Duoya

T a b u l a R a s a || A Game of Gods & Creation

Interested!

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

Dirk Davidson

Health: 3000/3000
Mana: 1100/1300

Stats

Strength: 18
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 5

Skills

Sword Wielding: Lv.20

Passive Abilities:
Inspiring Presence: Whenever user takes damage, they have a small chance to either recover 100HP or have target nearby friendly gain 50HP.
Vengeful Smite: User has a low chance to deal magic damage to target that has managed to deal melee damage against user.
Fortress of Wood: User gains a small, permanent, irremovable damage reduction. Works for all kinds of damages.

Equipment

Solace Medallion (Equipped)
Abyssal Mask (Equipped)
Shield [Round] (Equipped)
Full Plate Armor (Equipped)
Solace Blade (Equipped)
Rosary of Courage (Equipped)

Interactions: No one
Location: Savage Fields

---

The landscape shifted extremely abruptly almost instantaneously, warping from the calm and rolling green hills that were only broken up by the occasional low level mob into a much smaller area, enclosed via many trees, with a large ruined piece of architecture nearby. The most captivating difference, however, was the massive Boars that stood in front of the group - compared to the enemies that they saw on the journey to the dungeon, these were at least twice as tall, and they were a few levels higher. They were making low pitched grumbling sounds, and Theo swore that one of them was foaming slightly at the mouth.

Their relatively low level did much to help his self esteem, however.

Reylan's order came out, and Theo immediately focused on the Boars that he was told to take on. Aggravate would probably guarantee a hit, especially since the Boars would charge straight towards them, but the ability still had a cool down, even if it was very short. He thought of his course of action until Alisea hopped in front of him, causing the area surrounding the center boar to become engulfed in shadows, and an arrow firing towards the same boar that had been at the epicenter of the attack. Theo moved forwards at this, his slow Paladin speed allowing him to reach the edge of the effect around the time it finished.

Quickly reaching into his menu, Theo equipped the Abyssal Mask and activated it, targeting the central boar right next to him, that had taken the two attacks head on. It would hopefully run away, allowing the others a few potshots. Then, He slammed his longsword against his shield, sparks appearing as he invoked his title's ability, Resolute Smite. Costly, but there were mages in the party with Chakra magic, so Mana was not a major issue.

All that was left was to prepare for the incoming assault, with the only comfort being that it was only half as strong, and one of the boars was running for the hills.

---

Summary:
Use Abyssal Mask on Boar 3
Resolute Smite

The Crystalline Blood

Interested.

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

Dirk Davidson

Health: 3000/3000
Mana: 1300/1300

Stats

Strength: 18
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 5

Skills

Sword Wielding: Lv.20

Passive Abilities:
Inspiring Presence: Whenever user takes damage, they have a small chance to either recover 100HP or have target nearby friendly gain 50HP.
Vengeful Smite: User has a low chance to deal magic damage to target that has managed to deal melee damage against user.
Fortress of Wood: User gains a small, permanent, irremovable damage reduction. Works for all kinds of damages.

Equipment

Solace Medallion (Equipped)
Shield [Round] (Equipped)
Full Plate Armor (Equipped)
Solace Blade (Equipped)
Rosary of Courage (Equipped)

Interactions: Everyone
Location: Outside Savage Fields

---

Day 11

The previous day's meeting had been rather eventful - the plan to begin intense grinding once again had caused Theo more than a little stress, but it would be impossible to talk the others out of it - they'd want revenge sooner or later, and this was the only effective method of getting it themselves. The first thing that they did in the morning was to assemble for Karma's funeral - it was very similar to Kajin's, almost exactly the same except for the body in the coffin and the number of people present. The service was very depressing, but Theo had no doubt that some of his companions simply were stewing in anger towards Valentine rather than sadness for the death of Karma. The service ended after an hour or so, with the coffin simply disappearing from sight like most monsters and players did on death.

Normally, Theo would have felt very sick at the sight, but he was slowly acclimating. Was it slowly? It had only been 11 days in the game, and the death of an acquaintance meant significantly less than before. Theo had no doubt that this was aided by both the rosary and the acting skill, but he had grown much more cold than when he first entered the game.

It didn't really matter.

When the service was over, Theo quickly left to stock up on supplies. The shopping had taken him two hours, but by the end, he had 80 renn worth of Dried fruit. Reylan had mentioned buying food for them, but actually holding something in his hands felt much more reassuring when staying out for so long. Water was much more difficult and expensive to hold onto - if he was lucky, Theo wouldn't need to worry about it. With everything in his inventory and his coin purse significantly lighter, Theo made for his second target - Data Link 66.

He barely spent any time at all inside the guild house, before leaving angrily. He didn't have nearly enough to make Valentin's information public knowledge - getting the information for him alone cost Reylan 600 Renn, so there was no way they'd send it out in their own newsletter for anything less than a fortune.

Still, holding onto his meager amount of Renn was fortunate. He doubted he would have had a place to sleep the night if he had spent it, even if Hans and Julia liked him. Theo spent the rest of the day browsing the city, eventually buying a sleeping bag when the thought of the rough ground came to mind. Everything settled, Theo went back to the inn, having dinner and falling into a deep slumber, preparing for what was to come the following day.

Breakfast, a shower, and donning his armor were the beginning of the day, as usual with Theo. With a quick farewell to Hans and Julia, Theo joined up with his guild mates in the march to the dungeon.

The trip itself was easy, albeit tedious and tense. The group fought no monsters, and Theo chose not to adopt his Dirk eccentrics until they made it to the dungeon - it would be to easy for them to snap at him with nothing to do but walk. By the time they had made it to the dungeon, the sun was halfway across the sky, and Theo was already munching on one of his dried fruit, bringing him down to seven in all. The sight of the translucent invisible wall filled Theo with a new jolt of energy that wasn't present during the march as his acting skill briefly flooded him with cues and lines of dialogue.

"Beware, foul beasts who reside within - Dirk Davidson and the Legendary Legion of the Wolves have come for your hides!"

For Greater Evil!

Justin's composure broke slightly as the fleshy arm surrounded his lower body, restraining him in a tight grip. He nearly reached over to tap onto the Tarrare, alerting it to begin attacking, before Maricola began to run the complete opposite direction. Considering she knew the direction to the pound, Justin drew the conclusion that she must have been in this city before, or perhaps had some extrasensory ability. A lot of updating had to be done with Pandora's files of his classmates.

Justin was thankfully able to reach Pandora's box, allowing him to move one of the tendrils into the Tarrare's access port - he didn't give the attack command, however, realizing the futility of doing so when she already had such a tight grip on him. The Tarrare could probably melt through her flesh, but not fast enough before she could crush him to death. Despite being mostly submerged, Annatar spoke telepathically to the pair.

"Maricola, wait! If you are against jewels, we could steal something else. And I don't mind being stuck inside you, but at least let our friend her go, please? We could steal something else instead, our new friend seems keen on getting filthy rich. Having hung out with, ahem, 'youth' your age, I know a thing or two about 'technology', which you seem to be a master of. Couldn't you easily 'hack' these gambling machines to award us with money we haven't won? That way, we accumulate wealth and don't even seem to be doing it illegitimately. How about that Maricola? Or maybe, you tell me what you're interested in?"

Before he could respond, they arrived at what appeared to be an animal hospital - with blinding speed, Maricola launched out Annatar at the glass window, shattering it immediately - as well as shattering the windpipe of the man who was at the front counter. He twitched briefly, convulsing on the ground just within Justin's peripheral view. It took nearly thirty seconds for him to stop - whether because he had went unconscious or because he had already expired was an unknown to Justin. The loud blaring of the burglar alarm and the cacophony of howling and barking dogs was temporarily deafened when Justin saw this, mostly out of shock. She had killed him so easily, and was holding onto Justin with the same hands that just took a life.

And judging by the happy way she acted, she wasn't the least bit apologetic or upset. Justin knew in that moment that he needed to escape these insane people, by any means necessary. He spoke, dragged along the ground with occasional glass shard cutting into his skin.

"I-if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to be let down at once."

If she didn't comply, Justin was still connected to the Tarrare - maybe he could escape if it cut off her arm? There was plenty of metal around here, so he would be able to leave without fear of the Tarrare being dismantled, even with the force that the girl displayed.

@Stern Algorithm@Menhir

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

Dirk Davidson

Health: 3000/3000
Mana: 1300/1300

Stats

Strength: 18
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 5

Skills

Sword Wielding: Lv.20

Passive Abilities:
Inspiring Presence: Whenever user takes damage, they have a small chance to either recover 100HP or have target nearby friendly gain 50HP.
Vengeful Smite: User has a low chance to deal magic damage to target that has managed to deal melee damage against user.
Fortress of Wood: User gains a small, permanent, irremovable damage reduction. Works for all kinds of damages.

Equipment

Solace Medallion (Equipped)
Shield [Round] (Equipped)
Full Plate Armor (Equipped)
Solace Blade (Equipped)
Rosary of Courage (Equipped)

Interactions: Everyone
Location: Inn

---

It seemed like Theo was the only one who held the view that they should strike quickly - he wasn't too surprised, in the end, and he didn't even really want to pursue the plan that he suggested. He merely did so because that was the course of action that Dirk would have taken in the same situation. Theo himself wasn't even sure if they should confront Valentine and his gang - just reporting him to the other guilds and having them take care of it would be easier. It wasn't like Theo knew enough about Karma to risk his life to avenge the man.

The stranger who spoke offered an opinion that Theo felt was mirrored by Dubstepp's proposal - simply gathering information and striking later. The strategy struck Theo with a brief moment of clarity, a plan immediately coming to mind. He'd contact Data Link 66 before the guild left for the dungeon, giving them time to inform every player who subscribed to their newsletter. That would alert all major guilds, and they would almost certainly get their members to apprehend him. Aramo was already going to be informed by Reylan, but having the most influential news guild telling everyone about the threat that Valentine posed was essentially a game over for the man. It didn't matter how cruel or powerful he was, if the majority of players were told about him and his class, he would be countered easily.

Valentine would almost certainly be caught in the coming days, and Theo hoped it wasn't the Wolves who'd catch him. Theo needed to minimize the danger the guild put themselves in, both for their protection and, more importantly, his own. He was the Tank, and suffered the brunt of damage in any conflict. Limiting that was essential to surviving the game, and Theo didn't want to risk fighting actual human players. They were too smart.

Xenos had a few choice words for the stranger, but Theo wasn't shocked out of his thoughts by the tone of his message. Instead, he was shocked when he heard his proposal of skill point distribution - He luckily didn't glare at the man when he suggested it. It would be detrimental to Theo's persona if he was forced to reveal the massive amount of points he had dumped into his acting skill - the others would think he had something to hide, and he'd lose trust, lose the image he had built around himself so carefully.

"I agree Xenos - I'm not sure about any of you, but I've mostly put my points into my sword skill and shield wielding. Do any of us have cooking? And Botany or Fishing might be useful to lower the costs of such an expedition, since we could harvest some food from the surroundings."

Going against the suggestion was stupid if looked at from their point of view - Xenos was right that they needed to put their skills into useful things. However, if he didn't show any resistance, than their might not be a need to reveal his point distribution.

And, if he needed to, he was more than capable of lying about it.

For Greater Evil!

Will post once I get home from work.

Edit: Work was hell - tomorrow afternoon will be a better time

For Greater Evil!

Justin was close to being done tinkering with the Albion - he accomplished nothing more than taking apart the hydraulics in one of the arms before putting it back together extremely quickly. It had been several minutes since he sent her out, and Justin was prepared to move onto the second step of his plan. Or, he was, until the small creature and Maricola walked up to him.

"Boy, you seem...thoughtful. I like that. Annatar, Lord of Gifts, here to aid you in whatever mischief you feel up to."

The small creature, which Justin had initially dismissed as one of the other classmates familiars or some dumb animal, was the one who had spoken. Justin calmly reminded himself that he would need to remember the name and update Pandora's files on his classmate. The Tarrare slowly hummed, heating up as one of Justin's villainous classmates approached within 5 feet of him. A simple tap on the chassis quieted him instantly.

"Well met, Lord Annatar - I, Dr. Minccia, am thankful for the aid. My plan is simple - My GPS can tell me the location of every major jeweler in Las Vegas, and with this knowledge, we will steal-!"

"Hey, are you a girl~?"

It took several seconds for Justin to calm himself after that. His psychiatrist always said that he had anger problems that were unhealthy for someone his age, that he got obsessive and compulsive while angry, and he should avoid situations that could spark it. Luckily, he wasn't easy to infuriate - he just had to make sure he didn't get angry in the first place, or it'd take awhile for him to calm down. His face was flushed red from embarrassment when he spoke again.

"...I personally thought the lab coat hid my feminine hips. To answer your question, Dr. Minaccia is most definitely a man."

Justin cleared his throat, pressing a few keys attached to the Pandora's Box before looking at a small screen on the side.

"Anyways, I'd be more than willing to split the loot evenly in exchange for assistance. While my robots handle a few other locations, I believe we should head... That way."

The largest jeweler in Las Vegas - enough gold to supply wiring and computer chips for dozens, if not hundreds of robots, even after splitting with his two classmates.

"If you are still having second thoughts, I will also concede the right to pick the name for our temporary alliance. Just be sure to make it have flair."

With another knock on the chassis, the Tarrare began to follow Justin - the Albions following suit. Justin turned as he walked, hoping that the others would follow - with their aid, he was sure he could clear the entire place out before the police arrived.

@Stern Algorithm@Menhir

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

Dirk Davidson

Health: 3000/3000
Mana: 1300/1300

Stats

Strength: 18
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 5

Skills

Sword Wielding: Lv.20

Passive Abilities:
Inspiring Presence: Whenever user takes damage, they have a small chance to either recover 100HP or have target nearby friendly gain 50HP.
Vengeful Smite: User has a low chance to deal magic damage to target that has managed to deal melee damage against user.
Fortress of Wood: User gains a small, permanent, irremovable damage reduction. Works for all kinds of damages.

Equipment

Solace Medallion (Equipped)
Shield [Round] (Equipped)
Full Plate Armor (Equipped)
Solace Blade (Equipped)
Rosary of Courage (Equipped)

Interactions: Everyone
Location: Inn

---

Theo sat quietly, similar to most of the other guild members. He wasn't especially surprised when Alisea delivered the first few words. She and Reylan seemed very close - Theo was guessing that he would probably give her a fairly important role in the guilds leadership structure. Not that Theo cared greatly about that - Dirk wasn't a leader, he was a glue that held people together.

Shaking himself from becoming distracted, Theo refocused on Alisea's actual words. They were thick with emotion, and Theo noticed her body language much more clearly than he would have expected - a prolonged glance towards Shiba, who had been very eager to exact vengeance on Valentine, careful choice of wording in order to maximize impact and the gravity of the situation, and looking around the room to make the audience feel invested. For all Theo knew, she may have been a public speaker before being trapped here. Theo felt his hand tighten around his rosary as the mention of more deaths crossed Alisea's speech.

There were too many deaths already. Far, far too many. And yet, the only one that the guild has recognized thus far was Karma's?

Theo felt slightly sick to his stomach. Now wasn't the time to point it out, and it wasn't his place to accuse the guild of favoritism. That would devalue Karma's death. And no one deserved that.

"I must make my feelings heard - I sympathize with Shiba. We should take out Valentine and his goons as soon as possible, and not give them time to prepare for retaliation. They most likely expect us to train more before fighting them, especially since they are higher level - and postponing our assault will only give them time to get even higher levels, and access to stronger abilities!"

Theo stood, his chair being pushed slightly as he did so.

"The longer we wait, the more chances they will have to commit more atrocities - no one in this game deserves to be killed by another player!"

Did Valentine deserve it? The thought gave Theo pause. How would they incapacitate Valentine and his gang without killing them? And while Theo was definitely resilient, he completely understood his guild mates hesitation to fight against such strong opponents. They lost their only healer, and the fight would endanger many of them - especially since Valentine was a human, and would target the weaker party members.

Dirk would never think of this though. He would only be driven to stop Valentine from committing more crimes. Theo could only find one line of thinking that would allow him to back down.

"However... I didn't know Karma long, but he seemed like a man who hated recklessness. Someone who cherished his allies and didn't want them to be hurt over risky maneuvers." Theo's eyes drifted to Alisea, but he quickly shifted them back. He had forgiven her for that incident, so there was no need to make her feel bad. Especially now.

"If the majority decides to not go after Valentine, I will understand and comply. I'll even admit this... it would be what Karma wanted."

Theo sat down, gazing solemnly at his eggs and toast. He ate a few more bites before drinking some water, his mouth parched after going on a long-winded tangent after the previous day of constant talking.

For Greater Evil!

As they exited the portal, Pandora was already moving before Justin had a chance to acclimate himself. The Albion unit quickly attached itself to Pandora's Box, uploading the AI back into it's original home. Then, a fraction of a second later, a headset emerged from behind Justin, gently placing itself over his eyes.

"Analysis complete: - Cross checked local landmarks and used your GPS location, destination of portal appears to be Las Vegas, Nevada. Note: 'Portal creation' under the 'Headmaster' file has been updated to 'Transdimensional Portal Creation.'"

Snapshots of the city flickered across Justin's eyes, before showing a computer-generated earth, quickly zooming into the location that they were sitting in. The headset was removed, and the entire process took less than ten seconds. It didn't really matter, since the Headmaster announced their location only a few seconds later. Justin sighed, happy that he managed to program Pandora to automatically search for information like this, but somewhat disgruntled that he was subjected to it every single time. Looking around revealed that every person at the auditorium was present in the city, albeit some were shaken and others were attempting to pair up with one another.

Under different circumstances, Justin would have been more than willing to update his files on his other classmates - they were woefully underdeveloped due to the lack of exposure he had with them, and knowing their abilities would definitely help in the event a test pitted them against one another. However, there were more important things at hand.

"Pandora, this is a rare trip to the Human world - Take the Xaphan and the Pixies, and collect as much material as you can - wiring, steel, concrete, gold, anything you can. Money would also be appreciated, but is not necessary. Be as inconspicuous as you can, and only land to collect resources. Use flight pattern Dalet, and dump any materials at a hidden location when you have lost those following you. I'd recommend the surrounding desert."

"Very well."

A small wire connected the Xaphan to Justin, before falling limp and retracting once more. As this happened, the pixies escaped their confinement, quickly flying to surround the Xaphan, almost certainly Pandora informing them that they would use flight pattern Dalet. Soon, the Xaphan took off, the Pixies moving quickly to follow. Normally, Justin would worry about sending his precious Xaphan to do common thieving, but flight pattern Dalet involved losing law enforcement by simply flying above the clouds and high enough that ground level people couldn't make them out. Justin gently rubbed his finger against the recall button on Pandora's Box, careful not to press it - he was paranoid without her presence, and he just wanted the security of knowing he could call her back at a moments notice.

Looking to his classmates, he tried to analyze the situation on his own, something he had grown rusty at without Pandora whispering in his ear. He recognized the majority of them, but several seemed like the types to rarely ever show up to classes. One of the goblins, Noko, was standing around with several others of his kind. He was agreeable, kind even - almost certainly due to his weak physique and general lack of power. Still, he managed to make it halfway through the year, and Justin was far from willing to trust the creature with anything valuable. It had one time broke a Pixie and stole parts to fuel his coffee addiction...

One group seemed to be composed of several, somewhat polarizing beings - a small cat-like creature, the Dusk Valkyrie Eris, one of the imps from hell, Captain Endemia, Maricola, and a bug like girl. Justin had no clue who the cat creature or the bug girl were, and while the imp seemed familiar, there were just too damn many of them in hell for Justin to recognize them individually.

The Dusk Valkyrie had a pretty bad personality, so Justin did his best to avoid her - the main reason he remembered her was from faculty talking about a particular set of images that she sent to her professor rather than taking the midterm. Still, the card she held in her hands seemed to be making her especially popular at the moment. Justin might have been enticed, until he remembered he was a villain, and villains were not above stealing what they wanted. The Captain, however, had a weird place in Justin's rankings of his classmates - they were copying the super villains rather than the more supernatural, which Justin approved of greatly. However, Justin couldn't tell their gender, and not being able to use pronouns may have been easy for Pandora, but Justin found the practice too bothersome. Still, better than Eris insulting people - Justin had thankfully managed to avoid her scorn for most of the year.

Maricola was easy to deal with, and he had several conversations with her about Omegaman in the past. When Justin's brother got accepted into a superhero team, he always bragged about the missions where his team worked with the amazing hero, and Justin had built a decent collection of knowledge about the man. Still, this girl was almost obsessive over the man, and most conversations that they had about him were very one-sided. Still, at least she was nice. Probably the nicest of his classmates.

The other people in the class completely evaded Justin's acknowledgement - he had no clue who they were, and would have to hope that they wouldn't try to start trouble. With little motive to engage in conversation, Justin instead moved to an unoccupied bench and began to tinker with the Albion unit. It would likely achieve nothing, but it helped Justin ignore the large number of people surrounding him, and might dissuade the other villains from picking a fight with him.

Justin noticed Nero speaking to the crowd as a whole, and quickly made his way to avoid him - he was cautious of electric users, and had been sure to learn the names of any he finds. He ended up resigning himself to a nearby bench, tinkering with one of the Albion units in order to pass the time.