@KillamriX88 I don't know why I didn't do this earlier, but I thought I'd write out Bak's POV from her and Rurik's first meeting because I need you to know how important it was.
Human beings only had one redeeming quality: they were fun targets. Bak had known this for a very long time, nearly so long as she could remember. She assumed that there must have been some affection once, surly someone that had held her at some point and looked down on her with eyes filled to bursting with love. Sometimes when she wracked her memory she could fool herself into believing she could remember how it felt. That was nothing but a delusion. Even if she could grasp at the faintest outline of love in a distant memory it had no meaning in the world she lived in. In her world humans didn't have any love for her. They had jeers. They had stones. They had fear. They looked at her with hatred in their hearts because she was a demon monster who existed only to do evil in the world. They would kill her, if they believed they could, and she had protected herself, because no one else would do so for her, and gradually those fearful glares all disappeared over the horizon never to be seen again. All but two, but there wasn't anything she could do about that.
It was here, in the burnt out ruin of what might have been a town, that the man from Mephisto's had found her. She wasn't entirely sure why she agreed to go with him. Maybe it was childlike wanderlust, or a need to search out more targets to shoot, or just to get way from those two whom she could never use her bullets to drive away. They hadn't accompanied her to the cargo plane the man had chartered to take her to Rhea, had not even said goodbye. The only ones she shared a goodbye with were the sheep in the field, who tolerated her only because their glass eyed ignorance kept them from comprehending her. They were the closest things she'd ever had to friends and, as she felt the plane rumble under her as she flew into parts unknown, the only thing she regretted leaving behind.
In an odd way it was comforting to know that people were the same everywhere. She'd been in this position before, surrounded by a swarm of children yelling colorful insults, but she didn't let any of it get through her armor. She was actually smiling faintly at the ridiculousness of it all. All you had to do was look at her to tell that this was a bad idea. They were always so stupid. Did they think being here, at this school, would protect them? Did they believe she was unwilling to use her seemingly lethal arsenal? Were they thinking that, perhaps, she would never be foolish enough to fire her missiles at this range? Her missile launcher flipped open, and she stopped for a moment to appreciate the sudden silence and collective intake of breath from the mob. Then she unleashed hell.
The first explosion was always the most fun because it made them scatter like carrion birds. The heat was just warm enough to feel good as it washed across her skin, the concussive force that had thrown part of the circle in all directions only making her step backwards to regain her balance. She spun up her guns, tracked one of the fleeing groups with her artillery, and from that point on she was prancing in a field of yellow-orange flowers. The courtyard was filled with big hearty BOOMs, the scream of pain as people went down, were knocked up, came back down, and somehow over it all the joyous peals of a young girls laughter. It lasted no more than a few seconds before they had scattered out of sight and Bak was, again, seemingly alone. Seemingly.
There was one left. There was usually the one in every crowd, the one for whom Fight or Flight glitched out and made them stand their, dumbly, not even processing what was going on. She turned to face him. She smiled. She'd give him a chance. She wait for him to settle on one of the other while she waited for her missiles to reload. He knelt down, hands raised as though he were expecting that to save him. She saw his hand slowly creep over to a rock, lifting it into his hand. Fight, then. That was brave. She'd only use a missile on him, they didn't hurt as much.
When he threw it, though, it wasn't at her. It sailed behind a bush and exploded like something of her own, sending the ones that had been hiding their tumbling head over foot into the air. What? She turned back to the boy, who was giving her a weak little smile. What? Huh? Why? What?
She didn't understand. Even as she started clapping she was so dumbfounded she didn't even bother to rotate her guns out of the way. She laughed, but even then she didn't quite get why, and he started to laugh too. Slowly, shakily, like a man that had been led to the gallows only to see the contraption collapse as he stepped on it, but even so. It wasn't until some time later, after she'd met with the rest of the committee and had time to acclimate herself to them, that she fully understood what it was she'd been feeling at that moment. At the time she'd been content to just stand there and laugh together with another human being because it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever felt.
AAAAAAAAH! Bak is the most twistedly cutest thing ever! I love her so much! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
If she and Rurik aren't besties later on in this RP, I'mma cry.
At the time she'd been content to just stand there and laugh together with another human being because it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever felt.
It's sad though, because to keep Rurik in character, I have to make it so he barely feels even a fraction of that.....
The second floor's pretty much clear. I said before that there aren't any students on this floor, so you can run through it without checking rooms. Do be mindful however that Mephisto's students are on this floor, however, and they corralled a bunch of imps into the hallway. You have free reign to plow through the imps, but the Mephisto's students will be a problem.
For the sake of moving the pace along, please limit yourselves to 1 on 1s, if you fight at all. Otherwise make a break for the third floor and begin searching rooms.
There are two St. Laurel's students to be found on the third floor. Which room they are located in is up to either the co-gm or me, depending on who's present. They'll be unconscious and with a standard amount of imps around them.
On the 4th floor there's one student, on the 5th floor there's another two, on the 6th there's none (and you can pretty much time-skip checking rooms), on the 7th there's two, and on the 8th there's one with a final boss, probably. We'll see how tired we get, I guess.
Please mention beforehand in the general RP thread which rooms you will be checking so that we can confirm whether there's a student inside or not.
Room numbers are level number followed by room number, starting at x01 from the left hall going right, up the stairs.
For example, level 3 rooms would go 301, 302, 304… etc.
I'm not really sure what to do with the Relationships area so I'll leave it blank until someone reaches out or I find a potential connection for Nasaraph.
Nasaraph is part of a race of ancient people comparable to the mythology angels. Though in reality they are far from them, being elder humans who found preservation in the sky. The sky people prefer to remain isolated, Nasaraph on the other hand was of a new type. As a fledgling he dreamt not of the sky but of the earth below, where strong warrior's tested their powers against each other. Contrary to the ideology of sky people who believed the blessings were meant only for benign applications.
The only problem was the Lower Level was restricted. The only way down was through banishment and the only way that was obtained was through the most heinous of crimes: Familicide.
Killing them was such a waste. But at the very least they had been useful till the very end. The Council of Feathers presided over him, babbling pointlessly about the murders. Nasaraph was only interested in descending down to the Lower Level. Surviving the fall from his homeland proved stressful. So much in fact that he had exhausted his store of energy upon impact. From there he wandered aimless until he stumbled onto civilization. Being met with laughter and jeers at his odd clothing and olden language, Nasaraph simply went along with them for the sake of gathering tools.
Through them he learned of the stellar three. Finding St. Laurel less of a challenge and Mephisto too hard to pin-point, he made his home with The Vigilantes. That would make his rise to champion all the more gratifying and amazing, figured.
Powers:
Absorb (Core Power.) | Nasaraph assimilates any excess energy that permeates the matter around him to bolster himself, emit it as aura, magic, or chi (its' all the same), and perform feats such as molding the energy in defense, support, or in dire cases transformation. The main downside and ultimate inhibitor is that he can only absorb as much as his body can handle. (IE. too much and he does more harm to himself than good.) A lot of specifics and measuring goes hand-and-hand with this ability. A discharge not equally met with a defensive veil can cause blowback damage to himself. Also, if he uses all his energy he must sit perfectly still and gather more (2 of my posts)
Discharge | Nasaraph releases the stored energy either as a blast, concentrated physical blow, defensive sphere or wall, or some other creative show. The rules when Discharging this energy is to have an equal or greater defense around the limb or body part being used. Discharged energy is not self-sustaining, (IE. It can't be used to fly, summon familiars, create physical weapons, or imbue charms or curses on objects or people.)
Empower | Nasaraph strengthens his physicality to inhuman levels with the excess energy he absorbed. This can ultimately be increased with daily exercise but at the moment it registers around being 3x stronger than a peak-conditioned human when using the Empower ability. When in this state he can't use Discharge. Attempting to Discharge and Empower confuses the natural flow of the energy, leading them to criss-cross and disperse. Since all his energy is directed inwards, damage from flames, ice, electricity, or other elemental affinities can damage his otherwise human skin.
Transformation | Nasaraph surges energy to his pineal gland. From there it courses throughout his body exceedingly fast, leading to a transformation that opens a door best-kept closed. Signs of the transformation or onset of said transformation includes, reflective blue irises, exceptional growth of hair, and the opening of a vertical third-eye. This state's power is simple; it allows for the usage of Discharge and Empower to be use simultaneously. His Absorb ability is also kicked into overdrive, allowing the nullification of powerful energies, be it kinetic, psionic, or whatever for a time (3 of my posts). Once its done, his Core Power is shocked and must realign before usage.
Relationships:
Rivals and nemeses, reputations preceding, perhaps even some special feelings for a special person. This section is optional, but it's nice.
The black worms aren't very strong, so they won't be a combat encounter. Mostly they'll just fly at you and try to bite you, and that's about all they can do. You don't really have to fight them either, since they've been ordered to just stay on the stairs to the third floor.
Since we don't actually have any pictures of Alto, Clara, King, or Mephisto, I decided to go through my folders to find some. Thell me what you think. @RoflsMazoy
Mephisto was actually the easiest look to look for. He doesn't have any apparent gifts, so I tried to find normal looking guys that were respectable enough that people would give them their money without going so far as to be called classy.
Alto was actually hard, because I don't have many pictures of good boys that aren't obviously from a fantasy setting. I actually had to cheat a little bit and throw in some cross dressing girls. I also didn't know how fancy he was supposed to be, so I threw in some real fancy ones and some not so fancy ones. The range here is wider than any of the other characters.
King was both easy and hard. I knew immediately what sort of look I was searching for, but had to discard anything too ostentatious because he already has a canon outfit. I had to go more on vibe than anything. They're just three, but they're all strong boys.
I knew I wanted Clara either spooky and occult, kind of ethereal, or looking like she didn't give a single fuck. Hopefully all three.
Yeah, as le potate said, demon-behind-her Clara gets my vote. The last one is really cool too, but the demon one matches my mental image of her.
"Playful" old Mephisto is my vote there. Running from IRS is my second choice.
I like the man of action King, seems to match the energetic vibe I get from him.
And I have no real opinion on Alto. I feel like in my mind Clara was always blonde, and Alto being light based makes blond make sense for him as well... but then we have overlap. I hate overlap. Personal pet peeve. Sure other characters can be blond, but two leaders? TOO MUCH OVERLAP! REEEEE! But the other options don't fit in my mind, so sure, blond. Personal favorite for you it is.
So hey, me and the potato agree on at least two of them?
Yeah, my definite favorite is the pickpocket Mephisto. For Alto your favorite is the best to me. King, I didn't really like those that much, but man in action seems the most appealing to me. Clara's two last pics and the Demon pic are nice also. Demon best probs.
Mephisto: I like the pickpocket one, and the "normal-looking" one is good too. So is "tired and occult", actually.
Alto: Probably your favorite's the one I'd go with, though the short n soft one could work too. For reasons :P
King: Not a fan of any of these. If I had to pick one, though, I think I'd go with the action one.
Clara: I've always pictured Clara to have black hair and red eyes, making the red eyes Clara my favorite. Ethereal Clara (bottom one) is a close second though. Demon Clara and "occulty schoolgirl" ain't bad either.
@Gentlemanvaultboy Well, my verdict's going to be a bit weird, so bear with me for a bit ^^;
As far as Mephisto goes, I never gave a description and I never settled for one either because his appearance hasn't been so important, and I don't feel like it'd be that important either. What you've got for Mephisto would obviously suit him, but in general I picture Mephisto being a bit less serious than most of the pictures there. He's big and dangerous, but he because he's big and dangerous he doesn't have to care about anything he doesn't feel like, so he's always been a bit whimsical but purposefully so.
As far as Alto goes, I also never figured it'd be too important because you'd probably be blind most of the time while you were fighting him. I am partial to your choice, but it sort of feels like long hair would be a pain to deal with while fighting people.
King I described as being kind of normal like, so think like the 'normal' male main character of any given high-school anime, and make them a bit more normal and maybe give them a haircut before putting King's clothes on him.
And as for Clara, all I had pinned down were long hair and red eyes, but those'd be optional I think? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, her height is sort of significant to me though. She'd be taller than Bak, but she'd be about even with Alto I'd imagine, maybe slightly taller.
And as for Clara, all I had pinned down were long hair and red eyes, but those'd be optional I think? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, her height is sort of significant to me though. She'd be taller than Bak
Wow, she must be really tall-
but she'd be about even with Alto I'd imagine, maybe slightly taller.
(sorry, couldn't find a smaller picture...)
OK, so maybe I just missed it if it's been stated to be otherwise, but I always imagined Bak being one of the tallest characters in the RP, if not due to Bak's innate height, then because of the fact that she's basically a f***ing mech at this point. So, since it's been brought up and her profile doesn't offer any clues, I will ask. @Gentlemanvaultboy, how big is robogirl?
And are we saying that, regardless of how they compare to Bak, that Clara and Alto are both very tall people?
She'd probably be only slightly shorter than Rurik if her legs didn't bend all weird, so I'd say he has about half a head on her. Not a lot of cutting edge nutrition in The Old Country, but at least it helps keep her center of gravity low.
Personally I've always pictured Kath and Christine as the tall girls.