A Hunt

[Silence]

Click.

Huh? Was that-

Crack.

Oh hell.

Alder turned and ran for the nearest exit as a couple of rocks started to crumble away from the wall and rain down upon him. At first, it was just an annoying hail of pebbles, painful, yes, but nothing he was going to die of. Still, he knew what that meant.

The place was coming down around him.

Alder's mind analysed the area as he ran. Ok, so the most stable path was... there, right, so if he went via that route, he'd just disturb the place more, but if he jumped that stone and then circled around that table there, he'd lose a little time, but he wouldn't bring down the place any sooner...

Oh hell, he wasn't going to make it. He was one floor up and he wasn't going to have time to get to the bottom and out the way he game. Ok, by memory, the tower was about three floors tall, and if he went through the steps he had taken- ah... alright, that wall to his left should lead to the outside. He could neutralise the gravity as he fell, so that wasn't a problem, he just had to find a way through the wall.

The wall crumbled and Alder grinned. Ok, so that wasn't a problem. Taking a twentieth of a second to prepare himself, he charged at the wall and brought up his arms to protect his face as he went straight through it. One moment, there were breaking stones all around him, and then, he was falling, the ground rushing up towards him.

Damn, he did this far too often. Ah well, that at least meant that he'd gotten ok at landing.

Alder picked a patch of soft looking ground, and then lessened his fall by absorbing some of the gravity and finally landing in a roll.

Right... that had been a pointless endeavor. Where to nex-

"Gah!"

Alder's sixth sense kicked in as a rock flew straight towards his head. Alder ducked under it, only just getting clipped on the back of his head as he did so. The force was still enough to knock him to the floor, and before he could push himself up again, another rock landed on his foot, trapping it.

By the time he'd gotten it free, he'd lost far more time than he'd wanted to.

"Damn it all."

Testing his leg again, he looked around himself, trying to get his bearings again... ok, well, that probably scared everything off... hell.

((Stuck here this turn apparently))

[Texas_Knight]

Alder: The tower collapses and you lose a turn.

Aida: You spot a spotted fawn.

Texas: You see a large snake hanging from a tree.

Is the snake alive or dead, and venomous or non-venomous?

[balerion]

You can tell very much that the snake is alive, but it has no dangerous markings.

[Texas_Knight]

TK looks at the snake and thinks it would make a great belt or had, and the meat would make a good meal tonight. Carefully he pulls his sword and approaches the snake. He makes a skilled strike and the head of the snake falls to the ground followed seconds later by the headless body. Quickly he skins the thing and sets the hide to dry while he makes camp and cooks his supper.

The next morning he keeps moving the same direction hoping to find more things to kill and hunt. (56)

[Aida]

After her so far fruitless hunt, she very nearly jumped out of her skin at the spotted fawn. It was a beautiful creature, and she felt a pang of sympathy for it. Yet, she had to eat and so lining up her shot as carefully as she dared, she aimed and let loose a single arrow, holding her breath and waiting to see if it would hit. ((Waiting to see whether it hits this turn))

[balerion]

*Life has been rather busy, still, sorry for falling behind.

Alder: You have freed yourself!

Texas: You find some old bones, but no sign of what creature may have gnawed on them.

Aida: You take the fawn unaware and shoot it in the heart.

[Silence]

Ah hell, that was probably going to mean he'd lost... that took up way too much time, like way way too much and probably scared off everything in the immediate area.

Alder reached down to his leg and tested it once more.

Ok, move.

He crushed a vial in his left hand and then jumped, landing in the branches of a tree. Excess force bled out from between the beetles that covered his body as he glanced around, trying to get a feeling for something, anything that might help.

Damn it all, he was going blind here. Alright, he could backtrack and try and figure out what that noise was... no, too much time for not enough pay off.

Very well, he was fairly sure that nobody had come from the south area, so that meant it was unexplored.

Extending his hand, he sent thirty beetles in that direction to check it for anything interesting. He then vaulted down and walked after them, wanting to be within range to respond in at most a couple of minutes if one of them found something.

((59))

[balerion]

I think that at this point it'd be best if I go ahead and call it if there are no objections?

[Silence]

((Yeah, go ahead))

[balerion]

Thank you all for making this fun, sorry again for real life making it peter out at the end. The victory goes to...

*Drumroll*

Texas Knight!!!