Mission name: Forage for Food
Mission rank: C-Rank
Objective: Find food for the Villagers
Location: Forest
Reward: 300 ryo + 1 EP
Mission Description: The villagers have not had food or clean water for days, find what you can
Development References: Death Camp, part II
Mission Details: there is a river that usually flows through the village with fresh water, however its been dried up for days find the source. You will also need to find some kind of food for the villagers to eat, but be careful the animals here are different from back home. While you are out you will be set upon by a pack of 3 wolf-like creatures.

The Wolf Pack:

Verdandi watched the dirty Chi monster, or Mudgetsu or however he comedically called himself. Before he could actually spend much time as dirt on the floor Verd would make sure to show off her specific disgust. She disliked anything that implied unclean hygiene even though he and his strange body setup were less influenced. Verd stomped once and pebbles would peak around the entrance. “Pebbles, produce me a bathtub. I don’t care how. Don’t kill anyone though.” She would say and then sit back down on the table. Letting Haka pass by and toss some of the prime meat to Chi on the floor. Not letting his dirty muddy butt sit on one of the chairs like this.

While they munched away, screams and protests could be heart. Eventually the sounds of ripping furniture that would be pulled out of the floor or wall echoed through the late night. Soon Pepples would return with a prime bathtub. Shoving the man-sized object somehow past the door. Placing it in a corner of the room. Verd was pleased. She formed some ice crystals in her palm and gave them to pebbles so he could toy with them outside while he was thinking about terrorizing the citizens further. Despite knowing that any of them could do it. Verd would make some simple suiton hand seals and slowly produce the right amount of water for the tub. It wasn’t necessarily all too warm but not cold as long Verd wouldn’t let it get in contact with her Hyouton breath.

With a means to clean Chigetsu provided. Pebbles being cared for and entertained. Haka obviously tired of the humans anyway and their stomachs soon fully filled with meat and / or rice. It was sleepy time. Depending on Chi’s preferences he would either sleep in the bathtub or in the bed. All up to him. Night approached. Eyes got closed. They could rest assured. A golem that did not need sleep would stand guard for them all night.

As dawn would draw near. Verd would find herself well rested. Not sure about the other two but they would have to get by eventually. The guards were lined up in the central of the village. Ready to move out for hunting. Each of them carrying sword and crossbow and a subtle amount of armor. Verd would move out of their shack. Grabbing some dry meat to get a minimalistic breakfast into her system. The task for today was clear. Produce more food. Despite that Haka’s wonderful haul would probably last a few weeks and that… considering how much those starved men were eating meant something. They would still return to the same old patterns in time.

Verdandi checked on the villager’s progress. The walls and towers were being mended and fortified. Guards were being recruited by one of the few remaining actual soldiers. Villagers were tending to their fields produce of potatoes and carrots. Despite them looking somewhat odd, those vegetables had been the sole nourishment for them. They would serve as baseline to survive so the farmers were basically hoarding them en masse. Still they needed protein and vitamins.

Chi and Haka were free to be creative how to add to the food storages. Verd would haul into the village square. “Alright my sorry excused for soldiers. Time to turn you into hunters… at least some of you… hopefully…” she wondered. The gate would open and the soldiers moved out. Verd would pet Pepples on the head. “You buddy look out for my friends. Make sure they don’t slaughter the villagers. If they try something funny you know what to do right?” she asked with a bright smile and pebbles triumphantly punched his stone fists together. In an actual conflict he’d have no chance against either of her friends but he would remain as a little reminder for them to watch their moral compass here. Also, he’d probably follow them around if they decided to leave the village for their own foraging.

Verd waved her new loyal subject bye bye and winked at Chi and Haka, then left past the entrance and the gates turned shut. One of the villagers, curious about pebbles would draw closer. His face unbearably enclosing pebbles own face. Which was instantly rewarded by a harsh head butt and Pebb’s basically telling him to get lost in his own adorable way. The golem would proceed to move towards his new 2 masters and stare at them, expecting them to come up with some good idea on what to do.

“Pebbles smash?” he’d growl in a mystic voice that echoed from his core, he had no lips. But he certainly had some kind of smart soul in his rune core.


800

Despite accommodations, Verdandi was not satisfied yet with the looks. The misses needed a bath tub and preferably right this instance, thank you very much. She ordered the walking heap of rock to find her one, somewhere somehow, and the elemental called 'Pebble' immediately went on to execute the order. Screams followed, a couple of crashes later of which one included the molesting of their own door, the rock heap had procured a bath and placed it roughly on the floor in a corner of the room. Haka had to agree... the rock thing knew how to approach things. Brave, brazen, it took away from those that didn't oppose it and 'fought' those who tried to stop it. The Spider Clan could appreciate that kind of approach, if only it would not trash everything along the road.

"Pebble needs fuinjutsu."

It was a statement. With fuinjutsu, he could have sealed the bath tub there and unsealed it here without the need to trash the whole place. Now the door was useless and in need of repairs. Not that it was a problem to Haka, but humans tended to dislike such sort of destruction. Hence why she had taken a piano away without anyone knowing about it. Same philosophy, shinobi style approach.

After bathing happened, the sleeping occurred. A relative peaceful rest considering the things that went bump outside. Nothing remarkable to those who were used to the noises of Spider Island. It almost felt like home, were it not that the spider generally distrusted her environment from a survival instinct's point of view. She would sleep. Lightly. Ready to web and kill anything that would approach them in their sleep, no questions asked.

---

As the ring of weapons and the march of soldiers would introduce a new day, Haka opened her eyes and rose up from her sleep, feet inaudibly touching the floor. She wasn't at home here, but she felt the odd urge to walk around in her white dress and bare feet. A style she had come to call her 'Lady Osada' outfit ever since the letter she had been receiving from Administration. Worse even, the dark thought to use these measly humans as test subject for her own future plans made her indulge that first thought and so Haka would swap her usual schoolgirl outfit for a white dress, her white hair draping over her back, the silver necklace resting against her human skin.

Walking outside, Verdandi was already inspecting the gathered bunch of armed humans and ordering them about hunting. Haka coldly gazed at them, her predatory nature already considering the feeble lot as lost causes. Verdandi was a good warrior, that much was certain but she wondered how many would survive the ordeal with the warg despite that. Verdandi, even with clones, could not be everywhere nor save everyone. It was to be seen what potential they had in store.

The princess walked out with the troops and left the sentient rubble behind, telling it to make sure they would not trash the place or kill them. It seemed to like that idea, looking up to them as if to warn them and almost shrunk in despair as Haka returned a gaze that told it all about what she thought of the pet's position. Granted, it was no human and she had never seen anything remotely close to a living heap of stone, but even if it harboured an approach similar to her own she would not allow it to stop her from doing as she pleased.

When it requested to smash things, she shook her head. She had a different idea in mind. Remembering the construction of the fortress and comparing that to the shabby looks of this village, she would use the smash-eager minion to help them take down what little buildings that had to pass for housing. Though she had no architectural plans, during their walk where the construction master had been ranting about his pride, her eyes had taken in significant details about the reinforced areas of the buildings, where ropes had been tightened and how the beams had been placed to provide support to higher levels.

"Come.", she said to Pebbles. "I'll find you something to smash."

At those words she moved to the lumberjack first who, upon her arrival, clung to the wall yammering about not wanting to be killed. After telling him to be quiet, she explained him his new task. The trees that had been delivered had to be sawed in planks and proper beams, whereas other members of their pathetic species would have to start gathering new wood lest Pebbles beat them up and used them as its dance floor. The man nodded a little too eagerly to her liking, but his fear was incentive enough for him to start calling other men and starting to do his job.

Haka would then move on to the eat house where most people gathered to laze about, the building serving as a bunk to sleep in and a place to eat in for those that didn't have the courage to take life in their own hands and do something about their sorry state. These men, along with Pebbles would have the fun task tearing down the houses one by one and starting the reconstruction of something worthy to be called a house. It wouldn't be anything like Sero's manor, probably not even anything close to Kirigakure's general housing, but it certainly would be an improvement of what they currently had.

---

933

Before Mudgetsu could get too far into the room he would be stopped. Verdandi, perhaps being the only reasonable one in the trio, made sure to make a showing of disgust to him. To be completely fair he was completely filthy now, more mud than water. Her strange stomping and ordering of the golem would be watched curiously by the muddy Chigetsu, who had meanwhile taken a seat on the floor. The way that Verdandi proceeded to throw a hunk of meat down at him caused him to pause though. While he was muddy Chigetsu couldn't help but feel a bit indignant at being forced to eat on the floor like an animal. He made sure to make his displeasure known, if a bit childishly, by sticking his tongue up at Verdandi. Even if his pride was somewhat hurt he was still hungry and would take what she had thrown to him and begin eating his dinner.  

The bathtub would be a welcome change of pace though. Ignoring all the destruction that it had caused, Chigetsu was incredibly grateful to the little golem. As soon as it was prepared in the corner of the room and filled with water Chigetsu would slide in, not bothering to remove any clothing. Taking a bath with all your clothing on might have seemed a bit strange to his squadmates but it was rather normal for Chigetsu, providing a way for him to clean his outfit and body at the same time. It wasn't like he was going to strip in front of them anyhow. Immediately as he entered he would dunk his entire body under the surface. Following that would be a strange squelching sound, and if anyone cared to look inside the tub they would see the water level rapidly lowering. All of the bath water that had been prepared would shortly be absorbed into Chigetsu, who would be sparkling clean and without even a trace of mud on his body. Besides him in the bath would be a perfectly spherical ball of condensed dirt, which he would pull out and place beside the tub. The entire process would only really take a few seconds, and afterward, the now clean Chigetsu would melt into a puddle in the tub. Bathtubs were always a more attractive place to sleep for him, much more so than beds, and so it would be where he slept.  

He didn't get to rest for long. Morning would seem to come just as he closed his eyes. As sunlight streamed into the room through the windows Chigetsu would rise, standing up out of the puddle he had been in the tub and stretching his arms high above his head. It seemed like he was the last to wake up, both Verdandi and Haka already having left their shared room. With a squish and squelch he would exit the tub and stumble out of their prepared room, almost tripping and falling in his drowsiness. Poor sleep made Chigetsu dizzy, and bubbles would froth down from his eyes in a display of crankiness. Rubbing at his frothing eyes as he walked out of the room, he would give have a glance towards the mess of soldiers that seemed to be lined up now in the village square. Armed with weaponry and apparently a backbone now they deserved a bit more respect, which he might have shown if he were in a better mood.  

"Sharpening yourself is a noble pursuit." The whispering of his kunai would irritate him. "The newborn cannot be faulted for being inexperienced. Just that they make the attempt to crawl is worthy of praise." He would close his eyes tightly, wiping away some of the foam. "You criticize me all the time though. I always try." He would mumble out, half speaking to himself. Too disoriented to care if others heard his whispering to himself, Chigetsu would complain back to his kunai. "Do you try?" 

The presence of Haka in an elegant dress was enough to distract Chigetsu from what would have probably turned into a yelling match with the voices in his head. He would stare at her, wiping away what was left of the foam on his face to get a better look at her. She was technically nobility, so maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised to see her in such a beautiful dress. At the same time, it wasn't exactly what he would have expected from a soldier. That she was wearing it in such a dangerous environment likely said something about her confidence. Chigetsu could only hope it didn't end up dirtied and ruined by the end of the day.

As the distraction passed he would go back to grumbling back and forth with his kunai, chattering to himself in whispers. Still, there was more work to do. What Haka had said about there being small streams in the forest the night before was a piece of information he had mentally marked down. He probably should have expected as much. Unless these villagers had a way of harvesting the moisture in the air there surely had to be a source of water nearby. Setting off out of the village he would travel in the direction that Haka said the streams had been in. If he could find them they would be a treasure trove of resources. Fish, consumable algae, maybe a better source of clay than the mine? Somewhere for him to swim around in and wash himself if he needed to.

---

[926]

Reference image for the dirt sphere:

Chi producing the dirt sphere was quite an amusing sight. As if he just had extracted all dirt in his system into one sphere. What an admirable skill. He was still somewhat giving Verd ‘the look’ for treating him like a beast. But to Verdandi, dirty creatures were beasts. She couldn’t help but chuckle anyhow. After all, going out alone today was not only because she admired the fresh air and the sound of heavily armoured soldiers and wanted to hog it all for herself. No, it was also the fact that she knew her bossy and arrogant behaviour was not always very helpful for the team spirit. This mission here was a difficult one. It directly put the believes and principles of the three squad members into conflict. While Verdandi was the unshakable paragon that would put her life on the line to protect the weak, Haka was the renegade that would burn the whole place in order to hopefully let something stronger and worthy of survival arise from it’s ashes. Chi seemed pretty much fine with either prospects. He shared Haka’s disgust over their weakness and yet he didn’t seem to be the mindlessly violent type.

Verd wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t be able to keep this mission on the ‘good side’ of things if she didn’t carefully plan her influence. Haka had already slain one of them to prove her point. Putting this into an actual conflict between them would yet not harbour any positive results, rather it’d make the situation worse. At this very moment Haka was visibly exercising a large amount of restraint which would be appreciated. Leaving Pebbles in charge of her mood was a tactical move. The creature had a very unusual persona that was to Haka’s liking. His utterly demonic and destructive desires were not aligned with Verdandi’s protective mind but he was now but a faithful servant to the ice princess. Meaning he’d do her bidding anyway. Commanding Pebbles to make sure Haka would not burn the village down, would put her in a situation of punishing something she actually accepted as a fair and worthy creature just to get back at Verd. Directly playing into the pride of the spider.

Verd chuckled to herself. It wasn’t going as far as manipulating her, but it’d hopefully keep her motivated to be nice to the poor souls of the village. Pebbles, as much as he would soil himself in front of Haka’s aura, if he actually could do such a thing, would yet seemingly enjoy the dark and destructive power of the Lady Osada. Worshipping her power visibly as he made sure to display his intense pleasure over meeting someone as… evil as himself and even more. Verd giggled. He was in good hands and Chi could certainly take care of himself too.

Once Verdandi passed the door and it closed behind her. She would move to the front of the guards and make sure they would follow in line. Shield always up. The further away they came from the walls, the more they would become cautioned. One scout would look west, one east, one south while they walked north. They would not allow themselves to be easily surprised. Haka had marked her hunting spot on the map, it was close to the place the village elder had marked as their old hunting grounds. But she mentioned the large one. Verd was hoping to avoid the giants. The villagers would have a hard time against those rare elder warg’s. So, for a first step into schooling her new darlings. “Recon” she would say. Leading them into various spots where the surroundings would allow them to climb a hill or alike. Somewhere to get a good view of the area.

Verdandi declared the base rules they would have to follow as hunters. The fog or mist should never be thicker than as it was today. If they couldn’t see properly into the distance, their chances of getting torn apart by a surprise assault would be too high. There was no neglecting defence or dumbing down the senses. Any soldier that wasn’t 100% ready to embark on this hunt would, sooner or later die on this mission. Verdandi stated this perfectly clear and stared with a dark glare into anyone’s eyes that didn’t please her. Making sure they would be scared to shit and realize that this wasn’t some sort of fun daytime picknick event.

Once they arrived at the hunting grounds one of the stray warg’s would spot them. He slowly turned around and growled at the group. The soldiers were already soiling themselves again but Verdandi took charge. She picked her own crossbow and went into her knees. Without asking nicely for it she commanded the soldiers “AIM!” and so without fail they would. Even their aim was terrible and their hands shaky. Telling them to wait for the creature to attack or approach them. Not just firing needlessly into the distance and wasting arrows and bolts.

Soon the warg would have found two friends after howling and growling. The three of them showing that now they felt more than powerful enough to mess with the little humans. After some circling they split up. Two one way and the third one another. “Keep your eyes on one target each.” She said and made sure to not screw up now. She had to be able to secure her ‘herd’ in case all of them failed her. Once the warg’s had approached close enough, Verd would scream “FIRE!” and shoot her own crossbow bolt straight into the brain of the lone wolf that tried to flank them.

The multitude of soldier’s arrows would hit both wolves, none of the shots was lethally wounding them but the warg’s were hurt and quickly turned in their path to abort their attack. The soldiers would celebrate. Verd didn’t mind and allowed them to feel good about themselves. They kind of earned a little praise for at least doing their job. With the newfound motivation and guts they had been growing. Dandi would raise to her feet and slowly move towards the warg they killed. Since the guards didn’t have the powers to seal their prey. They would collect it, wrap it up and toss it in the net to pull their prey with them. With that accomplished, they would march forth, on towards the centre of the hunting grounds. The true test for them was yet ahead.


1100 / 1900

"Pebbles. Smash."

Her words were quiet, finger pointing at the first of the buildings she had condemned to eternal oblivion. Pebbles ran into to bulldoze everything. Determined, unwavering, fierce. The whole building was supposed to collapse in one go, but the pebble heap's strength had been reduced a little too much. A single wall crashed down. Pebbles roared in victorious defiance. As he continued to tackle the next wall, Haka looked at the gathered folks wielding a variety of tools. They looked in shock at Pebble's strength, then blanched as they saw Haka stare at them in expectation for them to start moving and do the same. Suddenly aware of their tasks once more, the first group started the noisy job of destruction.

As the people bulldozed the first few houses under the guidance of their stony mascot, Haka moved to command the next group. The sawyer had gathered quite a few people and put them to good use. Nearby trees were being chopped down and brought in. The sawyer and his men cutting them up neatly as instructed, the fresh planks being stapled by yet another group. One man was keeping track of logistics in a similar fashion as Verdandi and Haka had once done for the preparations of war, giving her an insecure nod that everything was going well. As the stacks progressed, yet another team loaded them up on a cart and moved them to the destruction works.

Hopping onto one carts, Haka allowed herself to be transported, the cart suddenly going faster as if her presence whipped into shape. The spider found it all pretty amusing to see things advance so well, her strategies paying off at a better rate than she had expected. Bossing them around was too easy, their frail bodies and broken minds failing to oppose her. The spider hopped off the cart once they had arrived, watching how the planks were being unloaded so the cart could return to the sawyer. The first of the houses had been struck down, Pebbles already assaulting the second one with his destructive fervour.

Under the guidance of the mayor and an architectural assistant, half of the demolition team was called back to start the construction of the first house. A single floor shack that would provide a small living room, bedroom and bathroom, perhaps slightly larger than the original building that had stood here but not by much. The most important part was to restore the poor state of the houses that were not far off from downright being ruins. And that was currently going the right way.

As constructions moved on at their typical slow pace, Haka continued her observations. Trying this with the Spider Clan would not be as easy. There would be no mass organisation to construct the Unmei lair, though certainly every one of them would claim its own little place. Perhaps a more important question was, to what extend was it possible to gather the Unmei under one banner? Unlike humans, the Unmei loathed the idea of acting like cattle. A brood of spiders was driven by instinct, or an undeniable power like Momma or a brood-mother.

Haka ran her hand through her hair, closing her eyes just a brief moment. Commanding cattle as this had been a fun little game, but she was growing bored with it already. Conclusions had been drawn. This exercise was a poor substitute for the reality she envisioned. Verdandi was out having a fun time hunting and Chigetsu... Where was Chigetsu anyway? He could still be sleeping in the bath tub, but Haka was no shepherdess, nor was it like he had any duties or responsibilities towards this village. The three of them were just having their own sort of fun, trying their talents out. Step stones towards the day they would hold power and position to achieve their personal goals. But the spider had to do something to keep her occupied. Perhaps she could go terrorise the guards stationed at the remains of the wall for a change.

Calling Pebbles at her side lest he destroyed the whole village and left them barren of any sort of roof to sleep under, reconstructions could progress without them breathing down their neck. The day was still long so there was plenty of time - and people - for them to move on with the constructions. Pebbles certainly looked happy, having been able to vent his force upon the walls of the houses, and strutted proudly behind the spider, emboldening his stony muscles like he was the champion of the village here. He probably was the champion, considering the lack of spine of these humans.

Having arrived at the north gate, Haka jumped on top of the palisade in between the two militia that stood on guard, scaring them with her sudden presence. Knees shaking, their eyes looked at Haka with worry and wonder as to why she was here. She ignored them, red amber eyes looking in the distance in the direction she presumed Verdandi to have gone as she waited for Pebbles to climb the ladder and rejoin her, smashing the shin of one of the guards as he'd pass by.

---

869
Total: 1802

It became clear very quickly that going out on his own was a mistake. Back in the forest he would be treading the same ground that he had on the path to the village, with the exception that he was now alone. There hadn't been any streams they passed on their original journey to the village along the path they took. He should have remembered this before setting out. The direction that Haka had pointed the streams out to be would have diverged him from the path that led into the village... Did he really want to just wander outwards like this? Leaving the main path and wandering outwards into the forest.... Well. He remembered what happened with the trees still. Then there was the dangerous looking wolves that Haka brought in. While wild animals trying to feast on him wasn't the scariest thing it would definitely be an annoyance. Who could tell what sort of monsters were out here too, other than the ones that Haka had hunted? This world that Lord Osada had sent them into reeked of danger. There were surely things more dangerous than those wolves hiding within these forests, and surely things that would be able to tear him apart, regardless of how he might liquefy himself. He should have asked some of the villagers for more information before setting out. They surely had some sort of source of water they were going to. At the very least he should have taken Haka with him as a guide or something along those lines.  

Without any guidance he would step off the path. With the voices of his weaponry urging him forward he would go forth. The direction that Haka had sent him in would be follow out into the woods. In a rare moment of foresight there would be a trail left behind him. Serving as a way to guide him back to the path should he need to return there would be a trail of slime left at his heels. Not exactly water, but a thick mucus that he created from his hydration that would stick to the ground. Unlikely to evaporate or be eaten after he left it, it would serve as a perfect way for him to retrace his tracks back to the path should he need to. Perhaps it would also serve as a way for beasts to more easily hunt him down, his tracks easily visible, but that wasn't something he could concern himself with. He kept it at the back of his mind as he traveled out into the forest.

The creeping would begin to pick away at him though. Silence, except not. It was too quiet, so quiet that every little noise produced a shake deep inside him. His own footsteps against the ground would leave little squelches and squishes and getting used to them at first had been difficult. Pausing to see what he could listen to and then hearing his own footsteps as he took another step forward startled himself. Crunches of sticks and dead grass under his own feet combined with those sounds to produce an especially uncomfortable noise. Every so often echoes of sounds coming from the distance could be heard, and these would make Chigetsu stop in place.

Frustration would set in quickly as he traveled out deeper into the forest. A stick would be snatched off the ground, and then with his kunai quickly carved. The most basic dowsing rod would be created, and then pointed down at the ground. While he wasn't the surest that dowsing rods actually worked the memory of their use came back to him in this moment, and trying one was better than nothing. Holding the rod he had created an arm's length away from his body he would follow it outwards, keeping it straight as he progressed forward.  

He would get very lost very quickly. It had been a moment of brilliance that he had created a trail behind himself before entering into the forest or it would have been very likely that Chigetsu never would have seen Haka or Verdandi again. Sense of direction wasn't exactly his forte, and this dowsing rod didn't seem to be doing any good. Maybe or was defective? Or more likely that dowsing just didn't work in the first place. He would sigh, looking up at the position of the sun in the sky. It would be barely visible through the mist, but the position was determinable enough to see generally what time it was. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he could just turn back and call it a day yet. He would set off further, increasingly feeling like an idiot between his moments of minor dread.

---

[796/1722]

"AIM!" Verdandi would shout, another badge of five wolves was advancing their position. "FIRE!" She would scream as they rained a hail of bolts towards their targets. One of the men shot a wolf into it's eye and it instantly died. The remaining four would be heavily damaged but kept charging towards them. "SHIELDS!" she screamed, lifting her own that she had gotten from the armoury. "SPEARS UP!" she followed and the men repeated in a chorus of "HAH!" and as the wolves collided with their unified shield wall most of them got instantly impaled by the spears. "SWORDS!" she followed up and the remaining wounded wolves would be stabbed by the soldier's swords to their ultimate fate. A complete success. No casualties. Enemies eradicated. The soldiers found themselves in a rush of pure adrenaline. They felt powerful. Under the lead of Verdandi, more and more of the creatures would fall to the simple tactics of war. Wound the enemy with bolts and arrows. Defend yourself with armor and shield, impale them with long range weapons, eradicate what is left of them.

Every time they advanced further Verdandi let the men set up some sort of stone formation and painted in in blood. A distance marker. They would give each of them a number to keep track of how far they were away from the village and how much closer they would get to the wolf caves. Verdandi was aware that Haka had taken out one of the elders. But also knew that if the hunters were to remain and tread here safely. All of the ancient wolves would have to go away. They were a threat that could tear those soldiers apart even with their perfect defence. A mother wolf would simply crush into the pile of soldiers and tear them apart with no regard to her own wounds. They moment they arrived in front of the wolf caves. Verdandi commanded the soldiers to set up camp. Moving always together as one group and not dividing into smaller ones to keep their ultimate strength bundled up together. Never showing weakness. The wolves weren't completely stupid. If they would get one chance to single out a prey they would instantly kill one of the men. So together they moved. Obtaining wood and stone and returned to the new central spot in front of the caves. Quickly building up some sort of defensive walls, a roof made of wood and various wooden pillars that Verdandi would stomp into the ground with brute force.

They had made themselves a hunting lookout. Adding a few layers above would even turn this improvised hunting hut into some sort of a spy tower. Four soldiers were appointed to be on the lookout and scan into all four directions while the people below would properly set up camp and make a fire. None of them was allowed to let their guard down. None of them was allowed to sleep or eat. They could do that when they would get back to the village, they simply were allowed to rest a bit. During their encampment, some smaller wolf packs would charge them. The soldiers on the lookout would quickly signal the attackers and the remaining soldiers would form the usual defence and slaughter their prey with more and more professional skill.

Verd was certain that they could stay safe like this for a while and decided to head on alone. One of the soldiers had a horn he could use to signal Verd in case one of the large ones would appear at the encampment. She made sure to tell them, that if she did not return within two hours. They would go home without her and so she left her shield behind and slowly vanished in a quick charge towards the caves.

Once inside them. Verd could hear an almost endless number of wolves move within the caves. But they were all divided in small packs. If they would recognize her being here, she would have a large problem to get out of this. Verd took a good thirty minutes to mentally map the cave system and it's insides. Counting over two hundred wolves within and… one mother. Considering Haka must have taken out one of them, it was highly unlikely that more of these giants were still alive. Hence if Verd would manage to kill this one, the soldiers should have no problem to come back here for continuous hunting over a very long time.

Verd would move closer into the central cave where the large mother was sleeping. She needed a distraction. One that would keep the children busy for a while. Quickly she formed the seals to create six basic shadow clones. Starting to move them all towards the north exit while she came closer and closer to the south exit. Despite the clones having no smell once they appeared in the caves visible to the wolves, the wolves would instantly mark them as intruders and a loud, very very loud howling and growling began. The mother would wake as her children would charge after the intruders. But she wasn't to be fooled. She could smell Verdandi's real body. Verd would quickly move into the now almost empty cave. Her sword slice through a myriad of minor weak wolves in her path as she jumped forth in an attempt to shove her blade into the mother's throat.

The creature would paw her large palm into the air and hit Verdandi straight. This was golem-punch all over again. Verd's blade yet would shove itself deep inside her paws flesh and make her squeal and bleed. As Verd crash to the ground the mother would quickly charge her. Spreading her mouth wide open and threatening to tear Verdandi into pieces with her razor sharp natural weapons. Verd had no choice. She had to use her trump card. With a loud gasp and intense amount of chakra removed from her pool. Verd would channel all the Hyouton chakra she could muster up to send it onto mum and freeze her just a hair away from digging her teeth into Verdandi. With a certainly scared look on her face, Verd would gaze upon the scary creature. It has been twice already in this weird world that she had nearly been killed. This was about to become a very unhealthy habit. Verd would pull her sword from the mother's frozen paw. Move up to her chest, allow the ice to melt just around the chest area a little bit and then she struck her ice blade. Wyrm's bane. Deep into her heart. Her guttural scream could be heard even past the ice that was trapping her. Verd clicked the button her sword that would activate the mechanical trigger to turn her sword into a saw. Pulling it back and ripping the wolves heart into pieces. Ultimately killing the monster and basically showering Verdandi in a thick disgusting layer of blood.

Verd would cut the remains of the mother into somewhat sizeable pieces. Pulling her remains under a large amount of pressure past the cave entrance. The young wolves would soon return and she didn't want to be caught carrying their mother's remains while drenched in her blood. As Verd arrived at the camp the soldiers seeing her like this were staring at her in disbelief. But the chopped up corpse of the monster wolf was prove enough of what happened. It was over. Mission accomplished.

While Verd was away, they had fended themselves wonderfully against some more wolves that came to attack them. The net of the guards would be filled with over twenty corpses as they added all of them to the ones they already slaughtered. Leaving their new hunting post behind. Verd would make her way back. Figuring if they all went to be that successful they would probably need a cart or something else. Cause the power to drag all these creatures including the mother was an annoying task. For once she was jealous of Haka for her nifty sealing technique.

Soon they would arrive back at the gates of the village. All soldiers still alive. All of them now giving off a complete different feeling as to when they left. They had tasted blood. Killed. Defended and survived under the leadership of the ice princess. As they walked back into town past the gate Verd was still completely drenched in blood from head to toe. Surely to Haka's amusement of sorts. She knew how much Dandi hated to be coated in filth. The soldiers moved towards the storage area. The cooks and helpers would have a lot of meat to cut into pieces now. Combining it with the food they already had from Haka's first hunting trip this would last them for months. Enough time for them to go on smaller, less dangerous hunting trips on their own in future.

Verd had finished her job as perfect as you could expect from the ice princess. She was going to take a looong bath in the tub pebbles had fetched for them yesterday… and clean her clothes… hopefully her suiton control was strong enough to pull all the blood out off her fabrics. She didn't know. But she had to try, since well, you know. Blood is 80% water, isn't it?


1570 / 3470

Chakra= 175/200:

Looking to the left and right, the spider assessed the state of the walls. The gate below was acceptable, the nearby walls as well. Not solid enough to stop a decently trained shinobi, but it'd last against the wildlife. Hoping over the gate and landing on the outside of the village, Haka started the slow walk around the entire village's basic wall. Shabby, affected with slowly creeping rot. Ropes needed replacing. Sections of the wall were barely worth calling a wall anymore, left as it was as the villagers believed the dense thicket right behind it would hide the weakness in the walls. It was a long stroll, with an equally long list of disappointing points of discussion.

Eventually ending her stroll at the south gate, Haka would hop into the village once more not caring to wait for the guards to open it. Landing in between the sentinels, an ominous sound caught her attention. Turning her head, the guards soiled their pants as they recognised this perpetual terror. A nightmare of Hansha seemingly far worse than Lady spider by the looks of it, mumbling 'undead' as they turned pallid with fear. Out of the fog, metal clinging and voices moaning, a handful of bedraggled humanoids shambled forward. Ugly hair stuck to their half-decayed faces, eyes white and soulless. Their bodies were deceptively frail, the looks betraying they died from hunger but the hidden unholy power that drove them making them more resilient than could possibly be accounted for.

"The undead... Sound the alarm!"
"No."
"B-but... They will-"

One glare silenced him. Raising the alarm would have all of these cowards run away again, delaying the current constructions. Besides, she was getting bored commanding spineless humans. Fighting these undead would allow her to stay occupied for a while and grant her the opportunity of figuring out what exactly they were and why they terrified the humans more than she did.

"Keep the gates closed. Be ready to defend."

Not that she worried about losing, but these cowards needed... guidance. Once more, the earth on the other side of the walls would cushion her feet as she landed. The white lady moved to meet the handful advancing undead, the reek of death subtly lingering in the air. Picking up their scent one thing would be clear. Haka was not about to eat these things in a hundred years. Allowing chakra to flow around her legs and arms, an invisible layer of deadliness would enhance the punishment she was about to dish out.

Suddenly noticing the approach of a living creature, the undead gained an unexpected boost in speed. Their shuffling walk turned into a rush, their moans into screeches expulsed by mouths opening wider than should have been humanely possible. Unnerving, but the huntress would have none of it. While faster than the wolves, her calculations told her they would not match hers. The first undead arrived, arms flailing unnaturally flexible, their nails vile and dangerously sharp. Haka blocked his strike, the sickening crunch of bones breaking as his unrestrained strength was met with Haka's enhanced power. Continuing her counter offensive, she shifted her hand from his arm to his throat and broke his neck upon impact. The first one tumbled down with a groan.

Another one approached, seemingly holding the intention to bullrush her, his unwelcome approach answered with a kick straight in the chest. Cracking most of his bones, he crashed into the ground. The third one, now close enough for his own sweep, missed Haka by a hair as she ducked down and swept his legs from under him. Tumbling onto the ground but feeling no pain, he was about to crawl back up when her heel shattered his skull. Knowing no fear, the other two didn't flinch at the loss of their comrades. In fact, they were apathetic about the whole ordeal and blindly rushed in to slake their unholy hunger on the flesh of the spider.

Their combined frenzy forced the spider into the defence. Dodging most strikes, the few she blocked with a strike of her own were strong enough to break their wrist and arm. Such strikes would have been sufficient for any mortal to cease their offence but the undead cared little for broken bones if they could just as much beat up their target with ripped off arms. Even when Haka's kicks broke the legs of one of the undead, they tried to crawl forward to bite her instead. Haka found it intriguing. It wasn't very challenging but the morbidity of the situation was not one she would forget soon even after stomping their heads to a bunch of bone pieces and squished brain.

The five undead were dealt with and from the sound of it, no others would come at this moment. As the chakra around her limbs dispersed, the spider returned with a yawn to face the gaping mouths of the few guards that had seen everything happen. Suddenly feeling inspired to act like actual guards, they saluted her as Haka landed in their middle. Confused at this foreign gesture she glanced briefly at the two before dropping down from the gate's walkway.

"Destroy the heads.", were the only words that left her stoic expression before she left the gates to return to the constructions at hand. A good portion of the morning had moved, but she had yet to see the return of her two companions.

---

916
Total: 2718

OOC: The undead are a link to our B rank quests.

180/200:

Just as Chigetsu was going to give up with the entire dousing rod nonsense he would stumble into exactly what he was looking for. The dried up remains of a riverbed were clearly visible in the forest in front of him. He would stare down for a moment at the dowsing rod he had been holding, in awe that it had actually worked. To the reward the dowsing rod for its hard work it would be tossed in the other direction, throw back into the forest from where it came. It was a more merciful fate than snapping it over his knee, which was what Chigetsu had been planning to do with it moments before.

Memories flooded into him much too late. Seeing this dried-up riverbed had invoked a sense of déjà vu within the male, feeling very quickly as if he had seen it before. The thick path of cracked and dried mud and rocks would be examined carefully. The direction that the water had been going could be seen through an analysis of the wear and weathering of the bottom level sediment. It revealed the direction that the source had come from, and Chigetsu would glance off in the direction that the water had been flowing from. This was good. If he could find wherever the water had been coming from then maybe he could rehydrate this river. The bottom wasn't completely desiccated. Water had been flowing through here not too long ago. That meant that this river hadn't gone dry due to a lack of rain or dried up source, but something had changed in the terrain to stop the flow of water. Redirecting a river wouldn't exactly be easy for him, but it definitely wouldn't be impossible either. The theoretics of how he would do something like that made him wonder for a moment. It was definitely something to think about.

It occurred to him then why this riverbed was so familiar. Chigetsu turned around now. Off in the distance he could see it. The village that he had come from. It was very clearly visible in the distance, despite the twists and turns that the dried-up riverbed made. It was slightly downhill from where he was standing, so seeing it through the trees was easy. He should have known. He had noticed it back in the village. Why did he forget this when he set off? Why did he not ask any of the villagers? Now all his wandering around in the forest looking for this river made him look like an impossibly big fool. He would stare down into the ground, reveling in his own idiocy. If it hadn't happened to him he would have laughed at it. He was such a terrible shinobi.

With something heavy hanging over him, Chigetsu would walk off in the direction of the source. The ground was uneven under his feet. Walking over the sprawled rocks and cracked earth was something he had to think about, hopping from one rock to the other. After a short while it became a game, with him looking for each rock to hop to next from the one he was currently standing on. It was weird to play such a childish game in such a terrifying environment. That was something Chigetsu recognized as he played it, although he didn't have much of an answer as to why he was doing it. He progressed into it naturally, without thinking. A bit of it was to take his mind off. Playing such a casual game in here, in this hell that Lord Osada had introduced to them, was quickly becoming less and less difficult for Chigetsu. While it had been unmistakably dangerous, with terrible and breathtaking monsters lying at every turn, the sense of danger was quickly dulling. For Chigetsu, a man who had never been cut before, terrifying monsters with sharp teeth didn't invoke any lasting sense of dread. It took things that pierced beneath the skin, into the mind and soul. That genjutsu with the trees had nearly been the end of him, as an example. Who knows how long he would have been screaming like that, thrashing around in the dirt. All night? Until he was all dried up? Until he died? There was no way to tell.

"Everything is okay, though!" Chigetsu would take his kunai out. It was always so easy now that he began liquefying them and keeping them inside his body. Being so close to them was more comfortable than keeping them inside his pouches or pockets. It felt intimate. "I have you. You saved me from that genjutsu earlier, and so I don't have to worry." Chigetsu was smiling, holding the knife up above his head as he skipped through the riverbed.

"Seeing you drown like that would have been too unfortunate. It wouldn't have been moral to allow it to go on."

"You could have told me a bit earlier, though!" Chigetsu would huff, puffing his cheeks out into a pout. He was being a bit overly childish now, for no particular reason. After that experience he needed someone to reach out towards. "You have to always be so mysterious with things now. You weren't always like this, you know?"

"What happened? We used to talk normally. You started behaving all strangely once we got to that manor. You talk in these mysteries now. Like you're trying to write poetry."

"I remembered something, is all."

"Ooooh?" Chigetsu would close one of his eyes, squinting finely to observe his kunai. It had a dull shine still. It had been a while since he had last polished it. "You're not going to just say that, right? You're going to tell me?"

Chigetsu would frown. "Come on. We're family, aren't we?"

"You won't remember when you wake up."

He would snort. Such a silly weapon. He would bring it down, holding the flat of the blade against his chest. "We're supposed to be honest with each other, you know. You promised me that when I was little. That you wouldn't lie to me. You promised me a lot of things."

"I did."

"I expect you to keep them. You shouldn't make promises you don't expect to keep, especially to little kids."  

"You aren't little anymore."

"I know." He would huff again. In the moment he felt a lot like a kid, despite what his kunai had just said. "I feel a lot like one all of the sudden though... You know, it's been a long time since we've been able to talk like this. It's so busy lately. I feel like there's no time when I'm alone anymore. I wake up to go for missions and then I'm always with people and can't talk to you. Verdandi and Haka would th-"

"Why don't you tell them?"

He would stop. His expression would droop as the words were processed. "Well. They wouldn't understand." What he had just said would be analyzed inside his head. "They wouldn't understand. They'll think I’m crazy." He had to repeat that, for himself to hear.  

"What they understand has no bearing on what is. You are becoming a weapon, and to worry about the position of the stone as you sharpen yourself will create imperfections before you even reach battle. Find your purpose and take it before anything else. Complete each task with a sure and steady hand and you will find your own perfection."

"There you go again..." Chigetsu would laugh a bit, smiling again now. "You always get like this. Why not be more direct?"  

"If you worry about what others say you'll become a failure and be caught up in your emotions. You'll die like that."

"I didn't actually expect you to be that direct."

"What did you really want then?"

He rolled his eyes. "You've been rude to me lately. More frustrating than helpful. I didn't expect you to actually give me advice and explain it."

"I can't help but chastise you, with how you act."

…

Before he could groan and snip something back at his kunai what he had been searching for would come into view. The entire reason that he had come all this way and searched for the riverbed.  Before him now was a great lake, stretching as far as the eye could see. It disappeared into the mist before the other side could be seen, but the presence of lilies and other foliage around its exterior made him sure that it was a freshwater lake though, rather than the ocean. Ignoring his hopping pattern from before Chigetsu would rush forth, sprinting as fast as he could to the lake. It was beautiful. Even in this wretched place it was wonderful seeing fresh water, and clear signs of life. It brought a pure joy and happiness to him, more so than he had expected. He wanted nothing more than to dive right into it and swim around, immersing himself in the water and being free. As he got to the edges of the shore he would do exactly that, diving right in.  

A lungful of water would be sucked in, Chigetsu's Hozuki heritage coming in handy and allowing his lungs to process the inhaled water as it entered. It would be exhaled, and for a while Chigetsu would simply keep this pace. Breathing the water in and out in a steady rhythm as he sunk deeper into the depths of the lake. Its size was something he had underestimated when first seeing it. Now underwater and away from the mist's concealing nature it was easy to tell how incredibly large this lake was. Even underwater he couldn't see to the other side and looking downwards it turned to blackness before there was any bottom. It was incredible, like some sort of wonderful miniature ocean created just for him to enjoy.  

Just for him. It was empty. He was alone in these waters, with the exception of his kunai. Quickly it would be placed back into his gut so it couldn't be separated from him. With the impossible deepness of the lake it would be impossible to get it back if he dropped it and allowed it to sink down into the darkness. Who knew if there even was a bottom to this anyway. It was strange that there was no fish though. As far as he could see there wasn't a single one, which seemed incredibly strange. There was the chance that he had scared them off with his diving, but with the water being so incredibly clear there should have been something that he could see from where he was.  

Why he had been searching for this would come to mind though. There had been some sort of dam that cut off flow from the river. He had noticed it as he jumped in. Turning to reorient himself Chigetsu would face the dam and begin swimming over to it. The way he swam was certainly something to behold in itself, with each movement of his body mimicking the slithering of a snake. He looked like some underwater sea serpent with how he twisted and turned. Once he got to the wooden dam that seemed to be blocking what would be the natural flow of the river Chigetsu would press up to it. He would slide into it by liquefying his body, slipping through the tiny cracks in the mud and piled branches until he would be roughly in what he assumed was the center. Then, with his twisted and squished limbs, he would form hand signs through the dirt.  

A huge mass of light-orangey goo would surround him, creating a massive blob that pushed the sediment away. From the center sticks and rocks would be thrown away, and the rest of what had blocked the path would be thrown about as the huge blob of orange goo that was now created thrashed around. Ripples would be sent through the water, and the dam would be destroyed shortly afterward. Felled trees would be tossed aside, picked up with gooey limbs and thrown onto land. Immediately water would begin flowing back into the riverbed, a verifiable flood pouring out and streaming through the previously dried earth. It wouldn't be long until the water reached the village. Perhaps he should have warned them, as the river flowed right through the village. Hopefully, nobody would be swept away or drown as the flooding river returned.

The orange blob would unsettle itself and ungulate away, allowing the full stream of the river to flow downhill once again. It would flow back down into the lake. In the center of the massive blob of goo would be Chigetsu, staring down fondly into the lake. Being in water again was a dream. The movement he had made in blasting apart that dam had sent shockwaves through it that he could feel even now. If he could collect some fish would be a good idea. It would be incredibly easy with his blobby exoskeleton. Fish would pass through and not know what had happened until they were caught, and he would be able to move silently through the lake to seek them out.

If there were any fish, that was. He still couldn't see any. Peering down in the darkness there would appear to be movement, but nothing he could make out. Going down deeper to find something to eat was an option, but if he would be blinded it wouldn't be ideal. Even if it wasn't something a shinobi should entertain, Chigetsu really didn't like the dark. Not being able to see what terrifying. Movements from down below would catch his eye again. It seemed as if there were some fish swimming upwards. With a smile, Chigetsu would prepare to snatch it out of the water.

It would slam into him faster than he could process, piercing right through the goo. Rather than pierce through him as well it would lift, the force of the blow centering on Chigetsu's liquefied body. It was intense, and inside the goo there would be an intense pressure from the impact that localized entirely on his form. Inside the thicker goo his body would thrash about, the pressure turning him into mush, and making his juices spin around rapidly. Bubbles were everywhere. The impact had been so severe that it lifted him entirely out of the lake, sending his orange blob of goo flying straight into the air.  

The orange blob would be sent what must have been hundreds of meters into the air, with Chigetsu's body contained within it. As gravity began to pull downwards at his form he would begin to gain the tiniest amount of understanding as to what had just happened. Gravity was cruel though. He would come down before the liquid in his brain would settle. The orange blob that housed him would slap downwards at an incredible speed into the village. Whatever had hit him seemed to aim specifically so that this would be the case, otherwise, it would have been some incredible odds. The blob, which was around ten meters in radius, would crash down overtop a shack, which would be instantly crushed from the sheer force of the falling blob. The orange goo would splatter everywhere, being thrown in every direction and covering every exposed surface in a good fifty-meter radius with its ick.

At the center of the destroyed shack and splatter impact of goo Chigetsu would lay, a puddle of goo himself now. For a long time he would stay like that, a puddle of Chigetsu colored goo inside the orange splattered goo. It took him a long time to understand.

---

[2670/4392]

OOC::

Chakra 160/190:

While Verdandi was bathing the blood of wolf mamma off her skin. A multitude of villagers were at work outside. Verd would casually rest in the water for a while, refreshing it by her own suiton chakra and keeping it comfortably cool with her natural body reaction. The bathtub pebbles had fetched for her was truly a wonderful gift in this situation. Verd would slip back into her dry, cleaned clothes and ready her armor pads beneath. Mounting her weapons and stepping from the tent.

As soon as she stepped out she could see a multitude of things had positively changed. One of the more experienced and elder soldiers that had accompanied Verdandi during their hunt was wearing a strange symbol on his armor. Verd pointed at it and wondered. "What's that for?" she asked boldly. "We have reviewed our strategies Master Yuki, the weak leadership of the civilians has been revoked. This village is officially back under military control. I have taken all responsibilities on to myself. The former elder has been… retired." He mentioned all of this with a certain strength behind his words. Verdandi started to see what was happening. The men here had not won a single fight in years. A sudden rush of motivation and newfound strength has returned to the village. The cowards that kept whimpering in their pathetic ways were slowly being replaced by the new guard. Banished from their former duties and degraded to lower professions as to help the carpenters with their wood work or the cook with his seemingly endless task to work on the meat.

Verdandi agreed. Despite this somewhat forceful overtake by the soldiers this was going to be a positive change. None of the villagers died since Haka's judgement and the weak slime was now being replaced by soldiers with some guts. "Please follow me" the soldier and obviously new leader of the village invited Verdandi. Introducing himself once more as "Boneman" made Verdandi almost giggle for a minute. Then again, she realized that this was not his birth name. But eventually one that he had gotten on a day he almost starved and was all but skin and bones.

Following 'Boneman' he would lead Verdandi through the recent changed of the village. The carpenters were finishing the reconstruction of buildings. Seemingly Haka had put her Hand into… motivating them on this task. Many of the shabby huts were torn down and being rebuilt. The iron smith was refurbishing the hordes of armor and weapons they possessed. The tanner was trying to keep up with the seemingly endless supply of wolf hides he had receives. His team putting out clothes and new leather garments. Enough to finally replace the pathetic dirty ridden clothes they were wearing.

A separate team of carpenters were working on the walls. Using the clay gathered to fill holes and strengthen weak wall parts with a second and third layer. The water in the river had returned. Seemingly to the efforts of a whom they called "Blobbman" for obvious reasons. The shelter Chigetsu had crashed into during his… landing. Was fortunately one of those Pebbles was supposed to tear down. No feelings hurt. Except for maybe Pebbles feelings who disliked the fact that "Blobbman" stole away a Smash'ing job from him.

While some of the servants were collecting thy multitude of blobb fragments and gathering them all into a big tub. It would take a few until Chi would be able to reform himself in said tub. Verd wondered what he had gotten himself into again being returned like this. But she could feel his life force wasn't gone just yet. He would certainly be able to explain. Anyhow, the villagers were thankful to have their water source back flowing through town again.

Verd moved past the storage area to see that their material was being wisely distributed to the various tasks that required them and different teams were being former. Civilians that would mine either wood or clay and soldiers that would escort them under the training Verdandi had given to them.

A room next, they were storing the meat in large containers but the cook explained his worries that a lot of the meat would turn bad since the hunters had brought months' worth of food back. Combining the haul of Haka and Verdandi. This being an only temporary luxury problem, Verdandi shortly put her palm into either of the meat filled barrels and filled them with suiton before freezing the ice and the meat within. "There you go." She said and left the kitchen. Always a fun thing to show the locals what a fridge is good for.

Verd stepped around town. Moved on to the gate and watched how the villagers were burning skeleton corpses that Haka had disposed of. The town was in more than a perfect state right now. Weakness had been replaced with new strength. Empty bellies were filled. Thirsty bodies were re-hydrated. Bad buildings rebuilt. Weak walls reinforced and they even started to form teams that would keep organizing more resourced and hence a self-sustaining life style. With the water back in, they for once had more than enough water and could start to work on their field harvest again as well. Everything was perfect. Everything was going to be fine. All their work they had put into this place would be rewarded. But would it?

Verdandi was feeling uneasy. Despite the fact that their job was going well. Something was not right. Those skeletons had not bothered those villagers before the shinobi arrived. Not in a long time. Verd immediately ordered Boneman to use some excess wood and create a multitude of wooden spikes. They wold have to set up an undead-defence perimeter around the outer walls. But it wasn't just that. Verd was sure she had seen some large creature in the woods on her way here. The mother wolf. and what happened to Chi exactly? Verd couldn't shake it anymore. Something dangerous was out there and the squad would have to find out what that is…

But before they would be able to form a proper search party. It was necessary to meet up with Haka and somehow wake up Chi from his.... uncomfortable situation.

Verdandi gathered herself and watched Boneman move past the gates. The first wooden spikes were quickly crafted. They started to slowly spread the second wall right against the first one. This would take another while. Along with all the other work the villagers were doing right now. In a few days the whole place would be looking different. But Verd and her friends would have to make sure that the newfound luck wasn't all too short lived.

Dandi moved down to the tub where Chi was slowly regaining form. Waiting for Haka to join them. They had to come up with a plan eventually. Verd would start off by explaining the creatures she had seen at the wolf den and the supposed wooden monster she had ought to have seen in the woods. Asking Haka what she could tell them about the undead that appeared. If she could give any pointers as to where they were coming from and last but not least. Find out what happened to Chi and if his sudden combustion like entrance into the village could be somewhat related to the sighting of all these strange creatures around the village. It was time to plot a proper plan.


[EXIT]


1250 / 4720

WC Usage:

With the undead dealt with, relative peace returned once more. That was, if one could call an entire village running out and about to tend to various needs related to the reconstruction of the whole village in question as peaceful. It was a crowded mass of ants running about, afraid of making Osada's spawn annoyed on one side, and afraid to disappoint the Ice Queen on another side. The chaos was strangely well cooperated by the few that delegated the tasks like strategists, but the consistent noise annoyed the spider that was used to more quietude. Her job was done here though, so she could go wherever she wanted now.

Her attention got distracted as an orange goo few through the air and neatly came crashing down in the centre of the village, straight onto a single building marked for destruction. Efficient. The orange goo splattering all over the place and sending the workers in another blind panic as they believed themselves to be under attack - again. Sighing softly, Haka ran her hand through her white hair and made her way to see what was going on. Considering the massive blob she expected it to be related to Chigetsu, but not knowing all of his abilities she could not be certain of that. Assumptions were not an option in the logical mind of the spider.

Arriving at the crime scene, she would see the people create a huge circle of gasps and terrified eyes, fingers pointing at the blob. To them, it looked like the massive blob had sullied the whole area, leaving a mystery behind of how and why this strange event occurred, but Haka could see a familiar liquid form puddled at its core. Chigetsu. Breaking the circle of disaster gapers, Haka ordered them to clean up the area and continue working, walking up to the puddle of goo herself before crouching and poking the squishy mass with a "Hi Chigetsu.". The familiar name recognised as the one belonging to the 'blobman', soft murmuring went through the crowd as they finally dispersed to continue the construction works.

Puddles of orange and Chigetsu goo would be collected and placed into the bathtub. He'd need time to recover so Haka went to sit back on the fountain, watching the people run about before she noticed Verdandi follow some skinny guy as he proudly showed how the village was flourishing again. No thanks to them, considering all of the hard work and the setting of examples had been by the Ahoban squad. Haka wondered how long their sudden revitalisation would remain once the squad would leave the area again and leave them to their own devices. Weak people didn't suddenly become strong because someone else told them to. If their will was weak, no amount of muscle boasting would teach them to endure. Their trials had yet to reveal themselves.

Or perhaps not.

The undead were strange. Techniques bringing the dead to life were considered kinjutsu. Shinobi had made plenty of those throughout the history, all for their own selfish reasons. Haka loathed the idea of rising dead. They were not supposed to rise again. Abominations of that sort were best of all dealt with swiftly before their weird magics started to warp the world into something worse than humanity. After all, humans held creativity, allowing them to find new ways to deal with something, but the dead remained ever stagnant. To think the undead forced to give her a hint of recognition to such an unevolved species as humans...  What strange world had her Creator thrown them into?

Verdandi's tour eventually came to an end and so she moved to their personal stay, checking upon the gathered Googetsu. Haka stood up from her stony seat on the fountain's edge and followed suit, the whole group gathered once again to share experience and talk strategy. The wolves were one thing, but Pebbles, the lake monster, the presumed wood monster, the undead, all these creatures were something weird. Powers to be careful of. Where they another defence set up to keep the criminals sentenced into this world by Sero? Or were they something different still? All these questions. Haka would have to poke Sero about it someday.

One thing was certain. A good mapping of the area was required. They had ventured out in the wild without much thought or care for this world so far. That careless exploring had put them into various amounts of danger and unearthed creatures possibly superior to them in power. It was possible that their presence, clearly superior in power than the criminals here, had attracted these greater beings. Guards of Hansha wishing to subdue the sudden rise in strength.

"We need to scout and map Hansha."

Properly. How that could be done with the variety of skills team Ahoban had was yet to be seen.

---

[EXIT]

815
Total: 3533
-2000 mission
-1500 B rank jutsu - Scripture of Banishment

He would be splattered. His goo was spread all over the rubble of the crushed shack. Separated into many pieces like this probably wasn't the best for each individual part, but the splattered goo that consisted of his organs didn't seem to be failing now that they were separated from his main body. The Hozuki sure were strange like that. Any long-term consequences he might have gained from having all his bits and pieces separated for a long time would also thankfully be avoided. All of his bits would be collected by the workers, seemingly on Haka's direction. If he could have, Chigetsu would have thanked her. Doing that would have been difficult with how splattered he was, and so in response his goo would make a bit of a gurgling bubbling sound. This startled the workers who were carrying his sticky bits back to the bathtub a good deal, many of them beginning to get nervous as the pieces of goo they were carrying began to foam and make sounds.  

Once all collected in the bathtub it would only take a little bit of rest for him to recuperate. That he was stunned in such a manner was only a result of his own mistakes. If he had been a bit quicker with his liquefication he could escaped from whatever that was entirely unharmed. It wasn't something he was able to beat himself up over though as he reformed, as the splitting headache he had prevented any sort of thought like that. Even though the main point of impact had been liquefied the shockwave had blown through the rest of his body before it could be liquefied. He was sore all over, and honestly lucky that all of his limbs weren't broken from that. Whatever it was that hit him was a monster.  

As he managed to stand and climb out of the tub, barely standing on his shaky legs, the rest of his squad had already surrounded him. He was still in a daze, obviously struggling with a solid amount of pain as he climbed out. Getting back on his feet was better, but he would obviously need a bit more time than just what it took to reform to be at his best. He felt creaky, like if he twisted too far in any direction that his ribs would break. What an incredible pain.  

Verdandi's explanation of what she was doing to was half listened too. Too much time was spent with Chi gripping his back like an old man for him to completely process every little bit of information, but still the majority would be absorbed. Wolf den. Hunting. Wooden monster. He got the important bits. Luckily, Haka didn't have a similarly long-winded explanation for him about what she had been doing. Chigetsu was beginning to appreciate the shorter, sweeter style that Haka took when conversing. He would give a small nod to her suggestion about mapping out the Hansha. It would definitely be a good start to not getting lost, as Chigetsu had been in the forests earlier.

As for what he was doing... He would begin his explanation shortly after Haka finished. The river flowing back through the previously dried up riverbed was pointed at as an obvious explanation of the fruits of his journey, and all the bits about him wandering through the forest like an idiot would be left out. "I went to find why the river had dried up. At the source there was an enormous lake. While I was exploring in the lake some terrible thing hit me. I didn't get to see it, it was so fast, but it launched me so high that I ended up splattering back down here." He would gesture towards the impact of his slimeball. The remnants of the orange slimeball he had created remained in the bathtub now, jiggling as if it were gelatin. He would hopefully never have to encounter that lake monster again, but if he did he now knew that a jutsu like that, unfortunately, wouldn't protect him.

---

[EXIT]
[691/5083]

[-2700] Mission & Extra Pay
[2383] WC To be distributed