A Game of Skill

[Fraze]

This was...not quite what the wolf had expected.

A huntsman. There had to be a huntsman, it was part of the story. But no one had ever said there might be more than one. Or that they would be quite like...this.

Well, when an unexpected situation arrives, act unexpectedly. The girl heard the suggestion of the one standing at the window, and started to move toward him. Before she could get away, the wolf wrapped one paw around her throat, claws just barely pressing into her skin. He maneuvered her between himself and the oncoming crowd.
"This has nothing to do with you." It wasn't quite the truth, but it also wasn't quite a lie. "And go to a restaurant? Have some steak? I'm a bit insulted. I haven't eaten for a week and there isn't a restaurant in a hundred miles that would serve me."

A gunshot. The voice of a huntsman. The wolf's ears perked up. This was slightly more comfortable, in some twisted way, but the situation was already too unusual to go by the book.

Escape seemed to be the best option, but the door was blocked by a dragon, and the window was blocked by--yes, that looked to be the best way.
The wolf adjusted his grip on the girl, wrapping his arm around her waist, and bounded out of the window, knocking past Amneiger on his way. The shards of glass remaining in the window scraped at his back, and more flew out behind him. He veered around the back of the cabin, and ran into the woods away from the oncoming crowd. The woods were dense, but they were his turf.

[PFA]

Jernath wasn't sure what to do when he first saw the wolf. At first, he instinctively reached for his daggers, but he stopped when he saw that the others were trying to reason with it. Right. Don't be too hasty, he told himself, observing what was going on carefully.

But when the wolf made a break for it through the window, he knew it was time to act.

"HEY!" he called out, pushing past the others to get back outside and chase after the wolf. Again, he reached for his weapons, but paused, not wanting to accidentally hurt the girl. Either way, he knew he had to catch up to them before it was too late.

[Zylaa]

Zylaa appreciated being returned to her usual weaselly form, complete with-- she checked her pockets-- complete with spoon. She raised the spoon and shook it a bit, letting it sparkle in the sunlight like a certain sort of fictional abomination that didn't deserve the name of vampire.

The weasels obligingly popped into the area, all intent on Zylaa's hands and the shiny, shiny spoon.

"Surround the house," she told them. "Just in case." She paused. "If we catch the wolf, we all get shinies." The fluffy army obligingly spread out.

Zylaa pondered the cabin. The other guildspeople seemed to have the entrances covered fairly well, and she wasn't sure where she would be needed for backup. As Zylaa pondered, though, she heard shouts and crashing coming from... the direct opposite side of the building. Great. She charged around the building, saw the wolf sprinting into the forest... and saw a massive tide of weasels keeping pace with the wolf. She joined her team in the charge.

[Celestial]

"You seemed so much nicer and more reasonable before, somehow," Celestial mumbled changing back into her regular form. To her, the wolf was a complete idiot for going after little girls, the deaths of which usually result in the killing of every single member of a species who even looks at a human funny within a five-mile radius, instead of just finding himself a nice deer. Wasn't like they weren't plentiful in the forest as well. She'd seen a few back when she was a bird.

Nevertheless, heroes had to be heroes and she had to get to that wolf before the huntsman did or before the former hurt the girl. Forests were not good environments for dragons or for mages though. They were too thick and difficult to navigate through. Burning or knocking down the forest was an option but the mage was not keen on destroying the environment. One guy- Celestial thought his name was Jernath but wasn't sure- had already taken off after the wolf.

Zylaa's weasels were also in hot pursuit, along with Zylaa herself. The mage decided she better follow them. Weasels were good trackers, far better than she was, but they were no match for a wolf. When the wolf was cornered, then she'd fight him alongside Zylaa and her team. A little magical support never hurt anyone.

[Draco]

Draco, just trying to enjoy the story is displeased by everyone getting hyped up over what was happening. He reluctantly follows the ones going after the wolf. Still snacking on the popcorn, since it was pretty good.

Now normally, he would have jumped at helping the little girl, but reading this story before he knew the outcome. However, the fact they reacted to the group being around has altered things a bit....

[Gelquie]

Gelquie grumbled as the wolf bounded off. Then again, she was trying to startle him... But not with the girl. Anyway, this wasn't good. She hadn't exactly been in many forests; following him would be difficult. She wished she were a bird again.

No time for that though. She ran as quickly as possible around the house until she caught sight of the wolf again. Then she utilized her illusion again.

A shot rang through the forest, and she made sure that the sound whizzed just past the wolf's ear from ahead of him.

[Kristykimmy]

Kristy pressed her face to the window, watching the scene unfold. She felt a little bad for the Wolf, he clearly was unnerved by their presence.

The Wolf leapt out the other window, landing a few feet from her position, and took off running into the woods. Kristy took off after him, trying not to get trampled by the other contestants or trip over Zylaa's weasels.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Eating little girls in red hoods is perfectly legal, kidnapping isn't. Get back here."

Part of her ridiculed herself for the picking stupid technicalities at a character who clearly didn't care, the other part asking what she would do if she actually caught up with them. All she had was a pink cellphone and spearmint chapstick in her pockets. Maybe the Wolf would trade the girl for them?

"Dang, I really hope someone has a plan," she thought to herself as she ran.

[Draco]

Draco ended up in a tree, figuring hoping from tree branch to tree branch would be easier then walking on the path. He looks down to see Gelquie.

"Illusions within a illusion. Now that can be interesting."

He tosses a few pieces of popcorn at her with a sort of awkward laugh.

[♥ Azzie]

"I wasn't going to suggest-" Azalea began, but the wolf had gone. She grumbled. Most villains had more sense than this wolf seemed to. But it was what it was, and all things considered, the group was still doing well. They had the advantage, after all.
She bolted out through the door and ran through the forest, following the retreating weaselly shape of Zylaa in pursuit.

[Naga]

Rahu had already dropped his handful of popcorn as he joined the group, chasing after the wolf. Taking long strides, he draws his katana, preparing to charge both ice and water. Meanwhile, he murmurers to himself, _{"I wonder how much a wolf pelt sells for nowadays..?"} Despite concentrating on his elemental charge, he keeps pace with both the group and the wolf.

[Celestial]

Celestial ran after the weasels but she could not help feeling a little...disorganised. Everyone was just chasing after him with no plan, as though they were going to catch up to a wolf running at full pace in territory he clearly knew well. No, they needed to lure him into some kind of trap. He may have local knowledge but they had magic for crying out loud. All they needed was to lure him into the open.

She stopped and flew upwards, breaking several branches and scaring a few bluebirds on the way up. Celestial hoped those weren't a forgotten batch of contestants. Once she was above the treeline, she scanned the area for a break in the trees, such as a lake or a-

-Glade to the east, large enough to fit a dragon into. Perfect.

Celestial caught up to Zylaa but there was no time for the usual antics. Besides, she couldn't even remember if they were nemeses in Guild canon.

"Can you get the weasels to herd him to the east? I've got a plan!" she said as she ran by and turned around to everyone else. "Head east! Be ready to fight!"

With those words, she once again flew above the trees and towards the glade. Once she was there, she sat down on a tree stump facing where the wolf would be running out from and waited, her hands hot and her hair ruffled by the wind.

[Fraze]

((Just a note: try to keep it to one post per person per day, guys. I need to keep up with all of this and we want to give everybody a chance to participate, so I'll only be able to do one per day myself.

[Tiger]

((Ahhh! Wait for me! XD))

Tiger held back.

There was a great many people at the cabin's, surrounding the cabin, and now chasing after the wolf and the kidnapped girl. Tiger knew a fair amount about forests - mostly that having a lot of people turned a tangle of trees into a mess of confused people.

The huntsman might be a problem. Tiger was tempted to go after him or her instead, though possibly a tiger-faced woman wasn't the best candidate for talking down a Gaston-wanna-be. No huge castles to have dramatic fights on, so what was the point?

Instead of chasing after the others, Tiger stepped over the splintered door and into the house. Hadn't there been a grandmother in the story or something?

"Hello?" The air smelled not of blood but of dog and...lunchmeat? Huh. No bloody scents, or sights - just a book on the floor, knocked asunder by the wolf's departure. "'Hot Menz. I'm sure it's a pageturner."

[Fraze]

Seeing things from the prey's perspective was an interesting experience. But for a pack of huntsmen, they really weren't very good at the chase. Spending two hours stalking your prey, only to have it bolt when a sudden change in wind direction gives away your scent was an exercise in madness that clearly none of them had tried before. The wolf dodged and wove through the forest, since straight lines meant death.

A flurry of smells ran through the wolf's mind. Half a dozen humanoid pursuers following at various distances, and a horde of rodents closing the gap.

"Can you get the weasels to herd him to the east? I've got a plan! Head east! Be ready to fight!"

They...really hadn't thought this through very much. They were clearly intent on leading him into the open, but announcing the plan within a wolf's hearing range wasn't the best way to kick it off.

The most obvious way to deal with the situation was to get rid of the rodents. Three of them had grabbed onto his tail and climbed up. They definitely hadn't thought this through. Of course, the wolf never said no to a free meal. With his free paw, he grabbed all three, and swallowed them one by one. They were mostly fur and bones, but still better than nothing. He could have gone for half a dozen more, but doubted they would want to offer themselves up for his enjoyment.

A voice boomed out from what seemed like the heavens. It sounded like Euripides.
"ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM."

He came to a stop in a particularly dense patch of the forest. Lightning had struck and killed two large trees in the area. He waited until the first few huntsmen came into view, and pushed over the barely upright trees so that they would fall directly into the pursuers' path.

This was as good a place as any.

[Amneiger]

As soon as the wolf had taken off, Amneiger had gone right after him like all the other people had done.

Unfortunately, physical fitness had never been his strong suit. After a few minutes, he was left panting in the middle of the forest, leaning against a tree and trying not to heave his lungs out.

After a while he felt more like he was able to stand again; he did so, and thought about his options. He couldn't hear the others anymore, and the wolf was probably long gone now. There was no way he'd catch up.

He turned around to walk back into the cabin. These stories always had a grandmother somewhere; maybe if he was lucky he wouldn't find the grandmother's gnawed bones under her bed.

He found Tiger standing just inside the front door to the cabin poking at a book. He looked at the title, and wondered if it was the wolf's or the grandmother's. "I'm going to check the other rooms," he said to Tiger, and began opening doors.