The Hunter
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The child moved slowly, carefully maneuvering through trees. For the rover people it would be hard not to see how the claims of him being born of shadows had merit. However none where here to see that truth be was too deep into the territory of the Mulch spider. The child was beyond what skill mortal would be expected to have at twice and again his age but the child was not perfect, his passing was notched early on as he broke a web sending vibrations through miles of taught cords to the spider at the center. Now as he moved he did so with more caution but he still broke webs. Here though it was not by accident rather he reached out with his mind and plucked the strings moving invisibility as he set a trail for his prey to follow.
It was a near thing his first engagement the Mulch Spider had burst from the ground dirt covering a web latch into its burrow. The child had been expecting an attack from the web covered trees so failed to take advantage at his surprise over the spider and he only was able to spear it in the back as it retreated into its warren. The child had to be prepared, vigilant for an attack on all sides, as he moved towards the hole that had been stuck open in its haste he made his sting plucking go in another direction parallel to where he was going in. Stepping into the shadows he let himself be wrapped in them metaphorically.
The spider's tunnels were wet far more moist than the forest above, he took a second to plaster his figure in the leaves and debris covering the bottom of the tunnel before taking out another spear in hand. The thing moved fast for its massive bulk but the child was faster. Soon he came upon the creature as it started to lift another opening to escape to the trees. The second spear launched through the air stabbing the spider in the joint of its foreleg causing the half-raise tunnel exit to collapse down crushing both limbs it had been using. The child danced back as the creature tore itself free with a chittering howl of pain as it left the legs behind. He moved low, hiding his readied spear in the mulch at the tunnel floor as black eyes moved over the tunnel locking on the way he came. It skittered forwards web trailing behind as its rearmost legs began to weave a deadly weapon for the beast.
The child laid unseen as the spider moved over it, unlike some beasts of the land the Mulch Spider was as hard on its belly as its back and the child would not find his spear break its shell. He wasn't trying to strike there, no he was looking for an opening provided by its closeness and the surprise. So one the legs passed the child he waited but one moment before finding his target. The spear shot up powerful young muscles driving the shaft into the holes the great beast used to draw in the air it needed. The child rolled quickly dodging the creatures response and fleeing into the tunnel leaving the wounded beast to follow in its rage. Twice more they clashed spear against chitin as the child moved through the maze and the spider stalked him. The first encounter the child had made a wrong turn and lost a precious moment, the spider leaped the child rolling out of the way as the bulk smashed into the ground seeking to flatten him. Fangs went down on his shoulder stinging fur and venom pouring in the moment before the child pulled back and snuck back into the shadows.
It was the second time that the child was finally victorious. He found the exit but the cap was closed. The child had no time as the beast was upon him weaker for its many injuries, the child was too injured but the venom had been neutralized by superhuman physiology. The spider lunged and the child rolled, leaving a spear in his wake that the spider failed to dodge, its mass and momentum turned into weapons of the child as the spear sank deep into its head. Once more it got up despite its woods, the animal slowly circling the child cautious and wary of this bringer of pain. The child dashed the forward spear in one hand, all seven remaining eyes of the spider locked into the visible tip as it came near, allowing it to easily dodge a sloppy attack. It missed the small dagger in the other hand until it cut off a fang and the child took the fang as it fell before stabbing it into the creature's brain. It slashed lightly, cutting the child as he nimbly dodged out of the way.
Then all is quiet in the webs and mulch of the tunnel, the beast large and strong had been out maneuvered and out played. As he forced the trap door open he strode through what had been the domain of an apex predator. Now the child was that Apex.
Later around the bonfire as the prey was slowly looked over by all the tribe Iblis Karkhen sat grinding a piece of the spider's shell with oil from a river nut. His name had been a flicker is something long forgotten, a memory of a time before his birth. It was a strange name nothing like the tongue of the Wallmen but slightly foreign to the speech of the river folk. To Iblis it was a name he chose and that's what mattered; it was not a chain placed upon him by others but a mantel of his own. He looked at the paint, a deep speckled brown like the egg of a bird. As the ceremony of the people continued around him Iblis painted his face with the mark of the spider. It was a mark of the link between him and the spider's spirit. Moving over to the bonfire first he reached into the edge of the inferno and pulled out two handfuls of ash before approaching the spider. Two drums started to beat with a foreign song played by his mind as he chanted in the tongue of the shamans. His eyes were bright with fire as he faced the darkness of the spider's body.
Throwing the ash up he grabbed it in his mind drawing out a diagram from instinct as the drums reverberations gained an otherworldly tempo and silence fell. The world tore in Iblis' eyes and he saw what lay beneath the echoes of the spirit of the spider, things looking to eat it as the protosoul broke away. Those predators in the deep made his blood freeze but he reached out his mind and touched the soul of the spider.
"I am Iblis Karkhen, your death has given me my name. I will offer you a chance to live on for that honor. Become mine, give your soul to me and I will extend my soul to you so that even with this death you will survive." The spider's soul twisted in this realm turning in a way its body in life never could. Its eyes held understanding and comprehension. It had no tongue of its own so Iblis came closer extending a tendril of power in offering. The spider came close then touched it for a moment he felt it and they both stretched their minds extending before the feelings flooded away.
The spider shifted leaving its corpse and the creatures on the outside flooded forwards as if they were hunters when a prey had been injured. The circle spinning in the air, ash and blood mixed together guided by his mind burst into light fire brown and unnatural illuminating the child and the corpse. With sight beyond sight one could see the brown fire scorching the predators holding them off long enough for the spirit to reach Iblis and the offer was completed. In a flash of that brown unnatural fire a glyph burned on his arm with the symbol of the spider binding their spirits as one.
The other world fell away as he stopped the ritual, drums that had been beating with the tune of an alien heart and the crackling melody of unquenchable fire came to a halt as he stumbled ash falling around symbols broken as the fire died. The river folk watched in awe the elder and the other shaman going over the lore they knew. For the child he stood still feeling the world around him as if he was a spider at the center of its web, all movements of creatures around him resonating through the spirit he had bound. Eyes alight with blue fire he turned and walked into the crowd of the people who had raised him.
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Alpha Null 7 rolled his arms, his sensory organs spread out as he stalked the unmanaged population. The Manager of the area was under-producing and needed new gene-stock while the population of managed specimens grew to meet the new demand. He was looking forward to the rewards for the assignment, wing grafts. He couldn't wait to fly, his claws danged over the length of his rifle as he watched primitive people move along some nothing river. The pups and mares in the center of the pack, they were the most valuable to his assignment, so he would have to get something to draw the attention of the bucks away from them so he could call the collectors.
Something made his hairs stand on end so he rolled to the side spinning around to see nothing but the sensation hadn't dissipated.
(Iblis Karkhen has found a hunter from the walls what skill does he use to address this problem?)
[] Pick a skill
-[] Explain the strategy.
AN: Will get a character sheet with skill ranks and abilities soon.