13org

The Friestan Incident, a Fantasy Sci-Fi Fusion RP

^{Interaction: Anki @Medili, Srikandi @Kumbaris, Zavim @Sanity43217 and Fei Bai Ho @Shirly Swad}

---

"Well... I should probably have mentioned you to be careful with it. It's the same formula I use when I'm too busy with my research to bother with sleeping... for a few days..." Catherine said, laughing as Fei Bai Ho mentioned that he seemed to be a bit 'shaky' from the potion she gave him.

"Besides, it's very difficult to find a formula strong enough to have any effect on me." she said with a smirk and a shrug.

Before the group could even discuss what they would do next though, a sudden, strong gust of wind and a strange feeling of dread in the air immediately told Catherine that there was something wrong... Mere moments after that, Srikandi shouted, calling the group's attention and saying they needed to run and hide now, confirming Catherine's suspicons that something bad was about to happen...

Unfortunately, the sudden roar that cut Srikandi off and the snowstorm that quickly followed it made it clear that that there was no time for them to hide anymore. As the dragon started to talk, fully displaying it's arrogance, Catherine couldn't help but roll her eyes, annoyed as she sighed. Such arrogance was exactly like the one used by many nobles and kings, something which always annoyed her to no end. Fortunately, in most cases, those arrogant types, be them humans or not, were often so self centered that it was rather easy to fool and manipulate them if you acted in the way they expected you to act and said the correct words.

"I don't know if anything we might have brought for our expedition will be of any interest to you... I mean... Other than my potions, I don't usually carry valuables around. See?" she said, looking to the rest of the group with a discreet smirk before giving a step forward, shrugging as she took one of the potions from her coat showing it to the dragon. What neither the dragon, nor the rest of the party knew though, was that the potion Catherine got was in fact, a very potent sleeping compound, that would immediately start turning into gas upon contact with the air.

"I do have some potions to serve as payment for your 'toll' maybe? Some energetic tonics, there are even a few hallucinogens that a few nobles like to use recreationally. Or maybe, you might be interested in this one? It was a request made by the royalty. Took quite a while and some rather expensive ingredients to make this perfume." Catherine said, as she and dangled the potion between her fingers before she 'accidentally' let the potion slip from her hand and fall to the ground.

As the vial broke on the ground, just a few meters away from the dragon, it's liquid started turning into gas the very moment it came in contact with the air. Thanks to the wind and the way Catherine positioned herself when she went forward to speak with the dragon, most of the gas went towards the dragon instead of the group. Despite that, they could still smell the rather sweet scent that the gas had.

"Dammit! This one took quite a while to make... Oh well, pay no mind to the gas. It's probably just going to make you smell good for a few hours or so." she said to the dragon, tapping her nose before she turned to the group, doing the exact same gesture, but with a slightly more serious expression, before she turned to the dragon again, feigning an apologetic expression. Now she just had to wait until the potion made effect. While it shouldn't take too long, considering how strong it was, she wasn't sure if it would be enough to make the dragon fall asleep. In the worst case, it would at least cloud his judgement, making him slower and more lethargic.

~ Valkyria Chronicles - Changing of the Guard [Pt. 2 - Open] ~

December 30th, Frontline trench

---

Unlike other soldiers and shocktroopers, who more often than not were advocates of 'the bigger, the better' mindset regarding weapons and equipment, Emmerich's equipment was kept to the bare minimum. Wielding only the standard federation sidearm and his trench knife as his weapons and only taking the most basic tools, even his shocktrooper armor seemed to be less 'bulky' and have less protection overall than the others. While he knew very well how effective rifles could be on the right hands, when the combat happened in such a close range, a pistol and a knife would often show themselves to be way more effective and less cumbersome than a long weapon. After all, be it a pistol a shotgun or a rifle, a bullet was a bullet. When well placed, just one was enough to end a life.

Cpt. Middleton's explanation was kept short and simple. Every soldier there knew what they had to... or so Emmerich hoped. That mission could be quick and fast if they pulled their cards right. Being an Imperial himself, he knew very well how the empire liked to build their trenches. While they may appear confusing to those who weren't familiar with their layout, if one paid enough attention, they would realize that they were all designed and built in a very similar manner, with a very similar logic behind it, so every soldier could quickly memorize their layout and knew how to navigate through them even when being transferred to another battlefield. With that knowledge, it should take him only a few minutes to situate himself and know exactly where they should go to raise their chances of finding an NCO.

Unfortunately, no matter how efficient Emmerich's plans were on his own head, they proved to be useless when the gunner, Mehetabel, ran ahead of the rest of the group, throwing herself into the trenches without any support or plan.

"Shit..." Emmerich said to himself, cursing as he watched Mehetabel rushing in.

It didn't take much for the first gunshot to alert the imperials of their presence. With the element of surprise gone as Alex rushed behind Mehetabel, shooting the first imperial in the head while Victoria used her bayonet, brutally impaling the second soldier. If being silence wouldn't work anymore, they would have to be as fast as possible and get out before the imperials could call for reinforcements.

With fast and agile movements, Emmerich rushed inside the trench just to see an imperial soldier a few meters away, recovering from the sudden shock of seeing the two other soldiers suddenly killed in such a brutal manner. The very moment he started raising his rifle to aim at them, Emmerich was already close. With experienced movemends and a cold efficiency, Emmerich knocked the soldier down with a knee to the stomach, making his rifle fly away from his hands before he buried his knife on the soldier's throat.

The Hunt, A Modern Fantasy Smorgasbord RP

^{Interactions: Amanda and Madeleine @Kumbaris, Morgana Faith @King Cosmos, Micheal Crane @BigPapaBelial, Xaviron @Martian, Scarlet @AWACS}

---

Just as Faye finished to talk a bit about herself, Xaviron made a rather interesting question about the Fairies, mentioning that his instructor said that the fairies were leaving this world in large groups. Such question made Faye's expression become a bit more serious and thoughtful as she replied.

"Well... Yes and no. Fairies aren't leaving the world. They are just leaving the human world. The world is much bigger than what humans think it is. Places untouched by human hands, where natural, primordial magic still flows strongly." Faye said, the brief silence after she spoke being a clear signal that she wasn't going to say much more about the exact places where fairies lived.

"Still, there are still some humans who have contact with fairies though... Sometimes knowingly, others, unknowingly... Those who are closer to the world than the others, closer to magic itself." Faye said, with a mischievous expression as she gave a small glance to both Micheal and Xaviron himself, clearly hinting at something.

"There are two main reasons for this... One is that the modern world... The 'human' world isn't a place for the fairies anymore. Fairies feel magic, live magic, they are magic... Free, wild and untamed. Humans, in the other hand, always tried to control and posess magic, to shape it to their own desires. Their magic formulas, their spells and their enchantments force magic to flow how they want it to flow... It's the complete opposite of the fairies' nature, going against their very essence. The other reason, perhaps the most impactful one is that there is nothing more terrifying for the fairies than the energy that the 'Abomination' unleashed in this world after the Shattering... The seeds that it planted continue to slowly grow and take roots. The Earth itself fights against it, but no matter how powerful and mighty is the magic that run through it's 'veins', it won't be able to stop the corruption forever..." she continued, her tone becoming darker more serious this time.

As the other members began talking about their own origins, stories and how the came to the OMR though, Faye's curiosity quickly made her mood get better as she listened curiously to their words. While she did notice that the group was pretty 'diverse' before, it was only now that she was realizing how true that was. Each one of the members had a different background and came from many different parts of the world. Each one with their own stories to tell, some even having mixed blood like Faye, such as Xaviron himself. Even when talking about training and skills, there was only a few similarities between the members.

Faye smiled, satisfied when Scarlet accepted her suggestion to try a bit of her Bockwurst.

"Avi said it's like a sausage made of pork and ground veal. It will be my first time eating it as well so we can give it a try together when it gets here." Faye said with a smile.

"I don't know that much more than you to be honest! One of the reasons why the OMR called me here to be a recruit is because they want to study, register and test the limits of my abilities." Faye said, with a little giggle when Scarlet mentioned that she should at least know more about the OMR than she did.

"I have a feeling that the fairies would get along rather well with these trickster gods!" Faye said with a chuckle as she turned her attention towards Micheal when he spoke about the Shaman Confederacy.

Faye already knew Morgana was an expert in 'human' magic, but the moment she said a bit more about herself, Faye had realized that Morgana was much more important in the magic academic society than she realized. Even though Faye herself didn't care much about 'human' magic, she knew about the Department of Heretical Studies and how influential it was on the magic academic society.
Other than that, Morgana did, surprisingly enough put into words the exact same question Faye made herself a while ago, about the reason behind the group's creation and the members that were chosen.

---

As the food the group asked for finally arrived and the group started voraciously devouring the food, Amanda mentioned how hungry the group was. Which honestly, was expected after such an... 'agitated' day.

"Here you go Scarlet! You'll definitely won't regret tasting it! It's great!" Faye said as she cut a piece of her bockwurst and passed it to Scarlet. Merely by looking at Faye eating, was enough for Scarlet, and pretty much anyone else, quickly realize that she was simply loving the dish she asked for.

When Amanda asked about how it tasted, trying to figure out what exactly 'eating' felt lke, Faye got a bit surprised. It was definitely a hard question to answer. After all, eating was something so natural that nobody ever really stopped to think that much about it.

"It's not just about ingesting nutrients! Food is simply delicious! There's the taste, the food's texture, the smell, even the appearance influences on how one can 'enjoy' their food! Plus, food tastes especially good when you're hungry!" she said, chuckling as she stopped eating to answer Amanda.

"The meat has a very juicy texture and the inside is really smooth! I don't know what they used to season it but it's awesome! It's like if it was smoked, but it also has some herbs inside that give the meat that 'zing', you know?" Faye said, trying her hardest to describe what 'eating' the bockwurst was like.

"It's very hard to explain properly how it feels, but if you have the opportunity to try it, you definitely should!" she finished, encouraging Amanda to try the augmentation she mentioned about.

The moment Amanda began explaining about the Agent Potential Calculator, mentioning algorythms and other complicated stuff, it was almost as if Faye's brain immediately began ignoring the boring stuff, concentrating only on her food, that was, until Amanda mentioned that she had a high future potential, even though she was very inexperienced.

"Wait, you mean that even me, who never had any formal training before, have a promising future as an agent?" Faye asked, surprised.

Avalia

Time: Morning
Location: Aldrakh
Interactions: Astra@FunnyGuy
Mentions:

While Myra was a bit confused when Astra mentioned she and Vrexen would get fat for eating so much, when she thought a little about it, it was true that there was never a moment in her life where food was so easily available for her than after she began travelling with Astra. Back when she used to live in the forest, she often had to hunt for her food, fight to protect her catch from other predators and when the bigger beasts woke up, she had to run and hide. All those things drained a lot of energy, which helped her to remain fit. And since she joined Astra and Vrexen, she didn't have to hunt, fight or hide at all...

Worried, Myra stopped, looking at her abdomen, her arms and legs, looking for any 'unwanted fat' that might hinder her abilities. After a pinching for fat a few times, Myra was relieved to find out that there was still no significant change, but that definitely did make her worried. Enough to motivate her to try and find some time to run and exercise a bit in order to adapt to that new lifestyle that came together with Astra and the shinies, the 'amas', she brought with her.

Calling Myra, Astra pointed towards the big fire where the orcs prepared their meat. Giving one last look to the one object in the stall that most drew her attention, a pair of mirror-polished metal spheres that were kept inside a small wooden box. Not only they were really shiny and cold to the touch, but they seemed to make a soothing, ringing noise when they moved. Being one of the biggest reasons why Myra got so entranced by the shiny trinkets the orc was selling, Myra was a bit divided between going eating and continue playing with the strange spheres but in the end, the smell of meat was stronger and after a brief farewell to the shiny spheres, Myra went together with Astra, following the smell of meat.

Every step they gave towards the area where the orcs cooked their meat, the smell grew stronger. Unlike other places Myra had visited with Astra before, the amount of meat they were cooking and serving seemed to be the perfect size to satisfy her hunger. Big pieces of meat were being roasted over the fireplaces, from the most diverse shapes, colors and animals. After looking around for a while, drooling while she went from stall to stall, watching the many types of meat being prepared, Myra ended up deciding on one particular stall, where two orcs were taking turns in spinning a huge piece of meat, easily half of Myra's size. While she didn't know which creature that meat came from, the smell coming from it was so good that it was an easy choice even when compared to the other ones. Turning towards Astra, Myra excitedly pointed towards the huge piece of meat, licking her lips as she looked at it and then back at Astra.

Avalia

Time: Morning
Location: Aldrakh
Interactions: Astra@FunnyGuy
Mentions:

Myra nodded her head vigorously as Astra asked her if she heard that roar too. While the roar did alarm Myra, she also felt that she had heard it before. That roar definitely wasn't from a strange creature and the more she thought about it, the more it became clear that there was a very high possibility that the one responsible for that roar was no one other than Vrexen himself, who had separated from them in search of 'violence'. After realizing that, even though Myra knew Vrexen had said earlier how he 'couldn't die' and knew how strong he was, she couldn't help but have some mixed feelings regarding if she should go try helping him or not. He was dangerous and unpredictable and her instincts often told her to be careful around him but at the same time, they were travelling together for some time now...

As Astra asked Myra if that roar was Vrexen's, Myra nodded at her, with the conflicting thoughts she was having about helping him or not being clear in her expression as she did so. Or at least until Astra mentioned that Vrexen himself went searching for violence... That roar was a clear indication that Vrexen was completely out of control right now... and Myra still remembered of how he grabbed her the last time something similar happened.

After hearing Astra's words and seemingly taking a decision, Myra mimicked Astra's shrug, before looking at the products Astra was trying to show her as she spoke some complicated words she didn't understand. Among the products, the ones that immediately attracted Myra's attention were a bunch of shiny and pretty objects on the corner, some of which were even shinier than the 'shinies' Astra used to buy things.
Her attention was glued on those objects until Myra heard two words she knew very well. 'Clothes', which made Myra stick her tongue out and shaking her head vehemently and the word 'snacks', making her immediately look up and pay attention to Astra. Snacks were food and Myra loved food. Besides, whenever Astra used that word instead of just 'food', it meant that it was a new kind of food. Sometimes it didn't taste that great but more often than not, those 'new' foods were really tasty.

The Friestan Incident, a Fantasy Sci-Fi Fusion RP

^{Interaction: Anki @Medili, Srikandi @Izurich, Zavim @Sanity43217 and Fei Bai Ho @Shirly Swad}

---

As the group began fighting, it became clear to Catherine that even if the Kobolds swarmed at them, bringing a group even bigger in size, they wouldn't stand much of a chance. After Fei's kick, Anki was quick to act, immediately impaling three kobolds with earth magic.

"Oberian efficiency... It never fails to amaze me!" Catherine said with a chuckle as she watched the three kobolds that Anki had impaled tremble for a brief moment before stopping all movements.

Unfortunately, for Catherine, the Kobolds did seem to be smarter than what Catherine initially thought. As Srikandi unsheathed her blade, challenging the leader once again, he immediately became aware of how hopelessly outmatched the rag-tag bunch of kobolds were against the adventurer's group, immediately ordering a hastily retreat.

Catherine, who had just dashed towards a group of Kobolds, was currently holding a Kobold in the air, firmly grasping it's neck with one of her hands as the poor creature, who had let go of it's weapons due to the sudden, violent impact, not even being able to react due to Catherine's speed as she grabbed it, continued to struggle hopelessly on her hands she watched the rest of the kobolds to run.

"What?! We were just starting! Well... This was disappointing..." Catherine said, sighing as she suddenly tightened her grip on the kobold she was holding, crushing his throat with a sickly crunching noise before letting go of the kobold's now limp, dead corpse.

"Talk about an anticlimactic ending... Yeah, I'm fine. A bit annoyed, but fine." Catherine said as she took off her gloves and stored them again inside her overcoat.

"I do have a few things with me that can help with healing if anyone gets hurt though." she said as she looked to the rest of the group.

Avalia

Time: Morning
Location: Aldrakh
Interactions: Astra @FunnyGuy
Mentions:

While Myra was still a bit mad at Astra for her little 'joke', her curiosity got the better of her as they approached one of the stalls.
Truth be told, just like Astra said, the things that were being displayed were mostly random assortments of stuff with no apparent connection to one another. The products were displayed on top of the table with little to no organization, either because the seller was too lazy to try and organize everything or because it was almost impossible to do so in a way that made some sense.

As Myra was curiously looking at the things, leaning forward as she analyzed the many random products the orc had to sell, Astra unfurled a roll of paper from her bag. The very moment Myra saw that, she remembered what it was. The pretty drawing with vibrant colors she had stolen when searching for a map. Nodding her head with a proud expression, Myra watched with a smug expression as Astra began negotiating with the orc, knowing that the 'painting' she stole would help them to get a few more shinies for them to buy food and find more cozy places to sleep after eating. That was, until they were interrupted by a faint and distant noise of a creature of some kind roaring, which made Myra immediately stop and look around to be sure nothing dangerous was approaching them, before she looked at Astra, with a concerned expression.

The Five Senses

Karina Frost

---

Karina nodded after listening to Chres' and Sil's conversation and hearing their thankful words, letting out a rare, albeit discreet, smile. Emotions were very complicated things and traumas were even more. Karina knew that she was far from being someone appropriate for trying to understand Chres' and try to treat his trauma, especially having been raised in the military, but what she could do was to give them a motivation to keep going. Even if it wouldn't really treat the root of the issue, it would give them enough strength to keep moving forward.

As Chres changed subjects though, asking her about her father, Karina's expression changed. Despite her usually composed expression, there were hints of clear dissatisfaction in her expression.

"Insubordination." she said with an acid tone.

"Technically, I did go against orders from my incompetent superiors, even if my actions yielded positive results." she continued.

"I was the only one among the high officers who saw the threat the cult posed. How easily their influence grew and how easily they took over the city. At that time, I already knew there was something wrong with the cult, but I would have never expected to be so much worse than what I had initially thought... We still know too little about the cult. The reach of their influence, if they have other groups on other kingdoms, trying to do the same as they did here... " Karina said, with a concerned expression..

"Unfortunately, no matter how strange the situation was the more I investigated it, my request for a small division to be deployed for a reconnaissance and investigation mission was denied, over and over. Despite all my talent, my efforts, my skills and the overwhelmingly positive results I bring after most of my assignments, most of the high command still sees me as a naive little girl who likes to pretend to be a soldier, mocking and belittling me due to my age... Even though I continue to prove them wrong again and again, they refuse to let go of their pride... If I was older... Or if I was a man, I have already been promoted and I would definitely be taken more seriously by the rest of the high command." she finished, the resentment clear in her voice.

"It is not power nor fame that I seek, but respect and recognition." she concluded, looking to Chres with a determined stare.

Avalia

Time: Morning
Location: Aldrakh
Interactions: Astra @FunnyGuy
Mentions:

At first, when Astra began to talk with Myra, she thought Astra was going to scold her again, but when she mentioned she was proud of her, Myra immediately looked at her, confused about what she meant by 'knowing Vrexen would die'.
While Vrexen didn't seem to care that much about his own safety nor he seemed to have any instinct to protect himself and kept throwing himself into dangerous situations which could get him wounded or worse, he did say earlier that he 'couldn't die', which, if it was true, would explain why he acted like that.

Such an idea of not being able to die was very strange for Myra though. She wondered wether that was true and how he knew that. No matter how much Myra thought about it, the only way she could think of knowing if one could die or not was... Well... by testing, which was something Myra definitely didn't want to do. As long as Myra was with Vrexen, it was true that she wouldn't exactly be safe. Not only Vrexen didn't really care about his own safety, but he was very unstable and dangerous and had a tendency of dragging others to dangerous situations with him. Astra in the other hand was a bit more reasonable. Plus, she did show them how useful the shinies, "amas" as she called them, were. Being able to get them tasty food and soft places to sleep.

As they walked through the town, soon entering the market bazaar area, Myra's thoughts were interrupted when a strange orc woman, suddenly asked Astra something about Myra, gesturing towards her. Wary, Myra carefully watched the orc woman's movements as she talked with Astra. Even though she was being rather reasonable, Myra knew how violent the green-skins could be.

At first, Myra had no idea of what they were talking about but as soon as they started mentioning Amas, Myra soon connected the pieces and realized that the thing the orc woman was trying to trade was Myra herself and much to Myra's dismay, Astra wasn't really opposed to the idea as long as the orc woman gave her more shinies.

With a shocked expression, Myra looked back and forth between Astra and then the orc woman, hissing towards the orc woman before they walked away and turning her head away from Astra, clearly mad at Astra for having tried to sell her.

The Friestan Incident, a Fantasy Sci-Fi Fusion RP

^{Interaction: Anki @Medili, Srikandi @Izurich, Zavim @Sanity43217 and Fei Bai Ho @Shirly Swad}

---

Catherine's hand was already hovering over one of the vials she carried with her when, much to her surprise, the 'creature' revealed itself to be a strange and wild man, claiming to be "the greatest martial artist this world will ever see". While Catherine wasn't exactly strange to wild, unpredictable and... eccentric people, as those were honestly rather common among adventurers, it was not always that she found one that stood out among the rest.

Despite his sudden appearance, he didn't seem to be a threat, not only given the state he was, but especially seeing how he begged for food and water, going as far as to kneeling down as he did so. Apparently, he had quite a tough time catching up with the rest of the group.
As he introduced himsel, Catherine realized she had already heard his name before, mostly from stories told by other adventurers. Fei Bai Ho. Most called him a vagabond, a wandering martial artist that was famous for being a 'battle maniac', always searching for strong opponents to battle.

"Fei Bai Ho. I heard this name a few times. A lot of adventurers enjoy hearing and telling the stories about you, despite many not really wanting to work with you." Catherine asked with an amused expression, her hand twirling the glass vial in her hand as a greenish-yellow liquid inside moved along with it.

"Welcome to the team." she said with an amused chuckle as she looked to Fei Bai Ho. Judging by the rumors and stories she heard about him, he was definitely a very interesting person to have in a party.

Before they could say anything else though, the bushes rustled once more. Just as Catherine turned towards the bushes, she saw as kobolds quickly surrounded the party. Despite their sizes, they not only were armed, but their numbers far exceeded their own. The largest one among the kobolds was the first to step forward, demanding coin from the group in exchange for safe passage.

"Kobolds! How cute!" Catherine said with a sarcastic chuckle, knowing very well how much Kobolds hated being mocked by their size.

Before anyone could say anything else though, Fei Bai Ho, staying true to the rumors about being a battle maniac, already seemed to have a clear plan on his head. After a few, simple words to the Alpha Kobold, he immediately charged at him, asking the party to deal with the others. Dashing towards the Alpha Kobold, Fei Bai Ho shouted as his legs burst into flames as he kicked the Alpha Kobold. Despite the audible sound of cracking bones and flesh sizzling, the kobold was somehow able to block his kick with his shield, pushing Fei away as the Kobold took some distance to recover himself.

"Here. It's not exactly food, but it will help with the fatigue." Catherine said knowing how exhausted Fei already was even before that kick. She was about to throw the wrong vial to him before she stopped herself.

"Hah! Wrong one. You definitely don't want to drink this one... Especially since there is not really an 'antidote' or something for this one... Here, take it." she said, laughing as she threw the correct one to him as if nothing had happened.

Upon opening it, Fei Bai Ho would notice that along with the strange, bitter scent that was hard to properly identify, there were subtle notes of herbs and spices. The scent alone entered his nose with a burning sensation, almost as if forcing his mind to think clearer. Whatever that was, it was several times stronger than even the strongest 'tonic' that was usually sold by apothecaries. While it would definitely wake him up, he could feel only by smelling it that it would definitely have quite a punch to it. It would be smart to be careful when consuming it...

"Live subjects... How fun!" Catherine said as she wore her special gloves she used for combat, sliding the vial she was playing with a while ago on one of the slots in the combat gloves. The many bottles on top of it already giving the others an idea of how dangerous it would be around Catherine.