A gnarly toenail tore against Magpie’s side as she leapt past the zomboni, body burning up with power. Glancing blow indeed, capable of gouging the flesh beneath her robes but not enough to kill her outright. And from there, it was a clean two-hit wombo combo as her fingers hooked into the jaw of the flying oni, arresting its motion and pulling its desiccated body with her. Feet skidding against the ground, the brawler hurled her quarry head-first with such force that a meter-wide crater was formed even as its body bounced back up!

And as it did, her fist drew back, the last vestiges of her SP turning her arm incandescent. A shining power, a brilliant force, raw strength converted into big numbers. With an uppercut that her descendants would be talking about for generations to come, Magpie sent the monster skywards, turning away as an explosion of light rocked the entire battlefield, shaking her organs to its core.

That was her, right? That was totally her.

…naw, that was Raime.

In the aftermath of the God-Searing Light, steam hissed out of the volcano-esque arm cannon, the Scout feeling utterly drained. He was bleeding and his heart was pounding much too quickly to be considered healthy. Before him, an Amulak coated in carbonized oni-ash was still trapped, and further off, Klein had no intention of getting up again. Magpie and Ames, with only the worms of the remaining oni to deal with, dispatched them swiftly. The encounter was over. The corpses of the oni and the strange creatures that infested them both dissolved into a chromatic display of pixels that reformed into loot. Experience points flooded the entire party as well, everyone experiencing at least one level up, and thus their Resources were all filled back up.

But a sense of imbalance remained.

The holes in Raime’s body were reformed, but his arm was not regrown. In the corner of his eye, a status effect was displayed.

[Dismembered – Right Arm]

The winds of the Thunderstruck Grove continued to whisper, as new fog coated the skylight that had been there only moments before. The party had a moment or two to decide before the monstrosities of the blasted forest began to follow the trails of blood once more.

Retreat or proceed?
_{@Shovel@Searat@Psyker Landshark@OwO@Yankee}

aмeℓιa

_{HP: 610/610 - MP: 610/610 - SP: 610/610}
^{_________________} _[] ^{_________________}
Ames was grabbed before she even registered the oni's movement. Before panic there was confusion. Didn't she speed herself up, or in the heat of battle did she make a mistake? If it was the later, she was distantly glad that no one was around to see the blunder. Of course there were more pressing matters at hand - literally pressing, as the oni gripped Ames close as though to smother her in it's chest. It was gross. She leaned as far away from the foul smelling head as she could as it dipped forward from where she'd sliced it. There wasn't much room for escape, and even struggling didn't make the oni's grip slacken. Ames grimaced and slide the blade under the last patch of skin still connecting the head to the oni's body and roughly cut it away, slinging the rotting skin and skull away from her.

Then she felt it. The push against her stomach, the wriggling and tiny little teeth of the dark worms. Her face went white. This was much worse than when the other oni had just collapsed on top of her, then she'd been able to just push the corpse off and brush off the worms. Now, she was pinned here and desperately struggling, trying to angle her blade in such a way that she could hack through the arm holding her.

W-what the hell?! It's like, dead-dead! Is this some kind of rigor mortis or something?!

Her panicked rush job wasn't working out too well, but she was focused - too focused to try and crane her neck to see what that giant light from behind her was. She wanted to escape as soon as possible, so when Magpie appeared pure relief flooded Ames' face and eyes. As soon as Ames could feel the hold on her give due to Mags' attack on the oni's body, she shoved herself away from it and swatted at her front to dispose of any worms that were stuck there. She swept them off and squashed them under her foot like last time, making sure they were as dead as possible.

"Oh my God," she squeaked. She turned to Mags, voice full of gratitude. "Thank you, I was about to light myself on fire."

It had been her back up plan. Better to get dead and poof then have your body controlled by nasty worms.

The party reconvened. They were all healed now thanks to the level ups, but...

"Um, are you... feeling okay?" Ames asked, clumsily gesturing to Raime's lack of limb. "Is that normal? Is it like, a Nuclei thing...?"

The warrior looked around at the rest of the party, and out at the ominous fog. "We should go back to town, right? Or at least another area. We barely made it through that fight... and I don't wanna see another worm, like, ever."

When Ames mentioned setting herself on fire, Mags gave a solemn nod. "If you were closer, I would have asked you to hold my hand and light me the fuck up."

Now that the worm oni were firmly dealt with, it was time to grab the loot and get the fuck out. Mags didn't really care about this set of loot. Her gear was already better or the stats they gave were negligible. After all, even though she was the only one with a enmity generator, the stat loss from losing her battlemask was massive. Well, she'd gain 50% of her HP back. The free stamina from the mask made all that life loss worth it.

"Let's get out of here and try to farm up an easier zone for 50. I'd rather not have to deal with... worms. Unlike you lot, I have to touch those things. Also, I need to hold a candlelight vigil for my shovel, may he rest in piece."

Mags looked at Raime and his lack of arm. She shrugged. There wasn't much she could say about Raime losing his arm. You know, besides the obvious lines. Calling him stumpy, using hand crossbows like 50 Copper and Ludi'drizz't, or that he reenacted 127 hours to become a laser cannon. The man was probably having enough trouble with coping that he couldn't currently use his bow.

However, she could easily rib Klein. With a quick yell, she told the wildman "nice flyin'!"

Right. There was Amulak. He was probably still pinned. Really, that's what he got for not dumping his points in strength. If there was one thing that Mags was good at, it was being a STR monkey. She began to use her ape powers for good. Off the rubble went, freeing the pinned warrior as she horked the rocks and debris carelessly behind her. At the same time, she was mumbling something about her boy being taken from her too young. She was tempted to just pull the man out of the rubble, but that'd probably result in his leg being torn off.

She wasn't about to give the party a second dismembered status effect.

Yet.

---

Raime fell flat on his ass after firing his nuclei. Leveling up had managed to repair his body but regardless of the healing he received, he felt absolutely drained. He felt as if he had run the entirety of the ironman triathlon twice in one go. Amulak's brief but enthusiastic clapping caught his attention and, with a tired but happy smile, returned the gesture...but realized that his right arm did not regenerate like the rest of his wounds. Finally noticing the [Dismembered - Right Arm] System notification. He activated the notification to see more information and he realized that he was going to be missing his arm for the foreseeable future. That's going to be inconvenient. But he returned the thumbs up nonetheless with his left arm. The scout tried to stand and help pull the pinned caster out from under the rubble and remains of the phantasmal bull but, as soon as he tried to stand, his legs gave in under him and caused him to fall forward. Raime only offered an apologetic look to the still pinned caster.

Ames asked about his wellbeing and his whole stump for a right arm situation. "Other than the missing arm and exhaustion? I'm feeling Peachy." He laughed it off to assure Ames, but his second attempt at standing up didn't. "Damn..." He wouldn't be much of help in this current state. Thankfully, Mags asserted her STR monkey powers and casually flung heavy debris and obstructions away as if they were nothing worth noting. "Agreed. We nearly bit off more than we could chew here, damn near miracle we survived. We better farm for equipment and Rishi just to be doubly sure we're prepared when we come back. Get our secondary classes when we cap our current ones along the way." He looks to Mags. "My condolences for your loss. He was a good shovel."

---

---

[Ranger]Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

Her ears and tail shocked straight, she stood at attention immediately. An interview? Was she here for an interview? Her palms were sweaty already, but her mouth was already speaking through her confusion.

“Yes! I am Ari Reina Caladis! I’m a Ranger right now, but I actually want to be a Ninja as soon as I qualify for that! My favourite food is salted fish!”

“Ninja, hm, good!” The man barked. “We like AGI-builds here at CCC! Now, the underground palace! Tell me everything about the enemies there!”

“There are no enemies!” Ari continued. “Just stone guards in different varieties wielding strong bronze weapons! But there are massive monsters inside the walls from what I saw!”

“Specifics, Ari! What weapons?! What numbers?! And the monsters in the walls, what type?!”

Ari jerked a little from the question. “Swords! Polearms! And a lot! I don’t have exact numbers! I don’t know what the monsters were, they were huge, bigger than what I can see into the walls!”

“BUT WERE THEY ACTIVE?!”

“They weren’t moving, or doing anything! They’re just in the walls!” She was so tensed up from nervousness, her tail was straight enough to play a chord on by now.

The man’s gaze bore into Ari with the intensity of a volcano on the cusp of eruption, veins bulging out of his red face. Abruptly, he slammed the table with an open hand and marched right up to her.

“Excellent work, newcomer,” he said with a firm nod. “Zhi-Toren’s assessment was on-point after all. Ari, you’re the one who’ve discovered this palace. As such, you’ve the right to decide: shall we release knowledge of this now? Or shall we investigate further before acting?”

The sense of relief was overwhelming, she felt like she was about to collapse on her legs from the sheer drop of the tension she felt before. Ari considered her options carefully as he posed them to her. It didn’t seem right just… releasing the public on such a place when she had no idea what sort of place it was supposed to be. True, the guards at the palace did say it was a tomb, but then what was those huge monsters in the wall? Just plain monster energy? It shone so brightly that unscrupulous players like the first one she talked to would probably somehow release it and destroy the world or something as cataclysmic.

“A-ah… There should probably be a more thorough investigation. I have not been there for very long after all. Not long enough to piece together what happened or any other purpose the place could have.”

“Hoo,” he exhaled, stroking his chin. “And are you volunteering for that?”

“Pu...p… Please let me get stronger first.” Ari choked out at that. “They were far beyond my skill, and going back there as I am would result in another death.”

The man raised his brows, a curious glint in his eyes. “Then it’s good that there’s plenty of other work to worry about.” He stepped away from Ari, returning to the table. “You’ve heard of the war declaration?”

“Nope!” She replied with no hesitation. Those were things far beyond what she’s going to worry about after all. Ari had no horses in that race. Perhaps if she was already putting her money on one, she’d worry more. “What’s going on with the war?”

He motioned for her to come towards the table. “Here and here,” he pointed out, “are the clans that are preparing for war. The Tato-Ie wish for the land and resources of the Mora-Sho, who in turn wish to remain independent rather than as a vassal state. In one week of in-game time, the Tato-Ie will advance with their main army, while hiring Immortals and Rien adventurers to guard their city-state from possible invasions from the Ryoku-Jo. Heard of the Flamebringer Princess? She’s part of that clan.”

Sweeping his hand over the geography of the continent of Horogi, from the city-states to the vassal-villages to the network of railways and rivers that connected them, he faced Ari once again.

“Knowing this, what comes to mind?”

Ari looked over the map, her thoughts scrambling over one another. The closest thing she got to this sort of situation would be through her history classes, and all those books she read. An army marches on its stomach, but she wasn’t sure how much of that would be true in a game world. Surely they’d still need supplies still?

Her ears perked when she heard the Princess’ name however. The cool poster of a triumphant champion was hard to forget.

“Ah.. the Princess huh... I wonder what she’s like…” She pondered for a moment before returning to the question. “I’m not really an expert or anything, but all I get is that the railways will be a hotbed for conflict. Without knowing each clan personally, I have no way to really know what they are going to do or how they are going to react, but I imagine something like this is going to set off more than just a Tato-le Mora-Sho war.”

“It's just guesswork based on that, but I imagine these sets of villages and cities here-,” She pointed to a few spots the railways run through. “Will be very contested.I imagine Mora-sho would likely try to sabotage the rails if they get pushed back too far.”

“Good, good!” the man boomed, crossing his arms and sounding very much like an enthusiastic professor trying to draw out more thought from a new student. “Now, if the destruction of the rails connecting to these outlying villages go through, what comes to mind, Ari?”

He pulled out a couple of cow-shaped paperweights from his sleeves, depositing them on top of the rails. A few villages now looked especially isolated, especially the ones west of the Mora-Sho city-state, close to the nebulous territory of the nomadic bandits of the Gakui-Re.

“A new player moves in to grab land and spark more conflict?”

"And when wannabe warlords pop up, who's there first?!"

“W-..us?” Her tail tensed up immediately at his tone.

“Exactly!” He snapped his fingers. “And you’ll be the one to cover it!”

It… wasn’t exactly ideal but at least Ari could explore there. Perhaps one of her friends wants to come along too. Could be fun, or it could be a disaster again. Her tail swished around weakly as she raised a hand.

“Y… yaaay…”

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)
HP:1010/1010 MP:1440/1440 SP:236/236





Amulak spat out the last portions of glass in his mouth as he was freed, nodding in appreciation at Mags.

"Many thanks," He grunted as he felt the level-up coursing through him, quickly allocating his stat points as he stood.

"Last time I was pinned down with shit in mouth was in hotel room during IEM Katowice seven...eight years ago?" Amulak chuckled at the memory. "Good times."

As much as he didn't want to leave, considering a single encounter pushed him up a level...his party members had a point. He wouldn't be getting XP if he was getting killed by strong mobs in here because the others were too underleveled.

"Very well, I agree to getting fuck out. Cannot get level 50 if I lose twenty four hours from party wipe. Where we go?"

---

With his health bar filled up to full, Klein released. a breath he didn't know he was holding before. After that, it was time to regroup with everyone. After pulling Amulak from the rubble, Klein couldn't help but go back to Raymond's armless sleeve. It's kinda fun to for his fingers to phase through where Raymond's arm suppose to be before getting caught by Magpie's ribbing.

"Lmao. It was kinda strange that I didn't pull any third parties with the amount of trees I crashed through." He laughed at the smaller woman before also agreeing to the consensus the group had just reached.

"Yeah. Sure. I got 50 END now so things should be better." Klein said before flexing the majestic back muscles.

Thoroughly trounced and missing one arm amongst them, the party headed for the Pearl Bloom River instead to do their grinding. Though the loot there would be less and the EXP gain slower as well, it was out of necessity that such decisions were made. After all, they had no healer, were low on healing potions and now they had no ranged physical DPS either. The drain of resources in the Thunderstruck Grove, as well as the overall increased aggressiveness of the monsters there, would have bled them dry too quickly to make for efficient grinding.

The River, thus, was the perfect place for the fledging party to make themselves feel like they were strong again. Alongside so many other players in the area, they worked to end life after monster life at the scenic river and the hills surrounding it, cleaving through scores of lesser monstrosities. It would be dangerous, really, if they encountered another ‘anomaly’ like that frogman martial artist though, so they stuck to only the hunting areas close to town. Amulak’s Nuclei aided greatly in the efficiency of their fights, enabling the SP-focused players to unleash more skills throughout, so long as the mage was willing to foot the bill. Klein’s steadily rising stats enabled him to become a more effective tank overtime as well, the Mountain Man finally possessing physical ability that allowed him to contend with the others. It was a very front-loaded party, really, with even Raime forced into melee due to his inability to use his arm, but they encountered few ranged enemies that Magpie couldn’t rush down immediately, and those that couldn’t were handled readily by Ames, who, with his Stylish functions active, could automatically cut down the projectiles that flew in the direction of their sole backline.

Overall, it was a comfortable, even calming feeling; it might have to do with the fact that half the party was already above the level bracket recommended for the area though, and in the end, with little fanfare, Amulak and Ames both reached it to LVL 50, and the party found themselves at the Keystone plaza once more. A beam of light shot up from both the players when they attained their second job, a surge of new energy surging into their veins, but beyond that, no other sensations moved within them.

Perhaps, with time, such advancements would become more celebrated.

As for now, however, the party was once again at a crossroads. Somewhat richer, somewhat more well-equipped, but mostly just higher-levelled, what path would they pursue?
_{@Shovel@Searat@Psyker Landshark@OwO@Yankee}

---

After Ari had ended up selling her soul to the nameless man up in the room with maps, Zhi-Toren came into the room, still looking somewhat out of it after the noontime rush of news, news, and more news. The woman bore a complicated expression as the man explained all that Ari had signed up for, but ultimately, there must have been some sense of hierarchy present, because she sighed, brought the catgirl out of the room, made a couple calls, and then briefed her on what was to happen.

Ari’s main weakness right now was her lack of knowledge of the world beyond Nyu-Taro, her incredibly low levels, and her lack of equipment (Zhi-Toren had a laugh when she learned about the custom-order). To amend all these problems at once, the CCC would be sending her on a caravan escort quest that already has a party in place, for Ari to leech EXP while travelling out into the broader expanses of Horogi. The specifics of the quest were simple enough, thankfully:

A merchant dealing in carpets and cloths plans on taking the Zen’Toji route to the northwestern side of the Mora-Sho’s territory. Though a longer route than what the main road provides, it’s a relatively smooth and flat traverse. The monsters that they were expected to encounter should be manageable either in terms of combat or in terms of escape. The journey would take two days total before the merchant reaches the Mora-Sho’s railroad system, from where the quest would be fulfilled, and the cost of board for the inns that the group would be staying in during this escort will be footed by the merchant as well. As customary for most low-risk escorts, the merchant would be paying 75,000 rishi per adventurer at the end of the trip, and they’ll be expected to figure out their own methods of returning to Nyu-Taro, if they wish to do so.

Ari, of course, would definitely wish to do so if she wanted to pick up her new weapon.

…

At the western gate, the wagon that Ari was assigned to escort had just finished loading. It was a simple design, a round frame covered in canvas and filled to the brim with rolls of cloth. There was no space at all to sit inside, but the dress of the merchant, embroidered silks and jewelry that didn’t befit a man so pudgy as himself, made it clear that his disinterest in upgrading his wagon was probably rooted somewhat in his interest in ‘investing’ in himself. Ari’s Immortal colleagues were also loitering around the area, some more impatient than others. There were four in total, and compared to her own meager equipment, they certainly looked more adventure-y than herself. At the catgirl’s approach, the merchant pulled out a little bell from the folds of his robes, and ringed it back and forth to grab everyone’s attentions.

“Many gratitudes once more, my fine and mighty warriors, for accepting this humble request of mine. Though it may be a mere two days on the road, I do pray that we all get along and enjoy ourselves as much as the circumstances allow for.” The merchant placed his hands together. “To start with, shall we share introductions? My name is Man Joji Zleto, a merchant of the cloth. Though I’m fine with allowing all of you free agency when it comes to dealing with whatever monsters or ruffians we encounter, I kindly ask of you all to keep your hands off my merchandise as well. Let those who know their roles play their roles, yes?”

“Bortz Godfaller,” a heavily-armored man grinned, hefting a hammer whose head was made of a demonic insect fossilized in amber. “I’m 100% the toughest, baddest motherfucker here, so y’all just let me do the tanking, yeah?”

The tattooed shaman with a bearskin cloak over her head rolled her eyes. “Just call me Droko. Ignore the bighead; dude’s still getting off his high of finally reaching his next job’s requirements.”

“And I’m Vatorious Elemessio!” chirped the swordsman with the flaming shoes. “Real pleasure to meet y’all ladies. Gets tiring to hang with muscle-chicks all the time, so it’s nice to see a couple with an eye of aesthetics like you two.”

And as Ari’s eyes settled upon the last person, the catgirl noticed something. That design, that hairstyle…that was all familiar, wasn’t it?

The last person for this quest was Calace! What a coincidence!
_{@GreenGoat@Haha}

---

Fighting against the kappa was a breath of fresh air from the two IRL days they've been fighting the grove's monstrosities. It was admittedly very strange for the now one-armed scout to be so melee oriented, but using the short bow was simply too ineffective without one of his arms. But he had to admit that stabbing and cutting up kappa with his bone dagger was quite amusing for a fair amount of time. But like all good times, it had to end. The kappa simply couldn't satisfy the required experience points after a while and the others were likely getting as bored as Raime was; there was only a number of times you can cut and stab a kappa until it became more of a routine than actual combat.

Converging back to the keystone plaza, two beams of light shot up from their caster and knight when they reached the level cap. "Hey, Congratulations to the two of you!" Raime said to his two party mates with a surprised but happy look on his face. "That calls for a celebration...but I'm pretty sure a beggar is more wealthy than me right now, so we'll save it for later. In the mean time, I suggest we do what we need to in town before we get back in the field. I for one want to go join up with the Ryoku-Jo Clan before we leave. Might even find me a way to get a replacement arm in the process." The scout punctuated with the wiggling of his right arm turned flesh nub.

---

---

[Ranger]Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

Well, they certainly seemed much better equipped than she was. At least they could deal with things larger than she can. When the merchant rang the bell and addressed everyone, the party quickly introduced themselves one by one. Her suspicions and fear were confirmed; she seemed to be the only person with the least amount of knowledge and experience. At least if she survives this, she'll be strong enough for covering any potential war. Hopefully.

Wait, was she a reporter now? Perhaps she could say she's covered wars when interviewed in real life.

"Hi hi! I am Ari Reina Caladis, but you can just call me Ari! I'm still kinda new but I'm supposed to be a ranger I think?" Ari waved to the rest of her teammates. "Hi Calace! Didn't see you around for quite a bit. Guess things finally cleared up huh. How's things?"

aмeℓιa

_{HP: 810/810 - MP: 660/660 - SP: 690/690}
^{_________________} _[] ^{_________________}
Ames stretched her arms over her head after she finished re-donning all of her equipment. Finally, officially, she'd obtained her second class. She took a few minutes to read over the new abilities it came with, finding them pretty interesting. Flying weapons? That's cool! I wonder if it's like automatic or I'll have to pilot it or whatever... I'll try it outside of town.

Happy with Animist, she turned her attention to her coin purse. They were back in Nyu-Taro so they might as well buy more stuff. Well, at least Ames planned to, she couldn't speak for the rest of the group. Shoring up the holes in her equipment slots was probably a good idea.

"Thank you!" Ames spun in place and struck a pose with Raime's congratulations. "So you're thinking we can split up and meet back here again, right? That's fine with me. But..."

She frowned, thinking. "Weren't we going to leave the clans alone for now? Or do you guys think we're strong enough to not get picked off...? And..." She looked between Raime and Amulak, who she knew were planning two completely different clans. She had no clue what Magpie or Klein were thinking with that either - and who even knew what was going on with their other "members." "Won't it be kind of a problem if we pick different clans?"

As cool as getting Raime some kind of cyber arm would be (and Ames would totally pitch in to help obtain it) she wasn't sure if this would drive some kind of wedge into the group, either physically or socially. Wouldn't they be expected not to associate with each other if there was some kind of clan war going on?

"Maybe it'll be fine. I just don't really wanna lose anymore people from our group, you guys have been fun to play with so far..." she chuckled, a little sheepish, but it was true. Their start was kind of rough but now they all felt pretty familiar, at least in Ames' opinion.

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)
HP:1030/1030 MP:1490/1490 SP:336/336





Amulak simply gave a wide grin as he finally unlocked the class he'd been aiming for since the start. Damn, but it felt good to meet this goal. About time, too. His joy was slightly neutered by the fact that he'd realized he was at Necromancer level 0, and he could only start making undead upon another level up, but oh well. It was only one level. He'd live until then.

Though as he turned back to the others in triumph, Raime's words followed by Ames's had Amulak furrowing his brow in thought. Considering he'd had every intention of joining the Mora-Sho eventually...this might lead to problems, yeah. Maybe. The Ryoku-Jo and the Mora-Sho weren't exactly at odds at the moment, anyways.

"Ehh...will probably be fine." Amulak gave a cavalier shrug. "As long as no one joins Tato-Ie, should be fine. From my understanding of local politics, Tato-Ie are worried about Ryoku-Jo stabbing them in back while they attack Mora-Sho anyways. If there is problem one day, we deal with it that day, yes?"

Was putting the potential problem off for another day a bitch move? A bit, sure. But Ames's sentiment echoed his own. He didn't really want to lose the buddies he was having fun with just yet.

"I agree with Ames. We bleed enough people from initial group already." Amulak coughed Lew's name loudly and unsubtlely after that before recovering. "No point splitting us up even further until it actually becomes real issue."

The grinding trip was boring. It could have been worse. They could have been trapped in it for weeks like some bad anime arc. It went by quick, however, and before they knew it, Mags found herself back in the plaza with the rest of the goons. There, they'd been conversating about their next plan. More specifically, how they'd do the upcoming event.

"I'll probably just glue myself onto Ames like before," Mags said with a shrug. "to be honest, I ain't followed the political subplot. Reading lore make my brain hort and I want to throw brick. Also make brick. Me want get blacksmith."

The prospect of tossing whatever junk she made at things sounded hilarious to her. With a quick flick of the keystone, she figured that she just needed to buy a personal forge and get training. How expensive and long could that be? It was just a hot tube of metal and some hammer banging. Though, doing so when the party was just about to gallivant was probably not so smart.

"Gonna see if I can buy a personal forge with my," she checked an invisible wallet, "6000 neetbux."

---

With his health finally reach 1000 points and his endurance 100, Klein couldn't help but just feel fuzzy about himself. There is just something so pleasing, knowing that his health is double of the dps health bars. He just enjoys being an unkillable tank. Aside from that, he also have a new item, a pair of leg wraps that have leaves texture. So by today standard, it has been a good grind.

"But the PvP though." Klein said, a hint of sadness in his voice can be detected. Like don't they want to have a friendly 1v1? How about a clan vs clan event? Rank or leaderboard grind? None of that? If anything, the fact that Amulak doesn't seem to be so interest in grinding leaderboard is fairly surprised to Klein. The man struck him as an overachiever sort of guy from the months they have been playing. But to each of their own then, Klein shrugged before asking the party for their tomorrow plan.

"We have like 2 days before the events started so ... wanna grind tomorrow? Same time?"

Though they certainly spent a fair amount of time deliberating, in the end, the party of five remained at the Keystone Plaza, uncertain still as to whether they were better off splitting up or sticking together, whether in the present or in the future. Horogi in general was the one nation that encouraged an all-in perspective, after all. Perhaps a different nation would have been more conductive to the differing playstyles and habits between the five of them. Perhaps it was simply the nature of being part of an online friend group, where there’s no real reason for them to stick together if they didn’t want to do the same thing. Raime wanted to fix his arm and would sell himself to the Ryoku-Jo for it. Magpie didn’t give a shit and just wanted to get herself a forge. Klein wanted to beat the shit out of his friends by outtanking them. Only Amulak and Ames wanted to stick together for the time being, and even then, neither of them offered any solution or response to the individual desires of their party mates. It was a stalemate then, really.

A stalemate broken not by any of the party members, but by the voice of a young woman, calling out their names in the Plaza. Not their names in-game, but rather, their usernames from the Discord channel they all organized their meet-ups in. Dressed in a fantasy-approximate of a Japanese shrine maiden’s outfit, with silvery ribbons woven into the white robes and her curly platinum hair done up in a ponytail, the dark-skinned woman looked a mixture of embarrassed but also desperate as she called out names such as “bear-amelia-flower” and “rayman”, and before any of the party could look away in shame and pretend they didn’t know who those names could belong to, she caught a glimpse of the mountain of a man that was Klein and marched right on over.

“Oh, thank the Goddess,” she breathed as she neared, leaning forward to catch her breath. “You are all allies of the honorable Lugh Dysphoria, yes? I’m Karan, an adherent of the Shin-Yu faith, and, oh, it’s just too terrible! Your friend is in grave danger, or dead, or both!”
_{@Shovel@Searat@Psyker Landshark@OwO@Yankee}

---

Calace looked at Ari, the light of recognition in her eyes…and then she disappeared. Logged off. Just like that. Her form turned to a prismatic weave of pixels and snaked skywards into the aether above.

Bortz blinked slowly, then drawled, “Well shit, there goes the healer.”

Healer or not, however, Man Joji Zleto was a merchant with a schedule, and after some urging, the party simply had to keep going. The wagon proved to be an uncomfortable place to sit on if you sat anywhere except for the front, and it was determined that Droko, being their only ‘real’ magical support, would be the one to sit there. She passed her time beside the merchant, her eyes either scanning the horizon or scanning a chat window only visible to herself. Vatorious, miserable that the cuter of the newcomers had just up and left, was sent into the front of the group as their forward scout. His scorched footprints made it easy, during this time of day, to follow, and the mule that pulled the wagon along trudged at a comfortable, if off-putting, pace. Animals such as that didn’t actually go at such a breakneck pace in real life, after all, but Ari supposed that it was just normal. Other caravans passed them swiftly, pulled by much sleeker steeds: wingless drakes, glossy-coated horses, and even some disproportionately large chickens. Clearly, Man Joji had once again chose to invest in himself rather than his craft.

Thankfully, the relatively slower speed of the mule combined with Ari’s still-insane commitment to boosting the ever-loving shit out of her AGI meant that she could keep up with both the caravan and the marching speed that Bortz imposed. The heavily-armored warrior was definitely in a chipper mood, whistling a cheery tune as he stomped through the well-travelled roads leading out of Nyu-Taro. The sun was bright, the wind was brisk, and though the road wasn’t congested, it was common enough to encounter friendly (or at least neutral) faces. Immortals killing time while getting paid, Rien glad to start or end their journeys, the mood was certainly calming, a different adventure compared to the constantly-lethal risks that Ari had taken in the last few days. And even monsters were smart enough not to attack caravans when so many Immortals were nearby together. Safety with numbers and all.

After some time of just walking, however, Bortz broke the silence.

“So, Ari, ranger was what you were, yeah? Where’s the bow?”
_@GreenGoat

---

"Let me reiterate. I'll be joining the Ryouku-Jo to help with the stump and maybe help get that sweet steampunk samurai class I heard of yesterday. BUT I won't be leaving the party anytime soon. You can't get rid of me that easily. If it helps put your minds at ease, I can hold off joining until we finish what we want to do. Sound good?" The scout says with a gentle smile adorning his face. He could understand the mild animosity against Lew after he decided to part ways with them after something bad occurred between him and Ari. But he was a free spirit and if they kept up with Mags' chaotic nature for this long, who is to say they couldn't tolerate Lew's drama? But regardless of how Raymond felt, it would be unlikely that the dark haired man would be joining them anytime in the foreseeable future.

A feminine voice broke the silence. Raising alarm as the NPC shrine maiden used their Discord usernames instead of their character names in game. He felt no shame though. Rayman was a defining part of his childhood and is in no way embarrassed to be a fan of the franchise. But this Karan woman introduced herself and relayed the bad news of Lew getting into some shit that would have caused their former frontline tank to die or something raised concern within the scout. "Would you kindly clarify to what kind of trouble Lew is in?"

---

---

[Ranger]Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

For just an instant they met eyes, before Calace simply disappeared and logged off. Almost immediately Ari lost all her energy, her tail and ears visibly drooping.

Did Lugh tell everyone about that incident? Maybe everyone really hated her now. Enough to just log off and avoid her all together.

"Ah... I see..."

It was all she could say in the wake of Calace's sudden absence. The rest of the journey went in silence, even as she kept her eyes out.

Peaceful, an almost leisurely stroll through the country side. Perhaps too peaceful, as it left her to her thoughts, roiling within with doubt, fear and shame. Perhaps she really should just quit. Maybe they weren't really angry at her, or that she was just overthinking it. They've been friends for quite a while after all. But what if that was just them tolerating her, and they never really were close to her in the first place?

“So, Ari, ranger was what you were, yeah? Where’s the bow?”

Bortz's cut through her turbulent thoughts like a ship's prow breaking the waves.

"Ah, that... . I kinda... kinda broke some of my equipment in a fight. They were too strong for me and I had to escape." Ari flashed a smile at him. "Don't worry. I'm not going to run at the first sign of trouble."

"It's...it..."

The woman furrowed her brow, trying to stitch together all her disparate thoughts together, before saying, "Lugh is one of the adherents of our faith as well, you see, of the Lady of Alabaster Scales. During the last day or two, we've received reports of dark tidings. Children and youths gone missing in neighboring villages, y'know. Our Head Priestess was just about to write up a quest for it, really, but then Lugh heard of it."

Karan shivered, even at the thought of the terrors that must have lurked behind the abductions.

"She had surmised that a den of lamias were behind this most recent problem, and when Lugh happened upon our conversation, he was possessed by a most righteous of light! He headed right off into the Thunderstruck Grove, sparing time only to give us your names, in case he didn't make it...and now it's been hours since..."

She shook her head, her gaze turning northwards, no doubt towards where the valiant, justice-hearted Lugh was even now entangled in the foul-machinations of the child-napping snake-folk.
_{@Shovel@Searat@Psyker Landshark@OwO@Yankee}

---

"Dang, that's hella rough," Bortz said, shaking his head. "How did that even happen? Like, I dunno how tough monsters are myself, cause my Nuclei's literally unbreakable due to, y'know being a Nuclei, but I didn't think that goblins could mess shit up that bad."
_@GreenGoat

---

"Well, if you excused us, priestess." Klein tried to appear as harmless as a 2.6 meters guy can be before using his back to separate the group from the stranger.

"Well, what do you guys think? I think ..." Klein paused, trying to remember if this game allows for 18+ content like sex and stuffs. Given how details his intestines and its content started to oozing out from his gaping hole in the last fight, maybe sex isn't too much further from details. Maybe all he needed is to submit his ID to confirm his legal age.

"Yeah... I think he is fine." Klein shrugged nonchalantly after reaching the conclusion in his mind. "I mean, we don't even have the reward for completing the quest yet."

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)
HP:1030/1030 MP:1490/1490 SP:336/336





Amulak couldn't say it wasn't a bit annoying being called out by his Discord username in the middle of the game, but it was still enough of a surprise that he was intrigued regardless. That intrigue lasted about as long as it took for the priestess to explain exactly what was going on.

God damn it, Lew. At least he still remembered that he had a group to play with, even if he'd ditched them for whatever the hell it was. On the bright side, this probably meant that he was over whatever bit of drama that was causing him to throw a bitch-fit earlier. Hopefully. A man could dream.

The newly-fledged necromancer looked to the remainder of the group, waiting for a moment to gauge their opinion first. When no one besides Klein spoke, Amulak decided to throw his two grosz in.

"It is something to do, yes? Saving Lew's ass sounds fun. Plus, I am curious to see if more levels mean we can kick shit out of Thunderstruck Grove by now. I vote yes on bailing Lew out of situation."