"Don't put yourself in danger," Jigano urged, then paused and grinned ruefully, realizing the ridiculousness of that statement. "Well. Don't do anything that will get you grabbed, at least! I suppose it's a bit late for the former." He definitely didn't want Ronin to end up in avoidable trouble. As long as they were both free and rational they could always try again, even if it meant having to give up on the first few attempts and rethink their strategy.
Their initial plan seemed to have promise, however, with the demigod distracting the tree and pulling its branch out while Jigano hacked at it, until the Wicker Woman decided to try and grab whatever was hitting it closer along its branch! Between the three of them the tree was coaxed back towards the stimulus of the raven's claws and Ronin's stick, however. The bard exhaled briefly in relief as it wrapped tightly around the makeshift bait as if to make up for losing it earlier, and he lined up for a second shot at the branch as it straightened and went taut again, exposing its wounded section once more. "Careful of the sap," he warned again, hopefully needlessly, as Ronin explained his promotions.
"Your general must have been impressed with what they saw in you," he suggested as he raised the axe once more. "Courage and charisma not least of it. Were you in charge of training new recruits, then?" The name would seem to indicate that, but with foreign cultures sometimes naming conventions could surprise you. With a muttered prayer to Ludo, he struck down again, directly into the cut he had opened before. The aim was perfect, but he wasn't quite strong enough to finish the job. One more strike would certainly do it, but before he could worry about that he had to yelp and duck away from a second branch that lashed out to try and wrap around him while the first maintained a weakening grip on Ronin's bait.
The bard danced successfully back, though only because the raven he had set to guard against another predatory limb attack cawed loudly and dropped from above to rake slender talons harmlessly over the whipping branch's bark, distracting it for the half-second necessary for Jigano to retreat out of range.
The tree's other limbs began to shift restlessly at all of this activity in one direction, several beginning to unwrap from the trunk and creep out slowly in questing search of the source of pressure and vibrations the men's activities were causing.
Their initial plan seemed to have promise, however, with the demigod distracting the tree and pulling its branch out while Jigano hacked at it, until the Wicker Woman decided to try and grab whatever was hitting it closer along its branch! Between the three of them the tree was coaxed back towards the stimulus of the raven's claws and Ronin's stick, however. The bard exhaled briefly in relief as it wrapped tightly around the makeshift bait as if to make up for losing it earlier, and he lined up for a second shot at the branch as it straightened and went taut again, exposing its wounded section once more. "Careful of the sap," he warned again, hopefully needlessly, as Ronin explained his promotions.
"Your general must have been impressed with what they saw in you," he suggested as he raised the axe once more. "Courage and charisma not least of it. Were you in charge of training new recruits, then?" The name would seem to indicate that, but with foreign cultures sometimes naming conventions could surprise you. With a muttered prayer to Ludo, he struck down again, directly into the cut he had opened before. The aim was perfect, but he wasn't quite strong enough to finish the job. One more strike would certainly do it, but before he could worry about that he had to yelp and duck away from a second branch that lashed out to try and wrap around him while the first maintained a weakening grip on Ronin's bait.
The bard danced successfully back, though only because the raven he had set to guard against another predatory limb attack cawed loudly and dropped from above to rake slender talons harmlessly over the whipping branch's bark, distracting it for the half-second necessary for Jigano to retreat out of range.
The tree's other limbs began to shift restlessly at all of this activity in one direction, several beginning to unwrap from the trunk and creep out slowly in questing search of the source of pressure and vibrations the men's activities were causing.
