Hidden 5 mos ago 5 mos ago Post by FujiwaraPhoenix
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FujiwaraPhoenix Archer Inferno

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??? — Ruined Inn

A quick once-over through the inn in search of mobile storage would reveal little more than a few burlap sacks in the kitchen, clearly meant for carrying loads of produce more than they were for traveling at length. It was possible to improvise some makeshift equipment out of what little was left here otherwise—maybe even looting the bedside stands for sundries that fleeing travelers might have left behind.

Examination of the innkeeper's old room—which itself would take a fair bit of force to open, if not knocking it off its hinges entirely—would reveal much of the same decor as that which the group had awoken to. The only difference here, however, was a coil of rope and a now-empty lantern off to the side, untouched by the elements (though dusty all the same).

After retrieving whatever they could, any brave soul who chose to wander outside would find themselves along a rather long, open road. The bell, still tolling in the distance, could be seen swaying back and forth atop a belfry in the distance. The road, it seemed, led towards a town square.

One filled with plentiful undead drawn to the sound, visible even from here.

Around them, though, were signs that the once-lively town had certainly seen better days. Gashes and cracks marked the paved streets, the stone itself broken by the grasses and lichens that had begun to reclaim them. It was clear, though, that the inn was far better off than more than a few stores that surrounded it. A few seemed to be little more than charred wood atop crumbling foundation, while others, though intact, had their windows or doors smashed through by something or another.

At the very least, the variety in buildings meant that there were other places to explore if need be. A faded sign hanging off a rusted chain of one, for example, seemed to have the faintest outline of a hammer. At another, the remnants of a multitude of broken tables and overturned chairs lay strewn about within the interior—a sure sign that people had once gathered there for some reason or another.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

Neir — Guardhouse

"A... Doggy bag?"

Though Meira was clearly confused by the term presented to her by "C", the context around the phrase was enough to clue her in as to what the young man wished to do.

"...Oh, you wanted to bring him leftovers," she finally said before glancing back towards where the elf had thrown up mere moments earlier. "...I don't think he'd be able to keep it down, to be honest. It'd be better to just let him drink water for now and let the healers—and maybe a chirurgeon—do what they need to. I'll treat him some other time."

Once Cassius' condition was made known to the guards (and that they would be aware that she would be heading out for a meal), though, the catgirl promptly led the young man to the gates of Neir proper. There, though, the adventurer would be promptly stopped by a guard who seemed to be ever so slightly on edge.

Given what had just been reported, maybe that was to be expected.

"Don't worry about that one," she quipped before revealing her own adventurer plate, "he's with me. I've already checked in at the guardhouse outside, if you really want to be paranoid."

The guard gave the item a brief glance, then tossed a slightly less trustful gaze towards the human behind her before nodding and letting the pair through.

Past the latticed gate overhead and the stone arches supporting it, what could only have been described as the quintessential Western fantasy town lay splayed out in front of Connor's eyes. Though nowhere near as fancifully lively as media might have made things out to be, the place seemed to be quite clean—a far cry from the slums sitting just outside it's walls.

"Anyways, you wanted to know about more adventurer stuff, right? I'll fill you in as we go," the catgirl remarked. "Materials are the general rule of thumb, though, yes; not sure why you'd assume letters at a glance, since not everyone speaks the same language. Wood, tin, copper, iron, bronze, silver, gold, platinum... Up until that point is where you'd expect the top 'normal' adventurers to find their limits. But beyond that—moonsilver, orichalcum, mithril, and the like—is the sort of thing meant for legends. Not like I've ever seen anyone past moonsilver here, though, but honestly half the tales around those ranks feel so exaggerated they may as well have been spun up by a drunk bard on his tenth ale of the night."

By the time she had finished her explanation, though, the catgirl had come to a stop in front of what was undeniably a tavern of sorts, complete with a sign of a wooden mug hanging overhead.

"Welcome to 'The Drunken Bear'. Place is a bit rough later at night, but that's because it's pretty popular with the locals," Meira said as she opened the door and motioned for "C" to follow.

It didn't take long for one of the barmaids to notice the pair and bound over towards them, nor did it take much longer for them to be seated at a small table off to the side.

"Shall I get you some water to start? Or would you like to try our signature beer, instead?"

"I'll be fine with some water," the catgirl replied simply before glancing towards her companion. Hopefully, he would have at least some restraint despite his first impressions...

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Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Crusader Lord
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Crusader Lord A professional, anxiety-riddled, part-time worker

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Nyana/Hikari


??? — ??? Forest


Whatever their choice would have been seemed to matter little as it let out a cry and flapped it's massive wings towards them. With that came a strong gale that, even from this distance, could be felt.


"Time's up..."

Why hadn't she just tried to drag one or two of these guys back so they could already have been running away? Or something....even if it meant just slowly backing away herself to avoid the mess and start the fleeing process at least for herself? Ugh. No. No, they'd have to do something now and there was no way around it at this venture. Not even if running was cetainly something her instinctual brain felt like was an option still too. Or, well, was it more a 'core' now? Core. Brain? Brain-core-thing. Hmm.

Doubly so, now that the bird had lifted off from where it had been standing and began to fly at the four.

There was some time before it drew close enough to do whatever it planned to do, but any opportunities to plan seemed to be very quickly running thin.


Jase began shouting order to the party mage, the Confused Man with the halberd seemd to try to ready himself, and naturally the giant metal bird was going to try something on them ranging from a swoop to a dive-by to whatever it was going to do at them. Gust of wind wasn't insignificant either as it had sent it at them, which mean it was strong. Heavy. Metal. Yup. They were potentially going to die all over again and so soon if they didn't get their act together, and all over again they'd just wasted away their time trying to think of what to do. Relateable, but certainly not a good thing in the heat of a major situation like this one. Not at all. The only good thing was that the forest was at their backs, so-....hmm.

Actually, 'that' could work. Maybe. Or it'd be suicide.

Either way, the knightess would without a second thought rushed to put herself at the forefront of the diving bird as best she could, took a knee, stabbed her blade into the ground next to her, and tried to apply her height and armor as she held up her shield using both of her arms. She'd try to aim the metal shield to defend, but attempting to likewise reflect light into the bird's eyes if she could. Draw attention, or whatever trying to reflect light into its eyes could do, maybe it'd aim for her first. If that was going to be any bit viable, she'd at least try to make it viable as best as she could.

"Halberd guy, get behind me, plant the butt of your weapon into the ground to brace it, and point the end your weapon at the thing's body as it comes in!

Jase, Vrelenor, keep the forest at your backs and get the hell behind me so I'm actually in front to take the hit as it charges in!"


Halberd held by the Confused Man, she really needed to ask his name at some point, was longer than her sword and had the most reach so far. Naturally it made sense that it would better reach against the charging giant enemy bird, and the but being stuck in the ground would brace it. She and her shield would aim to take the brunt of either a direct impact or side-swipe, though she was unsure if she had the raw mass for it as she tried her best to brace up properly. Best case, maybe at least halberd guy and her shield tactic would lead to stabbing the thing somewhat. Worst case, perhaps her actions would draw her attention and keep it off of the other guys around her.

Whatever the case, having to face a giant ugly enemy bird felt like something she only could've experienced in Sydney, Australia back home. However, here it was very real and they had no time to argue further. Action was needed, and she'd try to do just that moving forward at this particular venture. Hopefully. Maybe. Well, they'd see in the coming moments and the heat of all of this depending on how well their 'fight' instead of 'flight' instincts were right now....

@PKMNB0Y@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by FujiwaraPhoenix
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FujiwaraPhoenix Archer Inferno

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??? — ??? Forest

Despite being a massive creature that looked like it had no right to be in the air to begin with, the armor-clad bird was moving uncannily quickly through the skies as it pressed down upon the group of wayward travelers. The distance between them had rapidly closed as the four readied themselves for combat, but the avian seemed wholly unfazed by what they were doing.

Just as Jace had predicted, though, the bird's head deftly moved out of the way of the incoming spears of ice. With no other long-range tools to utilize otherwise, though, the beast quickly drew within melee range of the group.

Nyana's quick thinking was, arguably, the only thing between them and a faceful of bird talons; acting as the vanguard in the direct trajectory of the bird's dive meant that she would be the one bearing the brunt of the impact, but that just as well meant that she had become primary target number one.

After all, her shield had been large enough to mitigate the impact of the attack, but with how massive the bird was, the fact that it would choose to pick her up as it loosed another howling gale—this one far more potent given how close it was now—was not something to be expected.

Swiftly, the creature began to rise back into the air, apparently less burdened by carrying the slimegirl-knight than would have been ideal—as it prepared to leave.

There was a brief chance to try and latch on (or leap onto the bird outright), but time to consider if such a course of action was worth it was a luxury they could ill afford at the moment.

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Vrelenor


Metal Bird Forest


Ah, it seems just putting 1 point in dex isn't enough to hit a flying target, unfortunate that, once they handle this, and Vrelenor isn't actually acknowledging the idea that they could fail, he really needs to figure out what those numbers are worth.

Now though he acts. Before the beast can get out of reach he thrusts his staff forward, a jet of cold air rushing from the tip as he unleashes the magic he'd been building up, he aims for the base of the creature's right wing and a layer of rigid ice forms around it. He also notices himself starting to feel a little weak, there's no obvious mana bar, but he's clearly starting to run low.

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Hidden 5 mos ago 5 mos ago Post by Expendable
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Jase the Assassin (Mosslit Crew)

??? — ??? Forest




The knight put herself in front of them and took the brunt of the strange bird's attack - but now it was trying to fly off with the knight and her sheild. Probably hoping to drop her from a great height like she was a turtle so it could smash through the knight's metal shell.

The ice mage iced one of its wings, but they needed to drag it down.

"I'm too old for this sh..." Jase yells, the young half-elf jumping onto the knight's back, knife still in hand. This giant bird probably snatched whole sheep and cows to bring to its nest, his weight along with the knight wasn't probably going to do much - but it was clearly a predator, a meat eater. The weird feathers on his belly would be shorter than its flight feathers, so he needed to jam his blade between the rows and slash, while making sure he stayed well away from its beak.

Crawling to the knight's side to where the sheild wasn't between him and the bird, he started jabbing at the bird's side, under its feathers, again and again, praying to strike an artery.

"I wish I had a shotgun...!" Jase calls out. "Or is that against I-see-kee rules?!"

Why people fall for this romantisized fantasy, he had no idea. The middle ages were brutal, short, and stank.

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Neir - The Drunken Bear


《 Level 1 Curious Cat 》
@ERode@TheMushroomLord@PKMNB0Y



"A... Doggy bag? ...Oh, you wanted to bring him leftovers." she finally said before glancing back towards where the elf had thrown up mere moments earlier. "...I don't think he'd be able to keep it down, to be honest. It'd be better to just let him drink water for now and let the healers—and maybe a chirurgeon—do what they need to. I'll treat him some other time."


"Oh, no, not him." Is calling it a doggy bag offensive to cat people? "I meant for "S," the other person in our shack..." Connor clarified. "They, uh, kinda have a hard time getting anything for themselves right now, if we can I'd like to get back as soon as possible..."

Miera led him out of the slums and through the gatehouse into the actual town, thankfully taking any suspicion off the otherworlder. As they walked and talked she explained more about this world's take on the usual Adventurers' Guild tropes.

Eight ranks that are "normal," and three that are "legendary," although she might've left off a few. Connor noted. Her plate's...I'd call that either copper or bronze. So Miera was either a third-level or fifth, and she was capable of swinging a sword nearly as big as she was fast enough to overwhelm a "rogue type" opponent. Connor didn't know much about martial arts or if magic in this world could enhance physical abilities, but he assumed that would put the catgirl in "peak human athlete" territory. If he were to highball that assessment, then... Peak human would be like Captain America, so if that's bronze level...maybe Iron is just someone who's a "properly trained professional," Copper could be someone with an intermediate level of training, Tin would be a rookie... So even someone like him could probably pass whatever test was needed to become a Wood-ranked adventurer, and maybe he wouldn't even be expected to fight monsters yet. Cruising by on the typical herb-gathering quests was perfectly fine by him.

When they entered the tavern, he felt his heart rate speeding up. The number of people talking, the clinking of dishes, the crackling of a fire pit... Focus, focus, don't get overstimulated, don't freak out, you can do this, you're a soon-to-be-OP isekai protagonist now...

"What?" he half shouted when the waitress asked them what they wanted to drink. He gulped nervously as she repeated herself, but he still wasn't sure exactly what she'd said. He only caught "water" and "beer," and then Meira asked for water so he was able to piece it together. It wasn't that he couldn't hear her, but rather that he couldn't seem to shut out everyone else. God, he hated crowds!

"Beer!" he said, nodding rapidly until the waitress left. He sighed and tried to focus on staring at Miera's forehead. "Does this place have a menu? Better yet, what do you recommend if I haven't eaten anything in like..." How long has it actually been since I got on the plane this morning? "...a day?"

Once orders were in and all they had to do was wait, Connor cupped one hand near his ear so he could better hear what Miera had to say to his next questions.

"S-so, uh, let's say I'm not familiar with flora and fauna in, um, this region...What kind of monsters does a fella have to look out for around here?" He would carefully sip his beer--he'd drank some in college, though usually only to unwind while gaming or take the edge off after tests--while also occasionally looking around the tavern to gauge what kind of people were around them. "And, um...aside from, folk like yourself and Cassius, what uh...w-what other non-human races are common in the city?" I hope "non-human" is a politically correct way to phrase that...
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@Zeroth@TheMushroomLord@PKMNB0Y

Cassius fixed C with a flat look at that parting question.

"No."

And like that, the two were gone, leaving him to the relative quiet of the clinic.

His head ached, he felt sick to the stomach, and he was getting the sense that he had ended up in a situation that'd make it difficult to have a semblance of a normal life, but at the same time, Cassius had accepted that normality wouldn't be something that he could expect at all right now. He could see screens and numbers, and he could send messages to others with what was functionally a thought. He was likely able to understand foreign languages with no issue, and he was clearly not human anymore.

And he had killed someone.

He had killed someone. Someone who was basically a kid. Someone who tried to kill him. Someone who had a family and friends and a life and a job. Someone who was a maniac working for some sort of gang or terrorist organization or something. Someone whose innards were so warm and moist, whose flesh became to resemble the colors of candy and the stench of a butchers shop. Someone who he maybe didn't need to kill, if he had simply aimed for the arm with the sword instead. Someone who could have lived, if he just held them off or held them down for the handful of seconds? minutes? eternities? that it took for Meira to return.

He had killed someone, and there was no going back from that.

Cassius clenched his jaw, furrowed his brows, trying to explode his spiraling thoughts by intensifying the headache he felt. It helped, somewhat, but certainly not enough, certainly not to the point where his imagination didn't recycle that moment over and over again, a playlist of all the bad choices he made within an hour of dying and being reborn only to almost die again. He had to do something. If he slept now, it'd only get worse. His still-functional hand reached for his pockets, but there was nothing there. No smartphone, of course. His smartphone, or at least a cellular phone, dwelt within his mind now. It was as good as any other time to catch up.

C should be speaking with Meira right now. If you have questions, send them over to him so he can ask. I am bed-bound right now, so I won't be able to pick you up. Are you still in the shack? It's night now; I'd recommend hiding somewhere because there's a possibility of someone else occupying it for shelter. Slimes aren't considered dangerous, but maybe they're considered food.

Also, what's your name?
To Slime
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Rune_Alchemist
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Rune_Alchemist Absolute Depravity

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Colleen
Witches House
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR



"Ugh why are all the animals here talking? Are we in a Disney movie or something..." Colleen frowned, eyes focusing on the Raven, only to stare blankly as the bird then, somehow presumably using magic, decided to start looking like a human. Still, she was helping so she should try to summarize then. "So, in short...the shrines bad, and we'll probably die if we go there. The forest is big, we'll probably get lost and whisked away to neverland if we go out without you."

Colleen pouted slightly.

"Tch, why do I gotta be babysat by a girl who doesn't even look old enough to be left at home by herself..." Geh, she wanted to exercise or go to a gym, maybe take some annoyance out on a punching bag. Greenie and the kid didn't look like they'd be a good sparring partner. She wanted to do something to clear her head for a bit. Training and physical work always did that. Shadow boxing? hmng, maybe there was a barrel or old log around here she could use...

"...hey waiiit, actually, if you're a witch you can do magic stuff right? Like that barrier thing?" She had never held much interest in that kinda thing, mostly because it never existed, but it was obvious it existed right here. "D'ya think I could learn?"
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Undead-Infested Town





"D-d-did you both just pat my head?!" I cry. Why?! What!? I'm not a child! I'm seriously not! Cutie?!

I can feel my cheeks burning hot, my hands clutching at my beret as find myself glaring at the both of them, fuming. Just because I look like this doesn't mean anything!

Is... is this the same feeling as the original Sephily felt when she was treated this way---?

I don't even know how to feel about that!

With everyone gathering what they can, and hopefully listening to my subsequent suggestion on a formation as we leave the ruined inn, it's time to go.

It only makes sense to put Bianca first. She's clearly armored and wielding the largest and most directly offensive weapon out of all of us. She's already demonstrated how swiftly she can kill one of these undead. Putting myself towards the middle is obvious. I can't fight. I have no idea what I'm doing yet. Plus this body definitely isn't as strong as Sylva's or Sora's.

---And as much as I hate to admit it, I can't help but feel a bit scared. My heart's hammering in my chest. Just one undead was a completely different experience compared to fighting them in a video game.

The air is fresh out here, at least. I'd been bracing myself for a rotten odor, given how many corpses were shambling about, but the open air and the sheer age of the bodies seems to have ensured that the smell isn't too strong.

That's a relief.

I feel more comfortable with our formation, too. It's plenty clear that whatever happened here was a much larger conflict then just the outbreak of the undead.

Is there a war going on? It would explain some things, like the barricades I saw from the inn's windows. Those were fortifications in preparation for battle.

Whatever the case, it definitely happened a while ago. I'd already suspected as much given the state of everything, but now that we're out on the street I can see the various ways nature is already starting to reclaim this place.

Except----

The burned out buildings are fresh. Even from here I can tell, they look like they had to be burned only a few days ago. They're charred black, not crumbled into ash or completely collapsed.

All the other damage looks as if it had to have taken place some time ago, so why are the burned buildings so new-looking?

I don't get it.

Was someone here before us? But why would they just set fire to some buildings and seemingly leave(or maybe die) then?

The thought makes me uneasy. I don't understand what could have happened.

On top of that, someone must have rung the church bell. I can see all the shambling corpses gathered off in the distance. Who did that?

Was it an undead just falling back on the lingering memory of a routine? Did the bell ring due to some sort of magic? Or was there someone here who did it on purpose?

I've only got more questions then I started out with. But I can't just stand here wondering about what might have happened.

"Th-there," I begin, pointing with my staff towards the building with the sign faintly displaying a hammer, "I'm guessing that was probably a blacksmith. You might be able to find more weapons in there, though I don't know what kind of condition they might be in."

@PKMNB0Y@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw@RolePlayerRoxas
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Crimson Paladin
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Javal

??? - Forest


Javal leapt back the bird came down upon the knight, who had volunteered herself to take the brunt of the blow. Evidently she was confident in her ability to withstand the bird's descent, and from the look of it, she had calculated correctly. Unfortunately, the metallic avian was now taking off with her in its talons.

They couldn't let this thing carry off any of their companion to what would be almost certain death. They needed all the help they could get, and once that thing was finished with her, it'd come for the rest of them. Javal wasn't sure if they could kill it, but they needed to discourage this thing from trying to prey on them.

The two pointy-eared companions moved to attack, the mage trying to ice its wings and the knife-wielder attempting to stab at it. With how heavily armored the bird was, it looked like their best bet would be to prevent it from taking off with their ally. Fortunately, as Javal knew all too well, there were many ways to hinder something's airworthiness.

The former pilot dashed beneath the bird, keeping his halberd up to discourage it from bringing its beak down upon him. He then leapt onto the bird's tail, driving the top spike of his halberd into a massive metal tail feather. It might be metal, but he hoped it was thin (and perhaps soft, because surely something so nimble in the air wouldn't be encased head-to-toe in thick, hardened steel, right?) that his halberd would punch a hole into it.

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Hidden 5 mos ago Post by RolePlayerRoxas
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RolePlayerRoxas The Thirteenth Something Or Other

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Town Of The Dead


@VitaVitaAR@PKMNB0Y@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

Sephily's hilarious reaction to the affection thrown her way was some much-welcomed levity to the situation. Bianca was at least able to smile cheerfully as she looked around one more time for items to pick up. Hammer in one hand, sack in the other, there wasn't a whole lot to discover. The room she woke up in yielded nothing else of value, and it felt almost pointless to fashion a makeshift weapon, when the hammer already felt right in her grip anyway. Ultimately, the only supplies she could think worth taking were some foodstuffs - stale as they were, if there was absolutely nothing else to find for eating, they could only hope for the best.

Taking point for their little excursion outside, Bianca was certainly nervous... but the quickening pace of her heart rate couldn't quite be attributed to fear. Taking the first step outside, hammer raised in front of her defensively, the rmoured young woman anticipated something. A hidden horde waiting outside the door, some sort of alarm to bring the zombies back, maybe even a jumpscare, but... luckily, nothing seemed to have remained. The call of the bell was too strong.

Thankfully, the air outside was much more palateable, even given the state of things beyond the inn. Bianca inhaled deeply, glad to finally partake in fresh(er) air, taking in their surroundings curiously. The relative recency of which some of the buildings had burned was lost on her, but the dire state this place had been left in told the story more than clearly enough for Bianca. If there had been no survivors within the inn, which seemed to have held up the best, then not even the most desperate of hopes could remain for someone living amongst these other buildings.

Well, they still had to rule out if the bell was rung by a person at least.

Sephily pointed out one of the buildings, one that probably had weapons inside it. Bianca wasn't sure she wanted anything to replace her trusty, lightweight tool, but if the others neded anything...

"I can take a quick peek, then," Bianca offered, handing her sack of supplies to the small elf, "I'll let ya know if they're open!"

Her tone was lighthearted, though she was dreading the possibility of finding more shambling corpses waiting for a door to be opened for them. At least this time it wasn't an enclosed space, and since it turned out zombies were weak to pulverisation, even the worst-case scenario couldn't be that bad! Confidently approaching the blacksmith, Bianca soon had her hand pressed to the door, pushing at it. There was some resistance, either due to a blockade, or dust and debris accumulating so much it impeded the door. Not that it was enough to stop her, though, once Bianca decided to shove the door open with her shoulder. She flinched at the noise, realising that was probably not the smartest move, but it didn't seem to be loud enough to call back the distant, undead crowd.

Occupants of the smithy were another matter, though. Slowly bringing her free hand to the hilt of her weapon, Bianca peered inside, looking for signs of... unlife, as it were.
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Pyromania99 Double-edged Austerity

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Rita felt like this entire conversation was something that would just go over her head if she hadn't witnessed everything magical in the last.... However long it had been. That said, there was only really one thing she took away from this. "The bird turned into..." She looked the human form of the raven over and just kinda made a curvy motion with her hands, "A, uhh, big.... Bird?" Not nearly yellow enough but that much was besides the point. No one aside the medusa would get that reference regardless.

The other takeaway was, "So... No leaving and no fairies." That's about as much as she really got from the conversation. Well, that was fine. Maybe she'd find a way to make beer here or something. Or just find some magic beer. After that, the snake gal mentioned something about wanting to learn magic. Rita couldn't say it wasn't an interesting idea but there had to be some catch. That and it wasn't interesting enough to her. Not unless she could turn water to wine or something of the like. "Geh, I just want to brew something good." The goblin mentioned aloud though mostly to herself. She just waited to see what the reply to the Medusa's question was.
Hidden 5 mos ago Post by Raineh Daze
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Dort Road


"I concur with my companions. We should, if at all possible, endeavour to complete your journey rather than remaining in this ambush spot," Hikari said, looking rather distastefully at the blood sticking to her hands. It had been for a good cause, and yet... "Or, at least, move to a more defensible location."

Not that this was something she could contribute with; her reincarnation didn't contribute much to defending.
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??? — Streets

Forcing the door to the smithy open wouldn't take too much effort, owing in part due to the rotten wood that had once held the lock in the doorframe in place. With a conspicuously loud cracking noise as the door gave way, Bianca—and anyone who followed after her—would be met with a cluster of undead soldiers. Scars marked both their equipment and bodies, and none seemed to be in great condition, but that didn't change what they were now.

Given how they had been trapped within the building, however, the bell's ringing seemed to have done little beyond gathering them all in one place up until the door opened.

Now, however, there was a new noise to follow—a new existence to chase after and strike out at. Though their reactions to the noise seemed staggered, it didn't take long for the zombies to begin lurching towards the broken door, rusted and shattered weapons at the ready.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

Neir — The Drunken Bear


Though Meira had given a bit of a curious glance towards the young man as he half-shouted for beer, the way he had spent the next few seconds freaking out pushed the assumption that he was desperate out of her mind. At this point, he seemed more awkward than anything—a bit of an oddity for someone who looked as old as he did—but the catgirl chose not to judge and instead offered suggestions for their meal as per his request.

"Menu's up there on that signboard," she mentioned offhandedly as she pointed to a plaque of wood marked with papers nearby, "but if you want suggestions for someone who hasn't eaten in a day... Probably something not too heavy would be fine, so I'd recommend the rabbit stew."

After the waitress returned with their drinks and left with their orders, though, the adventurer would take a sip of water before hearing the young man's next question. By this point, Meira had begun to feel that Cassius' outlandish story didn't seem too far-fetched if someone was asking questions on this level to her, but without revealing any such thoughts she simply replied in turn.

"Monsters nearby... If we're talking about within vicinity of the town and past the slums, you'd probably be likely to find meridian vipers and the silverspine rabbits; there's been a bit of a population boom of both lately, though, so I'd expect to run into those in the plains nearby. If it's Bero Forest, that list grows a lot longer; blackfang boars, whipvine wolves, poison slimes..." Meira trailed off before shaking her head. "Well, they're not too worrisome if you don't cause a fuss. I can't help much when it comes to plants, though, since I'd probably get smacked upside the head by the botanists at the guild if they found out I was explaining those badly. You'll have to get that information elsewhere. That aside... What other non-humans are there beyond beastfolk and elves here? Ogres, dwarves, and the occasional daemon is probably the best answer I could give if we're talking regular residents, but I think I've seen a few lizardmen walking around as of late. Couldn't tell you why they're here, though."

Hopefully, that much would be enough to let the young man ruminate on whatever it was going through his mind while they waited for their meals to arrive.

"Oh, right, I don't ever think I got your name... Or you, mine?" she added in. "It's Meira, by the way."

@Zeroth

Neir — Slums

After the chaos had settled and the offending ne'er-do-wells promptly dragged away, the residents who lived or "worked" in the slums quickly got to work. While one body had been dragged away by Connor, the other had been left unattended by Meira in favor of Cassius' survival. This meant, of course, that those who were more curious (or opportunistic) quickly got to work, taking what they could off the corpse (or what remained of it) before moving to dispose of it.

They had the decency to clean up after themselves, at least.

Unfortunately for Petra, however, the focus of the others on the dead did not exempt her from catching the eye of someone else—a young child who had to be no older than ten. Donning dirty hempen clothing and wielding a stick from somewhere or another, the boy began to poke at the slime out of pure curiosity.

Whether or not it would be a problem... Well, that was up for the slime to decide.

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Sylva

Town of the Undead



Sylva simply grinned back at Sephily’s flustered words. It was a cute reaction, one that reminded him of better times. With his grin still in place, he went to check out the rest of the building. He doubted he’d find anything better than what was in the cellar, but it wouldn’t hurt to have another look around. As expected, there wasn’t much of anything of value in most of the rooms as he found out, except for a decently sturdy piece of wood he’d lucked onto. He would’ve liked it if there had been something better he could have used as a weapon, but considering the state of everything, he didn’t fancy the likelihood of getting anything that could last. That would have to come later, it seemed.

After gathering anything he could fit—and that wasn’t in a state of decay—into a leather sack he’d found lying around, Sylva checked everything over one last time to ensure that he was set. Whether it all went well or not, they probably wouldn’t have a chance to restock any time soon. When he was satisfied with his inspection he moved to join the others, ready to head out.

He didn’t protest Sephily’s formation suggestion. She did seem to be the most fragile of the four of them, and Bianca was the only one wearing armour. It was better than nothing.

When he stepped outside, Sylva felt the urge to stretch his wings. He hadn’t had a chance to do so while inside the inn and focusing on it now only made the sensation worse. As his newfound limbs extended to their full length and then retracted, he took the time to look around a bit. The streets were empty since all the zombies had cleared out. Not a single one had seemed able to ignore the toll of the bell, which was good for them.

Sylva took a deep breath. The air wasn’t as displeasing as he’d imagined, considering what had occupied it mere minutes before. Certainly, it was better than the stale air from inside the inn. There were several burnt buildings around the streets, some of which were still smouldering. Whoever, or whatever, had torched the place had done so quite recently. He couldn’t tell at first glance why anyone would have done this. To get rid of undead inside of the buildings, perhaps? Regardless, there certainly wasn’t anyone staying in them anymore.

Maybe whoever had rung the bell was responsible. It wouldn’t be too big of a surprise.

Sylva’s eyes followed Sephily’s finger to the building with a hammer sign. Ah, that was a lucky break and a quick one too. Even if there weren’t any pristine weapons in there, it would probably have some useful materials. One could hope.

Bianca decided to take the initiative and be the first to open the door.

“Go ahead. I’ll be right behind you.”

Though he said that, Sylva was a bit apprehensive. Only two in their group were armed, and one of those weapons was already proven to be less than effective against the undead. If there was any positive, it was that if there were any zombies inside the building, coming out into the open was the only way to get to them. Sylva watched cautiously as the blond approached the door and then winced as she proceeded to break it down with her shoulder. It should have been expected, as aged as the building seemed to be. Fortunately, the noise wasn’t loud enough to attract any of the zombies that had already left the streets for the bell, which was great! Unfortunately, however, the smithy was not quite as empty as he would have hoped.

Oh, you’ve got to be–

Reacting instinctively, Sylva pulled Bianca away from the broken door and stepped further back into the street.

“.... That might be a problem.”

Sylva's mind was racing. Fire was an idea, though not a particularly good one. Corpses didn’t have the same weaknesses that living bodies had. Of course, a sufficient amount of fire would more than likely do the job but they didn’t have that.

He readied his plank, holding it as if it was a bat. It felt awkward in his hands, and looking at the weapons—ruined as they were—the undead had made him acutely aware of how utterly paltry his own was in comparison.

But it was still better than nothing.

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Neir - The Drunken Bear


《 Level 1 Foodie 》
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"Adjective Nouns," huh? Snakes, rabbits, boars, and wolves...if the Poison Slime is like ours, it'd probably be the easiest to kill, but how does it inflict the poison? Touch contact? Spit? Connor sipped the beer and found it very "bready," but also distinctly watered down compared to what he'd had in the "modern" world.

Meira was less helpful as far as herblore went, but went on to describe the other races within Neir. Anything that could live in the city, Connor assumed counted as a "person," so even if one encountered similar creatures in the wild it probably wasn't a good idea to try killing them for EXP.

...Hold on, bro, did you just...consider actual murder? He looked down at the table for a second as he set his drink down.
"Oh, right, I don't ever think I got your name... Or you, mine?" she added in. "It's Meira, by the way."

"Oh, uh--" Connor blinked as he tried to make eye-to-forehead contact again, "P-Peter. Peter, um, C. Parker. I t-told Cassius to just call me "C," cause..." He glanced nervously around, "Well, to be honest, we don't really "know" each other. And I uh," He fidgeted, "I was kinda scared that maybe...there could be some True Name magic stuff, going on?" If this doesn't make any sense to her, then at least that's one worry gone. But the protagonists in Isekai always seem to try and keep their otherworld status under wraps whether they have a good reason or not--I'm definitely not giving out anything I think could be used against me.

As the waitress returned and thumped a bowl down in front of him, Connor thanked her reflexively with a nod of his head, then looked at this "rabbit stew." It seemed normal enough---some kind of vegetable broth, thick chunks of diced...potato? Carrot? Something starchy and rooty. The rabbit had been marinated in something thick and brown, and had a sprinkling of herbs over the top. He sniffed it, then brought a spoonful of the broth to his lips first.

Here's hoping whatever made me able to understand languages and use magic also included free immunizations to this world's microfauna...

The stew was good. He ate with gusto. Between mouthfuls he thought of something else to ask Meira.

"So...if I had an interest in learning magic, where would I go? Does the Guild give like, job-training of some kind? Are there public libraries here?" So far, she's been helpful...and nobody in here has tried to start a bar fight yet? So maybe the NPCs here aren't as dangerous as I was afraid of... If this world wasn't an edgy, grimdark subversion of all the typical tropes, then maybe he didn't need to be quite so afraid...


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Nyana/Hikari


??? — ??? Forest


Why was no one here able to be decisive?! It was a thought that raced into the knightess' mind as she braced herself for the bird impact, though the end result of things would feel less-than-ideal in turn. It was already a bit of an alien sensation, to say the least, that she could feel the physical force of the impact ripple through her hard even still as the bird hit the shield and so forth. The shield, at least, seemed to hold up as it did its job of mitigating the impact in some capacity for her to boot. Yet as talons closed around her knocked-back form, the slimegirl would briefly panic and grab out with one arm and hand to try to grab her sword....or anything attached to the ground really. Just happened the sword was the closer thing than the nearby grass or roots.

Were slimes immune to fall damage? She didn't know for sure, but she sure as anything didn't want to test it right now either.

Her shield frattled with a small clattering as it sat wedged between her and the metal bird, and the bird began to rise back up in the air with its new metal-encased and sapient blueberry Jell-O dessert, the knightess witnessed her fellow group members seemingly scramble to try to do something as well. Well, despite the gust from the bird trying to knock them back a bit more at least. Vrelenor seemed to try to ice or chill one of the bird's wings. Jase crawled over and seemed to try to jab at its feather or between them with his blade. Then, finally, the other man whose name she still didn't know came in with his halberd and seemed to try to zoom underneath it to do something? She couldn't tell for sure on that final thing, at least, due to her peculiar position for the time being.

"I wish I had a shotgun...!" Jase calls out. "Or is that against I-see-kee rules?!"
Jase


"Less talky more stabby!!!"

Nyana, for her part, would shout with a hasty and acute panic her her voice as she tried to jab the hastily-grabbed sword of hers into some kind of crack or space between feathers or something of the sort. Even trying to jab or jam it at the base of the thing's feet where the metal-feathered boody met the feet was a thing she'd try if she coould, though the shield and her position didn't make that any easier. In short, she was trying anything as well to get it to put her down again and not try to carry her off like a to-go snack. She really didn't want to be a to-go snack...for one thing, she likely didn't taste like blueberries and another thing was she didn't want to die again already.

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Neir Slums — Dilapidated Shack
@Zeroth@ERode@PKMNB0Y
As Petra waited for her magic to recover, she idly considered how exactly she was supposed to go about building herself a workable eye given the materials she had at her disposal, and thus far she was making very little progress. It wasn’t that vertebrate eyes were all that complicated, in fact, as far as organs went eyes were actually relatively simple, in her opinion. No, rather, the problem she was having was a lack of materials.

Slimes, as homogeneous as they might seem at a glance, turned out to contain a variety of different materials, which Petra would have no problem separating out with her magic… well actually, it’d probably be exhausting work, but very little problem at the very least. The issue was, that even with what she had, none of them had the material properties she needed for what she wanted to create, and getting that down was the bare minimum for her to even start on the project, let alone solve all the other countless issues that would no doubt arise in the process.

Petra felt herself growing frustrated by her inability to think her way around the problem, or do much of else in the meantime, when mercifully, she was given an excuse to drop the matter for the time being, in the form of a message from Up – or rather, from Cassius, as she had to remind herself the guy had introduced himself.

Contacts: "Cassius"
C should be speaking with Meira right now. If you have questions, send them over to him so he can ask. I am bed-bound right now, so I won't be able to pick you up. Are you still in the shack? It's night now; I'd recommend hiding somewhere because there's a possibility of someone else occupying it for shelter. Slimes aren't considered dangerous, but maybe they're considered food.

Also, what's your name?
Cassius
Cassius was bed-bound? That was worrying. Was he sick, or had he been injured? Perhaps he’d been involved in whatever scuffle Down had gotten into, or maybe if this world was as openly violent as it seemed to be, he’d been hurt in some other conflict.

In either case, Petra thought Cassius’s message seemed to calm to indicate that he’d been crippled or anything quite that bad, and she hoped she wasn’t just misreading things. Even if she still had a somewhat poor opinion of Cassius, Petra wouldn’t have wanted the guy to get hurt whatever the case, but the realisation that literally half of the people she could be taken out of the picture as easily as that had her suddenly very concerned.

By the standards of her life up until now, the idea that two people she knew might suddenly be crippled or die out of the blue seemed almost unbelievable, but now she realised, that wasn’t a standard she could in any way rely on to hold true. Actually, if anything, she could probably rely on it to not hold true. Which made her current lack of both independence and people to rely upon all the more concerning.

As for the other part of the Cassius’s message, that was perhaps even more worrying.

With any luck, people wouldn’t consider her food on account of slimes being creatures that wouldn’t hesitate to devour literal shit, but even so, the very idea that someone might try it made her more than a little nervous, and even short of being seen as a meal, Petra could very easily imagine slimes being considered a pest to be exterminated not unlike how most people see cockroaches.

Contacts: "Cassius"
Appologies. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Petra.

If you’re sick or injured I could take a look at you and see if there’s anything I can do with my Skill. I don’t exactly have any way of making it to wherever you are right now though, so it’d probably have to wait if I did. Sorry.
Me
After firing off a quick response, Petra set about figuring out just how she was meant to get out of this shack. It wasn’t exactly like she could see where she was going, and blindly wondering out into the open would probably put her at even more of a risk of being noticed than rolling the dice on whether a random squatter decided to occupy the shack.

Actually, now that she was looking for it, Petra was suddenly very aware of the vibrations coming from outside the shack – a persistent background noise she’d thus far ignored, but one which she was suddenly very aware might be the steps of people moving about outside. Actually, scratch that, there were definitely people outside; while most of the vibrations were utterly meaningless to Petra who still hadn’t figured how to interpret the sense, with her newly enhanced hearing, Petra was able to occasionally pick up snippets of conversation magically translated into something she could make sense of.

Trying to think quickly, Petra considered hiding in the gap in the floorboards like Down had suggested, except she realised she didn’t know where exactly the hole was. She was pretty sure it was somewhere over…

Petra was still trying to figure out the exact location her designated hiding place was, when the worst possible case scenario happened, and she felt one of the sources of vibrations outside break off from the others, resolving into a more distinct vibration that seemed to draw closer my the moment, until just a couple of seconds after she noticed it, someone entered the shack.

If Petra could have, she would have probably frozen like a deer in headlights, as it was her body already happened to be stock still, so instead through the haze of her panic, Petra somehow managed to throw her movement program back together, moving as fast as she could towards the tarp beneath which she’d first arrived in this world – a hiding spot she only now remembered existed.

Of course, Petra’s efforts were in vain – even if she couldn’t see them, there was no reason to expect the newcomer wouldn’t be able to see her, not in the relatively tiny confines of the shack – and she made it all of halfway to her would be hiding spot, before in three steps the newcomer moved and cut her off.

As she cancelled her movement, Petra could only feel her panic growing. She didn’t exactly have a measuring stick by which to gauge this newcomer, but compared to how Down and Cassius had felt, it seemed as though this person must be positively gargantuan, and it was only thanks to the small part of her mind that was still capable of rational though, that Petra was able to realise that that perception was probably at least in part because of her now enhanced senses.

Before she could think up any kind of solution or even just make her piece with her inevitable death – perhaps for the second time today – Petra felt her body deform as the giant poked her with something. Then a moment later, they poked her a second time, followed shortly by a third.

For a confused moment, Petra was surprised that the pokes didn’t hurt, before she realised that she couldn’t feel pain like that anymore and concluded she was being stabbed. A second later, Petra realised she was not in fact being stabbed, and the pokes really weren’t injuring her at all, and in fact, they were almost gentle.

The sudden realisation that whoever this was, they apparently weren’t trying to kill her – at least not for the time being – caused Petra’s blind panic to die down a little – though only by a little, since there were surely all sorts of nefarious reasons one might poke at a slime – and she was able to regain some measure of order and reason to her thoughts.

Not exactly able to run and still desperately needing information, Petra once again drew on her magic to try and get some sense of what was going on. Her magic, perhaps unsurprisingly, wasn’t exactly suited to the task, but examining herself through her organic vision she quickly determined that whatever it was she was being prodded with, it was definitely organic, as with each and every poke her body peeled off a small amount of the offending object for digestion. Whatever the substance was, it was clearly a lot tougher than regular flesh, but no so tough as bone, which she’d already discovered she was hardly able to digest at all; her body only managing to pry free a few cells with each poke.

Zooming her sense in upon some of what material her own cells had managed to pull off of the object, Petra was met with the tell-tale cell walls that marked as having once been part of a plant. After a moment, Petra realised that it was probably a stick. Someone was poking her with a stick.

While it logically wasn’t any indication that this person wasn’t potentially dangerous to her – they definitely were – or even that they meant her no harm, something about the image of someone repeatedly prodding at a slime with a stick – perhaps just curious to have seen it act in ways no lesser slime normally would have – somehow felt a whole lot less threatening than all the myriad of awful possibilities she’d been imagining just moments before, and like that Petra felt the worst of her panic drain out of her.

As she calmed down, Petra recalled her earlier worry about ending up stuck on her own.

She had of course already considered the potential consequences of letting the inhabitants of this world know that she wasn’t a normal slime – after the reality bending implications of magic existing, and alternate worlds running off of fantasy tropes, that had pretty much been the first thing she’d considered – and she’d pretty quickly decided that it would be an incredibly stupid thing to try without first knowing more, Earth’s own witch hunts coming to mind.

Except the realisation that she had exactly two people she could communicate with – just two lifelines to support her while she was essentially crippled – clearly indicated she hadn’t though it through well enough. Obviously, trying to communicate with one of the natives would immediately out her as being special, and that might get her immediately captured or killed, but what did the alternative scenarios look like?

Petra considered a reality where she didn’t ever speak to the locals, and thought that it’d probably be awful. It might be safer, but at the very least it’d probably be lonely, and worse, she’d be crippling her ability to learn about this world. No. That clearly wasn’t a valid option, at some point she’d have to talk to someone who hadn’t come here from Earth.

She thought about a world where she slowly worked up to being able to talk to locals, taking measures to be cautious as she went, but decided that that scenario wasn’t that much better. She had no idea how long that might take, and there was so much she wanted to do and learn. And what if something happened to Down or Cassius while she was useless? Then she would be stuck on her own and everything would be that much harder, if not impossible.

Even after considering all that, Petra thought the smartest thing to do would still be to wait, just a little, until she had the slightest clue to go off of, but she also realised something else: she really didn’t want to. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, questions that couldn’t be answered by anyone from Earth, and she wanted to ask them right now. Each and every minute she spent waiting was another minute spent not satisfying her curiosity, and somehow that seemed worse than some nebulous risk of being burned at the stake.

Petra realised she was being stupid but decided she really didn’t care. The worst that could happen would be dying, and she was pretty certain she’d already done that once today.

With an effort of will, Petra tried to add the stranger to her contacts. When it became clear that that had once again failed to work, Petra mentally sighed to herself and switched to her less convenient method of communication. After a couple of false starts, Petra managed to get a hang of the process again, attaching meaning to the slapping of her pseudopods as she slowly spoke.

“He̶l̸lo… Is t̴her̴e̸… ̶a̷ re̴aso̶n… y̸o̵u're poki̷n̶g me?̶” Petra slowly asked. “C̴oul̶d... yo̶u̶... y̶ou... ple̸a̵s̷e sto̷p̸?̸”

After a moment’s consideration, Petra recalled how she’d forgotten to introduce herself to her companions from Earth and decided since she was already this far in, she may as well do things properly this time.

“I’m <Name: Self>…” Petra only remembered immediately after saying it, that her slap-speak couldn’t actually handle names, and was glad that she couldn’t cringe with this body, carrying on as though nothing had happened. “I wa̶n̷t t̸o̸ know̷ ever̵ythin̸g… an̵d a̸m… som̸e̴t̷hing lik̵e… a hea̴l̴er… or ma̷ybe̴… a̸ doc̶t̶or… So̷r̴ta.̵”

Petra had intended to make it clear that she could be at least a little useful on the off chance it made whoever this was less likely to want to squish her like the vermin she probably was, but immediately regretted describing herself as a doctor, because magic or no, she absolutely wasn’t qualified to perform medicine. Either way, what was done was done, and now all she could do was wait and see how the stranger responded.
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Neir — The Drunken Bear


"Parker? Certainly is quite a far cry from the 'C' you provided your acquaintance," Meira replied before taking a bite of the sandwich she had been served and taking a bite. There was a brief pause before she spoke again, though this time with a bit more scrutiny in her gaze as she answered his next few questions.

"The Guild does host some training courses for newcomers—those who come into town from smaller towns with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a dream—but if you want to focus on magic, you'd be better served finding a mentor. As far as I know, only the really dedicated choose to enter the magic college, and that place is well beyond any of my expertise. They do have some basic manuals for fighting at the guild, though, if you're not the type to learn by doing... but that's a different problem altogether," she began to say before leading into her own set of question. "There aren't any wild fae here as far as I'm concerned, though, so I'm not sure why you'd be so worried about names... Or magic like that at all, for that matter. You and Cassius came here together, correct?"

The catgirl retained a casual demeanor as she waited for a response, though, and chose to simply eat her sandwich as she waited for a response in turn.

@Zeroth

Neir — Slums

The child that had, until that point, been poking at the odd slime was quickly taken by surprise when it began to talk. At first, they seemed to be shocked, looking around to see if anyone was playing a trick on them; when cursory exploration provided no answers and the slime continued to speak, however, their dirt-smeared face seemed to light up with (understandably) childlike joy.

"It's a talking slime!" they cried out before quickly covering their mouth and looking around to see if anyone had overheard. Nobody had, it seemed, which meant that they were wholly in the clear for what to do next.

Namely, grabbing their newfound pet-slash-toy up and fleeing from the shack where it had been found.

"Your name was Namsil, right?" they asked, having clearly misconstrued the attempt at providing a name as such. "My name's Ain! Nice to meet you!"

@TheMushroomLord

??? — ??? Forest

As might have been expected for a creature that appeared to have been donning full plate armor, the massive bird seemed almost wholly unfazed by the barrage of the three wanderers not caught in it's grasp. Though a layer of frost coated one of it's wing for a brief moment, it didn't take much more than another flap as it began to lift back off the ground for the ice to be promptly shorn off and thrown right back at the defenders. The stabs of the knife had at least a modicum more success in stalling the creature, but at best it looked like the stabs only brought about discomfort and small trickles of blood past those tough-as-iron feathers that lined it's stomach.

For what it was worth, though, the force of a human leaping up and onto a tail feather was more than enough to tear it off—but not enough to stop it from doing more than screeching in pain—a horrible sound akin to metal scraping against metal—before lifting off.

Instead of rising higher and higher into the sky to drop the captured knight, however, the bird flapped it's wings a few times before swiveling around and flying over the forest the group had been so keen on avoiding until now.

At the very least, Nyana would have a good enough view of the ground below as the bird cut through the sky—though maybe not quite at the same speed and steadiness it had approached them at.

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Neir - The Drunken Bear


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Oh, she's trying to trip me up already. Nevermind, fuck the NPCs. Connor tried not to move his mouth or eyes despite the ill-feelings. He might not have any social skills, but just taking her at her word was enough.

"Yeah, that's cause C is my middle initial. Like I said. Peter C. Parker." he replied, before shoveling more stew as Meira answered his questions. So magic wasn't something everyone in this world had access to. If it required expensive schooling and private tutoring, then unless there was some limiting factor like 'only X% of the population is capable of magic,' it was likely within the purview of nobility to learn it.

Which means if I can do things more impressive than force-pushing and wood whittling, people will think I either have power or money.

The catgirl's next explanation caused him to gulp, and not just because of the stew. True Name magic was a thing here--as were what he could only assume would be the trickster fae creatures of Earth legend. Fucking Midsummer Night's Dream bullshit! He definitely wasn't giving up the "C" moniker anytime soon, then.

"I wouldn't so much say we came here together." Connor said slowly as he stirred what remained in the bottom of his bowl. "Rather, we ended up in the same place. The first time I met Cassius and our...other friend, was...Upon our arrival here." Not lying. Clearly hiding something. But she already suspected that. Give her enough of what she wants to make her feel validated, but steer her away from anything that would deem me a threat or a lawbreaker. When she gets the satisfaction of thinking she's right, she won't question it further.

He downed the last spoonful of the stew, then gazed into the empty bowl somewhat forlornly.

"Oh, right...Any chance I could get something here for the road? To bring back to the others?"

He hoped no one had found the slime yet. He didn't want to risk opening his Status Window again with so many people around, and didn't think he could mentally multi-task sending a message to the others without coming off as even more suspicious to the adventurer across from him. But how long had he been gone already? Dragging a body, getting interrogated, and now getting a mooch dinner off someone he didn't exactly trust...The sun had gone down by now, probably, right? Could he even find his way back to the slums in the dark?

Under the table, one foot started nervously bouncing up and down...
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