Bird Caller's outpost

Reima can be seen crouching behind some large tropical bushes as he looks over at a couple Prospects keeping watch from a unstable wooden tower, the thing looks like it will collapse any moment but due to their immortality, the masked people standing on it don't look worried.

He had decided to try and get rid of a couple Prospects using stealth before shaking the hornets nest.

He blinks behind the two Prospects as he stabs one through the neck and kicking the other off the tower. They hit the dirt floor below the tower and soundlessly burst into yellow particles, the nearby people don't seem to notice.

Due to Reima not knowing where their alters are located and how long it will take for them to re-spawn he starts to pick up the pace, blinking from one Prospect to another, stabbing and slicing until all that's left is the village centre. It's made up of multiple collapsed wooden structures surrounding a seemingly bottomless pit, Reima had used the pit while playing Absolver to get rid of some of the swarming enemies but managed to fall in himself a number of times.

Looking over at the far end of the village he concentrates his eyes and spots another Marked One, their mask is peculiar and consists of a hood that shadows the face, only revealing glowing eyes... Reima always wondered how it functioned but guessed that the darkness that blocks people viewing the face is it's own mask. The female Masked One has two other Prospects guarding the entrance towards the half ruined residence she rests in.

Reima spends a few minutes spotting each and every Prospect and realises that the smallest group consists of two people. He walks behind a wooden building and places a Yrden trap before knocking on the wood a few times to get their attention. The two Prospects hearing towards unusual sounds is excellent due to the centuries they've spent in this jungle, they start cautiously walking towards Reima when one of them is caught in the trap, Reima jumps out and almost crushes their neck to dust with a flying kick. They fade away as the second one takes a familiar but infuriating stance, Stagger style. The style consists of moves reminiscent of the drunken brawler back on earth, with awkward twisting movements, fake falls, feints and unconventional strikes. Reima had ranted and raved at this almost broken combat style and the ease of which you could mash buttons and still win competitive PVP fights...

The Prospect almost trips over itself and delivers a back fist before falling on it's knee and spinning it's entire body with his arms outstretched to strike Reima. He had just blocked the back fist when the Prospect started spinning, seeing no way to dodge this strike he decided to do a strike kick at it's face while tensing against the incoming fists.

Both combatants back away from the hits they received, Reima goes in for a jab but his opponent uses the Stagger style dodge, which consists of falling out of the way of a strike and using your moment to perform your own attack. After being punched in the chest by the masked man he blocks the following awkward kicks and surprising headbutt, to finish the combo the Prospect falls to the ground before springing up and kicking at Reima's knee. Remembering this move from the game, Reima jumps slightly while using Windfall to slow his opponent and returns his own stomp onto the attacking leg, he manages to break or dislocate something in the Prospects leg causing them to be unable to fight any longer.

Reima still high on adrenaline hits the downed man in the chest with a Haki infused palm strike, causing him to explode into particles.

Reima feels that the Stagger style is easier to deal with here than in the game, not only because of his reflexes but because of the lack of limitations on his movements. He can target certain things here allowing him to completely counter some attacks...

Reima "It is still really fucking annoying though..." he says as he tries to memorise the styles attacks, not to add them to his own skill set but to think of potential counters for future attacks.

He continues hunting the Prospect groups, sometimes he is almost overwhelmed by numbers but he brings it back to his favour with a well timed blink strike or Igni sign. He also finds a number of items around the dilapidated village which intrigues him, a small pot that hangs over what looks like an old fireplace is filled to the brim with Essence ore... He dips his finger in it and feels a rush to his head, like he had just absorbed pure energy. It seems like the villagers have found a way to prepare Essence for consumption... What worries Reima though is the sense of power he felt from his brief contact to it, it's almost addicting. He stores the bowl away into his Folded Space and takes a glance at the other things he found, a few rusted blades, tribal clothing and some wooden fist weapons? You put them on like gauntlets and they act almost like hammers when they hit someone, crushing bone and other defences. Reima thinks maybe he can find a use for these... Or maybe not.