Obsidian Wilds

Dahlia had had a bit of a hectic...well past few months really. Mutation, getting control over her increased strength so she could stop breaking doors every time she tried to open one. Remembering not to scratch those itchy spots without any care because her claws could cut her skin. but the biggest change had been joining the hunters. What a trip, she never would have previously even dreamed of joining...But being able to get away from the judgmental and apprehensive stares made it worth the danger really. Apparently growing an extra pair of ears and clawed fingers was enough to make people you care about quickly change their opinion of you. "Hm?" Her fox ears perked up, turning this way and that. "What's with the ruckus?" She commented mostly to herself. She got up from her seat in the forge where she had been fixing a big dent in her shield from a recent encounter with a very grumpy mutant bear. She set down the hammer and picked up her shield with the dent mostly gone, grabbing it by the edge with a pair of tongs and flipping it face up to pour some cold water on the face and cool it. She then grabbed her helmet, her big hammer and the now cooled shield before heading out to see what all the ruckus was.

As it turned out it was the chief getting in another disagreement with that mutant raccoon. A rather destructive one actually. Dahlia sighed and put her hammer and shield down against a wall before going about clearing the rubble from the street while Anslem concluded his arguement, though as she finished and began to leave the lady hunter with the wierd blood powers - She really needed to ask what her name was- started talking about the Akina the youngest hunter she knew. She heard the bit about him jumping the fence and stopped eavesdropping to head to the gate, Actually being passed by the two on the way there. She picked up her pace and signed out at the gate before following their tracks.

Eventually she came upon the scene right as the plant thing began parroting what the others had said. She raised her shield "What in the seven hells is that...Plant thing?" She thought out loud, easily loud enough for the others to hear though her voice was a tad muffled by her helmet. She glanced at Akina when she saw him in her peripheral vision, feeling a bit of relief when she saw he was alive. Best to try and keep it that way.She turned back to the plant...thing and lowered into an actual stance, if a bit sloppy. She was still a rookie, sue her.

Now there were three more her-but-nots. Nissan was very confused and frightened. They looked not-nice. "Ni-ni-nicesan…" she mumbled, edging back into the forest.

"Th' hell!?" Anselm yelled as Akina nearly crashed into him. His trance broken, he spun around to look at the kid. "Dammit, kid, ya know at times like this, th' weird stuff creeps out and..." he paused, turning to look at some kind of mossy zombie... thing? He then looked over at Akina and Ein quickly and back at the creature, holding out his hands. "Okay, what the hell is that? The hell is it babbling?"

He then heard heavy footfalls, casting a side glance at Dahlia, smirking a bit. "Well, hell, th' gang's all 'ere, it looks," he mutters, letting out a short laugh. His scars still ached for some reason, more than the typical, and it clearly wasn't from this... poison ivy monster. Something else was approaching, humming a melancholy lullaby of some sort, something... nostalgic to the chief. He now readied himself, something etched deep into his very being now quivered. "Kid... ya stir sumthin' big this time... like a house."

"Oh, good, you came to get the lil'un," a voice spoke, Anselm's body seized up, his hair on ends. Bellatroix stands just feet from the party, her eyes scanning the gathered hunters, a smile on her face. She then spots Anselm, glaring directly at her and her smile fades. "Oh," she uttered, holding out her arms to him, causing him to back away without a word. "My, how you've grown, my chile," she said.

"You," Anselm says under his breath, his breathing becoming shallow, his inhuman pupil constricting. Finally drawing his knife, he points it at the woman, his face wrinkled with rage. "Vapor of fevers and nightmares, ya dun' exist!" he yells, his speech growing somewhat incoherent, his eye twitching. But to his shock she somehow broke the distance, now only inches from him. His eyes widen, he never felt her get this close.

"Easy, honeychile," she says, smiling, taking the knife from his hand and with the other touchis his cheek. "Ya remember the cruel fate ya were dealt, the father that hated you, the mother who looked away..? When no love was left, they cast you to the wilds... to me." Without warning, Bellatroix gently reached out and hugged Anselm against her, his body going limp for a moment, his face blanking. "When ya ran, I worried, thought the bit inside ya would eat ya away..." Realization came to him, however, and he pushed the woman away, or more like himself away from her, as she barely budged.

"The... what inside me!? You did this t'me!?" Anselm yells.

"Well, t'be fair, ya did it to yerself, but you were barely awake then," she responds, holding up her arm and forming a shape like a bite mark on it. "Was a scary thing you did... and look at your hair, and that eye... must ahve been awful painful. I'm truly sorry, mon chile..."

"Sorry?! Y-" Anselm began, but something in the distance caught his attention. The sounds from earlier that Bella heard have gotten slowly closer, and they sounded like motors to machinery. He didn't remember any of the city dwellers going off into the wilds, let alone with functioning machinery. Bella herself was distracted by it. He then looked up into a tree, and felt another odd presence nearby, as his senses were no longer fixated on the witch. "Damn, th' hell is with this day..?" he mutters. "As much as I hate it... we... gotta pull back."

Lying in wait in the overgrown bushes nearby was a rather large being or predominately dark coloration. This was Magnus, an ancient mutant from since the near beginning of the cataclysm. The sounds of his breathing were apparent if one were to come close him. His rather large horns were a stark black and white stripes and curved inwards.

As the group of people conversed nearby, their talking began to disturb his slumber and he began to stir. He rose from his grassy patch and revealed his true size and despite the humanoid appearance he was quite large. He let out what could be best described as a throaty grunt as he yawned, revealing razor sharp teeth.

The her-but-nots turned away from Nissan, prompting her to step a little bit closer, still muttering. A very large her-but-not made a noise, and she replicated the noise in her warbly speech.

More and more mutated beasts of the wild began to encroach, along with the city's last Hunter, Ms. Eis, if Ein wasn't mistaken Then something large came crawling out of the woodwork, a creature of nightmares. It was starting to look like a fight was inevitable, this is why she hated the Wilds, this is why humanity was confined like rats in a sinking ship.

"Oh, good, you came to get the lil'un," Ein shot a sidelong glance at Akina, of course he was the reason this... thing was harassing them. Just what was the thing anyways..? It looked like the unholy abomination of all the nearby wildlife. Whatever it was, it spoke like the traders from many towns over.

Anselm began to lose his cool, the creature knew him. Apparently had known him for most of his life, a thought which made Ms. Crowley only slightly suspicious of the strange man who appeared on the outskirts of town and quickly rose to chief Hunter. Anselm always seemed to cause property damage whilst running about, and the thing thought of him like a child. Could he be a spy?

Contemplation were best to be had later, machinery that definitely didn't come from Crow's Wallow could be heard in the distance. Is the city under attack now? It's always the quiet days! As the Chief called to retreat, Ein used her bloody saber to fell a nearby tree. It fell between the group and Bellatroix, creating an impromptu wall.

"Good call Chief, time to go." Turning to run, Ein kept an eye on the newest recruit, ensuring she didn't fall behind.

---

Astrid needed to get home, but the demon-looking woman had piqued her interest. What is she checking on... She began to follow the lady, sprinting in the direction she'd flown away in. Voices could be heard in the distance, someone screaming.

"The... what inside me!? You did this t'me!?"

The voice sounded familiar, like a hunter from Crow's Wallow, a thought which served to speed up Astrid's stride. Skidding to a halt, she barely avoided running into a zombie. It warbled at her, confused and lost; it almost seemed like a baby. A patch of grass then began to move and tremble, something large with horns and razor sharp teeth began to surface. Astrid grit her teeth and dropped her bag, it would only weigh her down if it came to a fight.

"Hi, I didn't mean to upset. Following friends..." She wanted to say something more, but the words escaped her. She rarely had this many people to talk to in a single day. In the distance, was the sound of motors. The sound wasn't coming from Crow's Wallow, Astrid needed to find somewhere to hide soon, but for now it was best to pay her respects to the other mutants she'd ran into. Perhaps they'd even help her out further down the road.

Nissan cocked her head at the her-but-not who had run into her. She was alright, and when she looked at her feet they'd grown tendrils of some sort, locking her to the ground. "Following... friends...?" Nissan asked, a bit less warbled this time.
Suddenly, a bunch of strange monstrosities popped out of the woods. A large something fell, and most of the her-but-nots retreated away. Nissan turned to the new her-but-not and said, "Friends... wan-dur-off... we wan-dur-off?" she asked. She was beginning to get the hang of this whole speech thingy. She only knew the words from the body language of those who had said it. It was almost like actual speech. Almost.

Akina looked around. More creatures were coming out of the wood work it would seem.

"I was only trying to help, I didn't realize so many creatures would come following. I didn't know that Anselm knew Bell." Akina tried to explain.

Akina had no idea there were others out there like him, or at the very least similar. The nice cat man, and a girl that looked like she was part fox, it was making him feel more and more like he belonged out here in the wilds. The only thing holding him to the colony was his parents really. He had hunting skills, he could defend himself against the creatures of the wilds, but should he do it?

No. Not yet at least. He should help his fellow hunters get back to the safety of the colony without the plant thing or the others following them.

Dahlia had decided that this day was just one of those days now, Anslem tearing a path of destruction after skitters, Akina jumping the wall for some reason, going after Akina and finding that plant thing.... Wait where did that thing go anyhow? She listened for a moment but couldn't hear it's strange breathing noise anywhere nearby but as she was listening it was revealed that the patchwork monster there with them somehow knew the chief. And so the weirdness continues. She thought to herself. What next? A.... Did that big monster count as her jinxing it?

Dahlia's ears flattened back against her head under her helmet. Could the world and this day in general just chill out for a moment? Whrrr ...... " Sigh. Just one thing after another today" She commented softly. Definitely one of those days. Looked like the chief was ordering a retreat....Had the tree been necessary? That creature with the shape-shifty thing was weird but it hadn't shown any hostility so far. Dahlia shook her head of all the contemplative thoughts, they could wait until she was back on the other side of the wall. Dahlia lurched off to a slow and gradual start but soon enough she was thundering along in pace with the rest of them once she got through the inertia her weight brought on.

"You!?" Anselm cried out, catching a sight of Astrid. He was prepared to run, uncharacteristic of him, but this whole thing had him rattled. Matters only acclimated as a scarecrow of a man arose from the thickets, only getting a confused expression from the chief hunter. "Who the hell are you!? Bah! Screw this!" With a hasty retreat, he ran the other direction. It may not have been the most socially... privy reaction, but he wasn't ready to leave matters to risk, as garbage as he may be as a person, he still had to consider his duty to his colony.

"Oh... did I perhaps lay on too heavy? Chil'ren can be so... contrary," Bellatroix said with a shrug and smile. She then looked at the mutants now gathered around, including the newer arrival, the tall man with razor teeth. Her composure had not changed from the first moment she emerged from the swamp, calm and collected as usual, she utters a small chuckle. "My, to feel this lucky, never has an emergence of mine been met with such company. A dryad, a plant, and two with a familiarly voracious aura... a pleasure to meet you all, I am Beau Geste Bellatroix... and," she turned around to the recently awoken Magnus, grinning more widely, her expression becoming more wild. "You all are?"

The sound that had been in the distant became clearer than ever, and distant voices could be heard... laughing. Gunshots could be heard, revving engines. Somebody was having a fun time. Not too much further away a hunting party of men and women, faces decorated in war paint, dressed in makeshift armoring made of sheet metal and vehicle parts were making their approach on patchwork vehicles ranging from trucks to four-wheelers and bikes. They were armed with weapons ranging from duct taped guns and flails made of bike chains, metal folded into crude blades, anything that could be made from scrap at their disposal. They had nets and trained beasts as well, performing their own wild hunt, killing and catching whatever they came across, hooting and hollering all the way.

Savage and hateful, these beasts were human by blood alone, formed years ago by the kind of men that are too mean to die, surviving off savagery against man and beast alike. These were the raiders from Dooperville, the dark side of the new era of humanity.

Dahlia was by no means quiet as she plowed right through most obstacles rather then trying to go around them. Demolishing a rather large boulder that found itself in her path as she reached it. Going through a young tree like it wasn't there. She wasn't very good at turning when going this fast but she did do her best to avoid hitting things when possible though she didn't go out of her way to do so as she wouldn't be able to keep pace if she did. Her steps rumbled and made the ground reverberate in rhythm with her heavy footfalls. sounding for all the world like a charging rhino. She idly took note of the chiefs distress as they went.

At the same time she kept her hearing zeroed in on the sounds of machinery, she had never heard anything quite like these engines before and it sounded like they were moving awfully fast. She began to hear voices that sounded like people. Dahlia slowed down to a stop when it sounded like they were getting really close. Hiding behind the trunk of a large tree that while not completely hiding her made her harder to see with it's shade and such.

The being known as Magnus looked at the group in front of him, a little annoyed that they have awoken him from his rest. He also looked to the one most similar to him, Bellatroix he heard her call herself. "Some have come to know me as Magnus, or at least the humans have come to call me as such." He growled in his speech, barely any optimism in his voice to speak of.

He however eyed the plant-like creature known as Nissan. This creature annoyed him so just by looking at it, he was tempted to just eat them.

Nissan looked at the speaking creature as the other her-but-nots fled from these new her-but-nots. It seemed mean. So did the new her-but-nots too.
Nissan looked back and forth between her her-but-nots, the new ones, and the mean one. She chose the obvious answer; going with the ones that were already friendly(ish) towards her.
She trudged quickly after her, parroting any words they would say in any sort of weird sentence-mesh.

Bellatroix watched as the hunters fled from the scene, and with a small sigh she shrugged. It was quite a rude reception, and she hadn't even bit anyone yet, she had thought her manners had improved over the centuries! Why, even the plant thing had fled! They had said she looked like a monster, was her human form so poorly weaved? She admits, though, her art has a peculiar style, but she was sure she made it... palatable. More immediate matters had some to her attention, however, noisier ones that seemed to have a none too friendly presence... one not too far from herself.

She looked over to Magnus again. "A pleasure, cher," she said, giving a curtsy bow to the tall man-beast, keeping her tone soft and courteous. "If humans displease you, cher, then perhaps you are in proper company," she continued with a chuckle. It was clear at this point she had barely any apprehension for the clearly hostile forces approaching them. In fact, she was unusually calm about everything that had gone on here, especially in Magnus's company.

"The 'ell we have 'ere!?" a voice yelled out, thick in a Southern accent. A modified truck decorated in spikes and mutant animal skulls drove up into the clearing. Loaded upon it was several men, dirty and savage, the driver himself was revving his engine loudly as intimidation. The one speaking stood upon the roof of the truck, rifle aimed out of a slit in a kind of mini-barricade made of sheets of metal. "We got another gaggle of freaks! Hell, these look almost 'uman! Waddya think, brothers?!"

"Fresh meat for d'games!" one cries out.

"I hates the looks on the tall'un! Gonna kill the fuggin' ugly bastard!" another yells, as he jumps from the back of the truck, loading a shotgun outfitted with a crude bayonet, letting out out a battle cry as he rushes Magnus, ready to fire.

"Goddammit Jonesy! Git back 'ere!" the driver yells out, slamming the horn in frustration, but it was too late, soon more roused by his charge joined him. "Ahhhhh, shit! Asses, all of ya! At least leave me a souvenir for my baby!" He then fumbled with something on his dashboard, and then some loud distorted music began to play over the speakers, to which he began to laugh.

"Well, no accounting for taste..." she muttered as the horde of ruffians rushed them. One of them, armed with a saw swung at Bella, intent on taking off her head, but she maneuvered out of the way, growing a bit agitated with all the... noise. Swinging back her hand there was a loud impact, a fine red mist filling the air as the man's bloodied body is flung across the field. Her expression was no longer a grin, but a blank, emotionless, the look in her eyes glazed over, animalistic. She paused looked down at her hand and frowned. "Ah... embarrassing..."

"The fuck she do to Arin!?" one yelled. "Hell with funnin', kill em!" as they all charged them at once.

A wall of thorny spikes grew up out of the ground Impaling the first line of ruffians. Shocked faces glaced upwards as the flap of wings was heard. The corrupted Dryad hovered over her wall with a look of anger and rage.

"How Dare you defile MY wilds!" Poison yelled.

Poison raised her hands up and shouted. "Face the fury of Nature's Wrath!"

Thorn covered vines sprang forth from the ground lashing at and grabbing the ruffians. A cloud of poison gas rose from the vines choking and poisoning those caught by them. Death and Fear gripping those that could not get away as the vines pulled them under the ground never to be seen again.

Over the screams of the terrified ruffians a mad and evil laugh was heard coming from Poison as she watched in glee.

He wasted no time with the foolish one with the bayonet charging him. He pounced upon him like a 1 ton lion, nearly killing him with his weight alone. He let out a horrifying growl as he opened his mouth, expanding his jaw to reveal several rows of rotating serrated teeth. He was upon him in seconds, chewing and ripping his head apart.

He looked at the others, blood covering his monstrous jaw. His eyes were full of killing intent, like a savage beast gone utterly rabid.

Nissan watched with horror as the group of bad-nots (for abbreviation, she will call the her-but-nots "nots" now - OOC) tore into her friends' group. Fortunately, none of them seemed hurt.
A puddle of red liquid pooled from a corpse, pierced with vines that the Laughing Not had created. Nissan did not know what it was. Curious, she bent over and began to slurp at it.
She was met with instant revulsion and sickness, and she quickly spat it back out. "Peh!
"Oy! Get the curvy one!" Nissan's head snapped up to see five of the bad-nots charging for her. She let out a whimper, and curled up into a ball. Instinctively, a sort of bark-like carapace began to cover her. It made her skin harder than steel and, as the bad-nots soon found out, very hard to penetrate as a result.
"Bloody 'ell! Th' shit is wrong with this one? Not even Marl's 'saw could pen'trate it!"
"Ah, screw dis," said a man with a strange bladed weapon. He seemed to be Marl. "Let's get that tiger-lookin' kid. 'e looks like an easy pickin'." They left.
Nissan continued to stay curled up in a ball throughout the battle, whimpering to herself.

Astrid had enough food at the moment, and she tried not to devour humans, clinging desperately to the last vestiges of humanity that she had. However, raiders were bad for business and could potentially rob resources she desperately needed. "Hey Fuckface," she turned to Marl and spat in his face. Utilizing part of her biomass, she made herself faster and stronger. When Marl swung at her she deftly stepped aside, and redirected the blade downward into his foot.

The raider screamed, and with a shove she sent him hurdling into the vines that Poison had summoned. The blade he had was nice-ish, serrated for tearing flesh and made of a decent steel. At least, it seemed so to her untrained eye. Another swung at her head and she ducked, using the blade to take his leg off at the knee. That raider seemed shocked, and his cries of pain were delayed due to it.

A third raider, wearing a very inefficient gasmask, dropped his weapons and began to plea for his life. "No, no please, I'm only here to bring back food for my wife and kids. I beg you! Spare me." Astrid began to grow uncomfortable, family was a touchy subject to her. As if sensing her apprehension, the raider drew a hidden knife and lunged forward to stab Astrid in the midsection. He twisted the knife and Astrid brought the blade down on his head, bisecting him in a gory mess. That hurt." She pulled the knife from her stomach and the wound began to knit itself shut, new flesh quickly erasing the wound.

The driver and his gunner stood back in disbelief of the carnage before them, it was far more than what they had bargained for. All their friends, most likely also family, were being slaughtered, by even the forest itself by the looks of it! The driver not so quietly cursed at his own comrades and their killers at the same time. Before they could turn to him, he radioed to the rest of his crew further into the forest.

"Thought ya bastards said there weren't no superfreaks down here!" he yelled. The voice on the other hand stammered out a confused response. "Get yer asses over 'ere, it's a goddamn warzone out here! Where? Heh, follow the smoke..."

The driver would then exit his truck, as he does so, the truck raised a few inches with a loud creak. The man was decked in some kind of makeshift armor made from strips of steel beaten into a wearable form that could offer at least the minimal level of flexibility. His face was visibly scarred from a number of battles. He reached in and put on a dented welder's mask, and pulled out some kind of heavy weapon in both hands, connected to it were a few canisters of something screwed into its base.

"Light 'em up, Hoggr!" the gunner yelled out.

"Shut up, Emett," Hoggr responded, pulling a lever on the weird weapon a few time, a strange slurping sound is heard as it spurts out some kind of chemical concoction. With another click, a spark shoots out the end and the sludge ignites into a brilliant yellow fire, he then turns it to their aggressors.

"I know exactly what ya'll really are, unnatural, abominable accidents! Only we can cleanse this, by hellfire itself, it'll be purified!" Hoggr yelled out as he began to spray out a stream of extremely hot liquid flame. "Let it be written, that only those who've remained untainted shall reclaim this world! All else shall be taken to to the depths of hell! So was written in the book of Hoggr!"

"Oh? So you can write?" Bella quipped, but she stepped back, feeling the heat of the flames. No matter her healing factor, if she got that on her, even she'd be in serious trouble. It was clear this guy, as psychotic as he was, was well equipped to deal with most of them.... but he was still a regular human under that steel carapace... and that was a weakness.

Magnus stared at the now armored human with a strange weapon, it would seem to breathe fire from the end and he knew it would be a danger. All he saw was a threat that he should either avoid or to kill, at this point all he could think to do was to fight. He looked over at Bella, a look of acknowledgment in his eyes that could let her know that he was willing to work together to take out this threat.

He took a leap backwards from the stream of flame coming from the weapon and he began quivering all across his flesh as he started to take on a much larger form. organic spikes began sprouting across his arms and back as his jaws began distending to inhuman proportions.

Noticing the look in Magnus's eyes, Bella sighed and shrugged with a smile, accepting to help. "Seems a rude awakening to us both, cher," she says softly, as something in her back pops and cracks. Hoggr had already dealt with the briars, making his way to them, seemingly fearless behind his protective gear, as he sprays flames threateningly before them.

"And before us, thar were devils, manifest of the sickness... I've seen yer eyes before, look as you do now as a woman, I know your true twisted form!" Hoggr screams, aiming at Bellatroix specifically, but something slithers through the grass, like a snake, and a black-and-white blur strikes against his armor, streaks of sparks flying. He stumbles some, his armor's weight helping to keep him grounded, he looked down at scratches in his arm armor, small trails of purple steam coming up off it, a kind of venomous sting. Bella stood now with a long hairless tail to her side, striped in black and white bands, with sharp barbs protruding from the top.

"My true form, you say? Tell me more." with another swing, she hits Hoggr on the other side, despite the weight of her swing, it also just throws him off balance some, he then manages to get a swinging blast off at them all, singing her hair and burning her right shoulder as she attempted to dodge it, falling over onto her side. She let out an awful inhuman shriek, that seemed to reverberate throughout the wilds. "You... are certainly no gentleman, are you..?" she joked, holding her shoulder, playing weak. He approached her, arming down, before swinging again with her tail, wrapping it around his body like a constrictor. He struggled for a time, before getting another burst of napalm off, burning her tail and causing it to recoil.

Atop the truck, the gunner took shots at them from his protective box as they were seemingly distracted with Hoggr.

Magnus watched the affair from nearby, taking his now more bulky form before the gunner brought his attention. With the power behind his movement he easily caved in the ground under him. As soon as he got close he leaped onto the protective barricade hiding the gunner, his sheer weight alone nearly crushing it.

All he did for a few seconds was stare at the gunner, like a predator observing his prey. What happened next was something found only in natures fury, he had the mans head inside his massively elongated jaws. There was struggling, maybe even screaming but for a moment before the sound of a crunch came from him.