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4 yrs ago
Political opinions on a public forum? I just wanna rp for god's sake!
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Bio






Call me: Asuras

I like: Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Anime Aesthetics

I play: Anything. Mostly women.

I have a long history of GM'ing, perhaps even more than playing. I like art, and I commission a lot. D&D is my life right now.

Most Recent Posts

A spark, like the sound of a snapping twig, flickered at the back of Ambroise's mind. A sense, like deja vu, but far sharper and defined. The woman paused, her hand instinctively finding its way over the pommel of her sword. Had the rest of the group lacked the faculties to sense such things, they would have heard the clamor of her sheathe and belt against one another.

Being a mage with extensive range to their spells, Ambroise's sense of the arcane in its most fundamental form was exceptional. To cast a spell at far ranges, sometimes remotely rather than as a spell with a vector, one had to truly know where their magic was, especially after it was cast. Subsequently realizing where the spell had ended up if out of sight was critical to knowing how to adjust the next time. The arcane flicker that darted through the area was easily attuned to, though it remained in existence far too briefly for Ambroise to get a sense of its origin.

On edge, the woman gripped her sword handle as she stopped.

"Were any of you blind to the signal I had just sensed, I would advise you all to be on guard. There's something unnatural afoot," she said, eyes scanning across the horizon.
In Q - FLUX 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Though the numerous guardsmen looked to Blitz with clear confusion and dislike, a hand and voice raised towards the back, closer to the front gates of the Wirefort manor, had directed their attention away from the soaring Cleaner.

"He's good, guys. He's fine," someone said at the back. A voice perhaps familiar to Blitz if he were prone to jotting down such things. The guardsmen loosened their tension before the caravan, guns lowered to their hips or holstered altogether. The one who spoke up approached closer, shifting past the wall of fellow guards to get a better look at the Cleaners.

"It's more than sufficient," the man said. As he came closer, the glow a cigarette in his lips partially illuminated his face. The majority of light on the street came from a pair of orange streetlamps situated on either side of the gate. Much of the guardsmens' faces were darkened and difficult to discern. "You need the boss? What about these guys?" he asked, gesturing with his chin to the cars behind Blitz, End, and Advent. Another guard spoke up, shifting their shoulders in a half-shrug.

"What? What weapon? Last we tussled with the Himura's it was fists and knives at the Reginald-Don Pub," he said with a laugh. A few others scoffed in turn, recollecting something funny only to them.

"She's talkin' about the massacre the other day. At their manor," another chimed in.

"Ah shit. Right. That one. That wasn't us though. We've been tryin' to figure out who it wa-"

Before the man could finish his sentence, a distinct sound set the whole street into combat mode. The screech of several tires in succession was as clear a warning as any. As if on cue, there was chaotic shouting over one another and the ringing of phone notifications. Something was coming...

And it came in but four seconds.

From both ends of the street came a squad of five cars, all of them armed to the teeth with plating and gunnery. Shots rang out as soon as they made their appearance, bullets flying from every direction. The entrance to the manor was the only safe refuge, save being inside End's car, and so the Wirefort's began running and gunning for their headquarters.

Stopping far from the entrance, the five cars skidded to a halt broadside as dozens of individuals spilled out with guns of all kinds. Handguns, assault rifles, and sub-machine guns rattled out with death upon the streets, focusing fire towards the retreating Wireforts... and the unknown Cleaners that were caught in the middle of it all.

No matter how many times she'd chanted it to herself, Ambroise couldn't shake the feeling that her skills were out of their element for this particular mission. Even after she had come to realize the caution that had been implanted into her life from outside, brought on by her parents' worry, it still didn't seem right that a mage of her type was being sent to be rid of a single serial killer. Willing as she was to kill such a stain on society, it felt wrong to send a cannon to fell a rat. Was she not more suited for engaging entire bands of bandits and cutthroats?

It must have been the millionth time she sighed to herself audibly during the trip, but the first time she worried the other three accompanying her would hear it. Surely they must have gotten tired of her soft and clearly muffled demeanor. Stepping down the mountainside, she gave a brief glance upwards where the other knights were before her; habit had her standing at the back lines, even in casual travel.

Three men her junior, but no less capable. In her soft-hearted mind, she would imagine they were her seniors in skill. Instinctively, she gripped the pommel of her sword, as if trying to remind herself she actually had one and knew how to use it. Though all three of them were Astopolian, she couldn't help but feel slightly more distant from them, as if the outcast of the team. Did they see one another more favorably than her?

Undoubtedly the worry stemmed from the storm of quotes that plagued her kind.

"Undeserving of those knights' lives."
"Too little use for too much effort."
"Useless in comparison to the faster casters."


Superior as the Jeulian Empire proved itself to be, long-channel casters such as herself were nevertheless seen unfavorably during the war, unable to prove their destructive worth when even the efforts taken to keep them protected resulted in no better a rate of survival. For the knights that protected them in battle, it was a greater death sentence than any other position. It was as if their chances of death were one-hundred and ten percent.

Too late to enjoy the boons of Talentium, her now-gone siblings never got their chance to show their worth, and so the spite continued. Ambroise couldn't help but imagine the three before her may harbor the same distaste.

Hector von Helbrecht. A young man with determination in his eyes befitting of the hate that loomed behind them.
Jacque Raynes. Likely one of the most noble men she'd ever encountered in her life. A spitting avatar of Astopol.
Notia Cragsky. A soul she'd become sure of by then was more than the quiet exterior he tended to put off.

If they had any semblance of kindness, they'd tell her they had no issue with her presence regardless of their true feelings, but Ambroise knew she'd find it difficult to trust them regardless, and so she left it to linger in her. Endure and accept. That's all there was to it. She'd done it for years already, and she wasn't about to crack then. Not in so simple a mission. To keep her mind off of the pointless and inevitable, she choose to speak up in the quietness of the forest.

"Displaced as I find myself to be for this sort of mission, I do find it odd there are four of us being sent. I know little of the 'Virtuoso' killer beyond their kill count. Should we expect someone dangerously skilled?" she asked.
In Q - FLUX 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
Cash just shook his head at Vivian.

"Yep. Once I had tried it with two chickens with some light in a small wooden crate, I'd put a camera inside. Didn't change anything. It did give me a glimpse of the nightmare though... Sort of," he shrugged. "It manifests instantaneously as a few gusts of air, so I imagine we're dealing an intangible type of nightmare, hence why I asked for Diva to come along," he explained, gesturing to the girl.

"As for its usage, I've only gotten word of this one incident occurring, so I think we're dealing with a single knowledgeable individual using it. Given the targets, it's likely they're another mob against the Himura, or a hitman for the same reason. Could be any number of folks. Pendeltons, Rash, Wireforts, Towers..." he Cash counted on his fingers, "Those are the groups I know that have something against the Himuras. The problem with killing it is that whatever you kill in an area afflicted by the mark isn't truly the nightmare itself. Merely a manifestation of it. The research for this particular idea is shoddy, but there's reason to suspect that it has a 'true home' from where it can extend its manifestations through the symbols. And yes. It can show up in multiple places at once. That much is known from the research on when it was used last... Some twenty-odds years or so ago." Cash straightened himself and turned to Arsenal.

"We've been cautious about our little 'tests' with the symbol. Haven't tried it on any actual buildings, so I can't say if an open door affects it or not. I imagine the Himura house had open windows at least somewhere when it happened, and the nightmare remained inside, so I'm lead to believe it stays in the 'house' as a concept. And we only know it just kills macroscopic living things. There was a robot servant in the house and it wasn't touched." Cash sighed, letting his hands fall noisily at his sides.

"Now then, with all those details explained, I've got a suggestion for a lead. Given it probably can't be killed at the house and that we have no clue where its origins might be, our best bet is to get info straight from the source. Whoever used the symbol will have a better idea on where it popped up from twenty years later, and that is where we should be able to get the right answers. I'd suggest speaking with the Wireforts first. Policus news seems to believe they're the ones in deepest shit with the Himuras right now. Just let them know you're not after any of them, just how they this symbol... If it indeed was one of them."

With that, Cash urged the group on their way, giving short answers to the lingering questions the group had. Ultimately the plan was simple, though it still meant having several things in the way till they actually got to some nightmare skull-bashing. Indeed, if anyone had even considered what it'd be like to fight the nightmare in a common house, few could be convinced it'd work out. The moment anyone was unseen, they would presumably be dead. Given its strange nature, no one was willing to test if it could bypass arcane shields. Diva could root the thing to physicality, but even that could be a waste of time, according to Cash's provided info.

And so it was that their first stop was the Wirefort manor, an old-timey chic manor in the middle layers of Neo Babylon, nevertheless with a wide land surrounding its walls. After gathering once again in the available vehicles, they were on their way out of the Envi-Novel district and back into the grimy under city where natural light reached them only in the few hours of high noon. The Wirefort manor was well underneath several megafoundations, leaving only the orange light of old streelamps to illuminate their path. Several buildings surrounded the plentiful lot of the manor, undoubtedly bought out and fortified for added protection and buffering. Well before they reached the street it was on, their appearance had already drawn the attention of residents and placed watchmen alike. There was no fuss. Not until they stopped nearby the manor.

Several men had stepped out in front of the cars on the street to stop them, clearly wary of their presence so close to the mob family manor. Gesturing for at least a few of them to step out, they approached at a distance, handguns and SMG's brought out from thick overcoats to make sure everyone understood what was at stake.

"The hell are you freaks doing around here? What's your business? Painstakers?"
@ERode

Sure, why not.

Though by pair, you mean what exactly?


Siamese twins.
Dust to Dust.
In Rodey's mercy,
we have no trust.
There was no doubt in my mind. I am unofficial honorary co-GM after all.

In Q - FLUX 8 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
The macabre art display burned quietly in the crisp air, eventually bringing with it the smell of ash and boiling blood. Cash sniffled once, clearly detecting it, but made no change in his expression as he looked over the group.

"That's what I'd initially considered as well, Runner, but I'd had a hunch it wasn't so simple. When my informants had given me the whole kit and caboodle of what happened at the Himura place, it didn't add up." Cash looked over to Diva and nodded before rolling up his sleeves, as if preparing for contemplation.

"Of course, it seems like a rune. Drawn symbol, instant effect. But what it truly does is far too complex to be any rune someone can just throw around. After all just look at it," he said, pulling out a personal device to display before the gathered Cleaners. Indeed, the rune was far too simple to be something 'complex', if they were to take Cash's word for it. A few circles, a line here and there... Compared to most runes which took hours to complete, this one had apparently been crafted by glancing at a reference over a few seconds.

Stuffing the phone back inside his coat, he continued. "It might look like a rune from our perspective here, but inside the box is where the action's at. While 20 died at the Himura place, two survived. Nothing notable about them. No reason to suspect they were 'exempt' from the targeted attack. The only thing different about them..." he trailed off, lifting two fingers and wiggling them, "Was that they were the only people in the same room when it happened. Everyone else was alone when they died."

Cash turned around to face the still-burning remains of the poor chicken. "Tested this with two chickens in a box and they died all the same, so I was confused once more. Then I tried putting them in a box with some light, and what do you know, they survived! So my conclusion changed, but only more mysteries cropped up... Because the chickens both died within a few seconds anyways. But! But, they did survive longer," he mused. Gesturing all the while, he continued.

"So what we know is, if you're together with someone else, in the light, you can survive for a short period of time. But then why only a short time? My hypothesis?" Cash pointed to his eyes, "Blinking. I say, what kept them alive was that they could see one another. The moment you're not visible to someone else, you're dead. You might ask, 'Why would a spell have a loophole like that if it's meant to kill?' Well that's where the nightmare theory comes in." Cash pulled out a notebook and threw towards the group's general direction. Inside were notes accumulated from multiple sources.

"Turns out I was right. This symbol's been around for a long while, but it got lost in the underground for some time, surfacing again now. The symbol isn't so much as a rune as it is a unique calling card. A summoning spell, if you will, but without the magic we're familiar with. Indeed, even Sanction couldn't recognize any underlying functions hidden in it. It's not a reality-intrinsic rune, thank god, but it seems to have a latent nature to it... Which is why I'm convinced the symbol is a nightmare itself." He gestured with a thumb to the plastic mat, as the final embers dwindled away.

"Whatever it is, it's something that appears only inside closed spaces with that symbol printed upon it. Indeed, the Himura house is completely barred off and fatal to anyone entering. The Agency is trying to deal with it as we speak."
<Snipped quote by Zombehs>

...wat


The Edged Horizon bandwagon is 5 cars long.
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