The Chaotic Monk

Thursday, Feb 5, 2009 - original posting

Treyburn sat perfectly still on a tree branch, staring at the heavens, wondering to which god he would dedicate his Prayers in battle.
Lost in his thoughts, Treyburn missed the critter stalking him below until he caught the low hiss.
While attempting to drop to the ground with feline-grace, he misjudged his aim, and landed back first to the critter, wasting precious moments and earning himself a swipe to the back.

Snarling a Prayer to the heavens, to his chosen deity, not to mention in anger and pain, Treyburn spun and slammed a fist into his antagonizers blocky face, the bracers circling is wrists serving to aid him in channelling his power.

With a yowl, the cat flung itself at the Monk, hissing, biting and scratching wildly.
Sliding backwards under the weight of the critter, Treyburn spat fur out from his teeth grimacing at the rancid taste. Drawing his fist back, he slammed it forwards into the cat's stomach,

Red lines appeared across Treyburn's chest and face, as he wondered how he was going to explain losing to a freakin' cat...Groaning, Treyburn pulled himself up, lifting his arms high above his head, to bring them double fisted down on the cat's back.

Slumping back from the recently deceased cat, Treyburn staggered over to the tree trunk to lean against it.

Going down on one knee, he pressed his fingertips lightly to his forehead, his eyes rolling back to stare at the heavens above him.

His mouth barely moved, as the muted Prayer left his person, swirling swiftly towards his deity.

"For the God of Chaos..."

Treyburn frowned, his eyes closed blearily as he fought to stay concious. He swore he heard footsteps, but not those of a cat... sounded more humanoid. He turned slowly, watching a robed man striding aimlessly through the forests with out a care in the world. It looked as if he was enjoying a nice relaxing stroll in a garden.

The robed man stopped abruptly, eyes narrowed at the monk, leaning breathless against the stiff barked trunk. As he approached, Treyburn's divinity flared briefly. The man gave a small smile. "These cats.. not as easy as they appear to be are they?" He inspect the monks wounds and offered his help.

"Anything in mind?" Treyburn muttered gruffly.

"For starters, I could heal your injuries, son." The man, a healer by the sound of it, waved his hands and muttered in an ancient, cursive dialect. "Call me Sayne," he began kindly but stopped as Treyburn held up a hand.

"Thanks, but you've helped enough. Anything that doesn't kill you only makes you - "

"Stronger?" Sayne muttered questioningly.

"More awesome, actually." Flexing his muscles, Treyburn nodded and saluted the man, fist to chest. "Until we meet again, sir."

"Are you sure you don't need any assistance?" He asked imploringly.

Treyburn glanced over his shoulder at the man.
"Not particularly, not now anyways, later maybe. Good workout, none-the-less."

The monk stretched and popped his joints audibly, bouncing on the heels of his feet slightly as he glanced around at the undergrowth.

Treyburn gestured half-heartedly at the robed personage in front of him. "If you'll excuse me, I have some more cats to cull... and I thought I saw one further that way." He points in the opposite direction to the man.

"You're welcome to come along if you want, but I'm going now."

Saluting the man, fist to chest, the monk began walking towards the thick growth to his immediate left, he picked up the pace and entered the forest proper at a dead run.

Treyburn thought back to that morning, as he dodged around snags, scampered up trunks and swung himself from branch-to-branch. Inside his mind's eye, the memory swam to the forefront, dangerously splitting his attention from his current acrobatics.

Striding purposefully into the Town Hall, Treyburn spotted a man hunched over his desk, sword propped against the mahogany wood. The reports scratched on scrolls bearing the towns crest lay strewn across the top board. Groaning softly, the man reached down and pulled out a bottle of clear brown liquid, swirling it round in the glass capsule, he gazed at it longingly. Treyburn coughed slightly, having stood there for much too long as it was, he didn't want to have to sober up the town's official. The bottle slipped from the man's fingers as he jerked in surprise. Catching it just in time to save it from ruin and waste on the stone flagged flooring, he sighed in relief, before waving the monk into the room. "Greetings, adventurer! Boy, am I glad to see you. I've just received word that a gang of Feral Cats are terrorising the trade road in the Forest of Beginnings. Traders are being forced to make dangerous detours and some haven't made it back. Will you go and sort the situation out for me? I would... but... er... I have an important meeting with my cider planned."

Treyburn nodded, saluting with his fist pressed against his chest. "I accept, sir. I'll see it done."

Treyburn slunk through the undergrowth, shaking the memory from his mind's eye and refocusing successfully on the task ahead of him: watching for any sign of a feline around him.

Stopping abruptly, he cast his eyes furtively around him, offering up a Prayer to his deity on the off-chance he was about to be mobbed.

A soft purr to his left grabbed the monk's attention; turning his head slightly, he caught a glimpse of a cat sitting in a clearing, licking its paw clean of a dark red substance. He could just make out a mangled body on the other side of the cat ((its back is to him)).

Turning on a dime, Treyburn crouched low, digging his toes into the dirt for more traction. Pushing off suddenly, he powered out of the clearing, throwing a powerful punch at the surprised feline, connecting sharply with its haunches.

The cat twisted with the punch, swiping its blood soaked paw into Treyburn's head, blinding him briefly while its claws dug deeply into his face knocking him to the ground

"Thats going to scar..." he muttered, wiping the slimy liquid from his eyes, he rolled and thrust his fist into the cat's stomach.

Ducking its head, the cat snapped at Treyburn, catching his shoulder and tearing it to a bloody, slobbery mess.


Snarling, Treyburn rolled in the dirt, hoping he wasn't infecting the slashes, the cat followed him eager to eat his entrails, judging by the hungry look Treyburn could see on its face. Pulling his fist back, he threw it forward, colliding with the cat as it leapt at him - the force coupled with its momentum effectively breaking its neck.

The monk sidled away from the cat, to climb up a nearby tree and wait for another one to come along. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, listening to the forest sounds around him.

Jerking to attention, Treyburn registered movement below him. Reaching up, he stroked the deep gash along his face starting above and behind his right ear, passing dangerously close to his eye and finishing above his lip. It had finally clotted, Treyburn noticed idly, as head wounds tend to bleed alot. He also noted that the gash pulled his lip up in a odd semblance of a smirk.

He glanced below him, realizing that the cat must have been drawn to the blood slicked over the tree branches leading up to him.

The monk closed his eyes and kissing his cleaner fingertips, pressed it against his forehead, then murmered a whispered Prayer to his deity. His eyes blazed as they snapped open.

Dropping silently from branch to branch, he landed quietly facing the cat while it was busy lapping up his blood from the tree trunk.

Treyburn grinned eerily due to the gash. The next few moments were going to get very bloody...

Clenching his blood-tipped hand, he swung a fast right hook into the cat's ribs.
The cat jumped sideways, spinning to snarl at its attacker. Treyburn stood ready, prepared for anything that could happen...
Rolling to his feet, clutching his wrist that bled free from a large bite mark, Treyburn blinked rapidly as the cat licked its paw gingerly.
Turning his moan of agony into a heated roar, Treyburn lashed out hard with his uninjured hand, connecting hard with the cat's nearest front leg.

The cat yowled loudly, fighting to stay on its feet, it crouched down on its haunches, growling lowly.

Treyburn eyed it warily.

Without so much as an eye flicker, it leapt through the air soaring straight for the monk. Due to its injuries, it missed its target of the monk's already bloody head and crashed hissing, spitting and scratching into his torso, bowling them both over.

Thrusting his bleeding arm backwards to get a good handhold to climb to his feet, regardless of the pain, Treyburn's elbow made a sharp, jarring, hard contact with the cat's ribs, cracking the former and smashing the latter.

Groaning, Treyburn crept back to his tree, and climbed painfully out of sight of the ground, wedging himself in a fork of the tree. The monk hissed a prayer to survive the night through clenched teeth, and settled back into relaxed meditation.

A shout from below rose through the branches to Treyburn, who opened one eye and scanned through the forest floor to find out who was calling to him. A leather jerkin-clad man stood below him, staring up a the tree top, his red bandana kept his hair from falling into his eyes, but allowed the monk to pinpoint him in the springtime foliage.

"Hey! You up there!"

Treyburn reached a hand down and brushed the leaves aside, to properly view the man. He pointed to his ears to indicate he was listening.

"Do you need any assistance?" he called up. Treyburn groaned softly, the sound disappearing into the breeze flitting through the trees.

"If I help you, you get a chance to get it in on my little gang." he winked suavely...or what he percieved as suave, in any case. The man, who Treyburn recognized as the infamous incompetent thief, Red the Pirate, moved his hand in a dismissing, not to mention disgusted, gesture.

Red shrugged, but his disappointment was evident, Treyburn watched him trudge away and rejoined a blonde woman leaning against a tree. She turned and fell into step with him. Treyburn watched as Red slid his arm around her waist as they walked silently away... and smiled softly when she slapped his hand away.

His eyes flickered back to watch the other tree tops around the forest; lost in thought, Treyburn absently observed a flock of some species of white bird fly around in circles.

Feeling slightly hungry, Treyburn decided to head back into town to grab a meal, his stomach growling in agreement. Treyburn swung his legs over the edge of the branch and shifted his weight appropriately to start the climb down the trunk.

Reaching the bottom branch, he dropped lightly to the ground. Brushing the leaves clinging to his clothing, he glanced briefly at his surroundings before focusing back on his appearance. Jerking his head up in a faux double-take, he cursed silently at his predicament. Two feral cats were eyeing him from a short way off.

Muttering his Prayer hastily to the deity in the heavens above him, he shifted into a battle stance, warily watching the cats that had begun to circle around him.

A surge of chaotic divinity coursed through Treyburn as the first cat charged forwards, snarling and yowling. The cat barreled into Treyburn's stomach, forcing him to his knees as he was winded.

Spitting angrily at the cat, he swung his fist charged with the divinity from on high into his antagonizer's side.

The cat limped away as its mate sprang into the action.

Taking the swatted paw and claws across the jaw, Treyburn heard a soft, yet audible crack.

Quirking his jaw carefully, Treyburn idly jabbed with his left fist into the cat's face.

Treyburn looked around for the other cat and noticed it slinking back towards him... with a friend.

"...hm." The monk pondered as the three cats sprinted towards him...

The two injured cats were slower than their healthy companion, yet Treyburn ignored the lead runner and tackled the cat to his left, slamming it into the ground hard.

The lead cat skidded in the dirt, spinning around to follow its prey's unpredictable route. The other injured cat, enraged at its mate's death, attempted to swallow Treyburn's outstretched arm, latching its teeth into his arm close to the elbow.

Treyburn stared in disbelief at the cat on his arm, before placing his free hand on the cat's forehead, clenching his "swallowed" fist, and ripping it out of the cat, tearing free a slimy, ropy, bloody disgusting mass of entrails locked in his clenched fist.

The other forgotten cat slashed its claws along the monk's back, taking him by surprise.

"Ouch." Treyburn twisted around, swinging his fist with the momentum, colliding a bloody fist with a blood-crazed feral cat.


The cat staggered backwards under the force of the blow and shook its head wildly. Crouching low, it pounced forwards, slashing at the monk's legs.

Thrusting his fists high into the air, Treyburn stood poised for a moment, before slamming them down onto the cat's back, breaking it in twain.

Stepping back from the still twitching corpse, Treyburn quickly tallied how many cats he had killed recently. Coming to a quick conclusion, he turned, wiping the blood free from his arm as best he could, and sprinted in the direction of civilisation...