A Lowly Wretch

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

Od

Again this beast tests her patience. The ice knocked her back, having been thrown clear once again. This time was even less impactful than the last blow to have sent her clear from the ongoing struggle. It didn't kill her, little could, nor did it really hurt her but the delays meant the queen would have to continue dealing out blows against this chaff alone. These bandits weren't worthy of challenging her and the shame of having it come to this only continued to build alongside Od's ire.

The beast guarded it's legs and left pools of ice where it walked. Meanwhile it fought in struggle against Reinhardt as he attempted to strangle the beast. While it's attention was focus was on fighting him it served as the ideal opportunity for her to try and score a blow of lasting consequence for once.

She quickly skirted the borders of the frozen zone as she rapidly dashed up front where the mammoth was attempting to toss her fellow knight off with it's trunk. With focused intensity she poised her stance, bracing her palm against the jeweled pommel of her blade as she readied a thrust. In one long smooth step her place stabbed up at the base of the mammoth's trunk. Though muscular and with hide it's trunk was unable to be armored without losing it's pliability. Neither ice nor steel could guard something that was required to be prehensile.

It was time to finish what she started and finally sever that damn trunk.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Magnificus the Ingenious
\\: Location: Sen Rynta | Windy Plains - Outskirts

_
He nodded sagely as the still unnamed knightly lady recommended the safer path of simply camping outside. Seems they weren't the only ones around here who took that route either. It made sense for folks to just camp by civilization though. Any adventurer worth their salt would be prepared to spend a night or three camped out in the wilds which really seemed to call to mind just what on earth these noobly players he had shared the road with were planning. He wouldn't be surprised if they had set out in foolish haste, their preparation inversely proportionate to their eagerness to explore.

Ah well, it wouldn't matter. After tonight he'd be back on the road, off to find Sen Rynta's mines so he might plunder them of precious minerals. With that in mind he set down his turrets, the disc bound orbs chiming to attention and placed down his shield generator which resembled the turrets except instead of discs this orb hovered atop a small engraved pillar of black stone with a mana gem set in a recess right in the center of the pillar. As the shield generator activated it projected it's mana blue semi-transparent film across a twenty meter in diameter dome, the borders clinging to the contours of the earth's dips and grooves. The shield generator is capable of creating a full three hundred and sixty degree sphere of protection however it's unable to bisect solid matter present in it's borders, limiting it to the unoccupied spaces it can fill until more space is opened up for it to occupy.

Now that he was protected from outside intruders, attacks and even certain weather conditions like rain he simply pulled out a foldable lawn chair he had built for comfy camping times, laid back and breathed a nice long sigh of relief. Life as a technomancer really was a treat. It didn't matter if you were pretty or even likeable, with smarts beamed directly into your head by the game itself you could carve your own luck out. All you needed was some spirit, creativity and an eye for opportunity. At least, that's what he told himself.

_
Speaking of opportunity an old man of eastern garb resting against the nearby tree which was partially clipped through the force field stirred.

"Aah... Sorry 'bout that. I thought I felt something off just now. Need to go check the source of that out tomorrow..."

Magnificus grinned, rising up from his lawn chair before folding it up and tucking it under his arm. With chair under arm he approached the old man, wearing an intrigued yet friendly-ish smirk as he came to a stop at a socially acceptable distance.

"Ah, a fellow hat aficionado I see. A fine choice indeed..." He opened the conversation, trying his best to sound mysterious and/or cool despite being really neither as he awkwardly leaned on his lawn chair that was just a bit too short to really lean on evenly.

"No need to apologize, one should definitely trust their instincts, especially in a world such as this." Deciding to give up on trying to lean on the lawn chair he simply quick-flicked it back into his inventory, standing back up straight before offering his hand forward in an offer to shake.

"My name is Magnificus, Magnificus the Ingenious as nobody calls me. Feel free to call me Mag."

In truth there wasn't too much reason to get all caught up in some old guy talking to himself but quite frankly any company would be preferrable to the knight of cold shoulders and that sour patch kid.

_
@PKMNB0Y@Operator Luna@Hammerman

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Magnificus the Ingenious
\\: Location: Sen Rynta | Windy Plains - Outskirts

_
Standing there he just sorta had this expression halfway between nonplussed and annoyed. He had only just appeared and now some rude brat was already rattling off at him. Looking down at this mouthy little mouse he could do little more than cock an eyebrow and ask

"What are you, level one?"

Seriously, who on earth did this lady think she was to start levying threats towards me when a simple mob like hobgoblins were giving her such trouble? He had to wonder.

"From the sounds of it I'm the least at risk of immolation amongst the four of us."

Rather nonchalantly he stuffed his hands in his pockets as he strolled past the three of them, his hovering drone issuing an authoritative chirp towards them.

"Anyhow, I wasn't gonna bother mentioning but from the sounds of it you're all gonna be headed down the same road as me for the time being since I'm heading to the nearest town to sell off some junk drops clogging up my inventory. I have no plans of standing here until I can't see your backs so unless you plan to do that yourselves we'll just share the road for now."

He continued on, unconcerned with whether or not they followed or diverted on elsewhere since they were not a factor in his destination plan.

"You just mind your business and I'll mind my own so stow away your PK'er comments, Kay?"

Not that he expected much civility out of this bunch. The knight looking one was mostly stoic and the other one was shy unto having no presence at all in the dialogue. None of that meant however that they had any notions of fair play. He'd be minding his distance for the road ahead.

And here he thought this'd just be a comfy mob grind.

_
Well, the trip was quiet at least. It was as if they had nothing to do with each other the whole way across, just the way he liked it. He wasn't a diehard loner but his own company was preferable to that of those who'd rather give him a litany of accusations and threats instead of a decent greeting or even a name to call them by. In his mind dreams of long caverns filled to the pores with rare minerals occupied his boredom as he looked forward to setting out again for more materials. As an engineer it seemed a waste to grind for cash to buy the kinds of things he could just make.

As for the village it seemed the local drunk had propped himself up and dressed up in guise of a guard or something. The filthy fellow seemed to be bogarding the way forward, insisting that the inn was full as if that even mattered. Rather than answer him he had given the other three a wide berth, standing well to the side with his hands mostly idle by his side.

It's not so much that he cared about staying at an inn or anything like that since he was set up for an extended trip through the woods but he also gave little to no regard towards the lives of npcs. The line between town guard and forest mob was slim and quite frankly his patience was already a little thin. Still, the other three strangers on the road struck him as the jumpy types so he'd wait and let them duel tongues with the slack-jawed yokel, either figuratively or perhaps literally. The latter while enormously unlikely was still vaguely amusing just due to the sheer disparity between them.

He just wondered how long they'd be at it. Maybe he should pull out a folding chair?

_
@Operator Luna@Hammerman@PKMNB0Y

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

Od

Having attempted to drive the blade in she found that the beast held a supernatural toughness, one powerful enough to resist the blade's own magic. While the ice wouldn't hold the blade still for even frost would shear at the sword's touch the unnatural density of the beast had slowed her weapon's descent into it's spine. She couldn't press the attack any further, needing to slice away the trunk that reached for her only to suddenly take a blow to the chest plate.

She was sent flying, the force of the blow only chipping the metal plate as it seemed most of the force went into lifting her away. Sailing she quickly found herself slamming hard into the soft dirt below. Any ordinary person would find themself mangled by the fall, possibly suffering organ rupture from the force of the landing. Od wasn't like others however. Her body was as tough as wood, all the way through and her bones were proportionally harder than her flesh. Even her blood was thick, not prone to swishing about during wild movements.

Hoisting herself up to a knee she found her right arm twisted as a strange angle, having popped out of it's socket. With teeth grit she straightened her arm, lining it up with the ground. She used the dirt to brace her arm whilst she used her body to force the bone back into place. Thanks to her natural healing it was a clean set, her body already at work rebuilding the rips and tears that may have occurred from the dislocation. At this rate she'd be back to normal before she'd get back to the keep.

_
There was no time to wait however. The battle was still hot and her presence was needed even though the queen had joined the battle. Though the queen had every right to participate it stung that the enemy still drew breath by the time she had been rousted from where she had slept. The queen should be dispatching great unholy beasts alongside her loyal knights, not dueling bandits whilst her knight's combined efforts still struggle to bring low a single elder beast. It was shameful.

Though her anger boiled her expression hadn't changed in the slightest. Despite the fall and the pain of her shoulder being dislocated not a single errant gasp of pain escaped her lips. On the outside she was a grim soldier, a focused scowl embossed upon her face like some grim warrior's mask. Her feet dug in and she took off in a sprint, dashing around the beast towards the hind leg on the same side as the one Reinhardt was currently grappling with.

She had heard her queen's instruction and would do as thus. Since the beast was using it's hind leg to stay standing on that side she moved towards the outside of that leg so the mammoth couldn't kick back as a horse might. She gave a long slash designed to tear apart the armor, provided it didn't have more wicked tricks behind this armor as well. From there she'd aim more cuts at the beast's leg. They were conservative attacks however as she was well aware the beast may very well attempt to stomp on her. She was prepared to answer that with a maneuver of her own.

If her own strength wasn't enough to pierce the beast then perhaps it's own would suffice.

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

Od

They were in wordless sync. With as little as a couple words Reinhardt picked her up and threw her, her body sailing through the air up past the beast's tusks and onto it's head. She landed in a kneeling position, her left leg up on her sword side while bracing on her right knee as she grabbed hold of it's streaked fur. It tried to shake her off but her body was low and she clung to it's fur with her free hand.

"Oi, get off. Shabbi don't like it when random people get on her."

"You'll grow as grass beneath our feet." She tersely retorted, nothing but a deadly seriousness found in her expression. She had prepared to parry the man's axe but he was thrown off by the mammoth's sudden stop. This gave her the time she needed. Gauging by the size of it's skull and the position of it's shoulders she estimated where it's spine was and drove her blade downwards. It was an attempt to sever this great beast's spinal cords by driving her sword between the disks that held them.

Whether or not her attack successfully paralyzed the creature from the neck down it seemed the beast still had some fight left as she quickly found it's trunk wrapping around her mid-section. In an attempt to use this as an opportunity to aggravate the damage she cause she attempted to drag her sword up through the spine, across the skull and out across the meaty trunk in one fluid sweep. Her hand remained tightly clenched onto the beast's colorful hide in the meanwhile, straining against the appendage attempting to drag her off. Whatever the rider was doing it could wait. Even if he cleaved her in two without his beast the remaining knights would make short work of him, and that's if she couldn't finish him first.

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Magnificus the Ingenious
\\: Location: Sen Rynta | Windy Plains - Outskirts

_
As Yui looked on into the darkness of the woods the mysterious figure emerged, revealing himself to be... A mess. He carried all the hallmarks of a technomancer and was decked out in all sorts of wizarding gear. Past all that was something that could only be adequately described as 'What happens when you try to make Waluigi in the character creator, having only limited success'.

"Who... Am I?" A smooth, rather sinister sounding elven voice returned her question with another, similar question. He let forth a menacing chuckle, like the kind one might rehearse when playing the role of a cheesy supervillain.

"I..."

A gulf of silence settled over the scene, the tension rising. As if rising with the crescendo he boldly raised his multitool glove which was clenched tightly in a powerful fist.

"Am... Crap, hold on."

Immediately his expression went from a villainous smirk to a flustered discombobulation as he was forced to pull up his own stats window because he forgot the name he gave his character. A couple taps and he quickly read over the name before closing it, the screen emitted from his multitool blinking away like the fancy mystical hologram it was.

"Ah, yes! I am Magnificus The Ingenious! The master technomancer! An inventor without equal! The most masculine and handsome- Hhahahah!"

He suddenly cracked up, his fiendish smirk giving way to a humorous smile as he chuckled at his own ridiculousness.

"Ah... I can't say that last part with a straight face. Anyhoo, the name's Magnificus. Folks just call me Mag for short."

He strode forward with a hand outstretch to shake, stopping upon realizing the lady in armor was aiming her lance at him like he was a wild lion or something.

"Oh. Sorry if I snuck up on you somehow. Figured you bunch were hunting mats like me given the number of hobgoblins I saw falling
out of the stratosphere. You are PC's, right?"

If the other group thought him a threat then it was definitely evident he didn't feel the same since he was carrying himself with an almost casual air around them, still minding his distance because pointy stick lady.

_
@Operator Luna@PKMNB0Y@Hammerman

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

Od

She withdrew her blade from the body of a man, blood slaking the blades of grass, before looking up to see what had become of the battlefield. Ever fewer bandits remained on the field, most of the remaining kills being hers with the horseman having departed to confront the archers who laid in the woods. It was risky of him to go at it alone given what she already had seen but her worries would have to wait as an even greater foe approached. A tuathan man riding atop some sort of elder beast approached and at speed.

The mammoth beast's were armored and thickly too. She worried that her blade wouldn't pierce deep enough to disable the legs if she tried to slash through and trading a non-lethal cut for an opportunity for it to trample her wasn't going to weigh in her favor. Instead she looked to considering her means of taking out the beast from the top. While it's head may have been armored by some form of crystalline protection the same might not be true for it's back. It was also being directed by it's rider. If she could take him out that might leave the beast aimless which would make it easier to goad away from the castle walls.

In any which case she needed to get on top somehow. There was one way immediately available to her if his impressive strength continued to hold true.

"Throw me!" She shouted back to Reinhardt, pointing up at the rider upon the great beast's back. She quickly sprinted to his side then pivoted, facing the beast rider as he charged for the gates and, consequently, them. Her focus was steeled, her muscles tight like a well wound spring. If the missing eye or chunk of her neck was bothering her any then it wasn't visibly clear to anyone onlooking. Her sense of duty superseded feelings of pain or fear for her own safety.

In the name of the queen no threat to her lands would stand, no matter how tall.

_
@Guy0fV4lor@Rune_Alchemist

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Martin Hollowsland

Battle. A brutal, unforgiving clash of will and skill. Martin by nature avoided conflict. It was terrifying being caught amidst the maelstrom of conflict that surrounded him, the various knights employing differing means of breaking their enemies both physically and mentally. The Iron Rose's tactic ultimately won them the battle as the enemy were now fleeing. Fleeing past him.

He hunkered low, praying hard that he wasn't seen by the many vicious mercenaries who were scattering past him. Heavy boots of heavily armed men stomped nearby. He couldn't see for his head was low, the bushes being the only thing in his sightline. He was neither brave nor fierce like the knights he had come to serve. He was a pitiful sight indeed. Luckily no one was able to see it, else he'd be caught by stray enemies and most likely killed. So he waited, biding his time until the foes were well and truly cleared from the battlefield.

_
With time he soon found an opportunity to peek his head from his hiding spot. Only corpses and the Iron Rose knights remained, along with the woman and that... Thing that seemed to be wandering about, grasping for it's missing head from the looks of it. He really didn't know what to make of it, not without further inspection. His curiosity was far lesser than his discomfort with being near the strange thing.

Still, it had done an admirable service. Protecting the knights and dispersing the enemies, this headless knight was a big part of their victory here. He wasn't going to fault the other knight's efforts but this now headless swordsman sowed a great deal of discord and racked up a fairly large body count too.

He was conflicted. For his reticence towards the headless knight he still felt it would be wrong to slight it after all that it had done. It was far more than what he had done, hiding there whilst the battle ran to it's own conclusion. Had the knights lost or suffered it would of been his fault, at least in part. Doing something was better than doing nothing, however little it might be.

_
Stepping forth from the underbrush he tentatively approached the site where the headless knight's head laid, cautiously stepping around the dead bodies both to avoid unnecessary bloodstains upon his garb and out of his relative squeamishness. Gingerly he lifted the decapitated head from where it lay, turning to face the knight's body as it searched for what he held. He could feel his stomach in his throat as the fear seized him, this intimidating unnatural entity standing before him, no indication as to what it may do next.

Preemptively grimacing so tightly his eyes were shut he held the head out, offering it back to the knight it belonged to.

It wasn't much but at least he was doing something.

_
@VitaVitaAR

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

Od

"Knights! Archers in the forest! Someone go take them out!"

She was right in the thick of battle, cutting through the heel of a man who thought he could run past her into the fortress proper with a lunging sweep of her blade when Vyrell's message echoed from atop the walls. She turned to peer out into the forest and see what it was he was speaking about. It was only but for a second but in that moment arrows flew out from beyond her view.

While these shots upon her were fired with pin-point accuracy arrows could only fly so fast. The milliseconds it took to hit her gave her enough time to tilt her head. With a sharp ting the arrow grazed the brim of her helm, deflecting the arrow down into her right eye. While initially it was en-route to burrow into her eye straight on due to the deflection it hit her eye at an angle, catching a bit on the edge of her socket bone and only digging into the eye itself.

_
While having an arrow plunge into her eye was no cause for celebration this was at least good because it failed to penetrate into her brain. She hated it whenever things messed around inside her skull, it was the worst just due to how badly it robbed her of control over her own body. The agony was just something that was a part of living, at least back when these problems were part of her daily life. As for the arrow itself it would have penetrated deeper but due to both how tough her flesh was and the angle it hit her at the eye was able to absorb any and all force from it before it could dig any deeper.

Of course she reeled from the hit, letting out a sharp cry of pain. No matter how often these things happened to her her pain nerves would never dull, coming back just as sharp as always. She was simply used to it. As she reached up to pull the arrow out from her eye socket one of the bandits had decided to try and capitalize on her moment of weakness.

_
It was a large hairy man who hefted a heavy two handed axe. Just as she straightened up, her free hand on the arrow's shaft, he swung his axe with the aim of decapitating her in one solid blow. Unexpectedly however the axe only thunked into the side of her neck, stopping as though he were trying to chop through the trunk of a mighty tree. She needed to broaden her footing to not get thrown off her feet from the force of the blow but she was still standing nonetheless.

The bandit's eyes widened, his grin fading into a terrified grimace as she, with a furious scowl, swept her blade up vertically through his handle and consequently his fingers. The large man staggered back, an expression of pure shock frozen upon his face whilst blood quickly flowed from his missing digits. Pulling the arrow from her eye the others could see a slow stream of thick, semi-transparent, yellowish green liquid oozing down along her cheek like syrup. She tossed the ichor-soaked arrow aside and gripped the head of the axe still imbedded in her neck. With a sickening slorp she pulled the weapon loose from her neck and tossed it to the man's feet where it landed with an unpleasant splat.

"S-She's!- She's not human! SHE'S A MONSTER!" He started to scream as he watched this woman step forward with both her eye and a chunk of her neck missing, her expression unchanged. The unnatural elements at play here took a heavy toll on the man's sanity as he started to point with his stumps whilst screaming:

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

Just as he turned to flee she thrust her sword low into his back, her blade going right through the spine with the tip poking out from his bladder. The bandit's frantic screaming turned into incoherent screeches of agony as she swept her blade down, cleaving his spine, pelvis and manhood in half. He landed on his belly before curling into the fetal position whilst trying to keep his insides from spilling out.

She brought the blade back to her side, turning to face the next unlucky fool she'd slaughter for their cruel opportunism. Despite having been deep inside so many people her sword did not have so much as a single spot of blood on it. It was as though the weapon were so sharp that even blood could not cling to it. It'd be cut away for simply even touching it.

She would leave alone only those who were fleeing after witnessing this display of hers. Any who still continued for the gate and threaten her allies were who she'd turn her attention to next. She ignored the arrows which peppered the grounds around her, one hitting her back armor whilst another struck into her shoulder, only able to draw a pin-prick of blood from it's point of impact. Her attention was turned to the next fool still trying for the gate. The archers were little more than a nuisance for her. She couldn't abandon the gate while there were enemies still trying to threaten those protected within.

She sprinted forth at her next victim, ready to dice him into gore and then the next.

Until they were all dead.

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

Od

Upon spotting the attackers she didn't hold position so much as charge headlong into the fray, not giving the five who were immediately in front of her the luxury of choosing who they'd engage. With light armor her muscular legs carried her fast into their ranks and she was already on the attack.

Without even so much as slowing she cut through the head a spear attempting to pierce her, the blade encountering no resistance as it passed through the wood. With a flick of the wrist she angled the blade, still sprinting as he plunged the blade through the man's ribcage. She rent through the side of the man's torso with the same ease one would have dragging the tip of their blade across the surface of a lake, leather, bone and muscle parting like water as she swung her blade clear from the first man she slew and cleaved her next victim in two, the bandit falling in half across the horizontal slash.

It had been only a couple of seconds and now two of them were dead. One which held an axe had only just enough time to swing. With a clang the axe struck off her left shoulder plate. The force of the blow wasn't concentrated due to how close she had already come to the axe man. Still following back through from the motion of her horizontal slash she swung her blade back across in a low arc, cleaving through both the axe man's thighs. Her last target's body didn't even have time to fall before she was already running down her forth enemy.

_
A man with a sword and shield had stopped, hiding behind his shield after witnessing three people die in less time than it took for him to come to a halt. Neither his shield nor his sword offered any more resistance than the others. Od cut him in an upward looping cross cut, the first cut bisecting both the shield and the arm holding it. The man couldn't even fall to his back in time before the follow-up slash cut both him and the sword he attempted to block with in two. The ringing of the shorn metal mingled with the simultaneous screams of the man as their halves separated.

The last person had only just enough time to pivot and turn to start running as it was clear than anyone in her blade's path was as good as dead. Though retreating he wasn't faster than Od as she quickly approached from behind. She stopped in a lunge, her sword piercing through the man's side only slightly above the hip bone. Given that it was on the bandit's right side there was a chance he might live if he went and sought the skills of a surgeon or healer in time. She didn't stop for this last bandit however, the stab only really coming to her as an afterthought.

_
The reason she stopped was simply due to the fact that she noticed how the rest of the bandits were making their way towards the gate. This made her angry.

Instead of facing me and the other knights on the field of battle they would choose to rush for the city gates instead!?

With that thought she pivoted and started sprinting immediately towards the front line of the enemy forces, clumps of dirt and grass kicked up from the force of her feet striking the earth.

"Stand and fight me, cowards!" She howled with a fervent rage as she reached the front-most bandits, rapidly slashing left and right as enemy after enemy were sliced apart without so much as even slowing her down. The way she saw it the faster she killed the bandits the sooner all the bandits would be dead. The sooner all the bandits were dead the less danger they posed to her fellow troops. If even a single soldier was wounded or even killed it would be because she couldn't kill them all in time.

She wouldn't let that happen.

She would kill them all.