[Open Class] Stealth: Not a Horse's Strong Suit (Efflo)

[mare]

NAME OF CLASS: Horseman Trial - Stealth (For the Army)
PROFESSOR NAME Invictus

General information: Invictus has firm beliefs that if you are going to attack, you need to work on not being seen first. Being gung ho is fine, but if you can't hide yourself in case of powerful foes, you're going to get into trouble.

And for that, he has set up this...



The Course:
Silent Forest



It seems that when Conquest feels the need to go above and beyond, he means he intends to go above and beyond. It appears that for this task, Invictus set up a small…trial of sorts, complete with trees, fog and…. Is there something moving out in the trees? This forest is almost completely silent. The ground is covered in leaves and sticks and thus nearly every step made in it makes a sound...

“Your task,” he says, reaching into one of his sleeves and producing a small pumpkin-shaped charm, “is to collect these. As many as you can. 15 should be what you’re aiming for if you wish to go above and beyond.” He noted as he put it back away. “However, it will not be easy. They are well hidden, and you need to avoid detection while doing so. If the small ones see you, run and hide. However, the big ones are much quicker and if one of them spots you, it is over.”

Big whats? He doesn’t actually explain what the ‘big’ ones are, or even what the small ones are. However, you can see lights moving between the trees, so you can only assume that those are some sort of patrol.

“Bring the trinkets back to me when you are done.”

With that, he releases you into the woods….


Mechanics:

Invi’s Rules

1. If you get caught you have to start over entirely, this includes where your count for collected trinkets is at.
2. If you roll 3 ‘you were seen’ in a row, then you’ve been caught by one of the ‘big’ ones. Wonder what those are. Whatever they are, they have no qualms about knocking out students. The small ones will only make a lot of noise and follow you around blinking their little lights.
3. These small ones are quite fragile and can be knocked out easily, however. If you wish to forgo your next roll, you may roll to attack and knock it out. If you miss hitting it, however, you will be caught. If you knock your follower out, you may then resume your rolling.
4. If you’re doing this in a group, someone getting seen will get everybody seen. However, getting auto-caught will only get the person who rolled it caught.
5. On the same note, three times seen will still get everybody caught, so be careful!
6. If you collect 15 trinkets, Invictus might have something nice to reward you with. However, if you’re working as a group your reward might not be as nice as what someone who gets all 15 by themselves gets.

To move, roll 1d10 and see what happened based on your roll! Flavor-text it as you like, however!

Quote:

1 – You grabbed a FEAR trinket.
2 – You grabbed a FEAR trinket.
3 – You were seen! Run for cover!
4 - You grabbed a FEAR trinket.
5 – You were seen! Run for cover!
6 – You grabbed a FEAR trinket.
7 – You were seen! Run for cover!
8 – You grabbed a FEAR trinket.
9 – You get grabbed! Too bad, start over.
10 – You found a safe zone, you’re safe in the next instance you roll 3-seens in a row or you roll a ‘get grabbed’!

Bonus Mechanics
Students with invisibility or camouflage abilities may use these to stave off a single round of being seen. But only once.

People who have completed this trial with 15 trinkets more than once may +1 or -1 to one of their rolls.

People who have completed this trial with 15 trinkets 4 or more times may +1 or -1 ALL of their rolls

YOU LOSE/FINISH THIS RP WHEN...

- You are caught at any point in time! That means you have to make ANOTHER rp to try again!

 

[mare]

Goodness knows, Efflo needed practice in the art of being stealthy. On two legs he was as clumsy as ever, and when he had four, well, let's just say that hooves do not translate to quiet sneaking. It also didn't help that he had a tendency to glow. That part really didn't help.

To do his best in this class, he'd tucked all of his glowworms safely away and his lime green aura was at an all time low. He entered the forest on foot, as quietly as he could. He almost immediately spotted something glinting in dark, a trinket! And so quickly too, the boy was pleased with himself.

Trinkets: 1  

[mare]

He had apparently been a little too pleased by himself, and was caught off-guard as one of the dancing lights veered sharply towards him.

Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, he thought but his legs seemed to have other ideas as he hurtled himself away from the light source. He was very clearly panicking.

Trinkets: 1
Seen: 1  

[mare]

PHEW! Just when he thought he was done for, the mist had rolled in, giving the dark-skinned boy a chance to duck for cover. Thank Jack that his human form had kept the jet black color of his coat. Bright green eyes darted warily from side to side as he slid down against a tree, trying to control his breathing while he rested for a moment.

He stayed put as long as he could but as lights swayed dangerously closer, Efflo knew he had to keep moving. Carefully he got to his feet, dusting dirt and the charm off of his rear... Wait, what?! To his glee, it seems he'd sat upon a pumpkin trinket. How fortunate!

Trinkets: 2
Seen: 0  

[mare]

Trying his best to exude ninja-like stealth, Efflo crept about the forest, searching for more trinkets. Except instead of super cool sneaking, the poor horse's venture went more like step, twig, SNAP, RUN! Then rinse and repeat several times. Then several more... And several mor- well, you get the point.

It was only by further sheer dumb luck that he ran smack dab into a trinket dangling from a low-hanging tree branch. Hurray! He pulled it down quickly, hiding it on his person with the others.

Trinkets: 3
Seen: 0  

[mare]

Aha! I'm starting to get the hang of this! Efflo thought to himself, scooping up another charm.

Trinkets: 4
Seen: 0  

[mare]

And another one?! The ponyboy couldn't believe his luck. Aside from the fact that he had had to heroically rescue his fifth trinket from a dastardly (and very thorny) bush, things were going supremely well.

Trinkets: 5
Seen: 0  

[mare]

The ponyboy was starting to feel ridiculously pleased with himself, five trinkets in a row! Maybe he was some sort of stealth prodigy! An untapped resource just waiting to be let loose into the world!


Trinkets: 6
Seen: 0  

[mare]

Yes, this proved it, clearly the horse boy was a master of stealth. He just hadn't known it before. After all, he'd never really attempted anything stealthy before, so he wouldn't have known right? He wondered what possibilities this might open up for him. He could go anywhere, do anything, the opportunities were endless...

Trinkets: 7
Seen: 0  

[mare]

Until his cockiness got the best of him and he wandered straight into a nest of angry blinking lights. Their noise was deafening as they swooped after him, giving no sign of ceasing their chase as he dashed among the trees. At least he was good at running! Sort of. It was very different on two legs but he could manage. He had to ignore the instinct to drop to all fours, as he'd tried this tactic before and it usually just ended up with a face full of dirt.

Trinkets: 7
Seen: 1  

[mare]

He kept running and running, wondering if it was even possible to outrun these things when FWOOP! The ground seemed to disappear from under his feet, and the boil found himself flat on his back, looking up as the frantic lights flew past overhead. It seems they didn't do too well with spatial matter. He very carefully picked a stone off the ground and even more carefully he raised his arm before lobbing it off into the distance. Triumphantly he listened as the rock crashed its way through the forest, the lights instantly off to hunt down the source of noise.

He allowed himself a soft sigh of relief before groaning as he sat himself up. He was surely going to be sore after this trial. He sighed again, his spirits having plummeted back down to earth just like the rock. He wasn't really good at anything, he was just a horse who sometimes got lucky. After all, as he thought about it, he hadn't even really done anything spectacular, just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Another sigh escaped before he managed to stand. Oh well, he thought, I've come this far...

He did a quick check to make sure no enemies were lurking nearby before bending to pick up another rock. Probably good to keep them handy, just in case. He hunted around the ground, but it was hard to see in the darkness Ironically, he could really have used one of those lights right now. He shook his head at the thought, what was he thinking? He had his own nightlights! He dug around in the open wound of his arm, searching for one of the little parasites and upon finding one, waved it over the forest floor. Twig, leaves, more leaves, pumpkin... Aha! He grabbed the charm, nuzzling the little glowworm against his face. What a good little maggot he was! The ponyboy was sorry to have to tuck him away again, but he promised he'd find him a special treat back at the dorms.

Maybe it wasn't so bad being lucky.

Trinkets: 8
Seen: 0  

[mare]

But luck is a very fickle friend, he quickly surmised, as the small lights once again turned their furious blinking upon him. They almost seemed even... Blinkier, if that were possible. Turns out they really don't like being deceived by rocks.

He sprinted off into the darkness, searching high and low for a hiding spot. Horses don't usually fit into small spaces but his human form was pretty lanky, making tight squeezes a problem of the past. He was a bit quicker than the lights, though not by much. It was only just enough distance between them that they failed to notice as he slid between the gnarled roots of a rather overgrown tree. They'd grown in such a way to make a small cavern, one he barely fit into but fit into nonetheless.

Trinkets: 8
Seen: 1  

[mare]

Within moments of the lights' passing, Efflo was on his feet again, heading the other direction. He knew a hiding place would only last for so long; every time he'd stayed put for too long before had ended up with being found again. He tried to move as quietly as he could but it was difficult, were so many leaves and twigs really necessary? He knew the point behind them but as he carefully picked his way around them, the boy couldn't help but feeling it was a bit absurd.

This feeling intensified as his misjudged his next step, heart dropping as the pile of leaves crackled underfoot, the snap of a branch hidden beneath them echoing like gunshot throughout the wood. Thus resumed the frantic chase of the blinking lights.

Trinkets: 8
Seen: 2  

[mare]

FAIL!

The little ones were close at his heels, yappy annoying little ankle biters and to make things worse, all of their noise had attracted a 'big one'.

As a horse, his first instinct was always going to be RUN! But unfortunately, running wasn't enough as he felt something large and solid connect with his skull. All he could think, as everything faded to black, was that maybe it was time to invest in some other skills.

Trinkets: 8
Seen: 3  

[mare]

Attempt number 2, coming soon!