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Neir — Slums

Though it seemed like it was a bit difficult to wrap her head around the initial explanation he provided, the more succinct version of Cassius' explanation was enlightening enough to Meira on it's own. Her reaction was, understandably, rather mixed.

"Mmm... I guess there are people like that no matter where you are in the world, huh?" she asked, a slight grimace peeking through on her face before she brought herself in line again. "...But yes, I get the idea well enough. It's not really my place to judge, though; when some rich idiot's ego is as big as their wallet, sometimes you have to swallow your pride and follow along."

With their dialogue taking another somber turn, though, the catgirl glanced back at Cassius for a moment before up towards the sun still high in the sky.

"...It'll be a bit longer before my patrol's done, so if you don't mind me making sure nobody's up and died in the last few minutes, I can go report in and we can head into town proper. It'll probably be a nice change of pace from all this, at least," Meira said as she began her last pass through the shacks steeped in desperation and poverty. "If you do see something I might have somehow missed, though, do let me know."

@ERode
Neir — Slums

"Cassius... Got it," Meira responded, repeating the elf's name once before nodding her head and starting to continue back on her walk around the area. Hearing that her new companion wanted to ask about what she did, though... That was a novel experience in its own right.

"Well, if you want to hear about what I do, then sure," the young woman replied, more than willing to explain her job to the man who had already made this day somewhat more interesting than it might have usually been. "Adventurers... Well, honestly, it wouldn't be too farfetched to call us mercenaries with a better reputation. We take jobs from whoever offers them, handle whatever they're asking for, and get paid using the guild as a middleman."

After waiting a moment to see what Cassius' reaction would her comments would be, if any, the catgirl would opt to elaborate a bit more on the role that she played.

"In my case, most of the things I do involve things like culling the local monsters if they get too out of hand. I know a few teams like diving into dungeons for a chance at some rare treasure trying to strike it rich instead, but that greed could just as well leave someone for dead as it could bring them fortune."

There was a bit of a bitter tone that swam beneath her words, but Meira chose to pivot away from the matter and back towards Cassius and his experiences.

"...Well, that aside... It sounds like wherever you're from is a lot safer than what I'm used to, so it must've been some wild misfortune to bring you here, of all places. Mind if I asked what you used to do, or is that something you'd prefer to keep to yourself?"

@ERode

??? — Mosslit Cavern


For all the concern that the group had over the possibility of the room being laden with traps, the fact that the chest cracked open without so much as a hint of an explosion or it being some sort of monster would be thoroughly... Unnecessary. The rusted lock of the chest would easily crack and give way under the pressure and the slightest show of force from the half-elf, and the top of the container would pop open without any sort of fanfare.

Upon further inspection, the box would appear to have a flute carved of a white-green stone of some sort and left covered in a soft fur pelt of some variety.

The nature of either object was still unknown, of course, but inspecting the interior of the box would make it clear that there was no sort of trick, magical or otherwise, lying in wait.

@Crusader Lord@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable
Steven Yu
??? — Dirt Road

Though his first fight was far from pretty, resolving everything unscathed was probably the most Steven could have hoped for. He could feel Hikari's judgmental gaze digging into him as he made his quip, and the young man quickly decided that it was for the best to not linger too long.

Was it his form? It had to be his form, right? With a Japanese name like that, maybe she thought the way he fought was an insult to the craft?

...She wouldn't have been wrong if that was the case, granted, but it wasn't like he could do any better handling a katana for the first time!

Rather than fret about the opinion of his peers, though, Steven chose to focus his attention towards the bandits—or, well, he would have, had Duncan not already gone and scared what remained of them into retreating. Breathing a sigh of relief, the kitsune quietly sheathed his sword and began walking back towards the armored man to regroup. His gore-splattered face was, admittedly, not the prettiest sight, but given how he had intended to go into medical anyways the sight didn't feel that disturbing to him.

Whether that was good or not was up for debate.

As he approached, though, the entrance of undeniably villainess-like young lady very promptly caused Steven to stop in his tracks. The way she carried herself and the overwhelmingly proud nature of her voice may as well have started ringing alarm bells inside of his head. Tropes and trends didn't really matter in a situation like this, where he—who was probably no better than a street rat or vagrant in her eyes—was staring nobility in the face.

Luckily, Duncan's choice to speak for them meant that Steven didn't have to worry about committing any sort of faux pas in the process of introducting himself. As the man introduced the group in sequence, Steven gave a formal bow towards the blonde. This one, at least, was a lot less uncertain than the one he had given Hikari earlier during their introductions.

Given how he was likely the youngest among their group (physical appearances nonwithstanding), though, the kitsune deemed it best to let the others handle the flow of conversation for the moment.

@Raineh Daze@Sir Lurksalot

??? — Mosslit Cavern

By dint of being what it was, the glowing moss that Nyana chose to gather did indeed continue to glow after being picked off the walls. The glow seemed to be derived from something within the plant itself, but though those processes remained unknown for the moment, the light it provided would be very much appreciated by those without the ability to make out the darker sections of the cavern.

With moss in hand, though, it would be simple enough to light up the center of the chamber. The ground, contrary to the fears of the group, was bereft of any tripwires or pressure plates. Some might have considered the situation to be eerily normal, but one could just as well argue that it was exactly what one would expect a cave to be to begin with.

@Crusader Lord@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable
??? — Ruined Inn

The lock to the cellar—which, of course, had been secured from the outside—unlatched without much effort. Protected from the elements as it was, the door's hinges were left fully mobile (if not a little squeaky from the lack of lubricant for the hinges). Slowly, the wooden door creaked open as the intrepid explorer pried it open, and the light from inside the inn only barely filtered inside.

In so doing, however, the source of the scratching noise would be made promptly clear. A zombie, it's body dusty and dried out, began to shamble towards Bianca with what appeared to be a knife in hand.

The fact that the zombies were capable of complex motor functions like climbing stairs and wielding weapons would be a concern in it's own right, but luckily the undead still seemed to be rather slow in it's approach. As to how to deal with it...

Well, there were a dozen ways to solve that issue.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

??? — Slums

Given that she had been expecting some sort of meandering or dodging of her question, the catgirl was left rather surprised at the elf's rather succinct response to her question. The slightest bit of shock crossed her face as she took a step back, but that emotion was quickly suppressed as she seemed to lose herself in her thoughts for a moment.

"...Well, I can't say that I'm not at least intrigued now. Fine, I'll play along," she finally replied, a slightly cheeky smile on her face as she continued. "This is the city of Neir, one of the bigger cities in this country of Cethaim. It's ruled by a bunch of nobles with King Selm at the top, and that's honestly all I've ever cared to learn about. As for that other stuff... Well, I haven't heard of any talk of war, else I'd have probably skipped town by now."

With her own side of the deal settled, the catgirl listened in quiet contemplation before nodding ever so slightly.

"Mmm... Your story's a bit farfetched, but I guess if it was some teleportation spell gone wrong at play..." she mumbled to herself before shaking her head. "No, no, too many possibilities. But if you say you've come from a 'place of schooling', I don't think it'd be hard to find a job inside. Honestly, it'd probably do you better than any of the manual labor the people living here usually opt to do."

After crossing her arms and nodding her head, the catgirl looked towards the elf's extended hand, then back towards his face.

"I don't usually work for free, though, but I am fine with handing out a few favors here and there," she said, finally choosing to shake his hand with mild conviction. "If you don't mind a small bit of testing to see if you're as smart as you claim, I could probably help you out here. Don't know if I can say the same for your friend back there, though..."

The catgirl seemed to pause for a moment after finishing her own statements before realizing that she had forgotten something important along the way: introductions.

Oops.

"...And before I forget: my name's Meira. I'll be able to get things started after I'm done patrolling the area for the day, but at the very least I'm going to need a name from you to work with, no?"

@ERode@Zeroth@TheMushroomLord
??? — Dilapidated Shack

Though mildly intrigued by the elf's decision to follow after her, the catgirl chose to shrug her shoulders and simply acquiesce to his decision to follow after her. So long as he didn't attempt to actively impede her if something came up, what he chose to do wasn't really any problem of hers.

"Advanturer's Guild? Yeah, I'm a member... Though if you're asking a question like that, you must have been in one heck of a gated community before," she responded, casually glancing over her shoulder as she made sure that the elf was listening. "Slimes are a bit of a non-issue, though; the worst they usually do is bounce around and eat corpses of the dead. Annoying at times, but that's just nature."

At that, though, the catgirl slowed down before finally turning back and giving the person following her another once-over.

"...Well, if that's your question, then how about I ask one of my own? Your clothing looks way too clean for someone who should be living here. I know I said everyone's got their own troubles back there, but you don't strike me as someone who's had any, so..."

The young woman leaned in closer, staring straight into the elf's eyes with an unflinching gaze.

"What's your story? I'm all ears."

While Cassius was being questioned, Connor would find that there were indeed insects—roaches, mainly—crawling beneath the boards of the shack. Killing one of the dozens that would soon begin to scuttle away wouldn't be an issue, but not even a single point of experience would be granted to him in doing so.

@ERode@Zeroth@TheMushroomLord
??? — Mosslit Cavern

Amidst all of the uncertainty about what had happened and how to proceed, the decision to launch a ball of ice at the lone chest would prove rather fruitless. Not because the ice had missed—no, it had certainly landed on the chest and bounced off with a 'thunk' indicative of blunt force meeting wood—but because nothing came of it.

It seemed that the group would need to take it upon themselves to examine the situation rather than carefully prod at things in hopes that they would react in turn.

@Crusader Lord@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable
Richard Evans
Route 5

With the Nidoran now sufficiently weakened and Sara no less worse for wear, Richard nodded his head and produced a Pokeball from his bag. By this point, the rest of the battle was more of a formality—doubly so when the Pokemon he was pursuing seemed to be a bit too reckless in trying to fight back. Either way, though, Richard was more than confident that he could catch it now that it wasn't likely to try and break away.

So try he did. With no sense of spectacle or grandeur, the young man quickly lobbed the ball at the wild Nidoran. At this point, there was little else to be done except wait and see if it worked, else he would simply take another ball and try again.

@Rune_Alchemist
Steven Yu
??? — Dirt Road

Steven quietly nodded his head as Duncan instructed them—rather firmly—on how to proceed as the three of them approached the ongoing battle. There was a moment of silence as the young man took a deep breath before he moved to slowly unsheathe his blade.

One hand on the hilt, one on the scabbard. A slow, steady motion drawing the blade free from it's place at his side. The actions felt equal parts foreign and familiar to the kitsune as he readied the katana in front of himself, both hands firmly grasping at it as he watched the older man charge into the fray once they were finally noticed.

It had been one thing to see the carnage after the battle was well underway, though, and another entirely to see it play out in front of him. The brutality of the scene was difficult to look away from, and the whole thing looking like a scene out of a fantasy film or show made it difficult to stop.

Well, difficult until one of the other apparent bandits broke away after Duncan was very visibly occupied by the melee in front of him to pursue them. It took a second for Steven to recognize the threat that was running towards them, and another still to ready himself for a fight.

"Damn, not even half a day and I've got to fight for my life. Would it have killed someone to drop us somewhere I could learn to swing a sword first?" he complained under his breath as the enemy—knife ready to stab him in the face—charged straight ahead.

If there was anything he had learned from his time playing fighting games, though, it was that distance was king in melee like then. Sure, it would be more than an issue if the enemy got in close enough to stab him, but his katana more than made up for that so long as he could keep the enemy from getting closer. In theory, at least.

Without any sort of formalized stance or training, though, the best that Steven could do was mimic the way that people fought in those games. It was by no means a practical way or fighting, but he would be damned either way if he didn't try to fight either way; that went double for flailing about with no sense on how to fight proper. If anything, that only meant that he'd be likely to die faster.

Though he had maintained his stance as the enemy approached, the bandit quickly found himself caught off-guard as Steven took a brief step forward and cleaved downwards with his blade. The speed at which he did so forced the man to parry with his dagger, and Steven's choice to follow through with the attack rather than pull back forced the bandit onto one knee before they successfully deflected the blow.

From one slash came another, though, and the young man wasted no time in rotating the blade around to allow for him to return with another slash. This one, the bandit attempted to simply dodge by ducking onto the ground.

Unfortunately for him, though, Steven had no intention of playing by any sort of "rules" of combat when there were lives on the line. Once the bandit found himself prone for a moment after dodging, the kitsune closed the distance ever so slightly and, with all the disrespect of a street brawler, kicked a bunch of dirt into the bandit's face.

Left bereft of sight, the bandit began to flail about, screaming profanities at Steven before the kitsune took a moment to circle around his opponent and raised his sword as he prepared to land a more decisive blow.

The thought of taking a life lingered a bit longer than he would have preferred, but ultimately the wish to survive took precedence over the desire for his hands to remain clean. After taking a deep breath, Steven drew back once again and before slashing clear through the body of the bandit, his sword leaving a gaping wound as it split flesh and bone in turn.

"...You okay back there?" he asked as he flicked the blood and entrails of the first life he had taken off of his sword. "By the looks of things, I don't think I need to jump in to help our knight errant over there, but..."

@Raineh Daze@Sir Lurksalot
Kochiya Sanae
Aventon — Deep Forest

Fujiwara-no-Mokou's response to Sanae's inability to comprehend the situation did little to explain any of what had just transpired, but rather than try to press the girl any further for explanations, the shrine maiden chose the more reasonable course of action and simply... Accepted it for what it was.

This might not have been Gensokyo, but Mokou was still a resident of the place as far as she was concerned. In that case, it was best to simply abandon common sense and nod her head as if an explanation like that was perfectly reasonable. Let sleeping dogs lie, was they were.

"...Right, immortality. Well, uh... Just let us know if there's a problem, then," Sanae said, nodding her head towards the immortal-apparent before turning back towards the others to see how they were faring. Youmu and Lewa had cut through the ones flanking their sides well enough, and it seemed as if Remilia had rather unceremoniously fallen face-first into the dirt after executing the one she had found herself up against.

All in all, it wasn't a pretty victory, but it was still a victory. The fact that she felt like she hadn't done much didn't exactly sit well with her, though—it was likely that the others could have solved the centipede infestation without her presence, given how things had panned out—but surely she would have chances in the future to prove herself at least somewhat useful now.

"Uh... I'm fine," Sanae remarked in response to Lewa's question before going around to check on everyone else's condition as well. "...Really, I think Miss Scarlet over here is the only one who isn't looking all that great..."

With the situation more or less handled, though, it made sense for all of them to head back to town and relay what had just transpired here. At the very least, though, it was fairly likely that the boars that had been chased out of their habitat here would be able to return to their natural habitats soon enough.

Provided there weren't more, at least, but if that was the case then hopefully Lily or Saria could head out and deal with them if none of them wanted to go hunting. Heavens knew she wouldn't be of any help, at least.


Aventon — Hunter's Lodge

Though taken aback momentarily by Anne patting her on the head, Millie soon found herself accepting the gesture as a small blush crossed her face. It was a nice feeling, being praised like this, but that came to an abrupt halt as a pair of familiar faces entered the lodge.

"Millie!"

Though Kendrick initially tried to stop Alvin from immediately running to his sister's side, the older man decided to instead stay his hand and let the boy loose. Given what had transpired over the last day, he had more than enough reason to run to her side and take the moment in.

"Alvin?" was the young girl's brief response before being half-grabbed into a hug courtesy of her older brother, almost as if Anne didn't exist. To that, Kendrick could only sigh and walk over to Anne's side as the two children began to talk to one another.

"For now, it's probably best to let them have this moment, huh?" he asked, not expecting any sort of answer when it was as obvious as this. "In that case, it's probably time for us to figure out what we're going to do from now on."

Between the arrival of the Heralds and their subsequent retreat, the fact that the two kids were orphaned, and the possibility of what might happen in the future, there were a lot of things to discuss anyways—never mind how much they might need to keep secret given how likely it was that the Heralds might come back for the children in the future.


Aventon — Eastern Fields

Though the journey had been filled with a bit more chaos and destruction in it's own right, it was hard to argue with the results that had come about from the Berserker's haphazard plan. The animals were indeed back in their holding facilities, and though it would take a bit to restore what had been destroyed, it probably wouldn't be long until things were back to relative normalcy here. The crops... Were a bit of a different matter, but given what had transpired that forced the farmers to ask for help in the first place, the loss of a few weeks' worth of effort paled in comparison to their lived.

In giving their heartfelt thanks to Rayne (who had done her best at damage control the whole way through), though, the farmers made sure to supply the pair of girls with a few ingredients and foodstuff that had escaped the worst of the attack as gifts of appreciation for their efforts, along with a few coins. It might not have been much in the grand scheme of things, but hopefully that was payment enough for their efforts here.



Aventon

By now, a few days had passed since the group had first arrived to the town of Aventon. The chaos brought about by the Heralds had by this point passed, and life had begun to move on. Though the scars of battle still remained—both upon the people and the town itself—the least that could be done now was to make sure that they could do what they could to recover. Whether that meant burying the dead or clearing away the rubble that impeded the roads, no effort was spared in trying to right what was so unjustly wronged.

It was then, though, that an odd stroke of luck came about from those heavy days—the arrival of a trade caravan from deeper into the country. Between the pelt of the earthmane boar and the carapaces of the now-retrieved giant centipedes, though, the town—and the group of otherworlders with them—had plenty to offer for trade to try and recover what had been lost.

Maybe it would be worthwhile to speak with the merchants here for some goods; else, maybe the mercenaries they had hired to help would make good conversation partners?

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Rezod92
??? — Dilapidated Shack

"Safety patrol... You could call it that, I guess," the catgirl responded simply, shrugging her shoulders with a bit of nonchalance before she took a more relaxed stance in front of the elf. "But it's not my actual job or anything of the sort. Does pay well enough when I'm too tired to go hunting monsters or something, even if being in this place makes me wish I didn't have a nose."

The fact that the man had chosen to assess her before anything else did at least mark him as somewhat different from the others who lived here in the slums—a point which she did choose to note in her mind—but what seemed more immediately concerning was how the other person still insider the shack seemed to be attempting to...

Pry a plank off the wall?

Even if she couldn't see clear inside, the haphazard construction and wide-open doorway made it quite obvious what the other person was doing. The catgirl stared briefly, blinking a few times as she wondered what could have possibly possessed him to do such a thing before turning her attention back towards the elf.

"...Right. Well, we've all got our own circumstances, I guess. So long as your friend over there doesn't lose his mind entirely and try to crack someone's skull in half with that thing while he's here, I think we're probably all clear," she said, letting out a sigh tinged with a bit of pity before starting to walk away. "Oh, but do try and call for help if something does arise, though. I'm stuck in this area for the day, so I'll probably be the first to respond."

The option to accost her as she left was entirely possible—the catgirl didn't seem too adverse to conversation, at the very least—but otherwise the trio would be left to move around at their leisure.

@ERode@Zeroth@TheMushroomLord
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