Rotten Forest (Open to all)

Cassian wandered through the tangled underbrush of the Rotten Forest, Reddington perched on his shoulder while Ashen weaved with ease through the knarled trees. He glanced down at the bounty poster requesting the eradication of a nest of monster that were bothering the old Nightwing tribe, 1500 gold reward and Red chittered on his shoulder as if understanding what he was looking at. Ashen stopped, ears perked up as if picking up a sound, and it was confirmed when Cassian picked up the slight rustling in the brush. His eyes darted to the left when he picked up a swift-moving shadow weaving between trees, and his gloved hands cautiously drifted to the two Karambit knives resting at his hips. He waited, here and there the shadow dashed through the dark forest, closer every time. He tensed, knives at ready and Reddington safely tucked in the saddle-bag. Then, it struck. The unidentified monster leapt from its cover, red eyes flashing and toothy maw grinning in unnatural lengths and wicked claws curving towards Ashen’s neck, though it never reached its target. Cassian sprung from his position on the blue roan’s back meeting the beast in mid-air and knocking it to the ground. He stood up, the humanoid-like creature following on all fours, its emaciated form’s details sharply outlined with deep shadows. It laughed, sounding human, but with a demonic child’s tone underlying the seemingly adult voice. It sent chills up his spine as he stared at the wide, grinning mouth, a purple fluid dripping from its black, dagger-like teeth. It attacked first, hands outstretched, ready to eat him alive and savor his screams, but it wouldn’t get what it wanted. Cassian, dubbed the Stray, met the attack, dashing behind the beast and leaping on its back, easily overcoming its 10ft height and plunging his daggers in its back on either side of its visible spine, the blades curved towards him. The monster let out an Unholy scream, that seemed to be swallowed up by the decaying woods around them, it thrashed wildly as if having an exorcism. His face remained impassive as he clung with ease to the hilts of his weapons. Eventually, the Stray decided to continue through his attack, and dragged the Karambit down the demonic being’s back, cutting through the flesh with ease as purple fluids oozed out of the fatal wound. If possible, the multi-voice scream grew louder, causing blood to trickle out of his ears and run down his sharp jawline. He barely winced, and finished off the injury pulling out the dual blades with the violet fluid trailing after it, along with a chunk of muscle at tendons. The monster retreated back, breathing heavily and glaring at Cassian with hateful eyes. His face remained carefully blank as, without warning, he dashed forward with a baffling speed, hard for a human to reach. His teen body weaved through the monster’s wild slashes as he slid under his target, dragging the Karambit through its underside, ignoring the rain of blood and organs that bathed him with a disgusted grimace on his pale face. Turning, as he finished his attack, he watched his opponent with careful eyes. The unholy animal was still, then, ever so slowly, it toppled to the side, landing with a wet thump and purple pooling around it. The adrenalin wore off soon after, and Cassian swayed slightly steadying himself and surveying his body for wounds. A gash across his should, and a couple scrapes and bruises, along with unnatural gore dressing his cloths with stains.

“Well, now I know I’m going to need a bath after this.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his white-haired head and walking over to his animal companions that were watching the whole thing. Ashen snorted as Reddington chittered at the horse, as if having a heated discussion. Cass chuckled at the sight, and soon mounted his steed and continued on his journey through the Rotten Forest.

A pack of Catawals were nearby. They heard the sounds of a struggle and smelled blood--a lot of it. An easy meal. The pack was nine strong, the most for these particular monsters. They quickly made their way to the kill site. The lizards devoured the carcass but their appetites were not sated. One of them lifted their heads, their tongue flicking the air. The scent was moving, going away from the dead beast. It turned and ran off, following the horse-mounted human with blood-stained clothing. The rest of the pack followed suit.

Cassian let out a long-suffering sigh, swiveling on Ashen's back so he was facing his mounts haunches. With one deft, well-practiced move, he swiped his bow from it's position on the side of the saddle-pack, and shrugged on his quiver of 60 arrows on his shoulder. reaching his arm over his head he pulled one from a section of 20 poison-tipped arrows. The poison was one of his lethal doses, death in liquid form, as he liked to call it. It only acts in a mere 20 seconds rushing through the bloodstream and attacking the vital organs, mostly he brain, and causing them to shut down quicker then you can say Baldirak(don't ask). Pulling back the arrow, he inhaled deeply, and released it with his exhale. It flew, undaunted, through the air, striking the pack leader in the right eye, and instantly acting. In quick succession he fired ten more poison-tips, hitting 7 out of his ten targets behind the already-toppling monstrosity of a leader.
he swore quietly under his breath and looked back up with an impassive expression, "Great, now I have to make more of those." The other targets of his poison all fell, spasming on the ground while their bodies painfully tried to reject the poison, with no luck. He continued with a volley of normal arrows, face eerily calm as he moved with the gate of his loyal horse.

The first Catawal fell, having been struck in the eye. But the rest of the arrows bounced harmlessly off the tough hides of the lizards. They went around or over their fallen pack mate and pursued the horseback riding human. In the dense forest, the horse could not run as fast, so the Catawals caught up quickly. Four of them bit at the ankles of the equine; four jumped up, biting and clawing at the haunches and sides of it. The last one seemed more interested in the human and tried to attack him.

Ashen quickly bucked striking out with his hind legs and breaking the bones of any Catawals near their vicinity. Cassian glared at the lizards, officially pissed, and coated his dual blades in toxin. If looks could kill, these monsters would be six feet under. With agility hard for a human to accomplish he leapt at one lizard to the next, using his claw-like daggers to stab them in the eyes, causing them to screech in horror. In quick succession half of the group of Caterwauls were laying on the ground in uncontrolled seizures, screeching with unholy pain caused by this new poison, which is meant for torture. It kills too, making the heart beat quicken until the heart fails. He leapt back on ashen, who was panting heavily with blood loss. His eyes flashed with worry as he brought out his steel-wire traps. Whispering words of comfort to his only family he leapt at the remaining lizards, latching the wire tightly to their necks and cutting off the air-flow. If they tried to pull the cutting wires off with their talons, they would injure their throats. After leaping back up to Ashen he pulled out road-spikes and a bottle of toxic acid, dipping the vicious, barbed metal into the acid, causing the metal to sizzle but hold strong. Throwing them around him he watched with apathy as they screeched, and fell to the ground. He armed himself with his signature weapons and waited for the next move.

This particular group of Catawal have dealt with horses before. Some had been kicked before; a couple had been kicked in just the right spot to be killed. They could tell when a horse was about to buck, and moved away from the hind legs. And so they did now, jumping back as the equine tried kicking. One didn't move fast enough and caught a hoof, however, it wasn't enough to kill it.

When the horse stopped, the lizards--minus the one that still lay dazed on the ground--continued their assault. The six of them jumped onto the horse, clawing and biting. One scratched at the leg of the human as he fiddled with his daggers, taking the time to coat them in some substance rather than keeping his eye on the Catawals. Suddenly, the human jumped off the horse and onto the downed Catawal. Four ran over while the human tried stabbing at the other. They jumped onto him all at once, two latching onto his arms, one landing on his back, and the other attacking his left leg. The first two locked onto his flesh with their teeth; the one on his back hissed and tried biting at his neck while raking him with its claws; the one at his leg also dug in with teeth.

The remaining three kept their focus on the equine. It was getting sluggish with the amount of blood it had lost thus far. One climbed up its side and, with nothing there to impede it now, got onto the horse's back. Another distracted the horse at the front, biting at its front legs and keeping it from kicking the third Catawal. The third Catawal, meanwhile, tried to go for the throat.