InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Or coming and staying?"

berserker_rage (berserker_rage) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-10-05 18:11:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 17, katara, kidnapping, legolas greenleaf, wolverine

Who: Wolverine, Katara, Legolas (posting order? And victims if they want to chime in, or we can start a new thread for the post defeat rescue)
What: Wolvy goes hunting
When: Night time
Where: Close to the altar where Aragorn and Giselle are being held
Rating: PG-13?
Status: Active

In the quiet darkness, Wolverine sat alone, knees bent in meditation. Even though beneath the surface, rage and bloodlust filled his mind, he knew better than to let that consume him completely when he was not fighting. It would fatigue him, make him less ready for combat, and less able to fulfill the needs of Dahak. His skin bumped slightly at the cool air, feeling the breeze flowing across him, lightly tickling the ends of his facial hair as he emptied his mind completely, only now and again focusing on the goals that Dahak had burned into his mind. He had to make sure that the two were on the pillar come midnight, that they would remain on the altar so that Dahak's dark spell could be cast in this world, and take all of them to another place.

It was when Logan tried to think about why he was doing it, that things didn't seem to make sense. He knew that he wanted to, but there was no logical reason for it, as if some cruicial moment of clarity that he'd had when he'd decided to serve Dahak had been stripped from him. It was annoying in a way, like a sliver in his brain that he couldn't quite get out, but every time he thought on it too much he wound up going in circles, which didn't exactly help anything, so after a long while, he finally gave it up, and focused on what he was supposed to do.

Aragorn and Giselle were sitting with their hands bound behind their back, on the wide flat space of the altar that rose up only a couple of feet from the ground. It was lavishly decorated with dark runes etched into the base of it, with a small irrigation canal that seemed to run along the edge and guide water or liquid to a crevice in the sides of the stone. What purpose it was for was rather obvious, it was to drain blood away. However, Wolverine had thankfully not cut either of them yet, despite the fact that he looked like he was often considering doing so.

Finally, Wolverine rose and stared off into the distance. There would be people coming to try to stop him from doing the Dark Lord's work. That thought had been placed into his mind hours ago, and it had lead to his desire for meditation, so that he would be fresh. He'd made traps for those who might come his way, all of which were deadly, after a fashion. There were a few trip wires that would cause large spiked logs to come swinging down from the tree tops at those who might persue. There were also a few pits which were laden with wooden spikes at the bottom of them, jagged enough that they would splinter under the skin even if someone managed to survive... and only one trap which would send a shower of arrows flying at them, mainly because that one had been too intricate to make many of, whereas his brute strength had helped make the others quick.

Sniffing the wind, he perked his head up. It was time. He could tell that they were close. Looking at the Lizardmen guarding the pair of sacrifices, he nodded and then growled lightly. "Watch the hostages. If they try to escape, kill them. I've got some annoying pests to deal with..." he said, and then leaning down, shot outward into the woods like a bullet, rustling the tree near them only slightly as he went to find those who would try to stop Lord Dahak's plan from succeeding. He might have waited for them to come to him, but then he would lose the element of surprise.

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k_waterbender
2008-10-05 09:16 pm UTC (link)

Katara had slept well. For some reason, sleep was just easily accessible to her whenever she would face a battle the next day. Insomnia did not plaque her the way it might have others, and nightmares were hard to come by on such nights. When she awoke, she was refreshed and ready. The waterbender was not about to allow anything horrible to happen to either Giselle or Legolas’ friend.

She dressed herself quickly in the same manner as she had the day before. Her native top adorned her torso, the bottom trailing to her ankles in a grey-blue, but trimmed in white. Dark blue pants covered her legs, tucked into shin-high, dark grey boots. Dark blue fabric wrapped about her forearms, wrists, and hands- leaving her fingers free. Attached to the cloth were a hard backing at the back of the hand and the back of the arm. Her hair was styled much as before, half down, half up in a bun with hair loopies attached to the bun by beads. She filled three water skins- each a bit larger than her usual half gallon carrier- with water that she would use in battle. These were strapped to her back.

Katara didn’t even glance in the mirror more than once. What was the point? She knew she looked almost exactly as she had in the major battles against the Fire Nation- The Day of Black Sun and the fight against Azula. She had only aged a bit. Mirrors weren’t necessary for her to use when she was already quite skilled in readying herself without them. Besides, it didn’t matter if she looked good. It only mattered that she was prepared for battle and protected.

The Water Tribe femme, battle ready, left her room and hurried to the place where she was to meet Legolas. She wasn’t surprised to find that he had already arrived. “Do you still see a trail we can follow?” Katara asked, worry creasing her brow.

Watching him track was an interesting thing. He reminded her of her brother when he was tracking something. The only differences were the physical characteristics and the grace with which Legolas moved. It seemed to take quite a long time, spanning all the way into night time, but the elf caught things the waterbender never would have noticed. She was glad to have him with her in this endeavor, or she never would have found the red head and the warrior herself.

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princegreenleaf
2008-10-06 10:44 am UTC (link)

Legolas, of course, didn't sleep. But then, he never did. The state of dream-like reverie that the elves entered into could be taken even while running, so it had been no problem to take his rest the previous night. In fact, it had been a welcome relief. In his memories, which he meditated upon, he was able to be again with his Ranger. Only for a couple of short hours, of course, but that was far better than nothing. When it was time, he reluctantly sat up and got ready to go.

It never took him long to prepare for a hunt, and this was exactly what this was. Someone or something had taken two very dear friends, and he would track them down and make them pay. That was all there was to it. So, it was short work to sheathe his long, keen silver knives on his back, and sling the bow of Galadriel over his shoulder. The clothing he wore was just as one would expect from a wood-elf of Mirkwood. Brown, leather tunic over green leggings, and soft, well-worn and completely silent black boots. His hair was half tied up, and then, he was ready to go.

It was very early, but elves require less rest than humans, and he wasn't surprised that he arrived before Katara did. While he was waiting for her, and he had no intention of going off into the uncertain situation without her help, he looked around at the area. To most, it would look like nothing untoward had ever happened here. The grass looked to be normal. But to the sensitive elven eyes, there still might as well be a signpost pointing to the direction his friends had been taken.

"Yes, Lady Katara, indeed I do. If you are ready..." He allowed himself to look her over, and nodded in satisfaction. All elves appreciate beauty, of course, so that was part of it, but she was also strong and battle-ready, and he appreciated that far more at the moment. "We will make a good team, I believe. Let us go rescue the fair Giselle, and my Ranger-King Aragorn."

With that, he was off. It hadn't been in any way difficult for the skilled tracker to find the initial trail. The struggle that had happened there might as well have been a beacon of light to his eyes. However, as they went, it became more difficult. Whoever had taken them had done a very good job of moving lightly, and often all he had to go off of was a slightly bent blade of grass. Still, they made progress, and by the evening, he was in the general area.

"My lady... be on your guard, I sense something..." Dark eyes scanned the area, and he pointed to the ground immediately in front of her. "A trap, there. We must go around." Sometimes, the humans came into the Mirkwood and trapped this way, with pits. The elves had gotten good at diffusing them, since it was not an honorable way to hunt. "We must be wary, we cannot assume this is the only trap."

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berserker_rage
2008-10-07 12:32 am UTC (link)

Wolverine smelled them before anything else. They were close enough to fall for his traps, which meant the two of them were closer than he'd have liked them to be. Even so, all he had to do was occupy them until the promised time, and then none of it would matter. Once the hour of midnight struck then the Dark Lord would be able to complete his spell, and take them to another world, and there was little any of the heroes could do to stop them. Little did the pair know that the one they were seeking was close enough that he could smell them, and hear them, though he only caught small glimpses of them through the darkness, his body always being as still as if he were a tree himself.

The elf was the reason for that. Wolverine had never met an elf before, but whatever the creature was, it was impressive. He could tell by the lack of sound that Legolas made he was light on his feet. So light that Wolverine would have been unable to track him were it not for the fact that he could be smelled. But even his scents were odd. Not the perspiration a human might have gotten from such exertion. Indeed, there was an odd peaceful aroma about the elf, even though his demeanor seemed to speak of anger at having his friends kidnapped. But it was the eyes that were the most daunting, and why Wolverine had to be very still whenever he got within a few hundred yards of the pair. The elf's eyes seemed to pick up every little thing that was wrong with the terrain in a way that made Wolverine slightly envious. He was certainly a tracker the likes of which Wolverine had never known. It would make it all the more fun to battle him...

The woman, on the other hand, appeared to be well trained, but she carried all of the vices of a normal human, from what he could tell, though she did herself a disservice by teaming up with the elf. For though she was light of foot for a human, her footsteps next to his seemed almost clunky. The way she moved was not with the elegance the elf had either... and yet, even here, she held a confidence about her that seemed uncanny. There was something more than mere training that gave her such belief in her abilities. What it was, Wolverine could not immediately tell from watching her, but he had a sense that there was more than met the eye when it came to the young martial artist...

As they stopped in front of one of his traps he could hear Legolas point it out. Even in the dark the Elf's eyes were impeccable. Were he not cautious about being noticed, Wolverine might have growled at that. Instead he moved lightly as the pair moved around one of his traps, waiting until they came to where another one was waiting, this one a trip wire that would swing down a spiked log. Knowing that Legolas would likely manage to spot the thin chord, Wolverine decided that he'd distract them. Pressing his hands against a tree, he let the dark power Dahak had given him fill his body, easily shoving over the mighty pine tree, sending it hurtling towards the pair. If they stepped out of the way in the easiest fashion they would trip his trap... meanwhile, the berserker let the noise of the crashing tree cover his hurried footsteps as he got into place behind them. Soon it would be time to strike directly...

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k_waterbender
2008-10-07 01:46 am UTC (link)

“I’m more than ready.” Katara replied confidently. She needed to complete this mission. She had to help Legolas save Giselle and the man she finally knew would be addressed as King Aragorn. It was good to know at least some things were universal among several worlds. There were kings in the Earth Kingdom in hers.

With each hour that passed, the waterbender feared for the well-being of the two who had been kidnapped. She forced herself not to think about all the dark things that could be happening to them. It wouldn’t do her any good, and it wouldn’t help her find them any faster. Facts were, though, that she wasn’t the one doing the finding. The keen eye of the fair haired elf was doing the work. There wasn’t much she could really do at all at this point. She wasn’t skilled with tracking, and everything he seemed to spot- at least most of those things- she couldn’t even detect when he pointed them out to her.

A part of her felt relieved when they started toward the forest. She wouldn’t run out of water, and the Planet could replenish the trees she might have to destroy if she needed more water than she carried on her back. Once they were actually in the forest, her guard rose significantly- not that she hadn’t had it up before. Apparently, it was still lacking, or it was only watching for movement, not for traps. Why hadn’t she thought of traps? That was easily answered, actually. She’d never really had to deal with traps that didn’t involve man-power. Legolas pointed to the ground as he told her to be cautious. Especially because it was dark, it took her a moment of gazing at the spot where he motioned before she thought she saw the outlines of a hole. Even then she wasn’t one hundred percent certain she had seen it. That probably wouldn’t be fun to stumble upon at any rate, and she had no idea there were spikes at the bottom.

The pair of heroes had certainly given their foe enough time to prepare. This saddened Katara, but at the same time she was relieved. If there were several traps, then the enemy would have spent more time making them than hurting those who he had kidnapped. Relief was slim, though. Why be happy that it would be so much more difficult to get to King Aragorn and Giselle?

As she moved as stealthily as she could- which looked horrendously clumsy next to this graceful creature despite how graceful she was next to the majority of humans- she felt the hair rise at the nape of her neck. Sometimes she thought she felt eyes on her, but when she looked around she was only met with darkness and the silhouettes of trees.

Suddenly a horrendous tearing sound alerted Katara to danger, but she noticed the elf react in her peripheral vision before she even managed to see what he did. As soon as she did see it, she ducked off to the side. She felt it through her boots, the resistance against her legs, and another sound whooshing through the air alerted her again to danger. In a swift motion, she bent the water out of the large object swinging toward her, shriveling it into little more than a twig. Something fell out of it, and when she got the chance to look at it, it was actually a few spikes that her eyes happened upon.

Her heart was hammering wildly in her chest by that point, and she felt stupid for setting off a trap when she had been specifically warned to keep an eye out. A mere human could only do so much, and it was only typical that she would be the one to set something off. She was only glad that her reflexes were quick enough to help herself out of a situation where she would be little better than a stuck chicken-pig.

“Legolas?” Katara asked as her head swung around search for him with her gaze. He wasn’t difficult to find, though she knew it wouldn’t be that way if he hadn’t made himself known to her. “You’re okay, right?” He looked as healthy than ever. She was relieved that the large object that she assumed was a tree hadn’t hit him. However, her face probably still showed the alarm she felt. How could anyone be strong enough to unroot and throw a tree? She knew this would be an adversary from whom she would definitely need to keep a distance. If he could do that to a tree, he could do much worse to her. It was no wonder he’d been able to kidnap Giselle and King Aragorn.

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princegreenleaf
2008-10-07 05:08 pm UTC (link)

Sharp eyes narrowed as he glanced up. Not the tree, that he saw coming a mile away, and his reflexes made it really quite simple for him to dodge it. But right before he had to move to avoid being smacked and probably splattered by the tree, he saw some movement. Not much, but more than enough to get his attention. Gracefully, he dodged to the side, spinning around in a half circle, eyes peeled.

His attention was momentarily pulled away, though, by the crashing sound as the tree landed. He spun back around, blond hair flinging out in a semi-circle, just in time to see Katara press the trip wire. To be fair to her, even he would have had a hard time seeing the string, though he had no doubt he would have. Any human would have found it impossible. Not that he was thinking about that. He was poised, ready to fling himself on her and push her out of the way.

Of course, there was no need for that. The Water Bender was more than capable, and Legolas would have taken a lot more time to admire what she had done, if they had it. Unfortunately, it was a luxury they didn't have. He had been ready to fling himself on her, and had built up some forward momentum, so he used it to go over to the dark-haired beauty. He stood very close to her, spoke softly against her ear. "I am fine. On your guard, my Lady, the thing that we hunt is hunting us. Behind us."

He pulled away and glanced around, scanning the area quickly but thoroughly. "We've found or set off all the traps here, so this may be a good place to take our stand. At least, for the moment." He frowned, having come to the same conclusions. Whatever else happened, they needed to keep their stalker away from them. His strength was nothing that the elf could match, and he knew it.

Spinning back around suddenly to the last place he'd seen movement, he drew an arrow, pulled back the string, and let it fly. If nothing else, it would serve as a warning shot, since he was sure that whoever was after them was in that area. At best, he could always hope he hit this being who had stolen his king away from him. Either way, it worked for him.

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berserker_rage
2008-10-08 01:22 am UTC (link)

Wolverine could smell the water bender's fear, though it seemed to be spawned more about what was in the darkness than it was a matter of self doubt. Still, that meant that she wasn't omnipotent by any means. He was curious what she was hiding, though, she seemed an unlikely companion for the elf, though neither of the two heroes knew exactly what they were facing. It was possible that he'd been underestimated, of course, but far more likely that the teenager had some sort of unique abilities. Logan, after all, had quite a bit of experience with unique powers, even if they just so happened to be solely his own. There was really only one way to find out though... so after sprining the trap he slipped into some bushes close to the elf, but he watched the pair as the tree crashed to see what would happen.

He noted without much amazement that somehow she'd managed to suck the life out of his trap. Interesting, as he could see the water streaming from it, she must have somehow been able to completely deplete it of water. Given the amount of water in the wood, it didn't exactly bode well for him if he faced her one on one. Then again, there were several unknown factors about how she did it. Would she be able to do it if she couldn't see who was coming for her? Would she be able to do it to something as complex as the human body? Would his healing factor be able to recover from it? He knew the answer to the last question, at the very least, but still, this was cause for worry, and annoyance given that he'd not had scrap metal lying around for traps, so they were mostly made of wood contraptions. The time to strike was now.

The elf was another matter altogether. While he was a good tracker and silent, the blond hair whooshing about like moonlight was a dead give away to where the wood elf happened to be looking, which gave away the fact that Logan had been spotted. It also gave away when the elf turned his head, which gave Logan a chance to slip from one bush to another, moving as silently as if he were part of the woods themselves. Still, Legolas was on to him. With any luck though, the blonde haired creature would share the same temperment as his King, and would blithely charge head first into battle, thinking it was the honorable thing to do. That would leave him open for a frontal attack...

As he waited, Wolverine crouched down low, hunkering down to the ground and flexing his muscles. The dark power that Dahak had filled him with was more than just in his arms, Wolverine could feel the similar power coursing in his legs, and knew that when he finally lunged forward it would likely leave a crater in the ground given the amount of force he would suddenly exert. What made it worth it though was that he could literally fly through the air almost like a bullet. If the elf was stupid enough to come kick the bushes where he thought his prey might be, it would be a simple matter of flying at him and clawing him in the spine, severing his spinal column, if the creature had one, and putting him down with a swift stroke... With luck the water bender would be too horrified to attack right away...

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berserker_rage
2008-10-08 01:22 am UTC (link)

But even as the strategy formed, the Elf surprised him by drawing a bow. This made things different, it meant that he was more of a distance fighter, and if he was allowed to, he would keep Wolverine far away. Logan, on the other hand, was purely a close range fighter by nature, and that meant that distance would become crucial. If he let the elf keep distance between them, then it would become an endurance game, whether or not he could endure Legolas' arrows. On the other hand, if he closed the distance quickly then he might be able to overwhelm Legolas in close range combat, or disable him. Choosing the second, Wolverine waited as the bow was drawn back, his muscles tensing...

As soon as the shaft was loosed, the ground a few feet away from where he aimed exploded in a shower of dirt as if a mortar had hit it, but before it had even gotten more than a foot off of the ground Wolverine was already halfway to Legolas, flying in the air like a human projectile one fist aimed at his side while the other was kept back, but could be brought forward to a blow to the face. A roar like a savage animal burst from Wolverine's mouth as he flew towards the elf, waiting until the last minute to flex his muscles and unsheath his claws, hoping to catch the elf by surprise and at least get a good rake across the elf's stomach.

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k_waterbender
2008-10-08 11:42 pm UTC (link)

Almost simultaneously, the log bore down upon her, but she sucked the water from it even as Legolas made his way toward her. It wasn’t difficult to see what he was going to do, but she didn’t really think about taking the water from the log. It had just happened reflexively, and the elf quickly recovered himself.

His voice was low enough that Katara would have had difficulty hearing him had he been farther away from her. As it was, he spoke almost directly into her ear, and he stood close. The waterbender figured the one who had thrown the tree was their adversary, but she’d had no idea that he was behind them. Her eyes searched the darkness behind her, spotting nothing.

Katara’s stance, which had been defensive before, became completely solid- or as solid as a waterbender’s stance could be. Toph would have scoffed and shown a truly rooted, unbreakable stance, but she was an earthbender.

The waterbender was truly grateful that last night had been the full moon. Well, it would have been more useful for this evening to have been the full moons, the peak of her power as a bender of water, but the second night after the full moons she was still close to that peak. It was only slightly waned. Even at the peak of her power, she wouldn’t have used the tool she had learned that could only be used on the night when the moon had waxed fully. It was strictly against her morals. She’d only used it twice and… unless it meant that someone would die if she didn’t find a way around it, she was opposed to bloodbending. In other words, she wouldn’t force the person’s body to move by controlling the water coursing through their bodies.

Katara reacted almost as soon as the explosion was heard. The movement from the corner of her eye was where she aimed. Not needing to take the time to remove the stoppers, the water erupted out of the three water skins, the pressure of the water opening them faster than she could have done manually. Behind her, two living trees became completely shriveled, their leaves nothing more than crunchy, brown dead things. It happened so fast the leaves didn’t even fall from their stations- for the most part.

With an angry growl, the water spewed forth at an alarming rate at the strange, fierce creature headed right toward Legolas. She couldn’t let that horrid thing at the elf, even as the elf did his own, completely capable attack.

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princegreenleaf
2008-10-09 11:18 am UTC (link)

This felt rather like being charged by an entire army of orcs, all compressed into one man, or something that looked like a man. No human he'd ever met was strong enough to uproot a tree, though, and they certainly didn't tend to go around launching themselves around like a rock thrown from the strong hands of a giant. Still, he didn't exactly have time to sit and watch, because it he did, he was going to die. The creature, whatever he was, was not aiming just to disable him. And while he was an elf, that did nothing to protect him against such an assault.

Lithely, he stepped out of the way, giving the waterbender a quick nudge to send her the other way. After all, the creature seemed focused on him, and if he was close to her, she might get hurt. The honor of the elf wouldn't allow that, and anyways, he liked her. Hopefully, though, his evasive action would be enough, since it had to be hard to change your direction in mid air, and he'd stepped far to the side.

At the same time, he lifted his bow and shot. While on his quest, he'd once shot one of the fell beasts the Nazgul ride right out of the air in a single shot, and this wasn't that different. He barely seemed to aim before the arrow was streaking through the air, directly toward the creatures eye, which had to be a weak spot, it usually was for most beings. It was a tiny target, of course, but for the Prince of Mirkwood, it was barely even a challenge.

It wasn't until the arrow, shot from the magical bow of Galadriel, was streaking through the air, right on target, that he remembered. And there was no way to call his arrow back. You will not kill... at the time, it had seemed such a needless precaution. After all, he'd been in the company of the bubbly, beautiful Giselle, and it hadn't seemed like there would be any threat large enough to make him try to kill anything. But, lost in the moment, he'd attempted to do just that, and for probably the first time in his life, he found himself wishing that his shot would miss. It didn't seem likely, though.

Of course, there was the matter of what his companion was doing, as well. He turned to look, keeping most of his attention at the arrow and the man hurtling toward each other. Something was shooting out at the creature, and he recognized it's shimmering fluid movement through the air. Water. It looked like he was going to see first hand what a water bender could do. Unfortunately, he was fairly certain that his arrow was going to reach there first.

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