TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

Nickolas had been talking to the locals near the tavern he found refugee at for a decent amount of time. To his discovering, he had found out that the dock harbor whatever the fruck was being pressured and extorted by a group of marine grunts that force him to pay them money for their implied protection. Which, somewhat strange but relatively acceptable had it been in a dangerous area where pirate constantly loot near. But this wasn't the case. It took him some digging but he found out that the owner declined to give the marine their money on a certain month, and he was broken into and had all his shipmaking equipment broken and destroyed - conveniently. Nickolas decided to do a little research on his own after finding out those things. There was a night that he knew of that the owner of the dock wasn't present at his workplace. He pretended to be a worker at the docks and sneaked his way into his workplace, he made copies of his bookkeeping so he could figure out what exactly the marine grunts exactly ask for.

After acquiring those pieces of information he left the dock to inspect the bookkeeping, he found out that after he was broken into he was forced to pay the marine again so that they wouldn't destroy his propery -- at least, that is what was implied. It was time for Nickolas to take action and help this guy out. Seemingly, he was a pleasant person to be around - at least, that is what he heard from the locals that lived around there. It was certainly enough for Jester to decide to help him out.

279

TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

After Nickolas had learned the patrol of the crew that went and past by the ' - marine - ', dock station he decided to halt them. Of course, he wouldn't do that by stepping in front of their patrol. But rather pick them off, one by one. He set up some traps in the forest they would pass by each morning as preparation. His preparation was quite thorough, the traps that he laid out were based around old footprints - which implied that they had a higher chance of working. They patrolled in 4 groups, Nickolas knew about that and worked with it. There's a new patrol each hour. So that meant that in four hours, he had to defeat the entire marine battalion.

Easy peasy.

Nickolas was ready, with his spear awaiting the patrol in a small ditch that would camouflage his presence. The first patrol entered the forest. There were about 5 of them, marines. With his sharp spear lying in patience the footsteps echod through the forest. A yell, from a distance could be heard. One of them stepped onto a bear trap, which reactively caused Nickolas to react with a spear thrust from a bush, stabbing a marine grunt through the spleen. The marines that weren't incapacitated assumed battle formation as soon as they could, wearing sabers with two hands. Nickolas pulled his spear back into the bush - which caused the marines to figure out what his location was. Unfortunate? Maybe, but it could also be a blessing had Jester known where he laid out the traps.

TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

After the small group of marine grunts had assumed formation the one that had his leg caught in the bear trap managed to free himself. They had a simple formation, at least, simple to take advantage of. Their back were close to each other and they had their sabers pointed outwards - as to, say, protecting each others backs. Nickolas knew the weaknesses that this formation assumed, aerial attacks- and, attacks that were near their legs. Grabbing the saber of the one marine soldier he had just defeated he would launch it into the air.

'From below!'

He yelled, while camouflaged by the bush the marine grunts knew the general position of where Nickolas was they were still alerted by his yell, thinking it came from the marine he had just defeated. Jesters yell would slightly make them drop their guard when it came to aerial awareness and focus on the ground instead. Just at the last second- the marines saw the saber that was sent flying to them from the air and managed to escape by giving up the formation. In which exactly the same time Nickolas had thrust his spear once again through the bush, fatally and critically hitting one more marine grunt. Three remained, one of which was severely injured. He quickly climbed the tree as the three marines that survived tried to reset formation. Without breaking out in much sweat Jester had managed to finish the remaining two marines. He then decided to prepare for the next batch, or rather, the next patrol. He hid the bodies in the bushes, while Jester didn't verify if they were killed or not - because defeating was all he cared about - he was pretty sure that they couldn't stand up for a while.

TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

While the marines that he had temporarily, or permanently incapacitated Nickolas had set sight on the next patrol that would arrive soonish. He expected them to enter the forest in around thirty or so minutes, which gave him some time to cover his previously exposed ankle which had a bruise on it from his weird shifts in momentum which caused his ankle to bump into a tree a few times. After he had done so, and hid the bodies better than he did before he was ready. Creeping near a brush that made him camoflaged, giving the marines no reason to doubt the sincerity of someone hiding in a bush, as silly as that sounds. As the second group arrived, he would initiate it this time instead of waiting for them to walk into a trap. He thrusts his spear forwards, aiming towards the jugular of an unsuspecting marine grunt as another one saw what happened, but moved too slow to stop Jester. He had cut the neck of the marine grunt as the other tried to attack Jester who hid in the bush. Jester had to roll to his left to try and avoid the slash of the saber, the marine grunt ripped Jesters pants apart. He wore a strong chestplate that would protect him from other hits so he wasn't that worried. Jester retaliated within an instant of him recovering from his roll and killed the marine grunt that lunged at him, as well as the other marine grunt that had his back. He swept his spear sideways and killed the two remaining patrol officers.

TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

Jester had done the same thing as he previously did, hid the bodies of the marine grunts he had defeated at the same place, covered by a bush. He awaited in ambush this time, he wasn't aware of the marine using some kind of system to let the other patrols know whether or not they arrived in place, which meant that the remaining patrol was searching for Jester, well, sort of. He didn't really expect that to happen and as a result two marine grunts lunged their swords at Jester who thought he was hidden. Which resulted in him trying to duck away but ended up failing to do so. One grunt had hit his shoulder which was covered by his armor causing little to no damage, and the other grunt had his the side of his torso, which bruised his ribs slightly. While moving back he would thrust his spear twice towards the attackers and end up killing them both. Jester had continued his assault onto the other remaining grunts and finished them off, from fighting them he wound up getting a bruise on his ankle, on the side of his torso and a small cut on his shoulder. All of which could be stacked up had he continued killing more patrols - but he figured that he had sent a message to the marines to not go to the docks anymore. The unconscious bodies of the marines were dragged onto a road, and Jester had made his escape into the further part of the forest.

TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

The cold weather of the forest clouded Jesters instincts slightly. That combined with the fact that he had been bruised up on certain parts of his body meant that he wasn't as focused and keen as he normally is. This could mean to be disadvantageous for what was coming up for him.  I know you're there, a voice from darkness spoke. Jester was thankful, actually. Thankful of whoever enemy remained that he was friendly enough to let Jester know that he was there, instead of surprising Jester when it came down to it. But this also implied something else. They're not scared? They must know what Nickolas was capable of. This meant the worst case scenario for Nickolas, since an enemy who announces himself that know what Nickolas capabilities are is somewhat... fright some. Knowing this Jester was smart, he took advantage of anything that he was given, one of those being that the enemy had announced himself which meant that there was no element of surprise and that he knew the general location of his enemy. The voice that he heard came from his back, about twenty meters away. So, reactively he turned around and was facing his foe. In the forest, the thick forest that he was in he was camouflaged. This meant that there was no direct contact between himself and his enemy. This was a bonus, he could surprise his enemy. Well, his enemy knew his presence but wasn't aware of where Jester exactly was. He needed to use this.

TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

But it also meant that his foe somehow was capable of tracking him as to where Jester was. This could mean that this person was really skilled in tracking someone or something else. Jester assumed the former, and started to plan out a nice strategy. The strategy was to bait him as to say to come towards where he thinks Jester is. But, since he announced his presence this wouldnt work that well. Which gave Jester even a better idea, a decoy-decoy strategy. He assumed that his enemy was intelligent enough to find the trail that Jester could fake and figure out that its a fake trail and find the real one. What if Jester planted a fake trail attached to a fake trail. That would be a good plan, have his foe track his fake trail which connected to another more sophisticated fake trail that was presented as a real one. To sum this up, he could make a trail that was fake, with another one that was fake – alas the decoy-decoy system. Jester had to operate quickly, as to be two steps ahead of him and not allowing to find his trail that fast. Jesters sophisticated plan was put into action and he made a fake trail, connected to a fake real trail. He waited in an advantageous position in a covered area next to the fake fake trail that his enemy would eventually pass by to get the jump on him. Foul proof plan. A plan which had Jesters personality written all over it, unfortunately hindsight is 20/20.

TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

Just as Jester had predicted the foe fell into his trap. He watched keenly, from a fair distance as the marine somewhat decent ranked soldier followed his fake trail. From about eight meters away, he reckoned. The foe that he had in sight was intelligent enough to recognize his real seeming fake trail and started to follow that one instead. And there Nickolas was, he held in his breath as to recognize to so say the abilities of the foe that remained. The tip of his spear was sharp, flat and thin. He had a smart idea as how to operate it and defeat this man in one simple thrust. The foe calmly followed the fake real trail making sure not to lose it, since it was pretty sophisticated. At one point he stood half a meter away from Nickolas who was hidden in the environment. Nickolas still held his breath in and then released. With his breath releasing he thrusted his spear simultaniously into the heart of the big lit. marine officers who stood to his side. However this is not what happened. The lit. was smart enough to figure out it was a fake fake trail and used his acting skills to pretend not to know that it was a fake fake trail. Instead he held Jesters spear by the tip with his hand, attempting to use his strength to force Jesters spear out of his hand. Truly a worst case situation for Jester.

TASK.

Welcome aboard... The uhh.. the that.

The spear wielding maniac

spooky

'I'm a lonely warrior.'

Jester spoke. His grip on his weapon increased, while he spoke the momentum and motion of his feet changed. His deep, almost bass-boosted voice was a distraction. A distraction of the actions that simultaneously unfolded while speaking. By respecting the strength of his opponent Jester contentiously had various plans of re approach to the situation. Plans that were made on the spot in milliseconds. He saw the marine lieutenant reach for his own saber, to slash towards Jester with it. While the marine officer reached for his weapon Jesters grip on his own primary weapon increased, the sound of a chain could be heard, falling on the ground. Which prompted the officer to move backwards, away from Jester. He knew what Jester was capable of, so the chain hitting the ground made the officer somewhat weary and made him temporarily back off. While backing off, the officer had grabbed his saber and simultaneously swung his sword at Jester. Jester used an ancient spear method in order to divert the direction of where the saber was headed towards and made it aim towards the ground, a foot away from Jester. Jester used the tip of his spear to do this. What Jester didn't know was that while he did this, the marine officer stepped closer and hit Jester in the face, since he wore the saber in one hand. Jester being knocked back two meters struggled to remain conscious, the punch was devastating and unexpected. He had tunnel visioned.

TASK.

HIGH ALERT: TIME TO BOLT

WHERE'S THE VAN?!

spooky

Time to get the hell out of there, Jester thought. The corrupt marine officer that he faced was very strong, agile and intelligent. He was much more superior to Jester in any given aspect. There was no chance of him succeeding, Jester had realized. He began to back off slowly, his vision still spinning slightly from the impact of his colossal strength. He had thrust his spear into the general direction of the marine officer a few times while backing away, to keep him in safe distance.

'Surrender or die'

The officer said, which, simultaneously Jester threw his spear towards him, with the intent of pulling it back by using the chain he had used which was attached to the end of the spear. It had missed, hitting the tree behind him. Nickolas pulled back, using the chain to zone the officer off. He bought himself some time by pretending to use the same trick again but began running away from the battle. He was torn up, damaged and was facing a foe he could not beat in his current state. This had angered him, - however he wasn't that angry. He was motivated. Motivated to become stronger than he was now, sure it meant that he had failed in his task - but it meant that he had gained experience he would otherwise not have gained. It was an eye opening day for him, and surely his face would appear in some newspapers on the local town the next day. 'The Sharp Speared Bandit', is what they called him. Hadn't he run away, he would be dubbed, 'The Spear Killer', or something edgy.