Error 404: Brain not found

Seriously, how did you come to the conclusion that jumping back into the fray was going to help anybody? I mean, sure, you may throw a few people onto the rooftops without crippling them for life but who’s going to save you when the Hunt comes for you? Didn’t think this through, eh genius?

Fortune in misfortune is that the cloud is still quite a distance away, and although it is coming at the fast pace you still have time to bail. That is, if the wolves don’t get you. And they are coming for you, fast! Three of them, engulfed in the red vapour that is very close to looking like an actual fire, were charging at you baring their bloodied fangs.

Decide quickly what’re you gonna do, ‘cause those things look painful as ****.

---

OMG did he just jump back in? Geez, you need to stick to the plan! STICK TO THE PLAN GUYS! Oh wait, you don’t have a plan.

Hah, what can I say, you’re screwed.

Or are you?

Four loud BANGs could be heard in quick succession as the red orbs Miyu unleashed met their marks and exploded, sending the wolves who were just a moment ago rapidly climbing the building back to the ground. The familiar sound of dog’s cry reached your ears. If they were any prettier you might feel guilty, but they’re ugly, and scary so who cares?

They did not die, however, but instead rose up and returned back to the large cloud. Rooftop seems to be safe, for now. Good job Miyu!...

---

As you press the YES button the pain is suddenly replaced with a new, peculiar feeling. Although the mist continues to envelop you and invades your eyes, ears, nose and mouth, a sense of relaxation spreads throughout you. Your mind sinks into a state of pleasant haze, disconnecting you from the world. Your limbs are sending you signals that something strange is happening to them, but you don’t- no, you are unable to care. Whatever is happening to your mind it prevents you from focusing your thoughts enough so you can figure out what is happening to your body.

This state lasts only for a few moments, but once the haze clears you immediately realize what’s wrong. You have a muzzle. You are standing on four legs. You have paws with very sharp-looking claws. If you try to let out a sound from your mouth wolfish snarl reaches your ears.

And there’s the smell.

A very pleasant smell invades your nostrils and like a hook it draws out a hunger from within you. You feel the urge to run, to reach the source of that smell, to catch it, tear it apart. Your vision goes red, your body is brimming with primeval strength, it desires to be let loose upon the beings which smell so sweet. Your breath goes heavy, your mouth water. You want to hunt!

So, what are you waiting for? Run! Let loose your hunger, your strength, and hunt to your heart’s content!

RUN!

You manage to find a calm spot, away from that hellish festival. With the immediate danger to your life now gone you are hit by fatigue. Unfortunately, you don’t have a place to sleep right now. You could go back to that room in which you woke up earlier, but that meant going back to through the festival. I reckon you should option for another method, but it’s up to you in the end. After all, you’ll have to live here so if that level of insanity is commonplace in this place maybe you should get used to it, eh?

---

Sometime later, back at the main street, the screams and the rush of the crowd had died down. The cloud which caused such panic earlier dispersed to reveal an entourage out of horror movies, filled with monsters of various shapes and sizes. At its forefront stood a blue-haired man with adorned by a pair of elaborate horns. In his hands was an honest to god electric guitar. After playing one final note he let out a shout with a grin on his face:

“Aaaaah, that was magnificent! We didn’t have a festival this fun in ages.”

He spoke to the scene of carnage. Bodies lay on the street, trampled, mutilated, torn to pieces. Various stands and decorations from the festival were destroyed and even some buildings looked damaged. The only thing moving on the street were the wolves which now gathered around the man with an expectant look in their eyes, their tails wagging. Blood was dripping from the muzzle of all of them and some still carried body pieces. The man looked at them with an expression of amusement.

“Well done my hounds! You have made this Hunt an excellent entertainment for me and shall be dully rewarded.”

He cast a quick glance to the sky. It was turning paler, a new day was dawning.

“It is unfortunate, but all fun things must come to an end. I, the Son of Heaven and the Emperor of the Celestial Empire, declare this Festival of the Regeneration over!”

On his words mist spread out from his person, covering the entire street, together with the wolves, corpses, and the hellish entourage behind him. After a few minutes which were filled by moans and cries of agony, the mist cleared and the scene on the street changed dramatically.

Corpses were gone and in their place lay unconscious, but living and breathing men and women. Wolves and the monsters were gone too, replaced with more normal-looking people standing or sitting in a daze. Well, relatively normal looking, most still had animal traits but it didn’t come close to the horror they were just a few minutes earlier.

As the sun rises and its rays fall onto the people laying on the streets their consciousness would slowly return but they’ll have no memories of the night before; only the feelings of both immense terror and immense pleasure will be left in their hearts…



OOC:
LEVEL UP:
Dragon Rayo, Miyu +2 levels
Takeyoshi, Orion +1 level

Orion: Acquired Curse
Refused the Call of the Hunt: At the times of great excitement recipient of this curse may turn into wolf form. He begins to feel great hunger and will feel the urge to attack anyone near him, regardless if it's friend or foe. This form lasts less than an hour. The curse will persist as long as the recipient refuses to fully indulge the hunger.

Turns out that spawning between two armies can be extremely hazardous to one’s health. Forced to meet the charge of an army of beasts, you put up a valiant display of resistance- some of you, at least. No way you gonna die right after reviving, that would just suck! Well, what can I say, tough luck. Although the mook monsters were surprisingly easy to deal with it and you had hopes that you would pull through, things went downhill when a lion the size of a horse appeared before you. He tore through you and your comrades like you were made of paper, not giving you a chance to even try and defend yourself. The last thing you remember before your consciousness faded into familiar darkness of death was his pair of blue eyes looking down on you.

Hm, did I say it was dark? I lied. It was white actually. And there was a familiar window before you.



The text was bit different and there was no character creation, nor falling down. Only a white light invading your eyes until you were forced to close them.

When you open them again, a different scene greets you...

---

Sonia found herself in an unfamiliar room. It was empty and quite barren of things- except for the few futons lying on the ground. The door of the room was opened leading to a street which looked like there was hell of a party last night.

Eri was put in a place filled with trees. Forest obviously. Looking around he could not see any immediate danger like last time. However, several voices reached his ears…

Welp, here we go again, third time’s the charm!

The woman in red seemed somewhat bewildered by the responses she got from you. On her face it was clearly visible that the suspicion from before only increased. She ignored Harmonic’s hand and continued to speak to the rest of the party.

“You don’t know where you are? You don’t even know each other?” She looked at you as if expecting someone to tell her she got things wrong. When no such response came she sighed and facepalmed. “This day is just getting better and better.” She proceeded to speak to herself. “My mount got scared and ran away, I got ambushed by assassins, and now I met these weirdoes. The only thing I am missing now is…”

Her complaints were interrupted by the sound of something bursting out from the foliage. That something was familiar to you- it was one of the three raptors from before.

“Hurry up!” He was shouting to someone behind him.

“I’m trying! I’m trying!” The second raptor followed right behind him.

“OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT” To complete the sense of déjà vu, the third raptor also appeared, chasing behind the other two. His tail was no longer on fire- in fact, it was no longer there.

The woman in red readied her sword when the first raptor appeared, but realizing that the creatures aren’t even aware of her presence her body froze and her face took on a deadpan expression.

“I had to say it…” Her voice sounded like it was on the verge of crying. She moved her eyes to the direction the raptors ran out from. There, a faint light green glow was approaching you. Several tendrils made out of light began appearing from the foliage, some wrapping around trees while others moving towards you in eerie manner. Behind the cover of green you could hear the sound of something moving. The woman shouted to you.

“Follow those three, you should reach the road soon! Run as fast as you can if you want to live!” Her sword burst into flames and she swung it towards the tendrils, sending out a fireball that exploded on impact with the trees. Tendrils disappeared for a few moments, but the approaching something was still moving at the same speed.

---

You are not sure how long the chase lasted. Few minutes? An hour? It was hard to care about the time when you had to worry about avoiding trees and not letting up your speed, while occasionally casting glances behind you. The woman in red was also running with you, far at the back of the group, the one who was likely to be hit first by the thing that was chasing you.

Correction, things. You could see glimpses of them. Some were small, goblionid, some looked like giant animals, some like extremely beautiful men and women and some were simply alien. You could hear their laughter and cries of excitement as they moved through the forest seemingly without any effort. Fortunately, the path towards the road was easy to follow thanks to the red woman’s liberal use of fire magic (or whatever it was) when she was chasing the raptors.

For a split second you contemplate the mysterious paths of life where the hunter became the hunted in less than five minutes.

Arrival at the destination was quite sudden. In one moment you were still running through thick woods which didn’t show any sign of ending, and in another you find yourself on a wide paved road. You could see the trio of humanoid raptors lying on it, exhausted, but also a few piles of ashes *gulp* and bunch of weapons and other stuff scattered around.

Turning around you see the red woman coming out of the woods, breathing sigh of relief as she steps with both feet on the chiselled stone. Behind her a small critter jumps out of the greenery, but stops mid-air as if it hit a wall. Slowly, it slid down, towards the ground, casting a look full of murderous intent at you, mumbling something you couldn’t quite make out. Few light tentacles also appeared but they were stuck the invisible wall as well and then retreated back into the forest. Laughter and shouting which was following you during the chase slowly died down.

The red woman crashed on the ground in exhaustion.

“Hah, safe!” She spoke in between deep breaths. “Sit down and rest. I’ll take you with me to Verzales. From what you told me earlier I am guessing you are in dire need of some civilization. Oh, and my name is Charlotte. Charlotte Ognien.”

She cast a quick glance at the raptors. They were already sleeping. “I don’t even care anymore…” you could hear her quietly mumbling to herself.



OOC:
LEVEL UP:
Everyone: +1 level

Free loot from the surrounding items (similar rules as for Dummies but loot is in better condition).