Tree Dog! [Open to all]

[shiro]

A short distance from the village there was less than a peaceful scene “Get im!”...

Uzayli ran for his life, the Gnolls he met before had managed to trace his scent and track him down, hell bent on revenge and not learning from their last encounter. Uzayli was outnumbered by 3 to 1 they were fast too.

He risked a glance back, he couldn’t see them but he could certainly hear them crashing through the forest. He to tore a path through the forrest, weaving in and out of the large trees but paying no attention to the weak saplings.

He dug his paws into the ground causing a cloud of dirt and stone to cascade down the edge of the ravine. He swung his arms about momentarily trying to gain balance and stop himself from going over.

Turning he could see the first one come into view “Scrat!” he confirmed to himself. Scrat was the second in command, smaller and quicker than Brogg the leader and weaker but still a dangerous enemy to have. He watched as Scrat patted the stone hammer menacingly “Got ya now warlock!” Scrat shouted.
Uzayli looked around the path ahead was too steep to take without risk of serious injury and the sides were dense. The only way was up.

Uzayli partially released the two heavy chains which were wrapped around his wrists and started to swing them.
“Heh heh heh...Bring it on warlock! Bring it on!” Scrat taunted before rushing at him. Releasing the rest of the length of the chains in an upwards motion Uzayli was lifted into the air and temporary safety of the trees just in time as Scrat brought down the heavy hammer making an indent in the ground....
Uzayli clung onto the tree, the chains now wrapped around his wrist once more. He started to ascend the tree followed but shouting and insults for the newly arrived party. They called out at him shouting obscenities and throwing whatever they could at the tree, easily missing it to add to their frustration.

Safely in a strong bough he watched as the Gnolls were getting more and more worked up. Great he thought, looks like this is one I am going to have to sit out. He looked around for an escape route but the other trees were to o far even with the aid of his chains. He looked at the sky and saw something shoot past, he wished he was able to do that, able to fly and get away from this place and away from the scum who were after him. It wasn’t his fault they hated him nor was he a warlock or at least he didn’t think he was. He didn’t really understand what one of those was anyways, probably some fancy insult coming from Scrat, he was always good with words.

Uzayli dug deep into his pockets and pulls out a few things. It was always surprising what he could find. He never remembered what he always did as a human, those moments were rare.. He pulled out a few gelds looked at them then threw them down, whatever they were they were not of interest to him.

He pulled out a mouldy piece of chicken. The smell made his mouth water ... he stuffed the piece including the bone in his mouth and swallowed it in one. His stomach confirmed it was food a few minutes later as it growled at him... He was getting hungry. He looked down and saw the 3 laying at the foot of the tree. Squabbling as usual and obviously trying to wait him out....
Uzayli shook his head, life was miserable, he was alone and the time he managed to mix with his own kind lasted only a few days.. He had walked so far and for what, just to survive, just to find food, he had no other goals in life.

He looked at Brogg bossing the others about ordering Grott to gather something while he and Scrat guarded the tree making sure their victim couldn’t escape.

[shiro]

Time flew by and night fell. Nobody was giving in. The gang of gnolls had tried starting a fire at the bottom of the tree without success and were now eating whatever prey or dead things Grott had brought back for them. Even up in the tree Uzayli could smell the rotten meat, he could not help salivate at the smell. Hunger was setting in and his stomach started to growl.
The group heard this and started to laugh, a flurry of new taunts were soon exchanged as they waved bits of dead things at him and took their time to savour their meal while he watched in vain.
The smashed the tops of bottles of wine against the tree and started to drink as well as crunch down on the odd bit of glass. "Wan' som' tree dog!" Brogg shouted as he hurled the empty vessel up at the tree. Uzayli returned the favour by whipping out the bladed poi, catching the bottle and sending a shower of glass down to the sender.

Brogg cried out as a piece stuck in the corner of his eye. His comrades laughed but soon stopped when Brogg growled at them. "Yah dead meat Uz, dead meat ya hear!" The taunting stopped for a while as the leader nursed his eye and the other two dozed after their meals.

[Raven]

This activity had not gone unnoticed.

Hiding in the bushes was a small Abyssian who was drawn by the sounds of harsh barks and loud shouts. He was a merchant of sorts, specializing in rare items of the mystic variety. Right now he saw an opportunity to make some quick coins and if he was lucky, perhaps a little more. This cunning trader was Kreep, a short inland Abyssian with feelers for making a quick buck or two.

But he was going to have to be careful, Gnolls had a reputation for being violent and rather dim. It was quite possible that he could end up a side-order of shrimp as they wait for the treed Gnoll. The risks were high, but the rewards could be worth it and if things went wrong, Kreep could always make a distraction and skitter away for the nearest body of water.

Slowly Kreep pulled himself out of the underbrush, moving closer to the small camp on swift legs as he watched the odd canines. The Abyssian paused only when he noticed that one of the Gnolls had botched an attack on their prey, causing glass to rain down on him. This was no where near the sort of environment that Kreep would like to step into, as the Gnolls were now enraged, possibly beyond the point of caring about what he had to offer. However, he was far too close to try to turn and run away, it would just cause them to chase after Kreep.

"Good evening my fine fellows!"

Kreep greeted in a cheerful tone as he came upon the Gnolls, but keeping a good 20 feet between him and them, just to make sure he had time to act if this all went south.

"I see that you all have a little problem and if you know of my kind, you know we love to buy and sell. Perhaps I can give you a slight edge, perhaps a shiny crossbow enchanted to always hit what you aim at?"

Kreep had baited the hook, now all he had to do was real in some very toothy fish.

After speaking Kreep glanced up at the Gnoll sitting in the tree, wondering if maybe that being would care for one of Kreep's little 'game changers' to get his fuzzy rump out of this mess. Of course Kreep couldn't flat out offer it to the other Gnoll, his 'friends' would just rip Kreep to shreds...

This was going to be tricky.

[shiro]

Brogg looks at the being for a moment, amazed that such a creature had enough guts to approach them or was simply stupid enought to approach them.
"Hey guys I sea food....heh heh heh.....! Get it sea food, OI Scrat, Grott wake up... I just made a funny! Grrr"

Brogg kicked the two awake then quickly swung back to face the creature, the others rubbing their legs and rising to their feet.

Brogg pulled up a large Fibula bone from their meal and started to pat it in his paw, thick drool clung to the end of it, threatening to drip to the ground, he approach the trader with it.... "Let's 'av no funny business with ya! heh heh.... funny little thing you are.... no worries we treat you alright if you look after us if you know what I mean!"

He closed in 5ft "Got somthing nice here for you's to chew on if you's like!" Scrat and Grott were giggling like a couple of pups in the background...

Meanwhile Uzayli looked at the scene intently, maybe soon he would have his chance to make his move while the trio were pre-occupied.

[Raven]

Right away things started to look grim for the Abyssian, with the Gnolls already advancing on Kreep who was still putting on a brave front. The little shrimp like being was no fighter, he wasn't going to win a fair or unfair fight one for that matter. He had hoped that these Gnolls would be more interested with getting their tree-bound brother instead of eating whoever wandered up to them

"I think you need a demonstration..."

Kreep stepped back a bit as his claw snapped at them, partly as a warning and partly as a warning to the group. Using his sub-arms the Abyssian opened up his jacket before his main-arm dived into one of the pockets, grabbing a hold of something before pulling it out with strong fingers. Slowly a long golden pole emerged from such a little pocket, ending in a wide flat tip, showing it's true nature as a spear. Kreep didn't give the Gnolls a second to think about the weapon, he instead arched his arm back and hurled the weapon. However it wasn't aimed for either of the Gnolls, it soared over their heads and ripped into the trunk of the tree, well within reach of their prey.

"If either of you had that spear, your little problem in the tree would have been good and dead. However, you seem to be more interested in eating me. If you don't, I can offer you far better toys then a spear that warps back to it's thrower, when he or she wills it to."

Kreep then glanced back up at the Gnoll in the tree, hoping that the treed canine was smart enough to understand just what kind of spear it was and just how easily he could use it to end his 'friends' down below. It was all the help Kreep could risk giving out, keeping his motives further cloaked as he began to work at just living through this night. That is, if he couldn't buy the Gnolls off and get away before they thought about eating him again. There were several ways this could end in Kreep's favor and the little Abyssian oh so loved stacking the cards in his favor.

[shiro]

"ok shrimp, you got my 'tension! lets see what else ya be packin" Brogg perked up.
As he moved even more closer he turned and looked at the two giggling Gnolls "OI! makes ya'selves useful, go back an' tell Big Boss this thing has some decent wares ta sell, yeh, go tell big bosss" Brogg grinned, he waited till the two had run out of sight then looked at the creature again "Big Boss has all da' funds"

Meanwhile Uz' had pulled the spear free from the trunk of the tree. He clumsly knocked it on a branch sending out a metalic ringing sound.

Brogg turned and saw him "That's it me' boy, chuck it 'ere and I'll call it quits amongst us"

"Are you sure?" Uzayli called out, looking at the large Gnoll then to the creature.

"Cos' I'm sure, we were only joking around. We should show this being some Gnollish 'ospitality don't ya think eh eh?"

Although a Gnoll, Uz still had slightly more intelligance than what Brogg was giving him credit for. He had seen how the leader of this group worked and knew he could not trust his word.

Aiming the spear at the leader he called out "Ok boss, here catch it will ya'"
Uz flung the spear with as much might as he could muster while clinging onto the safety of the tree. His plan confirmed successful as the leader let out a pained howl and rolled about on the ground with an impaled paw, the large Gnoll had acted just as Uzayli had planned and had tried to catch the spear as it sailed through the air.

Now was the opportunity he had been waiting for. Now was the time to escape.
He slammed the blades into a branch and swung outwards and downwards, manipulating the chains at the last moment to release the bladed. He landed on his feet close to the shrip like creature.

Ignoreing the howling he shouted to the creature... "If you value your life your follow me, quick!"

That was it he had done his bit, he had returned the favour in his eyes by warning the creature it was not safe. Uzayli knew the groups tactics and knew there was not a "Big Boss" it was merely a ploy to buy time or to enable the group to carry out a back attack fooling their victims.

Uz didn't bother to check if the beaing had heeded his words he was already at the edge of the ravine and starting to carefully make his way down, it was going to be a slow process and trecherous but it was the most likely route of escape, Scrat and Grott had gone in the opposite direction and their leader maimed and more interested in getting the metal pole out of his paw.

[Raven]

Kreep watched on with hidden glee as the Gnolls turned from 'eat' to 'ooo shiny' which suited him just fine. But before he could think of what to sell those laughing jackals, the treed Gnoll seemed to have gotten it in his head that the spear gave him an advantage. It was long before Kreep's plan went into action and his prized spear ended the fool who dared suggest that the little Abyssian would taste good. All and all it was a good day.

Kreep clicked his claw nervously as he began to summon up a bit of will power, just as the treed Gnoll landed by him the shrimp opened his claw and used his power over water to make a thick plume of steam billow out into the cool air, giving himself a bit more time. He was breaking a little hard after that, but was still able to put up a good chase if needed. With that he turned to see the Gnoll bounding off into the forest, which normally would have been a good thing. But that Gnoll had been the last to use the spear, which meant it would only return to him and him alone...

"Hey! Call back the blasted spear you moron!"

Kreep bellowed out as he began to race off after the Gnoll, determined to either get his weapon back or make the dog pay for it. For a creature of the water, the Abyssian was making pretty good time running through the forest and soon caught up to the Gnoll to a cliff, which the canine was now climbing down. Kreep of course began to follow, making good time since he had four arms to the Gnoll's two, which made scuttling down easier for him.

"You better summon that blasted spear back or else I'll make you pay for it!"

When money was involved, Kreep was not afraid to get his hands dirty now and again. In his eyes this Gnoll had stolen from him by not getting the spear back right after use and then returned it to Kreep, one way or another the Abyssian was not about to lose out on such a grand item...

[shiro]

Uz looked back at the crustation now annoyed at the gutsy thing having a go at him. "Your spear, your problem!!! You wanna go back and collect it from two blood thirsty Gnolls and their wounded alpha thats up ta you!, I know where I'm going"

Uz was trying to concentrate decending, unlike the crab thing it was extreamely difficult to stay upright and climb down, the ground kept giving way causing a cascade of stones and dirt, he slipped but instinctively burried the two blades into the soft soil. The weight of his body pulled him dowm several foot before he slowly came to a halt. He carefully regained his balance and released the blades from the soil. He looked up at the crustatian "I meant to do that!" clearly not but he didn't want to look foolish to this thing following him.

Uz put a paw up quickly to gesture the crab like being to stop talking, his ears homming in on the goings on up above. The howling had stopped and now turned to angry barking.

"we's better hurry of we wanna see another night!" He set about decending once more urgently, too urgently and again the ground gave way, Uz was quicker this time and grabbed an overhanging branch and stopped himself falling.

He let out a sigh of relief then continued his journey downwards.

[Raven]

Kreep was having no trouble at all in climbing down, each of his four limbs could find plenty of nooks to dig into as he kept pace with the panicked Gnoll. Every time he reached out with his main hand, his two sub arms always had a good grasp, making sure that the little shrimp like being was in no danger of falling. His main worry was that the traitor Gnoll he was keeping an eye on would die, after all he doubted that the dog had the sort of coin Kreep needed just laying in a pouch on his body. Such hopes ere for the moronic and desperate, Kreep was neither, though at times he couldn't help but try and look for a silver lining when his cloud was full of lightning and thunder.

"You better! Because if you think those Gnolls are something to be afraid of, you haven't seen a cheated Abyssian!"

While most would ignore the threat, Kreep was dead set on making good his words. After all, he had stuck his neck out for this blasted ingrate, only to lose a rather pricy item to boot. Next time Kreep saw the chance to do some good, he would think twice before risking one of his prized magical items on a gamble like this.

[shiro]

Uz swung around at the words his anger slightly raised, he was about to shout an obsenity at the creature when he was silenced by the shouting above. He looked up, Scrat and Grott were peering over the edge of the ravine "Found em boss!!!, Your dead now Uz, you and your friend!" Grott had already started to carefully crawl over the edge just as the angry face of Brogg looked over his face covered in blood where he has licked his wounded hand. A trail of drool and blood trickled and dripped from his mouth as he growled at the two "DIE!!!!!!" He threw a log down at them, it narrowly missed the Abyssian and Uz but was enough of a warning for Uz to get moving again.

"Oi' prawn, missing sommin?" Scratt held aloft two pieces of the once complete spear blood on the end of each , it was clear they had to break it in half to free their leaders paw. He threw the pointed end at Uz and the other piece at the Abyssian and laughed as it made a clanking sound as it failed to hit its target.

"STOP PLAYING AN' GET EM!" Brogg bellowed.

Uz reached some solid ground at last, a ledge of rock protruding out of the face of the steep hillside he looked back at the Abyssian. "You think your more deadlier than one of us, thats fine, you can sort em out!"

Brogg continued to shout orders but didn't decend like the others, Uz glanced up for a moment. Brogg would have usually gone ahead of the gang being the strongest, either he wasn't doing this now beacuse of his wounded paw or he had other ideas.

As he hurled orderes at his followers and abuse at the Abyssian and Uz, Uz could not help letting the torrent of insults get to him, comments about his mother being a cross breed and what a weakling he was. Uz could feel the tension in the air and the static building in his body, his fur starting to rise upwards. He clenched the chains harder, gritted his teeth. "You commin' or gonna hang about wingeing?"

[Raven]

Suddenly there was an explosion of sound from above, angling his head up the Abyssian spotted the source, which happened to be several very annoyed Gnolls. Kreep would have rolled his eyes if he was able to, but instead focused on continuing his climb back down and keeping out of the dog's reach.

Kreep ignored the harsh words flung at him and the other Gnoll, words weren't any threat to him. However, falling logs were. Kreep's head snapped up just in time to see the log and pull his body close to the rocks, managing to stay out of the way of the falling mass of dead wood and moss. While this was something to be upset over, Kreep kept his mouth shut, he tried very hard not to be bothered by this, but then the last straw fell and the Abyssian could stand it no more.

The shrimp like being made a chittering hiss as he reached out to grab one of the falling snapped halves of his spear before tucking it firmly in his jacket pocket, knowing he could possibly make use of it at a later date.

Then the Abyssian raised up one of his arms with the claw sitting firmly on the end, the little shrimp's body practically boiling with raw rage as he aimed it at the mutts above him. With an angry click the claw opened and out came a massive billowing cloud of steam. Unlike before, which was only a distraction, this steam was more then hot enough to scald flesh, remove hair on contact and even damage the ever fragile eyes of his foes. But the downside was that after such a use of magic, Kreep was drained, breathing hard as he forced his limbs to move, slowly pulling him down the cliff.

Kreep had gambled once more, letting his rage sort of run away with him the little shrimp had put far more power into the blast then he meant to and was paying the price for that now. But he was still moving, the more distance between himself and the Gnolls the better his chances would be, even if the one beside him seemed to have flipped his wig...

[shiro]

Uz, glanced back at the Abyssian, slightly supprised at the sudden blast of steam and laughed as he heard the yelps of Scrat and Grott. "ha ha serves you!" he called back at the two gnolls. He slowed down slightly as he saw the Abyssian struggle, clearly such a defensive move had taken it out of the liitle fellow.

One thing was playing on his mind though, well two things, what was this payment the Abyssian was yelling about and more importantly where did Brogg get to, he wasn't the sort to easily give up.

He waited a while longer for the crab like being, un-noticing the impending danger of the leader gnoll creeping down behind him. The leader was after all gifted with the most intelligence amongst the three and had figured he could use the usual pincer attack move in this situation.

Uz held out a paw to the crab. "Watch the claw but here grab on ta' me!"

[Raven]

Kreep was alerted by the Gnoll's voice and did a quick glancing around before spotting that the leader of the pack was sneaking up on them, oddly enough using a pincer tactic. While the irony of this was not lost on Kreep, it did manage to stoke the fires of his burnt out rage.

Carefully he aimed his clawed arm at the foe-Gnoll and clicked it threateningly, though it could only be a threat since Kreep didn't have enough energy left to attack. Holding onto the rocks with his sub-arms the Abyssian stretched out his other main-arm, trying to get his humanoid fingers as close to the 'friendly' Gnoll while still keeping the leader of the pack still within sight. Kreep knew that the moment he took his eyes of that big Gnoll, he would be in quite a lot of trouble...enough to make dangling off a cliff seem like a walk in the park.

[shiro]

Still holding out a paw but suddenly looking back at what was agrevating the Abyssian Uz, noticed Brogg. Brogg snarled and picked up his pace, a bloodied trail from showed where the Gnoll had clung onto the sides to get down the steep face. "Damn it" Uz muttered. He felt the Abyssians grasp and quickly pulled him across onto the ledge with all his might.

In turn Brogg had managed to get on the other side and was now making his way to the two of them. Uz glanced at the Abyssian "Stay here, this is my problem !"

Uz knew there was nowhere else to go now, the safest place was the ledge as it offered a solid platform to battle on and the way they came was blocked by the other two howling and crying as they nursed their burnt faces.

Uz ran on a bit closing the gap and giving the Abyssian some safe distance. Flicking out the two blades he let them go and made the trail behind him on the two chains "Aaaaarrrggggghhh!" his rage channeled down the chains like electricity causing the wicked handles of the blades to ignight.

Brogg halted in time as Uz stopped and brought the flaming poi infront of himself in an under armed moved. The two firey blades missed the leader Gnoll but a few hairs. Grabbing the chains Uz continued to reel them on shortened chains keeping them close to his side in a defensive move which could easily be switched to an offensive one.

"Up ta' yur old trick ay?" Brogg jeered.
He plucked a fist sized rock from the face of the hill and hurled it at Uz.

Uz ducked but the rock clipped on of the chains and stopped its spin. This gave the leader an advantage as Uz frantically tried to get the chain spinning again. As the leader decended on him Uz gave up on the stationary chain and let it go using the one he managed to dived out of Broggs advance and release the shortened chaim to its full length.

The chain hit a limb, Broggs left arm the same one with the damaged paw, now the leader was given something else to take his mind of his paw. The chain span around the limb working its way up the arm till it hand no more length and the blade plunged into flesh. Brogg screamed in agony and pulled back. Uz pulled back too the affect severe.

As the chained Gnoll pulled one way and Uz the other the chained tightened but started to un-coil, the blade cut deep spiral around the arm as it unwrapped effectively skinning the arm.

The noise to follow was unbearable even for Uz, the forrest below started to clear as startled birds filled the sky, grabbing his arm the Gnoll stumbled backwards and collapsed close to the edge of the ledge from where he got on.

Panting heavily and covered in a splattering of blood Uz dropped to his knees, tired out from the energy expelled from the ignitinging of the poi and the rapid spinning of them. He watched as the pained Gnoll whimpered, screemed and cried and looked back towards the crab like creature and shurgged as if to say now what?

The poi were still alight and were now sparking at the ends as Uz failed to keep control of the element he used to ignite them.

The leader was trying to shout at them but the pain was too much and whatever obsenities or threats he was making were too jarbled to understand.

[Raven]

There wasn't much the Abyssian could do other then hang on to the side of the cliff and watch. Kreep was tired and would need a good rest before he could continue on at a rapid pace once again.

Breathing hard he turned his eyes to the two Gnolls who seemed to be more then happy about giving Kreep a little floor show. Not that he could have done much if he wasn't so tuckered out, he was a trader, not a warrior. Kreep left fighting to people like Gnolls, his brother and whoever else was larger and stronger then the little Abyssian. Though, he had to admit that it was one of the strangest fights he had ever seen, the strange weapons the Gnoll used to channel his powers were very interesting to Kreep.



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(Sorry for the short/lame post.)