[SP-F1] Feeding the Enemy

[Carrie Belmont 0]

((OOC: This thread takes place before the dreaded announcement that players are in fact stuck in Aincrad.))

She had been in the game not 30 minutes and already she had found the quest she needed. It had been a bother to get so early but she had been assured the rewards would be worth the work. Her informant, A beta tester by the name of Ben_Dover, had given her many points of good advice, especially as to which skills she would need to maximize her build to its fullest potential. The first was to track down a familiar, and according to Ben, the one she wanted was found here on floor 1 near the city, just outside the north gate. She was supposed to look for an abandoned wolf den, there she would find her target. She had also been advised to not bring weapons or invest in her weapon skills just yet, and rather to use the time to decide what she wanted to do.

Carrie took off at a run now having just cleared the North Gate. She had been given a marker on her map by her informant and was making straight for it. Ben had informed her that with this quest you could either try to beat a familiar into submission or you could let the target beat on you till near death and it would then submit of its own accord. A game bug he had called it. Either way it guaranteed that a player wouldn't actually kill the familiar by accident. Over all it seemed like a risky way to go, but then he had never given her bad advice yet, and besides he would have nothing to gain by sending her astray. In the end her gut made the decision to do it, and so she went with it.

She had to be careful as she went as the route was full of random creature mobs. so far most players were still in the town, and the few who had dared to leave were primarily funneling out the south entrances. This meant there was a greater chance her chosen target was still there waiting for her to come by and take it.

[Carrie Belmont 0]

It took her nearly 20 minutes of travel to finally be within visual range of her objective. Off in the distance she could make out the wolf den that had been marked on her map, though it hardly looked abandoned as she could barely make out something moving around. So the wolves were gone, and her prey had moved in, that's how this worked, she thought with a smile. Perfectly enough there were almost no other creatures in the area, she had been told that this creature was aggressive and even attacked other mobs, that's what made it so special. She was eager now, eager to meet it, and eager to tame it.

Carrie took her time now approaching the Den with caution. While she knew what she was looking for she still had no real idea what it was capable of. Strangely enough she had lost sight of the moving creature earlier, it had disappeared behind the den and not emerged since. Perhaps it was afraid of her, that maybe it sensed its domination approaching and now it was hiding. This thought as unrealistic as it was made her smile. No instead most likely it had met up with some other creature or player and was in the process of tearing them to shreds. another thought that caused her to smile. Since venturing out of the town she had come to hate boars, just for their startling population size. It seemed that there was one every ten feet. The idea of one meeting tis end to another frustrated creature was very pleasant.

[Carrie Belmont 0]

She continued to approach cautiously, taking her time and looking all around her. Every sound would make her stop, and every movement cast doubt into her mind, but still no sign of her prey. It was here, and by this point it had to have known she was here. She was practically on top of the burrow now, a ding indicated that she had reached her objective, but also had unlocked a new map location. Carrie smiled now as she crouched down looking over the area. The burrow itself was designed well, and looked as though it was meant to be abandoned from the start of the game. Why this new creature had moved in was unknown, maybe it was programmed to be here as well, sort of a lore thing. Either way it was why she was here now.

Carrie looked up to see the sun was directly overhead, meaning that it was about mid day. That meant she had plenty of time to go about her business and find this thing. However it would seem that she wouldn't need to wait that long as a faint growling soon caught her ears. It was coming from directly behind her and given by how it sounded meant that its owner had to be no more than 15 feet away. She turned on her heels now, keeping low to the ground, to see a large Mastiff looking dog behind her. It had its jowls pulled back revealing large teeth, and a single stream of drool escaped flowing to the soft earth.

"There you are pet" She said as her smile grew.

[Carrie Belmont 0]

Not a moment later the animal attacked, hurling its body at her with its massive jaws opened. Carrie had no time to react as the Mastiff bit into her arm and pulled the girl back. She let out a shriek of combined fear and pain. This was not how this was supposed to go, the animal was supposed to attack and then back off. That's what her informant had told her. She began to kick and scream as the Mastiff continued to pull her around by her arm. She was outclassed here, and without a weapon she stood no chance.

She kicked at the dirt again, trying desperately to get back onto her feet, maybe she could run, find help, there had to be someone nearby. Her health began to tick away, down from 5 to 4 like that. She was closer to death, and it scared her now. "help" She called out as she tried to fight free of the animals grip but to no avail. The animal was stronger than her, and no one was near.

[Carrie Belmont 0]

The mastiff was dragging her around backwards now, still holding onto her arm, and still showing no signs of letting go. Carrie continued to fight, trying desperately to get herself turned around and straightened out so that she might free herself and escape. She let out another howl of pain as the animal tightened its grip, taking another piece of health. She was down to 3 out of 5 now and things were getting worse. "You cant have me like this... Its not fair" She shouted both in anger and fear. She didn't want to die, even though as far as she knew she would just respawn. If this thing killed her now she would come back with 30 people and a giant sword and kill this thing so dead, she thought angrily. Not only that she would go after her informant for providing false info.

As luck would have it Carrie's foot found a hold and she used it to immediately get herself oriented. The flip happened fast, almost as fast as the initial attack, and she quickly found herself back on her feet pulling on her arm in an attempt to free herself from the animals grip. She let out a low growl as she pulled on her own arm, while the mastiff pulled back, trying to pull her down again.

[Carrie Belmont 0]

Carrie gave a sharp yelp as she kicked at the Mastiffs head. It let out a sharp yelp and released her, bounding backwards a few feet before charging again. This time it stopped at her feet growling in a menacing way. Carrie held her breath and puffed herself up in order to look bigger, that's how you dealt with animals in the real world, intimidate them, so that's what she would try here. She offered another kick that the animal smartly evaded before attacking again. This time it locked its jaws around her ankle and pulled her off balance again. She fell to the ground with a thud, losing another point of health before offering up another kick with her free leg.

This one landed smoothly on its mark, catching the animal in the head. It yelped loudly, releasing her while it yipped and whined. It circled her a few times, growling dangerously as Carrie desperately tried to keep it in her line of sight. She shuffled around in the dirt, keeping her front towards the beast, she had a feeling it would strike again if she managed to expose her back to it. "That all you got... You gotta wait till you can catch me off guard?" She taunted the animal with a sneer of superiority. "I'll just come back n end you later, even if you kill me now."