one, but certainly more dangerous. The time was not going to fit onto it very well, since there was not a lot of surface area for him to work with, so it had been precariously connected to the rest of the bomb by two exposed wires that would send the charge through to ignite the bomb. He was not sure about whether or not it would blow up if the two wires touched, so just in case, he had bridged the two of them with some plastic so they would not inadvertently set the thing off.

He suspected that his work would be a hell of a lot easier if he had gotten some tools for this, instead of only using the garbage screwdriver that he had found in the bottom of the box, which had been rusted to shit and frustrated him to no end. What was the point of being a master thief if you could not steal anything good? His eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head with frustration as he looked at the tool. Once he was building massive village threatening bombs, this stupid work would not seem so bad, but he felt as though he was playing with childrens toys with this garbage in front of him. The weapon rolled off the table and he leaped up onto the chair, covering his eyes as though that was going to do anything if it exploded. When nothing happened and he looked, he laughed at his own foolishness, there was nothing in there to blow up yet. That was obvious. Picking it up he placed it back on the table, but he made sure that he placed it on the flat side so that it would not do that again, and actually blow him up at the worst possible time. He groaned and let his head loll backwards. This was stupid, he needed to go get better materials and blow something up, if it did not happen soon, he was going to make a gun and shoot himself in the head.

---

Barghest snorted in annoyance. Apparently he had been heard and what he had been hunting had escaped. There was a scent in the air now, which matched the trails in the mud though. He needed to pee again but he was just so hungry that he could not decided what he really wanted to do. Instead, he sat in the mud and licked his nuts. What a compromise.  The deer had scampered away, but he was fairly confident with his tracking skills by now that he would be able to find them simply through the shifting of the grass.  His cold eyes locked on to where they had been once he pulled his head from his crotch.  The grass around here had been disturbed in such a way that he could have guessed that not only where there full sized stag in the region, but there had been fawns here.  Their prints were smaller than that of an old goat, and the only scent he could recognize was that of something large and smelly.  The children of the deer did not have a scent that he could discern, even with his powerful canine nose.  It was a shame that he could only smell their presence when he was in very close proximity to where they had been, but the air was still too thick and moist for him to get a good whiff and learn the direction they were going in.  Luckily he could see their tracks and figure out where they were going according to his surroundings a little better than earlier.  

The dog growled as he caught their tracks again, his excitement mounting and his heckles rising with the anticipation of an oncoming meal.  As he moved through the grass his ears twitched with what he was sure was the sound of his food, the slight echo of hooves against moist soil, a dull thud that he felt more than he could hear.  His pace quickened and his rough fur and large snout tore grass from its roots as he powered through the foliage.  The sounds of their stampede were not far, and he could feel the rumblings of the group of them, but he could not tell how many.  As he moved, he could tell he was closing in as the branches far ahead of him and above the grass still shook from their recent disturbers, and there were ripples in the small pools of water that had sat stagnant and still until his victims had torn by.  The sound of something heavy moved ahead, and he burst free of the grass to see some smaller creatures escape into the long grass, which shook and rained as the dew was forced free.  In the middle of the muddy clearing stood a powerful and very large piece of venison.  His maw quivered and his long tongue lolled from the side of his mouth as he panted, long strands of drool leaking to the floor as he eyed his meal.  

Barghest could not fault it for thinking that it could kill him and protect its family.  It was a huge beast that possessed two devastating horns, one either side of its head.  They looked sharp and its expression was one of fear and anger, meaning it was not going to hold back, and was certainly going to use them to try and eviscerate the small dog.  The mutt growled deeply and it snorted, pawing at the earth and lowering its horns in a sign of aggression.  The ginger mutt simply growled louder, baring his monstrous teeth at the herbivore.  The muscles beneath its fur moved smoothly and he could see that if he let it catch him with those beastly antlers, it was going to be a tough recovery, like last time.  It burst forward; but Bargest was quicker, dodging to the side and using his terrifyingly sharp teeth to tear into its back leg, which spurted with blood.  In a fearful reaction, it kicked, catching him in the chest and knocking him into the long grass and on his ass, confusing him for a minute while he heard it take off into the trees.  If a dog could swear, the sounds that escaped the the mutt would have been the worst sort of cursing.  There was a trail of blood now, and if it was stupid enough to follow the trail of its family, he was going to get even more food out of this fight than he thought.   

[Promeleon]

SPOILER: Click to show

Demolitions
Rank: "E"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Demolitions can be used to create, set and disarm explosives, and covers all the various types of explosives.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: For characters that like to blow things up, and create their own explosives there is nothing better than this skill.
Critical Success: If setting or building an explosive device, the device is set or built in half the normal time (rounded up). If disarming a device, the device is disarming in half the time (rounded up), or 1 second before it detonates— whichever comes first. Critical Success is 1/10 or less of what their percentage is (10 or less with 100).

Each Skill level allows the user to create an item of a certain Rank. (Example: Novice can create "D" Rank items, Master can create "S" Rank items). Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Alchemy user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Alchemical Components. If user has 25 or more Ranks in Technician user gains a Synergy Bonus +10 to Demolitions when interacting with Mechanical Components. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: Must know Alchemy.

SPOILER: Click to show

Tracking
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Characters use this skill to follow the trail of animals and other persons.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Can be learned by an Animal. Tracking means the user found a trail if they gain the check, while failure means they did not. If user fails this initial skill check, they simply cannot find that particular trail. After finding a trail, further checks may be necessary depending on the situation. Darkness, falling rain/snow, a dust storm, moving from one terrain to another (such as from sand to rock), one trail splitting into 2 or crossing water are examples why a user might need another Tracking check. Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---

[Caspien is learning Demolitions | Barghest [Canine] is learning Tracking]

[-/5]
[--/10]

[Demolitions | 7 Dice | Able Learner | 68SP]
[Tracking | 5 Dice | 49SP]

The Hollow Falls
Rank: B-rank
IIC Length: 3 Days [72 Hours]
Difficulty: Difficult 
Objective: A guild of some sort is stashing their treasure somewhere around the land of Water, locate and liberate the cash.  Killing is frowned upon but not a condition of failure.  
Description: While mind his own business, following the rules and regulations of society, Caspien has overheard the wrongdoings of some shady fellows.  They spoke of a horde of treasure that they had amassed after a few raids, and they were excited to relish in the spoils of it.  As per usual, the light fingered renegade cannot allow such dirty hands to besmirch the wonderful currency, so for the sake of it and himself, he has decided that he will take it off their hands so that they do not have to worry about transporting it all for themselves.   
Reward: 18,000 Ryo

---

Caspien heard it long before he could see them, but his sharp ears were able to discern a droplet of water in a pool a mile away.  Perhaps not with such incredible detail, but the raucous voices that could be heard echoing through the forest did not require someone with capabilities such as his own in order to hear them.  The thief was just capable of hearing them from further away, and with far greater clarity, as his hearing was pristine.  He had ceased his work on his bomb, which was actually coming across quite nicely after he had taken some previously unrecognizable gadget apart for pieces, and was able to restructure it for his needs.  The fuse was on a timer, which he could only reach a maximum of five seconds because of a broken knob that he was unable to fix, but other than that he was quite pleased with his work.  He held the IED in his left hand as he held his breath, a knife gripped tightly in his right hand, ready to do some damage if necessary.  Without looking and using only the hand holding the knife, he was deft enough to place his holsters back on, loading all of his weapons up and making sure there was no trace that someone other than a civilian had been here, tinkering with things.  The voices grew louder and he was wondering if this was a good time to try out his new fancy grenade.  

If he left it in here and it did not blow up, then there was no real danger of it being used against him.  If it did blow up, then he would get a good look at what he was doing right, and it would scare the shit out of the monkeys who thought they were clever, yelling about kidnapping and killing and thieving.  As an actual thief who viewed his work as an art form, he was annoyed at their prattling about how skilled they were.  If they were truly skilled, they would not have needed to 'run that asshole through' as they were bragging.  He looked down at the bomb and then to the table.  Twisting the knob to the full five seconds, he placed it and sprinted from the shack, into the forest and hid in the dark, beneath some bushes and a tree, his black clothing blending in smartly.  He counted the seconds in his head and looked at the three punks that had come into view, a good fifty meters away from the shack, and about eighty away from himself.  Everyone was probably a safe distance away.  Probably.  There was no real way for him to judge the strength of the bombs, so he was sort of doing everything by ear when it came to building them.  He did not even have time to wonder if it was actually going to go off when the world before him seemed to end in a cacophonous and startling explosion that made him swear.

---

The mutt was about to take off into the grass, following the scent of fresh blood when the deafening eruption of an explosion distracted him.  He whipped around, stubby ears back and teeth barred, as though the explosion was a threat to him.  He growled as loudly as he could, trying to dominate the sound of the explosion to show who was the alpha between the two.  Even to his own ears he was practically silent in comparison, and the shock wave tickled his fur as it passed by, visibly shaking the fauna.  Birds skittered through the sky, their cries muted by the still rumbling explosion.  Caspien had probably blow himself to a million pieces by now, and he was probably nice and cooked and ready to eat.  If he had not known how to track his own steps and figure out a way to get back, then he was sure as shit capable of finding his way to the explosion, considering all the trees were now leaning away from it.  His previous hunt had been forgotten and he began to move back to go see the human he wandered around with.  What was left of him anyway.  If he was actually dead, the dog would have no one stopping him from eating whatever he wanted, which was great, but he would also never get to eat any of his favorite foods again since he would be put down in any village or city.  

The air was dry and burnt now, the smell of the wet forest had been replaced with the scent of scorched air, which made things equally difficult to track things with his olfactory sense.  The only benefit to this was the fact that the closer he got to the epicenter of the explosion, the more pungent the burning smell became, which notified him of his closeness.  The trees here had either been uprooted or were slightly scorched from the explosion, and instead of there being a shack where he had left it, there was a rather enormous hole in the ground.  There was definitely sounds of screaming and swearing fading in the distance, but none of them had the familiar sound of Caspien.  The silly fuck had blown himself to bits, or some people had blown him to bits, either way it was stupid.  Sniffing around, he caught sight of a roasted animal.  He could not quite tell what it was without the fur, but he was pretty sure it was a squirrel.  Could have been a rat.  It was free food anyway, so he did not question it.  Grabbing it with his powerful jaws, he crunched it, chewing it loudly, it's bones cracking under the force of his maw.  It was a good snack, but he was definitely going to need to get some more later.  Maybe the human was still in one edible piece in there.

"Oi, fat eyebrow, stop eating, we're gonna go make some money"

The dog visibly deflated at the sound of the voice, knowing that the blonde human was still alive and not able to be eaten was almost disappointing.  The blonde was currently fishing in his ear with a slender pinky finger, apparently feeling as though the explosion had knocked some of his hearing out.  He gestured with his other hand.  

"Think you can find out where those ding-dongs are going?"

Barghest figured he was talking about the men that had been running away from the explosion.  He still did not know if Caspien had blown them up or they had blown him up, but either way, he really did not even care that much.  The question was wiped from his mind and he genially stuck his nose to the dirt, trying to catch their scent.  Moving in the direction the voices had faded from he smelled the now dry earth, looking for something to track by.  Their footsteps were visible before he was able to smell them, but once he got onto their path, their unwashed scent became very clear to him.  These guys were not only stupid and loud, but they smelled like an unwashed asshole that had been left out in the sun for a couple of weeks to rot.  

[Dr. Neuro, RN]

Learned

Demolitions:
+50 SP


Tracking:
+47 SP

[Promeleon]

SPOILER: Click to show

Cumbrous Will
Rank: "D"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: User has a greater chance to resist attacks against their Will power, but at a cost.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Before rolling a Will save, user can decide to activate this technique, which gives the user a +6 bonus their saves. After the saves is resolved, regardless of the result, the user is shaken until the end of the encounter.
Limit: Must learn from Universal Miscellaneous. Must know Iron Will.

SPOILER: Click to show

Tracking
Rank: "D"
Skill: Skill
Effect: Characters use this skill to follow the trail of animals and other persons.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Can be learned by an Animal. Tracking means the user found a trail if they gain the check, while failure means they did not. If user fails this initial skill check, they simply cannot find that particular trail. After finding a trail, further checks may be necessary depending on the situation. Darkness, falling rain/snow, a dust storm, moving from one terrain to another (such as from sand to rock), one trail splitting into 2 or crossing water are examples why a user might need another Tracking check. Look in Task Skills thread found in the Skills and Traits Index for more information. Each time learned user gets 5 die roll to increase the skill.
Limit: ---

[--/10] 
[--/10] [97SP]

[Tracking | 5 Dice]

The dogs nose performed remarkably, and it took all of the blondes strength to subdue the dumb mutt who had decided that now that his nose had found them, he deserved three men sized snacks.  He had suffered minimally in the struggle, but there was a trail of blood leaking from his wrist and his nice black shirt had been torn, and his pale skin practically shone through the dark material.  The dog did not look happy either.  Between the two of them they sported quite a few bruises.  Now they trailed the threesome by quite a distance, out of sight but following the trail they left behind, which was not much of a challenge for the dog, whose nose had been trained excellently through all the hunting as a pup.  Even Caspien and his sensitive nose was capable of picking up their scent, which was impressive amidst the dew, though he would never have been able to track the direction the scent was moving with accuracy as incredible as the four legged eyebrow.  They moved as stealthily as they could, or at least the pickpocket did, but his attempts were rather thwarted by the furry tank he had with him.  

A thought had crossed his mind as he listened achingly to the creature stomping along the underbrush, crunching and cracking all the forest debris underfoot.  If he picked the dog up, he may have been able to use him like a metal detector, but he knew it would end in disaster.  Barghest did not welcome people touching him.  This was a frustrating but unrelenting fact about the dog, so it was tossed from his thoughts.  While he was rather helpless until they made it to the location they were searching for, he was more than capable of steeling himself, hardening his mind to the possible horrors he may uncover in a den of wretched and filthy mongrols.  It was an unusual concern, but he was not in the mood for it, and wanted a simple job that would be easy on him.  He had already blown up his home, well, lodging.  Roof?  Whatever it was, he was simply heartbroken and crossing his palm with silver and gold was the only remedy for his pained cardio vascular muscle.  His devilish smile crept up, and the deep blackness of his eyes seemed to glisten with devilish intent.  

His hard heart and cruel mind were difficult at best, to break.  In fact those who attempted to use his mind against him often found that their attempts were thoroughly disregarded.  Of course the few times he had actually encountered Genjutsu users, they had been self taught fools who had no concept of what they were up against.  Caspien possessed the mind of a trickster god.  To manipulate a sharp mind, one would need excessive abilities.  If luck were an ability, it would by far be his greatest ally.  Surely with all the trouble that he had caused in the past he would have run into someone who would have been able to break his mind, yet he had not, and he felt quite relieved, but it did not mean one would never come, so he often thought about his mental defenses in hopes of never having to be sucked into such a trap, after all, he was the one in control, he had practiced the lies and charms for so long that for the control to be taken from his grasp, it would be very awkward for him indeed.  The dogs sniffing tore him from his meandering thoughts of his mental defenses and he shoved the dog with his foot as it raised its leg to pee on a tree. 

"It's not a piss break, we're hunting you furball"

The hell hound growled his low jarring growl but continued on.

---

The human was unusually quiet for once.  Normally the skinny prick was constantly mumbling plans or swearing about something stupid that was not food, but this time he seemed to be locked in deep....  Barghest lacked the ability to recognize that self-awareness was the ability to think about things not related to survival, so the concept of thinking about something that was not food was beyond him.  In fact the only thing on his mind other than tracking the scent of these monkeys was the fact that his tail still hurt from their tussle.  He had almost torn a good chunk out of the blondes arm, but the cheater had tugged his stubby tail so hard that he was forced to let go.  Then he had been punched in the face as the two had descended into a ball of nails and knives.  It happened all the time, and was the closest thing to petting that the two could get.  The kick in the ass had not helped either.  There had been a dog here not too long ago who had marked his territory and it was the responsibility of Barghest. as the alpha male of all dogs anywhere, to destroy the evidence of a weaker creature and substitute it with his own terrifying mark.

In fact the presence of that weak dog was still here, and it was more intense than that off the three lugheads.  The other dog had spent a lot of time around here, so much so that the oily presence of it had not even been washed away by the recent rains that washed most of the tracks away.  He picked up his pace and noticed that Caspien followed his change, though that small variation in his pattern was barely noticed thanks to the males lithe and snakelike ability to move like a shadow.  Even the muscular mutt had trouble tracking the wiry blonde on occasion, which seemed incredible, but he was able to mask his presence to even the most skilled of trackers.  It was a reason that the dog kept such tabs on him, otherwise he would be left behind or betrayed at any given moment.   He went back to the scent, his eyes scanning the earth for any presence of the other canine.  There were hairs, but those seemed to be human, as they did not have the same scent as the dog, though their own scents could not be discerned fully thanks to the overwhelming presence of the mystery dog.  

The footsteps that he had seen and used in his tracking had become too much to follow, as obviously they had reached a very traveled territory and they were nearing their goal.  He peered up and looked around, his thin yet powerful ears picked up the chatter and he slowed to a stop.  Caspien stopped behind him and they both watched carefully.  The voices were coming from up ahead but to the left, and there were about three different ones that he could hear.  There was some sort of blacksmithing going on further away, the sound of the hammer striking steel echoing loudly across the land but not giving a discerning location to them.  He had done his job and tracked the idiots down, if he was not going to be allowed to eat now then he was for sure going to eat that shinny blonde fucker before he could defend himself.  There was something here that mixed with the scent of the dog now though, and it smelled delightfully, like a spiced boar.  If there happened to be many people at this camp, then they would certainly need a lot of food, and maybe in a group so large they would have one person who enjoyed cooking.  He drooled onto some fallen, crisp leaves as he imagined all the fresh food that was ready for him to devour.  

[Natsy]

+10; Learned
+12SP
109|125

[Promeleon]

SPOILER: Click to show

Palm Throw
Rank: "B"
Skill: TaiJutsu/Supplementary
Effect: The user learns how to throw 2 light weapons within a single movement.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: When using light weapons, the user with this technique may throw 2 of each weapon within a single movement. Damage for each attack is resolved separately. This technique may be used in conjunction with Rapid Throw.
Limit: Must be a Throwing Specialist. Must know Point Blank Shot.

SPOILER: Click to show

Scent
Rank: "D", "C", "B", "A", "S"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: This extraordinary special quality allows a creature to detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: The creature can detect opponents within 10-meters by sense of smell. If the opponent is upwind, the range increases to 20-meters; if downwind, it drops to 5-meters. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at x2 the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk, can be detected at x3 normal range. When a creature detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed—only its presence somewhere within range. The creature can take a movement to note the direction of the scent. Whenever the creature comes within 2-meters of the source, the creature pinpoints the source’s location. When finding Herbs and Animals (random), Scent may improve searching for them (must have Scent of object previously before searching). Learning "D" Rank allows the user to search for Common things, while "S" for Nearly Impossible. Each rank user learns increases chance of finding by 2% for the Rank of Herb, and increases per Rank thereafter. Example: At "S" Rank User gains 10% increase chance in finding Common Herbs and Animals but only 2% Increase for Nearly Impossible Herbs and Animals.
Limit: Must be an Animal, Fey, Monster, or Vermin. Innate Animal Jutsu.

[Caspien | 0/60]
[Barghest | 0/80]

The lithe blonde moved quietly from his hiding spot behind a gnarled and twisted oak that had seen many winters. There was no reason to hide himself, he had followed them for a lengthy enough time to realize that these were not the cut throat kind of bandits, who killed without remorse. These were a foolish kind that preyed on the weak, using numbers to intimidate. By all means there were enough of them here to kill him and Barghest quite simply if they wanted to, but he knew they were going to stop and talk to him first. Giving Caspien his time to talk was to allow him to unsheath his most deadly weapon and setting up a trap without being suspected. His feet fell softly against the moist soil, leaving small prints in the earth. There were quite a few of these bandits milling about, each doing some sort of task or relaxing in the usual, drunken cavorting manner. This would be as easy as taking candy from a baby; a feat which he had performed multiple times with rousing success on each occasion. It was simple to say that he was quite a bastard, but one could not argue that he went through with each task he put his mind to, such as liberating these wretched curs of their mounds of gold.

A few of the bandits began to take note of him, tapping their closest neighbor on the shoulder, awakening them to his presence, but he did not falter. Shoulders squared and chin high, he marched forward, with Barghest at his heel, slobbering audibly. Discretion was not a tactic he felt like using today, he was going to show a side that usually lay dormant within him. His placid face twisted into a cruel smirk, instantly branding him as suspect within this coven of thieves. They would not even crack the surface of his twisted psyche with their pathetic attempts at intimidation. His stone cold heart would not be moved. Two of the thugs wandered over to him, squaring up before him, preventing him from getting any closer to the camp. Between them, five meters of empty and oh so tempting space stretched out, charged with uncertain energy. Caspien radiated an aura of cool calm that conflicted with their uncertain energy, and he seemed larger to them than he actually was. The knives up his sleeves were able to be dropped into his palms in a flash and if things became a little violent, he was ready for it. The two men looked at each other then once more their gazes turned to him and he smiled a little more.

"'oo is yoo den?"

The thief was not a man who demanded efficacy in regards to anyone but himself, but he did wish that people would learn how to speak correctly. These inner machinations of his mind needed to be reigned in though, he needed to fit in with these slovenly morons. His natural instincts of blending in began to take effect.

"Wah? Watcha mouf bruv, ahm lal gai tis sent tah buy yon stupid shit lad"

His drawl was embarrassingly heavy, yet he had known enough of these uneducated fuckers to know how to speak like a god damn moron pretty comfortably. He was here as a merchant to buy some of their garbage that they had pillaged as far as they knew, and his unreadable visage and perfect thug impression usually softened their demeanor towards him. The moment the he spoke he had seen the relief on their faces as they realized that 'he was one of them'.

"Oh, gotcha mate, din kna we 'ad anyone for dat, s'a good fing too, 'olds startin' ta fill"

Well that sounded delightful, he would be helping them out by taking these things from their hands.

---

Barghest had already lost Caspien, he had smelled something so succulent and close by that he had forgotten everything else. The dog padded through the grass and wandered around the camp, relatively ignored by all the bandits and other hounds that wandered around, as he just seemed to them to be another guard dog. It was lucky that there were already so many of them it was impossible to keep track, otherwise someone may have pointed him out as an unwelcome guest. Not that having someone notice him would have stopped him, but it would have caused a scene that he and the human he followed would have had to deal with. Those thoughts were brief and forgotten though as a particularly strong gust of wind pushed the mouth watering scent further into his ever-sniffing nostrils. If anyone had wanted to find him in a crowd, they could just release the smell of food and follow the trail of drool until they inevitably devoured carcass of something delicious. His fur bristled as another dog bumped into him, apparently also hypnotized by the smell of whatever was cooking. Each of them growled at the other, but the larger Alsatian backed off immediately, seeing the crazy that hid behind the deep black eyes of the hell hound.

The dog backed off, it's tail caught up between its legs as Barghest continued to follow the smell, completely forgetting about the inconsequential interference he had just encountered.  Approaching a large smoking pit, there were a few bandits sitting around it, chatting idly and drinking from filthy mugs no doubt plundered from some unlucky inn.  The muscular mutt did not even hesitate to walk by the men, who barely took any note of him.  That is until he stepped onto the stones that comprised the fire pit and bit deeply into the flesh of whatever the creature had been.  He had suspected it to be some sort of pork animal, as it had that distinct piggy smell to it, but this was not your garden variety farm animal, this was a wild boar, whose meat had become far chewier but ever more delicious.  He drooled so much that steam rose from the fire as the saliva began to extinguish it.  The bandits all protested loudly, standing with a slight stagger thanks to inebriation, and tried to seize the dog.  The first set of hands that wrapped themselves around his chest from behind snapped him back into reality and his eyes became pinpricks of black in a sea of white.  For the first time in his life he relinquished his grip on the flesh of the boar and attacked.  

The dog had been accurately described as a violent tornado of fur and fangs on multiple occasions, and though they added quite a few maledictions of their own, their words matched that description.  He tore into the first man, who swore and tried to remove his hands from the fray, but discovered that his arm now ended a lot sooner than it used to.  He fell back and three of the others leaped atop Barghest, capturing him under a thick net that was weighted with iron weights on the ends of each thick rope that comprised it.  It would take a lot of power to get that thing off, and even the sharp teeth of the dog were unable to tear at the ropes.  Trapped and furiously struggling under the net, he tried to maneuver himself towards the meat, aching to taste it once more.  The bandit who he had recently performed an amputation upon kicked his back legs hard, forcing the dog to fall to the floor where the rest of the bandits pinned it, swords pressed into his fur as he still struggled towards his food.  He was so close.  How could these stupid assholes not let him get what he wanted.  They did not kill him, but the net was tied up and he was dragged away from the food, his claws digging trenches into the wet earth as he tried to keep himself there, close to the wondrous smell.  

[Promeleon]

Caspien [--/60]
Barghest [--/80]

Caspien really did not want to help the stupid dog, but again it had gotten itself in trouble, as he was incapable of controlling his appetite, or even really thinking beyond one step ahead of what he was doing in that moment. The lithe thief wanted to roll his eyes at the fact the dog was still his partner at all, the two of them only shared one common trait, and that was their animalistic appetite for destruction. Though the blonde was better at it. The idiot bandit who had questioned him moments ago was sprinting off to try and help our with dragging Barghest away, leaving the sharktoothed con-man to his own devices. The two blades that had slid down to his palm were skillfully retracted into his sleeve, leaving him feeling quite disappointed. Though he would not have used them in that moment, he had planned to watch the surrounding area carefully until he was able to draw that singular bandit away and practice his brand new technique on him. Alas, this new distraction was perhaps a little better than what he had planned, as they were not suspicious of him whatsoever, and furthermore, if he was lucky, that stupid dog might get taught a lesson by being captured by these guys. Unlikely though. The blades were once more supported in his sleeves, his left arm flexing and moving slightly to test how solid their positioning was. They would not be too hard to unsheathe once he was ready. He could have sworn he heard a whimper when the dog was finally pulled out of reach of the food, but he did not believe it to be real, the stupid mutt might have actually learned a thing or two from him.

Caspien continued his swaggering walk through the camp, feeling the give of the loamy earth beneath his soft shoed feet. He moved silently in this forest, so silently that he was sure he could hear the jingling of the blades within his clothes, which frustrated him. Those could not be allowed such freedom, as there were many people whose sense were as keen as his own, and for his weapons to be so easily revealed would simply not do. Pulling at the sleeves of his shirt as he walked towards the most populated area of the camp, he nearly froze as two of the blades came loose and slid down his forearm. His pace did not slow, but his left hand twisted oddly as he attempted to stay the blades, but instead felt the sharp tips dig into the flesh of the palm of his hand. He made no noise or motions that it had even happened, his calm mask preventing the outside world from hearing the swear words now echoing in his mind. One of the bandits under the rocky outcropping noticed him and frowned while walking towards him. The two daggers were still pierced his flesh and his hand was still twisted awkwardly, but he forced a sly grin as the man moved in to encounter the mysterious blonde arrival.

"Who are you then? And what's in your hand?"

As he spoke, his right hand rested against the hilt of a rather large sword at his waist. Caspien wanted to scoff, size did not matter, he knew that much. The blades quivered in his palm, but he steadied himself. He was an artist, not a common thug. With a twist of his wrist, one of the blades relinquished its bite in his palm and fell between his index finger and thumb. His grin twisted and drawled words spilled from his lips.

"Ay mate, ye caught me"

The blade flashed in the light of the fire, the hand of the bandit tightened around the blade, but Caspien let the knife drop to the floor.

"Technical problems mate, fell outta me harness"

The bandit glowered but did not proceed to draw his weapon. The second knife dropped to the ground too, bouncing lightly against the forest floor. The bandit looked down and the signature smirk fell from the face of the thief.

"Like I said, technical problems"

Caspien had wanted to holster two of the blades at once in preparation for an intimidating show of power, unfortunately, even with his countless hours of knife work, even he still had some practice to do when it came to the art.  The bandit eyed him warily, but the blonde haired sociopath merely grinned sharply back at him, which seemed to unnerve the man until he backed off a couple steps.  He gestured towards the mound of rocks that had been strategically placed into a hold for the treasures they had stolen.  It was mostly full of broken weapons and armor, even some weird siege weaponry that looked like it could be fun to play with.   The glint of treasure caught his eye beneath the rest of the garbage, and it made his cold heart warm for a moment.  

"I'm here to buy, your boys told me to come this way"

---

 Barghest was sad.  The smell of that full roasted hog still reached his nose and yet he was no so far away.  The net was made out of some metallic material that even his hellish teeth could not rip, though if the reactions of those assholes around him was any sign, his breath sure as hell did.  They learned real quick that if they wanted to keep their limbs, unlike the first walking eyebrow who had come at him, then they needed to stay as far as possible.  Luckily for them, he was as short as he was violent.  While he dug his claws into the earth, he growled and tried to decide how he could get back to that sweet sweet meat.  It was out of sight now, but he could practically see the smells wafting through the air towards him, enticing him like some sort of cartoon, playing with his olfactory senses.  One of the idiots yelled something at one of the others, and he felt a sharp pain in the back side of his body and he turned around in a rage, snapping at the jack booted foot that offended him.  His teeth caught leather, sinking into what he deemed a complete waste of cow and keeping the man very close by as his claws flashed out and tore into the soft flesh of his calf.  The men scattered, leaving the guy who was currently being used as a chew toy.  

"WHAT THE FUCK!? GET IT OFF ME!"

His screams echoed through the forest it looked as though the balls of the other shit heads had finally dropped, and they descended upon the hell hound, all intent with no longer capturing, but killing.  Barghest, used to this sort of inn fighting, released the leg of his victim and used the temporary chaos as a cover to rocket off into the distance, between the trees, hiding from the hunters, but keeping that sweet succulent scent of hog in his nose.  He tore through the underbrush, hearing the fading shouts of the bandits slowly disperse into the background.  His nose twitched violently as he tried to come up with a way of finding his way back, but not running back into those morons.  He vaguely recalled seeing the firelike blonde scruff of the taller, skinnier moron who called himself his owner, that asshole should have helped him get to the food, that was the only reason that the hound kept the stupid crook around.  Maybe if he was not so helpful next time, then Barghest would knock him into the fire and eat him instead.  He slowed his pace and looked around.  There was nothing delicious here, at least nothing that was going to be on the same level as that giant hunk of meat spit roasting on that fire pit he had left behind.  

The scent was still so enticing, even if it almost seemed like a slight memory by this point.  Life moved so fast.  He wandered around for a while, wondering which direction that the delectable meal had been.  The winds wafted the true direction of it around a little bit, but he was a trained and skilled hunter of meals, and he would be damned if a little nature was going to get in the way of his next meal.  His tail straightened as he took a deep breath, drawing in all the scents of the surrounding area.  There were animals near by.  He could smell their fear in the air.  It smelled a little like pee.  The grass was fresh in this area, and blood had even been spilled nearby, which was not so fresh.  This place had been fought upon within the last month, the earth had been torn and destroyed here, with the grass newly sprouting from the settled earth.  That was unimportant human nonsense, it had nothing to do with his meal.  His foot struck the hilt of a sword with a soft clunk as he continued walking back in the general direction of the camp, following the power of his nose.  He was going to make an appetizer of those stupid bandits before enjoying the entree from atop the fireplace, and finally, making dessert out of that stupid blondie asshole who had let him get caught and watched him get dragged away.   

[Promeleon]

Caspien [--/60]
Barghest [--/80]

Caspien could barely contain his glee at the eager response of the bandit, mentioning things such as the fact they had not been expecting him for a few days or some such.  His left knee sunk into the soft earth as he watched the retreating back of the target, his slender fingers wrapped around the handles of the throwing weapons, the cool feel of his blood restraining his mirth somewhat, the reminder that he was not immortal, and in fact, careless to the point of inviting death.  He paused the movements of the blades as he stood back to his full height.  Both knives sat in his palm, his thumb pressed against the hilts and the two blades spread at slightly askew angles, the edge of one pressing into the inside of his ring finger lightly.  It was an uncomfortable position for the knives to sit, but with some adjustments, he found a more fitting hand position.  The blades were visible from between his fingertips, but he was less concerned about that, his skills with sleight of hand were considerable, and it would take him a short time to master a positioning that did not reveal his intention.  His main concern at this moment was being able to strike two targets at once with the blades, and as it was now, there were 6 targets.  Had he been more skilled, this problem would have been solved in three swift movements, but he suspected it would take closer to five.  Staring at the back of the bandit as he cleared off the pile of refuse revealing some obviously stolen tech, he envisioned the movements.

The first movement of his arm, wavering due to uncertainty and a foreign grip on his weapon would be obvious and as clumsy as a beginner.  Perhaps one blade would would make it close to the target, but thrown weaponry and its use was a precise art that required intense precision, and even if the blade struck its target, a poor launch would mean the angle would minimize damage or even rotate the blade enough to prevent damage at all.  The second blade would not even leave his hand.  While the first bandit would become aware of his presence, the noise of him beginning his attack would alert the other five.  Learning from his previous mistake, Caspien would flourish his hands and four more blades would descend from their harnesses within his long sleeves, two in each hand as he squared up against his attackers.  The positioning of the blades would be easier this time, though this technique was an unfamiliar one, his skill with knives was unparalleled, and it would not take long for him to adjust.  The 6 bandits were still far enough away that they would not be considered a threat to him yet, especially as none seemed to have any ranged weapons, and if he changed his tactics up now, the lithe blonde would be able to kill them all simply, but he was not here simply for the purpose of killing, he was mastering his craft, learning.  

In his left hand, his thumb would adjust the angle of the two blades appropriately, as he was aiming for two individual targets this time, the two bandits on the left.  The first rose his sword over his head like a child would, clearly lacking skill or any sense of the danger the weapon possessed when brandished so poorly.  The second wore a shield on his off hand that covered him shoulder to knee, and he moved his weapon with more care and practiced ease.  Between the two of them, the shielded target was obviously the greater threat, not simply due to his shield, but the obvious training displayed in his movements.  His left arm moved in a snakelike manner, his forearm seeming to whip outwards, his wrist snapping up and the blades were released with great power.  Immediately he could feel the difference in the release of the knives, and it filled him with discomfort knowing their trajectory was not precise.  The first knife found its mark in the exposed chest of the left most bandit, whose weapon was raised foolishly above his head, and though it pierced his skin and did some damage, it was not the usual killshot it would have been had the thief simply used one knife.  He moaned and fell forward, rolling onto his side and crying out in pain, but he was ignored by the rest of his clan.  The second bandit was more prepared and his shield met the knife with a loud clang, though he may as well not have bothered shielding, as the handle of the knife clattered uselessly against the steel of the blockade.  

To his right, there were three people, he was going to have to decide which ones were the priority.  The bandit on the furthermost right was heavily armored and moving slowly, an enormous horse slaying blade bouncing on his shoulder as he moved towards his target.  In an ideal world, Caspien would have the time to pinpoint the weak spots of the armor without a worry, but there were more pressing matters with the other two bandits moving in closer.  The second and third both swung swords, and both did so with little regard to their own well being, displaying their lack of training.  The two blades were clenched a little too tightly in his right hand, he needed to loosen up a little, the lack of care in his previous throw had caused the error.  He needed to calm down and do the motion diligently and carefully.  His right arm moved in the same whip like motion that he had done previously, and his wrist snapped like the tip of a whip, but his slender fingers guided the path of the blades with greater care than the last throw, both of them leaving his finger tips smoothly and in the perfect trajectory towards their targets.  Naturally, it was not as powerful a throw as he was capable of, and in this regard it would be much like the first bandit who went down, they would be in pain and down for a moment, but they would certainly not be out.  

Black eyes met the landscape before him once more as Caspien removed himself from his mental training.  If he acted on those thoughts, it would end poorly for him, he needed to meditate on the performance of the technique for a little longer before he could try it out in these conditions.  

---

Barghest filled his nostrils greedily with the scent of meat, the smoke on the horizon reflected in his pitch black eyes as he moved swiftly towards his target, his stubby legs tearing into the soft earth as he ran.  Now that the blonde had intercepted that little camp of dickheads, he would have less resistance finding his meal, it was here somewhere, he could smell it.  He could feel it.  Hell, he could practically taste it.  He moved swiftly around trees and boulders, and it even took a lot of his restraint to not chase after a couple of small morsels that decided to cross his sight line.  There was a much larger treasure at stake here, and a rabbit, though delicious, was not a worthy sacrifice in the nose of such a delightful smell.  The hound had tracked food before, in fact that was all he ever really spent his time doing, even after meeting the thief, but it was rare that there would be a scent so inviting that he would forgo another sure meal in search of it.  Perhaps his nose was exaggerating the smell, or perhaps at the end of this long search, the meal would not taste as delectable as it smelled, and that this entire search would be for naught, but the beast could not take that chance, if there was even a .01% chance that this meal was going to be as good as it smelled, then he had to take it.  The trail of drool he left behind would be enough for the sharp eyed human to find him if need be. 

The scent was becoming all-encompassing, the beast moved as though he was floating on air, being drawn in by the scent of flesh roasting over an open fire, even from here the presence of herbs and spices as garnishes were ever present for him.  A dog has a significant sense of smell, but Barghest, a beast created only to eat and fight had been honing his sense of smell since birth, and it seemed to all line up simply for this moment as he coasted towards the source.  The forest began to open up to a more mountainous region, where only the oldest trees had powerful enough roots to crack the stony earth here, though it was clear from the gnarled wood and little foliage, that the earth was not as nourishing here as it would be in the denser forest region behind him.  He momentarily noted that those trees were the best for back scratches on, but this thought passed quickly as the smoke from the source of the smell became more visible over the rocky ridge that he was poised to climb.  His nose twitched madly as he climbed, each deep sniff bringing in more and more of the scent, his brain deciphering the many details that the olfactory sense gathered.  His eyes breached the precipice of the rock and below he could see a camp, an obvious raider camp, as there were people tied up and being held prisoner.

The dog did not care about any of that, in the center of the camp stood an enormous pyre, upon which say a spinning spit, the bloated body of an enormous hog spun on the skewer.  His eyes became wide, his mouth hung open and his tongue practically grazed the earth beneath him.  His sharp teeth glinted in the light as he began to descend down the rocky mountainside back down into the forested area.  There was no subtlety, simply a stampeding demonic beast aiming for the pyre.  The humans below looked up, some even questioning what was heading towards them.  The scent drove him mad as he moved, a free days worth of food already prepared for him, all he had to do was simply rid himself of a few pests and he was good to go until the blonde idiot found him again.