---

Wario wrinkled his nose at Frisk’s smart aleck remark and then ground his teeth when Cloud insulted them. Clutching coins in his clenched fists, the gold molded in his angered grip before he released them and stood up. “I’m stronger than I look, Pretty Boy! These chumps didn’t stand a chance against Wario!” he gloated. “When it comes to me and gold, ain’t nobody gets in my way. WEH HEH HEH HEH!”

His eyes lowered to Frisk when they talked about searching through HIS mountains of gold for Mario’s Hat and Soul. “It’s not here. If it was, I woulda’ found it. You guys might as well give up on it because you’ll never find it. Even that fat penguin (like he had the right to call anyone fat) didn’t seem to have it when he passed through here. Being the genius that I am, I would guess that Mario’s soul and hat are gone! You guys will never find it.”

“Never find it, wah!” Waluigi echoed.

“So keep your dirty mitts off my gold. I’m gonna see how much of this loot I can take back with me. If you wanna, I dunno, be a hero or somethin’. Just head into the next room where they crazy duck is. He’s been dabblin’ in some crazy stuff so you guys might not come back alive. Before you go, let me know if you got any valuables you’d wanna give to me before you die.”

“Penguin, Wario,” Waluigi corrected.

“I don’t care what he is! He’s not my problem. Let’s gather some of this gold and scram.”

Waluigi nodded and produced a sack from his overalls that he started to scoop the gold into.

The door Wario spoke of could not be missed. It was the largest of all the doors the party have ever come before and a powerful evil seemed to seep from it. This was going to be the final boss.

---

GM Note: From here on out, all players will be required to keep track of their word count. XP will be awarded every GM post. Be sure to check the XP hider to see how much XP your character earned. Remember to keep your CSes updated. I have seen players slack in keeping their XP up-to-date and they have lost XP points because of it. I didn't take the XP away from them, they just didn't keep track of the XP on their own. It is YOUR responsibility if you want your character to level.




If a player is inactive for more than 3 days without letting the GMs know of any delays, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day. If a player does not wish to post, they can Mention the GM and let the GM know he or she "Passes" on his or her turn.

P.O.: Frisk, Alicia Harnick, Banjo & Kazooie, and Cloud.

The 49th floor was a floor not many had ever ventured to. It was mysterious, dark, and there were all sorts of experiments being conducted from machinery to biological experimentation. They say in some special area of the lab that there are creatures unlike what anyone has ever seen being studied. Walking along metal catwalks, raised a few feet over serpents of wires and cables, Dr. Light and his supportive crew were able to get Guile to a rejuvenation tank where he hung suspended in the green broth, his wounds healing only to reopen in an endless unexplained cycle. Dr. Light stood before the capsule, staring at the Street Fighter with a contemplative frown. Kirby was looking sadly up at Rosalina and Naija, feeling completely helpless. Rosalina had her arms full of tired Lumas who laid limply like putty across them.

“If I remember Guile’s last words right, he mentioned something about a sword,” Dr. Light mused aloud. “Did anyone see what happened?”

Rosalina nodded. “Guile encountered the swordsman before me. He tried to stop he and his crew from escaping with the bear, but one slash from the swordsman’s sword was all it took. I immediately ran to his side and started to heal him with my Lumas, but there was nothing I could do. No matter how much I tried I couldn’t stop his wound from opening or stop the pirates.”

As Rosalina started crying again, Dr. Light searched around his lab for some tissues. “Now, now, there’s no need to cry. You and this girl’s (Naija) fast acting are what saved Guile’s life. Because of you two, he’s still with us.”

Kirby hopped up and down and the doctor looked down at him and blushed. “Oh, and you too Kirby. I almost forgot you were there.”

Kirby’s eyes narrowed and a long line stretched across his face.

Dr. Light then continued after offering Rosalina some tissues from a tissue box, “That must have been an interesting sword. I would have liked to study it. However, if it’s magic, then that isn’t really my expertise. Now, if it was covered in nanites, then that would explain something. Let’s take a microscopic look at Guile’s wound.”

As Dr. Light went over to a computer console to jumpstart the program, the other heroes could have arrived before, during, or after. As they would arrive, directed to the lab by lemmings who were still cleaning up the mess left by the pirates, they would find Naija and the others along with the wounded Council member.

---

As Ulfric stated just before dawn’s light, the Stormcloak entered his tent to wake the slumbering heroes. “Wake up. It’s time,” he ordered. “Gather what you will need for we may not come back.” He meant that in two ways: either they literally wouldn’t return or they would die. After he gave his words, he stepped out of the tent, fur boots crunching along the snow to a group of Stormcloak warriors huddled together. They stood in a circle of skins and fur, their breaths rising above their heads in a visible vapor. Once the heroes had managed to join them, the Stormcloaks would march toward the gates and head out into the night. They travelled until the sky began to turn from a dark purple to a light blue behind the crowns of the mountains. There was still enough darkness to cover them, but they would have to act fast. They came before Markarth and hid behind the boulders that covered the land—as though the city had exploded from the mountain and scattered its rock everywhere. A few of the Stormcloaks had silently taken out the stable hands of the nearby stable and used it for warmth and cover.

Ulfric looked to the heroes. “Now’s your chance. You screw this up and getting in there will be impossible. Move quickly. The sun rises in minutes.”

---

The words whispered on the breeze seemed to guide Azura through the night and beyond its terrors. However, ther was one, which seemed to block her way. She would see the silhouette of what could have possibly been a man, but its primitive grunting and snarls said not so. It seemed to be hunched up the path, its body huddled over a bear it had slain—a bear! And the bear had been the size of a grizzly. Spikes jutted from its shoulders and black gnarled claws raked and passed tubes of entrails into its mouth. It slurped and grunted over its meal. The heat exuding from the bear’s ripped open side rising in a thick cloud above…the frost troll. He beast would pause as it chewed its food, glancing cautiously left and right as though expecting some other sort of predator to creep up on it and try to steal its kill. If Azura wasn’t careful, then who knew what the beast would do if it spotted her.

---

GM Note: XP has been initiated. Any actions or decisions your characters decide to make will affect the mission from this point on. Consequences can either be positive or negative. The results are only seen every GM post.


If a player is inactive for more than 3 days without letting the GMs know of any delays, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day. If a player does not wish to post, they can @Mention the GM and let the GM know he or she "Passes" on his or her turn.

P.O.: Mr. President, Azura, Vent, and Captain Piper.

---

Slayer's well timed counter attack managed to disperse all but one of the flames, which found it's mark on the large Russian, specifically his shoulder. And while he found it to not be painful all the time, every now and then it would cause piercing pain before stopping. It was clear that he needed to either get it off or put it out, but it was a question of how, which would need to be focused on another time as the first of the purple Boos reached the group; only to be banished by Heavy's finger gun, which caused the others to hesitate. "What just-."

The Boo found it's question cut short as Akira's waves of dark magic reached them, and while four of the remaining five managed to dodge the attacks, the fifth wasn't so fortunate, vanishing in a puff of smoke and a grunt of frustration. The remainder squared off with each hero. Six's was on the receiving end of her attack, but nothing seemed to happen at first. Still, the rushed forwards once again, a purple ghost managing to knock Six off of Akira's back and both of Heavy's and Slayer's opponents moving to deliver punches laced with purple fire to the pair. Akira would find himself facing off with the one who spoke to them before, it's little nubs laced with purple flames. "Feeling lucky, punk?" Meanwhile, Six found her Boo looking a little haggard, but his flames at full strength and it launched another ball of them at her.

---

GM Note: From now on, all players will be required to keep track of their word count. XP will be awarded every GM post. Be sure to check the XP hider to see how much XP your character earned. Remember to keep your CSes updated. I have seen players slack in keeping their XP up-to-date and they have lost XP points because of it. I didn't take the XP away from them, they just didn't keep track of the XP on their own. It is YOUR responsibility if you want your character to level.


If a player is inactive for more than 3 days without letting the GMs know of any delays, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day. If a player does not wish to post, they can Mention the GM and let the GM know he or she "Passes" on his or her turn.

P.O.: Slayer, Akira, Heavy, and Six.

Colliding flames nullified one another, just as Slayer intended, but a split second later he realized his error. The aim of his blazing kick's angle, while expert, had been rushed, and a portion of the spirits' attack struck his ally with a vicious hiss. ”Curses,” he growled through clenched teeth, his failure to protect his ally stinging him as pointedly as the enemy's attack. When faced with an unknown threat that might harbor any number of deadly abilities, his squad could not afford to test firsthand their foes' lethality. Fully deflecting such a paltry attack should have been child's play, but for all he knew his friend the Heavy might have just taken a dose of everlasting soulfire. As he watched, the Boos engaged the squad. A sucker punch toppled Six from her perch, and though Akira struck back with his own dark magic, the chief boo engaged him to prevent him from helping his allies. Meanwhile, more of the ghosts attacked the Heavy and himself, their stubby arms enveloped in that unnatural flame. Individual attacks meant that he could not back his new friends up, presenting a danger of being overwhelmed and separated.

Slayer took a deep puff from his pipe. These pitiful minions did not deserve the satisfaction of landing even one more hit on hopeful heroes such as these. He would not play by their rules.

One Boo rushed toward him. Slayer exhaled, creating a cloud of smoke, and the next moment the spirit's fist blasted it away. The vampire, however, was gone. A light came from behind the confused Boo, but before it could react a blazing backfist cannoned into its form. ”A pity you cannot comprehend the visual appeal of my move,” the irked gentleman murmured before turning to look at the rest. Without another word he began to move. He began a Dandy Step, zipping back to build up momentum before launching forward. Into the air he popped, and after a simple somersault that brought him roughly between Six and Akira's opponents. Without further ado he blasted both legs down into the ground, and an explosion of purple flame radiated out—Helter Skelter.

Frisk’s tears lessened when they felt Cloud’s hand on their head. They gave a small smile despite the beads of tears at the corner of their eyes when Cloud said that they were doing fine as a leader. The child felt relieved when the famous swordsman agreed to their request. With Cloud on the lookout, Frisk felt a little more confident now. There was now less of a chance of those nightmares ever becoming reality!

Thinking of Cloud’s words of encouragement and promise fills you with DETERMINATION!

In the throne room, Frisk kept themselves from laughing at how Wario reacted to their answer to his question. Though, they did feel a little nervous when Cloud outright insulted him. Don’t get the child wrong, Frisk felt the same as Cloud did, but insulting might not be conducive to their goals right now.

The child blinked at Wario’s words. The SOUL and hat wasn’t here?

The child thought pensively. They remembered seeing Wario’s SOUL back at the diner. He was definitely a greedy cheater at heart. Was he a liar?

…It didn’t seem as though he was lying right now. If anything, if Mario’s SOUL and hat were here, he would probably be holding it right now and trying to cut a deal with them…

Frisk only trusted Wario as much as the child could possibly throw the big fat jerk. (…And that is saying something!)

Wario’s advice on giving up didn’t sit well with the child either. They clearly had no idea who they were talking to. Frisk was too DETERMINED to ever give up.

If anything, the thought of proving them wrong filled the child with DETERMINATION!

Well, they can’t search while Wario was here. Even if the SOUL and hat aren’t here, Naija did ask them to find her winged boots. And they weren’t going to be able to look around while Wario and Waluigi were here.

Then they looked to the door as Wario pointed it out. They could sense the powerful darkness coming from it.

…We are going to need as much help as we can get…

With that thought, and Guile’s words back at the diner came to Frisk. The child now had an idea on how to get help and on how to get Wario away from this room. But the idea made Frisk silently groan. They really didn’t want to! There is a chance that this could go badly considering how much of a dirty cheater Wario is, but it’s worth a shot. Plus the group still had their gas masks, so they should be okay. At least Frisk hoped they’d be okay.

Frisk looked to their group briefly, to show that they had an idea, before turning to face Wario again. They then answered the fat man’s last statement,

“You know…He may not be your problem now. But who’s to say he won’t be later?”

Frisk continued once they had Wario’s attention,

“If we die, Dedede is just going to figure out that you took his gold, and he’ll come after you. Why not help us face him, like you wanted back in the diner? If you help us win, you’ll get the glory along with the gold. Besides, you’re immortal! You really have nothing to lose if you face Dedede!”

Frisk was silently hoping that their persuasion will work and Wario would actually listen to reason. The child was hoping that their plan will work…!

Akira couldn't hide the angered frown forming on his face when the flames that he believed to be canceled out by Slayer's own managed to hit one of them, their large friend the Heavy. Just watching how the flames latched onto the other in such a manner made Akira think of how careless he was being. What if that got on him? Those were no natural flames. Who knows what that could have done to him, a regular teenager with not real inherent abilities aside from his Persona, let alone Six, who was so small... If only he had a Persona with something as simple as Dia would be helpful at the moment, but Arsene was all he could rely until the time was right. The phantom thief clicked his tongue in irritation before retaliating, managing to cut the Boos' numbers by one. And while he wanted to get more, he was happy with the outcome before him. Unfortunately, his small companion was knocked off of his back in the process. And while he wanted more than anything to make sure she was okay, Akira had his own matters to attend to.

The Boos assessed their threat, and it was clear as day that he was chose as the biggest threat to the round yellow eyed ghosts seeing as the main one talking for them came after him, making it harder for him to help the others out. Luckily he had his ways of assisting the group.
Very lucky, actually. He hummed as his iconic smirk returned to his face. However, before he even had a chance to do anything himself, Slayer came to his and Six's aid, creating an explosion of purple flames much like the Boos to envelop the two enemies. Akira decided to take it one step further after that, smirking at the prospect of being able to take them out so quickly. With his Boo having to worry about the flames, the leader of the Phantom Thieves brought his dagger over his head and threw it towards the Heavy's Boo, encasing the blade with Eiha. Whether it hit or just managed to keep the ghost from moving around, Akira didn't know as he then pulled out his gun and did the same for his Boo, shooting a bullet encased with Eiha right at his own Boo, only to shoot a blank when it came to Six's. He ran out of bullets, unfortunately.

"Hahaha! You are no match for me, baby ghost!" Was Heavy's immediate respons to the unlucky ghost which went all "POOF" at his mighty, imaginary revolver and the others that questions what just happened. In truth he was surprised it worked, but said surprise was as brief as...as...something very brief, before the Heavy felt confident again in killing the spectrals. Stupid ghosts, they were truly no match for him and the rest of the team, who certainly would be able to squash them all like bugs in no ti... "What was that?" The Heavy did not notice the one flame that their Comrade Slayer failed to block, though in retrospect he couldn't be blamed. It was so tiny after all, even Heavy missed it, like tiny Scout back home. The purple flame found its mark in his left shoulder, first placing itself seemingly harmlessly on him. Heavy grinned, then laughed at the ghost. "You call that fire?"

And that was when it really started to burn. "Fire! Fire fire fire!" Heavy shouted out loudly in pain as the fire started to take its effect. It was burning, the purple flame was burning like normal fire, and it was painful. He was burning! Heavy started to panic a little, bashing the purple flame with his right hand as fast as he could in hopes of putting it out. "I'm burn!" If there was one thing that came close to frightening The Heavy Weapon's Guy, it was fire and the...thing that created said fire. And he was certain these ghost weren't the Pyro, so how were they creating fire? This was not making any sense for the sorry Russian! And yet their problems were not over.

The other three alive ghosts went for the others, to which their dear Comrade Slayer did his usual magic extravancas -whatever that meant- to vanish into thin air, or smoke, and created another series of purple fire, trying to protect Akira and Six. Which was good because Heavy, even for his brutish appearance, began to fear for their health. They were as small and tiny as Scout, who could be killed easily. "Take care of Joker and little Six, Comrade Slayer! I kill this one. I am coming for you!" Heavy shouted to the three others, clearly ready to face his ghost alone. How? He had no idea, especially not when a dagger came flying through the air towards the ghost attacking him. Heavy raised his fists to protect himself from the further purple fire, before taking a quick step back after the knife hit the ghost or not. He hoped the ghosts were vulnerable to one thing -besides magic of course; his weight. "Time to run, cowards! Heavy shouted once again, charging his ghost and jumping as hard as he could. If anything, he hoped to jump onto the ghost and crush it under his body. If that even worked. If not, perhaps it could be scared? "Eeeyaaah!"

Level: Two
Day/Time: Day Three, Morning
Location: Boo's Castle
Akira @Tenma Tendo, Heavy @ONL, Slayer @Lugubrious
Word Count: 313
EXP: ////////// (2/20)

---

---

'Come on, drop dead already!'

Six kept focusing her magic on the targeted purple boo, hoping to find that there was a chance she could end up killing one of them. Looking over back to the other two, she noticed that Heavy somehow managed to get rid of a boo with...an invisible gun? No wait, it was imaginary. Out of the four of them, the russian managed to be the one with the most supprises thus far. The child's eyes then turned to the flame on Heavy's shoulder, a gasp managing to escape her mouth. He seemed fine at first, then the burning pains seemed to finally affect him.

As if one of the boos took advatage of the child being distracted, Six was knocked down from Akira's back with a yelp. Sitting herself back up, she noticed the purple boo from before appeared to be sluggish. 'Yes, my powers work on them!!' She thought with a grin, but there was no time to get excited, as the boo shot a purple flame at her. The child rolled away from the line of fire, and send two slivers of dark matter at the ghost. 'Just a little bit more, just gotta stay focused.' She kept telling herself.

Luckly, Slayer had stepped between her and the thief, retaliating their boos' attack with his own purple fire. As much as Six wanted to watch in awe, that left Heavy alone. Looking behind her, she overheard the russian telling Slayer to help the child and akira out, even though she didn't want to leave Heavy alone. She sent one of the slivers of dark matter at the boo the russian was facing, as the thief threw a dagger at the spectre. Not before Heavy decided to try and crush the boo, a seemingly stupid idea when facing something incorporeal. But then again, it might work.

Level: Two
Day/Time: Day Three, Very Early Morning
Location: Tetris Castle: The 49th Floor
Bentley @ONL Taric @DracoLunaris Shantae @Guardian Angel Haruki James @Zarkun

---

---

"Golly..." Trailing behind the rest of the group, Cuphead looked around the new surroundings in both awe, and uncertainty. It turned out that the cloaked guy Sparks was worried about was actually one of the good guys, a friend of the dragonfly really! What are the odds of that? As the others had already made their way to the castle, he was conflicted on either waiting on Sparks and Hunter, or running on ahead like the rest. Either way, he had to hurry.

From all the commotion in the streets, Cuphead could tell that whatever happened at the castle, was bad. Very bad. And now there he was, looking around the 49th floor laboratory. He remembered fighting the mad scientist of Inkwell, Dr. Kahl and his robot, with Mugman, having to use attack aircrafts to reach the robot's height. Cuphead really hoped that he didn't have to fight another scientist like that again.

"'Scuze me, pardon me." He whispered, walking in between some of the others, and looking up at the rejuvenation tank. Taking in the conversation, it seemed that pirates invaded the castle, one of them taking out the guy in said tank, Gulie with one hit. Pirates? Like Captain Brineybeard? Well, whoever they are, Cuphead was sure him and the group could handle them. Patting Rosalina's back, he tried to reassure her and Dr. Light. "It's okay, maybe if we figure out where the pirate guys went, we can find out how to fix Mr. Gulie up! Probably by beating them up. Trust me, I dealt with a pirate before..." Cuphead gave them a warm smile, it turning crooked with the last sentence, his eye twitching.

The room they ended up in was a veritable delight to the senses, filled with innumerable strange and interesting things that could no doubt sate the curiosity of an inquisitive mind for hours. Despite possessing such a mind Naija had little time or energy to examine the treasure trove of oddities as she first painstakingly assisted in carrying Guile to the chamber and then did her best to avoid getting in the way as he was secured in the healing vat within which he endlessly was wounded, healed and then wounded again in what must have been a gruesome painful experience. After the council member was put in place the fish girl, now once again in her base form, could be found uncomfortably slumped over a railing of the catwalk, her legs dangling blow here as she rested them from the strain of walking for the first time. It was a terrible method of locomotion, she had decided, and she would be very happy if it need never happen again.

From her perch she listened to the hairy faced Dr light and Rosalina's conversation. She wasn't sure what nanites where, nore did she know much of anything about magic despite using it for from cooking and combat, so her main contributions were politely offering her name “Naija” in response to being referred to as “This Girl” by Dr Light and adding some more general info about the attack to Rosalina’s explanation.

“The sword wielder seemed to know kirby, and they said something about seeing him again if we are strong enough to survive. They also took a virus infected bag creature retrieved from the earlier attack. The one Dr Solus was working on. He said it had a dimension inside it that was unaffected by the virus. Speaking of the virus, it's kinda weird that none of the pirates were infected, least not obviously so, when they were stealing stuff related to the virus attack on the smash arena. ” Naija shrugged after finishing. She didn't really know what to do with any of that info, but it was out there now, so hopefully someone more knowledgeable could put it to use.

Shortly after a rather sweaty group showed up that included a few people Naija vaguely recognised, James and purple haired girl where people she had seen but who she did not recall if she had traded words with, along with a collection of new faces including a turtle sitting in a wheeled chair, a ruggedly handsome fellow escoreded by a bunch of floating gems who, despite seemingly having run a marathon based on the sweat glistening on his exposed pecks and the way his chest rose and fell as it pumped slightly heavy breaths from his faintly smiling lips… Naija shook her head and tried to refocus her analysis way from pleasing aesthetics... The man had the energy she lacked while being filled with the same curiosity as he eagerly drank in the sights and sounds of the lab.

Naija’s starring was interrupted when the last member of the newly arrived party politely pushed himself to the front of the group, having apparently overheard the doctor and princess’s conversation. Unsurprisingly the fact that he had a cup for a head ripped Naija’s gaze away from the fabulous fellow as she was once again reminded that she was in a strange new world filled with fascinating oddities. Like talking cup people who wanted to go beat up the person who had taken down guile with a single blow. It was the jolt she needed to actually start participating with current events again.

“At the very least we could get a hold of that sword before it hurts anyone else.” she glanced over at Guile before adding “Though recklessly chasing after the masked swordsman would be very dangerous” She was glad she had not done so herself during the raid, as she may well have ended up sharing in Guile’s fate.

The lab was truly a cool sight to take in for the wheeling turtle, as he wheeled down the elevated metal catwalk with the surprising silence of his wheelchair. It was no wonder he was able sneak up on so many bad guys and steal their stuff, which was good. It was also surprising, perhaps, how much attention Bentley gave the various experiments on each side of the catwalk, and yet how little time he actually studied each of them. As Bentley wheeled onwards, getting passed by various members of the newly formed 'Gang', one could hear the glass-wearing turtle say "Interesting concept, already have the blueprints for that one. Oh, nice touch with the electrical mass-consumator, although it's too big. That one won't work, already tried it. That one...who...who thought adding yellow would make it aesthetically pleasing?", which he meant with no offense. It was just a very smart and technologically gifted turtle talking.

Bentley finally rendevouzed with the remaining gang, all assembled before another group of people composing of a doctor, what he assumed could be a princess, an aquatic humanoid and a big pink ball on legs. And at last he saw the council member who was hurt; the one floating in a large tank of liqud. "Oh my...that doesn't look good indeed." And while he didn't know much about the wound, the mention of "nanites" and "virus", Bentley's mind started ticking. "Magic is a little out of my leage too, at least without certain friends of mine around. But if we're speaking of nanites, that leaves to possibilities; One: the nanites are operating on an self-contain, autonomous AI that cooperates with each other in order to cause the never-ending wound, possibly with an anti-magical agent that nullifies the healing magic. That would be difficult to solve, but I think I could find a way to solve it. On the other hand, two: the nanites might be following the orders from a central command computer, like a hive-mind. Now that would be much easier for me to hack into and shut off the nanites, or the least learn how to stop them. That does however require that..." Bentley trailed off, dangerously close to pulling out a large whiteboard and draw up all the technicalities he just rambled on about. But he stopped himself when he realized no one might be listening to him, so he leaned back in his wheelchair and started studying Guilie in silence instead.

Bentley listened to what the others said about the attack, the sword and the wound, and a pirate. And while he agreed that following said pirate and locating the sword that did that to Guilie, he also agreed with the aquatic lady. "Agreed, Miss water lady. If it's dangerous, which it clearly is, we all need a plan if we're to follow him. A master plan! ...Sorry, old habit. But in all seriousness, does anyone actually know who those guys are?" Bentley said out in a mix of enthusiasm and seriousness, knowing far too well what such an operation needed.

If the typical day in Skyrim was cold, then nighttime could most leniently and non-explicitly be described as 'glacial'. Barely had a few minutes passed before the biting winds, howling down from the mountain heights, started to penetrate through the luxuriant winter robes that kept Azura so cozy before. Her teeth chattered as trudged through the snow. A climb like this in the day would have been hazardous enough, but at night the task turned impossible if not for the whispers on the wind, telling her which paths to take on her frigid ascent. As time wore on and the air grew thinner, her muscles grew weary, and her mind urged her to lay down in the soft snow to rest. The songstress knew better than to listen to that temptation; from her books she knew that, coat or no, if she fell asleep in such a cold bed she would never awaken. Instead, she forced her mind to wander, trying to shut out the incredible chill. She hummed snatches of her song, its subtle magic providing just enough of a boost to keep her body moving along with her thoughts. This ordeal would be her trial, she concluded, to see if she had what it took to be a hero. When she opened the strange letter not so long ago, she had accepted that mantle without too much thought, telling herself that even if she felt that she'd done nothing to deserve it that she had at least been chosen for a reason. This climb, this mountain, this mission...here was where she would prove she was no pretty wallflower, no useless tag-along, even if to nobody but herself.

Eventually Azura did need to pause to catch her breath and try to get her blood pumping again. When the crunching of snow under her feet stopped, however, she could hear carried on the breeze another sort of crunching. This one, however, did not involve snow, and it sent new shivers down her spine. Taking pains to be quiet, she advanced a few more meters along with wall until she could see the path ahead. A dark shape, far too large and burly to be human, crouched over a mangy black mess she could not identify as anything other than a large, dead animal. The beast itself appeared to be eating, making ghastly noises as it messily devoured its meal. Worse still, the gristly scene lay square in the middle of Azura's way forward, and the ascent itself appeared too narrow to skirt around the monster at all, let alone at a safe distance. A novice climber would have no chance of making her own way around in the dark, either, but trying to drive the beast away would be even more suicidal. Worse still, she could hear no hints from her ephemeral guide, though that did make it occur to her that this, too, was a test.

A few moments passed, the woman standing stock-still in the icy night, before something popped into her mind. A risky gamble, she knew, but short of waiting for the morning's light there remained no alternatives. Closing her eyes, Azura took a deep breath, then held up her Blessed Lance. Her yellow eyes flashed open, and she began to sing.

”Sing with me a song, of birthrights and love. The light scatters to, the sky above...”

Not far away, the frost troll perked its head up. It could hear the intruder's high, clear voice even through the tempestuous piping of the wind, but it did not yet know what to make of it.

”Dawn breaks through the gloom, white as a bone. Lost in thoughts, all alone...”

A deep sound, like some primal titan moving, undercut the howling of the air. The frost troll turned its small eyes upward to see a vast, formless mass rushing toward it.

Azura winced. “I am sorry, creature.”

A split second later a wall of icy water crashed upon the beast, on target to wash it and its kill right off the path and down the mountainside with its sheer bulk and force.

---

The Boo facing off with Slayer had no chance to react, the backhand sending it tumbling out over the abyss in to its white cousins, bowling them over. Growling in annoyance, he grabbed one and threw it aside, yelling at it as it slammed into the wall. "Out of the way you worthless white puff!" He soared at Slayer once more, but not before the vampire gentleman had launched his attack, the wall of flames spreading towards the other two Boos. However, Slayer would hardly get to enjoy watching Six’s Boo disappear in a purple ball of smoke between his own attack and her dark magic as his own opponent slammed him with a purple fire infused uppercut to the chin, sending him backwards. ”Cheap trick, fang face. Normally, I’d approve, but you did it on me!”

The lead Boo, meanwhile, simply phased through the flames before charging the now disarmed Akira, the bullet he fired, skimming it and making it grimace in pain before it swung hard in an overhead blow with one fist, the purple flames encasing it’s little fist. Meanwhile, Heavy’s ghost took the dagger, not vanishing, but visibly growing weaker, though it still simply phased through the giant Russian man when he tried to jump on it. ”I mean...really?” It seemed more amused than anything, and hadn’t really tried to attack yet. Perhaps this one was more reasonable?

---

GM Note: From now on, all players will be required to keep track of their word count. XP will be awarded every GM post. Be sure to check the XP hider to see how much XP your character earned. Remember to keep your CSes updated. I have seen players slack in keeping their XP up-to-date and they have lost XP points because of it. I didn't take the XP away from them, they just didn't keep track of the XP on their own. It is YOUR responsibility if you want your character to level.


If a player is inactive for more than 3 days without letting the GMs know of any delays, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day. If a player does not wish to post, they can Mention the GM and let the GM know he or she "Passes" on his or her turn.

P.O.: Slayer, Akira, Heavy, and Six.

After stumbling backward a few steps, Slayer narrowly avoided plummeting into the pit that still lurked behind the group. He flailed his arms dramatically as he wobbled on the brink before pulling himself forward and out of danger. Face aghast, he shook his head as though to clear the stars that might have been orbited it, then rubbed his bearded chin where the boo's 'fist' had struck. “...What did you think? I didn't oversell that punch of yours, did I?” Seemingly forgetting about the pain, he started walking forward. “I must say, it would take a lot less theatricality on my part if you'd put some real effort into it. Though, since spirits cannot build muscle, I suppose that's unfair of me to demand, hmm?” Closing his eyes and smiling, Slayer held up his hand. “It's just that I'm very familiar with fiery fisticuffs, so if we're going to put on a show, it'd be more entertaining if it wasn't so obviously one-sided, wouldn't you say?”

He opened his eyes and put up his dukes, assuming a fighting stance. “To make a punch really look good, you need a feeling of weight behind it, laddie. Watch this.” Like a bullet being fired from a rifle, the gentleman shot toward the boo that attacked him, his outstretched fist leaving behind a blazing jetstream the size of its wielder's body. Though Slayer knew that his target could vanish much like himself, this attack's speed was calibrated for the boo's reaction time, so the vampire did not expect to be denied a second time. However, whether or not he tagged the spirit on the way, the momentum of the strike would carry Slayer down the hallway and quite potentially through any walls or doors he encountered, at least for a few seconds. That would, he thought, force the boos to pursue him since they were supposedly guarding their boss, leaving them open for his allies.

Akira had been pretty confident about the current chain of events, despite running out of ammo for the time being; it was something he can easily fix by switching in and out of his Phantom Thief attire, giving him back his dagger and the bullets for his gun. With Slayer attacking his own Boo, the phantom thief didn't think he'd need to worry about being unarmed for a while. Heck, he even thought the one bullet in succession with the flames would be enough to get rid of the annoying purple blob, but unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case as it only grimaced at the projectile before zooming towards him with a vengeance.

Completely unarmed and mostly startled by how fast the lead Boo was moving, Akira stumbled backwards as an attempt to get away, but was forced to come to a grinding halt as the platform he was standing on wasn't wide enough to properly evade, nor could he jump backwards onto another one nearby in fear of his panicked state making him miss the landing. The raven haired teen was forced to take the brunt of the overhead shot as his arms were too slow to block the attack, and while the actual punch didn't hurt all that much, he did let out a cry of pain as the purple flames encasing the punch covered a third of his face, his left eye included.

Gloved hands immediately went to cover that side of his face before he dropped to one knee, as if doing such would relieve the pain coming from it, but it only continued. And although it was only for a couple of more seconds before the feeling began to wane, it felt like hours to the young teenager. Tears formed in the boy's eyes just as the pain began to subside. He felt pretty embarrassed for crying over something like this, but damn, did it really hurt! He had been so use to fire covering his body with little to no pain ever coming from the experience, but now, the Japanese teen felt like part of his face was being cooked alive. Once the pain was mostly gone, Akira took this chance to slowly remove his mask, resting it on top of his head akin to have some people would wear sunglasses before standing up. It would be an understatement to say that he was angry at this point.

Rubbing his eyes with his coat sleeve to rid the tears rolling down his face, Akira assumed a fighting stance with both fists up and ready, just as Slayer preformed a punch akin to a bullet being fired through an blazed barrel.
"E-Eiha!" He called as Arsene appeared briefly behind him, encasing the thief's hands and feet in the dark energy as he ran towards the lead Boo that was hopefully distracted by Slayer's flashy move. The raven haired teen, despite his lack of full vision, preformed a tornado kick, aiming right for the Boo's face, hoping it would be enough to either make it vanish or catapult it into Slayer's trajectory.

What had Heavy expected was going to happen? It was silly to think that jumping onto a ghost would in any way harm it, taking into account that it was indeed incorporeal. There was only one man that could possibly complete such a feat, but said tiny plumber was not there. Heavy on the other hand was there, and he was not as bright as to think his attack through. The massive Russian fell heavy onto the floor, feeling a sense of tingling or tickling as he thought he crushed the purple ghost. But when he heard the voice of it talking back to him, Heavy turned onto his back and watched the ghost with a blank look. "This is unexpected."

That was when the pain decided to kick in again, flaring up in that purple fire at his shoulder and forcing his face into a painful grimace. "My flesh, it burns!" Heavy exclaimed through gritted teeth, then hearing a similar cry of pain from their black-haired teen, Joker Akira. That pulled him out of his own misery. Nobody hurt his comrades like that, and got away with it.

Heavy looked back up at the ghost floating near him, who hadn't yet attempted to attack him. Normally that would call for a question of "Why?", but Heavy was all "Shoot first, don't ask any questions." right then. Heavy lifted his right arm up and pointed it at the purple spectral, looking it dead-straight into its eyes. "Your luck..." Heavy began to say in his deep, thick Russian voice, his hand curling up into a fist, and finally into the familiar shape of an imaginary revolver, pointed straight into the ghost's face. "...runs out."

"POW!" his voice bellied out, once again performing his Showdown ability. As he pulled his fist back and blew out the imaginary smoke from the non-existant barrel, one could only hope that this wasn't a stupid move. Then again, Heavy wouldn't know what was smart or not, he just wanted to kill.

When Cloud had asked for the others to continue ahead, Alicia simply obliged the pair, moving up and waiting for them. When they found the Wario Brothers on the other side of the doors, the Titan's first thought was to wonder how they had even managed to get down here, especially since they would have had to go through the same system that their party had been. Still, they had saved the group one trio of bosses to fight off for which the Striker was thankful. Iron appeared as Frisk called for them to search for Mario's soul and hat and, after he and Alicia look at each other, begins to scan the various mountains of gold for any sign of the hat at least. A soul was much harder to scan for, but Alicia set to sifting through the gold, though if it was a recent addition to this treasury, it would be somewhere on top.

However, before the group had gotten far in their searching, Wario made it known that he'd laid claim to the gold and didn't want anyone touching it. The Striker ignored him, preferring to be certain, but after another few seconds of trying to sift the gold, she gave up. There was simply too much of it to be certain they weren't missing the two things they were looking for. She followed the indication to the next door and frowned as Iron joined her, hovering just over her right shoulder, ignoring the fat bastard's attempts at getting them to hand over their goods. "This is a darkness on par with that of Oryx before he retreated to his Throne World. And he was incredibly powerful, even in our world."

"I agree. I wonder if there's any way to-" It would seem that for once, she and Frisk were of the same mind, though she wondered how begrudgingly Frisk was asking Wario for help. It was fairly apparent that none of the group had a high opinion of the fellow, though Alicia was happy that his ass, for the time being, was aimed away from her and at other areas of the room. "It would seem they've already had the same thought as us. I don't imagine our leader is happy about it though."

Iron nodded as he vanished back into his Guardian's armor. "I don't blame him for it, but it simply can't be helped if we're going to win in the next battle." Alicia made no reply to her Ghost, instead simply posting up near the door and waiting, the Doctrine of Passing held in a relaxed grip. Knowing that they faced someone at bare-minimum as strong as Oryx outside of his Throne World, she suddenly wished she'd brought weapons with more umph behind them than an auto-rifle and a sword, even if the sword could throw some powerful Arc discs.

"Remind me when we return to the castle to requisition my Gjallarhorn from my Vault."

"Feel the need for extra firepower," the Ghost replies, amusement in his voice.

"As Lord Shaxx says, there's no such thing as too much firepower."

---

James was amongst the last to arrive, stopping every now and then to make sure there were no more baddies trying to sneak up on the group as they headed for the castle. He had been ahead of the majority of them, but had provided overwatch for them after he'd decided that between the ambush at the Smash Arena and the unexpected attack on the Castle no more chances could be afforded. However, Charger had arrived with the group and had funneled the audio through to the Hunter, who was able to stay up to speed thanks to it.

However, as he arrived and caught sight of the exact shape that Guile was in, he doubted that even his and Charger's trick would have worked. He arrived just on the tail end of the turtle's piece and removed his helmet, letting his hair sweep against his forehead as Charger vanished back into his armor. "Not just dangerous, foolish at this juncture. I'm a Hunter, we live to gamble and spend all our spare time out in the Wilds of Earth back home, mostly alone. But we never make a gamble we're not confident we can win. Guile's a member of the Council and incredibly powerful a fighter and this guy bested him. Who he is won't matter if we can't beat him."

The Nightstalker walked around to where the others could see him and looked at Rosalina. "Where are the other Council Members? Shouldn't they know about this?"

Ulfric had ordered the heroes to wake, but The President didn’t budge. He remained curled up in his bedroll with his back to the rest of the tent. Kinzie’s voice crept into his ear: “Booo~sss…” He didn’t respond. “Wakey, wakey, sleepy head. You’re not on the ship. Remember?”

His brows converged on his forehead, and he didn’t even bother to open his eyes. He kept his bedroll gripped tight and muttered groggily, “Fuck off…”

Kinzie sighed. “Get up or I’ll start singing ‘Work’ by Rihanna.”

The Boss’s eyes cracked open. “Kinzie…you better fucking-”

“Work, work, work, work, work, work; you see me I be…”

The Boss groaned and squirmed as though he was in pain. “God, make it stop!” His hands then desperately went to cup his ears. “Stop! STOP!” He looked like a crazy person, grabbing his head and screaming. The President finally sat up with an exasperated sigh when Kinzie stopped. “Fuck,” he muttered. He took in his surroundings and seemed to scowl as though disappointed to still be stuck inside the video game. “No eggs; bacon; no nothing. Not even coffee. Everybody’s gonna hate me…(as though they didn’t already).”

Tossing aside some drapes, blankets, who knew what it really was. He rose to his feet and blew his breath on his hand and sniffed it. “At least there isn’t any morning breath in this simulation. I probably don’t even need a shower.”

“Will you stop sniffing yourself? That is so disturbing.”

“Kinzie, do I stink?”

“I don’t know. I’m not about to sniff you while you’re plugged in.”

Oh well, he mused.

The Boss was quiet as he followed where Ulfric had vanished off to. He didn’t greet the others in his party at least not verbally. He might have given them an ugly scowl because he didn’t have any coffee to wash it off with. He rubbed at his eyes, squinting at the still night sky. It was still night!? Fuck, I’m not awake enough for this. My balls are gonna fall off. When the group had finally gathered, Mr. President followed the departing party as they quickly and quietly marched to Markarth. He swiftly posted behind a boulder next to Ulfric and then finally looked to the rest of the group, noticing spear babe was gone.

The Boss blinked in disbelief and then asked, “Where’s Spear Babe?” He didn’t even remember her name. Was she late? His heart then jumped at the possible realization. “No…don’t fucking tell me. She went on that fucking side quest didn’t she?”

Boss didn’t have much time to get mad before Ulfric was urging the group on to execute Operation B&E. He looked to the rest of the party that was present and growled, “We’re gonna fucking talk about this later!”

It was his turn to take out the sentries as he had volunteered to do. Boss raced out from behind the boulder, keeping a low silhouette and used the rocky terrain as cover. His heart near ripped from his chest again when a loud shout sounded and something about a Sneak Level Up flashed before his eyes. What the fuck… he mused. His hand was resting on his heaving chest. He thought someone had noticed him or something. As he continued to move to the right of the fortress, hardly looking like a ninja or Special Forces soldier sporting his green Christmas sweater, he scaled up the side of the mountain. It was a little strange but by the way the graphics were cut. He could jump from each rock as though they were squares rather than perfectly round or smooth. Of course, I could only do this in a video game.

Boss front flipped off the last rock that would have him land on the battlement. He landed in a crouch—one hand posted before him to balance himself, and he gazed down the battlement at the deer furries carrying flaming torches. They were pacing the wall much like any guards he would expect in a video game. The only difference was unlike the medieval fantasy setting of the game, slung across their backs were blaster weapons.

“Time to make these bastards wish they hadn’t fucked with the United States,” Boss muttered to himself. Pushing forward off his hand, Boss broke into a sprint across the battlement. One of the Forsworn paused and turned around in time to see the Boss drop upon his side, slide across the ground, and thrust his feet into the shins of the deer man. The Forsworn soldier fell over on top of Boss. He caught the deer’s head between his bicep and forearm and slinging his hand across to his forearm to tighten the hold, Boss leaned back and applied enough pressure to the deer man’s neck to make him faint. When the guard went limp in his hold, Boss released him and extended his arm in the other patrolling deermen’s direction. Materializing in his grip was a purple, green, and orange tube-covered rifle. He fired a glowing yellow tennis ball like shot that flew toward the back of the Forsworn soldier’s head. The ball seemed to pass through the solder’s skull, bouncing straight into the next soldier in front of him. As both soldiers collapsed, Boss was on his feet continuing to sprint down the battlement in time to see the gatekeeper step out of one of the towers. He first glanced down stupidly at the two downed guards before unslinging his rifle. When he looked in the sprinting Boss’s direction, Boss through his rifle at the guard’s face and when the rifle bounced off, he jumped and kicked the rifle back at the guard’s face a second time. Landing, he followed up the stunt as the guard was struggling to catch his balance. Leaning his weight on his left leg, Boss raised his right leg and kicked out to strike the guard’s face with the sole of his foot. Bringing his leg swiftly back, he hopped in the air, switching legs to have his left foot shoot out to jab the guard in the throat and send his form slumping to the ground.

“Woo!” Boss exclaimed.

“Settle down there Bruce Lee,” said Kinzie.

“Did you record that shit? That was fucking bad ass. I'm a beast!”

“How about you focus on the mission, Boss? You need to signal to the others that you managed to secure the gate.”

“Yeah, yeah; shit can’t have any fun around here,” Boss grumbled. He glanced down to one of the torches and picked it up. Walking over to the battlement wall, he waved the torch around to signal Ulfric and the others that the gate was secured. All they had to do was take out the guards at the bottom and make their way inside. He was going to give them a minute to get into position before he started turning the wheel to raise the gate.

The group barely made it out of the 3rd floor and into the stairwell before moral quandary began to call itself in again, and a short-lived debate of ethics ensued once more. The bear and bird kept silent during this (uncharacteristically so, in the case of the latter) because they were, quite simply, out of their element. In the past, there was never any question of them being in the right, what with having a very clear evil to face, and never before have they been challenged with any ideas to the contrary. Then again, they’ve never had a boss willingly sacrifice themselves for their sakes--a fact that their child leader seemed visibly unhappy with. The soldier urged everyone else onward while he attempted to console the child. Just as well. There was more emotional tension in the air than the duo was used to or comfortable with, let alone would they know what to do, so it made the most sense that it be left up to with some experience (mostly personal) in such matters.

The soldier and the duo wisely pressed on while the other two stayed back to regroup amongst themselves. The path downward was lit with a gilded radiance that shone through the doorway with such brilliance to announce itself before they could see it. The bright, tintinnabulous clattering of soft metals running across itself told Banjo and Kazooie that what lied ahead was none other than a treasure hoard--something they had seen before. They expected this time, however, that it would be substantially larger, that they wouldn’t be welcomed there (obviously), and that they would be in for a fight when they arrived. Naturally, they were surprised to find their expectations subverted when they showed up only to find their work already done for them. Even more surprising a sight than the quartet of floor bosses having been laid out prior to arrival was that of the two presumably responsible relishing in a bountiful victory.

Sat upon a makeshift throne of bullion and precious gems was none other than their unwilling IED from earlier, Wario, and his ambiguously related partner in crime--his “brother”--Waluigi, performing the physically impossible (for most). They broke from their celebratory immersion upon taking notice of the heroes to inquire--with an inordinate degree of surprise that would suggest offense to the very fact--as to how they made it there… as if there was really much of a question that they could.

“Honestly, we’re kind of wondering the same about you,” Banjo remarked, genuinely curious as to how the two could be left at the top of the building and still manage to beat the group nearly to the bottom.

“He probably rolled… or bounced,” snarked Kazooie at the portly villain’s expense.

The true answer to the riddle of how they made it there so quickly was probably closer to them simply taking “the short way” and jumping down, which was more than certainly in the realm of feasibility for them, but that hardly mattered at the moment; they had a pair of winged boots and the bottled soul of a legend to look for. Once the rest of the group rejoined them, Banjo and Kazooie set to scaling and rummaging through the stacked hills of gold, much to Wario’s chagrin. They ignored the greedy doppelganger's protest, but he did have a point about their chances of finding what they were looking for. Their history suggested that they were particularly good at finding things (if the Ice Vault was any indication), yet they were having no such luck here. After about the fourth or fifth time sliding downhill, Banjo started to concur with Wario’s testified doubts.

“I think he’s right. I doubt the king would leave something that valuable behind knowing we were coming for it,” Banjo reasoned. After a moment, Frisk proposed to the brothers (perhaps against everyone’s better wishes) that they ally with them for the upcoming battle, which seemed both a good and bad idea, given their potential utility as well as their character. The child rationalized with Wario a personal incentive on his part for lending his aid, and their reasoning, while not entirely bulletproof, was convincingly solid. Now it was just a matter of finding out whether or not Wario was convinced. The bear and bird awaited attentively for whatever answer may come.