Krond and Gryz

[Krond Thuliaga]

Krond walks around town for a bit pondering what to do on this beautiful, spring afternoon. The town seems less lively with Degren, Auron, and Pierre out of town. With the others gone, Krond is also running interference with Datura’s shenanigans; so there’s also that to keep him busy as well as dealing with the usual critters and things that threaten the town.

As he walks across the field he sees Gryz leaning against a tree on the outskirts of the forest; picking his teeth with a branch he broke off a tree. Seeing no one else in sight, Krond decides to walk up and greet the large arluru.

“Hey Gryz, what’s happening? Bit of a lazy day today eh?” Krond puts Gram down and stands it up against a nearby tree; then, crosses his arms and leans against another tree facing Gryz.

[Gryzzleback Chanteloup]

Gryz sighs and he tosses the branch over his shoulder. Squaring his shoulders he glares at Krond. "Och aye, it's a lazy day. Sae lazy ye hae tae come bortha me. Whit dae ye want ye giant clagwheel?" He smooths the fur on his muzzle and continues, "Ah assumed efter our lest trainin' session yoo'd ne'er pester me again. Looks loch Ah was wrang. Yoo're a biggest divit than Ah first thought."

[Krond Thuliaga]

Krond rolls his eyes, “quite the charmer aren’t ya Gryz” he says, sarcastically. “True that little fiasco was a pain in the ass, but it actually did help me out. I figured we were on decent terms since then.” Krond stands straight up, also squaring his shoulders and glaring at Gryz. “But it seems you’re as hard headed and stubborn as ever. Tell me, why did you even come to Holdfast in the first place if all you were gonna do is glower all day?”

[Gryzzleback Chanteloup]

The arluru sighs and looks up and at the sky for a moment, lost in though. "Yoo're reit, Ah am bein' a grumpy bodie. Ah jist hae a lot oan mah min' reit noo. Anyways, aam here coz mah pack is here." Gryz looks directly at the large barbarian, "But enaw chitchat. ye obvioosly want me fur somethin' besides wee gab. whit can Ah help ye wi'?"

[Krond Thuliaga]

Krond, surprised at Gryz’s sudden change in tone, goes back to leaning against the tree again to regain a relaxed composure. “Well I didn’t come over for anything in particular; however, now that you mentioned it I do have something in mind.”

“I was wondering if you had any other tips and tricks on tracking you wouldn’t mind sharing, just to fine tune my own skill. Also . . .” Krond pauses for a moment, “I’ve only seen you fight one time, but it was enough to see that you and I are the only ones here that fight with furious passion in heated combat; I admired you for that. If you wouldn’t mind, i’d Like to spar with you to see if I can learn something about channeling my own fury. It might make me stronger; and we could use all the strength we can get if we’re to stave off beings from another plane.”

Krond takes a deep breath in, “watta ya say?”

[Gryzzleback Chanteloup]

"Gang buck yerself ye oversized tin wearin' moron". Noting the surprised and disappointed look on Kronds face, the arluru chuckles. "Ah was only jokin'. aam sure Ah can teach ye puckle tricks. sae ye want tae learn trackin' an' fightin'? what's say we dae baith at th' sam time." The arluru begins to pace back and forth muttering to himself, periodically pausing to look at Krond as if sizing him up.

"Awe rite, here's whit we're gonnae dae. aam gonnae start aff an' hide. if ye fin' me, we'll barnie. Seein' Ah dornt think yoo'll be able fin' me lit aloyn beat me in a barnie, aam nae woriat. " The arluru picks up his maul and gives it a few practice swings, grinning as Krond flinches and covers his groin. He tosses the maul to the side and grins even harder. Let's make it pure interestin'. Nae weapons. Ah lae mah hammer haur an' ye lae those tois butter kni'es haur. if we barnie, it'll be fist an' feet. Wot ye say? Iff'n ye agree we kin start right now."

[Krond Thuliaga]

Krond punches his fists together and smiles in excitement, “it’s been a while since I fought barehanded”. He picks up Gram and stabs it deep into the earth, “there, now not just anyone can pull this out. It should be fine here.”

Krond loosens up a little bit and looks back at Gryz, “so how do you wanna start this?”

[Gryzzleback Chanteloup]

Gryz smiles a wolfy grin and holds his arms out wide as if in a greeting. "Weel, Ah reckon we can start loch we did th' lest time. Jist loch thes!"

Swifty booting the large barbarian in the groin with as powerful a kick as he can, the arluru laughs as Krond topples over. "Ye divit! Ye complete utter clagwheel, ye feel fur it again! First rule ay fightin' ur trackin'. Ne'er, ever lit yer guard doon." Continuing to laugh he steps over the fallen Krond, making sure to step on his neck as he goes.

"Noo, ye hae th' reason tae track me. Aam sure yoo'll want tae gie yer revenge oan thes auld wolf fur kickin' ye in baawz. So ance ye stop bawlin loch a wee bairn, come fin' me an' be ready fur a barnie! An I won't make it easy on ye this time!"

The arluru loops off into the woods laughing all the while, leaving Krond to gather his thoughts.

[Gryzzleback Chanteloup]

((OOC note: due to Tony being very busy, he hasn't had the time to properly finish the RP. It was discussed over FB and Tony has given me permission to post the finished Rp and to speak for Krond))


After a few moments, Krond sits up and rubs his neck, feeling a few trickles of blood from the claws on Gryz’s foot. “Dammit, I’m going to wear his pelt as a cloak if I get my hands on him!” Getting to his feet, he sets out into the woods, determined to find and punch the arluru for what he done.

As Krond studied the ground he smiled as he remembered the first time he had to track the old wolf through the woods. He found it much easier to keep following Gryz’s paw prints, especially as it seemed that Gryz wasn’t being as careful this time. “Huh, strange… didn’t think he’d be so sloppy.” Thinking he remembered the wasps and thorn bushes from the last time and winced, “Or he’s planning something nasty.”

Following the tracks for an hour, he realized they were getting fainter and fainter and harder to see. After a few more minutes the trail ended abruptly. Krond looked around in confusion, stopping at the last paw print he could see in the forest floor. “What in the hells… I know he’s sneaky but he can’t just vanish. He’s not a wizard! Maybe he made another false trail.”

Over the next few hours, the increasingly irate barbarian backtracks the trail, searching for any signs that the arluru had laid a false trail. Eventually ending up at that final print he leaned against a tree and sighed. “OK, he didn’t make a false trail. I already checked to see if he jumped, but I can’t find anything that would be a landing area and Gryz is pretty heavy. So where else could he have gone? Only place would have...been.. Sonnavabitch!”

Krong slowly looked up at the large tree the print was beside. After a moment of searching he saw a few tufts of fur stuck in the bark. “The bugger went treetop! Ugh.” Climbing the tree, he noticed that one large branch had many broken smaller branches and a set of gouges, gouges that looked a lot like a clawed foot that had leapt from it to a another tree. Looking around, Krond saw that only one tree was large enough and close enough for even a normal sized human to leap to, let alone a heavy arluru.

“Whelp, hope I’m as agile as Gryz” Krond thought as he launched himself towards the tree. Grunting as he slammed into his, he frantically scrabbled at the tree, eventually getting a handhold and stabilizing himself. Sure enough though, he found more claw marks and fur. Krond followed the trail from tree to tree for the next hour until he came to a narrow cliff path overlooking a large lake. At the base of this tree was a large indentation in the ground and a set of paw prints heading down the trail.

Jumping down, Krond couldn’t help be feel a small sense of pride as he he followed the tracks. “Heh, Gryz might be clever but I’m just as smart!” The trail was narrow but the ground was soft making it easy to track the arluru. Suddenly the tracks stopped. “Whatthe? OK the grounds just as soft as ever.. Did that crazy wolf jump into the lake?” Peering at the cliff wall he smiled as he saw a bunch of claw marks in the rock wall and some dislodged stone where someone had forcibly made climbing holes. “ C’mon Gryz, trying the same trick twice, I’m disappointed in you.”

“Weel it's a guid hin' Ah was waitin' tae ambush ye an' nae try an' gettae away fur ye, ye glaikit rockit.” Krond looked up in surprise as the arluru crashed down on top of him. One swift kick in the side send Krond tumbling over the cliff edge towards the lake but he managed to grab the edge before he fell. Looking up at the looming arluru Krond winced as he realized that Gryz had ambushed him.

“Weel, aam surprised ye waur able tae track me ower th' cabre taps. impressife. Very impressife. But ye got sae focused oan trackin' yer quarry, weel th' hunter becam th' hunted. dornt ever dae 'at. Anyways, enjoy yer bath ye stinky cheil.”

The arluru grinned a wolfy grin as he crouched down and slowly began to use his claws to pry Krond’s fingers off one at a time. As his finally lost his grip and began to fall towards the lake Krond yelled up to the laughing wolfman, “I’m going to get you for this you bastard!”

Hitting the water with a loud splash Krond opened his eyes when he hit the bottom to see a surprised fish staring back at him. Grumbling to himself, he reached the surface and began to swim to shore. Looking up he saw the arluru waving to him as he reached the waters edge.

“Enjoy th' lang walk back tae th' cliff's edge ye baboon. By th' time ye gie back up haur i'll be lang gain.”

“The hell I will you fleabitten bastard.” Gritting his teeth, Krond slowly began to scale the cliff. Gryz looked down in confusion and Krond grinned with satisfaction as he saw the look of shock cross the arluru’s face. Climbing even faster, Krond saw the arluru run off down the path faster than he thought possible. Grunting he pulled himself back to the ledge and took off after the fleeing wolf.

Krong grinned as he knew that the arluru only had a few minute head start and that Gryz wouldn’t have much time to try to prepare anymore tricks. Following the trails of prints, broken branches and tufts of fur, he could see that the arluru was getting desperate in his attempt to evade the barbarian. Breaking through the trees, Krond groaned as he saw that the path lead straight to a decent sized river, to which the paw prints lead directly into.

“Dammit… of course there’d be a blasted river to help him. Ugh, OK gotta find where he came out. Can;t be too far on either side as I can’t see or hear him.” Wading across the chilly water Krond slowly searched the banks of the opposite side of the river for a few hundred meters, then backtracked and went just as far down the riverbank the opposite way but didn't find anything. No prints, disturbed rocks, wet pots or anything to indicate where the arluru went.

“Oh don’t tell me I lost him again… not this close.” Bending down Krond picked up a decent sized stick and flung it back across the river in anger into a group of thick bushes. As the stick flew into the bushes a thought occurred to Krond and and he slowly went back across the river to the point he initially entered. Slowly walking a few feet down the riverbank to the bushes he looked at the bushes and saw a series of wet prints leading directly into the bushes, which the center were trampled down, almost as if someone was hiding in them. Sighing Krond walked behind the bushes and winced as he saw another trail leading back towards the lake.

“Seriously… you went in the river, went fifteen feet down and hid in the bushes… and you sneaked off while I was looking on the other side. I hate arluru.”

Shaking his head, Krond begins to go at a quick pace to try and cover lost time. As the surroundings became more familiar he realized that Gryz was making a beeline back towards Holdfast. “Hah!” Krond thought triumphantly, “He’s giving up! I’ve run him out of tricks and what the hell is that noise??”

Skidding to a halt as a loud roaring came from his left, Krond nimbly leapt aside as a large bear thundered out of the woods and swiped at him, it’s claws tearing through a tree that was behind Krond. Staring at the enraged beast Krond tried to remember what to do when faced with an enraged bear but his train of thought was derailed by the bear attempting to decapitate the conductor. Ducking again, Krond rolled out of the way and tried to backpeddle but the bear kept close to him, determined to catch and kill the barbarian. Realizing that he had no choice, Krond turned to face the angry ursine, and yelled at it, “Back off ya oversized rug! I’ve had enough crap today!” Roaring in return the bear again swung at Krond who was too slow to dodge and took the blow full force across the chest. Reeling back he was grateful that the bear clubbed him that time instead of clawing him, but his anger began to rage up as his patience waned.

The bear raised it’s paw for another swipe but Krond darted inside the bears reach and with all his might punched the bear across the muzzle. The bear staggered back and Krond followed up with a massive uppercut to the bear undermuzzle. The bears eyes crossed and it slumped on its haunches before toppling over. Krond stared in shock at the bear and poked it gently with one foot. Getting no reaction, he reached down and put his hand over the bears muzzle, but feeling hot breath, realizing it was only stunned. Deciding that this would be a good time to continue his search for Gryz he quickly left the bear behind.

“I don’t believe I just knocked out a bear! I can't wait to tell the Knights this… wait… they’ll never believe me. Dammit.”

Pondering this dilemma Krond breached the tree line by Holdfast and made a beeline towards the Watering Hole as he assumed Gryz would be waiting for him there. Rounding the corner he slammed into a large orc who shoved him backwards.

“Well, well. Looks like the mutt was right. Ok boys, this is the one we want. We just gotta knock him out and we can take all the money and gems he has on him.”

Krond looked about to see that there were 4 people surrounding him, 2 orcs and 2 humans, none of who he recognized. The voice was a halfling who was sitting on a rain barrel and grinning an evil grin. Krond looked at him and said, “Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a lot of money or gems and I just want to find Gryz and…”

“Shut it Bulky!” The halfling snapped. “The arluru told us you were trying to kill him and he gave us a few coins to stop ya. He mentioned that you had a lotta money on you so me and the boys thought we could just help a little puppy out and make ourselves a bit richer as we pass through this stupid little town. So just give us the money and take your beating like a man or I’ll have Dorak and Furan make ya walk like a cricket.” As the halfling was talking the large orc reached out and roughly grabbed Krond by the front of the shirt and reached back with a meaty fist. As he swung for the face, Krond reached out and grabbed the hand and yelled, “I HAVE NO DAMN MONEY!” and quickly lost himself in the fight as a sea of red descended on him.

A few minutes later the red began to lift and Krond looked around. All four of the goons were unconscious and one was even head first through the inn wall. The halfling was still sitting on the barrel, his mouth open in shock and he squeaked as Krond grabbed him. Growling through gritted teeth, “I’m only going to ask once. Where… is… the … arluru?”

Stammering the halfling managed to get out that he was going ito the inn. Nodding, Krond dropped the tiny fae and made a sour face as he smelled urine. Looking down at the halfling he snickered as he realized what happened. Aiming a kick at the cowering little man, Krond easily punted him into the woods and walked into the inn. “Ugh, Hassan is going to have a fit about that hole in the wall”

“Oh Master Krond! I don’t know what is going on! I was just making dinner and then that horrible nasty wolfman showed up and started yelling at me and I don't know what he was saying and then he made me write things down and told me to give it to when he arrived and then there’s a huge fight and now I have an orc sticking in my wall and I have no idea and…”

Krond sighed and forcibly put his hand over the innkeeper’s mouth. “Shut up Hassan. I’ll fix the hole. What was this about Gryz?”

Removing his hand he looked at the frazzled man who reached into the veils of his turban and pulled out a letter. Handing it to Krond he continued to complain to himself until Kronds voice got his attention.

“Look Hassan, I’ve had a rough day, I can barely see straight and your writing is tiny. Can you just read me the letter?” He looked plaintively at Hassan who huffed slightly but began to read.

“Oh fine fine. This isn't exactly what he said, I edited out the swearing and insults and fixed his grammar and don't even get me started on that accent and…”

“HASSAN!”

“Oh fine… a-hem. Dearest Krond, as I am unable to write, I am having the innkeeper record what I have to say. I apologize for all the trials and tribulations I have put you through, but I firmly believe the best way to teach someone is hands on. By angering you, I made you want to track me and it seems to have worked. You figured out everything and I assume you eventually found my hiding spot and tracked me back to town from there. I hope the bear wasn't an issue. I avoided it myself. I also hope you didn’t beat up Givver and his gang to badly. You are a master tracker and worthy of the title. I hope that what I have taught you will serve you well. Also, I am not in town now. After dictating this I had to leave for a mission for my people. There is something that must be investigated and I was chosen. I will probably not make it back to Holdfast as I will have to warn all the other tribes if what we fear is true. Or I will die in the attempt. But this is none of your concern. However, my maul would only slow me down. So as as a reward and apology I am bequeathing my maul to you. It’s called “Dwarfsbane” I hope you can make good use of it. Fondest wishes, Gryzzleback”

Passing the letter back to Krond, Hassan walks back to the counter and reached down. When he stands up he is holding the massive maul, which he gives to Krond without a word. Turned Hassan goes back to his cooking leaving Krond alone with his thoughts.

[Krond Thuliaga]

Krond continues to stare at the letter while gripping Gryz's maul in his other hand. He doesn't know what to feel at the moment; but, there are traces of anger, frustration, with a slight hint of melancholy. Had he known Gryz was planning on leaving this whole time, he'd have not been so cross with him whenever he acted up. Krond now fears he may never get the chance to thank Gryz for the training he has passed on to him, even if it was a bit harsh.

But Krond is no stranger to lessons harshly learned. He lowers the hand holding the letter to his sides and looks up at the sky. He closes his eyes and thinks to himself, 'I won't let you down Gryz. I'll make sure this weapon of yours is put to good use. Thank you for all you've taught me. I hope one day our paths cross again.'

Krond snaps back to reality as he hears a groan coming from the ruffian whose poor head was shoved through a wall. He smirks, "guess its time to do something about that." He lowers Dwarfsbane and rests it up against the inn; cracking his knuckles and slowly walking towards the gang of misfits, he grins a wofly grin.

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