---

---

“It’s Sora,” he reiterated with a smile. No one but him had been in the head space for introductions before. Now he knew that Tiny was Sephily, Blonde was Bianca, and Ryu was Sylva.

The group packed what they could, stuffing food in cloth sacks, and filling leather waterskins with water. With how laden they were with supplies; it was good that fighting wouldn’t be on the agenda in the near future.

Or would it?

They all agreed on Sephily’s suggestion for the formation, proceeding outside. The main road was straightforward; no labyrinthine twists and turns to confuse them. Even if such paths had existed, many had been barricaded.

Most of the buildings were weirdly charred. Did someone try to stem the epidemic by burning down the city?

Possible.

If there could be future burnings again…They really did need to leave quickly.

But, first things first. They came across a smithy. There was also what looked like another inn nearby, but the choice of which of the two still standing buildings to explore was clear.

Bianca did her thing. She opened the doors.

A group of zombies emerged.

Bianca and Sylva were both ready to attack. Sora withdrew his dagger too, but something gave him pause.

The bell was still ringing.

Sure, the zombies were focusing on the recently opened door right now, but…if no other noise followed, would they decide to follow the bell?

Sora wanted to try that out. Quietly, he tapped Sylva and Bianca. “Let’s move back a bit, see if the bell distracts them,” he whispered.

Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn’t. Either way, fighting inside the crowded smithy seemed like a terrible idea. At the very least, he figured this way the zombies would follow them outside. If they were exceedingly lucky, they might not even have to fight.

But if they did, he knew at least three out of four in their party were ready to strike.

And this time, he’d be aiming to cut off their heads.

---

---

@VitaVitaAR @RolePlayerRoxas @Aku the Samurai @PKMNB0Y

"Excuse me? I'm plenty old enough to-"

The Witch's protest was swiftly cut off by Relki, who stepped forward with a smirk.

"Dear little Ilsa just turned thirteen this year~ But don't worry, I'll be here to take care of her full time!"

Ilsa's staff swung in a rather impressive arc, aimed directly towards the raven woman's head. But it struck only empty air, Relki swiftly sidestepping with a playful chuckle.

The only response she received was a rather intense glare from Ilsa, before the Substitute Witch of the Forest let out a heavy sigh and turned to face her guests.

"Hmph. Ignore her, she's just making things more difficult, and my age is much less important then abilities as a witch, anyway," she began, "Frankly, regardless of where you're from I'm shocked that you don't already know magic. Your kind wholly embraces it, as far as I know."

She let out another huff, crossing her arms.

"I'm not much of a teacher, but if you have any questions I'll try and answer them, I suppose," she continued, "It's not as if I have any choice, given I can't leave you alone until you're out of the forest. As for you---"

She turned towards the goblin.

"Brew? Really? Maybe I was right about one of you, at least," she commented, unfolding her arms to place her hands on her hips, "Then again, I suppose you could be an alchemist... Not that I've heard of many goblin alchemists before. Usually they're into necromancy, or things like that."

She waved her hand vaguely, as if mentioning necromancy wasn't a particularly big deal.

"In any case, don't go picking things from the garden without asking my permission first, got it?"

@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99

---

"Lady Darnell, I agree with the both of them," the guard captain began, "Linie seems to have been stabilized, so we can probably move her safely."

The young lady glanced between the newcomers, her guards, and her armored maids for a few moments, before inhaling deeply and folding her arms.

"Very well, I've got little desire to remain here anyway," she said, glancing back towards Morwenna, who nodded quietly before stepping back into the carriage, "Gather the bodies of our dead so they may receive proper burial. Leave the filth for the crows."

The word 'filth' was spat like a curse.

Naturally, the duke's daughter had no interest in riding with commoners regardless of how helpful they had been, at least not so soon after meeting them. As a result, the two kitsune had been set to ride in one of the secondary carts, though it was still fully enclosed. Morwenna was in the main carriage with Lady Darnell, and the other two maids were in a third cart nearer to the Duke's daughter's, Sheila watching over the injured Linie.

Alongside the two kitsune were several guards riding in the same cart.

It was some time before the convoy arrived through a set of large, impressive gates, and further beyond that was a rather expansive and luxurious property. It was surrounded by a flourishing, well-cultivated garden, displaying well-cared-for roses as one of the most numerous plants but overall exhibiting a variety of different kinds of flowers.

It was only when they reached the very front of the white-and-red, stone mansion that the carriage came to a halt.

As the carts were unloaded, more maids emerged from the mansion. While they initially went to greet the young lady Darnell, the moment they realized the situation they were quick to rush Linie inside where she could be treated more effectively.

The young lady paused for a moment, before turning to address the two foxes.

"Given you helped ensure my safety, and saved Linie's life," she began, "I suppose I shall allow you to stay here until you get your bearings. I'm certain father shall agree. However, don't overstay your welcome."

@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze

Javal

Javal's attempt to prevent the bird from taking off had failed, the bird's tail feather proving unable to support his weight. The loss of one tail feather did not appear to hinder it, nor did the not-inconsiderable weight of the knight in its talons as it flew off.

"No!" he shouted as it escaped with their companion. He endeavored to calm himself down, or at least appear to be calmed down- he knew from his former profession the importance of always remaining composed and calm. He wouldn't serve anyone by panicking.

They needed to see where the bird was headed. There was no way they could catch it on foot, but perhaps they could at least get an idea where it was taking its quarry.

Javal dropped his halberd and dashed towards the nearby cliff face. He took a leap up towards what looked like could suffice as a handhold, intending to get a better view of the metal bird as it flew towards the tree cover of the forest. He wanted to at least see where it was heading, and how their companion was faring in its talons.

Was there actually any hope of saving her, considering how fast that monster was flying and how ineffectual their weapons had proven against it? Maybe, maybe not, but as long as she might be alive he felt an obligation to try.

@PKMNB0Y@Crusader Lord@Thunder999999@Expendable

Vrelenor was internally panicking a bit, the only living thing they'd seen since arriving here is apparently so completely beyond them that his magic did literally nothing (does ice magic just suck and his only advantage is useless or is it just that OP?), and the other guys only manged to mildly annoy it. So not fair. At least it didn't take him, and knight lady didn't seem to like him anyway.
And oh no, halberd guy has dropped his weapon and started climbing a cliff, does he want to get eaten, they need a better suggestion. It'd be nice to help knightlady, even if she wasn't particularly friendly, but they couldn't do anything to the bird when it was flying close enough to actually hit, so she's screwed.

"Don't throw your halberd away, there might be other, less invulnerable creatures, or you could use it to chop wood!" That's it, humour is an excellent and healthy response to adversity, don't acknowledge the trauma, mock it!

"Maybe if we go into the forest it'll lose us in the trees, the canopy looked pretty obscuring from the cliff when we tried to see into them, or at least they might be close enough together to slow it down. Better lost than eaten."

(oops forgot these, quick edit) @Crusader Lord @Expendable @Crimson Paladin

---

As the giant bird lurched into motion, Jase desperately tried to cling to the beast, but was flung off. Fortunately, he managed to hold onto his blade, now bloody from the bird.

The landing knocked the air out of his lungs. Jase struggled silently for a moment, black dots filling his vision when he managed to draw in a small gasp of air. Exhaling, he was able to draw in lungs full, then launched into a coughing jag. As it passed, he laid there, focused for the moment on himself, on breathing.

He was definitely too old for this, no matter how young he looked on the outside now.

Jase fumbled for a moment, then managed to push himself upright. "Where's... our knight?" he managed to wheeze, not seeing her or the bird.

...The bird had her, he reaized. Somebody really wanted them to walk into the woods. But he wasn't going to do much with just this blade.

@Crusader Lord@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin

Oh, of course there'd be more zombies behind the door. And armed ones at that. Again, the implications of the mindless undead wielding such things were lost on Bianca, other than the slight issue of said weapons being used against them. Sylva promptly yanked her back towards the street, and the party were lined up, facing down their slowly-approaching opponents. Clutching her hammer tightly in both hands, Bianca scanned the undead, trying to chart the best course of action.

Going by recent discoveries, she had concluded that zombies had an elemental weakness to being utterly crushed - severing their spine didn't seem to do much, but a good whack should be enough to take them down! The real issue would be... doing that to each and every corpse. Even if the rusted armour was easily smashed through, it still afforded a worrying bit of protection to slow them down. Perhaps she could focus on smashing skulls, regardless of aged helmets, but unless her companions could do the same, it could still end up dragging the fight out a bit.

...Still, they might as well try something. Unless the others were confident in fleeing out of sight and hoping that bell took awy their attention, Bianca was prepared to take down the undead group one way or the other. A grin was forming on her face as she raised the hammer slightly. It was nerve-wracking, but also a little exhilirating, facing down this challenge. Even if this was a pointless fight to take on, she really wanted to overcome it!

With little time left to ponder, Bianca decided to give it a try. As the undead lurched closer, Bianca stepped forward, winding the hammer over her shoulder, and bringing it down as hard as she could on the rusted helm.

@SilverPaw@VitaVitaAR@Aku the Samurai@PKMNB0Y

Colleen
Witches House
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR

---

"So is that a no?" Colleen frowned, pouting slightly. "Come on, I'm a great student! I'm easy to teach." Still, things had happened fast and even if she was putting on a somewhat brave and friendly face, well...Colleen stood up, stretching and flexing her arms. "Eh, probably for the best. I'm gonna head outside a bit. Don't worry, not gonna go far. Just gonna get in some exercise and work out a little." Giving the bird and mage a wave and patting the goblin on the head as she'd pass, Colleen would head back outside of the small cottage, wary enough not to stray too far to any fairies that might be around as she'd plant her feet firmly on the soil.

First, some simple stretches. A few lunges, a few squats. Some hip and torso rotations. This new body of hers felt good and particularly physically fit even more so than her old one. Everything seemed like it was in place and she wasn't hurting anywhere from over stretching or doing things to fast. An exhalation of breath and Colleen started with the basics. A few jabs. Uppercut. Knife hand. Each repeated a few times. Axe kick. Crescent kick.

"Okay. Feels good." Colleen flexed her hand, bouncing on the spot as she'd exhale. "Lets get a little more aggressive then."

A simple axe kick flowing into a jump spin back kick, into a very simple roundhouse kick.

"Okay, okay, feeling it." There was an odd tingly sensation though, every time she moved or completed a movement that would be right at the point of contact. Probably nothing to worry about. Small breather into a push kick, followed by a butterfly kick for style points, landing into a tornado kick. A small spin and -

"Eh?"

First, she had not realized she was that close to a tree. Her foot slammed into the bark, but that wasn't the surprising thing. That was the loud, high pitched firecracker like series of popping noises that rang out at the moment of impact. Instead of her foot harmlessly bouncing off her her getting injured, her foot was fine. The tree, however, was not. At the point of impact the tree bark had been completely disintegrated, a chunk of the wood and bark having quite literally exploded outward and leaving a good sized hole in the tree.

"Did...I? Was that...Me?" Colleen had to test this again. Was that the tingly feeling she had felt when she was practicing? She'd do a few more forms, and with a bit of effort she was able to do it again with some semblance of certainty. Of course, now there were little burn marks and chunks of the ground having been properly exploded a bit, but this wasn't her yard now was it?

Nor were those her flowers or her garden.

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.

Well....this wasn't good. As the large metal bird took her and actually began to fly off sucessfully, the slime knightess would continue to attempt stabbing for a little before her body would begin to slow down. Or rather, more so she began to stop the futile effort of stabbing and ultimately would do so as she began to take note of the current situation as it turned out she (at least currently) wasn't actually being dropped from the sky to crack open the stuff inside. Well, for now at least. Still, she could imagine the tiny forms of her party were likely getting farther and farther away by the second as the bird flew rapidly on over the forest proper.

Not that she could much look back down there where they were from her current and fast-moving position at the moment, admittedly, though she could at least turn her head about enough to look around herself somewhat at the forest and such below at least. Definitely could look up at the metal bird to get a closer look as well at least for that matter. It was....something? Panic only seemed to subside as the thought of 'conserving her strength' began to kick in, or something of the sort she reckoned, and still gripping her sword tightly in her hand and with her shield pinned between her and the bird Nyana would somewhat relax for the moment being otherwise as she did indeed look around herself and up at the bird as her pale white eyes looked about and her head tried to crane about to get what visual information she could. Anything to get a glimpse of the forest or terrain below if she could, and likewise anything to see if she could notice anything more about the metal bird proper.

...Or perhaps her mind was just doing this to distract herself from being bird food for a moment. Eh, might as well talk to the big thing for a second because why the heck not right now. Not like she had anything better to do.

"I promise I don't taste like blueberries, haha....ah, if any exist in this world at least. Maybe I'll get to meet your kids, depending on how this all goes, or at least get to see something cool before I turn into metal bird food."

It...oh it was so hopeless right now, wasn't it? It was almost funny. Yeah. Heh. Funny. So funny she was going to due of laughter.

"Heh. Ha...haha...hahahaha!"

A brief fit of laughter brazenly choked its way out of her somewhat mildly air-drying throat in the spur of the moment, the sensation and feeling almost involuntary somewhat, as the slimegirl laughed for a few seconds as they sailed along through the air and then bit by bit softly went quiet as the sudden intrusive feeling faded away once more. But how couldn't she laugh, really? She was probably going to die again in some even worse fashion than before, and this time without another isekai-ing to another world probably. Then again, if it did happen and she became a cute catgirl that'd be kinda nice. She'd get to die cuter the third time in such a case, albeit before even learning more about the mcguffin she'd stored inside of herself for safekeeping.

Still, the thoughts caused a mild shudder to run up her spine all the same. This despite the-...er, no idea if adrenaline was a thing for slime people actually.

Regardless of her feelings the situation wasn't the best in any case. Not like this giant metal bird was sapient or carrying her to some grumpy local druid or beast tamer who knew it or something and who'd glare at her for trespassing in some 'sacred ancient site' or the like. Maybe it was a construct moving her to an abandoned wizard tower it lived in due to the 'programming' put into it by its maker so long ago, and she'd have to deal with an abandoned magical facility gone wrong? Eh. Too complicated. Too cool, even, for that matter. Could be it was taking her home to feed its babies too, yeah, and that was potentially a more likely thing for her fate at least. Or maybe slimes were useful to keep the nest safe from certain small predators, so much like a certain species of spider kept frogs as pets back on Earth that could be the case here? Hmm.

Eh, for all she knew some adventurer would shoot her and the bird out of the sky or something inconvenient and lead to some awkward situational thing going on or being drug back to some adventuring base of operations to be questioned. In any case, the sky was seemingly the literal limit for the whole situation she was in for now. Better to see what happened and be ready to try to defend her life again when she had a better and less fall-heavy chance of getting free perhaps? Maybe. She'd have to see.

But just then it clicked. Like a lightbulb had turned on inside of her mind, all at once, like the bulb of some old-timey camera you could use in some steampunk game going off. Albeit, rather than laughing this time as she had before, Nyana would simply sigh and half-mumble what came out of her mouth next like it was a chore.

"I just became the literal damsel in distress trope. Oh jooooy..."

@PKMNB0Y@Crimson Paladin@Thunder999999@Expendable

Rita tried swatting away Colleen's hand from the top of her head but she had already run past. She shook her head but looked but at the younger witch and her familiar. "Well, I drank a lot back where I was from. I was a social drinker and... Eh, turned into a bad habit I guess. Snakes said that there was a plane crash but I don't remember a thing." Rita mentioned with a shrug.

"So, uhh, what's this alchemy thing? I think I may have heard of it before. Lead to gold thing? Or was there something about this fully metal guy?" Her knowledge was rather sparse. "Is it just you take something and turn it into something else? Is it something you can learn easy?" She had to ask, curious now that its been brought up. Not like she had anything else to do at thr moment.

Rita thrn looked at the bird woman, "You said something about her being your familiar. What's a familiar exactly? Could I get one too?" The goblin woman was very sure about this place, but it didn't hurt to ask, right? The one thing she had an idea about was Necromancy but only from context clues. Probably some sort of magic about death?

Though it did feel a bit awkward getting swept up in the situation (despite being one of the causes for their prompt departure from the open road), Steven found himself at least somewhat grateful that he wouldn't have to spend the next who-knew-how-long wandering through the world before coming across anything even slightly resembling civilization. Riding in a cart was a novel experience in it's own right (though obviously it was difficult to downgrade from any sort of modern vehicle), but at the very least it allowed the kitsune time to gaze at the scenery around them as they moved.

The guards that were keeping a close eye on him and his companion all the while, however, left him feeling a bit on edge all the same. They were strangers who were now barely in the good graces of someone who probably held no small amount of wealth (and possibly political power), so their trepidation did certainly make sense...

But at the end of the day, it was something the young man felt was worth being able to get some quick shelter with which to properly start planning for the days ahead.

While he had expected something fairly glamorous, though, Steven did not expect a grand mansion waiting for them at the end of their trip. Something smaller like a villa would have made sense, but something like this...

"...Huh. Impressive."

That brief utterance was all that came to mind as he stared at the building for a few moments, at which point 'Lady Darnell' offered them a place to stay for doing what they had—within reason, of course.

"Of course," he responded, bowing in turn before rising back up and turning to face her. "Might I ask if you have some books or maps of the region here? I'd like to familiarize myself with the area before departing."

Hopefully none of the other servants—or the lady herself—took any offense to that question; maybe his somewhat rugged appearance would help excuse his bluntness?

One could only hope.

@Raineh Daze

---

Though the door outside was now open and the sound of the bell ringing had worked prior to their arrival, though, the zombies all seemed to focus on the new sounds being made closest to them—and, in turn, the thing that was making them to begin with. The first zombie to lunge out at the group—or, more specifically, the hammer-wielding girl at their vanguard—found itself rather summarily dispatched by a rather devastating blow to the head. This, unfortunately, had the additional effect of creating a loud enough noise when the hammer met the old hardwood floor (and went clean through it to hit the foundation below) to make sure that the zombies were now well and fully focused on the group.

Or, well, as focused as a group of undead could be.

Rather than simply lurch forward as one might have expected from mindless undead, though, these zombies began to spread out, wielding their weapons with a vague sense of purpose before lunging out towards the group. Though time had not been kind to them or their weapons, being stabbed by rusty metal in a situation like this could very well lead to something less-than-ideal...

Never mind what those weapons could have been stabbing at until being sealed away in this place with their wielders.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

---

Though it was quite obvious at a glance that 'Peter' was dodging around her questions, Meira chose to do little more than give him a slightly disapproving glance as she polished off her sandwich. Ultimately, it wasn't her place to judge whether someone was in the right for hiding their identity or not, but...

"...Well, to each their own, I suppose," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "As long as you're not hiding your name because of some sort of criminal activity, I'm not going to fret too much about it... Though I certainly won't give any leeway if that is the case."

Without anything else to say on that front, though, the catgirl seemed more than fine with flagging down the woman serving them and asking for another sandwich to go. Given that they were a popular establishment for adventurers, a request like that was far from unexpected; in a few minutes' time, she had returned with a meal neatly packed in brown paper.

After handing off a few coins to the girl, Meira stood up and walked towards the door, glancing behind her to see if the young man had chosen to follow her or not. The skies above had indeed begun to darken by the time they had left the building, but at least there seemed to be some people starting to light lamps to walk around the evening streets with.

"Do you need to find your way back outside the walls?" she asked, glancing behind her shoulder with one hand resting on her hip. "It shouldn't take too long, and I can just report back to the guild once I'm done."

@Zeroth

---

After making a (fairly) clear break away from the quartet of otherworlders, the bird would continue to soar above the sea of trees; unfortunately, the extent to which these trees seemed to stretch towards the skies beyond what might have been expected of a "normal" forest did not by any means make catching a glimpse of it as it departed any simpler. By the time Javal had made his way up high enough to a vantage point from which to see the creature, it had all but become a dot that glimmered against the natural greens and browns of the nature around it. Luckily enough, though, the dragoon would be able to catch a glimpse of it disappearing into the foliage—and rather deliberately, at that.

For what reason it entered the forest was anyone's guess, but if he wished to follow, then there was at the very least some sort of direction to start with now.

@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable

---

The bird seemed somewhat unreceptive towards Nyana's remarks as it flew above the trees, caring not even when the slimegirl-knight began to—and continued to—talk and laugh to herself. Whether or not it could understand her words didn't seem to matter much in this situation, though; either way, the end result seemed to be the same.

Eventually, though, the metal-plated bird stopped soaring through the skies and hovered in midair, if only for a moment. Then, slowly but surely, it began to descent downwards, towards what was unmistakably a massive nest formed of broken trees situated atop the still-stable ruins of some sort of tower.

Unfortunately, said nest already seemed to be populated by a few residents already. Three chicks, all apparently coated in much the same metal as the creature that had brought her here, seemed to be staring up at their parent—and, naturally, that meant they were staring at Nyana as well.

After descending low enough to land, the bird (somewhat unceremoniously) tossed Nyana towards its chicks. But where one might have expected ravenous pecking and biting, the slimegirl would instead find that the chicks seemed...

Well, 'utterly confused' might have been an apt description at that point in time. Compared to the usual things they must have eaten, something covered in metal like them but also was most certainly not was more foreign than anything else.

@Crusader Lord

---

"... Did I say no?" Ilsa glared after the departing medusa, speaking perhaps deliberately too long after the woman walked away to be heard. With a sigh, she turned towards the goblin.

"As you might have guessed," began Relki, "Dear little Ilsa has a bit of trouble being direct and honest~"

"Quiet."

Ilsa's flat tone made her annoyance with the raven familiar rather clear.

"I'm not sure what you mean by a 'plane crash', but you're not entirely wrong about alchemy," she began, "I'm not sure how you know that of all things."

Pausing for a moment, she took a deep breath.

"Alchemy is the practice of analyzing the components of something and using them to make something else," Ilsa explained, gesturing in an idle fashion as she spoke, "So you could take something apart and force it to become gold, certainly, but it's far more useful when applied to creating tonics and potions. It's also used in the creation of automatons, but I couldn't tell you anything more about that. As for fam-"

Relki rather abruptly cut the petite witch off, practically jumping in front of her.

"As for familiars---"

"H-hey!"

Leaving Ilsa fuming, Relki continued.

"Familiars are magical assistants, more or less~ They're most commonly created by contracting a nameless spirit that's lost its memories and identity and imbuing a common animal with it, alongside a few different ritual components~ I used to be an ordinary raven, as you might have guessed," she declared cheerfully, "Rather then overwriting the animal's consciousness, the spirit merges with the animal and creates a familiar contracted with the creator. I'm rather thankful, because while my feathers are quite luxurious---"

She struck a pose, one hand behind her head as she thrust her hips to the side with a wink.

"---I can only have looks like these in this form~"

Irritably, flustered, Ilsa pushed past Relki. The familiar was left giggling, as the witch cleared her throat.

"... She's more or less correct, though she left out the fact that a mage's mana is crucial to forming the connection between familiar and creator."

Meanwhile, outside, the fairies that had been flitting over the cabin had started to watch the medusa as she practiced with her newfound ability. After a few moments, one in particular, a gossamer-winged miniscule girl with blue hair and a matching dress, flitted down closer.

"... Woooow, Ilsa's going to be mad~" she declared cheerfully, as if that was a completely ordinary thing to say, "She doesn't like it when people mess up the garden, no, not at all."

She observed the hole in the tree for a few moments.

"... If one of my big sisters saw this, she might take all your limbs off and hide them! Then you'd have to find them, and I bet that's really hard~"

Despite talking about potential dismemberment, it didn't appear as if they fairy quite grasped the gravity of the topic she'd chosen. Perhaps that was to be expected.

It seemed as if all the commotion had disturbed a few other garden residents. A gaggle of small, short, stubby creatures with stumpy hands and thick bodies, a stubby mushroom cap in place of their heads, emerged from beneath a large flower bush and warily eyed the damage.

@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99

---

Tch---!

I should have expected this. The undead in the smithy were probably stuck inside, so it didn't matter that the bell is still ringing. And naturally, they're going to go for the nearest living targets instead of the distant bell.

On top of that, all the weapons look rusty and worn down.

Damn it, was this a mistake? We didn't need to get into this fight!

I grit my teeth and take a step back.

How do I fight? How can I fight? These thin arms don't have any strength in them. This small body is fragile. If I was still the person I was in my original world, I could at least throw a decent punch. With how decrepit these undead's bodies, that might be enough. At least to knock one down.

But I can't do that now.

I have a staff, but I have no idea how to use it. My skill didn't help either. I have magic, but no idea what to do with it.

How do I cast a spell?

My hands tense. My fingers tighten on my staff.

...

They're spreading out. Of course, even if they're mindless, their bodies remember how to fight. That much is obvious just based on how they wield their weapons.

"D... d-don't let them flank you!"

It's all I can manage.

@PKMNB0Y@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

"We've got what *koff*, an hour of sunlight left," Jase managed, his breathing still a little ragged, "so we're not going to see anything in that forest shortly after the sun goes down. And since we know there's at least one thing out there that's hunting humans, this means we need shelter for the night. I vote for the cave - maybe we can spot the bird when it leaves its nest."

It had to have a big nest, he felt sure.

"I'm going to guess there were more than just the four of us who got i-sek-kee'd off of that plane, so it stands to reason that we're here to do something. What, I've not a clue. I'm going to guess there was more back in that cave than the stone flute, so let's head back to the cave and while someone stands watch, two of us are going to search that cave thoroughly to see what else we might have missed."

Assuming he was right, what was up with all the secrecy? Why couldn't have someone just tell them outright what they were supposed to do here, give them proper supplies than just this knife he had?

"Maybe the flute the knight has does something," he added. "Now might be a good time for them to try it.

Jase's argument makes sense to Vrelenor, he's not sure how useful spotting the bird when it leaves its nest would be, but given that he'd rather not meet the bird again, that's hardly a problem.
He's pretty sure he'd mentioned trying the flute before, but really doesn't want to argue with what seem to be the only two people he seems to be sharing this world with. Maybe this is some sort of post apocalyptic setting, it'd explain the lack of people.

He nods to Jase while he replies "That sounds like a reasonable idea, that cave was so weird, we definitely missed something, plus it had water that's not guarded by man eating metal birds. I'll help search, the darkness didn't seem to affect me as much."

He turns to head back the way they came, then stops and grabs Javal's polearm, holding it out to the man "Wouldn't want to leave without that."

@Crusader Lord @Expendable @Crimson Paladin

---

---

These zombies were clearly not the mindless corpses you’d see in movies. Bianca easily crushed the one she’d been aiming for. But the remaining ones spread out, intent on surrounding them to deal with them.

Sora avoided the first lunge, his new agile body allowing him to dance out of the way of the attacks. Sephily shouted out nervously, warning them about the obvious. “Trip them up with the staff,” he suggested. Then, the attack from the undead commenced.

“Bianca, charge!” he was sure he didn’t need to tell her. He trusted she’d break the encirclement for them. Following her lead, Sora focused on the zombie closest to her.

His shout had alerted the enemies to him, but he used it to his advantage. Twisting and weaving out of the position he’d been in, he aimed to get behind his target’s back. As soon as an opportunity presented itself, he swiftly stabbed into its neck! Bringing his other arm around the thing’s shoulders, he worked to sever the head from the neck.

He was ready to lunge back and away at any moment, wary of being injured by the rusted, grimy metal. Last thing he needed was getting an infection, or the fantasy-equivalent of tetanus.

Would his modern-day vaccines protect him from such a hazard?

No time for speculating! It was zombie-killing time. Or at least, surviving time.

---

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@VitaVitaAR @RolePlayerRoxas @Aku the Samurai @PKMNB0Y

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Sylva wasn’t exactly sure how much damage he’d be able to do with what was essentially a sturdy plank. It had been more of an afterthought than anything else when he’d taken it with him, but now that he was facing down a group of armoured zombies, it was starting to hit how woefully unprepared he was. It didn’t help that the undead weren’t nearly as “braindead” as he’d first thought.

His grip tightened on his makeshift weapon, his knuckles whitening, but it wasn’t fear that made his heart race, made his blood rush and his hands quiver.

Here’s to hoping his batting skills weren’t too rusty.

The first zombie that walked into his range earned a strike to its unarmoured shin. The limb snapped a bit easier than he expected, and the shambling undead collapsed to the ground. Of course, that wasn’t enough to kill it. Even without being able to walk, it was still crawling towards him unceasingly.

Sylva cocked his arms back and swung downwards as hard as he could, bashing its head in once, twice, thrice, to make sure that it was completely dead. Deader? Un-undead? He had to find a word for that some–

Sylva’s eyes widened and he hastily raised his plank just in time to block a slash from one of the other zombies and winced as the blade cleaved almost entirely through the wood in one hit. He immediately released the plank—farewell—and stepped out of range of the zombie’s sword.

Well, that sucked. Now, he was out a weapon.

Suddenly, Sora shouted something and the zombie approaching Sylva halted. It was just for a moment, but it gave Sylva enough time to grab the rusted sword dropped by the first undead—he hoped his glove was enough to protect him from tetanus!—and swing it up at the second one.

@VitaVitaAR @RolePlayerRoxas @SilverPaw @PKMNB0Y

Colleen
Witches House
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR

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"Mad? I think she'll be impressed." Collen retorted, doing a little victory pump with her fist. "I can do an actual one-inch death punch now! How cools that, ahahah!" The serpent haired girl took a brief look around the garden that she had messed up, frowning just for a second and then brushing off any responsibility. "Eh, she can just replant things later! More importantly, she told me not to talk to any fairies so shoo little pest." She'd make a shooing motion with her hand, deciding to ignore the comment about being dismembered as her eyes were drawn to the new creatures showing up.

Short stubby creatures with mushroom heads?

"You...guys don't look like fairies." Colleen folded her arms, warily watching the new comers. "Friends of Ilsa?"

@Aku the Samurai@VitaVitaAR@SilverPaw@PKMNB0Y

Her hammer had easily crushed the target, to the point it was buried under the aging floor. Glad as she was to have so easily taken out their undead assailant, Bianca's elation was short-lived, given the remaining were trying to surround them now. Their (admittedly clumsy, tottering) coordination was certainly worthy of concern, but even if Bianca were the type to pondewr upon such a thing, this didn't seem the best time to question things. Right now, she needed to smash some walking corpses, before this quartet joined their ranks!

With a grunt, Bianca dislodged her hammer from the floor, raising it just in time to block a strike from a rusted sword. Sora and Sylva had engaged the other zombies as well, hopefully to the point that Sephily herself wasn't being targeted. The zombie didn't seem to pack a whole lot of strength - not enough to push Bianca back at least, though if it had gotten a scratch on her trusty new tool...!

Sora yelled something at Bianca. Charge, huh? Well, if that's what the best course of action was, she wasn't going to argue! Now sporting a confident grin, Bianca pushed against the zombie's sword, knocking the blade aside to open a brief window. Hammer wound by her side, she swung it with all her might, slamming the zombie's side. Armour or not, it seemed unlikely to keep the zombie down, given their proven resistance to having the spinal cord merely damaged, but as long as it was out of the way for the moment, that should be enough.

Turning, she quickly surveyed the situation. Sora seemed to be trying to chop off the head of one, Sylva in the midst of dispatching another with one of their own weapons. One more zombie yet to be taken down seemed to be torn between lurching towards Sora and Sephily. Both of them not quite in the position to handle an attack. It didn't sit right to not at least give her allies a helpful swing or two, but surely they'd come out on top of a 1 V 1, right? And hey, Sora did tell her to charge.

Rushing forward, Bianca launched herself at the last zombie, ramming her shoulder into its' back and knocking it down. Adrenaline was dampening any pain from smacking the worn armour for now, Bianca planting a foot on the zombie's back, hammer tightly gripped in her hands. With a fierce grunt, she slammed the business end of ehr weapon down upon the zombie's head, once more bludgeoning an undead skull into mush, and once more smashing through the aged floorboards. By her count, that should be each zombie accounted for - assuming the one she smacked aside had survived, that had to be the last one. Though of course, Bianca was ready to lend her aid to Sora and Sylva, should they run into trouble with their respective opponents. Glancing at Sephily, she gave a confident grin as she lifted the hammer free of the floor.

Javal

"I definitely would not," Javal replied to the mage as he accepted his polearm back. "If that metal bird is a sign of what is in store for us in this world, I'd hate to go anywhere without a weapon." Not that their armaments did anything against that flying monstrosity beyond pull off a single tail feather, but it was certainly preferable to trying to fend it off with just sticks and fists.

Javal looked at his reflection in the bird's tail feather. It certainly was different from when he was on Earth. Pale, blue-eyed, white-haired. It might take some time getting used to seeing a different reflection every time he looked at a mirror, but he could definitely work with this.

"I've no complaints about the proposed course of action, the cave seems like our best bet. Once we get there, I'll stand guard outside, as I talents are slightly less effective in enclosed spaces." Javal was not unfamiliar with the fantasy convention of elves having better night vision than humans- from what the elf said, it sounded like it held true here.

It was a shame that they had lost the knight, but whether they survived was up to them- and whether or not the elves' hunches were right and the flute might have some use. A bit of a contrived coincidence, perhaps, but this world was strange enough that he was willing to believe it possible.

"Before we go, anyone care to take a look at their new forms?" he asked, raising the severed tail feather in case any of the others had yet to see their own reflection.

@Expendable@Thunder999999

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"I can tell you with complete and utter honesty, I have not intentionally committed any crime in my time here." For the first time Connor actually managed to look the catgirl in the eye, though it wasn't for very long and the action seemed to cause him to immediately lose whatever nerve he'd worked up for that statement. But, as he sheepishly looked away--out of shyness, not nerves--he hoped, if she believed anything he'd said, that she would believe that.

Maybe I'll contemplate murder, but only in like, self-defense. I'm not a bad person. he thought to himself, clenching his jaw for just a moment. He just...couldn't trust anyone, yet. Not the people he'd come here with, not the natives. Not until he was strong enough that he couldn't be easily hurt by the mistakes he was sure to make.

"Th-thank you very much." he said politely to the waitress when she handed him the wrapped meal. Clutching it like it was valuable treasure, he meekly followed Meira out into what little remained of evening light.

Oh good, they have some form of street lighting. That should mean we're a little further into the "urbanization" phase of medieval history, right?

"Yes please!" came his immediate answer when the adventurer asked if he needed help finding his way back. As far as directions went, he thought he could probably have managed, but he wasn't walking alone in some strange city he didn't know, into a slum that he'd already seen was full of those the rest of the city considered undesirables. But, as they were walking...

"Hey, another random question, but uh...do you know of any like...famous inventors? And what they're famous for...inventing?"

Thinking of "urbanization," I already have proof that I'm not the only isekai'd person here. So I think it's safe to assume we weren't the first either. And if I was from a world with better tech than here, I'd damn sure try to get rich...

Just like that one guy, in that one anime, with the three super hot but really dumb girls.

When they eventually made it back to the shack, however, Connor would rush into the dilapidated dwelling with an excited grin.

"Hey, can you hear yet? I found food--!"

The shack was empty.

"Oh no." He dropped the sandwich. The blue haired boy practically threw himself to his knees, scrambling over to the roach-infested hole he'd made earlier and looking under the floorboards. "No, no, no..." He practically threw the tarp into another corner of the room. Nothing but dust lay underneath it. "Oh shit, no, oooooh noooo!"

With a traumatic expression on his face, he turned back to Meira and actually grabbed her arm.

"M-my friend's g-gone! They couldn't move w-without help, they're gone! Someone took them!" The guards? Did the guards come to investigate? Or did some squatter try to, well, squat? Cassius had said slimes weren't considered bothersome enough to kill on sight, but what else could've happened?! There was no blood--or slime--trail, was there?!

Wait, idiot, the messages!

"Please please please please..." he let go of Meira's arm and started pacing frantically as he composed the mental "spell" or whatever it was. "_{Pickup pickup pickup...}"

WHERE ARE YOU!? ARE YOU OKAY!?

EMERGENCY! SLIME IS GONE DO YOU KNOW WHERE!?

Connor felt a sense of helplessness that utterly terrified him. Were they dead? Lost and alone? Did something eat them? Did someone attack them? If they found out the slime had a human mind or soul or whatever, would they torture them for their secrets?

Nothing. Not even eyes or antennae or anything. For a moment Connor's overactive imagination, completely overdosed on all the tropes he mindlessly consumed instead of working on anything productive, managed to activate his dulled sense of empathy. To imagine what it would be like, trapped inside such a body...

But then there was this poor soul. No eyeballs, no mouth, not even a functioning spine...

Don't worry, won't leave u alone.

"Uuuuungh!" He grabbed his head as he shook it back and forth, trying to focus. What could he do? "Damnit, damnit, no, no, no!"

Chaos quickly broke out as the undead closed in upon the three closest to them; though their swings were unfocused for what might have been the bodies of soldiers in the past, they had enough weight and heft behind them to threaten injury if they struck true. Though they had lashed out in some vague sense of coordination, the first to counterattack was also the next to be dispatched; the blow to the neck that Sora had delivered might have found similar success to the first undead they had found within the inn's cellar, had he not followed up with a more meaningfully decisive decapitation in turn. The dried flesh of the corpse gave way to the blade quite easily, but parting it from it's owner's body was a bit more of a struggle—no thanks in part to the remnants of what had been some leather beneath.

It would take some work, but thankfully the initial blow had rendered it prone enough to hack through with a bit of effort.

At the same time, though, the undead began to shift around to accommodate the loss of one of their number—or, well, those among their number that could still move after Bianca had knocked one out of the fight and dispatched a second in turn. One of the remainder took Sora's attempt at a decisive blow towards another as an opportunity to strike, but such an action was met in kind with Bianca's own defense—and with it, another somewhat gruesome resolution.

There were still a pair of undead remaining, but given how one of them was simply out of the fight at the moment only one remained a threat in the heat of the moment.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

---

Regardless of what the group would choose to do with the metal bird's tail feather, the choice to return to the cave seemed to be one set in stone. With the cliff face to guide them back, the trio would find the path to be the exactly as it had been when they had first walked it. Beyond the sun beginning to cross slowly into the distance, though, it seemed as if nothing had really changed since they had left. The only difference now, maybe, was that the path leading to and from the cave seemed a bit more precarious than before; given where it was positioned, though, maybe this location wasn't the safest one to use in the long term.

How to proceed from there, however, was still up in the air.

@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable