Another Day on the Job {Open}

[Kalak8538]

CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.

The sound of loud footsteps echoed between the trees of the Kilanthro foothills. They were the footsteps of a heavily-armored man, walking up the wooded trail towards the distant mountains. Unrelenting and efficient, he drove steadily forward like a farmer's plow through soil. His emotionless expression seemed just as stalwart as his large armored body. Wherever he needed to be, the man was intent on getting there, and there was nothing that was going to stop him.

Behind him was a young woman. She was clad in dirty and tattered clothing, showing that she had been through difficult times. She was bound, hands tied with thick rope and connected to a heavy iron collar worn around her neck. A medium-length chain led from the collar to the armored man's left hand. It was obvious that wherever the two were going, she was desperate not to follow. She struggled and protested against her bindings, attempting in vain to stop her captor's forward momentum. She may as well had been a mouse trying to stop an ox.

The tears that streamed down her face were unseen by the man. The huge tower shield he wore on his back blocked a direct line of sight to his head. Even if he had seen, it was clear that he did not care. As she tugged against him, he kept his heavy mace ready in the other hand. There was no reason to use it yet, but that could all change in a moment. The captor hoped there would be no trouble along the way.

[Ice]

There was another walking threw the woods. She was not that far ahead of the pair.  She had come here to hide her latest crime. She had stolen gold and few other things from some rich locals. It was not like they really needed it in her opinion. She thought the rich were greedy creatures. Then again so was she. She moved carefully though the trees . She did not want to be caught . Not that they could keep her in a jail. her acid claws and spit was enough to melt most binding and bars. Sometimes she had to laugh at how stupid humans were. She was a monster to most. However that was just opinion of others. She paid that no mind.

Then she heard the sound of heavy  footsteps coming from behind her. Someone was coming up the trail . She looked around not wanting to be seen. However as she moved she made quite a bit of noise moving he bag of stolen goods.  She hoped that whoever was behind her did not hear all of that noise. Or if they did they were to busy to come and investigate.

[Kalak8538]

The man hear the sound of rattling coming from up ahead. There was either something or someone just ahead. He did not care to investigate it, for it did not concern him. So far, whatever had made the sound did not get in the way of him or his mission. However, he did grip his mace a little tighter. Eyes scanned the road ahead as well as the tree line. It did not hurt to be cautious. The wilderness was not the safest of places, but he was confident that he could either deter or best any obstacle that presented itself.

The two pressed onward at the same, steady pace. The woman that was dragged behind had no more strength left to struggle. She barely had the strength to keep walking. Hearing the sound, she was not sure what to expect up ahead. She was frightened of what it could be, but even more frightened that her captor was pulling her towards it. She considered letting out a scream, in case it was someone who could help her. However, she stopped herself out of fear that it was something dangerous.

[Ice]

Della hid in the trees as the footsteps grew closer. Then she saw a rather large man with a woman tied behind him. She cocked her head slightly wondering why he was doing that. However she knew better then to get involved with humans and their business. Though she did think that perhaps the girl was being held captive by this man. Hum what was she to do?

As she stood there she saw that he was almost to where she was. Now being a notorious evil their she knew that if he was a figure of authority perhaps he would have heard of her. Or at least her crimes. Though he could just be some sort of criminal himself. She moved now making even more noise than before. She then stumbled over he sack.t hat ticked her off to say the least

" you Dang stupid Bastered !" She said loudly. Now it could have been taken as insult if one did not know what she was talking to . Not that Della really cared right now.

[Kalak8538]

Now he was confident of where the commotion was coming from. It was another traveler, or possibly a local. His guard dropped a bit, for it did not look like he was in for any confrontation. She was not even trying to be silent, or maybe she was, and was not doing a very good job. It mattered not, for if she meant to fight, she would have attacked already. She was definitely close enough.

Whatever the other traveler was saying or doing was unimportant. As long as she did not interfere. He ignored her and continued moving along. His prisoner, on the other hand, had another plan. She knew now that it was not someone who was going to attack them. She called out through the tears, the loudest that her hoarse voice would allow.

"Help! Whoever is there! Please! I need hel-"

She was cut off by a swift yank from her captor. The force was nearly enough to trip her up. Out of fear of another tug, she stayed silent and walked. Yet she desperately looked around with pain in her eyes for the other who could possibly help her.

[Ice]

Della who was now not in the best of moods heard the girls plea.  So she was a captive. she wanted to ignore her but she the saw how he yanked on her rope. wemen should not be treated like that.Well she might be a criminal but she was not heartless either. She had to help the poor girl. Though she knew there was a danger in doing that. So she left her bag and started to move. Without that damn bag she was much much quieter and much faster. She moved a head of the man . She was wondering how she was going to help the girl. Maybe she would fight him. Well she would have to to save her . He looked like the kind who did not like to lose either. well She certainly was not afraid of humans . Especially men who mistreated females.

She flies down from the trees and landed in man's path. She was far enough away when he would have trouble hitting her with a weapon. Except maybe a magic one. She took a fighting stance and grinned. Giving a growl She looked in to the man's face. It was a silent challenge to him. Something that a feal animal would do. She was not sure how but she would save the other female from this brute.

[Kalak8538]

It looked like this traveler did want to interfere after all. The armored man did not know exactly what he was looking at, but whatever it was seemed to want to fight judging by its stance. He gave a disgruntled huff. This could have been easy, but no. He knew from before that this thing knew the common tongue. He conducted this the same as any potential fight with intelligent beings. He would issue an ultimatum, doing his best to avoid conflict if necessary. There was still a long ways to go, and he preferred to not be drained by combat.

"Whatever you are, you are in my way. Move, or you will be sorry."

The captive looked upon her potential savior with both fear and joy. The creature was terrifying, but had most likely responded to her plea. She hoped that it would get her away from the bounty hunter.

[Ice]

Della was watching the man carefully now. She was not sure how to go about things like this. She was usually the one who was taking others captive. However she gave a slight smile as she heard what he said. Did he really think that was going to work?  Her tail moved slightly  as she started to laugh. It was an evil madding sort of laugh.

" I don't fear you.  You are just another lowly male to me." She said. He voice had a dark tone to it. She was crazy at times. And she could also be focused when she was doing something that she believed was a good thing. She then smiled and added. " I think you will be the sorry one"

She was ready for him to make a move. She was just as smart as anyone else. In fact she may not be quite but her brain made up for it. That was why she had never been caught.

[Kalak8538]

It claimed not to fear him, as did many enemies. Maybe this was true, maybe it was a bluff. The man saw there was at least wariness in the creature's eyes, and it refused to strike first.

"That may be... But right now, you are stopping me from collecting my bounty."

He dropped the chain to the ground, swiftly moving a foot over it to anchor it to the ground. He removed the tower shield from his back, and got in his most solid stance.

"This does not concern you. This is your last chance! Move!"

[Ice]

Della moved slightly as if to compile with the man. She was actually doing something quite the opposite. She was going to attack. However it had to grind in the right manner. " Stupid human . " She stated. She saw him taking the defensive now . She had to be careful now. She did not want to get killed. " Oh I'll move alright"  she said . Then she laughed at him.

She move with lightning speed as she took to the air. She was low enough to where she could try to him him with her talons. They were one of the main defensive she had. She knew that even if she just made him stumble there was a chance the girl could escape. She did not want her hurt.

[Kalak8538]

The defender had been wondering if the creature before him was able to fly. Apparently it was. Now he knew...

In all his experiences traveling through northern Serendipity, he had learned to expect anything and everything when fighting such strange creatures. The razor sharp talons racing towards his head did not frighten him in the slightest. In response, he raised his great shield up off the ground and awaited the impact.

The force of the attack was not nearly great enough to budge the defender. It was a mix of his strength, as well as the weight of the heavy plate armor. He stood fast, unmoved as a giant boulder would be after such a strike. The only one to move was the prisoner, who fell to the floor and curled up to protect herself. She was not even attempting to free herself anymore. All she wanted was to be out of the way of this combat.

It was the bounty hunter's turn to attack now. With his enemy closed in on him, he took a high overhead swing with his mace.

[Ice]

Della flapped her wings as she hit his armor with her talons. What this man did not now was that they did have acid if she chose for them to. However she was not trying to kill him. Just wound him  . She expected him to time back at her. Now she saw him swing his mace at her. It would have hit her if had not been for some quick flapping on her behalf. He was avast but she didn't have heavy armor wheighing her down.

She had another trick up her sleeve . Her tail was another useful weapon of hers. But that also meant that there was a chance he could grab it . It was a risk she was willing to take. So she swung her whip like tail at him now to try to hit his shoulder or arm.

[Kalak8538]

The bounty hunter expected a dodge, and quickly recovered from the swing. The tail was next, a weapon not overlooked by the armored man. Beasts such as this normally resorted to that. Once again, he successfully moved the giant shield in the way of the attack. Though years of intense training allowed him to move it more quickly than a normal man, it was still considerably cumbersome.

The way he moved it this time hindered him, stopping him from countering with his mace a second time. Even so, he preferred blocking with his shied over his armor. Enchanted items were much more sturdy than mundane items. His stance held, and he remained in place. A more cocky or boastful fighter would have had said a line here, but this fighter was not like that. He carefully observed his foe with his unwavering blue gaze, waiting to defend, and hopefully counter, against the next strike.

[Ice]

Della felt her tail hit the. Heavy sheild. She was going to have to use other methods.  Well she had one more option she could try. she would have to be careful with it though. She moved away from the man a bit as she got ready with her next attack. She spit a line of acid at the man intended to wound him. She did not aim for his face though. She did not wish to kill him. Not yet anyway.

[Kalak8538]

Another reactive movement of the giant shield yielded a slight sizzling sound. The warrior knew all too well what this meant: Acid.

He had faced this before, but always hated doing so. The last time he had faced a creature that used acid, a fine amount of his equipment needed to be replaced or repaired. The man cursed under his breath as the caustic liquid dripped down the front of his shield. It left a very faint yet visible mark, but the enchanted metal was thick. It would take much more than that to get through it.

The bounty hunter was at a disadvantage in his current situation. The foe had range as well as a projectile attack. He could close the distance, but that meant taking his foot away and almost certainly freeing his captive. He continued to stand fast, trying to decide what was more important: Holding onto his bounty, or felling the creature?

The latter seemed to like the obvious choice. It was unrelenting, and now it most likely knew of its advantage. Without the girl however, he could not receive his payment until he tracked her down again.

[Ice]

Della saw that the acid had left a small mark on the child. Well she could could try again. She call her wings and gave a low growl. She then held  more acid in her mouth. She wanted to get closer to him before she struck. She move just a bit closer but not to close. She doesn't want to get him by a return attack .

She now spit more acid at him. Since she had held it in her mouth it was a little stronger then the first was. She could not judge how strong though. The more she used though the stronger it got.

[Kalak8538]

There was no choice now. All the man could do was defend in his current situation. The enemy was using her range to her advantage, and her acid was starting to noticeably damage the shield. He had to go on the offensive.

Readying his mace, he took his foot off the chain and suddenly charged. He kept his shield up to protect against the acid stream, and moved quickly forward. He barreled towards his enemy like a rolling boulder, just as he had done many times before. This move would knock her down with the sheer force of his combined mass. Of course, she could probably dodge. She seemed agile enough to do it. That was what the mace was for, waiting like a scorpion's tail to strike at whichever direction she would move. That is, if the shield charge did not work.

The captive woman cowered on the ground, not noticing yet that there was no one holding her. No one stopping her from escaping at this moment.

[Ice]

Della saw the man moving toward her very quickly.  Well it looked like if the female were to notice she would be free. however Della now had this man to deal with. Well she must have made her point. He was comingher way.  She was fast enough to be able to dodge him. She just had to wait for the right moment.

Just a few seconds more and she moved out of his way only to have him swing his mace at her. Well it hit her rather hard . Lucky that her dragon skin was hard to price. She hit the ground and cringed. Well that hurt. It would take a sector her to recover from that strong of a blow.

[Kalak8538]

The man watched as his foe toppled to the ground. He stood over her, ready for another strike.

Behind him, the captive realized her opportunity and began to seize it. With her persuer distracted, she shakily rose to her feet. She looked on, realizing that the one responsible was laying flat on the ground.

The man lifted his mace high in the air. It was ready to fall onto the creature, with all the man's strength aiding gravity's pull downwards. Surely, it would have been a very savage strike.

Freedom was a possibility now. To him, she was already gone. He would not turn to look in her direction, not when he was so focused on killing the interloper. Still, she could not simply allow her savior to be killed like this.

With nothing else she could do, she charged headlong into the armored man. Her frail form did virtually nothing to the hard metal wall of a man. However, he did lower his mace.

She once again had his attention. He spun around quickly, knocking the woman back into the ground with a swing of the massive shield. With her stunned on the ground as well, the man could now focus back on the creature.

The woman had not done much, but perhaps she did give her potential rescuer a few crucial seconds to recover...

[Ice]

Della gave a cringe as she tried to recover. She saw the man raise his mace she knew that she could not get out of the way . She readied herself for the blow knowing it was going to hurt. However it was about that time she saw the girl come to try to help. Well she hoped that she would not get. Herself killed. It did give her time to get to feet though.

She managed to get up as her for faced her again. She glared at him with a very evil look in her eyes. She had to get him because he certainly was going to kill her now.  She raided the acid on her claws now. She did not have weapons herself. She really didn't need them. Her left should was hurt bad but she could deal with that latter. Right now she was just focused on the man .