FujiwaraPhoenix

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist: All clear. Add to the character tab whenever.

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Duly noted.

In the meantime, I'll toss up what I've got.

THE ZEKENATOR

• Name: Zeke von Genbu, Bringer of Chaos
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: "All right, Pandy, let's check this place out!"
• Personality: Zeke is, for lack of a better term, eccentric. He is a person who unabashedly chews the scenery, and his grandiose mannerisms have left Pandoria working as the occasional 'straight man' to his 'funny man' routine. This is not to say that Zeke is a one-note existence who only exists for comic relief, though; he is more than enough aware to read the mood and be serious and competent when necessary. Though he often plays the fool (and revels in the act), Zeke can be surprisingly mature at times, to the point where one might wonder if his usual demeanor is just an act.
• Brief History: Born Ozychlyrus Brounev Tantal (and still technically his legal name), Zeke left (or, rather, was kicked out of) his home due to wanting to explore the world, and, alongside his Blade Pandoria, spent the next few years thereafter traveling through Alrest. An incident during his travels, however, left him mortally wounded, and it was only because of Praetor Amalthus' actions that he was able to survive the encounter.
  One thing led to another, though, and Zeke found himself clashing with Rex and his party in their search for Elysium; eventually, he, too, would join them on their journey. Not to say that he wasn't any worse for the wear for it, though, given all of the work they had to go through after scaling the World Tree in the first place.
• Universe of Origin: Xenoblade Chronicles 2
• Equipment: Other than a few miscellaneous accessories, Zeke also has Pandoria at his side. As his Blade, Pandoria also gives him access to his great sword, which he can thus summon or de-summon at will. Other than that, he also has a few other Blades that he has resonated with—most notably, Ursula, KOS-MOS, Dagas, and Praxis—which allow him to use their respective weapons as well.
• Abilities: As a Driver, Zeke is able to resonate with Core Crystals to awaken Blades, which in turn allow him to make use of their weapons. This also allows him to synchronize with his Blades in turn, throwing his weapon back to whoever is active to enable their usage of more powerful special attacks. That being said, he can only have one Blade active at any given time, and the function of each of his Blades and his ability to use Blade Arts depend on who among those is active.
• Other: A bit more meta, but while all of his stuff uses the English localization, his mannerisms will lean a bit more towards his Japanese iteration (which is mostly the same).
  Also, he has horrible luck at times.

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

As for the intended personnel...

@Rune_Alchemist@Rin@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@KoL@Crusader Lord@RolePlayerRoxas

Ring ring ring.

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Prologue

An entity separate from time and space, the Nameless City was once a major gathering place for travelers from all walks of life—and all phases of reality. Those hailing from universes of all varieties could make their way here, one way or another, and thus the city itself had become a melting pot of all sorts of people from all sorts of places. Future could meet with past could meet with present; science fiction and magic of all sorts made its way into the land's residents.

That was aeons ago, though; now, the city has long since fallen into disrepair. What was once a thriving metropolis has become naught but a shadow of its former self, with all its residents having either died or left for other worlds. With none left to maintain it and tales of its existence having long since faded into obscurity, the empty shell that the city was now found itself fully lost—a world inaccessible to any other.

For some reason or another, though, the city has once again opened its gates, but only to a select few. Without what once powered it, though, it may only be a matter of time before that, too, comes to a stop...

---

Well, since this is invite only, I'll skip the formalities. You all know the deal; crossover, one character per person, and we're already at cap, so... Form!

Form

• Name:
• Gender:
• Appearance:
• Personality:
• Brief History:
• Universe of Origin:
• Equipment:
• Abilities:
• Other:

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

Though somewhat still shaken by having almost been executed for no real crime of his own, Jason was able to steady himself and get a somewhat clear grasp of the current tides of battle. The onslaught of attacks on part of Hijikata seemed to be doing something to Altera, even if that "something" was pushing her further back due to the restrictions placed on her by her Master and not any lasting physical damage, and with said Master currently occupied in attempting to call someone else, there were a multitude of options on the table for the young man.

All of that thought process was stopped, of course, the second that another voice rang out over the din of combat. The words 'Fusang Counter-Crime Force' were enough for the young man to understand exactly what was happening, and his body immediately tensed up as he looked towards the source of the voice. It didn't matter that it was a Servant half his height, after all; given what had transpired this morning and all of what he had found himself wrapped up in, there was no doubt in his mind that he would be arrested—or worse.

The declaration of arrest from the new Saber seemed to have a different effect on Hijikata, however; while Jason had found himself like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, the Berserker's eyes seemed to lose their unearthly red glow as his Madness Enhancement wore off. It didn't take more than a second for him to grasp the situation, and seeing that escape was now of the utmost importance, decided to make one final clash of swords with Altera. During that time, though, Hijikata fired his rifle off twice towards the roof. The effect, while not immediate, would make itself known once the sound of creaking metal became audible.

A fire escape, having become worn down and damaged over the course of the initial fight, was now falling down towards the ground, close to the main roads as it was. The rubbernecking people who were vying for a chance to watch the incident play out were now at immediate risk, and the Berserker took opportunity that it made afterwords to leap backwards, grab Jason, and bolt off into another side passageway, away from prying eyes.

Hopefully, the damage would be enough to keep any pursuers off their tail for at the scant few seconds they needed before the damage that had built up over the course of combat finally kicked in.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

After a few moments of silence in waiting for whatever Archer had been pelting them with arrows up until now, Meltryllis found herself coming back down to earth and able to take a few deep breaths. Her actions in destroying their enemy had been unsightly, to say the least, and it would do no good for a flower to become so wild that it became indistinguishable from the weeds around it.

At least, that was how she saw things.

As Nanako's graze drifted around, though, so did her own, and being able to piece together what might have transpired in the moments leading up to their arrival only caused her to sigh.

"How disappointing. If they had simply taken the hearts and left the bodies, I could have at least made use of that as some minimal amount of EXP. Wasteful."

To her, the bodies of the unknown deceased meant no more to her than the lives of the nameless NPCs she had made use of in the Moon Cell—less so, even—but in her current situation, every little bit of strength would mean that much more in the long run.

Before she could continue on her own hunt, however, the enemy had once again loosed another set of bolts. This time, the course was (predictably enough) set towards the dumbstruck Master standing around, and Meltryllis wasted no time in flying over and deflecting the projectiles out of the air. In the instant after, she rocketed off in the direction they had been shot from. The job afterwards was simple enough; throw out waves of energy to cut off escape, find the source of the arrows at once, and drag them through the dirt before taking their resources for herself.

Enemies like this, after all, deserved the most severe of punishments, and the Alter Ego was most certainly in the mood to hand those out with all due haste.

Ruler — Sherlock Holmes

The time that Holmes had taken in giving his Master sufficient warning turned out to only be enough for just that, and it seemed that James Moriarty had already begun making his way towards their location. It would seem both petty and childish to leave without responding to the greeting he had put forth, and a social faux pas or two in this crowd would only serve to make achieving their own goals more difficult in the long run.

With his expression back to neutral, the Ruler simply nodded his head in turn towards Moriarty's greeting and began to speak.

"Well, it is only natural that we would look into something odd if it piqued our curiosity. How about you, then? Is the state of your bartending business such that you have enough free time to look into this as well, or is there something you wished to seek us out in particular for?" he asked in turn.

@KoL@DocRock

At the Arena

Once Mordred had rocketed off with the power of her Noble Phantasm, Chiron took a deep breath and shifted his stance in turn. Evasion from a telegraphed aerial approach such as this was something that could be avoided with the most precise of movements, and given that taking the attack head on would likely result in his defeat, the Archer took the small opportunity that he had been given to take a few steps around Mordred and prepare a counterattack. The massive crater left in the field after the fact only made evident how narrow a margin it had been that he was able to avoid what he had, but the Archer was not so weak-minded such that he could be fazed by that.

"Your style is already rather evidently self-taught, Mordred," he said, clenching his fists a few times in an attempt to ignore the lightning that had found its way towards him regardless of his own movements. "While your approach has enough force behind it, I would recommend that you open fights with attacks that leave yourself less open to counterattacks."

With that said, Chiron quickly closed the distance that he had made for himself before going for a throw on the Saber. Despite his class, after all, he was still well versed enough in martial arts to put up a fight at this distance.

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

Once the other Master had let go of the garrote, Jason finally allowed himself to take a breath, falling from his half-seated position onto his hands as he took the chance to recuperate. He was well aware, of course, that something was terribly wrong; Command Seals failing like that against a Berserker wasn't necessarily unheard of, but the subsequent activation of Madness Enhancement that was being displayed against the Saber opposing him was far more fearsome than he had expected out of the matter. It didn't take a genius to realize that he was about as useless as any other, and the only fear in his mind was that the girl who had so casually threatened his life before wouldn't be afraid to take it to stop the rampaging Hijikata instead... Well, assuming that the Saber didn't simply overpower him outright.

For what it was worth, though, the wanton destruction of the cityscape did not end without result. While the Berserker was able to maintain his position for a minute or so, the barrage of attacks was very quickly wearing away at his body. Not that he seemed to pay that any mind, though; despite the various injuries on his body, Hijikata continued to press forth, even going so far as to deliberately take strikes to aim for his opponent's apparent openings.

"CUT THEM DOWN! ADVANCE! THIS! IS! THE SHIN! SEN! GUMI!"

@Raineh Daze

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Once the arrows had been blocked, Meltryllis calmly strode up to the still regenerating half-corpse lying on the floor, despite her own Master desperately scrambling away from it. It was almost pitiful, watching her be so afraid of something about to be neutralized... But given how weak she seemed to be, there didn't seem to be any helping that part of her. Cowardice would work best with her, anyhow; despite not being able to flaunt her own abilities as much, the inability to lose simply off of her Master's death was a blessing in disguise.

With a swift motion, the purple-haired Alter Ego raised her right foot over the shadow's head and, without a shred of hesitation, crushed it beneath her heel. Then she did so again.

And again.

And again.

The more she stomped on the remains of her enemy, helpless as it was to resist, the Alter Ego couldn't help but feel a smile creep its way onto her face. It soon turned into a devilish smirk, and once she had finished turning whatever this was into barely more than a pile of ground meat (if it could even be called that any more) and injecting it with copious amounts of her poison, Meltyllis turned around and laughed.

"Ah, that was refreshing. All of my pent-up stress, relieved like that. But I'm still not done. Archer, wherever you are, I'll make sure you suffer for every last waking moment. But be pleased with yourself; in that endless pain, you'll become a part of my power, and I'll be sure to make full use of you. Be grateful that you won't end up like your companion over there, because you've managed to make me ever so slightly irritated."

It was a declaration to the empty building, the space around her deathly quiet as she strode forward, past the young lady scared out of her mind off to the side.

What issue was there in scaring her Master further, anyhow? it was easy to protect a stationary target from a single opponent and chase them down in turn, especially with her speed.

@VitaVitaAR

Ruler — Sherlock Holmes

The complicated expression that the detective wore as his companion questioned him about the identity of the old man waiting outside of their destination spoke volumes more than anything else that could be said. It took a brief moment for Holmes to compose himself after his Master's 'aquaintance' remark, and the Ruler wasted no time in elaborating.

"Well, to say he is an... 'Old acquaintance' would not be entirely off the mark, but... It would also be a lie to say that he is anyone other than that old fool. I needn't say the name, Miss Obberhausen; surely, having a title such as 'the Napoleon of crime' would be more than enough for you to deduce his abilities, would it not?"

The question, of course, was rhetorical, and was immediately followed by a simple warning.

"If you so wish to follow in Watson's footsteps, then I would highly recommend trying to not fall into his schemes. Though I may understand the plots he concocts without a shadow of a doubt, it is only after they have been executed am I able to make use of my own abilities; if his ideas are still in motion, then it would be impossible to protect you from any ill fortune he may have in store. But as things are now, it seems that direct conflict is all but impossible to avoid."

@KoL@DocRock

Fusang Hospital

The line of questioning was one that Mary could only give a sheepish smile towards Hakuno about. Her eyes glanced off to the side for a moment, as if out of embarrassment, but it wasn't as if the questions that were being asked were impossible to answer.

"Well, um... I think I used one of those bokuto that you usually get at shrines, and the Servant was wearing a kimono and wielding a katana with the rifle I was shot with, so... I think that it wouldn't be too far a stretch to assume that it was someone from post-Sengoku Japan , right? If I recall correctly, it was Hiji... Something? I'm sorry, it's still a bit of a blur to me..." she said, her dialogue meandering to and fro as she continued. "I don't know where my friend—er, he goes by Jason—where he went, though I hope he didn't just up and abandon me like that..."

There was an almost palpable weight to her final words, as if she was implicitly accusing him of betrayal, but given the circumstances such ideas couldn't exactly be ignored outright.

"...Is there anything else? I think those painkillers that they gave me are finally kicking in again..."

@RolePlayerRoxas

At the Arena

At the Knight of Betrayal's provocation, Chiron simply smiled and took a firm battle stance, steadying himself on the ground in front of Mordred as the two stood on opposite ends of the arena's bounds. There was enough room for two matches, after all, and the Archer found himself already taking mental notes on how to help the knight in front of him do better in battle. The stance that she held, for example, was far more indicative of a self-taught style than he had anticipated.

That being said, it would take the two of them trading blows before he could come up with any valid criticisms for the moment.

"Let us begin, then," the Archer called out to his opponent, a calm smile on his face as he watched his opponent ready herself.

It was a given, though, that the two would immediately clash as soon as the referee present gave them the okay to do so. Chiron simply stood by, however, waiting for his opponent to come to him. It would do him no favors to attack first, after all.

Warped Earth, Twisted Air (An Urban Fantasy Dungeon Crawler RP) — Now Open!

Mausoleum Graveyard — North

Walking north from the entrance to the graveyard—towards whatever was making the noise in the distance—would show that this location was indeed nowhere near as empty as the initial chamber might have hinted at. While the graveyard itself continued on, the building seemed to extend parallel alongside it, with another door further off in the distance.

Towering above the space in between the graves, though, was a large humanoid creature slowly patrolling the area. The sounds, it seemed, came from the shovel that was in its hand—or, at least, one of them. It seemed to not be wholly aware of anyone else's presence, and for the most part it continued to move about, its cloaked head staring at the ground as it did so.

@Raineh Daze

Mausoleum Graveyard — South

The smaller structure off to the left of the main building would prove to be far more willing to cooperate than the altar that the group had dealt with prior, with the doors already being slightly ajar (though not without difficulty in actually moving them). Past those, however, would reveal a massive jewel hovering a few feet above the ground. The size of the object made it far too implausible to move around, and it was doubtful that the object itself would even fit through the doors back towards the entrance of the Rift, if at all.

What would come next, though, was the sound of bones rattling from further into the structure—a cacophony of metal hitting bone hitting stone and whatever else it was that could be made out from that as a result. To those more acutely aware of their surroundings, however, the sounds of the earth behind the group shifting likewise was more than enough reason to remain on guard.

That being said, nothing seemed to be occurring yet—it was as if the sounds were being made to ward off intruders more than anything else right now...

@ERode@Duthguy@OwO@VitaVitaAR

Castle of Snow

The entry of the group present was immediately followed by a dramatic slamming of the doors behind them that seemed almost automatic in nature. As things were now, escaping straight through the front door seemed to no longer be an option to those brave enough to head forth. With that said, though, the hesitation of those present near the entrance also meant that no threats had come to strike at the group as of yet.

Or, rather, that might have been the case had the vase off to the side not been disturbed. Almost as if in response, one of the sets of armor next to it seemed to slowly creak, its head turning towards the source of the disturbance before it began to pick up speed. Acting with the speed of a trained soldier, the enemy seemed to spring to life. With its weapon now unsheathed, the living armor swung down towards Marxion's torso without a shred of hesitation.

@Lugubrious@Rune_Alchemist@Anonawrimo@TheFake

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

The homunculus girl's words were not lost upon the young man, and the least he could do was glance towards the ground in a mix of disappointment and embarrassment. Even if he was a Master, to have used two Command Seals and yet still have failed to affect the Berserker in any meaningful way... In summary, it felt as if all of those mocking words had been right this entire time. With that in mind, though, Jason knew that this was no time to wallow in any amount of self-pity. Before he could try and do anything to stop the Servant otherwise, though, the other Master had approached and threatened to take take his life to force the Berserker to stand down.

"Wait, what are you..."

It didn't take long for him to realize that there was a garrote around his neck, indescribably thin as it was. The thin streams of blood that were falling down his neck didn't particularly help matters much, but as far as he could tell, the girl was dead serious about this threat.

"Ah? You think I care about that stupid—" the Berserker began to say mid-combat as he blocked and parried Altera's sword before suddenly stopping in his tracks. He was, up until now, on the defensive, and the brief pause came after he had clashed directly with Altera's sword.

Then, as if all at once, a surge of mana filled the air around Hijikata before concentrating wholly upon him. It was almost as if the energy from the Command Seals from earlier had found themselves turned into pure magical energy rather than a command, and the results spoke for themselves. With a cry of anger, the reason in the Berserker's eyes seemed to dissipate entirely, and he began a frenzied assault upon the Saber blocking his path ahead.

@Raineh Daze

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

"Disgusting. A creature like you shouldn't have the right to exist in front of me like this."

The remark that slipped out of Meltryllis' mouth was so tinted with disgust that the Servant herself couldn't help but react in turn. As things were now, whatever this was would continue to heal, and ultimately eviscerating such an enemy would take far longer that she would like... Assuming that she continued fighting as she was now.

"Tch. Regenerating from a wound like that... Just stay dead, you vile lump of flesh," she continued, taking a step forward with the intent to kill their enemy, only to turn her head in an instant once she heard the sound of arrows whizzing by. Without wasting a single movement, the Alter Ego dashed forward and, with a spinning pirouette kick, launched the shadow-like enemy she had been facing directly within the line of fire of the arrows.

"Honestly, that damn Archer... Once this ball of meat stays down, I'm going to take my sweet time draining you of everything you're worth..."

@VitaVitaAR

Ruler — Sherlock Holmes

"Now, at that point, Miss Obberhausen, I would be more willing to request a private contractor to bring us out to sea instead. If such a scenario laid itself out for us like an invitation, it would have been no more than a fool's errand to pursue as we were," the Ruler replied in turn, tidying up his outfit as the pair exited the vehicle. "In any case, we would not gain anything more by loitering about. Let us be off."

The pier itself seemed to be fairly busy—busier than the detective had expected; not only that, but it seemed as if there were far more people talking about the structure that they had desired to look into than they had previously expected—and something more, it seemed.

"I heard that there was a monster attack when people tried diving down..."

"What, you mean... In the water?"

"No, like... Inside the thing."

"Wait, seriously?"

Similar conversations seemed to pop up all around the area, and it seemed that there were more than a few boats already bringing people out.

"Hm... Now this... This is a development I did not expect," Holmes said, nodding his head before noticing an all-too familiar old man waiting outside the administrative office. "Miss Obberhausen, please, do remain on guard. He is not a person who is all too inclined to show his face in public, after all..."

@KoL@DocRock

At the Arena

The sudden bombardment of questions and requests caused Bradamante to fumble for a moment, and the barely-concealed smile at being able to talk in-depth with her idols as she was now was unmistakably causing her behavior to become somewhat erratic. The mix of excitement, awe, and embarrassment was incredibly self-evident, especially as Chiron directed them off to the exhibition combat area.

"Ah, you mean Asty? He's always been a bit of a... Wait a second, Asty's here? I still need to ask him about my hippo—A-ah... Erm... A-about Merlin? Well, um, he helped me a lot on my journey to find Ruggiero, and, um... Well, on occasion, he talks to me from Avalon, I think?" she said, scratching the back of her head nervously. "It's almost like he knows exactly when I need help sometimes, and his advice is really useful..." she rambled on as the group walked past a few other sub-arenas on their way to their destination. That, itself, did not take too long, even though the arena was far more spacious than it might have seemed otherwise.

"We've arrived. May I ask if the Masters could please be seated over this way? Being caught in the crossfire of combat is not something that I wish to see. As for the pairings for combat proper... Sir Lancelot, could I ask if you could instruct her as I match Sir Mordred?" Chiron asked, causing Bradamante to tremble for a moment.

"M-me? A-against Sir Lancelot?"

"Are you against that?"

"N-no! In fact, I would be very grateful for a chance to face off against the Knight of the Lake!"

With a smile and another bow, Bradamante rushed off to the combat field, excited for the duel to begin proper. After watching her run off, Chiron smiled and turned back towards the knights present.

"Then I shall take my leave as well. If there are any final preparations to be had, please, do so now. I shall look forward to seeing how your skills match up against my own disciples," he said, nodding his head as he left to follow after Bradamante.

Fate/Eternum

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Given the guttural moan from the thing that she had just launched across the area, Meltryllis could only give a frown of disgust as she prepared herself to strike once more. It looked to be some mockery of a Servant—a failed experiment or a summoning, perhaps—and was thus barely even worth the reaction she had thus given it. The sooner it was destroyed, the better; to be frank, she didn't even want to turn this thing into EXP. The thought of whatever made this thing up being used as her body was quite disgusting, and undesirable would have been putting that lightly.

"I haven't a clue, but it'll be dead soon enough," she remarked in turn, taking a pose as if to move forward before another stream of arrows forced her to move. It wasn't a shot aimed at them without any reason, and given the situation it was likely that the Archer and this thing were working in conjunction.

"Don't get shot; follow my lead, or die trying."

With that, Meltryllis sprang forward, spinning vertically in midair as she launched a shockwave of energy at the enemy in front of the two before swinging her prosthetic leg squarely onto its head. The force of the impact was enough to allow her to do a backflip onto the ceiling, from which she rocketed forth in an attempt to destroy its head.

Assuming that this wasn't some sort of blob-creature as opposed to something with vaguely human anatomy, the succeeding blow would kill it... Assuming that she wasn't forced to mitigate the blow due to that nuisance of an Archer prioritizing its comrade over her Master. Hopefully, that child would have enough sense (or adrenaline) about her to keep up in the first place.

@VitaVitaAR

Arena

To the Knights of the Round Table waiting around in the reception area for their paperwork to be filed, the arrival of one brown-haired Archer would prove to be a boon. Following close behind him, another Servant quietly fidgeted around, taking occasional glances at the all-too-famous entourage in front of her.

"My apologies for the delay," the former said, bowing his head towards the Servants present before glancing behind himself, as if to make sure the other Servant at his side had not fallen behind. "My name is Chiron, and I have been called here to help you all with registration at the arena. As your deeds precede you, however, it seems that we were unable to find enough participants able at this time to match you equally. As such, it seems that I will be among those that will match one of you in combat today. I shall judge you fairly all the same, so please, do not hesitate in showing your strength henceforth."

"U-um... Oh my gosh, it's the actual Knights of the Round Table..." muttered the other Servant, a little bit off to the side as she nervously glanced at everyone who had thus gathered in front of her before Chiron smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

"Come on, it's your turn now. You wished to introduce yourself, did you not?"

"Y-yes!" she exclaimed in turn, her back immediately straightening before she bowed to the knights in front of her. "Bradamante, of Charlemagne's Twelve Paladins! I've heard so much about all of you from the great Merlin, and, and..."

As the Servant's thoughts began to diverge, Chiron simply laughed and turned back to the Servants who he had been addressing thus far.

"I apologize for her excitability; ever since she had been summoned, Bradamante has been coming to watch the Knights of the Round Table fight whenever she has been able—which, to be quite frank, only really meant Gawain's matches thus far. She has volunteered to aid me in my endeavors today, so please, show her higher heights to strive for."

@Raineh Daze@KoL

Warped Earth, Twisted Air (An Urban Fantasy Dungeon Crawler RP) — Now Open!

Akuta Daichi

Daichi couldn't help but nod his head in agreement to his teammates' words, and given that there was no way to handle their goal other than by pushing ahead, it seemed like they were going to have to get dirty one way or another. Kirk's suggestion—to use a stick or something of the sort to prod around—was probably the most logical thing to do. After a few moments of glancing around though, the closest thing that he could find to use for that purpose was a plank from the cabin. With a bullet of air, the piece broke off, and if anything it seemed like it was stable enough to not break apart despite the flowing water.

"Alright, let's see how far this goes..." he said, slowly lowering the piece of wood into the water. Given that it was about a meter long, the fact that it only went in about a third of the way down meant two things.

One, that the water itself wasn't particularly deep, at least for the path forward.

Second, that any shoes and pants used here today were probably as good as gone if they weren't made for this sort of terrain.

"Aah... It's a good thing that I invested in some boots," he said, slowly stepping into the water and using the plank to prod the ground ahead of them.

The path upstream was fairly forgiving, all things considered; given that no fish-like monsters had assaulted them thus far and that the water seemed relatively shallow up up until the clearing where the massive tree was, it almost seemed as if there wouldn't be a problem pressing forward.

Almost, of course, being the key word here.

Past the stream that they pushed past to get here (and the massive tree that, as it turned out, was right in the middle of it), the land seemed to grow increasingly more stable. Given that the only path showing any possibility of immediate progress was a path that seemed to snake downhill that led into another bog-like area, though...

Well, if anything, the land surrounding the tree was a bit less anxiety-inducing than the shack that they had left behind.

"All right, this is probably a good place to set up anything. Establishing a place where we can recuperate if necessary before we push ahead... I can handle a bit of that. If anyone wants to scout ahead in the meantime, then by all means go right ahead."

@KoL@Vesuvius00@HereComesTheSnow@TheWindel

Mausoleum

Upon leaving the main chamber of the building, the first thing—or, rather, things—that would be seen by those present was the array of gravestones. The door, it seemed, led to a graveyard that seemed to stretch for roughly fifty meters in any given direction. Scattered left and right, though, the faint scent of decay lingered in the air despite the faint wind blowing throughout.

Off in the distance to the left was another stone building, less than a quarter of the size of the room that they had just exited, situated next to a gnarled tree. From the right, however, the sound of something being dragged across the grassy earth could be made out, even from this distance. As for what was making that noise... Well, that was something that would simply have to be looked into.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Duthguy@ERode@OwO