Hunt for the Crimson (finished)

[Yan Mao]

"Right over there!", one of Yan Mao's men said as they got to the top of the hill, pointing at a small village at its base. Most of the buildings and tents were still burning, while some had already been destroyed. Yan Mao looked down on the scene he had seen many times before. No matter how often he saw this, he'd never get used to seeing it.

"Head down there, look for survivors.", Yan Mao ordered of the small detachment he rode with, maybe ten men strong. He never bothered to have one of them get the rest of his men, they would soon see the black smoke in the sky and come running anyway.

Yan Mao lead the squad down the hill, slowly riding into the town. There were many bodies lying on the street, and not all of them were cut down. Some had been tied up or hung inside the burning houses. They were all already dead. At least that was what Mao thought. As he rode past the body of a man he thought was dead, it suddenly coughed out blood from his mouth. Mao immediatly jumped off his horse to offer the man help.

The man was in terrible shape, Mao could tell that it would take an act from the gods themselves to save this man. "Kill me!", he said, the man obviously felt that his last moments had arrived. He'd reach for the dagger stuck in his chest, trying to pull it out but Mao stopped him.

"I will let you go, only if you tell me who did this, and which way he went.", Mao said, feeling somewhat disgusted with himself for leaving the man in pain, even if it was only for a moment.

"A man... with eyes as dark as the night...", the man had trouble speaking, "and, a mark on his neck. He went east I think."

Yan Mao immediatly took a strong hold of the dagger in the man's chest and twisted it to pierce his heart. "Be at peace.", he said, having gotten all the information from the man that he needed. The burn mark on the neck, it must have been the Crimson.

Yan Mao got up and turned to his men. "He can't be far, let's go", he ordered half his men to follow him, leaving the other five to take care of the bodies, and lead the rest of his men in his direction if they arrived. Yan Mao mounted his horse and rode east, where there seemed to be a forest for as far as he could see. It would be hard to find the Crimson, but Mao was determined to succeed...

[Anyone may join in my little hunt. Feel free to post.]

[reality]

Anubis licked a dry paw lazily.. his eyes roamed around the forested environment, dreading it. Was he a forest cat? No. From around the other side of the tree Xhai sighed, tired of his companions moaning about the forest. "We've been here for several days.. and because you lead us here!" Anubis looked up after making sure his paw was nice and slick, often he was locked up in his own world. "Well." Xhai smiled gingerly at the two annoyed yellow eyes- he knew how to get under his furr though and before long the cat was again roaming the forest floor, a shadowy human following him.

They continued on, nothing else being shared between the two. An hour turned into two, and night turned into an even darker and deeper night. It was some time down the path that they heard a noise that was notable not of the forest. Anubis was the first to respond, his eyes springing open as his form froze. His human cohort did the same, pausing quickly and gazing. This was trouble. Forty or so yards away there was a creature in a dark coat.. it was hard to make out what he was doing, but it was obvious he was not welcome. Anubis would not respond so calmly to such a man. Xhai tried focusing on the man's eyes, which appeared to be dark, icy coals.

[black]"Meow!"[/black]

Anubis began running towards the creature, and Xhai followed suite without so much as a pause.

The chase was on!

[Yan Mao]

The cloaked man was the Crimson, but he was far from alone. His rogue troops, maybe ten who were travelling with him, were standing close by, but this didn't mean they weren't startled when a cat suddenly came at them from beyond some nearby trees, followed by a man. Not sure yet how many there were, the men drew their blades, ready to fight the intruders.

The Crimson remained calm, taking a few steps back as to be prepared to flee within a moments notice. His silhouette slipped behind one of the trees as his men would encircle the man, ignoring the cat. But the confusion was not yet complete.

The sound of approaching horses came from the direct opposite side from where the cat had just come from. The sound came so sudden and so loud, it was as if they had silently creeped forward until now, seeing a prefect opportunity to surprise their enemy.

From the forest's shadow emerged six riders, with Yan Mao riding in the front wielding his halberd lifted high. The weapon came down cutting one of the rogue's head clean in two. As his men assailed the other rogues, Yan Mao's eyes turned to Xhai. In the darkness, he seemed no different from his enemies, and Mao's halberd turned on him. The halberd, still bloody from Mao's fresh kill, slashed right at Xhai, intent of cutting his head clean off.

In the midst of the chaos, the Crimson would run from the battle. The darkness and the sound of battle masked his flight. He would be hard to trace, if anyone even noticed he was missing.

[reality]

Aha, so he was not alone, thought the cat inwardly. Xhai, who was slowing down at the sight of others began to wonder himself why there were so many men gathering out here in the middle of the forest. Where there huts around here? Surely they'd rather be inside that out in the thicket?

One of the men growled at the pair however, and it slowly began to sink in, these men were up to nothing trouble. The one who'd originally stolen their attention was behind the others now, as if afraid. All became quiet, as if the goons were waiting for the order to kill. Yet it was not meant to be, the sound of horses feet clanking across the ground and stirring up the earth dissuading the men from keeping their attention on the odd couple.

To put it simply, all hell broke loose, and in the commotion, Anubis stole away. Xhai was unsure of what to do, his eyes gazing as the men 'fought' or whatever they'd called the trivial task. Really all it managed to accomplish was to send other's to an early grave.. and why would anyone really want to do that? As usual his thinking blinded him, and before long a tall steed and even taller rider had his sights set upon his head. Xhai however caught wind of his companion off in the distance- he was in pursuit of the caped crusader from before! Ducking quickly to avoid a rather brutal thrashing, the mute warrior peddled forward and began chase too, his speed remarkable.. like the feline he was chasing.

Further up Anubis stalked his prey, his golden eyes seeing only to the task at hand.

[Yan Mao]

As his men stayed to clean up the rogues, Yan Mao followed his "enemy" that had just gotten away. His mark couldn't possibly run faster then Mao's horse, and with the halberd raised up once more, Mao moved to overtake the individual, moving the halberd down in a swinging motion, attempting to plant the halberd into Xhai's back.

As this attack was carried out, Mao's eyes already looked ahead, seeing a silhouette of a... cat? And for a moment, it seemed like there was someone beyond even that.

Indeed, the Crimson too was still running in this direction. He'd take a sharp turn left, past a large tree to make sure Mao wouldn't be able to see him if he kept riding forward. Crimson was in no way concerned about the cat, and focused on getting away from his nemesis. The Crimson knew this area very well, there was a stream not too far, and he would use it to get away from his pursuers...

[reality]

Xhai seemed to have found a shadow himself, though he was not nearly as friendly as he was to Anubis. A pesky shadow none the less though, he kept trying to swing at him with that weapon of his! Did he not realize he meant him no harm? Was this what man is, outside of his hut? Does he cower strike blindly in the cold abyss of the forest floor?

Drawing up his sheathed sword, Xhai brought it up to his opponent's swinging blade while turning his body so as to provide power for his defense. His instincts told him he wouldn't be able to parry such a heavy blow- so with this motion he began to bend his knees. He'd done something similar in the west just a few months ago. Drawing his closed weapon along with the strike, he pivoted on his bent legs and allowed the attack to simply carry through. His mind was still on the chase at hand, and after, avoiding the rider he ducked behind a set of trees and kept up the chase.

[Yan Mao]

Yan Mao's target had managed to avoid yet another attack, a point of frustration for Mao. He had moved past the enemy and slowed his horse to a halt. He turned around and looked at him from atop the horse. He didn't seem to want to fight Mao, only interested in running away.

"You are brave enough to kill innocent women and children, yet now you run away from a real challenge. Coward!", Yan Mao cried out into the night. He dismounted his horse and got in Xhai's way. "You will die whether you want to or not, bandit scum!"

Mao got into a defensive position. If Xhai attacked, he'd try to counter. If he only tried to pass by him, he'd try to block his way by extending his halberd in either direction.

In the meantime, the Crimson was getting further away, crossing a stream by use of a wooden log placed across it. Once on the other side, he'd kick the log out of place, making sure noone would be able to follow him. He'd immediatly continue running away, he'd had enough of unwelcome visitors. It was time to hide out again untill Yan Mao had lost his trail.

[reality]

"Stop."

A single word came from the normally silent Xhai. He was not here for a fight, he was following Anubis, and that was all! Darn these humans, always so quick to their blades because of how foolish and insecure they really were on the inside. And now Anubis was getting away... this would not do! He drew his sword, in half a second, his opponent wouldn't even realize it till the sound of the metal clearing finally registered. By then it would be too late, he attacked the man like no other could, his figure almost flying from its standing position to its target. And immediately, his blade was upon the man's halberd, pushing him back with all the force possible. But this was no attack, this was nothing short of a shake up! With the slyness of a fox Xhai slipped his foot behind his opponents and then again applied strength on the man's halberd while pulling with his foot. Knowing this would trip him immediately, he was already again off, flying through the forest floor after the quick and brief attack.

[black]MEow![/black] I'm coming, replied the crafty Chinaman. But he was having a hard time finding the path now, the forest floor being a dark and cold subject to study. Not after long though he found a stream, and just down the way he could see someone trying to push a log off of the small shore. Anubis was on the log. Oh shit! Running as fast as possible, Xhai leaped just at the right time, catching the log as it began to travel down the small current. Craps? Anubis went over to him immediately, donning his shoulder. Time for them to leave perhaps? This seemed like too much trouble for nothing!

[Yan Mao]

Indeed, before Mao even realized it, he was hitting the dirt. Mao fought with pure force, unable to resist an opponent as fast as Xhai, certainly not with a halberd. Still, he succeeded at catching his fall somewhat by releasing his halberd temporarily and rolling out of the throw. Slightly confused now, no thanks to the throw, roll and darkness. It took Mao a moment to get back on his feet, and even longer to find his halberd.

The man was long gone after that stunt, but Mao would not quit. His family used to own these lands, and he knew there was a stream somwhere to the north of there. He didn't know how far exactly, but he knew the Crimson would be headed that way.

Mao whistled for his horse which immediatly came running. He'd mount his steed as it ran past at a slow pace, a technique Mao had learned from his father. Once secure in the saddle, he urged the horse to speed up heading north. To Mao's surprise, he got to the stream much faster then he had anticipated; as it turned out, he'd been mere seconds away from it, ofrcing his horse to stop at the last minute, lunging Mao forward off his horse.

Tightly holding on to the reigns, he only just stopped himself from landing into the stream himself. The horse's head was pulled down by Mao's weight, causing it to immediatly pull back on the reigns, successfuly dragging Mao onto solid ground. Mao had not much time to think about these events, as a little further down the stream, he again saw Xhai, struggling to hold onto a log, until a cat jumped off it and onto Xhai's shoulder.

"Stop right there you criminal scum!", Mao shouted into the night, "my men will be here shortly, surrender now and I will let you live to atone for your crimes!"

[Yan Mao]

[Since Reality quit, I will knit an end to this rp so my character can continue]

Before Xhai could respond to Yan Mao's demands, Mao's men stormed in from behind the trees. They jumped Xhai and forced him to submit, tying his arms behind his back. Seeing the situation was under control, Yan Mao placed his halberd on his horse and mounted it.

"We'll take him with us, and turn him in to the nearest settlement. They may decide his punishment.", he said, before turning and riding away, his men in short pursuit.

After an intense interrogation demanding to know the location of the Crimson, which Xhai obviously did not know, he was turned in to a small settlement where he was hung for his "criminal" activities.

[Let this be a lesson for all of you. My character does NOT know who your character is if you don't tell him, or if it isn't obvious. Be you a Wei officer, or the emperor himself.

Also, do not go wandering into the forest on your own for no apparent reason. That counts for your character and yourself irl. ]

RP FINISHED

[Wen Chou]

Anubis watched quietly from the branch of a high tree, licking his paws like he couldn't be bothered about the situation below. His human companion had been captured. Unfortunate. But that wouldn't stop the crafty cat.

There would be another.

Without another thought Anubis vaulted from branch to branch, losing himself in the forest.

REWARDS

• Yan Mao gains 12 Reputation points for rping with Cao Cao (former).
  
• The town gives 100 gold to Yan Mao for turning in a 'criminal'. (Reputation Multiplier * .1 = 10 + 100 = 110 Gold in total.)