FujiwaraPhoenix

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Tachibana Masaru

Branch-092 — Records Department

With the matter regarding the samurai settled, Masaru felt it perfectly reasonable to consider the mission resolved. The young man felt as if he hadn't actually done much in the grand scheme of things—if only because he was used to being the big playmaker when it came to hunting most days—but whether or not that was true would be left to the people reviewing footage of the incident to decide. What he felt and what he knew[ were two different matters altogether, though; at the end of the day, cleaning up trash and keeping them off of the people who could actually land meaningful blows on their enemy was what he was here to do.

In that sense, he had done his job exactly as he should have... But that didn't mean that he couldn't do more next time.

Rather than going back to the simulators and exerting any effort there, the Agent had instead elected to go and review the VODs of the last incident.

Thankfully, nobody seemed inclined to stop him when he walked in with a bowl of ramen and took a seat in front of a computer. Watching videos and eating food at the same time was nothing particularly groundbreaking, but that didn't mean it wasn't worth doing anyhow.

Hopefully nothing would spill, though, else he would've been left on the hook for cleanup...

Reborn in a Fantasy World, This Time I Shall...!

Steven Yu

??? — Dirt Road

Luckily for Steven and his companions (well, mainly the maid that had taken charge in the application of first aid), it seemed that the woman on the carriage and her entourage had sufficient medical supplies to go about treating the injured maid. It was absolutely a hack job, and the young man surmised that even if he had sufficient experience in something like a trauma center—in other words, maybe some seven-odd years in the future—the outcome here might have only been slightly better.

Even if something like healing magic did exist within this world (and that was a big "if"), the kitsune silently reasoned to himself that trying to study things like that would be equally important to him as learning how to use his sword properly. He had gotten away with literal murder by copying the motions of mass media swordfighters, but nothing guaranteed that he wouldn't run into someone who actually knew what they were doing at some in the future.

So much for any hopes of a simple isekai life where stress didn't want to make him inject caffeine into his veins.

"Unfortunately, we don't have the tools-or expertise-to suture the wound, so it would probably be ideal to continue to apply pressure and not move too much so as to not reopen the wound," the kitsune remarked as he stood back up and brushed some of the dirt off his clothes—away from the patient and her current overseer, of course. "I don't think it needs to be said, but walking back to... Whatever town you were traveling to or from is very much out of the question."

That statement was more a reiteration of the obvious, but given how insistent the maid had been that she had been okay when she had clearly not in any condition to move, it probably wouldn't hurt to use her employer as leverage to make sure that she kept from injuring herself.

Any further discussion of the matter was promptly thrown out the proverbial window, however, when the young woman's righteous fury met his ears. With a barely-concealed grimace on his face as he listened in on the conversation, Steven glanced around at the others before scratching the back of his neck. As things were, the kitsune felt that among their group, he was probably the least qualified to speak about matters related to what seemed to be an attempted assassination attempt.

...But if he left things as they were now, there was no doubt he'd at least feel some sort of regret if things went badly.

"...My apologies for interrupting," he chimed in, eschewing the expected deference towards the young woman who very clearly had enough influence to warrant such tactics to begin with, "but I would recommend not lingering too long out here in the open. I have, admittedly, no clue as to who might have targeted your life in such a manner, but I would assume that they would expect some message after the deed has been done... And, if not, there is a non-zero possibility that there might be another group sent out to finish the job if they expect to encounter a weakened entourage if not."

Such formal dialogue coming from a man who looked like he had lived a few years on the road might have been odd, and the possibility that he was placing his life on the line sort of incidentally by speaking without being prompted, but there was no world in which fussing over the outcome in the wilderness as opposed to somewhere safer was the way to proceed.

@Raineh Daze@Sir Lurksalot

---

Neir — Guardhouse

With a somewhat inquisitive gaze, Meira calmly poked her head into Cassius' room. The catgirl grimaced upon noticing what had happened to him in her absence, and almost as if by instinct she moved to pick his body off the ground and, at the very least, place him back on the bed where he had awoken. But without much of a chance to ask him how he was feeling—though the answer to that question was fairly obvious—the young woman instead found herself being questioned first.

"Locked up for now. Guards have been taking turns watching over the thing, and I've been here the whole time as extra insurance," she responded, taking a deep breath before ducking out for a brief moment and returning with a rag to clean up whatever had been evacuated from the elf's stomach mere moments before her arrival. After quickly wiping off what had left itself on his face, the catgirl lobbed the cloth onto the ground and pushed it around with her boot to soak up whatever little it could.

"...Sorry for getting you wrapped up in all that," she remarked as she kicked it off to the side. "Those guys are, uh... Well, I guess calling them 'priority targets' is the best way to put it for now. It's... Complicated."

There was a brief pause as she waited for any sort of response, but Meira continued speaking soon thereafter.

"Do you want some water? I can go get some for you, if you want."

@ERode

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Aventon — Southern Gate

Once the goddess had said her piece, Sanae took a deep breath and turned around, only to see that both Rayne and Anne had chosen to intervene. The mage's barely-trembling hands as she gripped at her staff caught the young woman's gaze for but a moment, and ultimately the suggestion of resolving this match as a draw was enough to simply call the matter here. While the other non-mercenary duelists seemed rather unfazed by the spectacle—half of them in part probably due to being used to such spectacles as a daily occurrence—the rest...

Well, to say that they were on guard after Suwako's little show of pressure might have been a bit of an understatement.

"...Ah, this is going to be a problem, isn't it...?" the shrine maiden asked under her breath as Suwako, who was still able to maintain her corporeal form, was promptly accosted by Remilia.

"Eh? Oh, Miss Scarlet, you're here too?" the blonde girl responded, the terrifying presence she had been presenting disappearing into her usual nonchalance. "So it's you, the half-ghost gardener, and, uh..."

The mention of Mokou's name took the goddess a few seconds to process before she opted to simply fly a bit higher into the air for a brief moment to look for any slightly more familiar faces. Of course, as someone who didn't really handle all the front-facing tasks that Kanako did, recognizing the Hourai immortal took a bit longer than it should have.

Luckily, the way that she looked was distinct enough to have made an impression when they had gone with Sanae to Eientei during that Lunar invasion incident a while back.

"Oh, that lady! Right, I'll go tell Kanako to notify everyone that you're safe... Which probably means getting the Hakurei shrine involved, huh? I don't think anyone but Yukari can get to Yuyuko anyways, and if there's anywhere I'd find her..."

The goddess continued to ramble for a little bit before the brief miracle began to finally give way. With a sigh, Suwako floated back to the ground and placed her hand on Sanae's shoulder before it faded completely. A small glow briefly surrounded Sanae's body, and Suwako made sure to slip in one last set of words before leaving.

"I've added a bit more onto your blessing, so your frogs should be a bit more suited to handling the type of battles you're probably going to see here. If that was a duel, I've got to do my part to make sure your danmaku's strong enough to protect you, right? Anyways, like I said: make sure to call us when you've got enough faith!"

And with that, the frog-hatted goddess had disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace of her presence beyond the torn-up earth and the memories of what had just transpired in front of them.

There was a lot that Sanae had to say now, especially given how she basically hadn't been provided a chance to get a word in edgewise, but there was one thing that took priority right now, even above Rayne's hasty attempts at questioning her.

"I'm very sorry for the trouble I've caused!"

With a deep bow towards the mage who Suwako had scared into submission, Sanae clutched her gohei in front of her with her eyes squeezed shut. There was no reply, and the worry that the mage was taking the rapid escalation of what should have been a fun duel as an attempt on her life was quickly beginning to take root in the shrine maiden's head.

Luckily for her, though, it seemed that the mage wasn't anywhere near as spiteful as some of the more egotistic mercenaries looked to be. After feeling a pat on the shoulder, Sanae looked up for a moment from her bow to see that the mage—who had still not spoken a word—had chosen to simply nod her head in acceptance.

With a sigh of relief, Sanae stood back up and glanced towards Anne before nodding her head.

"...Yeah, my match is probably the only one that's invalid now, huh?" she sighed before glancing at the other battlefields. It had been clear that the other mercenaries had been thoroughly outmatched by their opponents, which made their display of power all the more evident... "Ah, that's frustrating, but I don't think there's going to be any chance of a redo after that one. Uh... Rayne, I'll answer your questions once everyone's gathered up. I'm pretty sure you're not the only one who wants to ask."

But even if they were technically at four wins and a tie, being the only one to not have a clear victory under her belt did bother the young woman a bit.

Just a bit.

With all five of the matches settled now and Remilia's blood magic healing the wounds of the injured (but not, notably enough, their bruised egos), the groups soon reconvened back near the gate where the spectators were watching. It was hard to describe the atmosphere of the crowd, though; a mix of fear, awe, and frustration could be felt from both the mercenaries and townsfolk alike, and it was difficult to gauge if this had, in fact, been a terrible idea to begin with.

"What the heck was that, little miss?!" the mercenary who had gone along with her provocations to begin with finally asked with a half-smile on his face that seemed to run contrary to the mood of the crowd. "You and your friends are really something else!"

"...Eh? What do you...?"

Sanae's response of complete confusion did nothing to stop the mercenary from continuing to speak, regardless of the sentiments of those around him.

"Well, I'm the leader of these guys, sure, but leading doesn't just mean that I'm pointing them at problem and telling them to kill. Sometimes, people get a bit too full of themselves, so they need a little taste of reality to put them in their place. Honestly, I thought that the ones who might have needed that were your group, but it's pretty clear that my folks were the ones who need a bit of modesty!"

The middle-aged man let out another laugh as the embarrassed losers were walked (or dragged) back to the rest of the group.

"...Ah, shoot, I forgot to introduce myself before all this started, huh? My name's Syldon Hest. As for your offer... I think we might be able to work something out. Nothing formal, of course, but I'm pretty sure the client would be safer with you around than not... Though honestly, I don't think we could stop you at this point even if we tried. Gimme a bit to go drill some things into these idiots', though, since it sure seems like they need one."

With Syldon dragging his own people away after coming in like a storm, Sanae took a deep breath and turned to the group that had since reconvened nearby. While it seemed that he had his own things to explain, she wasn't in any better of a position.

"Erm... Right. Where to begin... So, um, like I mentioned before back when we first met, I'm more or less a shrine maiden," the green-haired girl began, "but to be more specific, I'm a shrine maiden at a shrine for two specific gods—Yasaka Kanako-sama and Moriya Suwako-sama. One of the things I learned as a shrine maiden is how to take in the power of a god and... Uh... I guess 'channel' their power? In my case, though, that means I can use their powers or summon them for a little bit, but only if they accept. That also means making that connection to begin with, though, and—I'm going to be completely honest here—I didn't think that I'd get more than a little barrier during that fight if at all. Suwako-sama showing up and summoning the mishaguji was, uh... I didn't think she'd get that mad after showing up..."

Hopefully that would make it clear the whole incident had been a massive set of coincidences that incidentally chained into one another and not anything intended to leave lasting harm, but at this point, Sanae simply left the judgement regarding her explanation to her peers.

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Rezod92

Reborn in a Fantasy World, This Time I Shall...!

??? — Ruined Inn

In the midst of the group's exploration of the cellar, the presence of a pair of objects that most certainly did not belong in the cellar would eventually be uncovered next to one of the barrels of alcohol. A simple leather journal, bound and left untouched since the room had been sealed, and a nearby burnt-out lantern would seldom have been kept in a place to store goods like these, which meant that the undead here had to have brought them down before becoming what they were now.

Or, well, what they had been. It was hard to call them undead when they were most certainly little more than a dried-out corpse now.

Perusing the journal, however, would at least provide some more interesting information. Though the entries, penned by someone by the name of Byron Tere, provided mostly mundane accounts of life as an innkeeper's son, the steady progression of the events that followed were... Less than pleasant.

Journal Entries (Abridged)

----, Day 13

Something's not quite right. Call it instinct, but there've been less traveling merchants hawking their wares here these days. The streets feel emptier than usual, but...

----, Day 21

All the adventurers have left; our only guests now are the knights. One of them told us to pack our bags and go, but dad wouldn't have it. Started going on about how his dad and granddad had run the place, and that giving it up wouldn't ever happen.

-------, Day 5

All hell has broken loose. Whatever's outside is killing anyone and everyone that it so much as catches a whiff of. I saw it through the window last night, but just barely. Dad was being dragged away by it as he tried to open the door. I can't take this much longer.

-------, Day 7

That knight who told us to leave-she came back. I let her inside, but I saw how much blood was dripping down her body. She thanked me for giving her a peaceful place to die, but...

-------, Day --

[The page is blank, save for what seems to be a few faint scribbles on the paper.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

---

Neir — Slums

With the matter of the very unconscious attacker handed off to the odd young man, Meira began to bound off back towards where she had left Cassius. It took less than a minute for her to close the distance, and less than that to understand what had transpired.

It had been a mistake, in a sense, to expect that only one person would try to attack her and only her. By some miracle, the elf had survived—and slain his own assailant besides—but that didn't mean that they were out of the woods quite yet.

"Sorry, that was my mistake," the catgirl apologized as she approached, only to see that the elf had passed out next to the corpse of the one he had just killed. With a grimace, the young woman knelt down for a moment before slinging Cassius' unconscious body over one shoulder and grabbing the now-damaged packace with her sword.

The bad feeling she had been getting from it had only seemed to intensify now that someone's blood was on it, but that was all the more reason to get it checked out than not.

Assuming that the other man had followed her instructions, she would meet him either at the guard station or en route to it; ultimately, where they met mattered less than the fact that he was listening to begin with.

---

At the guard station, Meira wasted no time in making sure the guards—who seemed rather taken aback by the trio walking in—had the incapacitated assailant bound up and tossed into a musty cell for later questioning before securing somewhere for Cassius to get examined and rest. One of the guards had run off to call for a healer to attend to the elf's wounds (and to make sure that their suspect didn't die before they would squeeze any information out of him), but that meant that the group was also very much stuck here until the guards had received their account of the situation.

The package, of course, was placed into a box and left off to the side for further examination. The contents were unstated and Meira had essentially brought it in without so much as a glance inside, after all, but mentions of "cultist activity" and "smuggling" would make it clear to any who happened to overhear the discussion that whatever was inside was not something to be trifled with on a whim.

Of course, this situation meant that Connor was free to stay and ask questions of his own... Or leave as soon as the interrogation was done. None of the guards would stop him if he left, nor would anyone really wish to given where they presumed he was from.

@ERode@Zeroth@TheMushroomLord

---

??? — ??? Forest

Traveling alongside the cliff face would lead to much of the same scenery that the group had seen—or, well, so it would be for a decent while. The route that they had chosen to take seemed to curve around, leading the group out of view of the path they had taken to leave the cavern from earlier and away from the forest that only now seemed to thin.

Around the bend, however, the group would find in front of them rather rugged plains that seemed to slope upwards at a gentle incline. Compared to where they had emerged, the area seemed to be far more open.

That alone would make it nearly impossible to miss the river that was feeding into what seemed to be a lake that had been just out of the group's vision earlier.

Before the group could make any hasty decisions, though, a massive shadow seemed to pass overhead, crossing the skies overhead before the source of it—a large bird whose body seemed to be plated in metal—slowly settled on the ground near the lake. It had not yet noticed the ragtag group of explorers at this point, of course, but whether or not that was the truth or if it was simply ignoring their presence for the moment remained to be seen.

@Crusader Lord@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Aventon - Southern Gate

Sanae took a deep breath as she stared down the mage opposite her, gohei at the ready as the other girl readied a staff of her own. The tension in the air wasn't anywhere near as tense as it had been before, but while the mage looked worked up, Sanae...

Well, she looked somewhat nonchalant in spite of what was technically at stake here. While warzones and giant monster (and bug) hunting was out of her usual realm of expertise, the green-haired girl was now on home turf. A duel, regardless of if it involved spellcard rules or not, was still a duel.

The staring contest between the two seemed to hold for a few moments, but ultimately it was Sanae who first chose to break the silence.

"Aah, this is way too high-tension for a duel! If you're not going to start, then I will!" she declared before pointing her gohei towards the mage. Immediately, a stream of ofuda rushed out from it's tip, catching the other young woman off guard as she hastily constructed a barrier to ward the blows off. The steady barrage of attacks upon the barrier was somewhat expected, given what she had experienced in fighting that mage a few days prior, but that didn't mean that Sanae had any reason to give up then and there.

That was something she would have to overcome eventually, after all, and if this was a common fighting style for the mages of this world, doing so now would save her more headache in the future.

When it was clear that ofuda alone weren't chipping away at her defenses particularly quickly, though, the green-haired girl moved quickly to change tactics. The moment that she lowered her gohei, though, the other mage swiftly aimed her staff towards Sanae and fired a bolt of electricity from it's tip straight towards her.

Dodging such at attack at near-point-blank range was a simple feat for Sanae, of course, but the mage—and a few of the spectators-seemed quite shocked that she was able to do so without so much as a hint of anxiety.

Or maybe it was the fact that she had simply chosen to fly into the air to dodge it. Either way, though, that surprise seemed to be rather short-lived as the mage begab to fire off more lightning bolts at Sanae.

"Oh, you're not going to try leading your shots?" the shrine maiden asked as she casually weaved and slipped through the electricity arcing through the skies. "You need to do more than that to catch me!"

Her (accidental) provocation, however, seemed to have touched a nerve. With tensed hand and gritted teeth, the mage held her aim towards Sanae as she floated about and took a deep breath.

It was no Master Spark, of course, but Sanae could feel the energy in the air building—and rapidly, at that—which meant that a rather large attack was on the way. With the rather telegraphed way the mage had been casting her spells until now, Sanae felt rather confident that this would be much of the same. But...

"...That's a pretty long charging time, huh...?" she asked out loud as she hovered in the air for a moment. Was this supposed to be some sort of special attack of some sort? Maybe this girl was used to being protected while slinging her spells around...

Regardless of the reasons behind it, though, Sanae found the whole matter fairly unimpressive. Maybe the standards of Gensokyo had warped her sense of danger a bit, but the young woman had certainly faced far worse and with far less time to react on the fly.

The sudden explosion of energy at the tip of the mage's staff quickly spiraled out into dozens of streams of lightning—a sight more familiar to Sanae than the singular bolts she had been dodging until now—and began to chase after Sanae. Without missing a beat, the green-haired girl flew off to the side, allowing the bolts of energy to chase after her. Between those and the other bolts bring fired towards where she was going, the shrine maiden was at least somewhat engaged in the fight now...

If only because it was less boring than it had been until then.

As she continued to fire ofuda towards the mage as she flew about, though, Sanae had noticed that the magic chasing after her was slowly speeding up, and that it was only a matter of time before it made contact. Constructing a barrier to block would take precious seconds that she didn't have, if only because she wasn't as proficient in so doing as Reimu was. That left three options, then: eat the attack head-on and likely leave the fight with singed limbs at best, keep dodging in hopes that the attack would eventually peter out, or pray for a miracle to block the attack.

The first option, obviously enough, was the dumbest of the three and thus the first to be discarded. The second was banking on a possibility that might not have existed, which meant it was less favorable than not. But the third...

Well, miracles were called miracles for a reason, and if she was good for anything, it was those.

With her choice now made, Sanae calmly prayed to herself—and to both her patron deities, whatever they were now—before a surge of familiar magical energy surged through her.

"That connected?!" she cried out involuntarily as she turned around and turned her gohei towards the magic chasing her and———

In the middle of the sky, a large plume of black smoke from where the magic had made contact bloomed upwards. There was a pause as those watching stared, waiting for the green-haired girl to become visible...

Only for a ball of rocks to appear from within. Sanae was floating nearby, seemingly unharmed by the attack, but more shocking was the presence of someone else there as the stones began falling towards the ground.

A blonde girl wearing an oddly frog-themed hat and dress floated in the middle of the skies next to her, arms extended out in front of her as she glanced around in mild surprise.

"Suwako-sama?!" Sanae blurted out, at which point the blonde girl turned to face the shrine maiden and hugged her. "How are you even——?!"

"Kanako and I have been trying to reach you for days! It's good to see that you're okay!" the goddess replied, taking a few seconds to savor the moment before letting go of Sanae turning towards the rather confused-looking mage on the ground with a cold fury in her eyes that the shrine maiden had never seen before.

"...But clearly, someone needs to know who they were trying to kill..." Suwako spoke coldly as a chill ran through Sanae's spine.

Slowly, the shorter girl descended to the ground as suffocating, miasma-like dark energy began to churn around her. Immediately, the mage raised her weapon in a panic—as did a few of the bystanders—before six massive snakes, all as white as marble and with eyes red as blood, burst from the earth and readied themselves to lash out at the girl.

"STOOOOOP!"

Sanae's shout rang out as she shot towards the ground before promptly placing herself between Suwako and the mage.

"A duel! This was a duel! Suwako-sama, please, calm down!" the shrine maiden cried out, waving her arms as the tried to dissuade the goddess from doing anything that might make the rapidly-escalating situation any worse. "We just got a bit excited, that's all!"

The tension in the air was suffocating in the few seconds before Suwako sighed and took a step back. Slowly, the six curse gods sank back into the earth, and the energy that had gathered in Suwako's body—and Suwako herself—were beginning to fade away.

"Mmm... I suppose I'm at my limit here anyhow," the goddess spoke before walking up to Sanae and poking her chest. "It was next to impossible to find any trace of you until now, though! I can't stick around for much longer, but try to connect with me or Kanako when you get a chance and explain what's happened since you got kidnapped, okay? Gensokyo's in an uproar, and every little bit of information helps so we can try and get you home safely."

As things were right now, though, it seemed like Suwako hadn't noticed the other residents of Gensokyo nearby... Nor did Sanae quite realize that Suwako's presence and choice of actions mean that her duel was more than a little invalid by now.

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Rezod92

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Route 5

"Well, can't say I didn't try."

With a shrug of his shoulders as negotiations broke down, Richard calmly took a few steps back to position himself at Laurel's side as he began to consider his to handle his first multi battle. The young Trainer had expected a double battle to be his first foray into the format, but given the situation, it really couldn't have been helped.

"Right. Luna, you're up," he called out, at which point the Snivy gave a cry of acknowledgement before hopping over to Verdue's side.

It didn't really need to be said, but the two Pokémon their aggressors had sent out were very much not ones that Richard would have liked to face; not with either of their current teams, at least. Being at disadvantage that they were, though, meant that they needed to fight smarter.

Luckily, he and Luna had plenty of practice with their opener, and he didn't even need to openly telegraph anything about it with a verbal command!

"Luna, let's start with the usual. Prioritize that Sneasel for now, but get them both if to can to make things easier," Richard declared before the Snivy threw out a Glare towards the Pokémon in question.

Control was the name of the game right now, and the less that the enemy was allowed to act, the more leeway they had to chip away at them.

Anything after that, though, would have to wait until the enemy made a move of their own.

@Rune_Alchemist

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Aventon

A big, showy match between a bunch of mercenaries and the people who had saved the town of Aventon (or those who had joined a bit later besides) was more than enough reason for a few of the more excitable townsfolk—Millie and Alvin included—to want to watch the spectacle play out. News spread quickly when a majority of the town was shopping around, and with everything still not quite sorted out after the Raven Heralds' attack, a bit of grandstanding like this was sure to occupy those who hadn't lost the taste for martial skill in the wake of the battle.

Even if they didn't, though, the respect for those who had fought to protect them meant that there were those that wanted to watch their skill on the battlefield present regardless... And that made it ever so slightly disappointing when it was made clear that among those that had saved the town, only one wanted to fight.

But maybe that was for the best.

By the time the otherworlders had made their way to the south entrance as directed, the mercenaries had prepared the area more or less as directed. Some had made sure to clear a large enough space—one that, in Sanae's opinion, might need to be expanded sooner rather than not—while others seemed to be simply eyeing them for a distance.

"Glad to see you didn't back out," the older mercenary from earlier remarked as the group approached. "If you're all ready, then let's get started with the rules here."

"Well, I'd have thought we would've sorted things out before preparing the area, but I don't mind if it's a bunch of duels or a free-for-all," Sanae replied, at which point the man simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know what you're used to, but duels make sense if you're trying to gauge the strength of the individual. While I could go on about how a group should cover for their teams' weaknesses, that's not the point of this exercise. You understand?"

"Uh... Yeah. Then about how we should be conducting things..."

The back-and-forth between Sanae and the mercenary went on for a few minutes; given how quickly the young girl had gotten used to spellcard rules back in Gensokyo, establishing what limits existed and how they should be enforced was fairly simply. It wasn't like there needed to be anything overly specific, either; a simple match, nothing lethal, and the first to surrender would cede.

Given that there were five people on their side—herself, Mokou, Youmu, Joker, and Fran—wanting to fight, the mercenaries agreed to send five of their own to match.

Before long, the pairs had all scattered about the area, preparing to fight their opponents.

To Sanae, a young woman in the quintessential mage's outfit, large-brimmed hat and all.
To Youmu, a swordsman wielding a simply bastard sword and a shield.
To Mokou, a rather burly man donning a pair of knuckle dusters.
To Joker, a lithe lady wielding a pair of daggers of her own.
To Fran, a stout dwarf brandishing a hammer of his own.

While the duelists all gave their introductions to one another and handled the usual pleasantries (and trash talk), the remainder of the mercenaries—the man who had started all this up included—had congregated off to the side near the other townsfolk and otherworldly travelers who opted to act as referees instead.

"Miss Anne," Millie began to speak as she tugged on the older woman's coat to grab her attention, "aren't you going to fight, too?"

"Yeah! If anyone should be out there, it should be you!" Alvin chimed in, which seemed to draw a few furtive glances from the other mercenaries present with them.

For what it was worth, the two siblings had good reason to play up the person who had saved them, but whether or not it was a good thing or not was a different question unto itself.

Either way, those who chose to remain on the sidelines were free to speak among themselves or even ask the other spectators questions of their own... Provided they didn't accidentally stir the pot a bit more.

This bunch, at least, seemed to be enjoying the spectacle more than they were directly antagonistic towards what could easily have been misconstrued as grandstanding.

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Rezod92

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Route 5

Given how he had plenty of time to recover after sprinting after the Nidoran, Richard chose to simply jog through the fields as he made his way towards the ruins that had been so conspicuously in his sight when he had first entered the area. With Luna keeping pace behind him, the young man soon found himself witness to the situation that Laurel had put herself in.

While he didn't necessarily catch everything in the conversation at hand, it became quite apparent to Richard that the situation was probably a bit more complicated than Laurel being offended by an interrupted meal.

"Hey, am I too late to join in on the fun?" the Trainer asked as he quickly moved between Laurel and the two people trying to commandeer the site for themselves. "Jokes aside, if you're going to try and posture for a battle, would it kill you to move away from the ruins? They're not going anywhere, and it'd defeat the purpose of coming here if you broke everything in the process, right?"

Though a battle would be good for more experience, Richard felt that trying to defuse the situation would be the best course of action here. It wasn't likely, granted, but at the very least he could try to reduce collateral damage and push them into a more neutral location if conflict was unavoidable.

"...Though I do have to question why you'd need to kick everyone out to look at things in the first place, much less cause a fuss by damaging these reasearchers' belongings and causing chaos besides. This is the era of modern technology; unless you're trying to steal a rock or destroy the place or something, you could've just... I dunno, asked to take some pictures? Or, well, just asked in general, really. Simple courtesy goes a long way."

All things considered, insulting the methodology that these two were using probably wasn't going to defuse the situation...

But by this point, that bridge had probably long since been burnt down. Luna seemed to have picked up on the situation and was mentally preparing herself in case she did need to fight, but it remained to be seen if these people would go so far as to attack a person in their attempts to get access to this place to begin with.

@Rune_Alchemist

Reborn in a Fantasy World, This Time I Shall...!

??? — ??? Forest

The verdant expanse that stretched out over the ground below seemed to blanket the area as a whole. Densely packed as the trees were, though, seeing anything beyond the breathtaking view of the forest would require a bit more hands-on exploration. The path down to ground level, at least, seemed to hold firm. To Nyana, doing so might have been a bit more precarious than not due to the weight and lack of visibility past her helmet's visor...

But in the end, the group of four would find themselves on stable footing at the base of the cliff face. The forest that stood in front of them seemed to be teeming with life, as even the air seemed to be brimming with energy. The only concern, however, would be that this was still a forest; attempting to split up with no way of orienting oneself would inevitably lead to someone being lost, and finding them afterwards would be... Difficult at best.

Even so, there seemed to be nothing attempting to attack the four as they approached the trees; if anything, the scant sight of some sort of four-legged shaddow bounding away from the group as they drew near spoke for quite the opposite.

There were multiple options here; follow along the cliff in one direction or another, delve straight into the forest, or even return back to that cavern to see if something had been overlooked...

@Crusader Lord@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Aventon

Between the merchant's semi-disparaging remarks and the subsequent eagerness of a few of their group's members to prove them wrong, Sanae was left in a mildly awkward spot. While Anne and Lewa were attempting to defuse the situation, it seemed quite apparent that those among them that originated from Gensokyo wanted to go about solving problems in the way that they were usually solved back home.

In other words, a duel.

Unfortunately, spellcard rules obviously did not exist in this world, which meant that there was no guarantee that the people that they fought wouldn't end up sustaining any injuries; not that such a thing would matter when Remilia of all people declared that she would act as a healer instead of joining in to assuage what Sanae assumed would have been a bruised ego.

Ultimately, though, Sanae had no intention of backing down either. If they had to get to the capital, it would be best to do so in the easiest way possible...

Which, again, ultimately meant that a show of force seemed like the easiest way to go about convincing the old man and his peers that they had every right to tag along.

While the merchant was left mildly confused on how to handle the group of young women wishing to pick a fight, the group of mercenaries that Anne had approached seemed to be more amused than not at the pretense of a match. And with Anne's words accidentally inflating their ego...

Well, the outcome was more of a foregone conclusion at this point.

"Hm? Oh, as far as mercenary bands go, we're pretty strong. Nowhere near the strongest in the company, but I think we're still more than capable of handling dangers are lurking on the road," their leader, a man in his mid-thirties decked out in leather armor, spoke as he turned towards the large mechanical being who also tried to talk them down from matching against one another. "Now, I don't think we're going to go try and take anyone's heads over all this, but the green haired girl over there—she a friend of yours?—did basically just call us incompetent. Now, I don't know what sort of level-headed old man must've made you, but we're not the type of people who can afford to just be insulted like that. It's bad for our reputation, after all, and in our line of work... Well, that's all we really have."

With that, the mercenary group's leader walked over to the older merchant and, with a smirk, patted the man on the shoulder.

"How about we take up that halfling's offer?" he asked, gesturing towards Rayne as he spoke. "The trip's been pretty calm, and I don't think it's a good idea to let our blades get too rusty. Might make a good show to watch, too. How about it?"

"...Ah, I swear, all of you people are addicted to fighting..." the merchant finally responded, letting his shoulders droop as he waved at the group of people gathering to give him some space. "Fine! You and your men are free to spar so long as it does not interfere with your duties or leave any lasting injuries on either side. I paid good coin to have you guard us, so I'd like it if you didn't muck up any chance of a good relationship because you got a bit too eager to brawl."

"Perfect!" the mercenary responded, clapping his hands before looking at the group of people more than ready to take them on. "Then how about a few matches outside the southern entrance to the town? If your healer's as good as she claims, we shouldn't have any problems; else, we have one of our own ready in case anything goes bad."

"Duels? I'd be fine with one," Sanae replied, glancing at the others briefly before nodding her head. "You wouldn't happen to have any mages on hand, would you? It'd be a bit unfair for me to go against someone who prefers to fight in close quarters, after all."

"Mages? Of course we do," he said, a slight smirk on his face as he completely misconstrued Sanae's question as a fear of fighting someone up close instead of anything near the truth. "If that's all the questions you have, then we'll meet you after we've prepared all the spare equipment we might need. Shouldn't take too long."

With everyone who wanted to fight more or less in agreement, the mercenaries wasted no time in following their leader's orders to prepare for what they assumed would be a simple match against a few overeager people who needed to be given a reality check.

That wasn't far from the truth, granted, but not necessarily in the way they would expect. Either way, those present had a bit more time to peruse the caravan's wares or get any last-minute things in order before the mercenaries were done getting ready themselves.

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Rezod92